Certainty: 3 Epiphany hymns (probably of this year) with polychronia for Ioannes II & his sons. Three traditional Epiphany hymns written for the demes by Theodoros Prodromos should probably be dated to 1136. Their polychronia celebrate Ioannes II, his co-emperor Alexios and the holy trinity of sebastokrators
Certainty: 2 Uncanonical election of Radulf of Domfort as patriarch of Antioch rejected by other bishops. Radulf of Domfront was chosen as Patriarch of Antioch only by the people, without his fellow bishops. They refused him obedience, but were afraid of the mob and dispersed, so that he could take over church, palace and even the pallium (without reference to Rome)
Certainty: 2 Radulf of Domfort treated his clerical opponents with great violence. Some of the bishops returned to communion, and it was said that if he had behaved well, the church would have been at peace. However he acted more like a secular than an ecclesiastical ruler, using his wealth against his opponents and treating the clergy mercilessly. Some of the elders of the church were violently driven out. Some, like Arnulf of Calabria, the bishop of Cosenza, and Lambert, the archdeacon of Antioch, found themselves treated like common murderers, imprisoned in a dungeon full of lime and tortured for many days on a charge of conspiring against Radulf. His behaviour was so crazy that he became widely hated, and began to fear for his safety
Certainty: 2 Alice gained (via Melisende) Fulk's consent to her taking over Antioch. Before the arrival of Raymond of Poitiers, Alice returned to Antioch from her estates, and with the support of a party of nobles, began to act as sovreign. She had persuaded her sister Melisende to gain Fulk's agreement not to intervene if she took over Antioch. She was tricked by Radulf of Domfront into thinking that Raymond was coming to marry her
Certainty: 2 Radulf deceived both Alice & Raymond: Alice returned to her estates. When Raymond of Poitiers reached Antioch, he immediately saw that the key person was Radulf of Domfront, and decided to do whatever Radulf asked. Alice still believed till the last moment that she would be Raymond's bride. Radulf, as well as deceiving her, used his strong position to extort an oath of fealty from Raymond, in return for allowing him to marry Constance. Raymond was even offered Radulf's help, if his brother Henry came to Antioch, to marry him to Alice, with her dowry of two towns. Raymond swore fealty and the marriage went ahead: Alice realised she had been duped, and returned to her estates
Certainty: 2 Marrriage of under-age Constance of Antioch to Raymond of Poitiers. After Raymond of Poitiers swore fealty to Radulf of Domfront, Radulf married him to Constance in the church of Hagios Petros. All those present agreed to ignore the fact that she was far too young for marriage
Certainty: 2 Raymond disregarded the enforced oath of fealty, & joined Radulf's enemies. Radulf thought that the oath he had extorted from Raymond of Poitiers put him on a firm foundation in dealing with him. However Raymond, as soon as he had gained the desired marriage, disregarded the oath as shameful and wrongly extorted, joining Radulf's enemies
Certainty: 3 Ioannes II completed & signed the typikon of the Pantokrator. Ioannes II completed the typikon of the Pantokrator complex, and signed it, probably just in time before leaving on his Cilician expedition. The Typikon was for the Pantokrator monastery, the church of the Eleousa, and a Heroon or funerary chapel between them. There were also elaborate arrangements for a hospital. He made detailed provisions for the staff of each area, precedence, the honouring of the tombs and the giving of food and alms at the gates. He provided for the diet of the monks, mealtime behaviour, care of sick monks, monks devoted to menial tasks and more honourable offices. He explained how the monastery was to be separate from the world, how it should be governed and how a new hegoumenos should be appointed and forced to follow the typikon. He regulated the relations of the Pantokrator with its dependent monasteries elsewhere. For the church of the Eleousa, he stipulated the numbers and remuneration of its clergy and other staff, and expenses under other headings like lighting. Specially detailed prescriptions were made for the commemorations of Komnenian family members in the Heroon dedicated to the Archangel Michael, and the operation of the hospital. [These are given in separate units below.]
Certainty: 3 Ioannes II listed relations & adherents to be commemorated in the Pantokrator. Ioannes II arranged for daily commemorations in the Pantokrator monastery for the deceased Alexios I, Anna Dalassene, Eirene Doukaina and Eirene-Piroshka. There were to be weekly commemorations on Saturdays for Ioannes, father of Alexios I; Maria of Bulgaria and her husband Andronikos Doukas; Isaakios Komnenos, brother of Alexios I; Eudokia-Dobrodeja, first wife of the emperor Alexios, first son of Ioannes II; Andronikos and Eudokia, children of Alexios I; Nikephoros Bryennios; Nikephoros Katakalon Euphorbenos; Adrianos Komnenos, brother of Alexios I; Zoe Doukaina, daughter of Konstantinos X; Manuel Komnenos, eldest brother of Alexios I; the kaisar Nikephoros Melissenos and his wife Eudokia Komnene; Maria and Theodora, sisters of Alexios I; Michael Doukas, brother of Eirene Doukaina; Georgios Palaiologos; Theodora and Anna, sisters of Eirene Doukaina. There would be special commemorations for Alexios, son of Ioannes II's son Isaakios and Ioannes Arbantenos, a nephew who had made large donations to the Pantokrator. Minor commemoration was to be made for several adherents of the family: two mystikoi, Ioannes the eunuch and Tzykanisteriotes; Konstantinos Rogerios; Eustathios Kamytzes; Michaelitzes Stypeiotes; the doctor Niketas the protos; Georgios Dekanos; and Georgios Beroites, the imperial vestiarites
Certainty: 3 Ioannes II arranged for the organisation of an elaborate hospital at the Pantokrator.
Certainty: 2 A huge Byzantine invasion of Cilicia, provoked by local attacks but maybe with wider purposes. Lewon I of Armenia had been capturing forts subject to the Byzantines, and in particular was trying to get control of Seleukeia. At the moment of the Byzantine attack Lewon had been captured by the Antiochenes, but they now set their prisoner free, realising they needed all the allies they could find against superior Byzantine force. Ioannes II announced that he would attack Lewon, but took with him equipment for a long expedition. This led to rumours that he was trying to reactivate a proposal made by some Antiochene aristocrats to have Manuel (I) marry the Antiochene heiress Constance, now cancelled by her marriage to Raymond of Poitiers. It was even suggested that he was reviving Byzantine claims to all the lands promised by the First Crusaders to Alexios I (a promise voided for the Westerners by Alexios' own conduct)
Certainty: 1 Franks besieging Kafartab lost a horse to 'Ali ibn al-Dudawayhi. 'Ali b. al-Dudawayh, in the sevice of Usama b. Munqidh, stole a horse from the Franks while they were besieging Kafartab
Certainty: 1 Pilgrimage of Isaakios Porphyrogennetos to Jerusalem. Isaakios the porphyrogennetos, brother of Ioannes II, had visited Palestine as a pilgrim, visiting all the holy sites. In particular, he had invested a good deal of his own money in bringing water in channels to the Monastery of St Ioannes Prodromos on the Jordan, to alleviate pilgrims' thirst
Certainty: 1 Michael Italikos promoted from teaching the Psalter to the Pauline Epistles. Michael Italikos was promoted from Didaskalos of the Psalter to Didaskalos of the Epistles, a post he was to occupy till 1142 - too long, as he felt
Certainty: 0 Death of Alexios, son of Alexios. After a flourishing life, he died, mourned by his wife. Theodoros Prodromos wrote an epitaph
Certainty: 1 Michael Italikos wrote to Lizix, recalling discussions of him with Theodoros Prodromos. Michael Italikos wrote to Lizix, saying that he could picture him well, especially during happy chats with Theodoros Prodromos, though he no longer met him. But he would be surprised if the ambitious Lizix had the same memories of them