The sultan Mas'ud, reinforced by many Turks from areas once ruled by the amir Gumushtegin Ghazi, plucked up courage to attack Manuel I as he went homewards over rough terrain at Tzibrelitzemani. Some Byzantines were in difficulties before Manuel arrived. Like a Latin trying to impress his new bride Bertha/Eirene, he decided to fight in person, in battles fiercer than he had faced in approaching Ikonion. He stationed two ambushes in nearby ravines, with relatives (including his sisters' husbands) in one and Nikolaos Angelos, commanding two units, in the other. He told them not to fight till they saw him attacking. Leaving the ambushes, he was unwillingly persuaded by his brother Isaakios and Ioannes Axouchos to wait incognito, with his imperial armour concealed, for Turkish attacks on the foragers. He had Poupakes reconnoitre and then decoy towards him more and more Turks. He pursued them with Isaakios, Axouch and Poupakes, his companions becoming ever more reluctant. When his brother Isaakios despaired as his horse was exhausted, and begged him to think of his wife and children, Manuel rebuked him for mistrust and rode on bravely