The Third Crusade

Niketas Choniates is the most important Byzantine source for the Third Crusade. As governor of Philippopolis, he was an eyewitness to the passage of the army of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa through the Byzantine Balkans in 1189–90 and he was instrumental in trying to urge Emperor Isaac II Angelos to avoid confrontation with him. This chapter presents Choniates’ account of these events from his History , which was later used by Ephraim of Ainos. Passages from the laudatory speech that Choniates delivered before Isaac II in January 1190 are translated as well. He was less well informed about Byzantium’s other encounter with the Third Crusade, the conquest of Cyprus by Richard I of England in 1191. This is, however, described by the monk Neophytos. There is also a possibly apocryphal story by Theodosius of Byzantion about the homeward journey of King Philip II Augustus of France.