Tatikios - Role During The First Crusade

Role During The First Crusade

In 1096 he defended Constantinople from reckless Crusaders who attacked the city after their arrival. In 1097, with Tzitas and 2000 peltasts, Alexius sent him to Nicaea to assist the Crusaders in their siege of the city. Crusade chronicler Albert of Aix says that he acted as an envoy between the Turks and the crusaders, but according to the more reliable Anna Comnena, he was working with Boutoumites to negotiate the surrender of the city without the Crusaders' knowledge. This caused a deep rift between the Latins and Greeks.

However, Tatikios was ordered to accompany the Crusaders across Anatolia, both as a guide and also to ensure that any captured territory was returned to the Empire. After leaving Nicaea, the Crusaders split into two groups. Tatikios accompanied the Norman (under Guiscard's son Bohemund of Taranto, Bohemund's nephew Tancred, and Robert of Normandy) and Flemish (under Robert of Flanders) contingents. The Gesta Francorum records that he frequently warned the Crusaders of the ferocity of the Turks.

During the siege of Antioch, Raymond of Aguilers writes that he advised the Crusaders to disperse and capture the surrounding countryside before attacking the city itself, which would also help them avoid a famine (this advice was ignored). In February 1098 he left the siege; according to Anna, who probably talked to Tatikios personally or had access to his reports, Tatikios was informed by Bohemund that the other Crusaders mistrusted him and had threatened his life. Bohemund, on the other hand, spread the rumour that Tatikios was a coward and a traitor, and had fled the army never intending to return, despite his promises to bring back reinforcements from Constantinople. This is the account preserved in contemporary crusader chronicles, who refer to him as a great enemy and a liar (periurio manet et manebit, according to the Gesta Francorum); Anna's account, of course, may be influenced by her deep prejudice against Bohemund, a long-standing enemy of her father.