Certainty: 2 Stephanos Kontostephanos besieged Kerkyra but was mortally wounded by a stone.
Certainty: 2 Ioannes Axouch at Kerkyra faced Byzantine-Venetian quarrels, so Manuel took charge. After the death of Stephanos Kontostephanos, Manuel I put Ioannes Axouch, the megas domestikos, in charge of the assault on Kerkyra. Axouch was not made megas doux, but chosen as an experienced fighter, and pursued the siege for three months. Manuel meanwhile, so as not to waste his time, toured Kerkyra looking for places to attack. Axouch had little success, because of quarrels with the Venetians, so Manuel took over himself. As he was completely baffled, he settled on a ravine giving good access to the interior of the town. He built a wooden scaling ladder in the form of a tower that gave it protection, using ships' timbers and masts lashed to reach the necessary height. When raised, the top of his ladder rested on the rock at a point that gave access for those attacking the defenders of the city wall, while the bottom was held secure by ships; he then sought his bravest troops to climb it. The first volunteers, who disputed first place on the ladder, were the four Petraliphas brothers and the Turk Poupakes. They climbed amidst great emotion against strong opposition, and achieved great deeds on top of the wall. Just as the first reached the top, the ladder collapsed and most of those on it perished. Before the dead had been appropriately mourned, a quarrel broke out between Byzantines and Venetians leading to open warfare. Leaders on both sides tried in vain to intervene, till Axouch was forced into a full attack which drove the Venetians into their ships. The Venetians damaged the Euboean squadron of the imperial navy, then stole the imperial galley, furnished it with its full trappings, and paraded a black Ethiopian around, mocking imperial ceremonies and Manuel's swarthy complexion.
Certainty: 2 Chouroup repelled a Sicilian raid: 40 ships reached the Bosphoros but were beaten off. Roger II sent a fleet to attack Constantinople against impossible odds. After being beaten off, many ships fell into a Byzantine trap and were sunk, with their crews drowned or captured
Certainty: 2 Tzetzes wrote to console Theodoros Kostomyres on the death of his father. The father of Theodoros Kostomyres died. The bad news was announced to Tzetzes by Ioannes the doctor just before a letter-carrier departed to go to Theodoros. He just had time to improvise an emotional and formulaic letter of consolation, for which he apologised at the end of the letter itself
Certainty: 2 Fighting among black troops in Egypt.
Certainty: 2 Strife between Ibn al-Sallar & Ibn Masal.
Certainty: 2 Louis VII returned home in a Sicilian ship; he narrowly escaped capture by the Byzantines. Louis VII returned home from Palestine in a hired Sicilian ship. The vessel became involved in a battle between some Sicilian raiders and the Byzantine commander Chouroup, in which Chouroup was victorious. Louis was in considerable danger, and only avoided capture by flying the flag of a Byzantine ally
Certainty: 2 The King of France successfully petitioned Manuel for the return of captured men & baggage. Louis VII, in escaping from the sea-battle, lost many of his men to Byzantine captivity and much of his baggage. He successfully petitioned Manuel I to receive them back
Certainty: 2 After clever tactics & heroic deeds by Manuel, Kerkyra eventually surrendered. Manuel used skilful tactics in the capture of Kerkyra, first tightening the blockade till it was fully effective, then showing amazing stamina in allowing the besieged no respite from his attacks. Finally the garrison lost heart and surrendered
Certainty: 2 Raymond of Antioch & his army were wiped out by Nur al-Din of Aleppo. Nur al-Din had made general progress, capturing cities on the Euphrates and beginning the siege of Inab, not far from Aleppo. Raymond of Poitiers moved to resupply Inab, with characteristic boldness, before his cavalry were fully assembled. But on the return journey he camped in the open, though his army was too small to defend itself. According to Kinnamos, the army was exhausted and had no safe camp-site. Raymond wanted to push on to safety, but a companion accused him of cowardice and forced him to camp in unsafe surroundings. William of Tyre imputes the blame to Raymond's own bravado, because he had nearby fortresses available but refused to be scared into using them. Whatever the reason, Raymond awoke to find himself surrounded and attacked by a much larger army. Some of his men fled, but there was a general massacre of the rest, including Raymond himself and Reynald of Mar'ash
Certainty: 2 Nur al-Din celebrated the victory he had won near Inab. He marked the great victory he had won near Inab by sending the head and right arm of his defeated enemy Raymond to Baghdad and on to many other Turkish capitals. The death of this great anti-Muslim champion encouraged the Turks but threw the Christians into despair. Realising there was no force in the principality of Antioch to oppose him, he burned the whole region near Antioch, went on to St Symeon's monastery, then down to the sea, which he saw for the first time. He ceremonially bathed in the sea before his army, indicating potential conquest of that element too. On the way back, he seized the fortress of Harim, not far from Antioch, and garrisoned it to withstand a siege, so as to reinforce the dominance he had established over Antioch's cowed population, who felt abandoned by God
Certainty: 2 Reactions to the death of Raymond of Antioch. After the disaster of the battle near Inab, Constance becme the titular ruler of Antioch, though as a young woman with four children who were still minors her range of actions was rather limited. The first initiative was taken by the patriarch Aimery, who uncharacteristically spent a lot of his money for the public good, hiring troops to cover the immediate emergency. Baldwin III heard the news and came quickly northwards to encourage the distressed Antiochenes. He raised local troops to join his own, and besieged the fortress of Harim, recently garrisoned by Nur al-Din; but its defences were too strong, and he soon returned to Antioch. He sent sixty knights under the command of Humphrey the constable, to prevent Azaz falling into Turkish hands. Joscelin II, with his wife and children, was besieged in Tell Bashir by a large army under Mas'ud of Ikonion (who was also reacting to news of Inab and had captured many towns and fortresses). Joscelin freed all his prisoners from the Ikonion area and gave Mas'ud twelve suits of armour, so it was agreed to end the siege. Joscelin immediately went to Azaz, then Antioch, and thanked Baldwin for his kindness towards him, before returning home. Baldwin received Joscelin's visit, and waited till matters had settled a little, then went back to Jerusalem
Certainty: 2 Total failure in attempted invasion of Italy. When Manuel I discovered that the Sicilians were behind the combined attacks by Serbs and Hungarians, he sent a major offensive against southern Italy, while himself conducting a raid on Serbia. Ioannes Axouch was given a whole fleet and told to harry Italy from Ancona, but he stopped at the river Boöses in Albania. His delay was due to naval inexperience or Venetian influence, so that he achieved nothing apart from losing beached ships through negligence in a storm
Certainty: 2 The Sicilian coalition against Manuel included Germans, Serbs, Hungarians, Seljuks & Danishmends. Sicilian money caused the Serbs to revolt, with some support from Hungary
Certainty: 2 The Serbian zupan had rebelled: Manuel twice ravaged Serbia, but the zupan fled before him. Manuel was disappointed not to achieve surprise in his raid on Serbia, but when he arrived Uros and the other local leaders had taken refuge in caves and on mountain-tops. There followed a hunt of Serbians by the Byzantine forces. Many prisoners were taken and brought back in triumph to Constantinople, though Uros was again missed
Certainty: 2 Baldwin III & the barons of his kingdom fortified Gaza. By divine inspiration, Baldwin III and the chief men of his kingdom decided to fortify part of the ancient city of Gaza, some ten miles south of Askalon. This would add one more to the net of fortresses surrounding Askalon and restricting raids from there. It would also serve to protect the southern frontier of Palestine, especially against armies from Egypt. The work went well, and the fortress was handed over to the Templars. By the spring of 1150, Baldwin could leave the site and return to Jerusalem. The Egyptians from now on went to Askalon by ship
Certainty: 2 Manuel captured Ouranopolis.
Certainty: 3 Manuel returned in triumph to Constantinople for the winter. Manuel I arrived back in Constantinople just before Christmas, celebrating a triumph. Songs written for the occasion stress his incredible stamina in the attack on Kerkyra, which was eventually successful, then the defeat of a Sicilian raid on Constantinople, which led to the drowning of some Sicilian sailors and capture of others. Finally the Sicilians had bribed the Serbs to revolt with Hungarian aid. Manuel arranged a major attack on Sicily while himself conducting a raid on Serbia. Ouresis and the other leaders hid in caves and on mountain-tops. The Byzantines hunted them, taking many prisoners but missing Ouresis again. The prisoners were brought back for the triumph
Certainty: 3 Manuel I was praised in two sets of Christmas hymns for his Serbian campaign. Manuel I was welcomed to the capital from the west after an absence of three years. Poems for Christmas 1149 and Epiphany 1150 mention his success in the Serbian campaign and his many prisoners, and also prayed for the empress Eirene
Certainty: 1 Manuel appointed his nephew Ioannes as protosebastos, making Andronikos (I) jealous.