The dishonorable behavior of Constantinople in abrogating the post-Manzikert treaty terms gives the Seljuqs justification in continuing their raids and even encourages them to do so.
The imperial army includes a contingent of Norman mercenaries under one Roussel de Bailleul.
Roussel is possibly a Frank, but had certainly ventured with the Apulian Normans to Italy, settled in Terra d'Otranto and served under Roger de Hauteville in Sicily.
According to Geoffrey Malaterra, Roussel had distinguished himself with his bravery at the Battle of Cerami, where he urged Count Roger to pursue the fleeing Saracens.
Aside from this brief account by Malaterra, The Alexiad of Anna Comnena is the main source for Roussel.
He had been present at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, where he refused to join the fray, which proved to be a disastrous defeat for the imperial army.
Despite this treachery, he had been kept in imperial service, where good generals are needed, and had been sent into Asia Minor again with a force of three thousand Franco-Norman heavy cavalry.
After learning of the deposition of Emperor Romanus IV Diogenes, Bailleul and his four hundred followers had turned on their former employers and set out to terrorize and plunder Anatolia, initiating a Norman conquest of Lycaonia and Galatia.
Here, Roussel conquers some territory and declares it an independent state, in 1073, with himself as prince, following the example set by his fellow Normans in the Mezzogiorno.
His capital is Ankara, now the capital of Turkey.
