Payment for the didaskaloi, including Michael Italikos, was late. Michael wrote to Bapheopoulos, the official responsible, claiming on spurious grounds that he was a student of his, then using this false relationship to tell him bluntly to pay up. If not, he would use his ex-student and Bapheopoulos' superior the epi ton gonaton to put pressure on him. In the last resort, he would write to the megas oikonomos, who (according to Tziknoglos) ruled the whole world, even areas outside the empire