Inside the walls, some 12,000 well-trained Byzantine cavalry troops (presumably dismounted) defended the city against the forces of some 80,000 Avars and Sclaveni (Slavs, then submitted to Avars), who were determined to remove all Roman imperial rule over Europe.[5]. However, it was only when the Avars began moving forward heavy siege equipment towards the Theodosian Walls that their intention to lay a siege became clear. Despite continuous bombardment for a month, morale was high inside the walls of Constantinople because of Patriarch Sergius' religious fervor and his processions along the wall with an icon, which could be the icon of the Virgin Mary, inspiring the belief that the Byzantines were under divine protection.[12][13] Furthermore, the patriarch's cries for religious zeal among the peasantry around Constantinople was made ever more effective by the fact that they were facing heathens.[12] Consequently, every assault became a doomed effort.