Certainty: 3 Property dispute between the monasteries of Phalakrou & Xylourgou. A dispute between the monasteries of Phalakrou and Xylourgou over property boundaries on Athos was settled by the protos Gabriel, who summoned the monks and hegoumenoi to the disputed property and established an agreement between the parties, signed by 7 witnesses. There was to be a small money payment from Xylourgou to Phalakrou
Certainty: 3 Ioannes II left Constantinople for Attaleia. Some four years after his previous departure from Cilicia and Antioch, he gathered a large army and set out again for that area, having received frequent requests for his presence from Raymond of Poitiers. He left as soon as spring began to smile, and said farewell to his daughters, who wept mythological tears. He went across Phrygia to Attaleia, where he intended to spend some time
Certainty: 1 Tzetzes blamed Alexios, nephew of the protovestiarios, over failure to meet him. Tzetzes wrote that there was an (unexplained) crisis, and he had failed to meet Alexios, nephew of the protovestiarios. Ioannes had done his best, sending messengers and going in vain on foot to Alexios' house. It was for Alexios to throw off his langour and take action
Certainty: 1 Tzetzes asked for the return of texts borrowed from him. The nephew of Psylles the protovestiarios had borrowed some texts from Tzetzes. The latter now tried to demand them back in an amusing way, saying that the recipient of the letter had every right to give or withhold things that were his, but not things belonging to others and lent to him
Certainty: 2 Ioannes II went to Sozopolis, then captured islands in Lake Pousgouse, suffering losses. He attacked and captured islands on Lake Pousgouse. The people were Christians, but long accustomed to close contact with Ikonion, so they refused imperial rule. He put siege machines on boats to capture the islands, suffering losses in storms
Certainty: 2 Ioannes II planned a "portion" in the south for his son Manuel (I). Ioannes II had long ago made his eldest son, Alexios, his co-emperor, and planned to bequeath the empire to him. But he became aware that there were many premonitions in favour of the youngest, Manuel (I), who also had personal qualities of an imperial type. When he heard of the revolt of Raymond of Antioch, he thought of an alternative arrangement, to make Antioch, Cilicia, Attaleia and Cyprus into a southern "portion" for Manuel
Certainty: 2 Birth of Alexios, fifth child of the sebastokrator Andronikos. Theodoros Prodromos wrote a poem to welcome Alexios Komnenos, the second son of the sebastokrator Andronikos and his wife Eirene. Eirene the sebastokratorissa was congratulated on adding a second (male) sun to her three (female) moons, and told to forget the pain of childbirth and begin preparing mounts, armour and weapons for the new Achilles, telling him of the exploits of his ancestors. Andronikos, though absent, was asked to embrace the new-born Alexios as if present, and to rejoice with tears of joy. Ioannes II, also absent, should lead the celebrations for another branch of the huge Komnenian tree and another potential general
Certainty: 2 Death of Alexios & Andronikos, sons of Ioannes II, around Attaleia. Before Ioannes II reached Cilicia, he lost his eldest son and co-emperor Alexios, as predicted in a dream he had seen long ago of Alexios riding a wild lion. The illness was sudden, a fever attacking the head. His second son Andronikos had barely time for mourning before he died too
Certainty: 2 Death of Andronikos on the boat taking Alexios' body home: Isaakios took over. After the death of the co-emperor Alexios, Ioannes II sent his brother Andronikos to conduct his body by ship back to the capital. But after they had sailed, he too died, as if unwilling to be separated from his dead brother - and so a corpse was conducting a corpse. It seems that Isaakios too was on the ship [he was later in Constantinople, not with the army - perhaps an indication that Andronikos was at least unwell before the voyage began]. He delivered the two bodies in the capital
Certainty: 2 Building by Fulk, his barons & bishops of Blanchegarde, a third castle against Askalon. After the building of Beth Gibelin and Ibelin, attacks from Askalon were much reduced. King Fulk thus decided, with William the patriarch, to build a third castle, against the raids, Blanchegarde. When it was finished, he took it over himself, increased the Christian population of the area and made the people of Askalon seek aid from Egypt
Certainty: 2 Michael Italikos wrote to an imperial grammatikos about the death of the co-emperor Alexios. Michael Italikos complained in a letter to an imperial grammatikos that the latter wrote to his own brother (naturally) but not to Michael himself. Now he knew the reason: the grief which must have overcome all the army, especially the imperial entourage, as a result of the death of the co-emperor Alexios. When he had recovered, he should write
Certainty: 2 Arrival of Andronikos' corpse in the capital: mourning of his wife & family. Andronikos arrived back in Constantinople by ship either dead or (as is suggested by Manganeios Prodromos) in a mortal coma. His wife Eirene the sebastokratorissa was devastated, only saved from death by her recently-born baby. The mourning of his children is depicted as puzzlement that their father ignores them completely, despite their attempts to communicate with him
Certainty: 2 Ioannes II arrived unannounced at Tell Bashir. Ioannes II (with Manuel his son) moved at great speed through Isauria and Cilicia, and arrived at Tell Bashir and demanded hostages, to the great astonishment of Joscelin II, who could not resist the huge army. Ioannes wanted to make Joscelin more subservient, and so took with him one of the count's daughters, Isabella
Certainty: 2 Ioannes II approached closer to Antioch, then withdrew to winter quarters. From Tell Bashir, Ioannes II moved towards Antioch, taking up a position ot Gastounai with the idea of restraining Raymond of Poitiers. From there he sent messengers to Antioch, so as to activate the treaty made in 1137. He asked that Antioch and its contents be handed over as a base for war with neighbouring peoples, promising to interpret the treaty generously. The Antiochenes debated how to reply. They decided that a large and rich city like Antioch should not be handed over to the Byzantines, whose sloth would lose it, as before. But it was necessary to cloak this decision in a persuasive pretext for (apparently) breaking the pact. They sent messengers to Ioannes to inform him that he could not enter the city. They claimed that neither Raymond's wife Constance nor he (whose rule was dependent on marriage to her) had the right to hand over Antioch, which belonged to its people. If the rulers accepted Ioannes' request, they would be disinherited and driven out. Ioannes was angered at this reply, but he knew how stubborn the Antiochenes could be. It would be unexpectedly difficult to enter the city, and even if he succeeded, he might have little long-term effect. He did not want war between Christians, and so decided not to force entry into Antioch. He camped in the suburbs, allowing his troops to take all they could, especially necessary supplies, so that they burned fruit-trees as wood for cooking; he then returned to winter quarters in Cilicia
Certainty: 2 Determination of Ioannes II to continue his campaign to Antioch & visit Jerusalem. Despite the terrible blows of the deaths of Alexios and Andronikos, his two eldest sons, Ioannes went on from Attaleia towards the Armenian lands and Antioch with his youngest son Manuel, though he had already been away from the capital for a full year. Ostensibly his purpose was the better organisation of the Armenian cities captured earlier; however, the real motive was to join Antioch to Constantinople and then go on to Jerusalem, see the Holy Places and make gifts, and cleanse the area of barbarians. Most sources include a hint of this, and William of Tyre described an elaborate diplomatic exchange with Jerusalem, in which Ioannes proposed to visit Jerusalem. King Fulk sent a guarded response via Anselm, bishop of Bethlehem, Geoffrey, abbot of the Temple and Rohard, castellan of Jerusalem. Ioannes finally gave up the idea because he would only be able to take ten thousand troops with him on account of the lack of provisions. Manuel is even said to have planned to make Cilicia and Antioch with Attaleia and Cyprus into a "portion" for Manuel. Because of such ulterior motives, he tried every trick to have the Latins concede to him the lordship of Antioch, or if not (he knew of their bloody-mindedness), to win the loyalty of the Cilicians and Syrians
Certainty: 3 Inventory of the possessions of the monastery of Xylourgou. When a new hegoumenos, Christophoros, was appointed at the head of Xylourgou, a delegation of monks under the oikonomos of Athos Arsenios went to the monastery, established an inventory of its movable possessions, and presented them to Christophoros
Certainty: 3 Consecration of Michael Italikos as didaskalos of the Gospels. Michael Italikos was consecrated as didaskalos of the Gospels on Christmas Day, and two days later he prepared this didaskalia. He was full of joy at the promotion, after waiting what he considered a long time as didaskalos of the Epistles, renewed for fresh efforts in the spirit of Christmas. He felt like a fisherman tending his nets on the Sea of Gallilee, called by a Christ-patriarch (Leon Stypes) to be an apostle. He had spent time with David, teaching the Psalms, then with Paul, on the Epistles; now he passed on to the Gopels. Like Moses, he had seen God, and rejoiced. The patriarch had taken him in his old age and made him part of a Christmas tableau
Certainty: 1 Tzourichos, a heretic from Adrianople, provoked negative reactions in the capital. Nikephoros, a man with power in the Pantokrator monastery (probably the hegoumenos) ordered men to go and seize the heretic Tzourichos and his mature son and give them 36 strokes of the cane in the courtyard (of the monastery?). But both scoundrels hid, and the men caught Tzourichos' innocent young son, whom they punished with 13 strokes. The mature son insulted Tzetzes, and as a result was violently driven out of the monastery of Mousele (where presumably he was living) by the bishop of Dalisanda and the protekdikos
Certainty: 1 Pagan the butler built the castle of Kerak (Transjordan). Pagan the butler, lord of Transjordan, had taken over the lands across the Jordan vacated by the expulsion of Roman of Le Puy and his son Radulf. He built a castle named Kerak on a site which was naturally strong, and had been further strengthened by hard work
Certainty: 1 Usama on the Frankish kingdom: Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, whenever Usama entered the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Templars there, who were his friends, evacuated the adjoining little mosque, which had been turned into a church, to let him pray. On one visit he was repeatedly interrupted in the little mosque by a very rude Frank, who tried to persuade him to pray facing the east. He was restrained by the Templars. Anar, ithe vizier of Damascus, in the Dome of the Rock, was asked by a Frank whether he wanted to see God as a child; when he answered in the affirmative, he was shown a picture of the Virgin and Child
Certainty: 1 Usama on the Franks: birds & animals. Sir Adam, lord of Hunak, went to investigate a leopard which would sleep during the day high in the window of a ruined church, then jump down and leave. But this time the leopard jumped down on him and killed him. Usama and Anar, the vizier of Damascus, once saw a Genoese man at Acre with a falcon and a bitch newly brought from the west, for hunting cranes. Anar asked Fulk for the pair as a present, and Fulk complied, but the falcon died shortly afterwards without hunting again. On another occasion Usama was offered a leopard for sale at Haifa: he refused it, but was impressed with the way its Frankish owner had domesticated it. Usama's brother, Abu l-Hasan 'Ali, paid rent to a Frank from Kafartab who owned a village. As part of the rent he sent an old horse which died a year later. The Frank accused 'Ali of killing it with a slow poison which only worked after a year
Certainty: 1 Usama on the Frankish kingdom: Nablus. Whenever Usama stayed in Nablus, he would use the lodgings ran by a certain Muizz. There was a Frankish wineseller in Nablus whose house was close by, and he would take some wine in a bottle and go around shouting "so-and-so the merchant has just opened a cask full of this wine; anyone who wants to buy some will find it in such-and-such a place". This man was not at all jealous of his wife and would not become suspicious even when he found another man in bed with her. [There follows a case of trial by combat, ridiculed by Usama.] A peasant from a village near Nablus was accused of helping Muslim thieves, and fled from king Fulk. Fulk had his children imprisoned, and this brought him back, and he challenged his (unknown) accuser to a duel. Fulk then asked the tenant of the village to bring the accuser, but he chose the village blacksmith [presumably to minimise the chance of losing one of his peasants]. The viscount of Nablus provided the man and the blacksmith with a cudgel and shield each, and gathered an audience, who made a circle. The blacksmith killed his opponent, and thus justice was done!
Certainty: 1 Michael Italikos returned a commentary on the Gospels to the chartophylax. Michael Italikos borrowed from the chartophylax a commentary on the Gospels by a past patriarch of Constantinople. He had to return it after a few days but provided a good summary of the contents: quotations from all the fathers who wrote on the Gospels
Certainty: 0 Eirene the sebastokratorissa dedicated liturgical furnishings to the Theotokos .
Certainty: 1 Weddings in the family of Theodora Komnenos & Manuel Anemas. Before his death, Manuel Anemas had settled his children in good marriages, for which Theodoros Prodromos wrote wedding songs which have not survived