Osbech

Osbech, King of the Turks, enters Alatiel’s story as a conqueror whose attack on Chios turns her from Constantine’s captive partner into his own wife. His sudden raid brings down the city, but the larger consequence is political: the Emperor moves against him, and Osbech dies in battle, leaving Alatiel once more exposed to the upheavals of power and captivity.

Identity and Political Setting

Osbech is described as a young ruler who is continually at war with the Emperor. His appearance in the story links Alatiel’s personal fortunes to a conflict between rulers: she is first carried across the Mediterranean by events beyond her control, and then repeatedly becomes part of the consequences of military and political contests.

At the time Osbech intervenes, Alatiel is living with Constantine on Chios. Constantine has taken her from elsewhere and is keeping her there, without due caution, as his mistress. Osbech hears of their presence and of Constantine’s unguarded way of life, making the pair’s private refuge vulnerable to a sudden assault.

The Night Raid on Chios

Osbech sails to Chios by night with several light-armed ships and secretly enters the city with some of his men. The attack catches many inhabitants in their beds before they know an enemy has arrived. Some manage to take up arms, but Osbech’s forces kill them, burn the place, seize its goods and captives, and carry their spoil back aboard ship to Smyrna.

Among the captives is Alatiel, whom Osbech recognizes as the woman found with Constantine asleep in bed. The recognition changes her status at once. Osbech rejoices at finding her and makes her his wife without delay; he celebrates the nuptials immediately and lives with her for several months. In the story’s sequence of forced transfers, this marriage follows her time with Constantine and arises directly from Osbech’s conquest of Chios.

War and Death

The Emperor had already been negotiating with Bassano, King of Cappadocia, for a joint attack on Osbech. Their intended arrangement was to strike from opposite sides, but Bassano had demanded terms the Emperor considered unreasonable, so the agreement had not been completed. When the Emperor hears what has happened to his son, he accepts Bassano’s demands and urges him to attack, while preparing to move against Osbech himself.

Learning that two powerful rulers may close in on him, Osbech gathers his army and marches against Bassano rather than wait to be trapped between the forces. He leaves Alatiel at Smyrna under the care of his trusted servant and friend, Antiochus. In the ensuing battle, Bassano defeats Osbech’s army: Osbech is killed in the fighting, and his forces are scattered. Bassano then advances toward Smyrna without opposition, and the people along the way submit to him as the victor.

Consequences for Alatiel and Narrative Role

Osbech’s death ends his direct part in Alatiel’s life but does not end the danger created by his conquest. Left at Smyrna, she is in the care of Antiochus, who falls in love with her despite his loyalty to his absent master. Their intimacy begins while Osbech is away fighting; after news arrives that Osbech has been defeated and killed and that Bassano is advancing, Alatiel and Antiochus take valuable possessions belonging to Osbech and flee secretly to Rhodes.

Osbech therefore functions both as a military power and as a turning point in Alatiel’s repeated changes of circumstance. His night attack transfers her from Constantine to a new marriage, while the war provoked by the capture of Constantine and Alatiel removes Osbech from the story and leaves her exposed to another change of protector. The movement from Chios to Smyrna and then toward Rhodes makes private relationships inseparable from the region’s shifting military control.