Treaty of Devol - Background

Background

In 1097, the Crusader armies assembled at Constantinople having traveled in groups eastward through Europe. Alexios I, who had requested only some western knights to serve as mercenaries to help fight the Seljuk Turks, blockaded these armies in the city and would not permit them to leave until their leaders swore oaths promising to restore to the Empire any land formerly belonging to it that they might conquer on the way to Jerusalem. The Crusaders eventually swore these oaths, individually rather than as a group; some, such as Raymond IV of Toulouse, were probably sincere, but others, such as Bohemond, probably never intended to honor their promise. In return, Alexios gave them guides and a military escort. The Crusaders were however exasperated by Byzantine tactics, such as negotiating the surrender of Nicaea from the Seljuks while it was still under siege by the Crusaders, who hoped to plunder it to help finance their journey. The Crusaders, feeling betrayed by Alexios, who was able to recover a number of important cities and islands, and in fact much of western Asia Minor, continued on their way without Byzantine aid. In 1098, when Antioch had been captured after a long siege and the Crusaders were in turn themselves besieged in the city, Alexios marched out to meet them, but, hearing from Stephen of Blois that the situation was hopeless, he returned to Constantinople. The Crusaders, who had unexpectedly withstood the siege, believed Alexios had abandoned them and considered the Byzantines completely untrustworthy. Therefore, they regarded their oaths as invalidated.

By 1100, there were several Crusader states, including the Principality of Antioch, founded by Bohemond in 1098. It was argued that Antioch should be returned to the Byzantines, despite Alexios's supposed betrayals, but Bohemond claimed it for himself. Alexios, of course, disagreed; Antioch had an important port, was a trade hub with Asia and a stronghold of the Eastern Orthodox Church, with an important Greek Patriarch. It had only been captured from the empire a few decades previously, unlike Jerusalem, which was much farther away and had not been in Byzantine hands for centuries. Alexios therefore did not recognize the legitimacy of the Principality, believing it should be returned to the Empire according to the oaths Bohemond had sworn in 1097. He therefore set about trying to evict Bohemond from Antioch.

Bohemond added a further insult to both Alexios and the Orthodox Church in 1100 when he appointed Bernard of Valence as the Latin Patriarch, and the same time expelled the Greek Patriarch, John the Oxite, who fled to Constantinople. Soon after, Bohemond was captured by the Danishmends of Syria and was imprisoned for three years, during which the Antiochenes chose his nephew Tancred as regent. After Bohemond was released, he was defeated by the Seljuks at the Battle of Harran in 1104; this defeat led to renewed pressure on Antioch from both the Seljuks and the Byzantines. Bohemond left Tancred in control of Antioch and returned in the West, touring Italy and France for reinforcements. He won the backing of Pope Paschal II and the support of the French King Philip I, whose daughter he married. It is unclear whether his expedition qualified as a crusade.

Bohemond's Norman relatives in Sicily had been in conflict with the Byzantine Empire for over 30 years; his father Robert Guiscard was one of the Empire's most formidable enemies. While Bohemond was away, Alexios sent an army to reoccupy Antioch and the cities of Cilicia. In 1107, having organized a new army for his planned crusade against the Muslims in Syria, Bohemond instead launched into open warfare against Alexios, crossing the Adriatic to besiege Dyrrhachium, the westernmost city of the Empire. Like his father however, Bohemond was unable to make any significant advances into the Empire's interior; Alexios avoided a pitched battle and Bohemond's siege failed, partly due to a plague among his army. Bohemond soon found himself in an impossible position, isolated in front of Dyrrhachium: his escape by sea was cut off by the Venetians, and Paschal II withdrew his support.