9

where the theme of Neokastra begins—to remain uninhabited, but the parts from there, [namely] Neokastra, Kelbianon, Chliara and Pergamon and the adjacent Maldia and Opsikia were to be ruled by the emperor Theodore. And he also possessed another country, the one beginning from Lopadion and including Prousa and Nicaea.

16 And the aforementioned Erres, although he was a Frank by birth, nevertheless treated the Romans and the natives of Constantinople more kindly. And he had many, some assigned to his greater officers, others to the soldiers, and he treated the common people as his own. For having overcome the remaining cities, Lentiana and Poimanenon, he found and received as a godsend men who breathed Ares and had shown deeds of a noble soul. For in the city of Lentiana not only did a scarcity of water parch the defenders, nor that famine compelled them to eat even leather from their shields and saddle-cloths, but also, when a not very wide section of wall had fallen to the siege engines with a very great fire, for forty days they guarded it in turns, piling wood on the fire. At any rate, when the city was taken, not one of them perished except only the emperor's own brother and the one appointed as commander of the army, Dermokaites, and Andronikos Palaiologos, whom, as I said, the emperor had taken as a son-in-law for his daughter. But Erres, gathering all the others and arranging them into troops and handing over to them commanders of their own race, and having ordered George Theophilopoulos to be in command of all, entrusted to them the defense of the eastern parts.

17 While Erres was ruling Constantinople, a high priest was sent to Constantinople, whom they themselves call a legate, by name Pelagius, bearing all the privileges of the pope. For he wore red-dyed sandals, and his garments were of the same color, and the saddle-cloth of his horse and the reins were dyed with such a color. Being of a rather savage character and employing arrogance, he caused many troubles for the Constantinopolitans. And the pretext was plausible: for he was compelling everyone to bow to the subjection of elder Rome. As a result, monks were imprisoned, priests were put in chains, and every church was closed. And there was one of two choices in this: either to confess the pope as first high priest, and to proclaim his commemoration in the sacred rites, or death was the penalty for the one who did not do so. This led the inhabitants of Constantinople to despondency, and especially the leading men among them. And they, having come to the ruling Erres, said, "We, being of another race and having another high priest, have submitted ourselves to your authority, so that you might rule over us bodily, but certainly not in soul or in spirit; for it is among the necessities that you fight for us in war, but it is entirely among the impossibilities that you abandon our sacred objects and rites. Therefore, either relieve us of the troubles that have come upon us, or let us go as free men to our native lands." They said these things, and he, not wishing to be deprived of so many good and noble men, and against the will of the aforementioned legate, both opened the churches and released as many monks and priests as were held in prisons. And many of the monks, departing from Constantinople, went to the emperor Theodore, and by his order monasteries were given to them. And presbyters, going away to Nicaea, were some of them enrolled in the patriarchal clergy, while others, delighting in the divine churches, lived freely.

18 And when Erres died, his brother Robertos handled matters more gently. The emperor had taken his sister as his wife. Not many years passed, and since the emperor of Constantinople, Robertos, did not

9

οὗ τὸ τῶν Νεοκάστρων ἄρχεται θέμα-μένειν ἄοικον, τὰ δ' ἐντεῦθεν, [τάδε] Νεόκαστρα Κελβιανὸν Χλιαρά τε καὶ Πέργαμος καὶ τὰ πλαγίως ἐγκείμενα Μαλδία τε καὶ Ὀψίκια παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως Θεοδώρου δεσπόζεσθαι. ὑπῆρχε δὲ τούτῳ καὶ ἄλλη χώρα, ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ Λοπαδίου ἀρχομένη καὶ Προῦσαν περιλαμβάνουσα καὶ Νίκαιαν.

16 Ὁ δ' εἰρημένος Ἐρρῆς εἰ καὶ Φράγγος τὸ γένος ἦν, ἀλλ' οὖν τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις καὶ ἰθαγενέσι τοῖς Κωνσταντίνου ἱλαρώτερον προσεφέρετο. καὶ πολλοὺς εἶχε τοὺς μὲν τοῖς μείζοσιν αὐτοῦ συντεταγμένους, τοὺς δὲ τοῖς στρατιώταις, τὸ δὲ κοινὸν ὡς οἰκεῖον περιεῖπε λαόν. καὶ γὰρ περιγενό μενος τῶν λοιπῶν ἄστεων, Λεντιανῶν καὶ Ποιμανηνοῦ, καὶ ἄνδρας τὸν Ἄρην πνέοντας καὶ ψυχῆς γενναίας ἔργα ἐν δειξαμένους ὡς ἕρμαιόν τι ἐδέξατο ἐφευρών. ἐν γὰρ τῷ τῶν Λεντιανῶν ἄστει οὐ μόνον σπάνις ὕδατος τοὺς φυλάσ σοντας ἐξέκαυσεν, οὐδ' ὅτι ὁ λιμὸς καὶ σκύτη αὐτοὺς φα γεῖν κατηνάγκασεν ἀπ' ἀσπίδος καὶ ἐφεστρίδων αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τεῖχος οὐ μακροδιάστατον ταῖς ἑλεπόλεσι καταπεσὸν μετὰ μεγίστης πυρκαϊᾶς τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας ἐφύλαττον τοῦτο ἀμοιβαδὸν τῇ πυρκαϊᾷ προσεπισωρεύοντες ξύλα. κρα τηθέντος γοῦν τοῦ ἄστεος οὐδεὶς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀπώλετο εἰ μὴ μόνον ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτάδελφος καὶ ὁ εἰς ἡγεμόνα τοῦ στρατεύματος τεταγμένος ∆ερμοκαΐτης, καὶ ὁ Παλαιολόγος Ἀνδρόνικος, ὅν, ὡς ἔφην, καὶ εἰς τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτοῦ ὁ βασιλεὺς προσελάβετο γαμβρόν. πάντας δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους ὁ Ἐρρῆς συλλεξάμενος καὶ κατ' ἴλας συντάξας καὶ ὁμογενεῖς αὐτοῖς παραδοὺς ἡγεμόνας, ὑπερέχειν δὲ πάντων τὸν Θεο φιλόπουλον Γεώργιον παρακελεύσας, τὴν τῶν ἀνατολικῶν μερῶν αὐτοῖς φυλακὴν ἐνεπίστευσε.

17 Τοῦ δὲ Ἐρρῆ τῆς Κωνσταντίνου κατάρχοντος, ἀπε στάλη πρὸς τὴν Κωνσταντίνου ἀρχιερεύς, ὃν καὶ λεγάτον αὐ τοί φασι, τοὔνομα Πελάγιος, ἅπαντα τὰ προνόμια τοῦ πάπα φέροντα. ἐρυθροβαφῆ καὶ γὰρ ὑπεδέδετο πέδιλα, ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς δὲ χροιᾶς καὶ τὰ ἐνδύματα εἶχε, καὶ ἡ ἐφεστρὶς τοῦ ἵππου καὶ τὰ χαλινὰ τῷ τοιούτῳ ἐβάπτοντο χρώματι. ἤθους δὲ τυχὼν ἀγριωτέρου καὶ ἀλαζονείᾳ χρώμενος πολλὰ δεινὰ τοῖς Κωνσταντινουπολίταις παρέσχεν. καὶ ἡ σκῆψις ὡς εὔλογος· ἠνάγκαζε γὰρ τοὺς πάντας τῇ τῆς πρεσβυτέρας Ῥώμης ὑποκύψαι ὑποταγῇ. ἐντεῦθεν καθείργνυντο μοναχοί, ἱερεῖς ἐδεσμοῦντο, καὶ ναὸς ἅπας ἐκέκλειστο. καὶ ἦν ἐν αὐτῷ δυοῖν θάτερον, ἢ ὁμολογῆσαι τὸν πάπαν πρῶτον ἀρχιερέα, καὶ τούτου τὴν μνήμην ἐν ἱεροτελεστίαις ἐκφω νεῖν, ἢ θάνατον εἶναι τῷ μὴ διαπραξαμένῳ τὸ ἐπιτίμιον. τοῦτο εἰς βαρυθυμίαν ἦγε τοὺς οἰκήτορας τῆς Κωνσταντίνου, καὶ μάλιστα τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς προύχοντας. οἳ καὶ πρὸς τὸν βασιλεύοντα Ἐρρῆν ἀφιγμένοι «ἡμεῖς μέν,» ἔφασαν, «ἄλλου γεγονότες γένους καὶ ἄλλον ἀρχιερέα ἔχοντες ἑαυτοὺς τῷ κράτει σου ὑπετάξαμεν, ὥστε σωματικῶς κατάρχειν ἡμῶν, οὐ μήν γε ψυχικῶς ἢ πνευματικῶς· σοῦ μὲν γὰρ ἐν πολέμῳ ὑπερμαχεῖσθαι τῶν ἀναγκαίων, τῶν δ' ἡμετέρων ἐκστῆναι σεβασμάτων καὶ θρησκευμάτων τῶν ἀδυνάτων πάντῃ καθέ στηκεν. ἢ γοῦν λῦσον ἡμῖν τὰ ἐπελθόντα δεινά, ἢ ἄφες ὡς ἐλευθέρους ἐν τοῖς ἰθαγενέσιν ἀφῖχθαι.» ταῦτ' εἶπον, κἀκεῖνος μὴ βουλόμενος ἐν στερήσει γενέσθαι τοσούτων καλῶν κἀγαθῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ἄκοντος τοῦ εἰρημένου λεγάτου τούς τε ναοὺς ἀνέῳξε καὶ τοὺς ὅσοι ταῖς εἱρκταῖς ἦσαν κατισχημένοι μοναχούς τε καὶ ἱερεῖς ἀπολέλυκε. πολ λοὶ δὲ τῶν μοναχῶν προεξιόντες τῆς Κωνσταντίνου τῷ βασιλεῖ Θεοδώρῳ προσῄεσαν, καὶ αὐτοῖς προστάξει τούτου μοναὶ ἐπεδίδοντο. καὶ πρεσβύτεροι δὲ πρὸς τὴν Νίκαιαν ἀπιόντες οἱ μὲν τῷ πατριαρχικῷ κλήρῳ συγκατελέγησαν, οἱ δὲ θείοις ναοῖς ἐνασμενίσαντες ἐλευθέρως ἐβίωσαν.

18 Τοῦ Ἐρρῆ δὲ τελευτήσαντος ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ Ῥομπέρ τος μαλακώτερον ἐχρᾶτο τοῖς πράγμασι. τούτου τὴν ἀδελφὴν εἰς γαμετὴν εἰλήφει ὁ βασιλεύς. οὐ πολλοὶ παρῆλθον ἐνιαυ τοί, καὶ ἐπεὶ ὁ τῆς Κωνσταντίνου βασιλεὺς Ῥομπέρτος οὐκ