Prousa stands on a rock terrace below the Bithynian Mount Olympus (Uludag), a walled upper town with hot springs below it, looking over the fertile plain that runs west to the Rhyndakos and the lakes of Apollonias and Lopadion.
Its mountain is crowded with monasteries, the 'holy mountain' of Bithynia. In 1184 Prousa rose against Andronikos I; he called on the townsmen to hand over Theodore Angelos and Lachanas 'of the marketplace', took the city by force, had Theodore Angelos blinded and set on an ass, and hanged Leon Synesios, Manuel Lachanas and forty others on the trees outside the town (Choniates). Alexios III came to Nicaea and Prousa in the 1190s, after Kaykhusraw I's raid on the Maeander (Choniates; not dated).
On 1 January 1200 it is an imperial town under a governor whose name is not pinned. It will hold out against the Latins in 1204-1205 and become the first Ottoman capital in 1326 (both later).
Who holds it
- Title
- The emperor's officer in the town (kephale or kastrophylax under the doux of the province)
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
No officer of this town is named for 1199-1200 in Choniates or in the modern accounts read.
Lord in 1200
Alexios III, through a governor whose name is not pinned.
Overlord
The emperor Alexios III Angelos, through the governor (doux) of the province (thema) and his tax officials.
How things stand that morning
Imperial and quiet; the frontier lies to the south-east beyond Angelokoma (Inegol) and the Domanic hills.
Charter
None in the western sense. A Byzantine town has no charter of liberties: it is governed by the emperor's officers, and its notables (archontes) and bishop deal with them.
Council
No sworn commune or council. The leading townsmen (archontes) and the bishop or metropolitan speak for the town before the governor.
Communities
Greek Orthodox; the monks of Mount Olympus.
Militia
Townsmen man the walls in a siege; the field troops are the governor's and the emperor's.
Walls and castle
The walled upper town on its terrace (the later Hisar), late Roman and Byzantine.
Trade and crafts
The plain's grain, fruit and vines; pasture and timber on Olympus; the hot baths. The silk industry Bursa is famous for is Ottoman (later).
Places of note
- Monasteries of the Bithynian Olympus: A monastic mountain since the eighth century.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The 1184 revolt is in Choniates; nothing dated for 1199-1200.
On the map: Town and near land; the province is drawn by Bithynia.
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.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.