Alvisus, arcbishop of Arras, had been sent ahead as one of the envoys to Constantinople, but at Philippopolis he succumbed to a long illness and died. He asked his colleagues, since he would be no longer with them on the Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin, to sing the service for him in advance, and they did so. The ceremonies for his death were repeated by Louis VII and the French army when they reached Philippopolis