Certainty: 2 Isaakios I fell ill while hunting & asked his brother Ioannes to succeed him. Isaakios I crossed the Sea of Marmara and took up residence around Honoratos, hunting and exercising for a whole long day, but then returned to Constantinople ill with pleurisy. Treatment is said to have included advice to have sex with a woman, and a burning treatment which might make him infertile. He summoned his brother Ioannes Komnenos who declined his offer of the imperial throne, despite the vain pleas of Ioannes' wife Anna Dalassene to accept it, for the sake of both their family and the empire
Certainty: 2 Isaakios Komnenos fell seriously ill after lightning strike while hunting. Isaakios I, so as not to diminish the animals in his parks, decided to hunt in the wild both by the chase and with a falcon. He stayed in a lodge outside the City surrounded by sea and adequate for an ordinary huntsman but not an emperor. He spent a full day hunting along the Bosporos and, while at a place called Neapolis, chasing a boar which vanished into the sea, he was hit by lightning and fell off his horse. He returned by boat to the palace at once, expecting to die after some days of illness, and to show repentance he exchanged imperial power for monastic life. At sunset he dismissed Psellos and the others and went to sleep. Psellos felt confident and hopeful. But returning early, he was told outside that Isaakios had a pain in his side, was panting and breathing weakly. He entered a despondent sickroom. The emperor greeted him, said cheerfully that he had come at a good moment and gave him his hand to check his pulse, as he knew he had practised medicine. But the imperial doctor stopped him, saying he had already tested it and found it irregular, weak in alternate beats like the alternating teeth of a saw. Psellos recognised the disease but did not comment at once
Certainty: 2 Isaakios Komnenos after hesitations appointed Konstantinos (X) Doukas as successor. Isaakios I did not appoint as his successor his brother Ioannes Komenos (who in some versions had already rejected the throne), nor his nephew Theodoros Dokeianos, nor did he marry off his daughter Maria, though all three were present in the room. He appointed Konstantinos (X) Doukas, whose character prevailed over the demands of nature, and who been a close associate of his during his struggle for the throne. He entrusted to Konstantinos the empire and the protection of Ioannes, Maria and Theodoros, as well as his empress Aikaterine, with their consent
Certainty: 2 Members of family of Isaakios I enthusiastically accepted his choice of Konstantinos X as successor. Isaakios I's nephew Theodoros Dokeianos initially resented his choice of Konstantinos X Doukas for the throne. But he soon changed his mind and, like other family members, accepted and praised it. So Isaakios summoned Konstantinos and embraced him like his own son - though Isaakios was soon to waver in his decision to abdicate [Psellos' statement of Theodoros' enthusiasm for Konstantinos X has been regarded with suspicion]
Certainty: 3 Abdication of Isaakios Komnenos. Psellos had a disagreement with the emperor's chief doctor over the nature and likely duration of his patient's fever. However Isaakios decided to abdicate. Konstantinos Leichoudes came to see him (not before time), to counsel him on the better life and strengthen him with words of all kinds. A more violent fit seized the emperor and all now despaired of his life. All his family sat around him lamenting, and would have died with him if they could
Certainty: 2 Isaakios I, feeling better after abdication, went in imperial vessel to Stoudios, & was tonsured. Isaakios I abdicated, and then completed the transformation of his life by becoming a monk. His wife Aikaterine put this down to the influence of Psellos, which the latter denied. The empress felt betrayed by her husband, as there was no role for her and her daughter in his new life, but confirmed her devotion to him. After Isaakios put on the monastic garb, he thought for a while that he might recover from his illness but then realised he would not, and went to Stoudios, still unwell. Later he recovered strength a little and became hesitant about abdication, leaving his successor Konstantinos X gripped by uncertainty. But Isaakios persisted, and was to show total obediance to the hegoumenos of Stoudios
Certainty: 3 Beginning of rule of Konstantinos X. [Psellos gives himself a very large role in the transition from Isaakios I to Konstantinos X, and there is no way of checking his account.] Konstantinos, summoned as Isaakios was apparently dying, stood blushing with his usual modesty. He was more saddened by Isaakios' illness than pleased at his own accession. Only Psellos dared array him in the imperial insignia, with the permission of the senate. He seated him on the imperial throne, put on the purple sandals, and other ceremonies for a new ruler followed. When Konstantinos saw Psellos leading the homage, he at once rose from the throne and embraced him. Later he asked him to make an appropriate speech. Konstantinos maintained this close relationship with Psellos
Certainty: 2 Empress Aikaterine soon imitated her husband's tonsure: but Konstantinos X included her in his first acclamations. After her husband Isaakios I's abdication, the empress Aikaterine was tonsured (with her daughter Maria), taking the name Xene. They withdrew to the palace of Myrelaion. She said that this was nothing new to her, having already exchanged one kingdom for another. Konstantinos X failed to change her mind, but as a sign of respect he kept her name together with his in imperial acclamations sent out to the themes