When the Greeks who were in the host with Johannizza—the same who had
yielded themselves up to him, and rebelled against the Franks—when they
saw how he destroyed their castles and cities, and kept no covenant
with them, they held themselves to be but dead men, and betrayed. They
spoke one to another, and said that as Johannizza had dealt with other
cities, so would he deal with Adrianople and Demotica, when he returned
thither, and that if these two cities were destroyed, then was Roumania
for ever lost.
So they took messengers privily, and sent them to Vernas in
Constantinople. And they besought Vernas to cry for pity to Henry, the
brother of the Emperor Baldwin, and to the Venetians, so that they
might make peace with them; and they themselves, in turn, would restore
Adrianople and Demotica to the Franks; and the Greeks would all turn to
Henry; and the Greeks and Franks dwell together in good accord.
So a council was held, and many words were spoken this way and that,
but in the end it was settled that Adrianople and Demotica, with all
their appurtenances, should be bestowed on Vernas and the empress his
wife, who was sister to the King Philip of France, and that they should
do service therefor to the emperor and to the empire. Such was the
convention made and concluded, and so was peace established between the
Greeks and the Franks.
Johannizza, the King of Wallachia and Bulgaria, who had sojourned long
in Roumania, and wasted the country during the whole of Lent, and for a
good while after Easter (2nd April 1206), now retired towards
Adrianople and Demotica, and had it in mind to deal with those cities
as he had dealt with the other cities of the land. And when the Greeks
who were with him saw that he turned towards Adrianople, they began to
steal away, both by day and by night, some twenty, thirty, forty, a
hundred, at a time.
When he came to Adrianople, he required of those that were within that
they should let him enter, as he had entered elsewhere. But they said
they would not, and spoke thus: “Sire, when we surrendered to thee, and
rebelled against the Franks, thou didst swear to protect us in all good
faith, and to keep us in safety. Thou hast not done so, but hast
utterly ruined Roumania; and we know full well that thou wilt do unto
us as thou hast done unto others.” And when Johannizza heard this, he
laid siege to Demotica, and erected round it sixteen large petraries,
and began to construct engines of every kind for the siege, and to
waste all the country round.
Then did those in Adrianople and Demotica take messengers, and send
them to Constantinople, to Henry, the Regent of the empire, and to
Vemas, and prayed them, for God’s sake, to rescue Demotica, which was
being besieged. And when those at Constantinople heard these tidings,
they decided to succour Demotica. But some there were who did not dare
to advise that our people should issue from Constantinople, and so
place in jeopardy the few Christian folk that remained. Nevertheless,
in the end, as you have heard, it was decided to issue forth, and move
on Selymbria.
The cardinal, who was there as legate on the part of the Pope of Rome,
preached thereon to the people, and promised a full indulgence to all
such as should go forth, and lose their lives on the way. So Henry
issued from Constantinople with as many men as he could collect, and
marched to the city of Selyrnbria; and he encamped before the city for
full eight days. And from day to day came messengers from Adrianople
praying him to have mercy upon them, and come to their relief, for if
he did not come to their relief, they were but lost.