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IV 
BYZANTIUM AND THE 
CRUSADES, 1081-1204 
The middle part of the eleventh century was a watershed in the history of
the Byzantine Empire. It is only necessary to compare the successful expansion
of the frontier under Basil II and his determined onslaught on the aristocracy
with the straitened circumstances of Alexius I Comnenus and the steady growth
in the power 
 The main Greek historical sources are: Anna Comnena, Alexiad (the best edition
is by A. Reifferscheid, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1884; there are also CSHB, 2 vols.,
Bonn, 1839, 1872, and ed. B. Leib, 3 vols., Paris, 1937-1945, with translation;
English translation by E. Dawes, London, 1928); John Zonaras, Epitome historiarum
(3 vols., CSHB, 1841-1897; ed. L. Dindorf, 6 vols., Leipzig, 1868-1875);
John Cinnamus, Historia (CSHB, Bonn, 1836); Nicetas Choniates (wrongly called
Acominatus), Historia (CSHB, Bonn, 1835). These texts are also in Migne,
Patrologia graeca. The rise of the Comnenian house is also dealt with by
the historians of the period before 1081, for which see volume I of the present
work, chapter VI. There are several world chronicles of little value-Michael
Glycas (CSHB, Bonn, 1836); Constantine Manasses (CSHB, Bonn, 1836); Joel
(CSHB, Bonn, 1836); and Ephraem (CSHB, Bonn, 1840). The capture of Thessalonica
in 1185 is described by Eustathius, metropolitan of Thessalonica (CSHB, Bonn,
1842, after Leo Grammaticus; German translation by H. Hunger in Byzantinische
Geschichtsschreiber, ed. E. Ivanka, vol. III, Vienna, 1955). 
 The most important of the numerous occasional pieces, letters, and poems
are: Theophylact of Ochrida, Epistolae (PG, vol. 126); Theodore Prodromus,
Scripta (PG, vol. 533, and various critical editions scattered in periodicals;
see details in G. Moravcsik, Byzantinoturcica, 2 vols., rev. ed., Budapest,
1958, pp.522 if.); Eustathius of Thessalonica, Opuscula (ed. G. L. F. Tafel,
Frankfurt, 5832), and PG, vols, 135-136; Nicetas Choniates, ed. K. Sathas,
Meaalwvud7 BtflA.(see :(image), I(1872), and ed. E. Miller, in RHC, Grecs,
II; Michael Choniates, Opera (ed. Sp. P. Lampros, 2 vols., Athens, 1879-1880),
and in G. Stadtmuller, Michael Choniates Metropolit von Athen (Or. Christ.
Analecta, XXXIII, Rome, 1934). 
 Documents, secular and ecclesiastical, are cited in F. Dolger, Regesten
der Kaiserurkunden des ostromischen Reiches, part II: 1025-1204 (Munich,
5925), and in V. Grumel, Les Actes du patriarcat de Constantinople, I, fasc.
3: Les Regestes de 1043 a 1206 (1947). Reference should also be made to F.
Dolger, Byzantinische Diplomatik (Ettal, 1956), and to G. Moravcsik, op.
cit., which is an indispensable bibliographical guide to the Greek sources.
 Reference to Latin and oriental sources will be found in the relevant chapters
in this volume. Brief references to the more important Slavic sources may
be found in G. Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State (Oxford, 1956),
passim, which gives the best short survey both of the, sources and of the
historical background, with bibliography to the end of 1954. 
 The most substantial secondary authority is still F. Chalandon, Essai sur
le regne d'Alexis I Comnène (1081-1118) (Paris, 1900); Les Comnene:
Jean II Comnene (1118-1143) et Manuel Comnene (1143-1180) (Paris, 1912);
and Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicile (a vols., Paris,
5907); Chalandon's work sometimes needs to be modified in the light of recent
research, often scattered in periodicals. Other studies on political aspects
are: H. v. Kap-Herr, Die abendlandische Politik Kaiser Manuels mit besonderer
Rllcksicht aufDeutschland (Strassburg, 1881); F. Cognasso, "Partiti
politici e lotte dinastiche in Bisanzio alla morte di Manuele Comneno,"
Memorie della R. Accademia della Scienze di Torino, ser. 2, LXII, 
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