Background: recently arisen to the throne after her sister, Anna Komnena's, attempt of usurpation and the following Civil War, in 1131 Ioannis II felt confident enough to lead the Empire's armies against its most threatening enemies, the Venetians, which, during Alexios I's reign and Anna Komnena's usurpation, had given much trouble to the Empire, taking advantage of the Second Crusade to redirect Northern Italy's resources in a failed attempt to overthrow Alexios and carve their own Empire in the Balkans.
The stronghold of Ragusa, in Dalmatia, is a key target for Ioannis, if the Basileus wishes to expell the Venetians from the Balkanic exchequer and put an end to the war with the Empire. To the north, the allied Kingdom of Hungary is nonetheless interested in expelling the Venetians from Dalmatia and Croatia and gain an outlet to the Adriatic Sea and its worthy trade lines.
In 1131 AD, Ioannis besieged Ragusa, held by Councillor Vitale and a small, yet experienced garrison. The Council in Venice resolves to send a relieving host under command of Angelo Michele, a young, unexperienced and brave noble. Ioannis II is therefore forced to abandon the siege and prepare his forces for the upcoming battle, which could prove fundamental in assuring the Empire's control over the Western Balkans and the Adriatic, securing its Western borders, which are nonetheless threatened by the Normans of Roger II.
In an attempt to render vain his enemies' undisputed cavalry and numerical superiority, the Basileus placed his army atop of gentle slope, ordering his Bulgarians mercenaries to plant stakes in front of them in order to keep the enemy knights at bay and redirect their charge toward the byzantine wings, where he had placed his most experienced units of scoutatoi.
The two venetian commanders, well knowing how suicidal a charge against the stakes would prove for their heroic knights, redirected them, nonetheless, towards the byzantine wings. There, their impetues put the scoutatoi under a severe testing, severely depleting their ranks and pushing them slowly back. Only the Basileus' son, Nikodemos', intervention saved his left wing's collapse.
In the meanwhile, the italian infantry reached the byzantine footmen atop the hill. A fierce fight developed, a fight in which only the byzantines' better training and armour allowed them to keep at bay the overwhelming enemy numbers. While the infantries clashed and fought bitterly, Ioannis II unleashed his cavalry on the enemy wings, slaughtering the cavalrymen after a brief, yet violent meleč, and exposing their foot comrades' back. As news upon Vitale and Angelo's deaths reached the common soldiers, they bagan slowly whitdrawing, in a manouvre that, under the overhwelming Greek pressure and the thunderous charges of the Scholarii turned into a complete, chaotic and humiliating rout.
Up to 7000 italians fell that day, with 4000 more falling in Ioannis' hands as captives. The Greek losses, anyway, were severe, too: 3000 man, among which, most notably, lied Ioannis' son, Nikodemos, aged 16. A senseless slaughter, rendered even more futile by the following Norman invasion of Albania, which forced the Basileus to lead his army southward to repel the new threat. Nonetheless, the Empire would strike back...soon, Ragusa's outskirts would be soaked with blood. Again.