Emperor John II Komnenos by Maximilian C. G. Lau;

Author:Maximilian C. G. Lau; [Lau, Maximilian C. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780198888697
Publisher: Oxford University Press USA
Published: 2023-09-28T00:00:00+00:00

The Second Paphlagonian Campaign of 1134 and the Treachery of Mas’ud

The death of Ghazi meant not only war between Mohammed and his brothers but also opportunities for Mas’ud of Ikonion: he was married to Ghazi’s daughter and so was just as much an enemy of Mohammed as his brothers, a fact noted by both Choniates and Kinnamos.60 John therefore sent ambassadors with an alliance proposal, and though we have no details of the terms of this we know it was enticing enough to convince Mas’ud to send forces to join John’s army: Kinnamos tells us specifically that ‘one of the nobles of his court came with an army to give hostages and join in the war.’61 This created a full alliance, and one that suggests continuity once more with the policies of John’s father, who had relied on Sulayman in the same way to recapture imperial cities lost to enemy Turks before making agreements with Melik-Shah.62 Mas’ud had likely been playing both sides since John supported him in 1126, and so he was also following the terms of his previous position as a client of John, though he could always break ties again whenever it suited him to do so. His opportunistic nature is also indicated by the mysterious disappearance of Isaac, who had previously been a guest at Mas’ud’s court. Isaac would re-emerge, according to Prodromos, though not in Latin sources, in the kingdom of Jerusalem in 1136.63 Whether he was let go by Mas’ud or merely escaped once more is unknown, but either way, Mas’ud appears to have always kept his options open throughout this period, as John sought to clear up the mess created by his brother’s betrayal, and from there to advance the empire’s position in Anatolia.

With Mas’ud’s troops in support, the imperial army marched to the city of Gangra, located south of the mountain pass to Kastamon.64 In this, John could amend his previous mistake and secure Paphlagonia and Kastamon from every side, and with Gangra taken Kastamon would be surrounded and thus taken easily. Our Greek narrative sources both tell us that Mohammed then carried out a diplomatic coup by winning Mas’ud back over to his side, ‘with letters, amongst other things’, and that the Turkish troops with John left the encampment outside Gangra in the middle of the night, making this at least the third betrayal John had suffered in Anatolia.65

No mention is made of what John did to the hostages he had taken earlier, though he was apparently furious and keen to chase the Turks down immediately, but he was persuaded to stay by ‘some monks who chanced to be present’, according to Kinnamos, who tells us the monks contended that he only had to be brave and he would prevail against Gangra.66 The emperor then assaulted the citadel, but (perhaps unsurprisingly considering Gangra’s natural defences) was repulsed and forced to retreat to Lopadion on the Rhyndakos for the winter, where he was close to the frontier and could easily receive dispatches from Constantinople and the rest of the empire by river.

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