Certainty: 3 Manuel I confirmed grants of paroikoi to Theologos of Patmos & to its other properties. The financial official Ioannes Doukas certified with his signature a chrysobull of Alexios I for Christodoulos of Patmos (1088) granting an exkousseia from certain taxes for a ship of 500 modioi to be built for and owned by the monastery of Patmos, and another chrysobull of Ioannes II (1119) confirming earlier chrysobulls of Alexios I establishing an annual grant of wheat for the monastery on Patmos. Theoktistos, the hegoumenos of Patmos, later requested and was granted by the emperor Manuel 1 a decree protecting the 12 paroikoi of Patmos on Leros from the praktores of Samos and granting the monastery 6 more paroikoi for Leros, exempt from all fiscal obligations. The decree was issued, signed in red ink and sealed by the emperor, then registered in the sekreton of the megas logariastes by Ioannes Pepagomenos, in the sekreton of the epi ton oikeiakon by Theodoros Spondyles, in the sekreton of the megas logariastes of the euage sekreta by Romanakes and in the sekreton of the epi ton vestiarion by Kostomyres. A copy was finally certified and signed by Basileios Pekoules and Ioannes Alopos
Certainty: 2 Raymond was forced to supplicate Ioannes II's tomb before Manuel forgave him. Manuel I's punitive expedition against Raymond of Poitiers achieved for Ioannes II what he had lost by death. Raymond was forced to came to Constantinople. There he was ignored at first, and only got Manuel's attention by going to Ioannes II's tomb in the Pantokrator, where he was forgiven and became Manuel's liege. This extortion of homage from Raymond would be given in the Second Crusade by Godfrey, bishop of Langres, as a reason for a possible French attack on Constantinople
Certainty: 2 Raymond saw Manuel riding with heavy weapons & a flag, & suspected a trick. When Raymond of Poitiers visited Constantinople, he saw the emperor Manuel I riding with a heavy spear fitted with a massive flag and a shield, and thought there was a trick involved. Manuel in fact was improving Byzantine weapons and training, with long shields, lances and mock battles on horseback with blunt weapons, in which he took part himself. Raymond approached Manuel and asked to hold his weapons, realised they were as heavy as they looked, and expressed amazement
Certainty: 1 Tzetzes wrote to Leon, metropolitan of Dristra about a gift of fish. When Leon Charsianites was appointed metropolitan of Dristra, Leon's friend Tzetzes for a time received nothing from him. Then he received, not a letter but three fish, preserved in different ways. This led to philosophical reflections on their symbolic meaning, including thoughts on his own refusal of public office
Certainty: 1 Tzetzes recommended a grammatikos to Alexios, nephew of the protovestiarios. Tzetzes wrote to Alexios, nephew of the protovestiarios, greatly lamenting his distance from the capital, as he was living in the European provinces to the south; the occasion for the letter was a recommendation to Alexios for Michael, a priest and grammatikos
Certainty: 3 Death of William of Messines, patriarch of Jerusalem. William of Messines, patriarch of Jerusalem, went the way of all flesh, in the fifteenth year of his patriarchate
Certainty: 1 Tzetzes failed to retrieve something of his from the patriarchal hypomimneskon. Tzetzes had made a formal application to the patriarchal hypomimneskon for the return of something belonging to him. Since there had been no response, he sent a reminder, wondering (ironically) if his request had been too formal
Certainty: 1 Tzetzes complained about an aggressive plagiarist. A friend of Tzetzes wrote a fine epitaph for Ioannes II, but it was claimed by another man as his own. And the plagiarist did not stop there: he tried to appropriate the Lykophron commentary of Tzetzes himself, a work whose author was known to everybody. The lie was pointed out by Mesarites, but the plagiarist's response was to attack him violently. Tzetzes now intervened with a letter to point out the truth and excoriate the guilty man
Certainty: 3 Louis VII & the Bishop of Langres announced the Second Crusade at Bourges. Louis VII invited an unusually large number of nobles to Bourges for Christmas, and there revealed to them his secret desire to go on crusade. His statements were supported by a sermon from Godfrey, bishop of Langres, who painted a melancholy picture of the fate of Edessa (Rohes) and its Christian population. But the king's announcement was not successful at once, and it was resolved to meet the following Easter at Vezelay
Certainty: 1 Michael Italikos discussed meanings of "homaimon" with Alexios Komnenos. An Alexios Komnenos (unspecified) asked Michael Italikos about the meanings of the word "homaimon", as he was in dispute over the word with a protonotarios. Michael replied that it meant "brother", but many other things too, especially just "kin", giving examples. If he were not so busy at Philippopolis, there would be far more examples