The Campaign and Battle of Pelagonia 1259, Domus Byzantinus 17-18 (2009-2010) more

The subject of the article is what the descriptions about the battle and campaign of Pelagonia 1259 between “The Empire of Nicaea” and the coalition formed by the “The Despotate of Epiros”, The Principality of Achaia and the Kingdom of Sicily could tell us about the late Byzantine warfare. The poor attachment of the people involved to their leaders’ cause seems to have largely defined the campaign of Pelagonia. The cities of Macedonia had no great interest in making sacrifices in order to support the Epirotes against the Nicaeans or the other way around. The most decisive factor in the outcome was that the coalition, laid on weak foundations, collapsed as a result of quarrel. In Nicean army on the other hand the commanders were most likely chosen because of their loyalty to Michael Palaiologos not because of their military expertise.

Early in the campaign the Nicaeans made swift winter attack and they also conducted their sieges in aggressive way. These seem to have been quite typical methods of war for Nicaeans. The other methods that Nicaeans used encountering the coalition were more traditionally Byzantine. Apparently they tried to have first a diplomatic solution and find allies (Hungary and Mačva). When the coalition gathered its forces the Nicaeans avoided pitched battles and used harassment, different kind of stratagems and other “indirect” methods of war. The Nicaean army relied heavily on horse-archers, some of them probably natives of the eastern frontier region of the realm, and I find it possible that the army was intentionally customized for the harassment strategy. The late Byzantine military system that relied on the large scale use of mercenaries from different nations made this flexibility possible. The negative side of this system was the potentially poor cohesion of the heterogeneous armies and difficulties to control them. The coalition apparently adopted more aggressive, battle seeking strategy. The main reason for this was probably the difficulty to keep large and expensive army in field for a long time.

According to one description the Nicaeans used battle formation that consisted of several successive cavalry batailles with the infantry behind them. The battle order was very similar to many other Byzantine battle orders that we know from 6th century onwards and the one that the Latins normally used (also in the battle of Pelagonia). Choosing this battle formation probably derived from the assumption that the cavalry would have the active role in the battlefield and the infantry passive. The late Byzantine infantry was often recruited during the campaign and was probably not very effective in open field.

In the conflict between the Epeiros and Nicaea the battle of Pelagonia was above all defensive victory. Despotes Michael held the support of his people and kingdom of Sicily. Nicaea-Byzantium could however achieve territorial gains from The Principality of Achaia, because the ruler of the later was captured.