“I have seen this man myself, and I wondered at him, for nature had bestowed on him all the attributes of a man destined to command. He stood ten feet high and men who saw him had to look up as if at a hill or the summit of a mountain.”
Thus the 11th century historian and writer Michael Psellos described Georgios Maniakes in his Chronorgraphia. Maniakes was an 11th century Byzantine strategos (general) and catepan of Italy.
It is telling in the work of modern researchers that they cherry pick which of Psellos’ writing to take seriously and dismiss out of hand his claim that the notorious general stood as tall as Psellos described him. Yet, it was not uncommon to describe gigantic human beings and indeed there are numerous archaeological examples of humans ten feet and taller. Armenian warriors are described elsewhere as ten feet tall. I am inclined to believe that the Armenian strategos really was this tall.
In any case, he was a giant of his time, as he had a reputation for numerous military accomplishments. It is a shame, that as a brilliant military strategist, he had not the control necessary over himself and his temper as he did over his troops, or he might have been truly great. The element in his army that author and historian John Julius Norwich describes as “heterogeneous” was largely Varangian. Yet this was also an element that as an almost general rule, had a strong independent streak and did not take well to coercion, which as we will see, worked to undermine Maniace’s control in the Mediterranean. In addition to the Varangian, were the Lombards, led by a man named Arduin and a contingent of Normans led by William de Hauteville. The Normans were largely mercenaries and were hard to control without coin,
Psellos went on to speak of Maniakes: “There was nothing soft or agreeable about the appearance of Maniakes but put one in the mind of a tempest; his voice was like thunder and his hands seemed to be made for tearing down walls or smashing doors of bronze. He could spring like a lion and his frown was terrible. And everything else about him was in proportion. Those who saw him for the first time discovered that every description they had heard of him was an understatement.”
Given this, admittedly rather epically written description of the famous strategos, one can only imagine the effect he had on the emperor’s brother-in-law, Stephen the Caulker. Stephen was a completely unremarkable man who, due to his favorable juxtaposition by marriage and happenstance, found himself appointed to naval commander, a position to which he was in no way suited or qualified. In short, he was an idiot and was better suited at caulking ships rather than commanding them. Maniakes was not a man to suffer fools gladly, so it was only a matter of time before these two would clash. As it turns out, Maniakes did not get along with very many of his men and there was an inevitable clash with the Varangian leader Haraldr Hardrada, a man who was not a fool, but did not get on well with the bullying Maniakes. He certainly made enough of an impression on Haraldr, for Maniakes was mentioned in the Norse sagas where he was known as Gyrgir.
The campaign in question was Sicily and the enemy was the Saracens who had long held the island. Maniakes and his men took Messina and Rometta almost, it seems, without trying. The problem began at Syracuse. The Byzantines had won much booty from the Saracens, gold, jewels, precious fabric military equipment and horses. Given that the Varangians had a long standing agreement as part of their service, that they would receive a lion’s share of the booty. It is only reasonable to assume that there were stipulations made for booty on the part of the other commanders, such as, in this case Arduin the Lombard. For his part, he chose a magnificent Arab stallion. It was a shame that Maniakes also had his eye on the same stallion. He demanded that Arduin relinquish it. Arduin refused. He was soon relieved of the horse anyway and stripped and beaten for his audacity. This humiliation seated within Arduin a deep and abiding hatred that would eventually lead him to switch sides and rebel against the Byzantines. As for the other troops, the Normans led by William de Hauteville and the Varangians looked upon this treatment of their fellow Germanic warrior and turned and walked out. The Normans would go on to revolt against the Byzantines and continue the Sicilian campaign independently and solely for their own gains. The Varangians returned to Constantinople. Maniakes was left with a reduced army with a depleted morale.
Once again Maniakes’ overbearing ego and his enormous temper, got him into trouble. However the real conflict between Stephen and Maniakes did not truly come to a head until the Battle of Dranginai, which according to all accounts, was a win for the Byzantines. They used special metal cases on their horses feet to protect them from the devastating caltrops that the Saracens had left to cripple and disable them. With the unexpected development, that they faced a cavalry charge that they thought they had completely incapacitated, the Saracens were left surprised and bewildered.
In addition, a dust storm rose up on the plain and left them blinded and disoriented. In the midst of all this, Stephen the caulker had one job and one only. As the naval commander, he was supposed to guard the cost with his fleet and prevent the escape of Wallah Abdullah, the Saracen commander. There is no record on what exactly happened here. Was Stephen sleeping? Was there a fog that enabled Abdullah to escape? Whatever happened, the Saracen commander slipped through the Byzantine network of ships sitting off the coast. The result was a furious Maniakes when he discovered what he supposed was Stephen’s brash ineptitude. When he confronted Stephen, reportedly with the handle of a whip. And while he is said to have beaten him, he must have, for all his size, used a modicum of restraint, as Stephen was able to escape alive and send word to the emperor, his brother-in-law. The result was that Maniakes was recalled to Constantinople. He was not given a chance to defend himself and found himself in prison, where he languished until the throne again received a new imperial behind in the person of Michael V. The command of the Sicily expedition went by default to Stephen, a most unwise choice, as the campaign deteriorated under his inexpert leadership. Two years later Michael V released Maniakes from prison and he was sent back to Sicily which is found in a shambles, much of what he had won for the empire had been lost once again to the Saracens. Perhaps his name would have been remembered with more fondness had he been able to restrain his ego and his ambition. Yet the very things that had made him great were also his downfall.
Loved this! Very informative while also being a fun read.