110 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. Morea, another rebel gave trouble. This was John Spjri- donaces, a man of low origin, who had raised himself to be the treasurer of the empire. The troops, however, who were sent against him under Alexis, the son-in-law of the emperor, made short work of the rebellion, and the emperor had the satisfaction of seeing, about the same time, the suppression of this revolt, the expulsion of Manuel Camjzes, and the re- capture of several towns. To the list of rebels must be added also, though belonging Isaac of cy- ^^ ^^^^ carlj part of the reign, the name of that Isaac pius. Comnenos whom we have already seen as the captor of Cyprus and the defeated of Eichard the Lion-hearted. Kicetas states that the captor gave him as a slave to an Englishman, that Isaac broke his chains, declared himself emperor, and made a bold attempt to attain the sovereign authority. The emperor, acting on the suggestion of his wife, invited him to come to court, but Isaac haughtily refused, replying that he was a sovereign, and not a subject, and that he had learned to command and not to obey. As usual among these pretenders, he applied for assistance to the Turks, promising them in return a great number of conces- sions. Even the Turks would have nothing to do with a man whose cruelty had alienated his own subjects and made liis name universally detested, and who was likely, therefore, to stand no chance of success. He died before he was able to cause serious trouble to the empire, but under circumstances which gave rise to the suspicion that he had been poisoned by his cup-bearer on the instigation of the emperor. While the reign of Alexis was troubled with these various Troubles with prctendcrs to the throne, while Bulgarians and thcTuika. Wallachs gave him no rest on the north, while the foreign colonies and the states to which they belonged were making almost continual attacks upon other portions of the empire in Europe, the Turks were still a constant source of trouble. We have seen that on the death of Kilidji-Arslan, Sultan of Iconium, a division had taken place of the Seljiikian empire among his sons. Shortly after Alexis came to the throne, Mahsud, Sultan of Angora, one of the most important
