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the emperor's daughter Maria, and being greatly pleased with her (for she was of surpassing beauty), wrote to Peter to come quickly, having first made agreements concerning the peace. And Niketas the magistros, the emperor Romanos's co-father-in-law, was sent to meet and bring Peter to the queen of cities. When he arrived at Blachernae, the emperor came with a trireme, received him, embraced him, and welcomed him generously. Having therefore addressed each other in a fitting manner, they completed both the treaties of peace and those of the marriage, with the protovestiarios Theophanes mediating in all things. And on the 8th of the month of October, the patriarch Stephen came forth, along with the 2.310 protovestiarios Theophanes and the whole senate, and blessed Peter and Maria in the church of the most holy Theotokos of the Spring, with the protovestiarios and the Sursubulos acting as groomsmen. When the wedding was splendid and lavish, the protovestiarios entered the city with the emperor's daughter. The emperor, holding a feast on the third day after the wedding at the pier of the Spring, with the imperial dromon standing at the pier itself, dined with Peter. Present at the banquet were also the emperor Constantine and Christopher. And no small dispute arose among the Bulgarians, who insisted that Christopher be acclaimed first, then Constantine; The emperor Romanos, yielding to their insistence, ordered it to be so. When everything that was customary in such matters had been completed, Maria departed with her husband and set out for Bulgaria, having been escorted by her parents and the protovestiarios as far as the Hebdomon. And so matters in the city were concluded in this way. But the domestic of the schools, John Kourkouas the magistros, raiding and carrying off the possessions of Syria and subduing all opposition, and having taken very many fortresses and strongholds and barbarian cities, reached as far as the renowned Melitene, and by siege he distressed those within and forced them to consider treaties. Therefore there came to him Apochaps, the grandson of Amer, 2.311 being amir of Melitene, and Aposalath, the commander of the regiments in it; whom the domestic received cheerfully and with affability and sent off to the emperor. Having therefore met with him and made peaceful agreements, they returned to their own lands, having been enrolled among the friends and allies of the Romans and being armed with them against their own people. But when Apochaps and Aposalath died, the peace was dissolved. Therefore the aforesaid domestic campaigned against them, and with him was Melias the magistros with the Armenians. And first they drove the Melitenes by war inside the walls when they dared to claim the countryside; then they surrounded the city and, besieging it with intensity, they captured it by the law of war.

They overran also all the surrounding areas and subdued them and made them subject to the Romans. The emperor therefore, having established Melitene and all its surrounding region as a curatorship, brought much revenue to the public treasury; but Niketas, the magistros and father-in-law of the emperor Christopher, having been accused of suggesting to Christopher that he move against his own father and expel him from the empire, was driven out of the city and tonsured a monk. On the 15th day of the month of July, in the 2nd indiction, Stephen of Amaseia died, having been patriarch for 2 years and 11 months; and in the month of December they bring the monk Tryphon, and they ordain him patriarch for a specified time, until Theophylact, the son of the emperor, should reach the measure of the legal age. In the same 2.312 month there was an unbearable winter, such that the earth was frozen for one hundred and twenty days. And the winter was followed by the great famine, surpassing any that had ever occurred, and death from it, so that the living were not able

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βασιλέως Μαρίαν καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῇ μεγάλως ἀρεσθέντες (ἦν γὰρ ὑπερφέρουσα τῷ κάλλει), ἔγραψαν τῷ Πέτρῳ διὰ τάχους παραγενέσθαι, σύμφωνα ποιησάμενοι πρότερον περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης. ἀπεστάλη δὲ καὶ Νικήτας μάγιστρος, ὁ τοῦ βασι λέως συμπένθερος Ῥωμανοῦ, ὑπαντῆσαι καὶ ἀγαγεῖν τὸν Πέτρον μέχρι τῆς βασιλίδος. οὗ καταλαβόντος ἐν Βλαχέρναις, ὁ βασι λεὺς μετὰ τριήρους ἐλθὼν τοῦτον ἐδέξατο καὶ ἠσπάσατο καὶ φιλο τίμως ἐδεξιώσατο. ἀλλήλοις οὖν τὰ εἰκότα προσομιλήσαντες τά τε τῆς εἰρήνης σύμβολα καὶ τὰ τοῦ γάμου ἐπεραιώσαντο, τοῦ πρωτοβεστιαρίου Θεοφάνους ἐν πᾶσι μεσολαβοῦντος. καὶ τῇ ηʹ τοῦ Ὀκτωβρίου μηνὸς ἐξελθὼν ὁ πατριάρχης Στέφανος, ἅμα τῷ 2.310 πρωτοβεστιαρίῳ Θεοφάνει καὶ πάσῃ τῇ συγκλήτῳ, εὐλόγησε Πέ τρον τε καὶ Μαρίαν ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῆς ὑπεραγίας θεοτόκου τῆς Πηγῆς, παρανυμφευόντων τοῦ πρωτοβεστιαρίου καὶ τοῦ Σουρσουβούλου. φαιδρῶν δὲ καὶ πολυτελῶν γενομένων τῶν γάμων, εἰσῆλθεν ὁ πρωτοβεστιάριος ἅμα τῇ θυγατρὶ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐν τῇ πόλει. τρίτην δὲ μετὰ τὸν γάμον ἑστίασιν ἐν τῇ τῶν Πηγῶν ἀποβάθρᾳ ποιήσας ὁ βασιλεύς, παρ' αὐτῇ τῇ ἀποβάθρᾳ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ δρό μωνος ἱσταμένου, συνειστιάθη τῷ Πέτρῳ. παρῆσαν δὲ τῇ εὐωχίᾳ καὶ Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ Χριστοφόρος. ἐγένετο δὲ στά σις οὐ μικρὰ παρὰ τῶν Βουλγάρων, ἐνισταμένων πρότερον εὐφη μηθῆναι τὸν Χριστοφόρον, εἶτα τὸν Κωνσταντῖνον· ὧν τῇ ἐν στάσει παραχωρῶν ὁ βασιλεὺς Ῥωμανὸς ἐκέλευσεν οὕτω γενέσθαι. πάντων δὲ τῶν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις εἰωθότων γίνεσθαι συντελεσθέν των, ἀπῆρεν ἡ Μαρία σὺν τῷ οἰκείῳ συζύγῳ καὶ τῆς πρὸς Βουλ γαρίαν ἥψατο, προπεμφθεῖσα παρὰ τῶν γονέων αὐτῆς καὶ τοῦ πρωτοβεστιαρίου μέχρι τοῦ Ἑβδόμου. καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐν τῇ πόλει τοῦτον ἐτελεῖτο τὸν τρόπον. Ὁ δὲ δομέστικος τῶν σχολῶν Ἰωάννης μάγιστρος ὁ Κουρ κούας, ἄγων καὶ φέρων τὰ τῆς Συρίας καὶ ἅπαν ἀντίξουν κατα στρεφόμενος, καὶ πλεῖστα φρούρια καὶ ὀχυρώματα καὶ πόλεις βαρβαρικὰς καθελών, ἔφθασε καὶ μέχρι τῆς περιβοήτου Μελιτη νῆς, πολιορκίᾳ δὲ τοὺς ἔνδον στενοχωρήσας ἠνάγκασε πρὸς συμ βάσεις ἰδεῖν. παρεγένετο οὖν πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἀπόχαψ ὁ τοῦ Ἄμερ 2.311 ἔκγονος, ἀμηρᾶς ὑπάρχων Μελιτηνῆς, καὶ Ἀποσαλὰθ ὁ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ κατάρχων ταγμάτων· οὓς προσδεξάμενος ὁ δομέστικος ἱλαρῶς καὶ μετὰ προσηνείας πρὸς τὸν αὐτοκράτορα ἐξαπέστειλεν. ἐντυχόντες οὖν αὐτῷ καὶ εἰρηνικὰ ποιήσαντες σύμφωνα ὑπέστρε ψαν εἰς τὰ ἴδια, τοῖς φίλοις καὶ συμμάχοις Ῥωμαίων καταγρα φέντες καὶ μετ' αὐτῶν κατὰ τῶν ὁμοφύλων καθοπλιζόμενοι. τε λευτήσαντος δὲ τοῦ Ἀπόχαψ καὶ τοῦ Ἀποσαλὰθ διελύθη τὰ τῆς εἰρήνης. ἐκστρατεύει οὖν κατ' αὐτῶν ὁ εἰρημένος δομέστικος, ᾧ συνῆν μετὰ τῶν Ἀρμενίων καὶ ὁ μάγιστρος ὁ Μελίας. καὶ πρό τερον μὲν πολέμῳ τοὺς Μελιτηνοὺς συνήλασαν εἴσω τείχους κατα τολμήσαντας ἀντιποιήσασθαι τῶν ὑπαίθρων· ἔπειτα περικαθί σαντες τὴν πόλιν καὶ μετὰ συντονίας ταύτην πολιορκήσαντες πολέ μου νόμῳ κατέσχον.

Κατέδραμον δὲ καὶ πάντα τὰ πέριξ καὶ ἐχειρώσαντο καὶ δοῦλα Ῥωμαίοις εἰργάσαντο. τὴν μὲν οὖν Με λιτηνὴν εἰς κουρατωρείαν καταστήσας ὁ βασιλεύς, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν περιοικίδα, πολλὴν συντέλειαν τῷ δημοσίῳ προσήγαγε· Νικήτας δὲ ὁ μάγιστρος καὶ πενθερὸς Χριστοφόρου τοῦ βασιλέως κατηγο ρηθεὶς ὡς ὑποτιθέμενος τῷ Χριστοφόρῳ κατὰ τοῦ ἰδίου γενέσθαι πατρὸς καὶ τοῦτον ἐξῶσαι τῆς βασιλείας, ἐξεβλήθη τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἀπεκάρη μοναχός. μηνὶ δὲ Ἰουλίῳ ιεʹ ἡμέρᾳ, ἰνδικτιῶνος ʹ, ἐτελεύτησεν ὁ Ἀμασείας Στέφανος, πατριαρχήσας ἔτη βʹ μῆνας ιαʹ· ∆εκεμβρίῳ δὲ μηνὶ ἄγουσι Τρύφωνα μοναχόν, καὶ χειροτο νοῦσι πατριάρχην ἐπὶ χρόνῳ ῥητῷ, μέχρις ἂν Θεοφύλακτος ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως υἱὸς εἰς μέτρον φθάσῃ τῆς νομίμου ἡλικίας. τῷ αὐτῷ 2.312 δὲ μηνὶ γέγονε χειμὼν ἀφόρητος, ὡς κρυσταλλωθῆναι τὴν γῆν ἐπὶ ἡμέρας ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι. ἐπηκολούθησε δὲ τῷ χειμῶνι καὶ ὁ μέγας λιμός, τοὺς πώποτε γενομένους ὑπερβαλλόμενος, καὶ θά νατος ἀπὸ τούτου, ὡς μὴ δύνασθαι τοὺς ζῶντας