Tatikios

Tatikios or Taticius (Greek: Τατίκιος, c. 1048 - died after 1110) was an Eastern Roman general of Turkish origin during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos. His name is also rendered as Tetigus, Tatizius, Tatitius, Tatic, or Tetig.

Origins and early life

The father of Tatikios was a "

in the Comnenus household. Tatikios and Alexius grew up together. Tatikios is described as an oikogenes of Alexius (that is, "from the same house").

In 1078, before Alexius became emperor, Tatikios accompanied him in battle against his rival

.

Military and political career

In 1086 Tatikios was sent to

against them.

In early 1094, Tatikios was placed in charge of guarding Alexius' tent at

In 1095 Tatikios accompanied Alexius in the campaign against the Cumans.

Role during the First Crusade

In 1096 Tatikios defended Constantinople from

, 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

records that Tatikios frequently warned the Crusaders of the ferocity of the Turks.

During the siege of Antioch, Raymond of Aguilers writes that Tatikios 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 and provisions 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.

The accusation of betrayal against Tatikios appears to be unjustified. The Byzantine general had left his personal possessions in the crusader camp and hence forfeited them. More conclusively, on 4 March 1098, a few weeks after the departure of Tatikios, a fleet bearing food supplies and siege materials for the crusader army outside Antioch arrived at the port of St Simeon.^[4] The modern historian Peter Frankopan suggests that Alexius was by now confident enough in the established links between Byzantium and the leaders of the crusade to retain his liaison officer in Constantinople for other duties.^[5]

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

. 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 (

Notes

1. ^ Brand, p. 3
2. ^ Brand, loc.cit.
3. ^ Magdalino, p. 502.
4. ISBN 978-0-099-55503-2
   .
5. ISBN 978-0-099-55503-2
   .
6. ^ Choniates p. 233

References

Primary:

• ISBN 0-8143-1764-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
  )
• ISBN 0-14-044215-4
  .

Secondary:

• Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, Vol. 1: The First Crusade. Cambridge, 1952.
• Skoulatos, Basile (1980). Les personnages byzantins de l'Alexiade: Analyse prosopographique et synthèse [The Byzantine Personalities of the Alexiad: Prosopographical Analysis and Synthesis] (in French). Louvain-la-Neuve: Nauwelaerts.
• Albert of Aix, Historia Hierosolymitana.
• Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum (anonymous)
• Guibert of Nogent, Dei gesta per Francos.
• Peter Tudebode, Historia de Hierosolymitano itinere.
• Raymond of Aguilers, Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem.
• Charles M. Brand, "The Turkish Element in Byzantium, Eleventh-Twelfth Centuries", Dumbarton Oaks Papers 43:1-25 (1989) at JSTOR
• ISBN 0-521-52653-1
  .