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 DYNASTIC TROUBLES. 109 plotted to attain that end. Apparently these rival candidates, or their protectors, were willing to wait until the death of Alexis, or at least to be content if they could succeed in ob- taining from the emperor a recommendation or nomination which should come into effect upon his death. Other aspirants, however, outside the near relatives of the emperor, attempted to deprive Alexis of the throne. A certain John Comnenos, who was nicknamed the Fat, entered the Great Church with his followers, who were mostly of the nobility, and, taking down a small crown which hung suspended over the altar, put it upon his head, and was proclaimed emperor. lie took pos- session without difficulty of the Great Palace, took his seat upon the throne, and proceeded at once to make a distribution of the great offices of state. His followers proclaimed him througliout the city, and a mob seemed to think itself entitled to the reward for having shouted for him of pillaging the houses of the wealthy. John apparently thought his position secure, for at night he took no precautions for guarding the palace. The emperor, who had probably been absent at the palace of Blachern, assembled his friends, who made a night attack by sea, joined the guards who had remained faith- ful or indifferent, surprised the followers of John near the hippodrome, entered the palace and beheaded the pretender. About the same time Michael, a natural son of John Sebastocrator, who had been sent to levy the taxes due by the province of Mylassa, in Caria, made an attempt to obtain the throne. Troops were sent against him, and he was de- feated. Like so many other pretenders and enemies of the empire, he sought and found refuge among the Turks. From the sultan he received troops with which he pillaged the cities and country round the Meander. The emperor set out in November to attack him. In returning to Constantinople he stopped to take the hot baths at Pythia, near the modern Yalova, on the Gulf of Ismidt. A violent storm, however, forced his party to take shelter on Prinkipo, whence they re- turned to Chalcedon and the capital. At the time when Manuel Camyzes had given his assistance to the Bulgarians and had been ravaging Thessaly and the