The Scandalous Tale Of The Rogue Priest, Themel

A priest named Themel was said to have preached in Herakleos, a village which belonged to the emperors of Constantinople. His home town was in a precarious location, set within striking distance from the hostile lands of Tarsus and Aleppo. Themel lived in the 10th century, and his community was thrown into chaos by the constant warfare between Emperor Constantine VII (sole rule 945-959) and Emir Sayf al-Dawla of Aleppo (r. 945-967). Themel reportedly got a personal taste of the era’s prevalent bloodshed, and his experience would take him down a truly bizarre path.

According to the historian John Skylitzes (c. 1040-1101), a band of scavengers and foragers from Aleppo or Tarsus arrived at Herakleos to commandeer food to feed their army during the ongoing border struggle between the Empire of Constantinople and its Muslim neighbors. At the time, the people of Herakleos were reportedly in the middle of Holy Mass, and the priest Themel was leading them in the celebration of the Eucharist. Messengers interrupted Themel’s liturgy, informing the congregation of the arrival of the hostile foragers. Upon hearing of this news, Themel apparently decided to not only lead his flock in prayer, but to also lead them in battle—as the story goes, Themel ended his church service prematurely, then stormed off to face the looters. For a weapon, the priest reportedly picked up a semantron, a large wooden or metal beam used as a percussion instrument in the church. As for armor, he simply wore his religious vestments. Thus equipped, the warrior-priest joined the fray and allegedly bludgeoned a few of the scavengers to death with his trusty semantron, helping the town of Herakleos to drive off the enemy.

One might expect that Themel would have been treated as a hero after the battle—after all, it was the Middle Ages, and militant religious figures were, at the time, condoned and often praised. Nevertheless, praise was not in Themel’s future. If he were a character in a literary work,  you could say that his path underwent a sudden and bizarre plot twist. Instead of being applauded and praised, the priest would be vilified by his countrymen.

The bishop over Themel’s diocese reportedly took issue with the warrior-priest’s actions. Be it the blood-spattered vestments, the gore-stained semantron, or the neglected Eucharist, the bishop held a grudge against Themel that never healed. Due to their unreconciled differences, the bishop reportedly sabotaged Themel’s pastoral career and blocked the priest from continuing his ministry. Themel reacted poorly to the bishop’s interference, and the situation made him begin to reevaluate his life.

Themel, suppressed and criticized by the bishop, eventually chose to drastically change the direction of his life. He reportedly renounced the priesthood and fled to Tarsus or Aleppo, where he was said to have joined armies opposed to the emperors of Constantinople. According to Byzantine scholars, the former priest Themel apparently abandoned Christianity, itself, after his flight. On Themel’s career after his defection, John Skylitzes wrote, “So he went over to the Hagarenes and renounced Christianity. He joined forces with them, and not only ravaged Cappadocia and the adjacent themes but penetrated as far as what is called Asia Minor” (Synopsis of Byzantine History, chapter 11, section 8).

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Conquest of Jerusalem painted by Émile Signol (1804–1892), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• A Synopsis of Byzantine History by John Skylitzes (c. 1040-1101), translated by John Wortley (Cambridge University Press, 2010).
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hamdanid-dynasty 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Constantine-VII-Porphyrogenitus
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/ode-reconquest-al-hadath 
• https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100443950 
• https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/sayf-al-dawla-COM_1010 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sayf-al-Dawlah  
   

The 10th-Century Warrior Emir Of Aleppo Who Plagued The Byzantine Empire

(Illustration of Sayf al-Dawla from a 13th century copy of the History of John Skylitzes (Skyllitzes Matritensis (Biblioteca Nacional de España), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

Sayf al-Dawla (also known as Sa’if ad-Dualah, r. 944/945-967 CE) descended from the Hamdanid dynasty, which had a base of power in Al-Jazira and Syria. He managed to set himself up as Emir of Aleppo around 944 or 945 CE and quickly began making a name for himself through military skill and intellectual patronage. During his reign, Sayf spread his influence into Homs, Syria and Turkey.

Almost all of Sayf al-Dawla’s rule was marked by warfare. He sometimes fought against fellow Muslims, must notably with the Ikhshidid (or Ikhshidite) Mamluks of Egypt over lands in Syria, but his most persistent foe was the Byzantine Empire. Sayf al-Dawla and the forces of the Byzantine Empire traded continuous raids and skirmishes across each other’s borders for more than a decade.

In his many years of war, the Emir of Aleppo proved himself as a more-than-competent general. Of Sayf al-Dawla’s many successful conflicts against the Byzantine Empire, two in particular stand out. Around 953 CE, Sayf defeated a Byzantine army that was considerably larger than his own, and even severely injured the opposing general, Bardas Phokas the Elder, who would remain scarred for the rest of his life. Sayf al-Dawla’s three-week raid into the Byzantine Empire in 956 CE was another of his notable accomplishments and is still studied by military historians. In that raid, Sayf was able to embarrassingly outmaneuver and outfight opposing forces as he pillaged and plundered deep into imperial territory. Yet, Sayf al-Dawla’s luck ran out around 958 CE, when he was successfully ambushed by Byzantine troops—he survived the battle, but never regained his momentum. Four years later, the siege and sacking of his capital in Aleppo by a Byzantine army in 962 CE was an unmistakable sign that his fortune had taken a downturn.

Even though Sayf is best remembered as a military leader, he was also a patron of learning. All sorts of scholars and artists were invited to his court, among which were lofty intellectuals such as the philosopher, al-Fārābiī and the great poet, al-Mutanabbī. The Emir of Aleppo, however, did not only provide patronage to others, he also produced his own works—Sayf al-Dawla, himself, was known to be a competent poet. Yet, most of Sayf al-Dawla’s fame and admiration came from the hand of al-Mutanabbī, who presented Sayf as the pristine model of an Islamic nobleman in his poetic panegyrics.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Sources:

• John Haldon. The Byzantine Wars. Gloucestershire: The History Press. 2008.  
• John Skylitzes. A Synopsis of Byzantine History: 811-1057, translated by John Wortley. Original text c. 11^th or early 12^th century. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sayf-al-Dawlah  
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hamdanid-dynasty 
• http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/ArabicAleppo.htm  
• http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100443950 
• https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/islamiccivilizations/8304.html