   #copyright

Treaty of Devol

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General history

   The Treaty of Devol was an agreement made in 1108 between Bohemund I of
   Antioch and Byzantine Emperor Alexius I, in the wake of the First
   Crusade. Although it was not initially enforced, it was intended to
   make the Principality of Antioch a vassal state of the Byzantine
   Empire. It is a typical example of the Byzantine tendency to settle
   disputes through diplomacy rather than warfare, and was both a result
   of and a cause for the distrust between the Byzantines and their
   Western European neighbors.

Background

   Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus
   Enlarge
   Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus

   In 1097, the Crusader armies assembled at Constantinople after having
   traveled separately eastward through Europe. Alexius I, who had
   requested only mercenaries from the West to help fight the Seljuk
   Turks, blockaded these armies in the city and would not permit them to
   leave until their leaders swore oaths promising to return to the Empire
   any land that they might conquer on the way to Jerusalem. The Crusaders
   eventually swore these oaths, individually rather than as a group;
   some, such as Raymond IV of Toulouse, were probably sincere, but
   others, such as Bohemund, probably never intended to honour their
   promise. It was generally understood by the Crusaders that Alexius
   would, in return, offer Byzantine military assistance. Alexius was
   indeed prepared to do so, although the Crusaders were exasperated by
   Byzantine tactics, such as negotiating the surrender of Nicaea from the
   Seljuks while it was still under siege by the Crusaders, who hoped to
   plunder it to help finance their journey. The Crusaders, feeling
   betrayed by Alexius, continued on their way without Byzantine aid. In
   1098, when Antioch had been captured after a long siege and the
   Crusaders were in turn themselves besieged in the city, Alexius marched
   out to meet them, but, hearing from various deserters that the
   situation was hopeless, he returned to Constantinople. The Crusaders,
   who had unexpectedly withstood the siege, believed Alexius had
   abandoned them and now considered the Byzantines completely
   untrustworthy.

   By 1100, there were several Crusader states, including the Principality
   of Antioch, founded by Bohemund in 1098. It was argued that Antioch
   should be returned to the Byzantines, despite Alexius's supposed
   betrayals, but Bohemund disagreed and claimed it for himself. Alexius,
   of course, disagreed; Antioch had an important port, was a trade hub
   with Asia, and was a stronghold of the Eastern Orthodox Church, with an
   important Greek Patriarch. It had only been captured from the empire a
   few decades previously, unlike Jerusalem, which was much farther away
   and had not been in Byzantine hands for centuries. Alexius, therefore,
   did not recognize the legitimacy of the Principality, believing it
   should be returned to the Empire according to the oaths Bohemund had
   sworn in 1097.

   In 1100, Bohemund added a further insult to Alexius and the Orthodox
   Church by appointing Bernard of Valence as the new Latin Patriarch, at
   the same time expelling the Greek Patriarch, John the Oxite, who fled
   to Constantinople. Soon after this, Bohemund was captured by the
   Danishmends of Syria and was imprisoned for three years, during which
   the Antiochenes chose his nephew Tancred as regent. After Bohemund was
   released, he was defeated by the Seljuks at the Battle of Harran in
   1104; this defeat led to renewed pressure on Antioch from both the
   Seljuks and the Byzantines. Bohemund left Tancred in control of Antioch
   and returned home, touring Italy and France to raise more troops and
   money for a new crusade.

   Bohemund's Norman relatives in Sicily had been in conflict with the
   Byzantine Empire for over 30 years; his father Robert Guiscard was one
   of the Empire's strongest enemies. While Bohemund was away Alexius sent
   an army to reoccupy Antioch and the cities of Cilicia. In 1107, having
   organized a new army for his planned crusade against the Muslims in
   Syria, Bohemund instead launched into open warfare against Alexius,
   crossing the Adriatic to besiege Dyrrhachium, the westernmost city of
   the Empire. Like his father, however, Bohemund was unable to make any
   significant advances into the Empire; Alexius avoided a pitched battle
   and Bohemund's siege failed, partly due to a plague among his army.

Settlements

   In September 1108, Alexius requested that Bohemund negotiate with him
   at the imperial camp at Diabolis (Devol). Bohemund had no choice but to
   accept, now that his disease-stricken army would no longer be able to
   defeat Alexius in battle. He admitted that he had violated the oath
   sworn in 1097, but refused to acknowledge that it had any bearing on
   the present circumstances, as Alexius, in Bohemund's eyes, had also
   violated the agreement by turning back from the siege of Antioch in
   1098. Alexius agreed to consider the oaths of 1097 invalid. The
   specific terms of the treaty were negotiated by the general Nicephorus
   Bryennius, and were recorded by Nicephorus' wife, Alexius' daughter
   Anna Comnena:
     * Bohemund agreed to become a vassal of the emperor, and also of
       Alexius' son and heir John;
     * He agreed to help defend the empire, wherever and whenever he was
       required to do so, and agreed to an annual payment of 200 talents
       in return for this service;
     * He was given the title of sebastos, as well as doux (duke) of
       Antioch;
     * He was granted as imperial fiefs Antioch and Aleppo (the latter of
       which neither the Crusaders nor the Byzantines controlled, but it
       was understood that Bohemund should try to conquer it);
     * He agreed to return Laodicea and other Cilician territories to
       Alexius;
     * He agreed to let Alexius appoint a Greek patriarch.

   A Byzantine title and a grant of land may have been all Bohemund was
   looking for in the first place in 1097, although he may have also
   wanted the title of Grand Domestic of the East, rather than simply
   sebastos.
   Asia Minor and the Crusader states around 1140.
   Enlarge
   Asia Minor and the Crusader states around 1140.

   The terms were negotiated according to Bohemund's western
   understanding, so that he saw himself as a feudal vassal of Alexius, a
   "liege man," homo ligius or ανθροπος λιζιος. However, in Byzantine
   terms he was essentially a conquered enemy drafted into mercenary
   service for the empire, as evidenced by the annual payment. The title
   of doux meant that he was a Byzantine subject, not an independent
   prince (the title he had given himself in 1098); this was more similar
   to the Byzantine pronoia system than to the western feudal system.

   In any case, Antioch was granted to Bohemund for life, unless the
   emperor (either Alexius or, in the future, John) chose for any reason
   to renege on the deal. The principality would then revert to direct
   Byzantine rule on Bohemund's death. Bohemund therefore could not set up
   a dynasty in Antioch, although Alexius promised him a hereditary
   dukedom elsewhere (possibly the County of Edessa; there is text missing
   in the Alexiad, but if this is the case, neither Bohemund nor Alexius
   controlled that territory either, although at the time Tancred was
   regent there as well as in Antioch).

   Anna Comnena described the proceedings with very repetitive details,
   with Bohemund frequently pointing out his own mistakes and praising the
   benevolence of Alexius and the Empire. The treaty appears to be
   entirely to Alexius' benefit, and the proceedings must have been rather
   humiliating for Bohemund. On the other hand, Anna's work was meant to
   praise her father and the terms of the treaty may not be entirely
   accurate. It is notable that Crusader sources either mention the treaty
   only in passing, or do not mention it at all.

   The treaty was concluded with an oath sworn by Bohemund, as recorded by
   Anna:

     "...I swear to you, our Lord and Emperor Alexius Comnenus, most
     powerful and revered, and to your co-Emperor, the thrice-beloved
     Lord John the Porphyrogenitus, that all the agreements made between
     us and confirmed by me verbally I will observe and will for ever
     keep absolutely inviolate...In thought and in deed I shall do
     everything to help and honour the Empire of the Romans..."

   The oral agreement was written down in two copies, one given to
   Alexius, and the other given to Bohemund. According to Anna, the
   witnesses from Bohemund's camp who signed his copy of the treaty were
   Maurus, bishop of Amalfi and papal legate, Renard, bishop of Tarentum,
   and the minor clergy accompanying them; the abbot of the monastery of
   St. Andrew in Brindisi, along with two of his monks; and a number of
   unnamed "pilgrims" (probably soldiers in Bohemund's army). From
   Alexius' imperial court, the treaty was witnessed by the sebastos
   Marinus, Roger son of Dagobert, Peter Aliphas, William of Gand, Richard
   of the Principate, Geoffrey of Mailli, Hubert son of Raoul, Paul the
   Roman, the ambassadors Peres and Simon from Hungary, and the
   ambassadors Basil the Eunuch and Constantine. Interestingly, many of
   Alexius' witnesses were themselves westerners, and Basil and
   Constantine were ambassadors in the service of Bohemund's relatives in
   Sicily.

   Neither copy of the treaty survives. It is unknown if it was written in
   Latin, Greek, or both. Both languages are likely given the number of
   westerners present, many of whom would have known Latin.

Outcome

   Bohemund then returned to Sicily and died in 1111, before he had an
   opportunity to return to Antioch; or, perhaps, he felt he had lost his
   prestige and power there and did not want (or dare) to return. He
   probably realized his nephew Tancred would be persuaded to honour the
   treaty only by force of arms; in Bohemund's absence, Tancred indeed
   refused to honour it. In his mind, Antioch was his by right of
   conquest. He saw no reason to hand it over to someone who had not been
   involved in the Crusade, and had indeed actively worked against it (as
   the Crusaders believed). The Crusaders seem to have felt Alexius had
   tricked Bohemund into giving him Antioch; they already believed Alexius
   was devious and untrustworthy and this may have confirmed their
   beliefs. The treaty referred to Tancred as the illegal holder of
   Antioch, and Alexius had expected Bohemund to expel him or somehow
   control him. Tancred also did not allow a Greek Patriarch to enter the
   city; instead, Greek Patriarchs were appointed in Constantinople and
   nominally held power there.

   The question of the status of Antioch and the adjacent Cilician cities
   troubled the Empire for many years afterwards. The Treaty of Devol
   seems to have been considered void after Bohemund's death, but Alexius'
   son John attempted to impose his authority in Antioch, travelling to
   Antioch himself in 1137 to negotiate a new treaty. In 1138 a riot was
   engineered against him and he was forced to leave. It was not until
   1158, during the reign of Manuel I Comnenus, that Antioch truly became
   a vassal of the empire, after Manuel forced Prince Raynald of Chatillon
   to swear fealty to him in punishment for Raynald's attack on Byzantine
   Cyprus. The Greek Patriarch was restored, and ruled simultaneously with
   the Latin Patriarch. Antioch, weakened by powerless regents after
   Raynald's capture by the Muslims in 1160, remained a Byzantine vassal
   state until 1182 when internal divisions following Manuel's death in
   1180 hindered the Empire's ability to enforce its claim.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Devol"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
