Thread by @Varangian_Tagma

George Maniakes was the image of a warrior. Tall, strong, and with a commanding presence, George made a lasting impression on those he met. The historian Michael Psellos wrote about his meeting with George, “His height was shy of three meters, and to look at him…

people had to lift their eyes as if they were looking at the top of a hill or a high mountain. His manners were not soft or pleasant but reminiscent of a storm. His voice sounded like thunder, and his hands seemed to be able to tear down walls or break bronze doors…

He could jump like a lion, and his frown was terrible. And everything else in him was excessive. Those who saw him found any description of him that they had heard to be an understatement.” Always wearing a red felt cap, the common soldier’s hat, George embodied his profession.

As the Imperial palace unraveled due to bad policy & intrigue, one institution remained valuable, the army. Basil’s officers & troops had been hardened by decades of constant war and kept at bay the many enemies of the weakening empire.

These veterans and the martial culture they bred would be crucial for the continued success of the Byzantines in the decades after Basil’s death. These men were so effective they were able to expand Byzantium’s borders during this period. George was the best example of this.

We know little about George until 1030. George was serving as Strategos of Teluch in Cilicia. During Michael IV disasterous campaign against Aleppo, Maniakes captured a fortified town near the city and occupied it. Shortly after Michael’s defeat, 800 Arabs approached the town.

George promised the Arab force that he would surrender the town in the morning and sent food and wine to the Arabs who let their guard down and became drunk. That night, George led his men out of the town and slaughtered the unsuspecting Arabs.

In 1031, George led an army to Edessa, capturing the city & sending 50 pounds of gold to Constantinople annually as tribute. George’s exploits worried the imperial administration and John the Orphanotrophos, a powerful eunuch, reassigned George to the governorship of Vaspurakan.

George was not there long. New military priorities demanded the best leadership the empire had to offer. George was made Catepan of Italy and tasked with reconquering Sicily. Maniakes landed in Messina with thematic troops from Macedonia and Calabria and took the city.

This force was augmented by a large corps of mercenaries. 500 Armenian infantry and 300 cavalry, Lombard soldiers, and 300 Norman knights under the leadership of William de Hauteville. Most famously, the emperor sent a contingent of Varangians under Harald Hardrada to Sicily.

After George took Messina, the fractious Arabs of the island joined forces against the Byzantine threat and amassed a force of 50,000 men. In the summer of 1038, the two armies met at Rametta on the road to the island’s interior. A long struggle ensued but George carried the day.

The Norman and Varangian contingents of the army distinguished themselves by their ferocity and inflicted heavy casualties on the Arabs. It was said the local river ran red with blood.

From Rametta, George marched south to Syracuse and besieged the city in the spring of 1040. Securing the eastern coast of the island, George moved inland. The Arabs under the leadership of Wale Abdullah had received reinforcements from his father, the Emir of Tunis.

60,000 Arabs met the Byzantines on the western slope of Mount Aetna near the city of Troina. Maniakes took the initiative and attacked. Stefanos, brother-in-law of John the Eunuch & Emperor Michael IV, commanded the fleet and was ordered to prevent the Arabs from fleeing.

A storm had kicked up dust on the battlefield and disorganized the Arab army. Maniakes sent his cavalry forward after outfitting them with iron shoes to counter the caltrops the Arabs spread over the battlefield. The Byzantines broke the Arabs & soon the battle became a massacre.

Skylitzes claims over 50,000 Arabs died, but this is likely an exaggeration. Abdullah managed to flee Troina and board a fast ship, escaping Stepanos’ blockade. His escape prevented Maniakes from ending the conflict there & Abdullah was certain to bring new armies to Sicily.

Enraged, Maniakes blamed Stefanos & publicly insulted him, calling him a traitor, lazy, and a coward while hitting him with his famous whip. Maniakes also whipped Arduin, the Lombard leader, for wanting to take a black stallion that Maniakes desired as loot from the battle.

These incidents sowed discord in the Byzantine army and Arduin returned to Italy with his Lombard and Norman soldiers. Stephanos wrote to his brother John claiming Maniakes was scheming to rebel against the Emperor. Maniakes was recalled from his siege of Palermo in chains.

Maniakes’s replacements were wholly inadequate and the Arabs quickly recaptured all but Messina in Sicily, undoing Maniakes’s hard work. The now-rogue Norman mercenaries began wrecking havoc in Southern Italy, conquering the region and Sicily itself decades later.

As the situation in Sicily collapsed, things worsened in Italy. Norman mercenaries and Lombard rebels had eroded the Byzantine position in the peninsula and the Catepan, Synodianos, was recalled after the death of Michael V. Only one general could reverse the situation, Maniakes.

Maniakes was only Catepan for a few months before Romanus Sclerus, brother of Constantine IX’s mistress, stirred him to rebel. Romanus looted Maniakes’s house and seduced his wife, having the gall to then demand Maniakes’s military command. Maniakes tortured Romanus to death.

Maniakes sealed Romanus’s ears, nose, and mouth with feces. Knowing the Emperor would kill him for this offense, Maniakes allowed his army to proclaim him emperor. Even the Varangian contingent in Italy supported his claim. Maniakes collected his army & marched to Constantinople.

Maniakes met troops loyal to Constantine IX on the outskirts of Thessaloniki. Maniakes’s army was winning the day until the giant general was killed. Maniakes, a true soldiers’ general, always fought at the front. Such leadership endeared him to his men but endangered his life.

Maniakes’s rebellion died with him and Constantine would rule the Empire until his death in 1055. Maniakes’s withdrawal of the Italian army from the Peninsula would weaken the Byzantine position further and contribute to the loss of the region in the coming decades.

Maniakes was the last, great general of the Byzantine war machine Phokas built. With the loss of aggressive & brilliant soldiers at the frontiers, Byzantium will buckle in the face of unending threats and rely heavily on mercenaries like Harald Hardrada, our next subject.