NICK HOLMES

Alexius Comnenus is a well-known Byzantine Emperor not least because his daughter, Anna, wrote one of the greatest works of medieval literature about him called “The Alexiad.” It’s a cracking read, full of vivid character descriptions, battle scenes, back-stabbing politics and written in an epic style that echoes the Roman and Greek classics. It’s not just central to the history of Byzantium, but also to the Crusades since she’s our main non-western commentator on the First

The Battle of Manzikert, 1071 I've always been fascinated by the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. Relatively unknown compared with other great battles in the Middle Ages like Hastings and Agincourt, in my view it was just as important if not more so. Why? Because it transformed the whole of western Eurasia. It marked the end of Byzantium as a great power. Although Byzantium survived, it never again dominated the eastern Mediterranean. The First Crusade would arguably not have

In the eleventh century, the Seljuk Turks transformed the history of both Islam and Europe. They did this by invading and colonising Byzantine Anatolia where they established the origins of modern Turkey. Before then, Anatolia was a predominantly Greek-speaking land and the heart of the Byzantine Empire. But why did they suddenly appear in the Middle East? Why did they convert to Islam? And why were their horsemen the terror of both the Abbasid Caliphate and Byzantium?