Byzantine Battles: Battle of Lemnos

▶

4 th century

▶

5 th century

▶

6 th century

▶

7 th century

▶

8 th century

▶

9 th century

▶

10 th century

▶

11 th century

▶

12 th century

▶

13 th century

▶

14 th century

▶

15 th century

Battle of Lemnos (Raid of the Rus)	year: 1025
At Lemnos island, in North Aegean	★ ★ ★ ★ ★

enemy: Rus	location: Island Lemnos in Noerth Aegean	accuracy: ●●●●●
battle type: Naval battle	war: Byzantine-Rus Wars	modern country: Greece

	▼ The Byzantines(emperor: Constantine VII)	▼ The Enemies
Commander:	David of Ochrid, Nikephoros Kavasilas	Chrysocheir
Forces:		800
Losses:

Background story:

The Kiev Rus were a large and warlike nation and at times caused trouble in Byzantium (though not as serious as other neighboring nations), mainly by sea raids on Constantinople and the northern coasts of Asia Minor.
The population of Rus were predominantly Slavic, but the ruling class and the military were Vikings whom the Byzantines called Varangians.
In the 11th century the trade relations of Byzantium with the Russians were quite developed. Frequent visits to Byzantine ports and the city gave the opportunity to the “barbarians” Rus to admire and envy the riches of Byzantium.

In 1024-1025, during the reign of Yaroslav II, a new episode with the Rus took place after a long time. The new raid was not as massive or as catastrophic as some of the previous ones. Nevertheless, the Russians managed to reach the island of Lemnos.

The Battle:

Ships of the Rus

In December 1024, a small fleet with 800 Russian warriors arrived to Constantinople. The Russians were supposed to be looking for work as mercenaries (apparently in the Varangian Guard). It turned out that they had a different agenda. Their leader was a certain Chrysocheir, a relative of the late Vladimir I of Kiev (who died in 1015 – the ruler who took the historic initiative for the Christianization of Russia). His real name is not known, as “Chrysocheir” (meaning golden hand) is either a nickname or the Greek rendering of his name.
In Constantinople, Chrysocheir and his men were asked to surrender their weapons before being allowed to enter the city. The Russians refused and left, heading south. They crossed the Propontis and after easily defeating the guard of the straits in Abydos, they passed through the Dardanelles and sailed into North Aegean.

At the island of Lemnos, at the beginning (probably) of 1025, the Rus were confronted with a strong Byzantine force consisting mainly of the fleet of the Kivyrraiotes (that is, the region of the empire’s sailors) under the command of the strategos of Samos David of Ohrid and the doukas of Thessaloniki Nikephoros Kavasilas.
The Byzantines followed an old tactic: they pretended to start negotiations and then suddenly attacked the complacent invaders. None of them survived.

Aftermath:

The matter ended there and there were no more problems after the raid and the annihilation of the Russians. It seems that this was just an isolated episode by this particular group, without a plan and without the approval of the Russian leadership.