Battle of Antioch On The Meander - Battle

Battle

Kaykhusraw's army, and Alexios III in tow, laid siege to Antioch on the Maeander, which he hoped to use as a base to subdue the rest of the Meander Valley. The size of the Seljuk force is unknown. The hagiographer George of Pelagonia in his hagiography estimates it at 60,000, clearly an impossible figure, and even Gregoras's 20,000 seem to be exaggerated. Nevertheless, it was clearly a considerably larger force than the army Theodore managed to scrape together: both Gregoras and Akropolites put it at 2,000 men (3,000 according to George of Pelagonia), of whom 800 were Latin and the rest Byzantine Greeks. Laskaris marches his army from Nicaea over the Mysian Olympus and reached Philadelphia in eleven days (indeed, the Seljuk chroniclers name Philadelphia rather than Antioch as the site of the battle). There he learned that Antioch was about to fall, and led his army in a forced march towards the town, discarding all baggage except for a few days' rations.

According to Gregoras, Laskaris intended to catch the Turks off guard by his rapid approach, but Akropolites relates that the Nicaean ruler sent Kaykhusraw's ambassador, whom he had taken along, to inform his master of his arrival. The sultan at first appeared incredulous, but eventually abandoned the siege and drew up his forces for battle. The Turks were constrained by the narrowness of the valley and could not deploy their full forces, especially their cavalry. Hence the sultan decided to await the Nicaean attack instead. As the Nicaean army drew close to the Turks, Laskaris's Latin mercenary cavalry launched an impetuous charge on the Turkish centre; their attack caused many casualties to the Turks, in particular the lightly armed archers and slingers, as the knights drove through their formation and then wheeled back and charged it again from the rear. Kaykhusraw however soon managed to restore discipline among his troops, shaken by the sudden Latin onslaught, and used his superior numbers to surround and annihilate the Latins. The Turks then turned on the rest of the Nicaean army, which, after suffering casualties began to retreat and break up.

As the sources narrate, at this moment of victory, the Seljuk sultan sought out Laskaris, who was hard pressed by the attacking Turkish troops. Kaykhusraw charged his enemy and gave him a heavy blow on the head with a mace, so that the Nicaean emperor, dizzied, fell from his horse. Kaykhusraw was already giving orders to his retinue to carry Laskaris away, when the latter regained his composure and brought Kaykhusraw down by hacking at his mount's rear legs. The sultan too fell on the ground and was beheaded, his head stuck on top of a lance and waved about, causing the Turks to panic and retreat. It is unclear who delivered the fatal blow to the sultan: Choniates and Gregoras attribute this deed to Laskaris himself, Ibn Bibi to an unknown Frankish mercenary, Akropolites says that neither the emperor nor his attendants saw who did this, while George of Pelagonia claims that Kaykhusraw and not Laskaris was unhorsed first, and that one of the emperor's attendants cut off his head. Though the Turks retreated, allegedly at speed, the Nicaean army was so depleted in numbers that it could not mount a pursuit.