III. The Beginnings of Transformation

population. 131
BEGINNINGS OF TRANSFORMATION
Sometime later Christian Armenians retook it and engaged
in reciprocal, destructive raids with their enemies the Muslim Armenians
of Seveverek. 132
First Muslims and Christians, and then Seljuks and
Danishmendids, contested the city of Melitene and its neighboring
villages so that for over a century this land knew no peace. It was one of
the first large Byzantine towns that the Seljuks sacked when they appeared
in eastern Anatolia. 133
endemic 134
dids conquered it. 135
By 1071 the Turkish raids in the environs were
but the city held out until 1102 at which time the Danishmen­
kind to the inhabitants, 136
Kïlïdj I Arslan took it in 1106, and though he was
on his death the citizens were subjected to
financial oppression by his successors. 137
The environs ofthe city continued
to be raided by Turks as well as by Franks. 138
In 1124 the Danishmendid
Ilghazi finally retook Melitene after a difficult six-month siege as a result
ofwhich the inhabitants perished in great numbers. 139
In 1140-41 the
Turks of Melitene pillaged the neighboring monastic establishment of
Zabar. 140
Shortly afterward, when John Comnenus appeared before
Neocaesareia, hopes seem to have run high among the Christians of
Melitene that he might succeed, with the result that the Turks put many
inhabitants ofMelitene to the sword. 141
The struggle between Danishmen­
did and Seljuk over Melitene was continuous and between 1141 and 1143
Mas'ud of Konya besieged the city. 142
Raiding Turks pillaged and burned
the monastic complex of Bar Mar Sauma a few years later. 143
Kïlïdj II
1 3 1
Ibid., 205-206, he did this to chastise the Armenians who were raiding his lands. In
1062 -63 the regions of Nisibis and Seveverek had been raided by the Khurasan Salar.
Matthew of Edessa, pp. 115-118.
1 3 2
Michael the Syrian, III, 244, 247. Bar Hebraeus, I, 265. Matthew of Edessa, p. 313.
The Armenian rulers of Seveverek had converted to Islam to keep their domains.
1 3 3
Matthew of Edessa, pp. 107-108. Bar Hebraeus, I, 212—213. Michael the Syrian,
III, 165. Large numbers ofits inhabitants were killed or enslaved. One source indicates
that afterward some 15,000 prisoners were ransomed and returned to the city, Michael the
Syrian, III, 146.
1 3 4
Cedrenus, II, 660. Attaliates, 93, 107. The attempt of Constantine X Ducas to
enforce ecclesiastical union on the Monphysites of Melitene in 1063, and the fact that the
Armenians raided the Syrian monasteries and attacked the Syrian populations of the
countryside, added to the upheaval, Michael the Syrian, III, 161-164, 166-168. Bar
Hebraeus, I, 217. Matthew of Edessa, pp. 95-96, 152-154.
1 3 5
Bar Hebraeus, I, 236. Matthew of Edessa, p. 230. In 1096-97 Kïlïdj I Arslan was
besieging it when arrival of the Crusaders in Anatolia caused him to lift the siege.
Michael the Syrian, III, 187. Matthew ofEdessa, pp. 212-215. Danishmendwastedthe
countryside, destroying the crops, in 1099.
1 3 6
1 3 7
138
Bar Hebraeus, I, 239. Michael the Syrian, III, 192.
Michael the Syrian, III, 194.
Ibid., 205.
1 3 9
The inhabitants suffered from three things: (1) the sword outside the wall which
massacred those who fled; (2) famine; (3) The prince, who tortured the inhabitants in order
to get their gold. Michael the Syrian, III, 219. Matthew of Edessa, p. 315.
1 4 0
Michael the Syrian, III, 248. Bar Hebraeus, I, 266.
1 4 1
Michael the Syrian, III, 249. Bar Hebraeus, I, 266; "At that time every Christian
who mentioned the name of the King of the Greeks or ofthe Franks, even unwittingly, the
Turks slew. And because of this many of the people of Melitene perished."
1 4 2
1 4 3
158
Michael the Syrian, III, 254. Bar Hebraeus, I, 267.
Michael the Syrian, III, 290-291.