fore, gained a favourable time and place, with the sanction of Basilius, the patriarch, he put to death his lord the emperor Alexis, and, marrying his wife Agnes,"* the daughter of the king of France, exercised great tyranny over the people ; and not only over the people, for all the nobles of the empire as well he either put to death, or, depriving them of their eyes and their virility, drove them out of the empire. There was in that neighbourhood a certain young man, Isaac by name, son of the sister of Manuel, the deceased emperor, who, seeing the tyrannical conduct Androneus was guilty of towards the principal men of the empire, was in great dread of him, and flying from before his face, assembled a large army, and fought a battle with the sultan of Ieonium ; in which battle he was taken prisoner by Ilupin de la Montaigne, who had come as an auxiliary to the sultan of Iconium. After taking him prisoner, he offered to deliver him to the sultan of Iconium, but the sultan, refusing to receive him, gave him up to Ilupin. Upon returning home, the latter sent him to his superior lord, Raymond, prince of Antioch, who received I him with great delight, and demanded of him sixty thousand i besants5' as his ransom, which he accordingly promised to give, and, sending his messengers to the wealthy men of Cyprus, requested their assistance in procuring his ransom. Complying with his wishes, they sent him thirty thousand besants, which he gave to the prince of Antioch, and, by way of security for payment of the rest of the debt, gave him his son and daughter as hostages ; whereupon, being liberated from the prison of the prince of Antioch, he came to the island of Cyprus, on which the chief men of the island received him, and made him their ruler. Elated by this, in his vanity he caused an imperial crown to be made for himseR, and had himself crowned and called the " Holy Emperor." At the time, however, that had been arranged upon between them, the prince of Antioch sent to him for the remainder of the debt, that is to say, for the thirty thousand besants, but the emperor of Cyprus refused to deliver them to the envoys of the prince, but delivered them to the brethren of the Temple to be conveyed to the prince of u * Then but eleven years of age. He is known in history as Andronicus I. Comnenus. 5 4 A golden coin, which took its name from Byzantium, the place of its circulation.