So the
emperor held council, and sent to the other side of the straits, to
the city of Piga, Peter of Bracieux, to whom land had been assigned in
those parts, and with him Payen of Orl?ans, and Anseau of Cayeux, and
Eustace, the emperor's brother, and a great part of his best men to
the number of seven score knights. These began to make war in very
grim and earnest fashion against Theodore Lascaris, and greatly wasted
his land.
They marched to a land called Skiza, which was surrounded by the sea
except on one side. And in old days the way of entry had been defended
with walls and towers, and moats, but these were now decayed. So the
host of the French entered in, and Peter of Bracieux, to whom the land
had been devised, began to restore the defences, and built two
castles, and made two fortified ways of entry. From thence they
overran the land of Lascaris, and gained much booty and cattle, and
brought such booty and cattle into their island: Theodore Lascaris, on
the other hand, harked back upon
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Skiza, so that there were frequent battles and skirmishes, and losses
on the one side and on the other; and the war in those parts was
fierce and perilous.
Now let us leave speaking of those who were at Skiza, and speak of
Thierri of Loos, who was seneschal, and to whom Nicomedia should have
belonged; and Nicomedia lay a day's journey from Nice the Great, the
capital of the land of Theodore Lascaris.
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