Joel Chronographus, Compendious Chronography

For the empress Zoe, having conceived a demonic love for his brother Michael, and secretly mingling with him, worked the emperor's death with drugs that brought not a swift end but a very leisurely and slow death; who, on Great Thursday, while bathing in the bath-house in the great palace, was wretchedly drowned in the font of the bath by Michael's men, having reigned for 5 years and 2 months. He is buried in the very monastery of the Peribleptos newly built by him, on that Holy and Great Friday. 62 And Zoe, having established Michael the Paphlagonian on the imperial throne, thought that instead of a husband and emperor she would have a slave and servant, but everything turned out the opposite for her. But the emperor was seized by a demon and was tormented by it, and doing everything to find freedom from it, he gained nothing; for rather the evil was intensified, as a disease of dropsy also took hold. Worn out, therefore, by the afflicting disease and despairing of his own salvation from every side, he is tonsured by the monk Kosmas Tzintziloukios, who was with him always and advised him on what was needful, and he dies in repentance and confession, weeping for his sin against the emperor Romanos, having reigned 7 years and 8 months. When Michael the Paphlagonian died, all power passed to the empress Zoe as heir, who, having first bound the emperor's nephew and namesake, who was Caesar and seemed energetic and skilled in affairs, with most dreadful oaths that he would have her as his lady and mistress and mother for life, she takes him as an adopted son and proclaims him emperor of the Romans; who, having broken his agreements with her, and on account of this was hated by all the populace of the city, and fearing the irrepressible movement of the people, went as a fugitive to the monastery of Stoudios, and immediately puts on the monastic habit. But he did not escape; for the mass of the people was stirred up and, seizing him from the monastery, they lead him to the place called Sigma and immediately 63 blind him. Having been blinded, then, he is exiled to the monastery of Elegmoi, having reigned 4 months and 5 days. When the rule, therefore, rolled back to Zoe, who had her sister Theodora as co-ruler, Constantine Monomachos is summoned from exile, to whom the empress is also joined in the communion of marriage, the sacred rite being performed by the first of the presbyters of the Nea. And he is crowned on the next day by the patriarch Alexios, who dies during his reign. And Michael Keroularios is elevated to the throne on the day of the Annunciation. But the emperor, having been seized by his usual disease of gout, and with another symptom having followed, dies lying in the monastery of the Mangana newly built by him, and is buried in it, having reigned 13 years, Zoe having already died before. When he died, Theodora the porphyrogenita takes up the ancestral empire, and having reigned 2 years and 7 months, she fell into a disease of the bowels and dies. But her eunuchs, with the synkellos Leon, while she was still breathing her last, elevate to the imperial throne the patrician Michael Stratiotikos, who, having reigned 1 year, unwillingly steps down from the empire for Komnenos. Therefore Isaac Komnenos, having girded himself with the imperial power, is immediately depicted on the imperial coinage as a sword-bearer, as though ascribing everything not to God but to his own strength and to his experience in war 64. And he brought his wife Aikaterine from the east, and proclaimed her Augusta. And when the patriarch Michael Keroularios died, Constantine Leichoudes is appointed patriarch in his place. But the emperor, having gone out on a hunt and been struck by a bolt of lightning, was both thrown from his horse and was rolling on the ground foaming. Having struggled with his senses, therefore, for some days, to see if he might somehow be relieved of the sickness, since he knew he was completely overcome by it, he lays aside the empire and takes refuge in the monastery of Stoudios

γὰρ τὸν τούτου ἀδελφὸν Μιχαὴλ ἔρωτα δαιμονιώδη σχοῦσα ἡ βασιλὶς Ζωή, καὶ τούτῳ κρυφίως συμμιγνυμένη, τὸν βασιλέα φαρμάκοις οὐκ ὠκυμόροις ἀλλὰ σχολαιότατον καὶ βραδὺν ἐπάγουσι θάνατον κατειργάσατο· ὃς κατὰ τὴν μεγάλην πέμπτην κατὰ τὸ ἐν τῷ μεγάλῳ παλατίῳ βαλανεῖον λουόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ τὸν Μιχαὴλ τῇ κολυμβήθρᾳ τοῦ λουτροῦ οἰκτρῶς ἀπεπνίγη, βασιλεύσας ἔτη εʹ καὶ μῆνας ʹ. θάπτεται δὲ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ παρ' αὐτοῦ νεουργηθείσῃ τῆς Περιβλέπτου μονῇ κατ' αὐτὴν τὴν ἁγίαν μεγάλην παρασκευήν. 62 Ἡ Ζωὴ δὲ τὸν Παφλαγόνα Μιχαὴλ ἐπὶ τὸν βασίλειον ἱδρύσασα θρόνον ᾠήθη μὲν ἀντὶ ἀνδρὸς καὶ βασιλέως δοῦλον καὶ διάκονον ἕξειν, ἀπέβη δὲ ταύτῃ πάντα εἰς τοὐναντίον. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς δαίμονι ληφθεὶς καὶ ὑπὸ τούτου κατατεινόμενος, καὶ πάντα ποιῶν ὥστε ἐλευθερίαν τούτου εὑρεῖν, οὐδὲν ὤνησεν· μᾶλλον γὰρ ἐπετείνετο τὸ κακὸν συνεπιλαμβανομένης καὶ νόσου ὑδερικῆς. τῇ οὖν κατεχούσῃ νόσῳ ἐκτρυχωθεὶς καὶ πάντοθεν τῆς οἰκείας ἀπογνοὺς σωτηρίας ἀποκείρεται παρὰ τοῦ μοναχοῦ Κοσμᾶ τοῦ Τζιντζιλουκίου, ὃς διὰ παντὸς συνῆν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐνουθέτει τὰ δέοντα, καὶ θνήσκει ἐν μετανοίᾳ καὶ ἐξομολογήσει, τὴν εἰς τὸν βασιλέα Ῥωμανὸν ἁμαρτίαν ἀποκλαιόμενος, βασιλεύσας ἔτη ζʹ καὶ μῆνας ηʹ. Τοῦ δὲ Παφλαγόνος Μιχαὴλ θανόντος τὸ πᾶν κράτος περιέστη εἰς κληρονόμον τὴν βασιλίδα Ζωήν, ἣ τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως ἀνεψιὸν καὶ ὁμώνυμον, Καίσαρα ὄντα καὶ δραστήριον δοκοῦντα καὶ περὶ τὰ πράγματα δεξιόν, ὅρκοις πρότερον φρικωδεστάτοις καταλαβοῦσα ὡς κυρίαν αὐτὴν ἕξει διὰ βίου καὶ δέσποιναν καὶ μητέρα, εἰσποιητὸν προσλαμβάνει υἱὸν καὶ βασιλέα Ῥωμαίων ἀναγορεύει· ὃς τὰς πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀθετήσας συνθήκας, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μισηθεὶς παρὰ παντὸς τοῦ πλήθους τῆς πόλεως, καὶ τὴν τοῦ δήμου ἀκατάσχετον δειλιάσας κίνησιν, φυγὰς ᾤχετο εἰς τὴν τοῦ Στουδίου μονήν, καὶ εὐθὺς τὸ μοναχικὸν περιβάλλεται σχῆμα. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀπέδρα· τὸ γὰρ πλῆθος τοῦ λαοῦ κινηθὲν καὶ τοῦτον τῆς μονῆς ἀφαρπάσαν ἄγουσι κατὰ τὸν τόπον τὸν λεγόμενον Σίγμα καὶ εὐθὺς 63 ἐκτυφλοῦσι. τυφλωθεὶς οὖν ἐξορίζεται εἰς τὴν μονὴν τῶν Ἐλεγμῶν, βασιλεύσας μῆνας δ' καὶ ἡμέρας εʹ. Τῆς οὖν ἀρχῆς πάλιν εἰς τὴν Ζωὴν μετακυλισθείσης, συμβασιλεύουσαν ἔχουσαν καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν Θεοδώραν, μεταστέλλεται ἀπὸ τῆς ἐξορίας Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ Μονομάχος, ᾧ καὶ συνάπτεται εἰς κοινωνίαν γάμου ἡ βασιλίς, τῆς ἱερολογίας γενομένης παρὰ τοῦ πρώτου τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τῆς Νέας. στέφεται δὲ τῇ ἐπαύριον παρὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου Ἀλεξίου, ὃς ἐπὶ τῆς τούτου βασιλείας θνήσκει. ἀνάγεται δὲ εἰς τὸν θρόνον Μιχαὴλ ὁ Κηρουλάριος κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ εὐαγγελισμοῦ. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τῇ συνήθει νόσῳ τῆς ποδαλγίας κατάσχετος γεγονώς, ἐπακολουθήσαντος καὶ ἑτέρου συμπτώματος, ἐν τῇ παρ' αὐτοῦ νεουργηθείσῃ μονῇ τῶν Μαγγάνων κείμενος θνήσκει, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ θάπτεται βασιλεύσας ἔτη ιγʹ, καὶ τῆς Ζωῆς ἤδη προτελευτησάσης. Τούτου δὲ τελευτήσαντος Θεοδώρα ἡ πορφυρογέννητος τὴν προγονικὴν βασιλείαν ἀναδέχεται, καὶ ἔτη βʹ καὶ μῆνας ζʹ βασιλεύσασα εἰλεοῦ νοσήματι περιπεσοῦσα θνήσκει. Οἱ δὲ ταύτης εὐνοῦχοι σὺν τῷ συγκέλλῳ Λέοντι, ἔτι ταύτης ψυχορραγούσης, ἀνάγουσιν εἰς τὸν βασίλειον θρόνον Μιχαὴλ πατρίκιον τὸν Στρατιωτικόν, ὃς ἔτος αʹ βασιλεύσας καὶ ἄκων τῆς βασιλείας τῷ Κομνηνῷ ὑπεξίσταται. Ὁ οὖν Κομνηνὸς Ἰσαάκιος τὴν βασιλείαν ἀναζωσάμενος αὐτίκα τῷ βασιλικῷ νομίσματι ξιφηφόρος διαχαράττεται, οἷα μὴ τῷ θεῷ τὸ πᾶν ἐπιγράφων ἀλλὰ τῇ ἰδίᾳ ἰσχύϊ καὶ τῇ περὶ πολέ 64 μους ἐμπειρίᾳ. ἤγαγε δὲ καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα Αἰκατερίναν ἐκ τῆς ἀνατολῆς, καὶ ταύτην ἀνηγόρευσεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ὁ πατριάρχης Μιχαὴλ ὁ Κηρουλάριος ἀπεβίω, προχειρίζεται ἀντ' αὐτοῦ πατριάρχης ὁ Λεικούδης Κωνσταντῖνος. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς εἰς κυνήγιον ἐξελθὼν καὶ φωτὶ ἀστραπηβόλῳ βληθεὶς τοῦ ἵππου τε ἀπεσφαιρίσθη καὶ πρὸς τῇ γῇ ἀφρίζων ἐκυλίετο. γνωσιμαχήσας οὖν ἐφ' ἡμέρας τινάς, εἴ πως ἀνεθείη τῆς νόσου, ἐπείπερ ἔγνω κατ' ἄκρας ταύτῃ ἁλούς, τὴν βασιλείαν ἀποθέμενος τὴν τοῦ Στουδίου καταλαμβάνει