Tatikios Tatikios or Taticius ( , died after 1099 ) was a Byzantine general during the reign of Alexius I Comnenus . His name is also rendered as Tetigus , Tatizius , Tatitius , Tatic , or Tetig . Origins and early life . His father was a " Saracen " , probably meaning a Turk , who was captured by Alexius ' father John Comnenus and served as a slave in the Comnenus household . Tatikios and Alexius grew up together , and he is described as an " oikogenes " of Alexius ( that is , " from the same house " ) . In 1078 , before Alexius was emperor , he accompanied Alexius in battle against his rival Nicephorus Basilacius , and discovered Basilacius ' plans for an ambush . When Alexius became emperor in 1081 he held the office of " megas primikerios " in the imperial household . Later that year he commanded the " Turks living around Ochrida " , perhaps Hungarians at the Battle of Dyrrhachium against Robert Guiscard . Military and political career . In 1086 he was sent to Nicaea in an attempt to recapture it from the Seljuks ; he was forced to retreat when he learned that Seljuk reinforcements were on their way . Alexius sent him back with naval assistance from Manuel Boutoumites , but although he was able to defeat Abu ' l Qasim , the governor of the city , in Bithynia , but could not recapture the city . At the end of the year he was recalled and sent to fight the Pechenegs , who were assisting the heretical Manichaeans revolt against Alexius , near Philippopolis . In 1087 he commanded the Byzantine right wing in the Battle of Dristra against the Pechenegs , and in 1090 he defeated a small force of 300 Pechenegs while leading the " Archontopouloi " " tagma " against them . In early 1094 , he was placed in charge of guarding Alexius ' tent at Pentegostis . Here he discovered the plot of Nicephorus Diogenes , son of the former emperor Romanus IV Diogenes , to kill the emperor . Nicephorus was an old friend of Alexius and Tatikios and Alexius was reluctant to punish him , but it was clear that Nicephorus was ambitious for the throne . He was exiled and was eventually blinded . Later in 1094 , he attended the synod of Blachernae which condemned Bishop Leo of Chalcedon , presumably in some function of security . In the records of this synod Tatikios is given the court title of " protoproedros " . In 1095 Tatikios accompanied Alexius in the campaign against the Cumans . Role during the First Crusade . In 1096 he defended Constantinople from reckless Crusaders who attacked the city after their arrival . In 1097 , with Tzitas and 2000 peltast s , Alexius sent him to Nicaea to assist the Crusaders in their siege of the city . Crusade chronicler Albert of Aix says that he acted as an envoy between the Turks and the crusaders , but according to the more reliable Anna Comnena , he was working with Boutoumites to negotiate the surrender of the city without the Crusaders ' knowledge . This caused a deep rift between the Latins and Greeks . However , Tatikios was ordered to accompany the Crusaders across Anatolia , both as a guide and also to ensure that any captured territory was returned to the Empire . After leaving Nicaea , the Crusaders split into two groups . Tatikios accompanied the Norman ( under Guiscard ' s son Bohemund of Taranto , Bohemund ' s nephew Tancred , and Robert of Normandy ) and Flemish ( under Robert of Flanders ) contingents . The " Gesta Francorum " records that he frequently warned the Crusaders of the ferocity of the Turks . During the siege of Antioch , Raymond of Aguilers writes that he advised the Crusaders to disperse and capture the surrounding countryside before attacking the city itself , which would also help them avoid a famine ( this advice was ignored ) . In February 1098 he left the siege ; according to Anna , who probably talked to Tatikios personally or had access to his reports , Tatikios was informed by Bohemund that the other Crusaders mistrusted him and had threatened his life . Bohemund , on the other hand , spread the rumour that Tatikios was a coward and a traitor , and had fled the army never intending to return , despite his promises to bring back reinforcements from Constantinople . This is the account preserved in contemporary crusader chronicles , who refer to him as a great enemy and a liar ( " periurio manet et manebit " , according to the " Gesta Francorum " ) ; Anna ' s account , of course , may be influenced by her deep prejudice against Bohemund , a long - standing enemy of her father . Appearance and descendants . The Crusade chroniclers mention that Tatikios had a mutilated nose ; mutilation of the face was a common Byzantine punishment for traitors but this does not appear to be the case in this instance . According to Guibert of Nogent he had a prosthetic gold nose as a replacement . Contrary to the Crusaders ' opinions of him , Anna describes him as " a valiant fighter , a man who kept his head under combat conditions , " and " a clever orator and a powerful man of action . " Anna also tells the story that Tatikios and Alexius were playing polo when the general was thrown from his horse and landed on the emperor . Alexius injured his knee in the incident and was thereafter afflicted by gout . Anna does not mention the date of this incident ; it is an aside in her account of Alexius ' campaigns against the Turks around 1110 . There is no record of the dates of Tatikios ' birth or death . Although the office of Grand Primicerius ( " megas primikerios " ) was usually held by a eunuch , Tatikios seems to have had descendants who were members of a powerful noble family in the 12th century , including another general , prominent at the Battle of Sirmium , under Manuel I Comnenus . A probable descendant , Constantine Tatikios , was deprived of his sight following a failed plot against Isaac Angelos . References . Primary : Secondary :