Battle of Philomelion

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Byzantine-Seljuk wars
Date 1117
Location Philomelion, Asia Minor
Result Byzantine victory[1]
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire Sultanate of Rum
Commanders
Alexios I Komnenos Sultan Malik Shahr
Strength
Unknown Unknown
v • d • e
Byzantine-Seljuk wars


Following the success of the First Crusade and the failure of the Crusade of 1101, the Turks resumed their offensive operations against the Byzantines. Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, aged and suffering from an illness which proved to be terminal was unable to deal with the swift Turkish raids into what was left of Byzantine Anatolia. An attempt to take Nicaea in 1113 was thwarted by the Byzantines. Nonetheless in the aftermath of the Frankish invasions much land was re-consolidated by the Seljuk Turks under the centralized authority of Iconium where the Sultanate of Rum had established itself under Sultan Malik Shahr. Events of the battle are unclear but it appears to have ended favorably for the Byzantines.[2]

[edit] Aftermath

Alexios was nearing death - his ill condition meant that he could not fight the Sultan until a year after he had set out in 1116. Alexios' death in 1118 meant that the reconquest of Asia Minor would have to be left to his 31 year old son, John II Komnenos.

[edit] References

Norwich, John Julius (1997). A Short History of Byzantium. New York: Vintage Books. 

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Norwich, John Julius (1997). A Short History of Byzantium. New York: Vintage Books, p. 264. 
  2. ^ Norwich, John Julius (1997). A Short History of Byzantium. New York: Vintage Books. 
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