Thus, in this way, he had finished his speech. He was an enemy, he left all of his own things at the camp but he was persisting in his lie and will continue in his lie. There was the greatest need upon us, since the Turks were pressing upon us on all sides, so that no one would dare to leave his tent. For they were hemming us in on one side and hunger was tormenting us from the other. The rescue of aid had failed for us, the weakened and most impoverished people were fleeing to Cyprus, Romania, and into the mountains. We did not dare go especially towards the sea because of fear of the most villainous Turks. There was no way open to us.
Tetigus, called Taticius by Anna, was a Saracen general in Alexius's army. He was a Grand Primicerius, a post of which E.R.A. Sewter has written in the footnotes to my translation of "Alexiad' that he was an officer of the imperial household and it was a position reserved for eunuchs. This is one reason perhaps why the Franks and Normans might have scorned him. As well, he was one of the leaders of the imperial army when Bohemond and his father tried to wrest the empire from the Byzantines which means that Bohemond and he had a long history of enmity. He went along with the Crusaders to guide and advise them (not that they listened to him at all) and to take charge of any cities that they captured since they swore they would turn these over to the emperor. Of course that was never going to happen either. He was probably a decent man and was not lying.
3 comments:
he was an officer of the imperial household and it was a position reserved for eunuchs.
Ouch! Am tempted to ask why only eunuchs could hold that position?
He was persisting in his lie and will continue in his lie.
He was probably a decent man and was not lying.
So in one account he's a liar, and in another he's a decnt man and not a liar - which is the correct version?
@So in one account he's a liar, and in another he's a decnt man and not a liar - which is the correct version?
Tetigus and Bohemond have a history which is why the Franks don't like him. Plus they hate the emperor and he is loyal to the emperor. Anna has good things to say about him. He did his duty by the emperor. I suspect he told the truth that he would come back with supplies. We shall see later in the text.
@Am tempted to ask why only eunuchs could hold that position?
Probably for the same reason many of the servants at Buckingham Palace are gay men - preserving the chastity of the women. I forgot to mention, Tetigus was a heavy man as well and Bohemond was fairly buff - another reason for him to sneer at poor Tetigus.
Actually now I wonder about Tetigus. I was looking at a biography of Bohemond by Ralph Bailey Yewdale and it appears that Tetigus may have been another rat. Alexius was supposed to send aid but they turned back hearing reports that there were large numbers of Turks marching on Antioch and the Crusaders were lost. Alexius did not keep his bargain with the Crusaders to provide support and it doesn't look like Tetigus came back with any help or food either. Stay tuned.
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