Neophytus the Presbyter

but to preserve it completely intact, whether from the hand of the public or from the hand of persons and monasteries, kept under the authority of the deceased or his agents, or, in the case of intestacy, of his heirs. One must know, moreover, that he who shall have dared to act against this present command of my empire shall return fourfold what was taken, and shall be punished by a fitting correction, while ^A the logothete of the way, or the grand logariastes, is bound to oversee the punishment for such a capital matter and to execute judgment according to this present command of my empire. All things, therefore, which by the word of this present chrysobull have been corroborated by my empire, and out of grace granted to the race of the Venetians, who are most faithful to my empire, shall be kept incorrupt and immutable, as long as the Venetians toward my empire and Romania keep the faith according to those things which have been covenanted and sworn by them and declared in the aforementioned most prudent writing of the envoys. ^B For to this end even the present chrysobull word of my empire has been handed over to the Venetians, who are most faithful to my empire, since it ought to hold firm and inviolate.

Done in the month of November of the present second indiction of the year six thousand seven hundred and seven, in which also our pious and God-promoted empire has signed.

Alexius Angelus, in Christ God faithful emperor and moderator of the Romans.

ANNO DOMINI MCXV

NEOPHYTUS PRESBYTER.

NOTICE.

The sermons of this Neophytus, monk and recluse, exist in a parchment codex of the Colbertine library. For besides the title, the times agree. Indeed, his fifth oration is concerning a monk deceived by a demon, in the year of the world 6693, that is, 1185 of Christ, a few years before Cyprus was taken by the English. ^C Many recount this history. You may see Allatius, *On the Agreement of Both Churches*, book II, ch. 13, and Fresne, *Byzantine Families*, p. 184. Another Neophytus the Recluse, from the monastery of the Evergetis, a little older than ours, is mentioned in the *Catalogue of the Bishops of Byzantium*, p. 303 of the *Jus Graeco-Romanum*; see on this vol. I, pp. 741, 742.

OF NEOPHYTUS THE PRESBYTER, MONK AND RECLUSE, ON THE CALAMITIES OF THE LAND OF CYPRUS.

1. A cloud covers the sun, and mist [covers] the mountains and hills, by which the warmth and splendid ray of the sun is kept away for a time. So too, for twelve years now, a cloud and mist of successive calamities has kept us shut in.

^A of the calamities that have followed and happened to the region. For after Jerusalem was captured by the impious Salachanti [Saladin], and Cyprus by Isaac Comnenus, battles and wars, disturbances and instabilities, pillaging and terrible occurrences began to cover the land in which the aforementioned ruled even more than clouds and fog. For behold, the life-giving sepulcher of our Lord and the rest of the holy places have been given over to the Musalman dogs because of our sins, and every soul that loves God weeps in such a calamity. And the nations were shaken, and kingdoms were bowed down; according to what is written: the Alamanians, I say, and the English, and almost every nation, have been moved for the sake of Jerusalem, and they accomplished nothing. For it did not please divine providence to drive out the dogs only to introduce wolves in their place.

^B 2. And behold, it is now the twelfth year that the waves have been swelling for the worse. Furthermore, our own spiritual son, to whom we are writing these things, since he could not endure to see or hear of these terrible events, nor to suffer part of them, after much careful deliberation and planning, by the grace of God escaped the murderous hands with all his people, and having betaken himself to Angelus, the Emperor of Constantinople, he was honorably received and received from him the dignity of *sebastos*. I, however, fulfilling my promise, behold, with God's help, am writing the rest, as I promised, making known to those who will read it the present difficulty of affairs; and where this difficulty will end, no man knows, except for Him alone who rebukes the sea and the winds, and they return to tranquility. The evils that have happened in this region are extraordinary and can hardly be heard of; and they are of such a kind that everyone here—the rich—has forgotten their wealth, splendid houses, relatives, servants, slaves, the multitude of their flocks, herds, swine, sheep of every kind, fields bearing grain, most fertile vineyards, and various orchards, and with great haste have secretly sailed away to foreign lands and to the queen of cities. But as for those who could not escape, who is sufficient to recount with tragedy their distresses, the inquisitions, the public imprisonments, the extortion of required monies, up to such and such thousands? But these things have been allowed to happen by the just judgment of God on account of the weight of sin, so that, having been humbled, we might perhaps be deemed worthy of forgiveness.

^C 3. There is a country, England, far to the north of Rome, from which a cloud of English, together with their ruler, on large ships called *nacæ* ^D

nacæ* ^A sailed toward Jerusalem. For at that time, the ruler of the Alamanni [Germans], with nine hundred thousand soldiers, as they say, had also undertaken an expedition and was himself directing his course toward Jerusalem. But after he had passed through the region of Iconium and traversed the eastern parts, his army was decimated by the length of the road, and by hunger and thirst; and their emperor himself, while riding his horse, was drowned and suffocated in a certain river. The Englishman, however, landing at Cyprus, found it, poor wretch, like a nursing mother; and had this not happened, he too would perhaps have suffered the same fate as the Alaman. But by what means Cyprus was captured, I shall also narrate this in a cursory fashion.

4. When it came to pass that the most pious emperor of blessed memory, Manuel Comnenus, sent a guard to the imperial garrisons of Armenia, he sent one of his own kin, a very young man, Isaac by name; who, after having guarded the camps for some years, joined battle with the Armenians. Captured by them, he was sold to the Latins. They kept the man bound in iron for not a few years. For the emperor Manuel, his uncle, had died and left the empire to his son Alexius, who was but a boy. For this reason, his paternal uncle Andronicus, holding sway with him, killed the child and seized the empire. But, being entreated by the senate, he sent a great ransom and redeemed the aforementioned Isaac from the Latins. And he, coming to Cyprus, seized it and was proclaimed emperor. And he reigned there for seven years. He ^B not only vexed the island and utterly plundered the wealth of the rich, but also daily harassed and afflicted his own nobles, so that all lived in distress and sought some means by which they might escape from him.

5. When things were in this state, behold, the Englishman also attacks Cyprus; and those there hastened to him with all speed. Then the emperor, left bereft of his people, surrendered himself to the Englishman. The Englishman bound him in iron chains, plundered his vast treasures, ^C ravaged the region cruelly, and thus sailed off to Jerusalem, having left behind ships to defend the land and to send word after him. He imprisoned the emperor of Cyprus, Isaac, bound in iron, in a castle called Marcappus [or Margatum]. And the wicked man, having accomplished nothing against his equal, Salachantinus [Saladin], did only this: he ravaged the land ^D to plunder it.

On the raft.

Thus I understand and interpret the verses, in which the learned man confessed that he did not know what *schideuein* meant. It is without doubt the same as *schizein* [to divide]. And thus, from the metaphor, I would also like it to be explained in Nilus, narration 1, page 19: "And they lay, seen as if sleeping, as rafts of armed dead."