Byzantine Battles: Battle of Edessa

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4 th century

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5 th century

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6 th century

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7 th century

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8 th century

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9 th century

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10 th century

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11 th century

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12 th century

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13 th century

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14 th century

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15 th century

Battle of Edessa	year: 1031
The Byzantines took the city, in the first success of General Maniakes	★ ★ ★ ★ ★

enemy: Kurds (Marwanids)	location: Modern Sanliurfa, Southeastern Turkey	accuracy: ●●●●●
battle type: City Capture	war: Later Byzantine-Muslim Wars	modern country: Turkey

	▼ The Byzantines(emperor: Romanos III Argyros)	▼ The Enemies
Commander:	Catepan George Maniakes	Emir Apomervanis
Forces:	Unknown	Unknown
Losses:

Background story:

The great general of the 11th century, George Maniakes, first appears in history after the crashing defeat of the Byzantines at the Battle of Azaz by the Arabs of Aleppo, in August 1030. At the time, Maniakes was the governor (strategos) of the little town Teluch.
After their victory in Azaz, the Arabs swept and looted the now unguarded Byzantine territories northeast of Antioch. A detachment of 800 Arabs appeared in Teluch and demanded that Maniakes hand over the city to them. Maniakes pretended to be willing to surrender, but in the next day; in the evening he sent to them food and wine. When the Arabs got drunk and fell asleep, the Byzantines slaughtered them. Maniakes sent to the emperor Romanos III, who had already arrived in Cappadocia, the ears and noses of the dead along with 280 camels loaded with the loot that the Arabs had taken from the Byzantine army at Azaz.
Emperor Romanos III Argyros greatly appreciated all this and appointed Maniakes Catepan of Lower Midia based in Samosata.

The Battle:

The seizure of Edessa

In 1031, Maniakes attacked Edessa, which in the past had been an important Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine city, until it was occupied by the Arabs in 638.
Its commander in 1031 was a Turk (or Kurd) named Suleiman who had been appointed to this position by the emir of Martyroupolis (modern Silvan in SE Turkey). Suleiman was bribed by Maniakes and handed over the city to him.
For some reason, it seems that Maniakes did not capture the whole city but only part of the fortification walls with three strong towers. Obviously, either Maniakes did not have enough men with him or the surrender did not go very well.
Apomervanis , the Kurdish emir of Mieferkheim (Martyropolis), when he was informed of this development, hurried and came to Edessa with a large army.
The Muslims tried to attack the part of the fortification that was held by the Greeks but were repulsed. Realizing that the opponent's defense was very effective and not being able to do anything else, Apomervanis destroyed the best buildings in the city, looted it and after loading the loot on camels, set fire to the rest of the city and returned to Martyropolis. Now Maniakes was able to take the rest of the city and its citadel.

Noteworthy:

A valuable Christian relic was found in Edessa: an apocryphal letter from Jesus Christ to the ruler of the city. The relic was sent to Constantinople and contemporary Greeks got a great thrill out of it. Maniakes became extremely popular.

Aftermath:

Maniakes became governor of the territory and, for some years, continued to fight successfully against Islam on the eastern frontier. Later he was sent to Sicily where he recaptured part of the island.
Edessa remained Byzantine for the next 50 years. Much later, in 1099, it became the capital of the first Crusader state.