Manzikert
fortress of Manzikert just north of Ahlat. It was
clear at that point that the north shore of Lake
Van had become a key battleground.
Diplomacy failures
In spring 1071 Romanos again took to the field
against the Turks. After recruiting new troops
in the late winter, he set out on a 500-mile
march to Sebastea. Before he departed,
though, he sent a delegation to Arslan who
was besieging the Byzantine-garrison at
Edessa in the upper Mesopotamia region.
The envoys informed the sultan that Romanos
proposed a truce. Furthermore, the emperor
offered to trade the Byzantine-held town of
Hierapolis in Syria in return for the Seljuk-
controlled towns of Manzikert in Armenia.
Arslan avoided making a commitment, but he
left the door open for further talks.
Romanos held a council of war in Sebastea
after which he resolved to march into Armenia
and retake the fortresses of Manzikert and
Ahlat from the Seljuks. He boasted that he
would drive the Seljuks back to Central Asia.
Another Byzantine peace delegation
travelled to Syria to meet with Arslan. After
his failure to capture Edessa, Arslan besieged
Fatimid-held Aleppo. This time Romanos’s
ambassador demanded not only an answer
to the emperor’s previous proposals, but also
that the Turks stop all incursions into Byzantine
territory. Arslan refused to agree to the
demands. It was likely that the two sides
would continue their undeclared war.
Arslan raised the siege of Aleppo in late
April and led his army north into Upper
Mesopotamia. Many of these Seljuk troops
were exhausted from extensive campaigning,
so he sent a large number back to Central Asia,
however, he retained his 4,000-man askar.
Arslan’s askar was composed of professional
ghulam soldiers. Ghulams were Turkic slave
soldiers used by Islamic armies of conquest
that preceded the Seljuks. The ghulams were
expert horsemen. They fought clad in protective
mail with spear and sword. The Seljuks began
integrating these soldiers into their field armies
following their occupation of Baghdad.Arslan marches north
The Byzantine army reached Theodosiopolis in
late June. It was there that Romanos learned
of Arslan’s ambivalence towards his peace
proposals. He also received faulty intelligence
that the Seljuk sultan had returned to Persia.
After an arduous march through the uplands
of northwestern Mesopotamia that involved
a dangerous crossing of the flooded upper
Euphrates River, Arslan established a forward
outpost at Khoy in Azerbaijan. Kurdish Muslim
recruits flocked to his banner in the early
summer. At the same time, Seljuk vizier Nizam
al-Mulk went to Persia to recruit professional
soldiers. In addition, Turkmen commander
Aytakin al-Sulaymani joined the Seljuk army,
further swelling its ranks and giving Arslan
additional light cavalry.
When he had sufficient forces in hand,
Arslan dispatched his trusted lieutenant,
Sanduq al-Turki, with a strong advance
guard to strengthen the mighty fortress of
Ahlat. Sanduq led his forces along the north
shore of Lake Van skirting a narrow passageThe medieval Byzantine army
descended from the highly efficient
Roman army of Late Antiquity