General John (VIII)

In June 941, while campaigning in the east, John Curcuas received dire news from the emperor, Romanos I. Constantinople was under threat, this time from an utterly unexpected quarter. A mighty Russian fleet, perhaps as many as fifteen thousand ships, was bearing down on the capital. 

The invasion fleet had been dispatched by Igor, Grand Prince of Kiev. This was not the first time the Rus had attacked the Empire; they had briefly raided Constantinople eighty-one years previously, during the reign of Leo VI. In 941, however, the Rus launched a full-scale invasion.  

To make things worse, the Roman forces were scattered. The army was away on the eastern frontier, the navy divided between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Until they returned - if they returned in time - the city's only defense was fifteen ancient hulks, long since condemned to the scrapyard.

While Curcuas rushed back from the east, Romanos ordered his shipwrights to work round the clock to repair the hulks. They were armed with the terrible secret weapon known as Greek Fire, and placed under the command of Theophanes, the protovestiarius or high court official. 

Greek Fire was well-known to the empire's Saracen enemies, but to the Rus it came as a total surprise. As the first of their ships went up in flames, the remainder swung aside from the Bosphorus to raid up and down the Black Sea coast. For weeks their warriors terrorised the coastal towns and villages - especially on the Roman clergy, some of whom were used as target practice, while others had iron skewers driven through their skulls.

The local military governor, Bardas Phocas, kept the invaders occupied until Curcuas came rushing back with the main army. Together they managed to drive back the Rus. Meanwhile the navy was also on its way, each squadron sent straight into action as soon as it arrived.

By early September the Russian fleet was trapped. When they tried to slip through the blockade, Theophanes set the whole sea aflame with 'winged fire'. The Russian ships went up like tinder, and hundreds of Rus warriors burnt alive when they jumped into the oil-covered water. Only a handful escaped the slaughter and returned to tell their master, Igor, of his catastrophic defeat.

Theophanes was given a hero's welcome in Constantinople. The emperor Romanos, usually a merciful man, had all the Rus prisoners executed in front of the Russian ambassador. 

As for John Curcuas, there was no rest or respite. As soon as the Rus threat was dealt with, he turned about and marched straight back to the East. He had unfinished business to attend to.