Certainty: 3 Fulcher of Angouleme, archbishop of Tyre, elected as patriarch of Jerusalem.
Certainty: 2 Despite the death of his eldest sister Maria, Manuel fortified Melangeia, to stop Turkish attacks on Bithynia. Since Mas'ud of Ikonion was ravaging to the east of Byzantine territory, Manuel marched to Melangeia against him, attacking the Turks there. He took measures to defend and rebuild Melangeia, then returned to the capital, ill with pleurisy. His eldest sister Maria had fallen mortally ill while he was away. He cut short his participation in the work, but she was dead before he reached Constantinople, leaving Ioannes Rogerios Dalassenos as a widower
Certainty: 2 Tzetzes wrote to the two grammatikoi of the sebastokratorissa Eirene. Tzetzes wrote to the two grammatikoi of Eirene the sebastokratorissa, the sebastophoros and Aspidopolos, complaining that although often together they were very different in character; the results of contacting them were inconsistent
Certainty: 3 St Bernard's preaching of the Crusade at Vezelay at Easter & its results. Louis VII sent information to pope Eugenius III about the Crusade and the meeting at Vezelay at Easter. Eugenius' reaction was enthusiastic, and he promised suitable indulgences. He wanted to come in person to bless the movement, but was prevented by political problems, and deputed his role to St Bernard of Clairvaux. Louis prepared for him a platform in a large field outside Vezelay. St Bernard preached at Easter to a vast throng of people, together with Louis VII, already wearing the cross. By his own holy enthusiasm and delegated papal authority he won so many devoted crusaders that it was difficult to find crosses for them all. His preaching was supported by miracles, and continued after the meeting at Vezelay, so that the number of intending crusaders became very large. He then went on to preach in Germany with continuing success
Certainty: 2 Violent quarrel among Komnenian family members at Metabole. In a meeting of the inner circle of the Komnenian family at Metabole, Ioannes Axouch made a speech at dinner contrasting Ioannes II and Manuel I. [Axouch is not directly given a urname, but a good case has been made that it was he.] Against the usual pattern of encomia, the dead father was given preference over his living son. Manuel, who was strong in filial piety, was not at all annoyed at the preference, but did feel that some particular criticisms of himself were too biting. They were taken up by Manuel's brother Isaakios, who exaggerated them still further. Andronikos, the future emperor, at this point insulted Isaakios, who in his usual irascible way tried to decapitate Andronikos. The blow might have succeeded had not Ioannes Doukas [probably the son of Anna Komnene] diverted it with his riding-crop on to Andronikos' jaw, with the help of Manuel I himself, who was slightly wounded and left with a small scar on his wrist. As a result, Isaakios was banished from the court for some days, while Axouch lost some of the seals which gave him power over finances
Certainty: 3 Tzetzes, about to return to the capital, exchanged letters with Georgios Alopos. On May 17, Tzetzes received a letter from his friend Georgios Alopos with a kindly greeting and good news of his health. He replied with a very similar letter, hoping to see Georgios before returning to the capital
Certainty: 3 Resignation of Michael II Oxeites, proclamation of Kosmas II Attikos. The patriarch Michael II esigned from the patriarchate and returned to the island and monastery of Oxeia where he had been a monk. He bent his neck at the entrance to the narthex to be trodden on by all the brothers, saying he should never have left, and had gained nothing by becoming patriarch. As the new patriarch, Kosmas II Attikos, was proclaimed, Easter was being celebrated. Kosmas had only been a deacon; he was from Aigina, was learned in all wisdom and specially distinguished for his virtues, the greatest of which was charity. He would often give away the clothes from his back and offer beggars things from his own house
Certainty: 2 Manuel I married Bertha von Sulzbach (Eirene). Bertha von Sulzbach, from a most aristocratic German family, had been engaged to marry Manuel Komnenos before the surprising deaths which brought him to the throne. Thus there was a pause before their marriage. After the wedding she enjoyed all the external trappings of an empress, but did not regularly share his bed. She preferred beauty of soul to beauty of body, despised cosmetics, and had a German obstinacy. His sexual activity was unrestrained, with many more fashionable partners than her, not stopping even at the acute shame of incest
Certainty: 2 Georgios Tornikes was promoted to the office of didaskalos of the Psalter. As Georgios Tornikes was promoted to the office of didaskalos of the Psalter, he delivered an encomiastic prooimion. This was directed, as always to the patriarch, the recently-installed Kosmas II
Certainty: 2 Manuel's successful raid from Lopadion could not prevent a major Turkish invasion of Thrakesion. The Turks had broken the truce by capturing Prakana and other places. Manuel therefore made a sudden raid from Lopadion, reached Pithekas where he had built a fort, but was unwell for one night; his generals, however, defeated the enemy nearby, gaining booty. It was now plain that the Turks were making a major assault on the theme of Thrakesion. To counter this, Manuel sent Theodoros Kontostephanos, but he was too late to achieve much, since he had not gathered an army before the Turks arrived. Their invasion reached as far as Kelbianon, not far from the sea.Manuel now began to plan a full-scale attack on Ikonion
Certainty: 2 Tzetzes wrote a petition to Manuel I in favour of Kosmas II. Tzetzes wrote to Osteos the protopsaltes, whom he judged to be a supporter of the patriarch Kosmas II. He enclosed with the letter a petition to Manuel I, asking Osteos to pass the petition on to Manuel and ensure that it was read to him by one of his grammatikoi who did not belong to the anti-Kosmas faction. The petition reminded Manuel that the appointment of a patriarch was a collegiate act, together with the synod and senate, not to be overturned by envious and embittered place-seekers among the ecclesiastics. It also warned him that Kosmas' opponents were gathering priests of the worst type to drive him illegally from office. Manuel was urged to intervene like a Komnenian and ensure their poisonous activities achieved no success
Certainty: 2 Angry at Turkish aggression, Manuel challenged the Sultan of Ikonion: the challenge was accepted. Manuel I complained by letter to Mas'ud of Ikonion that he had captured Prakana and fought against Byzantine allies like Yaghi-Basan, the Danishmendid amir of Cappadocia. For these acts of aggression, Manuel challenged him to battle. Mas'ud accepted the challenge, specifying that the battle should take place at Philomelion, where his camp was
Certainty: 2 Manuel I made a bold attack on the sultan at Ikonion (general factoids). This campaign is often mentioned briefly as the first, or one of the first actions in Manuel I's relations with Byzantium's neighbours. The toponym "Ikonion" is often enough to recall the campaign
Certainty: 2 Manuel routed near Akrounos a Turkish detachment sent against him: the Sultan quickly fled. Mas'ud, sultan of Ikonion, remained at Philomelion, sending a detachment of his forces only to meet Manuel I, who crossed Lydia and saved the cities of Phrygia and by the river Maiander from impending danger by frightening the Turks and driving them off. A larger battle took place at Mount Kalograia near Akrounos, and the Byzantines crushed the sultan's contingent, which fled back to Philomelion. The disaster overwhelmed Mas'ud, who withdrew quickly from Philomelion in disorder
Certainty: 2 Manuel captured & destroyed Philomelion, releasing long-term Byzantine prisoners. Manuel then reached Philomelion, sacked it and burned it to the ground, releasing long-term Byzantine prisoners whom the Turks had not thought in time to transfer elsewhere. An unnamed general of his routed large Turkish forces without receiving a scratch
Certainty: 2 Another Byzantine victory opened the road to Ikonion. Manuel sent Mas'ud another letter, complaining that he had not met him at Philomelion, as promised, then followed the retreating sultan past Adrianople (Lykaonia) and camped at Gaita, with the Turks at Andrachman; the next day Manuel again easily defeated the Turks, inflicting losses and taking captives, approaching Ikonion. Manuel wished to show himself more adventurous than his father, so refused to listen to those who advised a return to the safety of the capital
Certainty: 2 Manuel won by guile a hard-fought battle near Ikonion. Mas'ud garrisoned Ikonion but remained outside to avoid a cramped and unpredictable siege. His army was in two divisions, one on the hillside by the city, the other on the right, defended by the mountain extending to Kaballa; Choniates says his position was at Taxara (the ancient Koloneia). Manuel led up the Byzantine van from Kaballa, making two expert calculations - the position of Mas'ud, and the fact that the Turks had no hidden reserves. With confidence in his judgement, he bravely attacked against apparent odds and routed the demoralised Turkish line. But the rearguard of the Byzantine army was ambushed and also attacked by the garrison of Ikonion, so that they were thrown into confusion. He sent Georgios Pyrrogeorgios and Chouroup to help, but with little effect. He then decided that guile was needed, not force, so he told Bempitziotes, a soldier from Adrianople, to take off his helmet and brandish it in the air. This implied that the sultan had been captured, raising Byzantine morale and winning the victory. The bloody battles around Ikonion were later compared unfavourably to Manuel's almost bloodless "defeat" of the Second Crusade
Certainty: 2 Inspection of Ikonion showed a long siege would be needed: knowing of the crusade, Manuel withdrew. The day after the battle outside Ikonion, Manuel made a circuit round the walls and decided that the city was impregnable, without the expenditure of more time and force than he had available (he had heard of the impending Crusade). He allowed his men to fire arrows at the battlements and desecrate tombs - but not that of Mas'ud's mother, for whom he demanded respect. Mas'ud's daughter Kamero lent over the walls and delivered to the Byzantine forces an eloquent defence of her father. Manuel then sent letters to the sultan and his wife, and started homewards
Certainty: 2 Manuel sent a challenge to the sultan for the next year & a letter to his wife . Before leaving the area of Ikonion, Manuel sent two letters. One was to Mas'ud's wife, informing her that her husband was still alive. She had gathered thousands of animals and other foods for his acceptance, but did not deliver them, because of the burning of buildings outside the city. The other letter was to Mas'ud himself, threatening to return the next year and insulting him for cowardice
Certainty: 2 The major battle of Tzibrelitzemani: Manuel's first moves. The sultan Mas'ud, reinforced by many Turks from areas once ruled by the amir Gumushtegin Ghazi, plucked up courage to attack Manuel I as he went homewards over rough terrain at Tzibrelitzemani. Some Byzantines were in difficulties before Manuel arrived. Like a Latin trying to impress his new bride Bertha/Eirene, he decided to fight in person, in battles fiercer than he had faced in approaching Ikonion. He stationed two ambushes in nearby ravines, with relatives (including his sisters' husbands) in one and Nikolaos Angelos, commanding two units, in the other. He told them not to fight till they saw him attacking. Leaving the ambushes, he was unwillingly persuaded by his brother Isaakios and Ioannes Axouchos to wait incognito, with his imperial armour concealed, for Turkish attacks on the foragers. He had Poupakes reconnoitre and then decoy towards him more and more Turks. He pursued them with Isaakios, Axouch and Poupakes, his companions becoming ever more reluctant. When his brother Isaakios despaired as his horse was exhausted, and begged him to think of his wife and children, Manuel rebuked him for mistrust and rode on bravely
Certainty: 2 Tzibrelitzemani: the battle becomes chaotic. The battle was now far from the two ambushes set at its beginning. The relatives from the first ambush swore to support Manuel, whether he wanted them or not. They sent Kotertzes to ask how the battle was going: Manuel summoned them to come quickly. He reached a Turkish force of 500, near Mas'ud's main army, surprised them and killed some. He saw the men from the ambushes approaching, but the Turks kept them away from the emperor, thinking they had already ensnared him. Manuel told Poupakes to prevent the Byzantines from being cut off from a nearby hill; Poupakes told him to look after himself, but Manuel silenced him, making him obey orders. Unable to retreat without shame, Manuel charged and made a stand on a hill, to be joined by Ioannes (the later protosebastos) and others. Manuel escaped despite his exhausted horse. Ioannes Axouch, left behind in the emperor Manuel 1's attack and fearing for his own safety, claimed he was at a good rallying-point for rescuing the emperor; thus he gathered a force, then advanced in safety to Manuel. Several of Manuel's officers reproached him for rashness, so he turned his mind to saving Byzantine stragglers. He placed another ambush in a ravine and made more attacks, aided by Nikolaos Angelos and Kotertzes' bowmen. At this crisis, he saw Turks retreating unexpectedly, and deduced they could see Byzantine reinforcements invisible to himself. His uncle Isakios was said to have gone into a chapel in the imperial tent, expecting Manuel to be killed, providing him at last with an opportunity for usurpation. But the reinforcements appeared, and the emperor was able to achieve more in the evening
Certainty: 2 Tzibrelitzemani: second & third days. Resuming at dawn, the battle went on fiercely, and there were many losses, mainly in Ioannikios Kritoples' infantry, which was wavering; Manuel left his own men to his brother Isaakios and others and saved those of Ioannikios. Many of his formations were despondent through losses and sluggish despite real and threatened punishments. To raise morale he gave special orders to each regiment, from a list he carried. Even so, the army was hard-pressed, and as evening approached there were many who wanted to camp as they were, confined in a limited space. He opposed this proposal, thinking it might lead to defeat. He charged with the imperial standard, killed many Turks and captured others in a regular rout, including the prominent Pharkousas. A Turkish member of the Gabras family was killed, and his head paraded among the Byzantines. Manuel thus made room for a proper camp: in charge of this he put Basileios Tzikandyles, Sinopites, Ioannikios Kritoples and others. He abandoned the pursuit late at night, then organised the camp, where pack-animals had still been carrying their loads. Despite his efforts, through lack of space, many had to sleep on horseback. In a speech the next morning he called for discipline and determination to get home safely
Certainty: 2 Manuel communicated again with Mas'ud. Manuel made for lake Pousgouse. When he was on the plains and felt he was out of danger, he asked a soildier in his army to act as a herald and summon a Turk to be used as a messenger. A Turk appeared, was given an aristocrat's breastplate for credibility, and sent with a message complaining of Mas'ud's elusiveness and threatening to return the next year. When Mas'ud received the message, he sued for peace. Manuel delayed a long time before replying, especially because of uncertainty caused by news of the Crusade
Certainty: 2 To reach safety, Manuel still had to fight a Turcoman tribe in the Maiander valley. Manuel I recognised the leader of a Turkish band as Raman, and joined in pursuing them unarmed, encouraging others, though it seemed fruitless. When his horse was exhausted he took that of his cousin Andronikos (who was to wait for the fast imperial remount) and attacked successfully alone, with borrowed weapons. When Andronikos' remount arrived, he attacked quite well without armour, and Manuel could not persuade him to stop: but all he really achieved was to round up the horses of those killed by the emperor. When out of enemy territory near the mouth of the Maiander, Manuel went hunting but came on Turkish raiders with booty, recognising they were from Raman's band; he watched them from above as they exhausted Byzantine pursuers
Certainty: 2 Manuel was wounded in the heel by a Turkish archer, whom he heroically captured. [Choniates dates this earlier in the campaign than Kinnamos, whose account, however, is fuller. Presumably this explains why he had a limp when he reached home] Attacking on his own, Manuel unhorsed a Turkish archer, who managed nevertheless to fire an arrow and strike him in the heel. Before he could fire again, Manuel captured him and dragged him by the hair to the camp. He modestly made no reference to this act of heroism, which had no witnesses. Needing flesh to treat his wound, he chose horseflesh rather than the human flesh offered by a loyal soldier
Certainty: 2 Manuel settled prisoners from Philomelion in a fort at Pylai, then returned to Constantinople. Manuel I had his wound treated, then made a long march to the camp at the mouth of the Meander. From there he set off to Constantinople, settling prisoners from Philomelion in a fortification at Pylai
Certainty: 2 Zanki was murdered during the siege of Qal'at al-Ja'bar. While Zanki was still excited over his success at Edessa, he besieged Qal'at al-Ja'bar on the Euphrates. The lord of the town conducted negotiations with Zanki's eunuchs and chamberlains, and persuaded some of them to murder their master while he was drunk. The lord then saved the murderers from vengeance by accepting them inside the walls. Zanki's army melted away without his influence. He was succeeded by his two sons, Nur al-Din, who ruled at Aleppo, and his brother, who ruled at Mosul
Certainty: 2 Louis VII's diplomatic preparations for the Crusade. Louis VII wrote about the Crusade to Roger II in Apulia and Manuel Komnenos in Constantinople. Roger replied expressing willingness to help with provisions and sea transport; he also promised that he or his son Roger, Duke of Apulia (?), would join the crusade; he sent nobles to pledge the help offered. Manuel wrote at length in a flowery way, calling Louis his "holy friend and brother", and making a lot of promises which he did not keep. Louis also asked Conrad III of Germany and Geza of Hungary for passage across their realms and for markets for provisions. Both replied in a very positive way
Certainty: 2 Manuel I received ambassadors making requests for the Second Crusade, which he granted. Some preliminary ambassadors appeared to make arrangements for the passage of the Second Crusade through Byzantine lands, especially the establishment of special markets to provide provisions. Manuel received them in a positive way, praising their undertaking and generously offering what they asked, provided they abstained from violence. He soon began to put these promises into action. He mentioned that he was writing in the course of war with the infidel, claiming credit. This would be held against him during the crusade, when the westerners discovered that he had later made peace with Mas'ud
Certainty: 2 Joscelin II recaptured Edessa, but not its citadel. After the murder of Zanki, Nur al-Din was detained at Mosul over questions of his father's inheritance, and only small forces were left at Edessa. Joscelin II therefore received news from the huge Christian majority in Edessa that there were no Turkish troops there apart from a few guarding the citadel. He was asked to gather his men and go there, so that the citizens could surrender the city to him. So he gathered all his men, and was joined by Baldwin of Mar'ash. They arrived at Edessa, and were able to enter the city by ropes and ladders provided by the citizens. Those who had entered opened the gates for the rest, and a massacre followed of all the enemy they could find. But they could not take the citadel, having no engines, nor wood with which to build them
Certainty: 2 Tzetzes wrote to protect a pseudo-intellectual young relative. In the past, a young relative of Tzetzes had written iambic verses at the end of a bureacratic document. His superior, the tax official Ioannes Smeniotes, had refused to sign the document, putting the bureaucratic process in danger. Tzetzes had written to calm the situation, and Smeniotes had relented. Now there were rumours that in the theme governed by Batatzes (the unworldly Tzetzes did not know which it was), Tzetzes' relative and Smeniotes would again be working together. Tzetzes now wrote in advance to prepare the ground, in case his pseudo-intellectual young relative repeated the offence
Certainty: 2 Tzetzes wrote to an archiatros (senior doctor), thanking him for partridges. Ioannes Tzetzes thanked Michael the senior doctor for sending him partridges from Adrianople, which extended Michael's long arm as far as the capital. But Tzetzes he explained that his vegetarian tendencies made him prefer letters to food
Certainty: 2 Tzetzes wrote to the monk Theosteriktos, asking for a servant in a time of illness. Ioannes Tzetzes wrote to the monk Theosteriktos, mentioning a young (Slavic?) slave-boy involved in a scandal, and asking to be sent the boy for help while he was ill. The megas chartoularios of Hagia Sophia had behaved badly to Theosteriktos, as well as to Joseph, the hegoumenos of the Pantokrator monastery where Tzetes lived. The megas chartoularios had emphatically denied the existence of the boy, till he was forced by convincing evidence to admit the fact to another monk, Theophilos. Tzetzes had been ill with his grim chronic illness for five months, spending all his savings on medical and dietary help, with nobody even to bring him water. So he asked Theosteriktos to send him the slave-boy to help him. Tzetzes also felt the need to defend his own honesty, using an unusual document from the megas chartoularios himself. His lack of a mercenary instinct was also shown by the fact that he had accepted a gift of harness for a mule from his lord (probably Joseph), but not the mule itself, telling Ioannikios, his lord's messenger, that he had no need of such a beast
Certainty: 2 Tzetzes thanked the metropolitan of Ephesos for school fees, but excluded one student. Ioannes Tzetzes thanked Ioannes Kolpotos, archbishop of Ephesos, for paying all the school fees he owed, thus helping Tzetzes to complete another year's teaching. However he warned the archbishop that there were limits to his tolerance of poor and unruly students, like Ioannes, a student for whom he had paid. The boy's presence in a class in his cell made Tzetzes want to get up and walk out
Certainty: 2 Tzetzes sent three letters to Joseph, hegoumenos of the Pantokrator monastery. Ioannes Tzetzes sent three letters to Joseph, hegoumenos of the Pantokrator monastery. In the first, he wrote to thank Joseph for some sweet-smelling gift which was incomparably better than anything produced in Arabia. The second referred to their first meeting: he described it in terms of extreme eulogy of the hegoumenos. The third referred to a promise by Joseph to repair all the paths around the monastery, at which Tzetzes had gratefully told all his friends. Joseph had largely fulfilled the promise, but had not succeeded with the path to the monks' cells. Tzetzes thus was proved a liar: Joseph should correct this by completing the last path
Certainty: 2 Tzetzes complained to his neighbour Anna Komnene about the heretic Tzourichos. Ioannes Tzetzes wrote to Anna Komnene as a fellow-resident of the Pantokrator monastery, complaining about the family of the heretic Tzourichos. The year before, the patriarch Michael II Kourkouas had investigated and interrogated Tzourichos in the gallery of the church of St Peter and St Paul in the Orphanotropheion, pronounced him a complete heretic and threatened him with burning. He also condemned Tzourichos' mature son to 36 strokes of the cudgel, but he had been saved from punishment by the intervention of the metropolitan of Thessalonike. Tzetzes was particularly angry about Tzourichos' son-in-law, who had come from Adrianople to the capital to work in the imperial stables. He had made violent threats against Tzetzes when he refused to call Tzourichos a saint. Tzetzes told Anna that respect for her (he speaks of her gateway) was all that stopped him from violently punishing Tzourichos' son-in-law himself; to support his case, he inclosed a false narrative of a divine vision of Tzourichos. This narrative of heresy, violence and threats of more violence was designed to have the man dismissed from imperial service
Certainty: 2 Tzetzes wrote to the sebastokratorissa Eirene, complaining of fraud by plagiarism. Ioannes Tzetzes wrote to the sebastokratorissa Eirene complaining that an unnamed man had claimed that Tzetzes' scholia were his, seeking to divert to himself the payment due to the real author. But Eirene realised the deception â and the man himself virtually admitted it
Certainty: 2 Tzetzes wrote to Megalonas, representative of the empress Eirene, failing to have his fee increased. Ioannes Tzetzes complained to Megalonas, ek prosopou of the empress Eirene, who refused to raise the fee for a commissioned work he was writing for the empress. He began by speaking of the unfairness of Byzantine society, contrasting monks who grew rich by fraud with a neighbour of his, who was driven to crime by abject poverty. He broke into a house, was detected and forced to jump off a high wall, injuring his head; he was then caught and badly beaten by comparatively well-fed householders, till Tzetzes intervened to save him. He continued his complaint by stating that labour was undervalued in the pricing of goods - for example refusal to pay for the carriage of fruit from one market to another. His own labour in writing Eirene's book was similarly forgotten, and he received only a kind of honorarium
Certainty: 2 The second sack of Edessa, this time by Nur al-Din. The recapture of Edessa caused only brief rejoicing in the Christian world, for Nur al-Din soon assembled his army and began a siege, helped by the garrison of the citadel, who also attacked the city from the inside. Count Joscelin and the people of Edessa were in a terrible position. Rather than face the long-term horror of a siege, Joscelin and his army decided to try to fight through the enemy cordon. Most of the people tried to go with them rather than face lingering death or servitude. These plans were very dangerous, but the best available. The gates were opened and the exodus began, harried from behind by Turks from the citadel. Savage battles began at the gates, with heavy losses in both armies and especially among the non-combatants, most of whom were trampled, crushed or slaughtered. Much of the Christian army fought its way past the besiegers, with only a few of the citizens, and made for the Euphrates. Nur al-Din pursued them, leading to a constant running engagement. Losses were heavy, especially on the Christian side, including Baldwin of Mar'ash. Joscelin escaped and crossed the river to Samosata with a fraction of his force. Others got away by scattering in all directions. Rejoicing over the recapture of Edessa ended with news of a second sack and a massacre
Certainty: 2 Congratulations for Manuel I on his first campaign against the Turks. Manganeios Prodromos wrote a full encomium for his return to the capital after attacking Ikonion. It narrated how a Turk wounded him in the heel but was then dragged off by the hair, and spoke of imperial crimson footwear, other particular feats in the battle, repeated attacks, mythological parallels, and ended with a limping Philip of Macedon
Certainty: 2 Manuel's chief ministers: Ioannes of Poutze, Ioannes Hagiotheodorites & Theodoros Stypeiotes. Despite Manuel's obsession with sex, he did administer the empire, using at first money left in the treasury by Ioannes II, then in a less generous way. His ministers were Ioannes of Poutza for raising revenue, Ioannes Hagiotheodoretes for carrying out his edicts and Theodoros Stypeiotes, the epi tou kanikleiou, for the written word.Ioannes of Pouzta would sometimes work all day at the palace of Blachernai. Once his mind was made up, it never changed; he was impervious to tears, supplications or bribery, completely unapproachable, and often responded to petitioners with silence, dismissing them with no word of reply. He became a miser, recycling presents, even of fish, wolfing down cheap street food and grasping every chance to save money. Ioannes Hagiotheodorites was always in Manuel's presence, treating his every word as divinely inspired, a most succesful administrator. He was a rival of Theodoros Stypeiotes, and originally his superior. But the ambitious Theodoros used the opportunity of a quarrel between Hagiotheodoretes and Joseph Balsamon to send the former away to a distant post as as praetor of Hellas and Peloponnesos, and so gain the upper hand as epi tou kanikleiou. He was the most prominent of the many learned men in the palace, operating confidently and charmingly, in close cooperation with Manuel I
Certainty: 1 Disputed election of Radulf, the royal chancellor, as Archbishop of Tyre. A meeting was held at Tyre to elect an archbishop of Tyre to the vacant see. Present were Baldwin III, queen Melisende, Fulcher the new patriarch (who was from the see in question) and the suffragan bishops of Tyre. Opinions were divided: Radulf, the royal chancellor, was supported by one group, led by the king and his mother; the other group was against Radulf, consisting of John of Pisa, archdeacon of Tyre (the future cardinal), Bernard, bishop of Sidon, Ioannes, bishop of Beirut, and Fulcher the patriarch. They complained that Radulf was being imposed by the royal court, and tried to defeat him. In the end, Radulf prevailed by violence, and for two years unjustly enjoyed the church of Tyre and its possessions
Certainty: 0 Michael Italikos explained to the sakellarios that (pace the Armenians) Christ was born on December 25. Michael Italikos (from Philippopolis) explained to the sakellarios in Constantinople that Christ was born on December 25, using the arguments of St Ioannes Chrysostomos. The rejected arguments are all those of the Armenians, who do not seem to have read the relevant sermon of Chrysostomos