Palace with Isaac at its head

Meantime the populace was pouring into the palace with Isaac at its head. All resistance seems to have been claimed at an end with the nifty of the emperor, and in a short time Isaac had obtained entire possession of the imperial dwelling. The mob was wild with excitement. Discipline there was none. Isaac was again hastily proclaimed emperor, and immediately gave orders for the pursuit of his enemy.

The mob meantime swept through the various rooms of the palace, and helped itself to a large amount of treasure. According to Nicetas, it carried off not only all the coins which were there, but twelve hundred pounds’ weight of gold, three thousand pounds of silver, two hundred pounds’ weight of copper, and, indeed, almost everything else that was portable. Even the chapel, perhaps, with the exception of that in the other palace at Blachern, the richest in the world, was not spared, and among other objects pillaged on the occasion was the reliquary, which was said to contain the letters written by Jesus Christ to King Abgarus.

Through the Bosphorus

After some days, when order was restored, the news arrived capture of that Andronicos had been captured. He had gone Audronicos, through the Bosphorus, but had stopped a few miles from the Black Sea entrance at Kilia. The inhabitants did not recognize the emperor, though, from his appearance and that of his party, they suspected him to be a fugitive of high rank. They even prepared a vessel with the object of capturing him, but neglected to make the attempt until he left their village.

The sea, however, drove the imperial party back, and the villagers, taking courage, seized him and the two ladies, bound him, and placed all three in one of their vessels. Then the old man disclosed who was their captive, and used his utmost eloquence to persuade his captors to allow him to escape. All his efforts were in vain. He was carried back to Constantinople, some thirty miles distant, and was surrendered to Isaac. The latter had now taken up his residence in the palace of Blachern, and ordered Andronicos to be imprisoned within its precincts in the Tower of Anema, a tower which, with its prisons, still exists.