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and wearing scarlet sandals, she departs from the palace and goes away to the imperial residence in the monastery of the Manganes. For she had already received these and the monastery, and indeed also that of the Hebdomon, by a golden-sealed document of Botaneiates, where she spent her time with her son, having assigned an imperial retinue for herself and her son. For her son still wore the imperial insignia and was acclaimed after the emperor and signed the golden bulls after him. After some time his mother also changed her attire, putting on the black color of the monks, partly willingly, and partly compelled; and the son was deprived of his purple sandals, and to Komnenos alone was left the title of autocracy and the imperial rule. 734 So much then for these matters; but that Kosmas, who was archbishop of the queen of cities, being displeased with the handling of public affairs and despairing of their correction, saying to his servant, "Take up the psalter and follow me," withdrew from the church, and though often entreated by the rulers to return, he did not come back, having shepherded the faithful people for five years and nine months. Therefore they appointed another archbishop for the church, a certain eunuch monk, called Eustratios, who had associated neither with learning nor been trained in the management of affairs, but a simple man and more suited to tranquility or a corner. But after holding the office with dignity for three years, he was brought down from the sacred palace by the rulers; the reason, however, is not accurately known. And thereafter a monk was appointed patriarch, named Nicholas the Grammarian, who had passed his life in ascetic practice and was not without a share in literary education, even if he had not partaken of it to satiety. And just as Komnenos had ascended to the imperial rule, it was announced that the Frank Robert was crossing over to Epidamnus, 735 a man most cunning and warlike. Immediately, therefore, the emperor marched out and, having arrived at Dyrrhachium, attacks the enemy; and being defeated, he fled without glory, many having fallen there, not only common soldiers, but also those of high rank and of imperial blood, and the entire camp was captured by the enemy. The defeated emperor therefore returned to Byzantium; but the barbarians, puffed up by their victory, advanced against all and captured some of the towns, among which were Kastoria and Larissa. They were dreaming of even capturing the queen of cities herself, but the emperor marches out again and drives out the barbarians guarding Kastoria, and goes against Robert and counters his formidableness with a stratagem. For he puts the imperial attire on his brother Adrianos and, giving him an army, he orders him to take a stand against Robert; but if that one should rush to fight, to turn his 736 back and flee immediately. These things, then, he commanded the disguised emperor; but he himself, with the rest of the army, making a detour by unknown roads and falling upon the camp of the Franks, plundered both their tents and the things in them and committed great slaughter. And when Robert rushed against the disguised emperor, both he and the army with him dropped their reins and fled. But the barbarian exulted the more and was puffed up as if invincible. In the meantime, the sacking of his camp and the destruction of those there is announced to him, and immediately his hands and his spirit were paralyzed, and he departed and was gone. But the emperor, having returned to the city of Constantine, when a plot against him was revealed, arrested the ringleaders of it, who were commanders of the tagmata, and many of the local people and of the senatorial council, as being allegedly privy to it—most of them, as they say, not in truth, but in order that he might strip them of their possessions. So the attack of Robert had ceased, but from another quarter enemies rose up again against the Roman empire. For the Turks, having brought the East under their control, did not even refrain from the islands. But Tzachas (he too was a Turk, not one of the 737 notable ones,

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καὶ πεδίλοις φοινικοῖς ὑποδουμένῳ, τῶν ἀνακτόρων μεθίσταται καὶ εἰς τὰ ἐν τῇ μονῇ τῶν Μαγγάνων βασίλεια ἄπεισιν. ἤδη γὰρ εἰλήφει ταῦτα καὶ τὴν μονήν, ἀλλὰ μέντοι καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἑβδόμου διὰ χρυσοσημάντου τοῦ Βοτανειάτου γραφῆς, ἔνθα διῆγε σὺν τῷ υἱῷ, βασιλικὴν ὑπηρεσίαν ἑαυτῇ καὶ τῷ υἱῷ ἀποτάξασα. ἔτι γὰρ ὁ παῖς αὐτῇ περιέκειτο τὰ τῆς βασιλείας γνωρίσματα καὶ εὐφημεῖτο μετὰ τὸν αὐτοκράτορα καὶ τὰς χρυσοβούλλους γραφὰς μετ' ἐκεῖνον ὑπεσημαίνετο. μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ μετημφιάσθη, μέλαν ἐνδῦσα χρῶμα κατὰ τοὺς μοναχούς, τὸ μὲν ἑκοῦσα, τὸ δέ τι τυραννουμένη· καὶ ὁ παῖς ἀφῃρέθη τὰ περιπόρφυρα πέδιλα καὶ μόνῳ τῷ Κομνηνῷ ἡ τῆς αὐταρχίας κλῆσις καὶ ἡ βασιλεία περιελέλειπτο. 734 Οὕτω μὲν οὖν ταῦτα· ὁ δὲ τῆς βασιλίδος τῶν πόλεων ἀρχιερατεύων ἐκεῖνος Κοσμᾶς, τῇ τῶν κοινῶν πραγμάτων μεταχειρίσει ἀπαρεσκόμενος καὶ ἀπεγνωκὼς τὴν διόρθωσιν, τῷ ὑπηρέτῃ "ἆρον" εἰπών "τὸ ψαλτήριον καὶ συνέπου μοι" τῆς ἐκκλησίας ὑπανεχώρησε καὶ πολλὰ παρὰ τῶν κρατούντων παρακληθεὶς ὑποστρέψαι οὐχ ὑπενόστησεν, ἔτη πέντε καὶ μῆνας ἐννέα τὸν πιστὸν ποιμάνας λαόν. διὸ καὶ ἄλλον τινὰ ἀρχιερέα τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἀντικατέστησαν, ἐκτομίαν τινὰ μοναχόν, κεκλημένον Εὐστράτιον, οὔτε λόγοις ὡμιληκότα οὔτε πραγμάτων ἐγγεγυμνασμένον μεταχειρίσεσιν, ἀφελῆ δὲ ἄνθρωπον καὶ ἡσυχίᾳ ἢ γωνίᾳ μᾶλλον προσήκοντα. ἤδη δὲ τρεῖς ἐνιαυτοὺς ἐνσεμνυνάμενος κατηνέχθη τῶν ἱερῶν ἀνακτόρων παρὰ τῶν κρατούντων· ἡ δ' αἰτία οὐκ ἔγνωσται ἀκριβῶς. καὶ λοιπὸν προκεχείριστο πατριάρχης ἀνὴρ μοναχός, ὁ γραμματικὸς ὀνομαζόμενος Νικόλαος, ἐν ἀσκήσει τὸν βίον διηνυκὼς καὶ οὐδὲ τῆς ἐν λόγοις παιδείας ἀμέθεκτος ὤν, κἂν μὴ κατακόρως ταύτης μετέσχηκεν. Ἄρτι δὲ τῆς βασιλείας ἐπιβεβηκότι τῷ Κομνηνῷ ἠγγέλη ὁ Φράγγος Ῥομπέρτος εἰς τὴν Ἐπίδαμνον διαπεραιούμενος, 735 ἀνὴρ πανοῦργός τε καὶ πολεμικώτατος. αὐτίκα τοίνυν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐξεστράτευσε καὶ γενόμενος κατὰ τὸ ∆υρράχιον προσβάλλει τοῖς πολεμίοις· καὶ ἡττηθεὶς ἀκλεῶς ἔφυγε, πολλῶν ἐκεῖ πεσόντων οὐ τῶν τυχόντων μόνον στρατιωτῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐν ὑπεροχαῖς καὶ βασιλείου τυγχανόντων ἐξ αἵματος, καὶ ἡ παρεμβολὴ ξύμπασα ἑάλω τοῖς πολεμίοις. ὁ μὲν οὖν βασιλεὺς ἡττημένος ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον· οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι τῇ νίκῃ πεφυσημένοι ὁμόσε κατὰ πάντων ἐχώρουν καὶ εἷλον τῶν πολισμάτων τινά, ὧν ἦσαν ἡ Καστορία τε καὶ ἡ Λάρισσα. ὠνειροπόλουν δὲ καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν βασιλίδα τῶν πόλεων καταλήψεσθαι, ἀλλ' ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ πάλιν ἐκστρατεύει καὶ ἀπελαύνει μὲν τῆς Καστορίας τοὺς αὐτὴν φρουροῦντας βαρβάρους, ἄπεισι δὲ κατὰ τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου καὶ στρατηγήματι τὴν ἐκείνου δεινότητα μέτεισι. τῷ γὰρ ἀδελφῷ Ἀδριανῷ τὸ σχῆμα τὸ βασιλικὸν περιτίθησι καὶ στράτευμα δοὺς αὐτῷ ἐναντίον τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου στῆναι διακελεύεται· εἰ δ' ἐκεῖνος ὁρμήσει μαχέσασθαι, στρέψαι τὰ 736 νῶτα καὶ αὐτίκα φυγεῖν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τῷ ἐσχηματισμένῳ βασιλεῖ ἐνετείλατο· ἐκεῖνος δὲ μετὰ τῆς λοιπῆς στρατιᾶς δι' ὁδῶν ἀδήλων περιοδεύσας καὶ τῷ τῶν Φράγγων ἐμβαλὼν χάρακι τάς τε σκηνὰς αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐταῖς ἐληίσατο καὶ φόνον πολὺν ἐποιήσατο. τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου δὲ κατὰ τοῦ ἐσχηματισμένου βασιλέως ὁρμήσαντος, κἀκεῖνος καὶ ἡ σὺν αὐτῷ στρατιὰ τὰ χαλινὰ χαλάσαντες ἔφυγον. ὁ δὲ βάρβαρος ἐγαυρία μᾶλλον καὶ ἐπῆρτο ὡς ἀπροσμάχητος. ἐν τούτῳ δὲ ἀγγέλλεται αὐτῷ τοῦ χάρακος ἡ ἐκπόρθησις καὶ ἡ φθορὰ τῶν ἐκεῖ, καὶ εὐθὺς παρεῖτο καὶ τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ἀπιὼν ᾤχετο. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐπανελθὼν εἰς τὴν Κωνσταντίνου, μηνυθείσης ἐπιβουλῆς αὐτῷ, τούς τε ταύτης πρωτουργοὺς συνέσχεν ἐκ τῶν ταγματικῶν ὄντας ἀρχόντων καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἐγχωρίων καὶ τῆς συγκλήτου βουλῆς, ὡς τάχα συνίστορας, τοὺς πλείους, ὥς φασιν, οὐδὲ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν, ἀλλ' ἵνα σφᾶς γυμνώσῃ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων. Ἡ μὲν οὖν τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου ἐπίθεσις πέπαυτο, ἑτέρωθεν δ' αὖθις τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίᾳ ἐχθροὶ ἐπανίσταντι. οἱ γὰρ Τοῦρκοι τὴν ἑῴαν ὑφ' ἑαυτοὺς ποιησάμενοι οὐδὲ τῶν νήσων ἀπέσχοντο. ἀλλ' ὁ Τζαχᾶς (Τοῦρκος δὲ καὶ οὗτος οὐ τῶν 737 ἐπιφανῶν,