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)