Michael IV Syntiritis

## Michael Polymathenes

Michael IV depicted in a mosaic in Adrianople

**Michael IV Polymathenes** was the Byzantine Emperor from 848 to 904. He is known for his campaigns against the Abbasid Caliphate and Bulgarian Empire, for which he earned the nickname "Syntiritis", meaning Restorer.

## Early life

Michael was born in Nicaea in 824 AD. His father was Niketas, the Magister Militum of Anatolia. Niketas had risen from only ruling a small village in Anatolia to becoming the Magister Militum of the region. Michael probably had a fairly normal childhood for a Byzantine noble. He received education in political, military, and religious topics.

## Magister Militum of Anatolia

### **Regency**

In 837, Niketas, Michael's father, died, and Michael became the Magister Militum of Anatolia at only 13 years of age. Gregory of Paphlagonia, one of Niketas' most trusted advisors, was appointed as Michael's regent.

#### **Euchaia Rebellion**

Michael was almost immediately opposed by some of the regional leaders, notably including Adrian of Ionia and John of Euchaia. They thought that Michael and Gregory were not strong enough to rule. In the summer of 838, John of Euchaia began the revolt when he attacked a fortress in Paphlagonia. Adrian of Ionia's forces in the south of Anatolia went north into the region of Dardanellia. Gregory of Paphlagonia, hearing the news, rallied an army and met John of Euchaia's forces at Pimolisa. Over the battle, John of Euchaia was defeated and killed but Gregory of Paphlagonia lost many soldiers. Meanwhile, in the West, Adrian of Ionia's forces were met by Leo of Nicomedia, who was defeated. After this, Adrian surrendered to Michael, ending the rebellion.

#### **Abbasid attack on Anastasiopolis**

An Abbasid army numbering 1,500 horsemen, 2,000 archers, and 4,000 infantry entered Byzantine lands in summer 839, heading for the town of Anastasiopolis. Gregory was sent to deal with the situation, and he strengthened the fortifications of Anastasiopolis, preparing for the Abbasids to attack. Using the local workforce, he had a small trench dug around the city and spikes were built around the gates to prevent the Abbasids from using their cavalry. Gregory also made small wooden shields that his archers could hide behind to protect themselves from the enemy archers. Gregory knew that if he wanted to win the battle, he would have to have these advantages, because the Abbasids outnumbered him almost two to one.

When the Abbasid army arrived, Gregory conscripted all men who were able to fight from the city to increase his numbers. However, very few of these soldiers had any experience in combat, and those who did have experience were often older men. At this point Gregory had about 6,500 soldiers.

When the Abbasids finally attacked, on the 8th of August 839, they first sent in their cavalry to scare the Byzantines and to reduce their numbers. The cavalry were weakened by the Byzantine archers, and the spikes forced them to dismount or slow down around the gates, making it even easier for the archers to defeat them. Gregory stood outside the gates, trying to defend against the Arab cavalry. One horseman stabbed Gregory in the shoulder with a spear. Gregory decided to send all of his swordsmen forward to counter the Abbasid cavalry, and the battle ended up being a stalemate, with the Abbasid cavalry retreating.

After the Abbasid cavalry retreated, Gregory prepared for another attack, but the Abbasids instead decided that the battle wasn't worth it. After a few days, Gregory sent scouts out to look for the Abbasids, to see if they tried to take a defensive position in the mountains, but the army was nowhere to be seen. After the anticlimactic Battle of Anastasiopolis, Gregory returned home to Paphlagonia, and after he resigned as regent, he lived a quite normal life for a Byzantine noble, aside from the occasional Abbasid attacks, until his death in 861.

### **Personal reign**

   Michael started his own reign after he became 16 years old. Nothing notable is known to have happened in the first couple years of his reign as Magister Militum. In 841, he did send Adrian of Ionia, one of the leaders of the Euchaian revolt, into exile.

#### **Events of 842**

842, the second year of Michael's own reign, was a chaotic year for Anatolia. The year probably started as normal, with little happening. Michael probably went to Constantinople to pay tribute to the newly coronated emperor Michael III, but we do not know of anything else that happened early in the year.

##### **Great Fire of Nicaea**

On the 20th of March, a fire started in Nicaea. The fire quickly spread around the city and by the next day the city was in ruins. When Michael heard the news of the fire, he rushed south to Nicaea to assess the damage done to the city and to plan to rebuild it. Many people fled to nearby cities and towns, including Michael's capital, Nicomedia. According to Eusthatius, Michael’s historian:

> *At sunrise a battle of the Akritai* *passed into the city… These soldiers were not of the brave kind who defended Melitene against the Saracens… Instead they demanded from each citizen a payment… The citizens refused to pay the soldiers and so, the soldiers expelled the citizens from their homes… Soon the furious citizens demanded for justice and they threw flames into the office of the governor…. Then the flames spread, and they were supported by the weather, for this year’s had been an unusually humid spring time. By the next day the city was ablaze and the Akritai and the citizens fled.*
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Michael would rush to Nicaea, after the fire had been put out, to plan the rebuilding of the city. It would take years before the city would be restored to its former glory, but with the help of some of the clever architects Michael had hired to help, the city would be rebuilt, arguably, better than before.

##### **Abbasid attack and campaign into Anatolia**

In June, an army of Abbasids attacked the northern region of Anatolia. According to Eusthatius, the Abbasids numbered 12,000 swordsmen, 5,000 cavalry, and 7,500 archers, a total of about 24,500 soldiers. In comparison, Michael's forces numbered 8,000 swordsmen, 2,500 horsemen, and 4,500 archers, a total of 15,000 soldiers.

Michael set up his camp near Dorylaeum, and he imitated Gregory of Paphlagonia's tactics at Anastasiopolis. First Michael commanded his soldiers to dig a ditch surrounding the camp, with palisades also surrounding the camp. He built makeshift wooden towers for his archers to use against the Arabs. According to Theodoretos, the defences

> *... had made the army significantly more secure in its location. The moat slowed the Saracen advance and the palisade blocked them from entering the camp... All of this while the Roman archers could shoot their bows to kill them off.*
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When the Abbasids arrived, they arranged their army so that their cavalry was positioned at the center, their infantry on the left and right flanks, and the archers behind the rest of the army. Michael arranged his soldiers so that his archers would fire from their wooden towers, while his cavalry was on the right flank and his infantry covered the center and the left flank.

The Abbasids sent their cavalry to the center of the Byzantine army, where a fierce battle began, andbut the Byzantines fought for hours against the Abbasid cavalry, exhausting both sides of the battle. Then Michael sent his archers to join his infantry. Knowing that the Abbasid cavalry was exhausted, Michael sent his infantry to destroy the cavalry, all while the archers were raining down arrows upon the Abbasids. However, the Abbasids sent their left flank to attack the Byzantine infantry, practically destroying Michael's left flank. Meanwhile, the Byzantine cavalry charged through the Abbasid's right flank, with that flank grinding to a halt quickly. After this, Michael sent his cavalry to deal with the Abbasid infantry. At this point, the Abbasids retreated, leaving both sides exhausted from the fighting at Dorylaeum, and the battle was effectively a stalemate.

After the Battle of Dorylaeum, Michael considered chasing the Abbasid army, but he decided against it, and to bolster his numbers he recruited many men from Dorylaeum, and he also hired mercenaries to fight for him. He then strengthened the defences of Dorylaeum, building new walls for the city and setting up barracks near the city. At this time Michael's army probably numbered around 20,000. After waiting a month for the Abbasid's arrival, he decided to go ahead and try to take Angora from the Abbasids.

The Abbasid garrison of Angora was probably around four thousand men. Michael set up his camp outside the city walls and he attempted to overrun the garrison and enter the city through its southern gate, but he failed. So, Michael prepared for a siege of the city. The siege lasted less than a month until word reached Michael about a rebellion in Ionia, led by Adrian of Ionia, who returned from exile. Michael decided to sign a truce with the Abbasids at this time, to deal with the Ionian Rebellion.

##### **Ionian Rebellion**

Adrian of Ionia had landed in Smyrna with his supporters, and he went around Ionia taking over villages and cities. When Michael arrived, Adrian retreated into his fortress of Smyrna. When Michael's men breached one of the gates, Adrian rallied his supporters to face Michael. Michael sent about 600 of his elite soldiers and another 600 less experienced ones. He put his elite troops at the front and back of this battlalion, while the inexperienced troops were in the middle. Adrian sent 1500 of his soldiers to deal with Michael’s forces.

At the start of the battle, Michael’s elite soldiers were able to repel the rebels, but after some time the Ionians sent about 200 men to flank Michael’s men from behind. At this point, the elite soldiers were falling, and Michael attempted to save as many of his soldiers as he could before he decided to flee to Magnesia.

After the battle of Smyrna, Adrian rampaged across Ionia, burning villages to the ground that did not support him, and looting from almost every household. This would make the population of this region upset at Adrian and ultimately more welcoming to Michael in the end. However, for now, most of the Ionian coast was under Adrian's control. It was at Prousa, where Adrian and Michael's forces would meet.

Michael's forces were waiting in Prousa, preparing to move into Ionia and face Adrian there. Thus, they were unprepared when Adrian's troops attacked the city. Although the two armies' numbers were almost equal, Adrian of Ionia would win a great victory, leaving the road open up to Nicaea. It was at this point that Michael decided to set aside some of his treasury to hire some Bulgarian mercenaries. These mercenaries would be of great use to him in the next battles.

Michael and Adrian's forces would meet again at Nicaea. Michael would have his own troops defend while the Bulgarian mercenaries waited in the back of the army. This would make Adrian's forces worn down from fighting, and later, the Bulgarian mercenaries would flank Adrian's forces from behind, allowing Michael to win the battle. After this, Adrian would flee to Rome. Finally, 842, a chaotic year in Anatolia, was over.

#### **Abbasid invasion of Anatolia**

In 843, the Abbasids had noticed the turmoil of the previous year, in Anatolia, and decided to invade. The invasion was led by the skilled Abbasid commander Karim al-Kabir, who commanded an impressive force of about 45,000 men. Michael only had a force of about 16,000 men, most of whom were exhausted from the Ionian Rebellion and Michael's invasion to Angora. Meanwhile, the Abbasid forces were experienced from their numerous conquests and campaigns.

The Abbasid forces advanced into Anatolia, and met the Byzantine forces at the town of Agrilion. The Byzantine forces stationed themselves on the river, so that the Abbasids attacking them would not be able to charge at them so easily. In addition, the Byzantines burned down bridges that led across the river, so the Arabs could not be able to flank them. Karim al-Kabir, seeing Michael's strategy, would position his archers at the front of his army, and they rained down arrows upon the Byzantine forces, who would be decimated by the archers. The Abbasid archers would continue firing arrows at the Byzantine soldiers throughout the day, until, in the evening, when Karim al-Kabir commanded his infantry to cross the river. The Byzantine forces, exhausted from the archers, would not be able to put up a sufficient defence, while the Abbasid infantry had not seen fighting at all. Seeing the decimation of his forces, Michael took his personal guard, as well as his cavalry, and fled, and commanded any soldiers who could do the same to do so.

The defeat left the road to Nicomedia completely open to the Abbasids, and they could have easily taken it, but Karim al-Kabir spent the next few months conquering Ionia and Dardanellia. This gave time for Michael to to recover from the defeat, as he recruited as many troops as he could from the land he controlled, and he requested the emperor Michael the Drunkard for help, which the emperor obliged.

With the reinforcements from the Emperor's own army, as well as the few reinforcements Michael could get from the countryside, the Byzantine army in Anatolia probably numbered around 13,500 at this point. Michael would meet the Abbasids at Nicomedia, where his forces would meet the Abbasids just outside the walls. Michael decided to command his infantry to form a shieldwall, where his archers would stand behind them, shooting the Abbasid infantry attacking them.

At the start of the battle, Michael commanded his cavalry to charge into the Abbasid forces, he did this to demoralize the Abbasids, to make them think that the Byzantines had a much larger force hiding inside the city walls, because of the boldness of the cavalry charge. While this did work to some degree, it would not win him the battle. Most of the Byzantine cavalry was killed, and those who were not were captured. Only a few of the survivors escaped. After the cavalry charge, Karim al-Kabir commanded his cavalry to charge the Byzantine shield wall, knowing that the archers could not hit the cavalry so easily. The cavalry did not do much of anything to the Byzantine infantry, but the same can be said for the Byzantine infantry, as the shieldwall was only meant to protect the archers, and to slow down the Abbasids significantly.

Karim al-Kabir would then send his infantry forward, and they would decimate the Byzantine shieldwall, however, the shieldwall did hold out long enough for the archers to inflict a reasonable amount of casualties upon the Abbasids. After this, Nicomedia fell to the Abbasids, although there was some resistance among the city's population.

Michael fled to Constantinople, where he and the emperor were forced to negotiate a humiliating peace deal with the Abbasids. The Byzantine Empire would only keep the lands around the Sea of Marmara, including the cities of Nicaea and Nicomedia, as well as keeping the lands around Smyrna.

#### **Service against the Bulgarian Empire**

From 844 to 847, Michael would serve as a commander in one of the many Byzantine wars against the Bulgarian Empire. During his time in Bulgaria, Michael would learn a lot about military strategy and tactics, and he even won against the Bulgarians when he was outnumbered, at Lozengrad. Michael's service in the war against Bulgaria would also pave the way for his eventual coup in 848, as Michael the Drunkard's actions were often seen as idiotic and clumsy, while Michael Polymathenes' actions were seen as well-thought out, and he earned some respect for often being one of the only commanders to be bold enough to oppose the Emperor's foolish commands.

## See also

* Gregory of Paphlagonia, Michael’s regent while he was ruler of Anatolia
* Nikephoros II, Michael’s son who would go on to become Emperor and conquer Dacia
* Michael the Good, Michael’s grandson who died trying to defend Michael’s conquests
* The Byzantine Empire, the empire that Michael was emperor of
* The Polymathenes crisis, the series of conflicts and wars that arose following the death of Michael's grandson, the aforementioned Michael V.

## Notes

1. ↑ "Syntiritis" also can mean "maintainer", or "conservator", in addition to "restorer".
2. ↑ Michael would be shown to excel in all three of these later in his life, especially military matters, as he is mainly known for his conquests of Anatolia and Bulgaria, which revitalized the Byzantine Empire, but also his reorganization of these newly-acquired lands.
3. ↑ The relations between the two were never friendly, and this is shown by the fact that Michael the Drunkard would be overthrown in favor of Michael Polymathenes. The tribute was probably just done as a formality.
4. ↑ Akritai were soldiers that guarded the Byzantine Empire's eastern border against the Abbasids. Most often, the Akritai were of Greek or Armenian ethnicity. At the time, 'battle' referred to a regiment of troops.
5. ↑ Theodoretos was a Byzantine historian during the reigns of Theophilos, Michael the Drunkard, and Michael IV.
6. ↑ While not his capital, Nicaea was a very important city in Anatolia, however, due to the recent fire, the city was already ruined, and a siege could have possibly destroyed it.
7. ↑ Michael was not intending to win the battle, in fact, he never believed that he could, after the defeat at Agrilion, however, he only intended to stall and slow down the Abbasid army.
8. ↑ The peace deal significantly reduced Michael's power within the Empire, and brought Eastern Rome to the smallest it had been up to that point. In addition, this showed the first signs of Michael the Drunkard's incompetency, which would make Michael IV's coup in 848 significantly easier, as he had support from the majority of the Empire's nobles.
9. ↑ Even when Michael Polymathenes lost, which happened often, many Byzantine nobles knew that his actions were still well thought-out and he intended to win. Even though many viewed him as only a 'good enough' commander at this time, most people accepted that he was better than the reality that was Michael the Drunkard.