Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, aged and suffering from an illness which proved to be terminal, was unable to prevent Turkish raids into the recovered areas of Byzantine Anatolia, though an attempt to take Nicaea in 1113 was thwarted by the Byzantines. In 1116 Alexios was able to personally take the field and was engaged in defensive operations in northwest Anatolia. Basing his army at Lopadion, and later at Nicomedia, he succeeded in defeating raiding Turks in a minor battle at Poemanenon.[3] After receiving reinforcements to his army Alexios decided to move onto the offensive.[4]