Michael Attaleiates History: The Reign of Michael VII Doukas

This next post continues my translation of Michael Attaleiates' History on the reign of Romanos Diogenes (http://speculumlinguarumetlitterarum.blogspot.com/2011/01/extract-from-history-of-michael.html) with the reign of Michael VII Doukas (1071-1078). All paragraph numbers that follow are my own addition to the text in the interests of making it more accessible and easier to reference.

Of all the sections of Attaleiates' history, this section is the most remarkable. It provides interesting and intriguing remarks on a wonderful series of topics from the potential equivalence of all religions (v. 15-18 and for a discussion of it, Kaldellis, Anthony. ‘A Byzantine Argument for the Equivalence of All Religions: Michael Attaleiates on Ancient and Modern Romans,’ International Journal of the Classical Tradition 14 (2007) 1-22) to the ways in which a prosperous economy should function and the effects of oligopolistic policies on it (v. 24-7 and for discussion of the text, G.I. Bratianu. "Une expérience d'économie dirigée: le monopole du blé à Byzance au Xe siècle.' Byzantion 9 (1934): pp. 643-6). These sections particularly reveal Attaleiates' intelligence and insight into politics and economics as a career politician.

1. As administrator of public affairs, he took a man far above many others in sense and practical ability having a gracious sentiment and fine virtues bringing mirth to everyone, the archbishop of Side who held first place amongst protoproedri, John by name, eunuch by constitution, who outshone eunuchs in goodness, statecraft, gentleness, strength, and approachableness. Consequently, the addition of his own virtues to the simplicity and plainness of the emperor made the emperor pleasing and well-liked to his subjects as he came during those times.[1]

2. However, then with the prosperity of the plant there came a weed as with the coming of night, day must depart. For there was a eunuch named Nikephoros hailing from the Boukellaroi, a crafty man, one to contrive and plot to bring chaos to order, who served Michael’s father Constantine Doukas in the role of secretary where he showed himself to be treacherous, slanderous, and practiced in foul deeds even murmuring a charge of adultery against the Augusta to the emperor out of envy of his fellow servant and co-worker Michael of Nicomedia so that he was sent away from the imperial presence being made dux of Antioch in Coele Syria. However, he did not stop there in those parts in his meddlesome and mutinous conduct stringing together pretexts for war by building fortresses and holding aloof from the Saracens to keep the heights from attack. As he was not able to make war on them or fight against them, he instead aroused himself to wage war on the Romans instead and to set in opposition the cities bordering on the Roman border. Even then, he did not leave the local people of Antioch undisturbed and unvexed, here taking their property from them, there crushing them down with demands beyond calculation and horrid demands for additional payment. When he was removed from this office, for such were the sudden and ungovernable whims of the emperor then, he was again sent to a second governorship to which he brought hardship no less than the previous one.

3. When the emperor died and the empress assumed the office of emperor, a turn of fate proved obdurate and unjust for him. For an imperial ordinance reached him in Antioch ordering him to be shut up in the prison of Haima and was kept under guard there for a time in the place where he had previously been recognized for his high reputation having gone from good fortune to bad. He was freed on the proclamation of Diogenes and was exiled to an island, but later with promises of money sent off as judge of the Peloponnese and Greece where he was in charge of the province's monies. For the worse of the Roman Empire, Michael summoned him when he came to the throne and put him in charge of the public affairs appointing him logothetes tou dromos[2] having fallen prey to his charms and his devices as he was devoid of a firm personality and did not lack in the playthings of boys. Having worn a mask a friendship, Nikephoros pushed the most moderate and learned metropolitan of Side out of the administration by treacherously having his agents bring charges against him elbowing aside as well the emperor's uncle the Caesar by painting him as contemptuous of the emperor, subject to suspicion. He falsely slandered all of those closest to him as belligerent towards him and robbed the emperor of those closest to him so putting the stripling lord completely under his authority. What was imperial command and undertaking, the villainous Nikephoros was more often than not behind. Henceforth, accusations and demands were made of the innocent, demands for payment of the debtless, and judgments were more in favor of the treasury than justice on account of which there were entire and partial confiscations, endless accusations, many demands for the payment of interest, and no small of grief of and misery for the sufferers of these acts.

4. However, while all these things were happening and so turning for the worse, divine wrath visited itself upon the east. The Turks, come from Persia, attacked the Roman themes devastating and plundering them dreadfully with their never ending raids. On this account, the emperor planned to send a considerable army against them and raised an expeditionary force appointing over them a young commander. He banded together with him a Latin named Russell handing over to him a body of Franks numbering no less than four hundred. When the army got to Ikonion, a quarrel broke out and Russell openly mutinied taking a different road with the Franks at his command and doing as he pleased. On coming to Melitene he met with some Turks with whom he fought nobly fall upon them with a charge. Meanwhile, the remainder of the Roman army came to Caesarea and set up camp there. The commander of the army (Isaac Komnenos that is) thought to take the Turks against him by surprise, so he advanced in the night with a contingent of his army to attack them, but failed his design and suffered his own intent as his opponents were prepared when he fell upon them unprepared and fought an involuntary battle in which he was defeated being overcome by the multitude of his opponents. He himself was taken captive because he had boldly fought with his own hands and had not given way to flight, while the camp itself was lost along with all the baggage with many Romans falling in battle and being taken captive though the greater part of them took flight looking to their own salvation.

5. When report of this came upon the emperor, he seemed to be angry about it, though he did not stay himself from the injustices of the city having been won over by the vile counsels of Nikephoros, since he apparently was not able to resist the will of his counselors. The Turks consequently overran his lands fearlessly thereafter. Consequently, he bought Komnenos's freedom for a large sum of money and began raising and fitting out another army to be sent against his opponents. As commander-in-chief, he appointed the Caesar John, the uncle of the emperor Michael. He then crossed the strait and came until Dorylaion with his entire army and set up camp there before setting forth from there to march onward until the bridge called Zombos, which is situated on the Sangarios River and also separates the theme of the Anatolics and from that of the Cappadocians. Before he was about to cross it, he learned that Russell was encamped on the opposite side having set out from the Armeniacs with a large and restless gathering of cavalry and infantry men under his command. The Caesar naturally sent men to open discussions about coming to some sort of agreement and peace. The Caesar did not deign to treat Russell on equal footing in sending the deputation, nor did he try to entice him with generous promises and gifts, but in a belittling and almost advising manner warned him against being seized cruelly and hostilely. Russell, however, putting trust in his own prowess and endowed with a war-like personality and nobility, did not accept the deputation’s message because it dishonored his might and was threatening him not greeting him with promises.

6. Consequently, both sides were out for war. The Caesar tried to cross the bridge, though his fellow commander (that is the kouropalates[3] Nikephoros Botaneiates, a reputable man of ancestral soldierly nobility surpassing all others in strength of hand and mind from an illustrious family preeminent over all the East) advised him not to cross the river, but hold off and wait for the rest of the army when he could either soften the barbarian with his superior position with promises, or cross the river by the bridge unprepared, or after the arrival of the rest of the army attack him with a greater force.

7. However, the Caesar did not listen to this fine counsel and crossed the bridge with difficulty because of how easy it was to slip from the bridge. Then in a bewildered state, he stumbled upon battle ordering his battle lines to resist their opponents, subdue them, and rout them, falling unexpectedly into a fierce fight, since Russell attacked him with his elite troops and defeated him by force taking him captive with his very own hands. The rest of the army took flight ignobly scattering about. Thus Russell won the fights, while the said fellow commander by his fearlessness and inability to be taken by surprise returned with his train to his own abode.

8. What then? Russell having become great and infamous by the extent of his victory then advanced forthwith on Byzantium with the Caesar in irons inspiring much distress. When report of this misfortune was brought to the emperor and the people, it filled them all with anxiety with the emperor himself suspecting that the Frank might try to enter within the city by treachery. On this account, seated on the imperial throne, he spoke thus to the men present with great dejection: "Citizens and men of the Senate, I have just learned of melancholy news such as no other person can countenance that makes me nearly want to die. I am Jonas. So take me and throw me into the sea because it is through my deeds that these melancholy and terrible things have happened." His message was filled with his repentance for his wrong-doings, but there was no deed to back it and so no solution came about as he had enslaved himself ungovernably to bad counsels.

9. While Russell was advancing, letters were sent to him by the emperor promising him of the honor of kouropalates and lavish gifts if he would renounce his rebellion and make peace with the emperor. However, he did not listen to any of these messages and so headed for the capital with greater speed. He had with him as his captive Basil Maleses the svestes[4], who he had taken captive along with the Caesar during the flight and who had returned from captivity in Persia not long before having been taken into the Caesar's service because of his clear sense and knowledge. Even though Russell had taken him captive he showed him the greatest honor as a experienced and skilled man who had gotten his experience from previous campaigns and made him one of his counselors even as one of his primary ones making use of his tongue and hand in civil matters. Maleses advised Russell to agree to the peace terms even though he hated Michael's tyranny having been persecuted by him as now a prisoner instead of receiving the emperor's mercy, he had gotten the gift of confiscation and the inhuman deprivation of his own children, since such was were the most unlawful punishments of the emperor then that shirk peace in order to punish the guilty, personally I do not know, though many people say it is so, but he as my good friend swore that it was for this reason. If he desired to become a tyrant-slayer, then this is truly a sign of his nobleness.

10. In the meantime, Russell accomplished his passage to Byzantium and set up his tents in Chrysopolis opposite the capital, the emperor was seized with fear and the city of Byzantium was rocking here and there in the waves, since with all of the Franks that had gathered there and come with him, he had all together a considerable army numbering nearly three thousand Franks. After he had been staying some days in Chrysopolis with the Caesar in fetters, fire broke out in the homes in Chrysopolis. As the flames spread, tons of noise and shrieking broke out as the wind spread the flames and the flames consumed the wooden buildings in the city leaving only an astonished clamor in the city. Wanting to lessen the audacity of the barbarian, the emperor set his own wife to him along with his children. Yet he also summoned the Turks secretly, who were already approaching the Roman dominion, and convinced them to fight Russell with ample promises.

11. Russell then set out from Chrysopolis and retreated back to Nicomedia in haste. It was his purpose to add Roman soldiers to his army and enlarge his army to great size. For this reason, he released the Caesar of his bonds and forgave him contrary to all expectation his previous wrongs with compassionate words raising him up as Roman emperor and acclaiming him and investing him with the imperial insignia. After his proclamation, word reached them of the Turks, so the entire army passed over the mountain named Sophon and made their camp near the fortress of Metabole. When some scouts reported that some of the enemy, no more than five or six thousand, had appeared before them, Russell straightaway ordered the war trumpet to be sounded and his troops made ready for war. The Franks with him numbered two thousand seven hundred in all, since no Roman had yet deserted to them because word of the proclamation of the Caesar had not yet spread and come to the ears of the Romans, so Caesar along with some of the more important men present justly perceiving the number of their opponents said in an attempt to restrain his impulsiveness because Russell's numbers did not suffice to permit him to join battle with six thousand Turks. As a result of this, he swiftly put his troops in order and attacked them. The Franks took their opponents by surprise fighting with force and a cry and the Turks bore down their assault intending to resist, but they were unable to bear the ferocity and the vehemence of their attack with some of them falling in battle being put to the sword such that no Frank did not have a hand in the slaughter, while the rest took flight. As the Franks pursued them hard on their heels, still more men were put to the sword. As the pursuit went on for a great distance, the Turks advanced prolonging their flight, while Russell let the Franks pursue unchecked and so came to a place no small distance away. As he was went up and down the heights of many places, he lost the greater part of his troops in the pursuit. Accompanied by only a few men including the Caesar with his horses spent after the long pursuit, he came upon the main body of the Turks and looked down upon their boundless numbers that imitated the waves of the vast sea as there was more than one hundred thousand barbarians there. Since he had been seen, he realized that he could not take flight in the opposite direction without peril as his horses were spent and his opponents could grow bold by his retreat and decided to join battle with them.

12. As his enemies had learned of the cutting down of their own, they fell into fear and tumult nearly would have taken flight themselves had not some of the Franks descended from their horses and gave them spirit tumbling here and there with bow legs. Seeing them exhausted by their efforts, they made their stand. Although Russell and his men assaulted them with terrible ferocity, the Turks did not give way though tons of them fell in battle. They surrounded the few men with Russell, for such was the degree of their numbers, and rained down constant streams of arrows on them ever using long range bowmen. Having all too evidently slaughtered their horses with these and having them surrounded with men and bowmen in an unbreakable and almighty circle, they added the men on foot to the slaughter of the horses. And thus many Franks fell in battle taking with them a greater number of Turks, while the Caesar and Russell were captured. As for the remaining Franks, they fled back to fortress of Metabole, where the wife of Russell was, and strengthened its garrison and its protection. Meanwhile, the Turks threw Russell in unbreakable fetters and kept him under sure guard; while they treated the Caesar with honor leaving him unbound and paid him the honor of keeping his own clothes. Nevertheless, they announced they would free both for considerable sums of gold.

13. When his rout and capture was announced to the emperor, he convened all of the Senate in the palace and revealed to them what had occurred. With the price sought by the Turks for the ransom of the captured men, the emperor was eager to get his hands on them by ransoming them. For the protosvestes Basil Maleses, of first rank with the Caesar for his education and great experience, had reached him having been freed by the Turks with great honor some before having been taken along with his commander the Caesar in the battle, he now counseled the emperor to ransom them swiftly so that they should not do as they had been advised and make the Caesar Roman emperor and be able to therein attain great aid from Roman cities, villages, and powerful men without a fight, since he had learned they were plotting this. Although he gave him good advice, he did not take such good advice and instead condemned him to exile and the confiscation of his property, for such were the actions of that terrible and awful belligerent man.

14. And so the emperor gathered together a large and extensive quantity of gold and sent men along with it to purchase them from the Turks. As Russell's wife was in the city of Metabole and had a small fortune, she ransomed her husband first and saved him from both enemies so that the emissaries sent by the emperor failed and were able only to ransom the Caesar and bring him back to the capital, When they got to the Propontis, the Caesar was perhaps overcome by piety lest he be condemned as a traitor or be subject to suspicion and inquiry on this account or even cast away and so decided not to meet his nephew the emperor in a worldly habit, but was tonsured and became a monk adopting a paltry habit when he entered into the palace. At this time, prudent men were come upon by astonishment and surprise, since there was no reckoning about those senseless men with out discrimination.

15. These people were astonished to see how Roman commanders could go off against their own compatriots with such show and magnificence, and then return so dishonorably and lamentably with such squalidness and despondency; instead of the previously magnificent and victorious triumph held by previous Romans, they presented a laughable and base sight celebrating the triumph not only of the defeat of their comrades-in-arms, but also their own suffering and misery. What could be a more obvious example of divine offence? I am compelled to be amazed herein by how the Roman emperors having the testimonies of so many histories, the observances of so many deeds, and the fortunes both good and bad of all too evident reasons where in some Divine Wrath visits itself severely on sinners, while in others cowardly, ignoble, and inharmonious intents are the cause, since they put no store in them or deem to learn the reasons for which misfortunes befell the Roman Empire. Instead, with no regard for piety, the service of the Divine, and the laws of their fathers, they brought Roman forces into great wars and perils ill-advisedly and rashly before having appeased God, and so they suffered terribly and were brutally defeated setting no store in the wrath of the Divine.

16. The ancient Romans did not act in such a way; they won their awesome battles and campaigns even though they had not yet received the laws of the Word of God laid out during his unutterable and marvelous incarnation and his time on earth to revere the sacred, strive after virtue, and to keep zealously the laws of good-doing, piety, they nevertheless with great inborn character attended their devotions sensibly. If ever some inauspicious defeat befell Rome or some ill omen appeared, it was a matter of great concern for them to discover and seek the cause, whether something necessary and fitting had been left out, a virgin guarding the undying fire[5] had surrendered her virginity, or some outrageous illegal act had been committed, lest Divine Wrath come upon the Romans. Oftentimes after thorough investigation, they would discover the causes of the outrages and put them right in order to dispose the Divine well towards them, and then with such preparation and confidence march forth to war only to win them and celebrate their conquests after their victories. For generals, it was their concern and disquiet first to purify their army of all wrong and stain, and then after purifying it to fight for their homeland.

17. With present Romans, this is not the case, but instead our commanders and emperors under the pretext of helping the State commit the worst of outrages and God-abominated unlawful acts with the commander of the army not so much interested in war or filial acts for his fatherland, but only the glory to be gained from victory and the gains to be gotten for himself as well as the wealth to be gained, esteeming nothing the success and glory of his own nation. The masses follow their leaders’ example, irrestrainable injustices...pursuing their own compatriots vilely and inhumanly with shameless attacks seizing and violating their own, committing the acts of an enemy in their own dwelling place and land, while of course not permitting their said enemies vile acts and the seizing of plunder. Moreover, they deserve the most vicious curses from their compatriots as their defeat permits such deeds to be committed against all Roman villages, lands, and cities.

18. Again I am amazed by how when the chiefs of the Romans put confidence in a person to make the wars of which God is the impartial judge, they turn against him. They may think they are avoiding the ceaseless eye and seizing victory covertly like a master of the house not brooding over only a piece of his own property, but in doing so, they disappoint not only their expectations of battle, but also doom themselves to infamy and throw away public funds collect by both unjust and just means. I myself having taken part in many campaigns and practically lived in the palace have not yet seen a will pleasing to God or a persuasion or sensitivity in martial and civil matters blending itself with piety that does not appear unlawful to the Council[6] and repulsive to God. Instead, everything is done is to the greater advantage of themselves whether it means the sacred places being profaned or the people injured so long as those gathered in the palace can wickedly use it as a pretext for unjust and God-abominated gain. Consequently, I attribute the turn for the worse of Roman affairs to Divine Vengeance and the response of impartial favor as those foreign nations honor the right and keep their ancestral customs untampered with, which bring them prosperity from their Creator and which all men share in common and are asked for by every religion. As ours is the true and blameless Christian faith, when we fall from virtuous conduct, our condemnation and sentencing follows according to the law of God when it says, “The servant who knows the will of his master and does not act on it will suffer many lashes of the whip.”[7]

19. Let no one censure me for such an inroad on our affairs. I have not written this deceitfully simply to revile them or dishonor them, but to lay the blame for foul doings so that perhaps respect and fear of the Divine may beset the rulers, generals, and subjects and they put them aside returning to the previous good will and succor of Him setting right their wretched fortunes. For we were at the throes of death with both East and West seized by Goths[8] and other blood-stained nations profiting from our simplicity or neglect, or rather more truthfully the offence and wrath of God because we were struggling against ourselves, fighting our compatriots without check, and looking with contempt on death, while in wars with other races we appear cowardly and feeble giving way to flight before even the battle. Yet let this be enough for men able to deduce many things from a few and look after our interests.

20. And so the Caesar entered into the capital and submitted to the emperor so that peace came over the palace as the emperor seemed to have been utterly victorious, except that he had failed to get Russell in his clutches and punish him. For he merited only secondly the assault of the Turks on the Romans and their slaughter of the Christian race plundering their villages and lands such that the east was utterly in chaos with an uncountable number of men slaughtered here and taken captive there. Russell, even though the Turks had reached all of the Roman themes, he set out from the fortress of Metabole with his remaining Frankish soldiers, wife, children, and property and marched through the middle of the country without fear coming to the Armeniac theme where he again recovered the castles that had previously been in his power and thus caused the people of the theme to make attacks against the Turks and hazard the evils of war.

21. Yet the emperor having been stirred into a fury against him by the admonition of the said eunuch Nikephoros, choose to rather let the Turks take Roman lands than permit this Latin one place and let him make his raids on them. Consequently, he contrived many devices, made many agreements, and made many promises to the Turks were they to capture him, and so sent off the protoproedrus Alexios Komnenos, one of those in high honors as well as a soldiers being youthful and second to none in intelligence and second to none vigorousness, who came to Amaseia where he began to make plans for the things to come. As Russell had made an alliance and come to terms with the commander of the Turks, he frequently went about with them without any soldiers about him. One day, he was with them at a feast when he was betrayed by treachery as the Turks betray all friendship for money, seizing him and making him their prisoner having a legitimate mandate to betray the Romans, slaughter them, betray them, not give their word with them, as it is with them. With him as their prisoner, the proedros Alexios won them over from them possession of him with gifts in midst of which the emperor was look to make peace, since he reckoned the merciless taking over of the Turks as nothing through his senselessness and hate for the Romans, it seems.

22. At the same time, the Lord meted out many a time, as it happens, punishments out of proportion with the wrong and unbefitting an emperor unpraisably condemning men at the instigation of advocates of the worst, while reports kept coming saying that the Turks were moving against Chalcedon and Chrysopolis and had already reached the surrounding countryside, yet this caused him no dismay or bewilderment, but as though it was a foreign country suffering he remained unmoved. With him so disposed, Nikephorus, the logothete of the dromos, whom he held in the highest regard, believing himself to enjoy the emperor’s favor in every respect, did as he wanted prying away the emperor's affection for his mother, his brothers, and relatives convincing him that they wanted to rule and did not have his interests in mind, while he, and only he, had his interests in mind.

23. On this account, the emperor let him do what he wanted with the empire with Nikephoros entrusting the emperor with carrying out what he wanted done and bestowing honors and grants[9] on whoever he wanted for no small amount of profits. For he was besides his other vices demonically greedy for money and avariciously acquired immovable property. As his center and treasury of his insatiable greed, he made use of the Hebdomos Monastery. Having received it as a gift, he contrived to make the emperor confirm on him many properties daily and make over to him unending revenues as though he was struggling in this respect to surpass the emperor in his rich lifestyle thinking viciously to makes his own and gain even further profits and add wealth beyond measure to the name of the monastery so that in the future its fame would be unspeakable. In all of this, he took no fill though he had been given as gifts by all of those in office, the soldiers, the tax collectors, and practors and taken into his possession both many and great special properties and houses not even abstaining from gaining by sycophancy nor contriving against prosperity making the distress and destitution of the world his own mandate for avarice.

24. Once on learning that whole wagon loads of grain were being brought into the city of Rhaedestos where they were would be bought and distributed to the guest houses of the monasteries there and to the stores of both the main church itself and many local ones and that they were freely being sold to purchasers and cellarers alike so bringing prosperity to everyone, this vile knave, jealous of their prosperity, built a fundax (a granary) outside the city thinking to gather together the wagon loads effecting this by imperial mandate. The plan was to make the granary the only seller of grain, that necessary of life, allowing no one else if he was not associated with the granary to sell it so giving the granary a treacherous and demonic repute. Hence, that man grew prosperous, the cities’ prosperity diminished, and the wrath of the Divine came down upon the lands held by the Romans.

25. It was not as before where a potential buyer of grain would buy it from the seller and if he did not like it he would go to another seller and another after that and so buy from the wagons. Instead, the incoming grain was stored in the granary’s enclosure having grain sellers nearby the granary and many grain peddlers who would pick up the grain, sell it, and deposit the money of which they would struggle to get three coins more than a coin. No one was to buy from the wagons: not a sailor heading for the capital, a city person, a farmer, nor anyone else. Instead, they had to buy from the granary at the pleasure of them and their destructive chief of the granary who stopped the people bringing down grain and foully took the grain from them imposing grave demands on them for public places forcing them to buy grain contriving in many ways to make it more destitute. With the granary so set up, the previous prosperity fell due to the unspeakable injustice and the price of grain went from eight or ten modia of grain a nomisma to a single modius.[10] For not only then were grain-bearing wagons, alas the avariceness of it, charged a tax, but also all other goods for sale which were near it. Eventually, the inhabitants of countryside and Rhaedestus started to sell their own agricultural products in their own homes.

26. And so, the loads of grain were taken and the granary alone was master of the grain. Nothing of this sort had ever happened and never had such an injustice been committed. For if one was caught selling grain at home that he/she had grown, like a common murderer, bandit, or some who had committed some unspeakable deed, his property was seized and confiscated by the agent in charge of the granary. For the chief of the granary had with him nearly a hundred knaves at his command with whom he subjected the wretched sellers and farmers to much abuse as there was no one capable of resisting them who had the sheer force of numbers and the might of the logothetes behind them filling them with irrestrainable audacity. Being paid a sum of 60 pounds from the granary, he was more than content with its means of procurement, while a want not only of grain, but also other commodities gripped everyone else.

27. With the price of grain having risen, the price of everything else rose, and because now it cost more for purchases, workingmen demanded higher wages because of the lack of food.[11] Prominent persons and those near the granary recognized what problems it was causing and hence this terrible destitution unpleasantly gripped the world as this unjust profit like a drug mixed with honey sated the terrible lasciviousness of those in power until with his profit they lost all their property and salvation.

28. Meanwhile, imperial affairs took a turn for the worse as Nikephoros' terrible counsels especially were carried out and the grain started to diminish and prosperity give way to hardship, so the murmur of the people increased such that of the previous this was judged the most outrageous and set far above those previous evils. The mix of barbarians living by the Ister also joined in this murmur. For there are a great many cities by its banks having a body of people gathered together from every part and one raised in war. Besides them, there are the Scythians who having crossed the river continue to live the Scythian life. The cities being plundered by them furthermore had the annual grants sent from the imperial treasury cut down at the instigation of Nikephoros.

29. Because of this, some of these cities began to rebel and turned to the Pecheneg nation. As the emperor’s officials wanted to appoint a governor from amongst those close to him, they decided to appoint as catepan of Dristra, Nestor, who had been honored with honor of vestarch and been born in Illyricum with his father having served the emperor's father. The present emperor having bestowed that office upon him sent him with some men from Dristra who had promised the emperor they would turn the city over to him. On reaching there, however, and spending some time there, he found that the locals were little or not at all inclined to submit to the authority of the Roman emperor having entrusted full authority over their height to their chief (Tatrys was his name[12]). Either because Nestor was seized by fear of him, or (Nikephoros was hostile towards him and had done this not preferring the public's best interests to envy and wickedness and punished wrongly the unjudged while there matters were in such utter confusion before even giving a thought to the government), he so joined with them by agreement and oath in their intentions and even made treaties with the Pecheneg race that he would join them making war without peace on the Romans. This done, he began his preparations for war and the raiding of Roman lands.

30. Meanwhile, when Russell was taken captive by the Turks, the proedros Alexios staying in Amaseia did all that he could to get his hands on him. Even though the Turks thought Russell was worth of the price of many pounds of gold, he managed to get them to lower what they were asking for him and so got his hands on him putting him in chains and keeping a sleepless watch over him. Then he sent a letter to the emperor and returned to him traveling by way of the Black Sea leading Russell into the capital with his feet bound. The emperor did not even deign to let him come into his sight or think him worthy of imperial forbearance and magnanimity, instead putting on a trial against him in which after his case was decided he condemned him to be put to death resisting any just inclination of moderation and philanthropy and so preserving an experienced solder and general for the Roman Empire capable of curing the east of the many evils plaguing it as he would attribute his deliverance to the emperor’s favor and be boundlessly grateful (it would have been necessary for a man such as him to do so being vested with logic and not without his fair share of solid prudence) taking command of the war to deliver the east from the pressing advance of the enemy when one remembers his previous successes and bold deeds, but the emperor did not act in such a way and letting his anger get the better of him so deprived the Roman Empire of its greatest possibility for might and success as things turned out after this. He so handed him over to the torturers who tied his feet to an impossibly heavy ball and chain like a run-away slave and shut him up in a tower, where he kept him bound with iron chains in darkness inhumanely forgotten.

31. It soon happened that Nestor went through with his plans and invaded the land of Macedonia with the Pechenegs treating it cruelly and malevolently as the soldiers assembled at Adrianople would not even dare to attack him in battle. Thus the lands of Thrace...[13] and set up camp near the city of Byzantium with a considerable army. As for the remaining body of his army, he left it to pillage and plunder the remaining cities and lands. When summer came with produce lost, the capital and the remaining cities of the west were gripped by shortages of the necessaries for life as nourishment failed the flocks and everywhere scarcity caused everyone gloom, since there was not an army considerable enough in the capital capable of repelling the enemy and since there was no means to bolster the citizens moral enough to deliver themselves of the foreign people surrounding them. Not even did the emperor who was so distinguished for his learning, intelligence, and great experience manage to find some way by his own cleverness to bring an end to this misfortune. There seemed to be only one means of delivering themselves of these evils to everyone: the surrender of the logothete Nikephoros to the enemy.

32. Public opinion held him responsible for all of the misfortunes, so there was a great call seeking to punish him and take hold of him, and then with the capital free restore things back to normal for the Romans. However, the emperor proved averse to what they sought ready instead to let things be and suffer. In consequence, this caused a great debate and struggle for the greater part of people as to whether instead of handing him over to the enemy they should remove him from his office of logothetes, make him a private citizen, and send him home as futile and removed by all in order to make the enemy think this was enough for his punishment and break up their camp. As the emperor would not give his consent to this being unwilling to sacrifice one useless man for the salvation of the entire Roman race, divine aid from on high came to help them through the unbending intercession of Our Immaculate Lady, the Mother of God.

33. The ambassadors sent by the Pechenegs as they were returning back to them for some unclear reason fell suspect to Nestor who thought they were going to put their hands on him their chief advisor and co-commander, and so fearing the danger of some device, he in all haste left the army and went back the way he came. As he was passing through the land of Macedonia, he fought some Pechenegs who were pillaging and plundering the countryside, and so came to the villages and defenses by the Ister River leading behind him a large train of men, herds, and baggage. With his precipitous retreat, there was a respite as both agricultural goods and other supplies flowed back into the city with the greater part of people celebrating wonderfully giving thanks to God and to his much-revered mother.

34. In addition, a contingent of western soldiers set out from Adrianople to see the emperor hastening to hear from him his response to their requests as they had charged him with depriving them of their pay as soldiers and with their sufferings due to the lack of foresight and insatiability of people in power. Those about the emperor tried to unjustly overcome by setting a body of soldiers in ambush for them, and when he saw them getting down from their horses to make the accusation let the ambushers go against them. And so they surrounded their countrymen and vehemently and as though in war attacked them with some hitting them with iron fasces, others killing some with ceremonial swords, and still others seizing their tents and their horses along with them. As a result of this happening, the Byzantines felt great pity for the soldiers who had blamelessly suffered and condemned the emperor and those about him for their utter mindlessness as though he repented and restored to them some of what was seized, he did not do anything to comfort them or give the soldiers any promotions or pay raises. Instead, they returned home filled with no small amount of grief not wanting to remain there, but intending to revenge themselves on their enemies.

35. In that year, some portents appeared in Byzantium. A three-footed bird was born and a baby goat legged too having one eye only on its forehead; furthermore during the public procession of the Virgin it was held out and let out a gasp resembling that of a child. Two of the Immortal soldiers were also struck by thunder near the western wall of the city in a public place. In addition, comets appeared in the sky.

36. As the east was being ravaged, plundered, and subdued by the barbarians, a multitude of people fled daily to the capital such that famine ensued gripping everyone and putting them in need of the necessaries of life. When winter came, since the emperor was uncaring and clung to parsimony providing nothing from the imperial treasury or any other providence to either the men in power or any comfort to the people, each person was forced to worry about him/herself since they were not rich enough to suffice for their needs and provide the necessaries of life and a great and unspeakable number of people not only of foreigners, but also of people of the city died daily such that their corpses were piled in heaps in the so-called rostra[14] and the fields with five or six corpses being carried piled up in a single bier unceremoniously and suffering spread all about such that the capital was filled with melancholy dejection. The emperor took no reproof from these daily and wretched happenings, but carried on committing God-hated tyrannical acts as though there was no foreign war disquieting the Romans, divine wrath, or need, or the vehemence of life assaulting persons. Any imperial device was only to wrong his own, outwit them, and seek after their very lives.

37. What happened then? Everyone was taken with gall, angry, and angry with God entreating him to pay full attention to his succession [on earth] and appoint them a man capable of conquering those tyrants as well as hearten the fortunes of the Romans again with his sense, nobleness, and generous and philanthropic soul. Yet they did not stray far from the mark. For the Lord immeasurable in his pity answered their request and raised up a man better than their expectations as such in virtue, magnanimity, nobleness, and soldierly glory when the previous emperor had been in evil, cheapness, and ignoble state. It was him, who was chosen and selected for rule by the heavenly king, the kouropalates Nikephoros Botaneiates, who we have mentioned many times in our work as being thrice noble and esteemed. He was amongst the noble men of the east and was the top man in the province of the Anatolics for wealth, birth, and reputation in deeds both old and new, so having command of that theme then he was filled with grief seeing all of this take place, since he could not bear it having a pious and God-loving nature to live to see such impious acts committed and all of the east in chaos at the hands of the enemy as well as the city of Constantinople injured without check by the misdeeds of the emperor and the western lands laid waste to by foreign nations and injurious devices.

38. As he was well aware by the preeminence of his family exactly how Roman lands had enjoyed many and great noble deeds during many times and periods by his ancestors, he reckoned it unworthy of himself and second to them should he not help the Orthodox in need for whom Christ our God shed his own blood, so he became a fiery avenger and set forth his soul to the flock of Christ and his holy nation. Although the Turks were still advancing and waging terrible war on all sides, he boldly and nobly resisted them fighting them mightily not with arms and a multitude of soldiers (They were all devastated and dejected by the constant raids, slaughters, and defeats such that they were afraid and would not join with him), but buoyed with hope by divine might and armed with just zeal, he spoke the truth against all the forces standing against him and the emperor himself saying that he did not rule like an emperor, but like a tyrant and a lawless and improvident man brining ruinous evil on the Ausonians[15] [the Romans]. As he had written to him telling him what must be done and advising the emperor to change for the better and as such march against his opponents with the arms of justice, the devices of soldiers, and the prominence of weapons, but the emperor had not been amenable and agreeable to it, hostile and hateful to him because of this well-conceived counsel, Botaneiates himself came forward and took up those fights and struggles against the foreign peoples and care of the Christians advancing his fair choice to God and man as well as his pious aim for his compatriots and so taking command of the Romans zealously putting far off the terrible folly of the emperor. Even then the men with him refused to serve him if he did not adopt the insignia of imperial rule, make great use of his great mindedness and universal obedience, and adopt the linen purple dyed cloak and receive the proclamation of everyone, and so on July 2 of the first indiction it was done so, when the eastern sun goes in its equal daily cycle purely and radiantly over the world gracing men with favor of day and benefiting them filling the entire world with its unutterable grace.

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[1] Scylitzes Continuatus was more cynical of this arrangement. He writes, “Hence, the emperor being naturally feminine and stilted with government, power passed to him.”

[2] That is the minister entrusted with the financial affairs of the empire.

[3] a senatorial rank of prestige and honor often awarded to military commanders

[5] i.e. the Vestal Virgins

[6] The Greek boule is a curious word choice here because it echoes how decisions of the Athenian government would be formulated (edoxe tei boulei…). Potentially, boule is meant to refer to the general masses of Byzantium as Attaleiates has referenced multiple times in this passage, but the word with its democratic connotations is a strange choice here.

[7] Luke 12:47

[8] i.e. the Turks

[9] The word used is pronoia, a grant which allowed the holder to farm the taxes of the locations specified in the grant.

[10] A single modius corresponded to about 2 gallons or a peck. For a single nomisma (that is a Byzantine gold coin) people used to be able to obtain a bushel of wheat, but with Nikephros’ new changes they got only a peck. Talk about inflation in a short space of time!

[11] At this point, I find it is appropriate to cite what the Byzantine historian John Zonaras writing half a century later says of the reign of Michael VII, “This universal misfortune caused the emperor to gain the nickname by which even now men still refer to him because nobody recognize him unless to the person says Parapinakios [Minus-a-Quarter]

[12] Scylitzes has instead the name Tatous

[13] Here the lacuna stands for that which is in the text, which would have told what happened to Thrace and how Nestor divided the army before he attacked Constantinople.

[14] public platform for speaking

[15]i.e. the Romans

Attaliates: Reign of Theodora to Isaac Comnenus 1055-1059

Here is my translation of this section of my ongoing translation of the work of Michael Attaliates. This section picks up at the death of Constantine Monomachus in 1055 with the sucession of the empress Theodora, who was the last of the Macedonian dynasty. Our text recounts her reign and death as well as the civil war that ensued over the succession to the throne ending with the semisuccessful reign of Isaac Comnenus.

Attaliates' record of events is considerably shorter than his contemporary Michael Psellus's record, but it makes up for some of the military and political questions that Psellus's palace chronicle deals with only sparingly.

Michael Attaliates: Historia pp. 51-70

As Constantine was lying there dying, he wanted to appoint a new emperor himself and hand over to him the reins of government, so he summoned a man called Proteuon by letter with much zeal, yet his end won out his zeal. Monomachos reigned twelve years and seven months.

Immediately the previously mentioned Augusta Theodora (her sister died before her) took the throne and didn’t want to marry any man or co-rule with anyone. She dealt with everything herself through her eunuchs of the bed-chamber. She appointed to government administration an ordained man who was very learned, prudent, and experienced (the man’s name was Leo). He acted moderately in all respects and reasonably towards what befell him making the law his will thereby bringing order and lawfulness to the state. Not only were Theodora’s vassals free from turmoil, but also the other nations around her as God was pleased with how things were being virtuously carried out and he straigened out the curved ways.

When this empress was about to depart for the kingdom of Heaven (she ruled a year and eight months) her chief ministers were filled with concern over who was to rule next. As things turned out, they did not choose a noble spirit to succeed to the office, but one who would be laid back and subservient to them, who would be simple and carefree leaving the business of government to them.

So for this reason they proclaimed an elderly man name Michael, who had been raised in the manners and matters of the city excelling in the soldierly art.., who seemed simple and plain to them as well as wearied by old age so that consequently shared power with them would share and followed their advice and did exactly what they wanted him to. Because power was in the hands of many, different men and each of these co-rulers was proudly strutting around as emperor, much grumbling and bewilderment filled the aristocrats and the people at this 'democracy.' People who belonged to their group or were at all related to the emperor met with rewards regardless of whether they had benefitted the state, harmed it, or done nothing at all. As for everybody else, they were ignored unless they became the object of baseless arrogance and pointless huffing and puffing. As a result of this, one of the patricians named Isaac (Komnenos was his surname) who was famous in the east and of noble birth, insulted at being overlooked and contemptuously abused became filled with anger and shared his misfortune with some of the soldiers. They themselves had been infuriated and pained by the abnormality of what was happening, so they urged him to revolt. Little by little they won over a considerable number of conspirators and began laboring to bring their plot to fruition. The plan was to leave the capital and a short while later to raise the flag of revolt and raise Isaac on high as emperor thumbing their nose at the current ruler and so bringing their plot out in the open. Yet before all the arch-conspirators could do this, one of them named Bryennius, a native of Adrianople acting as military commander of Cappadocia, overpowered the agent sent by the emperor to distribute his soldiers’ provisions, or more correctly betrayed him and took a hold of him and put him in chains. However, some soldiers rose up to avenge the man and so he was released from the chains though he put out the eyes of previously enchained man. Fear then seized the other conspirators that their plot had been revealed by the blinded man so that they were forced to muster their forces and throw themselves into the fray immediately rather than be arrested separately and subjected to unspeakable atrocities. Their revolt got under way in the spring and it was joined by many other people its size growing daily. As commander-in-chief, they proclaimed the arch-conspirator Isaac Comnenus. Yet great numbers of eastern soldiers went over to the emperor in Byzantium. Comnenus had only those soldiers gathered together with him in revolt, while the emperor had all of those forces gone over to him and the western forces. Drawing on all of them, he fitted out an impressive force that he had cross from Europe to Asia. They came until Nicomedia where they set up camp in anticipation of their opponents' assault on them, but then they out for Nicaea by imperial command and were approaching the outskirts of Nicaea. Yet Isaac Comnenus had gotten to the city of Nicaea ahead of them and subjected it to himself leaving a group of his faction there at his rear before advancing forward against his opponent. He and the forces arraigned against him met each other in a fierce battle ten stades in front of the city at the place that since olden times bore the dual names of Polemon and Hades. The right flank wore down Comnenus’s men and on the left side it closed ranks and came close to the enemy advancing through the patricians. But then the tide turned and the men sent from Byzantium took flight. The right flank catching sight of their opponents’ defeat was emboldened again and a total rout of the imperial troops followed. Great numbers fell on both sides, while the greater part of those who took flight was cut down. It was a moment when father and son did not hesitate to slaughter one another forgetting nature with a son staining his hand with the murder of his father and a brother delivering the mortal blow to brother and no discrimination was made or pity taken on account of kinship, relation, or the fact that they were all the same people until they halted themselves in their crazed mania on perceiving the calamity raising a terrible shriek of grief. However, as Comnenus had triumphed he was greeted with triumphal acclamation and proclaimed Augustus by everyone and was high in everyone‘s hopes in which they would not miss the mark. In addition, the famed magister Nicephorus Botaniates from a family prominent for its glory and evidence in brave deeds and the commanding of troops, did noble deeds and proved his great might during that battle.

The next day, Comnenus took command of his forces and took the road leading to the capital. And yet before he even reached the shore opposite the city, a conspiracy was set in motion by the people in power at Constantinople against the emperor. Whether the archpriest and patriarch Cerularius were in cahoots with them, or not, is unclear and not evident. Nevertheless, on account of what he received in the end and what followed, these suspicions do not seem without some serious grounding in the truth, since he was to work in concord with Comnenus and be a recognized member of the chief counsel as well as his nearest of kin and his friend the vestarch Constantine Ducas, the husband of the patriarch’s sister, who gave and received much favor on this account. The plot was set in motion and all of the chief conspirators as well as its partisans…came together in the Church of Haghia Sophia alleging that the emperor had broken their contracts whereas Comnenus would not do so. They wanted to make peace with him and make him emperor instead. They began to acclaim Comnenus showing themselves to be his prosecutors and his advocates and allies at the same time. They said Comnenus had sworn off and renounced his friendship with the emperor once and for all and they conferred the honor of the imperial dignity upon him in stead. The patriarch’s nephews joined the people going to them since they wanted to find out what was the cause of the insurrection and were sent off in fear by the patriarch when they seemed to be arrested by the rioters and they would have been manhandled, had not the patriarch arrived and joined their conspiracy. He was spurned by nature as he as their uncle he was almost their father and because it seemed necessary so that the people would not grow further at odds with one another and their anger burst aflame resulting in civil war in the city. He entered into the Church and the innermost sanctuary and made himself a judge of the proceedings throwing his lot in with them. His move proved the turning point for the people wanting to depose the emperor and replace him with Comnenus because he was held in high estimation by many people. And so to prevent the insurrection from degenerating into civil war, he made the Comnenus’s acclamations louder and he instructed his priests to do likewise as it was the general sentiment. This made it doubtful whether the patriarch premeditated it.

And so everyone started to coalesce into one faction around Comnenus and the old man's power collapsed. Old man was what the group of conspirators against him called him and the name as stuck till the present day. When word reached Comnenus, a little bit away in the village of Chrysopolis, about what was happening, it emboldened him with news that the palace would be opened to him and all of the people would acclaim him. Yet he did not proceed until he got more concrete news about the old man’s deposition. And so, the patriarch called all those in power to him prudently, some willingly, others unwillingly, and he took over unnaturally the forces of the army and people and the imperial prerogative, and he decided things as they seemed best at the time. He dispatched men to the old men with an ultimatum: the emperor must at once abdicate and become a monk if he wanted to live as this was the will of the people. Michael, although he had the soldiers at court and those who stood behind him with him, he did not go out to defend himself against his enemies there, capture them readily, and assert his might, instead saying that permitting the city proper to be stained with murder and slaughter would be an act of hatred for humanity and selfishness on his part. Looking down on his crimson buskins, he said, "Michael won’t give up his piety for these”, and cast them aside far from his feet and held out his head for the people sent to him to tonsure him. Having gladly exchanged the monkish state for the imperial throne and a rough rag for the expensive and precious clothing, he was sent off that very day in black and joined the ranks of the monks. The patriarch received him kindly smiling. “Welcome”, he said to him and embraced him with a kiss. Michael replied, “May God worthily embrace you in turn”, and surrendered himself up to one of the patriarch's establishments, the above mentioned Anachorite, having reigned only one year.

And so Comnenus entered into the city by sea with the entire fleet being saluted with acclamations, shouting, and the noise of trumpets and other instruments. He entered into the palace near the late afternoon of September of the tenth indiction. On the following day, he went in dazzling procession to the Great Church of the Divine Wisdom with a large escort where he was crowned by the patriarch upon a raised platform. From there, he proceeded wearing the crown having provided proof of his vigorousness and great virtue not only to his subjects, but also already the barbarians, since he became emperor by battle and by the sword and had shown that he was capable of ruling. In his official images, he was portrayed holding a drawn sword with a tax register and it was n this way that that he ruled over the empire and handled its business. Those who had undertaken and fought for this victory, he decked out with generous honors and he also appointed many tax collectors, thus granting the people with the appropriate honor. Above everyone else, he dealt with the patriarch very reverently treating him like he was his father and he made his nephews preeminent with chief honors and promotions. He also dedicated the rights owed by religious establishments to imperial prerogative to the Church including even palace ones so that somebody would need to be appointed by the emperor for their management and their keeping and preservation of sacred treasures, but rather both their selection of individuals and administrative business would rest under the authority of the patriarch.

Once set on the throne, he began to look to the finances of the empire and the great task of paying the soldiers since wars confronted him requiring huge cost in order to overcome his opponents and bolster the Romans on all fronts. In need of money, reckoning their wealth without end, he instituted a heavy tax on those paying the public revenue. Then he cut off payments to office holders and like a great insatiable hunter sought after many from anywhere it could be got. Afterwards, he paid attention to economy and the making over of fields to the imperial dominion. On this account, he then deprived many private persons of a lot of possessions ignoring the imperial chrysobulls by which lordship over them was conferred. He even descended on some of the monasteries which possessed great and rich possessions which owed nothing to the imperial treasury. He seized many of them presenting the explanation that he was leaving the monasteries and the monks what they needed taking for the imperial treasury the excess, which seemed illegal and impious while for the pious it seemed ready sacreligion, but nothing out of place to people more profoundly looking at things. On both sides, though, it was seen as advantageous because the monks were free from care inconducive to their state as he was moving them, who were taught poverty, away from money and he was taking none of their necessaries away from them as well as freeing their rural neighbors of their burden because the monks would force them to part from their lavish and expensive possessions having been sick with greed and gotten used to their illness trumping their prosecutors if ever a suit was brought against them since through the exchange of money and property they could make them withdraw their suit. The treasury compelled to pay its contents to many people and many parties welcomed this addition to its revenue as an immeasurable relief and the measure did not injure others quantitatively.

It was these doings of the emperor that kept him in the capital for their implementation. During this time, the patriarch charged by his previous doings that caused him to think his power more extensive than it was and emboldened by the emperor’s affection for him, upbraided him many times for his undertakings that did not beseem him giving him one moment the counsel of a father, the next a chastising and threatening telling off in place of moderate words of praise and suggestions such that the emperor began to grow gradually wearied by him and grew to think of his counsel as raving. Not much later, born down upon by these words, the emperor decided to arrest the man and strip him of his position since he had overlooked his duties and in this way escape censure. And so, when as the celebration of the Archangel was approaching in November the patriarch Michael went to the monastery raised by him from the ground up going outside of the great unsacked, and God-crafted city celebrating the festival lavishly near the western part of the city. And so the emperor sharpened his treachery, shined his blade, and unsheathed his innermost feelings to those around him and sent one of his servants disguised as a priest to speak with the patriarch about some private matters providing the occasion for thought and talk in regards to it in private. When they started to speak, a multitude of armed soldiers burst in surrounding him and lifted him irreverently off his throne and carried him off. They sat him on a mule and drove him to the harbor at Blachernae. When the cowardly imperial order came, they loaded him onto a boat and the chief shepherd was carried off into exile like a wrongdoer for speaking perhaps too much. Likewise those dear to him of his kin suffered the same fate.

Did this man bear his suffering irresolutely and ignobly and let the unfaithful, audacious act of the emperor shake his faith? No, instead resolutely and nobly he is celebrated to have won out with courage far surpassing Job because he did show himself at pained by the loss of his office, his state, his license to speak, or his high office and he defeated his attraction for these things bearing it as recompensation for his homeland and his wife. Blessing he blessed the Lord and did not cease giving him thanks, while he did not call his suffering, suffering, but an exact chastisement, a lesson leading to perfection, and a step towards greater virtue. He did not lose his humbleness putting himself to blame and deeming himself worthy of what he had suffered making his mind prisoner to God though he did not loss his noble state of mind. He did not entirely collapse or lose his zeal such as the soul may do when stricken with panic by material things downward-leading.

When the emperor learned of this, he felt terrible and was repentant: he needed to set it right, though he did not feel he needed to punish himself for having acted wrongly. It was his wish to bring charges against him and show the unworthiness of a man who had been already for many years invested with the office and administered correctly the word of God. Some of those in office held his opinion though they were fully aware of the man's reputation. However, they too backed away with time as that is how flatterers work. The emperor testing his devotion sent some of the capital's most preeminent men, who he thought were skilled with words than others, to discuss with him abdicating so that the charges against him would not be brought in the synod and church gathering. Yet he showed himself impregnable to them and extremely inflexible breathing fire with his tongue and gesture and made them feel ashamed of themselves and beg him for his forgiveness. When they returned to the emperor who sent them to tell him what happened, they did not dissemble at all and said, "We were defeated, Your Majesty, we were defeated, the man with all his threats was better and stronger than us in words and persuasion and he was beyond by far taking. If you want to go after an unassailable and an incontestable man, consider defeat and repentance hereof." The emperor heard them and understood taking care to how and in what way to go about things. In the meantime, the patriarch ended his life in peace, God seeing a greater purpose for him, having foreseen God’s calling for him as such was the virtue of the holy man and because he numbered amongst the good in practice and purity in the midst of their commemoration for the incarnation of our savior Jesus Christ because of his love for us. So he exchanged the mortal and perishable life for the immortal and indestructible. Such was what came about during the last days of the patriarch. The emperor was overcome by repentance and feared the man's virtue not knowing in what way to set right his sinful mistake, so he ordered his corpse to be brought back to the capital. He was entombed in the place which he had selected when he was alive near the monastery he built. A great miracle that took place after his death worthy of a patriarch was that a indesrible symbol appeared on his hand in the shape of a cross. His precious hand has maintained its appearance peace and blessing through the cross up to the present time in spite of the body’s decomposition.

As patriarch, the proedrus and protovestarius Constantine Lichudes was chosen having made himself illustrious in both the business of the emperor and the city from the proclamation of Monomachus until his own, with responsibility in the palace for the administration of everything. He was such a gift giver and considerate that nearly everyone had something to gain from his alacrity and was utterly amazed.

As the Sauromatians in the west along with the Scythians near the Ister River, who the masses call the Pechenegs, were causing trouble, the emperor therefore decided to lead Roman forces against them. Making his preparations for war and calling up his soldiers, he set out all in arms. When he got to Sardica, he fought with the Sauromatians and forced them to make peace and encouraged by the peace turned his attention to the other peoples, I mean the Scythians. Their chiefs were divided amongst themselves with some coming before him and agreeing to keep their pledges of peace in order to be delivered of all fear. Only one, returning towards the by of the Ister River taking possession of a barren rock as a refuge (Selte was the barbarian‘s name) did not want give in to the emperor and instead, being so disdainful of him went out onto the flat land drawing up his lines against the Romans. Yet his foulmindedness got its proper results as he was overpowered by a small part of the army ranged against him and took flight hiding in a great wood like a cowering hare with those under him. The emperor taking the refuge, left behind a garrison and appointed it a commander eagerly turning about for home.

Setting up his encampment near the feet of the mountain [hill?] called Lobitzus, in line with the name of the place. A ghastly storm and a terrible snow storm struck straight away even though September was still under way doing much damage and destruction. Nearly all of the horses and many of those there weakened by the cold and the constant, unending snow storm after such a lengthy time died, while the supplies left behind unexpectedly for those on the expedition became a casualty of the flood of the river and the winter. When it stopped, the emperor set out in the morning and crossed the nearby river swollen by the river abandoning his own men. Pausing his march for a little, he stood in the shadow of a tree along with some of his high in command, and a little bit later there was a sound that caused the emperor to take a step forward a little out of its range as broken at its very roots it fell with a great noise. The emperor was mute seeing how closely he had escaped peril, it proving no favorable beginning.

Leading on the army, he continued on his way. A false and incorrect report caused him to make haste as it said that the city man sent by him to collect public revenue in the east had rebelled. On reaching the capital already vexed with the wretchedness of what happened, he found that the accusation against the officer was phony becoming disheartened and going to the opposite strait opposite the capital where he busied himself with the hunt bolstering his spirits with constant exercise. Around spring there was a lightning strike at those spots that go by Neapolis. The emperor stricken as the saying goes set out from them and came by boat to the palace where after struggling with disease for a couple of days he began to await his final destiny, Consequently he made his repentance to obtain the mercy of God and exchanged the authority of an emperor for the solemn and unaffected life of monk appointing emperor not his brother John, nor his nephew, nor the husband of his daughter, but the proedrus Constantine Ducas, who had always been his conscious fellow combatant for acquisition of the throne. Comnenus then himself in monkish rags went to the monastery of Studius still being worn down by disease living…after a reign of two years and three months living no less than that as monk.

After his death, it was noticed that his coffin was filled with liquid, which caused people to remark. Some said that it was clear evidence of him being punished for the massacre during the civil war at Nicaea. Others said it was because of him wronging many people and his partial and in whole stopping up of payments from the imperial treasury to most people, while others said it was for his seizure of church and private property, still others saying it was for everything. Yet some people said it was because he later came to his senses. It was anything but the punishment of the late emperor since they think he repented because he called upon Divine mercy to have pity on him. Those in opposition to them said that the man was made repentant only after his retirement and that he had not fully changed his life. Some believed that water was a work of holiness for his delayed repentance, though everyone accepted that it is not a sin to force Divine goodwill, if a person gives up their vices and elects the path of righteousness. Personally, I am of the opinion that he gave his vices and went from worse to better, though I condemn the lesser no more.