Wikipedia:Today's featured article/June 23, 2005



The Treaty of Devol was an agreement made in 1108 between Bohemund I of Antioch and Byzantine Emperor Alexius I, in the wake of the First Crusade. Although it was not initially enforced, it was intended to make the Principality of Antioch a vassal state of the Byzantine Empire. It is a typical example of the Byzantine tendency to settle disputes through diplomacy rather than warfare, and was both a result of and a cause for the distrust between the Byzantines and their Western European neighbors. The question of the status of Antioch and the adjacent Cilician cities troubled the Empire for many years afterwards. The Treaty of Devol seems to have been considered void after Bohemund's death, but Alexius' son, John, attempted to impose his authority in Antioch. It was not until 1158, during the reign of Manuel I Comnenus, that Antioch truly became a vassal of the empire, after Manuel forced Prince Raynald of Chatillon to swear fealty to him in punishment for Raynald's attack on Byzantine Cyprus.

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