El delito de colusión Antecedentes legislativos

At the end o f M arch -beginning o f April 1083 A lexios was reoccupying Trikala. A nna surprisingly enough, does not provide any hint as to w hether A lexios m et any opposition, som ething which suggests that the N om ians were not interested any m ore in the town and had been engrossed in keeping up their efforts to storm Larisa. The defender o f the town Leo K ephalas sent to the em peror a letter in which he described how hard the L arisaeans w ere hit bv the fam ine. It was L ent and the C hristian

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population o f the town was devoid o f the foodstuffs that "w ere allow ed to the C hristians" and started consum ing the "not perm issible" ones w hich soon or so becam e scarce. 21 U nder these adverse circum stances Kephalas considered him self to have successfully concluded his m ission and with a strict and w arning tone he m ade clear to the em peror that the salvation o f the town was now in his hands.

A lexios resolved to confront the enem y with a stratagem . He entrusted the im perial insignia and a large part o f his arm y to his relatives N ikephoros M elissenos and B asil K ourtikios and ordered them to challenge first the N orm ans outside Larisa to skirm ish and then to pretend that they were fleeing in the direction of Lykostom io. A ccording to A lexio's plan these troops w ere to be stationed on the right of the fortress of Larisa whereas he him self at the head of hand-picked troops would remain hidden on the opposite side. Anna tells us that in his attem pt to reach the outskirts of Larisa, A lexios "traversed the defile of Livotanio, by-passed R eveniko, and follow ing the road o f the so-called A llage arrived at the left o f L arisa". T his description although com plete during A nna's tim e, is inadequate to determ ine the route which A lexios follow ed so as to reach Larisa and only some rough assum ptions can be m ade here. If w e accept that the main road leading from Trikala to Larisa was guarded by the N orm ans at the height of T ziviskos-Farkadona we are allowed to conclude that at this point A lexios trying to keep his m ovem ents secret took a southerly direction, entered into the gardens o f D elphinas and proceeding along the banks o f the Enipeus reached the defile betw een the m ountains T itanos and Phyllion, the only narrow passage that provided him with access to the fertile plain south o f Larisa and which sould be identified with the defile of Livotanio m entioned by Anna. Hild has argued that Livotanio was a whole territory situated south o f Larisa and identified it with the region or episkepsis o f D ipotam os m entioned in the Partitio R om aniae. 22 D ipotam os as its nam e reveals and as T afel-Thom as have noted was located betw een two rivers and m ost probably betw een Peneios and R evenikos (mod. Platanorem a) a river that

21 Glavinas, 'Normans', 40

rose in C halkodonio and flowed to lake Karla. 23 Indeed, when A lexios arrived at the extended area o f Livotanio he by-passed {nepLKÔipaç) the river R evenikos and travelled through A llage (a still unidentified place-nam e) before heading north tow ards Larisa. Very representative o f A lexios advanced strategic skills is the fact that all these m ovem ents w ere greatly facilitated by a diversionary attack launched by a contingent o f the part o f the B yzantine arm y that was stationed on the right o f Larisa.

T he plan o f A lexios proved to be a very effective one. The troops that w ere can y in g the im perial insignia were successful in attracting the attention o f Bohem und and in draw ing the m ajority of his soldiers aw ay from Larisa. This was enough to allow A lexios to take the initiative and overw helm the Norm an cam p. A t the sam e tim e he m ade provisions for the troops that were heading to Lykostom io sending to their aid a selected contingent under the com m and o f his ablest archer G eorgios Pyrros. A t this point both A nna and G ulielm us A puliensis give virtually the sam e account i.e. that Bohem und deceived by Alexios stratagem was under the im pression that he had forced the em peror to flee from Thessaly. 24 Anna how ever provides us with a very interesting detail concerning the exact period that these events took place in. She m entions that after his lim ited success in Lykostom io B ohem und was lying dow n on an island in the Peneios eating grapes and taking pride in his alleged victory over the em peror. This m ention points to a period between July-Septem ber and in any case after April 1083 for the beginning o f the siege o f Larisa. If the siege o f the town had started in April as has been widely suggested it is difficult to im agine Bohem und eating grapes in Novem ber.

B ohem und "was upset that he was forced to abandon the siege o f the town that he had alm ost captured" and tried with a counterattack to defeat the Byzantines. Such an attem pt though was futile given the fact that the latter were now securely protected behind the walls o f Larisa. After a few skinnishes he left Larisa and tried to organise

23 Hild, TH 12 (1987) 91; T-Th, ibid, note 5

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a safe w ithdraw al. A different account is given by G ulielm us A puliensis w ho invoking "the m ilitary virtue that always distinguished the Norm an arm y" states that B ohem und defeated the troops that were sent against him under the com m and of M elissenos and Adrian K om nenos (the em peror's brother) and forced the intim idated A lexios and his allies (Turks, Saurom ats) to confine them selves into a pathetic defence operated from the interior of Larisa. W hen it com es to justifying the flight o f the N orm ans G ulielm us says that they could no longer besieg e L arisa as the hinterland o f the town laid deserted after the successive plundering and it was not enough o f providing them with the necessary foodstuffs for the continuance o f such a difficult operation. 25

At any rate Bohem und follow ed the right bank o f Peneios, then took a northerly d irection and passing through an overgrow n plain he entered into "the palace of D om eniko" a defile that is to be identified with the narrow passage betw een the m ountains Zarko and Trochalo and crossed by the river Xerias. 26 There, in the area betw een the villages o f D om eniko and Dam asi he pitched his cam p and waited for the possible reaction that was to com e from the B yzantines. B ohem und was defeated once again this tim e by A lexios' relative M ichael D oukas and his troops fell in disarray. T hey w ent the w rong way and through the narrow pass o f K alam akio reached T rikala w here they m et their colleagues who m eanw hile had arrived from Lykostom io. After spending a short time there they abandoned Thessaly once and for all. 27

25 ibid.

26 Avram ea, Byzantine Thessaly, 88

27 Zonaras, xviii, 235 mentions Larisa amongst the towns captured by the Normans but his account should not be given credibility.

IV. LARISA IN THE I2th CENTURY