So Henry, the Regent of the empire, and the other barons, went
towards Constantinople, and they rode from day to day till they came
thither, and right well were they received. They crowned Henry as
emperor with great joy and great honour in the church of St. Sophia,
on the Sunday (20th August) after the festival of our Lady St. Mary,
in August. And this was in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord
Jesus Christ twelve hundred and six.
Now when Johannizza, the King of Wallachia and Bulgaria, heard that
the emperor had been crowned in Constantinople, and that Vemas had
remained in the land of Adrianople and Demotica, he collected together
as large a force as he could. And Vemas had not rebuilt the walls of
Demotica where they had been breached by Johannizza with his petraries
and mangonels, and he had set but a weak garrison therein. So
Johannizza marched on Demotica, and took it, and destroyed it, and
rased the walls to the ground, and overran the whole country, and took
men, women, and children for a prey, and wrought devastation. Then did
those in Adrianople beseech the Emperor Henry to succour them, seeing
that Demotica had been lost in such cruel sort.
Then did the Emperor Henry summon as many people as he could, and
issued from Constantinople, and rode day by day towards Adrianople,
with all his forces in order. And Johannizza, the King of Wallachia,
who was in the land, when he heard that the emperor was coming, drew
back into his own land.
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