Larissa and the plain

Who he is

Title

Governor at Larissa (title not pinned: doux, praktor or kephale)

Since

not pinned

Confidence

low

John Petraliphas, sebastokrator, was sent by Isaac II to govern 'Thessaly and Macedonia' (Life of St Theodora of Arta). Isaac reigned 1185-1195 and again 1203-1204, and Petraliphas joined the coup of 1195 for Alexios III, so his governorship may fall before 1195 or after 1203; whether he held it on 1 January 1200 is not pinned. The joint title fits the older arrangement: from the early 11th century Thessaly was detached from Hellas and joined to the theme of Thessalonica, and over the 12th century smaller fiscal districts (horia) took the place of the old themes, one of them based on Larissa.

Overlord

Alexios III

What it holds

• Larissa and its horion: the eastern plain along the Pineios
• Trikala and the western plain (attachment not pinned)
• Stagoi (Kalambaka) and the Meteora hermitages
• Elassona and the road to Servia
• the Tempe pass toward Platamon

How it was acquired

Office in the emperor's gift.

Allies and rivals

The empress's stewards on her estates; the Vlach herdsmen of the hills; the Italian merchants at Halmyros.

How things stand that morning

Byzantine; quiet that winter.

Wealth

The grain and livestock of the largest plain in the Greek lands; the Vlachs' flocks.

Military

The castles of Larissa, Trikala and the Tempe and Elassona passes. No numbers.

Threats

• Kamytzes's invasion over Tempe (1201)
• Vlach raiding from the hills, as Benjamin of Tudela describes in the 1160s

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. 1201 (Varzos; some accounts say 1200-1201)Kamytzes, freed by Chrysos's ransom and embittered by the emperor's refusal to help him, rises with his son-in-law: Chrysos takes Pelagonia (Bitola) and Prilep, and Kamytzes goes over the Tempe pass into Thessaly (Choniates p. 293).Depends on: Kamytzes released alive; the emperor still refusing to repay the ransom or restore his property; Chrysos willing to break the 1197-1198 peace. Stopped by: The emperor repaying Chrysos or restoring Kamytzes; Kamytzes dying in captivity; Chrysos choosing the emperor's favour.

Later, on the likely course

1. Autumn 1201 into 1202Alexios III takes the field. He offers Chrysos his granddaughter Theodora (Ivanko's widow); Chrysos accepts and gives up Pelagonia and Prilep, keeping Prosek and its countryside. Kamytzes refuses a pardon brought by John Oinopolites, is beaten in Thessaly, wounded, and flees to Stanos, then probably to Bulgaria (Choniates pp. 293-294; Varzos).Depends on: The revolt of 1201 happening; Ivanko already dead, so that Theodora is free. Stopped by: A different outcome in the field, or Kaloyan intervening in force.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The Partitio (1204) for the units and Wikipedia's Hellas (theme) for the 11th-12th century arrangement; no governor named for 1200.

On the map: Several 1204 units are merged here; Velechativa, Petrion and Pazi/Radovisdion, whose sites are uncertain, are not drawn.

Primary sources for Byzantium

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
• History of Niketas Choniates, Niketas Choniates (about 1185 to 1217, in stages, with a final revision in exile at Nicaea after 1204). The central narrative for the Byzantine Empire under Alexios III Angelos: the Bulgarian and Vlach war under Kaloyan, the breakaway of Ivanko in the Rhodopes and his capture by treachery in 1200, Dobromir Chrysos at Prosek and Strumica and the emperor's campaign and settlement with him, the Cuman raids into Thrace, John Komnenos the Fat's one-day revolt at Constantinople on 31 July 1200, the loosening of imperial control in the provinces and the rise of Leo Sgouros, and the court's fiscal abuses. Read online
• The Capture of Constantinople, Gunther of Pairis (about 1205 to 1210). Written at the Cistercian abbey of Pairis in Alsace from the account of its abbot Martin, who preached the crusade at Basel in 1200 (Gunther gives the sermon) and led a contingent from the Upper Rhine. Read online
• The Conquest of Constantinople, Robert de Clari, knight of Picardy (about 1205 to 1216). A rank-and-file crusader's account that begins with the preaching of the crusade and the taking of the cross in 1199 to 1200 by the counts of Flanders, Blois and Champagne and by the Picard lords, among them Peter of Amiens, Robert's own lord, then the negotiations with Venice. Read online
• The Palace Revolution of John Komnenos (31 July 1200), Nicholas Mesarites (1200 or soon after). An eyewitness narrative of the one-day coup of John Komnenos the Fat at Constantinople on 31 July 1200: the crowning of the usurper in Hagia Sophia, the mob's plunder of the Great Palace, the stand of the palace clergy and the guard at the church of the Virgin of the Pharos, where Mesarites was skeuophylax, and the recovery of the palace by Alexios III's men that night. Read online
• History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. Read online
• The Conquest of Constantinople (Villehardouin), Geoffrey of Villehardouin (about 1207 to 1213). Opens with the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly and the tournament at Ecry (28 November 1199) where Theobald III of Champagne and Louis of Blois took the cross, then the taking of the cross by Baldwin of Flanders, Hugh of Saint-Pol, Geoffrey of Perche and others through early 1200, the assemblies at Soissons and Compiegne in 1200, and the six envoys sent to Venice in the winter of 1200 to 1201. Read online
• The History of the Seljuks of Rum, Ibn Bibi (Nasir al-Din Husayn ibn Muhammad) (about 1281 to 1285, at Konya). The main Seljuk narrative for Rum begins with Kilij Arslan II's partition of the sultanate among his sons and his death (1192), Kaykhusraw I's first reign at Konya, his deposition in 1196 to 1197 by Rukn al-Din Sulayman II, Kaykhusraw's wanderings to Cilician Armenia, Aleppo and Constantinople, Sulayman's reduction of his brothers' towns (Tokat, Malatya, Amasya, and Ankara by 1204) and his Erzurum and Georgian campaigns. Read online

7 more in the sources library for The Balkans and Byzantium.