176

might carry on the siege; but leaving Isangeles' allotted post empty, they awaited his arrival. At the same time the emperor occupied Pelecanum, having Nicaea in mind, as the account has already indicated. 11.1.2 The barbarians inside Nicaea repeatedly sent for the sultan to come to their aid. But as he was still delaying and the siege had already been going on from sunrise to sunset for many days, since they saw their situation was in dire straits, they changed their minds and decided it was better to go over to the emperor than to be captured by the Celts. Accordingly they summoned Boutoumites for this purpose, who by means of frequent letters had often promised them that they would experience many and various benefits from the emperor, if they would hand Nicaea over to him. And he, having reported the emperor's kindness more clearly and having shown the written promises, if they would hand over the fortress to him, was gladly received by the Turks, who had already given up resisting such great numbers and reasoned it better to hand the city over to the emperor of their own accord and share in money and honor than to become fodder for the sword. 11.1.3 Boutoumites had not yet been inside for a third day when Isangeles arrived and hastened to make an attempt on the wall with the siege engines he was preparing. In the meantime, a rumor reached them announcing the sultan's arrival. The Turks, having learned this and taken courage, immediately drove Boutoumites out. The sultan, having detached a part of his army, sent them to investigate Isangeles' attack, ordering them not to put off battle with them, if they should encounter any of the Celts. And Isangeles' men, seeing them from a distance, engaged them. But also the other counts and Bohemond himself, having heard of the attack of these barbarians, detached two hundred men from each county and, having gathered them into a great multitude, immediately sent them to the aid of Isangeles' men; and having caught up with them, they pursued the barbarians until evening. 11.1.4 But the sultan was in no way discouraged by these events, but at daybreak he armed himself and with his whole army occupied the plain outside the walls of Nicaea. And the Celts, perceiving his presence, armed themselves stoutly and rushed against them like lions. And then a heavy and terrible war broke out. With the battle being on equal terms for both sides throughout the whole day, when the sun went down into darkness, the Turks turned back, as night arbitrated the battle for them. So many fell on both sides, and not fewer were killed, and the majority were wounded. 11.1.5 And the Celts, having won a glorious victory, and having impaled the heads of many on their spears, returned carrying them like standards, so that the barbarians, recognizing the event from afar and fearing defeat from the very start, would desist from a sustained battle. Such things, then, the Latins both did and reasoned; but the sultan, seeing their countless multitudes and having recognized their unrestrained boldness from the attack itself, gives the signal to surrender to the Turks inside Nicaea; "Do henceforth," he said, "whatever you judge best." For he knew beforehand that they preferred to hand the city over to the emperor rather than be captured by the Celts. 11.1.6 But Isangeles, sticking to the task at hand, having constructed a circular wooden tower and having covered it on each side with hides, and having interwoven it in the middle with wicker and fortified it on all sides, brought it up to the side of the tower called Gonatos. Which had received its name long ago, when that Manuel, the father of the former emperor Isaac Comnenus and of his brother John my paternal grandfather, as general with full powers of the entire east from the

176

πολιορκίαν ποιοῖντο· τὸ δὲ λάχος τοῦ Ἰσαγγέλη κενὸν ἐάσαντες, τὴν ἐκείνου προσέμενον ἄφιξιν. Ἐν ταὐτῷ δὲ καὶ ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ τὸν Πελεκάνον κατέλαβε κατὰ νοῦν ἔχων τὴν Νίκαιαν, ὡς ὁ λόγος φθάσας ἐδήλωσεν. 11.1.2 Οἱ δὲ ἐντὸς Νικαίας βάρ βαροι τὸν σουλτάνον πολλάκις εἰς τὴν σφῶν αὐτῶν ἀρωγὴν μετεπέμποντο. Ἐκείνου δ' ἔτι βραδύνοντος καὶ τῆς πολιορ κίας ἐξ ἀνατολῆς ἡλίου μέχρι καὶ δύσεως αὐτῆς ἐν πολλαῖς ἤδη γινομένης ἡμέραις, ἐπεὶ ἐν στενῷ κομιδῆ τὰ κατ' αὐτοὺς ἑώρων, γνωσιμαχήσαντες βέλτιον προσεληλυθέναι τῷ βασιλεῖ ἢ παρὰ τῶν Κελτῶν ἁλῶναι ἐγνώκεσαν. Μετα καλοῦνται τοίνυν ἐπ' αὐτῷ τὸν Βουτουμίτην, τόσα καὶ τόσα ἀγαθὰ παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως πείσεσθαι διὰ γραμμάτων συχνῶν πολλάκις αὐτοῖς ἐπαγγελλόμενον, εἰ τὴν Νίκαιαν αὐτῷ παραδοῖεν. Ὁ δὲ τὰς τοῦ βασιλέως φιλοφροσύνας καθαρώτερον ἀπαγγείλας καὶ τὰς ἐγγράφους ὑποσχέσεις ὑποδείξας, εἰ τὸ κάστρον αὐτῷ παραδοῖεν, ἀσμένως δέχε ται παρὰ τῶν Τούρκων ἀπειρηκότων ἤδη πρὸς τοσαῦτα πλήθη ἀντικαθίστασθαι καὶ βέλτιον λογιζομένων τῷ βα σιλεῖ τὴν πόλιν αὐθαιρέτως παραδοῦναι καὶ χρημάτων καὶ τιμῆς μετασχεῖν ἢ ξίφους παρανάλωμα γενέσθαι. 11.1.3 Οὔπω τρίτην ἡμέραν ὁ Βουτουμίτης ἐντὸς εἶχε καὶ ὁ Ἰσαγγέλης καταλαβὼν ἀποπειρᾶσθαι τοῦ τείχους δι' ὧν ἡτοίμαζεν ἑλεπόλεων ἔσπευδεν. Ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ δὲ φήμη τις αὐτοὺς καταλαμβάνει τὴν τοῦ σουλτάνου ἔλευσιν μηνύουσα. Τοῦτο οἱ Τοῦρκοι μεμαθηκότες καὶ τεθαρρηκότες τὸν Βουτουμίτην παραχρῆμα ἐξέωσαν. Ὁ δὲ σουλτάνος μέρος τοῦ στρατοῦ ἀποδιελόμενος ἀπέστειλε σκεψομένους τὴν τοῦ Ἰσαγγέλη ἔφοδον παραγγείλας ὡς, εἴ τισι τῶν Κελτῶν ἐντύχοιεν, μὴ ἀναβαλέσθαι τὴν μετ' αὐτῶν μάχην. Θεασάμενοι δὲ πόρρωθεν τούτους οἱ τοῦ Ἰσαγγέλη ξυμμίγνυνται. Ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ κόμητες καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Βαϊ μοῦντος, τὴν τουτωνὶ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐνωτισθέντες ἔφοδον, ἐξ ἑκάστης κομητούρας ἀνὰ διακοσίους διελόμενοι καὶ εἰς πολὺ πλῆθος ξυμποσώσαντες παραχρῆμα εἰς ἀρωγὴν τῶν τοῦ Ἰσαγγέλη πέμπουσιν· ἐφθακότες δὲ μέχρις ἑσπέρας τοὺς βαρβάρους ἐδίωκον. 11.1.4 Ὁ δὲ σουλτάνος οὐδαμῶς ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀναπεπτώκει, ἀλλ' αὐγαζούσης ἡμέρας ὁπλί ζεται καὶ πανσυδὶ τὴν ἔξω τειχῶν Νικαίας πεδιάδα κατει λήφει. Καὶ οἱ Κελτοί, αἰσθόμενοι τῆς τούτου παρουσίας, καρτερῶς ὁπλισάμενοι καθαπερεὶ λέοντες κατ' αὐτῶν ἵεν ται. Καὶ συρρήγνυται τηνικαῦτα πόλεμος βαρὺς καὶ δεινός. Ἐν ἴσῃ δὲ μοίρᾳ τῆς μάχης ἀμφοτέροις ἱσταμένης τοῖς μέρεσι δι' ὅλης ἡμέρας, ἐπεὶ ὁ ἥλιος ἐπὶ κνέφας ἦλθε, τρέπονται οἱ Τοῦρκοι τῆς νυκτὸς αὐτοῖς διαιτησάσης τὴν μάχην. Πίπτουσι μὲν οὖν ἐξ ἑκατέρων πολλοί, κτείνονται δὲ οὐχ ἥττονες, τιτρώσκονται δὲ οἱ πλείους. 11.1.5 Καὶ λαμπρὰν τὴν νίκην ἀράμενοι οἱ Κελτοί, πολλῶν δὲ καὶ κεφαλὰς τοῖς δόρασι περιπείραντες ἐπανέρχονται καθα περεὶ σημαίας ταύτας φέροντες, ἵν' οὕτω πόρρωθεν τὸ γεγονὸς διαγνόντες οἱ βάρβαροι καὶ τὴν ἐκ πρώτης βαλβίδος ἧτταν δειλιάσαντες τῆς συντόνου μάχης ἀποστήσονται. Τοιαῦτα μὲν οὖν οἱ Λατῖνοι πεπράχασί τε καὶ διελογί σαντο· ὁ δὲ σουλτάνος, τὰ ἄπειρα τούτων θεασάμενος πλήθη καὶ τὴν ἀκάθεκτον τόλμαν ἐξ αὐτῆς προσβολῆς ἐγνωκώς, τοῖς ἐντὸς Νικαίας Τούρκοις τὸ ἐνδόσιμον δίδωσι· «Πράσσετε τοῦ λοιποῦ, λέγων, πᾶν ὅπερ βέλτιον κρίνετε». Ἤδει γὰρ πρὸ καιροῦ τῷ βασιλεῖ μᾶλλον προαιρουμένους παραδοῦναι τὴν πόλιν ἢ παρὰ τῶν Κελτῶν ἁλῶναι. 11.1.6 Ὁ δέ γε Ἰσαγγέλης, τοῦ προκειμένου ἐχόμενος ἔργου, μόσυνα κυκλοτερῆ τεκτηνάμενος καὶ ἐξ ἑκα τέρου μέρους βύρσας αὐτὸν περιστείλας, κατὰ δὲ τὸ μέσον λύγοις διαπλέξας καὶ πάντοθεν κατοχυρώσας τῇ πλευρᾷ προσεπέλασε τοῦ καλουμένου Γονάτου πύργου. Ὃς τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ἐκληρώσατο πάλαι, ὁπηνίκα Μανουὴλ ἐκεῖνος, ὁ τοῦ προβεβασιλευκότος Ἰσαακίου τοῦ Κομνηνοῦ πατὴρ καὶ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἰωάννου τοῦ πρὸς πατρὸς ἐμοῦ πάππου, στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ τῆς ἑῴας ἁπάσης παρὰ τοῦ