Malagina in later times Melangeia (Μελάγγεια), was a Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 district in the valley of the Sangarius

Sangarius

The genus Sangarius is in the shield bug family Acanthosomatidae....

 river in northern Bithynia

Bithynia

Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...

, which served as a major encampment and fortified staging area (aplekton

Aplekton

Aplekton was a Byzantine term used in the 10th–14th centuries for a fortified army base and later in the Palaiologan period for the obligation of billeting soldiers....

) for the Byzantine army

Byzantine army

The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct descendant of the Roman army, the Byzantine army maintained a similar level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization...

. Malagina was the aplekton closest to the imperial capital of Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, and as such of major importance during imperial expeditions to the East: it was here that the armies of the powerful themes of Anatolikon, Opsikion

Opsikion

The Opsician Theme or simply Opsikion was a Byzantine theme located in northwestern Asia Minor . Created from the imperial retinue army, the Opsikion was the largest and most prestigious of the early themes, being located closest to Constantinople...

and Thrakesion joined the emperor. The region was also the site of the major imperial horse ranches (metata) in Asia Minor

Asia Minor

Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

. It is first mentioned in historical sources in 798, when Empress Eirene assembled an army there. The site was attacked by the Arabs in 798, 860 and in ca. 875. In the 12th century, Emperor Manuel I Komnenos

Manuel I Komnenos

Manuel I Komnenos was a Byzantine Emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean....

 restored the fortifications of the district's main fortress at Metabole, and used it as a base for his campaigns against the Seljuk

Great Seljuq Empire

The Great Seljuq Empire was a medieval Persianate, Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf...

 Sultanate of Iconium. Under the Angeloi, it became a separate province, headed by a governor titled dux

Dux

Dux is Latin for leader and later for Duke and its variant forms ....

and stratopedarches

Stratopedarches

Stratopedarchēs , sometimes Anglicized as stratopedarch, was a Greek term used with regard to high-ranking military commanders from the 1st century BC on, becoming a proper office and later an honorary title during the Byzantine Empire.-History:...

. At the same time, it is attested as being an archbishopric, before being raised to a metropolis

Metropolitan bishop

In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...

 under the Laskarids.