The Chronicle of Morea

"I will a tale to thee rehearse, a tale of import mighty; And if attention you do lend, I hope the tale will please you. 'Tis how the Frank by arms did gain the realm of fair Morea."

"Well, at the time that I am telling you about, in those days the lord of Vlachia and of all Hellas, of Arta and Yannina and of all the Despotate, was a man named Kyr Ioannes, Vatatses was his surname [sic. And when he heard and learned and was informed that the Franks had seized the rule of the City, and had crowned an emperor, had taken the castles and had distributed the towns of all Romania; quickly, in haste he sent word into Cumania; ten thousand came, all choice Cumans with choice Turkomans, all on horse. They had good weapons, they carried jerids; some held lances and others, clubs. He also mustered the troops of all his dominion, he amassed large and courageous armies, and he launched a vigorous attack to open war on the Franks; but not to fight in the field, face to face, but with cunning, as is the custom of the Turks. Now, when the one season passed, the other returned; with cunning, he sent out his spies so that he might be informed at all times of what the Franks were doing. And when he learned of the whereabouts of Boniface, king of Salonika, thus they called him, he marched by night until he reached there. He hid his troops in ambush in suitable places; and as soon as it was dawn and day was breaking, he directed two hundred of his light horse to rush in and pillage around his castle; they collected booty, took it and fled. Seeing this, the Lombards who were with the king quickly took up their arms and sprang into their saddles; the king, himself, went out together with them, like men inexperienced in the warfare of the Romans. Around fifty men rode back and forth; and those who had pillaged fled with the booty in order to bring them into the ambuscades. Thereupon, those who were lying in hiding leaped out of ambush on all sides and began to shoot arrows at the Lombards; the Cumans, who had pretended to be fleeing, rode around behind them and shot arrows at the chargers. And when the Lombards and Boniface, their lord, the king of Salonika, saw that they had encircled them and were shooting arrows at them, gathered themselves all together, to live and to die. But the Cumans and the Romans did not come close to them; they shot at them with their arrows from afar and in this way they killed them and did them to death. From that time on, as I am telling you, with deceit and guile, as is their way, the Romans fought battles with the Franks, taking and losing them, as is the way of battles and campaigns everywhere, until three years had passed."