Theodore Lascaris sent the most part of his force into the land of
Nicomedia. And the people of Thierri of Loos, who had fortified the
church of St. Sophia, and were therein, besought their lord and the
emperor to come to their relief; for if they received no help they
could not hold out, especially as they had no provisions. Through sheer
distress and sore need, the Emperor Henry and his people agreed that
they must once more abandon thought of going to Adrianople, and cross
the straits of St. George, to the Turkish side, with as many people as
they could collect, and succour Nicomedia.
And when the people of Theodore Lascaris heard that the emperor was
coming, they avoided the land, and retreated towards Nice the Great.
And when the emperor knew of it, he took council, and it was decided
that Thierri of Loos, the seneschal of Roumania, should abide in
Nicomedia, with all his knights, and all his sergeants, to guard the
land; and Macaire of Sainte-Menehould should abide at Charax, and
William of Perchoi in Skiza; and each defend the land where he abode.
Then did the Emperor Henry, and the remainder of his people return to
Constantinople, and prepare once again to go towards Adrianople. And
while he was so preparing, Thierri of Loos the seneschal, who was in
Nicomedia, and William of Perchoi, and all their people, went out
foraging on a certain day. And the people of Theodore Lascaris knew of
it, and surprised them, and fell upon them. Now the people of Theodore
Lascaris were very many, and our people very few. So the battle began,
and they fought hand to hand, and before very long the few were not
able to stand against the many.
Thierri of Loos did right well, as also his people; he was twice struck
down, and by main strength his men remounted him. And William of
Perchoi was also struck down, and remounted and rescued. But numbers
hemmed them in too sore, and the Franks were discomfited. There was
taken Thierri of Loos, wounded in the face, and in peril of death.
There, too, were most of his people taken, for few escaped. William of
Perchoi fled on a hackney, wounded in the hand. Those that escaped from
the discomfiture rallied in the church of St. Sophia.
He who dictates this history heard blame attached in this
affair—whether rightly or wrongly he knows not—to a certain knight
named Anseau of Remi, who was liegeman of Thierri of Loos the
seneschal, and chief of his men; and who abandoned him in the fray.
Then did those who had returned to the church of St. Sophia in
Nicomedia, viz. William of Perchoi and Anseau of Remi, take a
messenger, and send him flying to Constantinople, to the Emperor Henry;
and they told the emperor what had befallen, how the seneschal had been
taken with his men; how they themselves were besieged in the church of
St. Sophia, in Nicomedia, and how they had food for no more than five
days; and they told him he must know of a certainty that if he did not
succour them they must be killed or taken. The emperor, as one hearing
a cry of distress, passed over the straits of St. George, he and his
people, each as best he could, and pell-mell, to go to the relief of
those in Nicomedia. And so the march to Adrianople was put off once
more.
When the emperor had passed over the straits of St. George, he set his
troops in array, and rode day by day till he came to Nicomedia. When
the people of Theodore Lascaris, and his brothers, who formed the host,
heard thereof, they drew back, and passed over the mountain on the
other side, towards Nice. And the emperor encamped by Nicomedia in a
very fair field that lay beside the river on this side of the mountain.
He had his tents and pavilions pitched; and caused his men to overrun
and harry the land, because the people had rebelled when they heard
that Thierri of Loos, the seneschal, was taken; and the emperor’s men
captured much cattle and many prisoners.
TRUCE WITH THEODORE LASCARIS—THE EMPEROR INVADES THE LANDS OF
JOHANNIZZA
The Emperor Henry sojourned after this manner for five days in the
meadow by Nicomedia. And while he was thus sojourning, Theodore
Lascaris took messengers, and sent them to him, asking him to make a
truce for two years, on condition that the emperor would suffer him to
demolish Skiza and the fortress of the church of St. Sophia of
Nicomedia, while he, on his side, would yield up all the prisoners
taken in the last victory, or at other times of whom he had a great
many in his land.
Now the emperor took council with his people; and they said that they
could not maintain two wars at the same time, and that it was better to
suffer loss as proposed than suffer the loss of Adrianople, and the
land on the other side of the straits; and moreover that they would (by
agreeing to this truce) cause division between their enemies, viz.
Johannizza, the King of Wallachia and Bulgaria and Theodore Lascaris
who were now friends, and helped one another in the war.
The matter was thus settled and agreed to. Then the Emperor Henry
summoned Peter of Bracieux from Skiza; and he came to him; and the
Emperor Henry so wrought with him that he gave up Skiza into his hands,
and the emperor delivered it to Theodore Lascaris to be demolished, as
also the church of St. Sophia of Nicomedia. So was the truce
established, and so were the fortresses demolished. Thierri of Loos was
given up, and all the other prisoners.
Then the Emperor Henry repaired to Constantinople, and undertook once
more to go to Adrianople with as many men as he could collect. He
assembled his host at Selymbria; and so much time had already passed
that this did not take place till after the feast of St. John, in June
(1207). And he rode day by day till he came to Adrianople, and encamped
in the fields before the city. And those within the city, who had
greatly desired his coming, went out to meet him in procession, and
received him very gladly. And all the Greeks of the land came with
them.
The emperor remained only one day before the city to see all the damage
that Johannizza had done to the walls and towers, with mines and
petraries; and these had worked great havoc to the city. And on the
morrow he departed, and marched towards the country of Johannizza, and
so marched for four days. On the fifth day he came to the foot of the
mountain of Wallachia, to a city called Euloi, which Johannizza had
newly repeopled with his folk. And when the people of the land saw the
host coming, they abandoned the city, and fled into the mountains.