2. Byzantium and the Muslim Near East, c.1071-1099

Question 1

Who was the Byzantine emperor at the beginning of 1071?

Answer 1

Romanos IV

Question 2

Where did the Byzantine and Turkish forces clash in 1071?

Answer 2

Manzikert

Question 3

When was the Battle of Manzikert?

Answer 3

August 1071

Question 4

Who led the Seljuk Turks at Manzikert?

Answer 4

Alp Arslan

Question 5

Who betrayed the emperor at Manzikert by leaving the emperor in jeopardy?

Answer 5

Andronikos Doukas

Question 6

Which historian argues that the Byantines suffered no more than 8,000 casualties at Manzikert?

Answer 6

Markham

Question 7

Which historian described Manzikert as the ‘most decisive disaster in Byzantine history’?

Answer 7

Runciman

Question 8

Who replaced Romanus IV as emperor between 1071 and 1078?

Answer 8

Michael VII

Question 9

Who led an uprising against the Byzantine emperor and replaced him in 1078?

Answer 9

Nikephorus III

Question 10

Who led a coup against Nikephorus III in 1081 and ruled Byzantium until 1118?

Answer 10

Alexius I

Question 11

Which group descended from Vikings conquered Byzantine southern Italy?

Answer 11

Normans

Question 12

Which Byzantine city in southern Italy fell to the Normans in 1071?

Answer 12

Bari

Question 13

Which Norman leader betrothed his daughter to the son of Michael VII’s son?

Answer 13

Robert Guiscard

Question 14

When did the Normans invade the Byzantine territory of Epirus?

Answer 14

1081

Question 15

At which major battle in 1081 was Alexius I heavily defeated by the Normans?

Answer 15

Dyrrachium

Question 16

Which fierce nomadic group threatened the northern Byzantine lands in the 1080s?

Answer 16

Pechenegs

Question 17

When did Alexius I pay off the Pechenegs with a large bribe?

Answer 17

1087

Question 18

Which tribal group did Alexius I ally with to destroy the Pechenegs?

Answer 18

Cumans

Question 19

When did Nicaea fall into the hands of the Selkuk leader Sulayman?

Answer 19

1078

Question 20

Which city did Sulayman gain possession of in 1084-85?

Answer 20

Antioch

Question 21

Which Turkish warlord captured Smyrna in the mid-1080s?

Answer 21

Caka

Question 22

Which city did the Seljuk Abu l’Kasim capture in 1091?

Answer 22

Nicomedia

Question 23

What did Caka build that threatened the Byzantine islands and Constantinople?

Answer 23

Naval fleet

Question 24

Which Turkish leader did Alexius I forge a close alliance with in 1081?

Answer 24

Sulayman

Question 25

Where did Sulayman come to Alexius I’s rescue with 7,000 men in 1083?

Answer 25

Larissa

Question 26

When did Alexius I’s Seljuk ally Sulayman die?

Answer 26

1086

Question 27

Which Norman mercenary deserted and established his own independent lordship in 1073?

Answer 27

Roussel of Bailleul

Question 28

Which Armenian general deserted the Byzantines after Manzikert and took over Antioch in 1078?

Answer 28

Phileretus

Question 29

What was the sales tax that Alexius I exempted Venetian traders from in 1082?

Answer 29

Kommerkion

Question 30

What happened to the Byzantine coinage before 1092 that undermined economic confidence?

Answer 30

Debasement

Question 31

What new coinage did Alexius I create in 1092 to restore economic confidence?

Answer 31

Hyperpyron

Question 32

Which institution did Alexius I apologise to for taking its wealth to fund his wars?

Answer 32

Byzantine Church

Question 33

Which Patriarch of Constantinople did Alexius I forge a highly effective relationship with?

Answer 33

Nicholas III Grammatikos

Question 34

Which battle resulted in the annihilation of the Pechenegs in 1091?

Answer 34

Lebounion

Question 35

Which group was most frequently the target of warfare from the Seljuk Turks?

Answer 35

Fatimids

Question 36

Which territory was the focus for most conflict between Seljuks and Fatimids?

Answer 36

Levant

Question 37

What was the branch of Islam that the Fatimids belonged to?

Answer 37

Isma’ili Shia

Question 38

What was the branch if Islam that the Seljuk Turks had converted to?

Answer 38

Sunni

Question 39

Who did the Fatimids wish to depose and the Seljuks theoretically support?

Answer 39

Abbasid caliph

Question 40

Which group of entirely nomadic Turks were often allies of the Seljuks?

Answer 40

Turcomans

Question 41

Which Turkish leader established territories that would become the sultanate of Rum?

Answer 41

Sulayman

Question 42

Which group of Seljuk Turks established themselves in north-eastern Anatolia?

Answer 42

Danishmends

Question 43

Which Turkish warlord established an independent lordship based around Smyrna?

Answer 43

Caka

Question 44

Which Turkish leader was fighting the Danishmends when the crusaders attacked Nicaea in 1097?

Answer 44

Kilij Arslan

Question 45

Which city did Ridwan of Aleppo and Duqaq of Damascus compete to take from the crusaders?

Answer 45

Antioch

Question 46

Which city had the Fatimids recently recaptured from the Seljuks when the crusaders arrived?

Answer 46

Jerusalem

Question 47

When was Nizam al-Mulk, de facto ruler of the Seljuk Empire, murdered?

Answer 47

1092

Question 48

Which Seljuk Sultan died in 1092 after a successful twenty year reign?

Answer 48

Malik Shah

Question 49

Which long reigning Fatimid caliph died in 1094?

Answer 49

al-Mustansir

Question 50

Which key Fatimid adviser and vizier died in 1094?

Answer 50

Badr al-Jamali

Question 51

Who was the Abbasid caliph that died in 1094?

Answer 51

al-Muqtadi

Question 52

Who competed with his brother Musta’li for the Fatimid throne in 1094?

Answer 52

Nizar

Question 53

Whose death in 1095 led to Syria being divided between his two sons?

Answer 53

Tutush I

Question 54

Who was unable to defeat the crusaders at Antioch due to internal army divisions?

Answer 54

Kerbogha