Certainty: 2 Some Uzes, desperate in winter cold, returned home: an embassy failed to stop raids from the rest. As winter set in, some Uzes returned over the Danube, cold and hungry. Konstantinos X sent embassies with many gifts to the leaders of the remainder, in an attempt to delay their advance. He invited some to meet him, bestowing favours upon them, seeking in vain to trick and restrain them
Certainty: 2 Konstantinos X marched out to Choirobakchoi with absurdly small army. Konstantinos X had been stung by complaints and accusations that his stinginess harmed the empire. He made a false start, from which Psellos claims to have stopped him. He eventually left Constantinople to face the invading Uzes, and encamped at Choirobakchoi opposite Athyras with an army of 150 men, whose small size caused amazement to many
Certainty: 2 Uzes defeated by cold, famine, epidemic, escaping Byzantine generals & Balkan neighbours. News came to the capital that the Uzes had been annihilated by famine, plague, and attacks by Bulgarians and Pechenegs, although their leaders managed to escape across the Danube. Basileios Apokapes and Nikephoros Botaneiates, who had escaped from captivity, spread the miraculous information. Konstantinos X with his tiny army received messengers from the Danube with the good news, and he rejoiced, thanked God and the Virgin, and returned to Constantinople to find the population celebrating
Certainty: 2 Konstantinos X prayed for defeat of Uzes with fasts & processions: he later led rites of gratitude. Konstantinos X's tiny army was used for prayer and fasting, and soon news of the enemy's annihilation arrived. He thanked God and the Theotokos and returned to Constantinople, where he found the people amazed and offering thanksgiving prayers to God
Certainty: 2 A few Pechenegs & Uzes settled on Byzantine territory by Konstantinos X. Konstantinos X granted dignities and lands in Macedonia to some surviving Uzes (and Pechenegs) who went over to him after the annihilation of their people and thus became allies of the Romans
Certainty: 2 Xach'ik died & was succeeded as Armenian katholikos by Grigor Vkayaser.
Certainty: 2 Pegonites, doux of Edessa, tried to betray Khacatur, doux of Antioch, in defending Edessa.
Certainty: 2 Slar-Khorasan attacked Edessa twice, then withdrew to Persia where he died.
Certainty: 2 Konstantinos X attempted to enforce church union; Gagik II intervened.
Certainty: 2 Ugly dog incident: Gagik II killed Markos, metropolitan of Sebasteia.
Certainty: 3 Chrysobull of Konstantinos X confirmed all earlier chrysobulls for Iveron. Konstantinos X, aware of the unjustified claims made of Iveron by tax-collectors, ordered that a receipt should be enought to prove that the monks had paid what was due, and that the monastery should not be harassed in the future. He confirmed in a new chrysobull the validity of all earlier chrysobulls, including the earliest, that of Romanos II
Certainty: 2 Romanos (IV) appointed doux of Serdica. Romanos (IV) asked Konstantinos X to be made vestarches, but was told that he would have to show some deeds in order to be thus rewarded. Romanos went to Serdica, where he was appointed doux, defeated some Pechenegs and sent their heads to the emperor who then bestowed the dignity. He decided to use his position at Serdica to make a bid to seize power via the Sauromatai (Hungarians), who knew him from when he had fought against them while ruling the cities of the Istros (Danube). He sent them letters to that effect
Certainty: 2 Psellos wrote Oratio Panegyrica 14 for Konstantinos X, congratulating him on defeating the Uzes. Psellos wrote a complete speech on the defeat of the Uzes. This spectacular victory was compared to those of Moses and Alexander. Konstantinos X's children were told not to be overawed and discouraged by his example, but to emulate him
Certainty: 2 Earthquake destroyed churches, walls & houses of Nicaea. No persons mentioned
Certainty: 2 Monk Iakobos of Kalaphatou appointed Theodoros to succeed him, then changed his mind. Iakobos had before appointed the monk Theodoros hegoumenos of Kalaphatou, but when the latter abandoned and disobeyed him and did not even visit him when he fell ill he burnt the relevant document, thus annulling its stipulations. He finally signed the new document with a cross
Certainty: 3 Kalaphatou was bequeathed to Lavra by Iakobos of Kalaphatou, in return for maintenance for life & other stipulations. The monk Iakobos of Kalaphatou had a document written by a monk (maybe Theodoros), in which Iakobos granted the properties of his monastery to Lavra, in return for maintenance by Lavra till his death. The document was witnessed by five monks: Meletios of Sklithrea, Theodoros of Otibibiti (?), Nikolaos of Prodromos, Nikolaos of (kyr Nikolaos) Hesychast and Theoktistos of Roudaba. Iakobos should also be commemorated by Lavra after his death, together with five other monks of Kalaphatou: Basileios, Damianos, Ephraim, Kosmas and Stephanos. The offer to support him (as he was ill) for his lifetime was made by Athanasios III, hegoumenos of Lavra. It was stipulated in the document that the feasts of the Presentation of the Virgin and Hagios Demetrios should be celebrated by Lavra at Kalaphatou, and that another elderly monk, Stephanos, should be maintained by Lavra and given a wine allowance
Certainty: 1 Gagik of Kars ceded his kingdom to the Romans.
Certainty: 1 Manuel & Isaakios Komnenos began military service while their father Ioannes was still alive. Manuel and Isaakios Komnenos, eldest sons of Ioannes Komnenos, began their military careers while their father was still alive
Certainty: 1 Psellos received the first beautiful letters of Aimilianos, patriarch of Antioch. Psellos wrote to Aimilianos, patriarch of Antioch, thanking him for his impressive first letter. He had thought Aimilianos would for ever be silent, wasting his talent and forgetting that closeness to God involved duty ro inferiors. But this deafening letter confirmed his well-known virtues and left Psellos blushing. Aimilianos accepted success modestly, communing with God and the great of the earth yet remembering Psellos. Psellos admitted defeat in the contest of mutual encomia with Aimilianos, thanking him for his gift and asking (unnecessarily) for a reward for Joseph. The eloquent Joseph too praised Aimilianos for his recent progress in virtue. Psellos' second letter added further praise for Aimilianos' first. It amazed everyone, adding to Psellos' prestige as an educator in the East and spreading Aimilianos' fame for virtue. He must write more to confirm his status
Certainty: 1 Psellos wrote a monody for Eirene the kaisarissa, delaying his composition to avoid raw emotion. A monody was written by Psellos on the death of Eirene the kaisarissa, wife of Ioannes kaisar, a family he knew well. It had been delayed because he wished to avoid exaggeration due to raw emotion. He closed the monody with a long recapitulation of her virtues and a formal passage of consolation for her husband. The latter, against his will, had a place in the encomium of Eirene, because some of her qualities only became visible through praise of him. He was the best of men (except the emperor), as she was the best of women
Certainty: 1 Psellos would later remember the nursery routine of Euphemia's family. In writing later to congratulate Konstantinos nephew of Keroularios on the birth of a son, he remembered life with the family of his adoptive son-in-law: giving orders to the midwife, telling the bath-servant the water was too hot, instructing the wet-nurse on details of diet, and suffering with the child as it was swaddled
Certainty: 1 Ioannes Xiphilinos decorated bare parts of Hagia Sophia, especially round the bema & in apses & higher areas. Though personally ascetic, Ioannes Xiphilinos was a decorator of churches. He adorned many areas of Hagia Sophia which had been little decorated, especially around the bema and in the apses and higher areeas. He also worked on many other churches, from rebuilding to minor repairs
Certainty: 1 Psellos would be dead without Ioannes kaisar, yet friendship had become hostility & he wondered if they would speak again. He wrote to Ioannes kaisar in deep depression: only Ioannes' interest kept him alive. Ioannes, once a moon lit by the sun, was now a ruler with his own light. By contrast, except for Ioannes' inquiry how he was, life was bad for Psellos. Nobody showed interest or questioned him, so he was so depressed that without Ioannes he would be dead. Ioannes' virtues could at times make Psellos happy, especially his kindness. Psellos' grief was inevitable, but Ioannes should never suffer from envy: if his life was stormy, calm would follow. In another letter Psellos remembered that Ioannes once admired his works, collecting them in volumes. But now Psellos had lost him (with many others), before losing his own powers. Ioannes spoke to him less and left the capital, ignoring him, turning friendship to its opposite. Ioannes was his most serious loss, and he did not know if they would ever speak again. The rest of the letter shows desire to renew friendship, even on a lower level. [It ends in a lacuna]
Certainty: 1 Psellos corresponded with Sergios, krites of Thrakesion, over poisonous snakes & the monk Elias. Psellos replied to a question from Sergios, krites of Thrakesion, as to how somebody [a gipsy in a show?] could survive poisonous snake-bites. His reply began with a traditional list of poisonous snakes, while doubting if any existed in Thrakesion. He spoke of "a distinguished citizen whose name I will deliberately omit, who claims never to have been bitten by fleas or lice" [surely Sergios his correspondent? Sergios as student made this claim, and later he was krites of Thrakesion]. He told Sergios of the neighbour of the widow of Anastasios Lizix. This neighbour frequently handled snakes, and had them with her in bed, without ill effects; he suggested that what Sergios had seen was not unusual. In another letter he warned Sergios of a visit by the monk Elias Krystalas. Elias, who went everywhere but heaven, not liking the rough half of the world, moved via areas plundered by barbarians to the comfortable half, like Thrakesion and Sergios; he should not be revered as a monk, nor feared as Elijah. Sergios should follow his moods and appreciate his combination of opposites as a Protean entertainer of high quality who came self-invited. He should be enjoyed, then sent away