Editing Romanos IV Diogenes (section)

== Battle of Manzikert and capture by Alp Arslan ==
{{main|Battle of Manzikert}}
[[File:BnF Fr232 fol323 Alp Arslan Romanus.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Alp Arslan]] humiliating Emperor Romanos&nbsp;IV. From a 15th-century illustrated French translation of [[Boccaccio]]'s ''[[De Casibus Virorum Illustrium]]''.<ref>Çoban 2020, p. 51</ref>]]

Early in the spring of 1071, whilst conducting negotiations with Alp Arslan over Manzikert,<ref name="Norwich 1993, p. 347"/> Romanos marched at the head of a large army with the intent of recovering the fortress.<ref>Norwich 1993, p. 346</ref>  It was soon evident that the army had a serious discipline problem, with soldiers regularly pillaging the area around their nightly camps. When Romanos attempted to enforce some stricter discipline, a whole regiment of German mercenaries mutinied, which the emperor only managed to control with the greatest difficulty.<ref>Finlay 1854, p. 38</ref> Believing that Alp Arslan was nowhere near Manzikert, he decided to divide his army. One part of the army he dispatched to attack Akhlat, at that time in possession of the Turks.<ref name="Norwich 1993, p. 348">Norwich 1993, p. 348</ref>  Romanos himself advanced with the main body of the army on Manzikert, which he soon recaptured.<ref name="Norwich 1993, p. 348"/>  At this point his advance guard met the Seljuk army, which was rapidly approaching Manzikert. Romanos ordered the forces attacking Akhlat to rejoin the army, but their portion of the army unexpectedly came across another large Turkish army, so Romanos' troops retreated toward Mesopotamia.<ref name="Norwich 1993, p. 348"/> Already understrength, Romanos' army was further weakened when his Uzes mercenaries deserted to the Turks.<ref name="Norwich 1993, p. 349">Norwich 1993, p. 349</ref> Arslan had no desire to take on the Byzantine army, so he proposed a peace treaty with favourable terms for Romanos.<ref name="Norwich 1993, p. 349"/> 
[[Michael Attaleiates]] claims that the Muslim envoy that was sent to Romanos was in reality, only there to stall for more time for the Seljuk army. One Muslim source confirms that the peace mission was a ploy “to discover their [military] condition”.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SJ67QgAACAAJ|title=Turkish Myth and Muslim Symbol: The Battle of Manzikert|year=2007 |page=75|isbn=9780748625734 |last1=Hillenbrand |first1=Carole }}</ref>
The emperor, eager for a decisive military victory, rejected the offer, and both armies lined up for a battle, which took place on 26 August 1071.<ref>Norwich 1993, p. 351</ref> The battle lasted all day without either side gaining any decisive advantage, until the emperor ordered a part of his centre to return to camp. The order was misunderstood by the right wing,<ref>Finlay 1854, p. 41</ref> however, and [[Andronikos Doukas (cousin of Michael VII)|Andronikos Doukas]], who commanded the reserves, and was the son of ''Caesar'' John Doukas, took advantage of the confusion to betray Romanos. Claiming that Romanos was dead, he marched away from the battle with some 30,000 men, instead of covering the emperor's retreat.<ref>Norwich 1993, p. 352</ref>

When Romanos discovered what had happened, he tried to recover the situation by making a defiant stand. He fought on valiantly after his horse was killed under him, killing many enemies and causing others to flee, but he received a wound in the hand, which prevented him from wielding a sword, and he was soon taken prisoner.<ref>Norwich 1993, p. 353</ref>

A number of other sources speak of the valor shown by Romanos at Manzikert: Romanos “launched himself into the thick of the battle. He knocked down several very valiant Persian fighters and caused disarray in their ranks,” according to a contemporary Armenian account. [[Michael Psellus]], who was normally critical, begrudgingly writes, “According to my several informants he actually killed many of them and put others to flight”<ref name="Hachette Books">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wUd_swEACAAJ | isbn=978-0306825552 | title=Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West | date= 2018 | publisher=Hachette Books }}</ref>

According to a number of Byzantine historians, including [[John Skylitzes]], Arslan at first had difficulty believing the dusty and tattered warrior brought before him was the Roman emperor. Romanos and Arslan never expected to meet each other under such circumstances.<ref>Norwich 1993b, p. 353</ref>  He then stepped down from his seat and placed his foot on Romanos' neck.<ref name="Norwich 1993, p. 354">Norwich 1993, p. 354</ref> After this sign of ritual humiliation, however, Arslan raised Romanos from the ground and ordered him to be treated like a king. From then on he treated him with extreme kindness, never saying a cruel word to him during the Emperor's eight-day stay in his camp.<ref name="Norwich 1993, p. 354"/> He then released the Emperor in exchange for a treaty and the promise of a hefty ransom. At first Alp Arslan suggested a ransom of 10,000,000 ''[[nomismata]]'' to Romanos&nbsp;IV, but he later reduced it to 1,500,000 ''nomismata'', with a further 360,000 ''nomismata'' annually.<ref name="Finlay 1854, p. 42"/>

It is reported that upon seeing the Roman emperor, the sultan leapt from his throne like a mad man, commanded Romanos to kiss the ground, and stepped on his neck. He repeatedly berated the emperor, including for spurning his emissaries and offers of peace. The unrepentant Romanos was laconic, and deigned only to offer the curtest responses to his captor's fiery upbraiding. He merely had done what was “possible for a man, and which kings are bound to do, and I have fallen short in nothing. But God has fulfilled his will. And now, do what you wish and abandon recriminations.”<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wUd_swEACAAJ | isbn=978-0306825552 | title=Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West | date=2018 | publisher=Hachette Books }}</ref>

Other Muslim sources claim Alp Arslan treated Romanos in a harsh and petty way. “You are too trivial in my view for me to kill you,” the sultan is said to have declared before his Turks in Muslim sources. “Take him to the person who pays most.” When no one reportedly wanted to purchase the “Dog of the Romans,” Alp Arslan scoffed that that was “because the dog is better than he is!” “He struck him three or four blows with his hand and when Romanos collapsed he kicked him a similar number of times”; he “put him in chains and fettered his hand to his neck”; he pulled his hair and put his face to the ground, while informing him, “your troops are food for the Muslims.”<ref name="Hachette Books"/>

Wanting to test the Roman, Alp Arslan then asked Romanos what he would do to him if he was his prisoner, Romanos frankly answered "the worst!". The answer impressed Alp Arslan and he said "Ah! by Allah! He has spoken the truth! If he had spoken otherwise, he would be lying. This is an intelligent, tough man. It is not permissible that he should be killed." After agreeing on a ransom, Alp Arslan then sent emperor Romanos back to Constantinople with a Turkish escort that carried a banner above the disgraced emperor that read: "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger".<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=921BDwAAQBAJ | title=Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West | isbn=978-0306825569 | last1=Ibrahim | first1=Raymond | date=2018 | publisher=Hachette Books }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sExoAAAAMAAJ&q=Armenia+and+the+Crusades+Tenth+to+Twelfth+Centuries+:+the+Chronicle+of+Matthew+of+Edessa | title=Armenia and the Crusades: Tenth to Twelfth Centuries : The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa | isbn=978-0819189530 | last1=Edessa | first1=Matthew of | year=1993 | publisher=National Association for Armenian Studies and Research }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25472048 | jstor=25472048 | title=The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa: Apocalypse, the First Crusade, and the Armenian Diaspora | last1=MacEvitt | first1=Christopher | journal=Dumbarton Oaks Papers | year=2007 | volume=61 | pages=157–181 }}</ref>