When Manuel I heard of the raid on Greece by the admiral of Roger II, he was deeply troubled. After consulting widely, he decided to start a major war with Roger, which was likely to last many years like those of the emperors of the past. He prepared a gigantic fleet of up to a thousand ships and a large army numbered in the tens of thousands; the fleet was put under the command of the megas doux Stephanos Kontostephanos, while the chief of the army commanders was Ioannes Axouch, the megas domestikos. The Cumans had crossed the Danube and were ravaging the area of Haimos