Editing Alexios I Komnenos (section)

===Byzantine–Seljuq Wars and the First Crusade===
{{further|Byzantine–Seljuq Wars|First Crusade}}
[[File:First.Crusade.Map.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Europe in 1097, during the [[First Crusade]]]]

By the time Alexios ascended the throne, the Seljuqs had taken most of Asia Minor. Alexios secured much of the coastal regions by sending peasant soldiers to raid the Seljuq camps, but this did not stop the Turks altogether.<ref>Finlay 1854, p. 111</ref> He also got military support from Western rulers like [[Robert I, Count of Flanders]] (Robert the Frisian). Robert, while returning from an armed [[pilgrimage]] to Jerusalem in 1086, spent time assisting the Byzantine Emperor against the Turks.<ref>[[Runciman, Steven]], ''The First Crusade'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), p. 32</ref> In one battle, Robert and three of his companions rode ahead of the main army, charging the forces under the command of [[Kerbogha]], whose forces were scattered completely.<ref>''The Alexiad of Anna Comnena'', Trans. E.R.A. Sewter (London: The Penguin Group, 1969), p. 351.</ref>

As early as 1090, Alexios had taken reconciliatory measures towards the [[Papacy]],<ref>Norwich 1995, p. 30</ref> with the intention of seeking western support against the Seljuqs. In 1095 his ambassadors appeared before [[Pope Urban II]] at the [[Council of Piacenza]].<ref>Main historic authority on the proceedings of this event is [[Bernold of Constance]].</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Somerville |first=Robert |date=2011 |title=Pope Urban II's Council of Piacenza - Chapter I |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/26300/chapter-abstract/194553385 |access-date=31 October 2023 |website=academic.oup.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnston |first=Ruth A. |url=https://ruthjohnston.com/AllThingsMedieval/?p=4434 |title=All Things Medieval: An Encyclopedia of the Medieval World |publisher=Greenwood |year=2011 |isbn=978-0313364624 |language=en}}</ref> The help he sought from the West was some mercenary forces, not the immense hosts that arrived, to his consternation and embarrassment, after the pope preached the [[First Crusade]] at the [[Council of Clermont]] later that same year.<ref>Norwich 1995, p. 31</ref> This was the [[People's Crusade]]: a mob of mostly unarmed poor peasants and serfs, led by the preacher [[Peter the Hermit]], fleeing from hunger in their home regions to a promised land of milk and honey.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Snell |first=Melissa |date=2018 |title=The People's Crusade |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/the-peoples-crusade-1788840 |access-date=31 October 2023 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en}}</ref> Not quite ready to supply this number of people as they traversed his territories, the emperor saw his Balkan possessions subjected to further pillage at the hands of his own allies.<ref>Norwich 1995, p. 33</ref> Eventually Alexios dealt with the People's Crusade by hustling them on to Asia Minor. There, they were massacred by the Turks of [[Kilij Arslan I]] at the [[Battle of Civetot]] in October 1096.<ref name="Kazhdan 1991, p. 1479">Kazhdan 1991, p. 1479</ref>

The "Prince's Crusade", the second and much more formidable host of Crusaders, gradually made its way to Constantinople, led in sections by [[Godfrey of Bouillon]], [[Bohemond I of Antioch|Bohemond of Taranto]], [[Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse|Raymond IV of Toulouse]], and other important western nobles.<ref>Norwich 1995, p. 36</ref> Alexios met the Crusader leaders separately as they arrived, extracting from them oaths of homage and the promise to turn over conquered lands to the Byzantine Empire.<ref>Finlay 1854, p. 123</ref> Transferring each contingent into Asia, Alexios promised to supply them with provisions in return for their oaths of homage. The Crusade was a notable success for Byzantium, as Alexios recovered a number of important cities and islands. The [[siege of Nicaea]] by the Crusaders forced the city to surrender to the emperor in 1097, and the subsequent Crusader victory at [[Battle of Dorylaeum (1097)|Dorylaion]] enabled Alexios to recover much of western Asia Minor.<ref name="Norwich 1995, p. 42">Norwich 1995, p. 42</ref> [[John Doukas (megas doux)|John Doukas]] re-established Byzantine rule in [[Chios]], [[Rhodes]], [[Smyrna]], [[Ephesus]], [[Sardis]], and [[Alaşehir|Philadelphia]] in 1097–1099. This success is ascribed by Alexios' daughter Anna to his policy and diplomacy, but by the Latin historians of the crusade to his treachery and deception.<ref name="EB1911"/> In 1099, he sent a Byzantine fleet of ten ships to assist the Crusaders in capturing [[Laodicea in Syria|Laodicea]] and other coastal towns as far as [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]]. The Crusaders believed their oaths were made invalid when the Byzantine contingent under [[Tatikios]] failed to help them during the [[siege of Antioch]];{{sfn|Thomas|2016}} Bohemund, who had set himself up as [[Principality of Antioch|Prince of Antioch]], did not return the ancient city, despite his previous agreement with Alexios.<ref name="Norwich 1995, p. 42" /> He [[Siege of Dyrrhachium (1107–1108)|briefly went to war]] with Alexios in the Balkans, but he was blockaded by the Byzantine forces and agreed to become a vassal of Alexios by the [[Treaty of Devol|Treaty of Deabolis]] in 1108.<ref>Norwich 1995, p. 48</ref>

Around this time, in 1106, the twenty-fifth year of his reign, [[Hesychius of Miletus]] records that the sky suddenly darkened and a "violent southern wind" blew the great statue of [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]] at the [[Strategion]] from its column, killing a number of men and women nearby.<ref>''[[Patria of Constantinople]]''</ref>

In 1116, though already terminally ill, Alexios conducted a series of defensive operations in Bithynia and Mysia to defend his Anatolian territories against the inroads of [[Malik Shah (Rûm)|Malik Shah]], the Seljuq Sultan of Iconium. In 1117 he moved onto the offensive and pushed his army deep into the Turkish-dominated Anatolian Plateau, where he defeated the Seljuq sultan at the [[Battle of Philomelion]].{{sfn|Sewter|1969|pp=481–487}}