When the expedition had arrived and the Crusaders were encamped opposite the imperial palace, he wished to withdraw from the city. His relatives, however, and the ring which always surrounds an Eastern despot urged him to resist on their account. It was they who forced him to make a show of defence. The bravest among them was the emperor’s son- in-law, Theodore Lascaris. When, as we have seen, the seaward towers around Blachern were taken, and a part of the city set on fire, his subjects openly reproached him with cowardice, and it was then, probably, that the threats of which Robert de Clari speaks were uttered. Perhaps it was under the influence of these threats that he had been induced to lead his army outside the walls on the occasion mentioned. Lascaris begged hard to be allowed to attack the Crusaders. The emperor, however, was either afraid or possibly believed that as the city never had been captured it never could be.
According to Nicetas
The retreat, according to Nicetas, encouraged the Latins.
It strengthened the party of Isaac within the city. ieavesmtheror Even indifferent men argued that if there were no arrangement there should at least be fighting, and if an army more numerous than the invaders had yet been forbidden to attack, it was time to change their sovereign. The cowardly voluptuary had, however, no intention of making resistance. The same night he fled ignominiously from the city. He told Irene, his daughter, and several other women of his intention; took ten thousand pieces of gold, a number of precious stones and imperial ornaments,1 and embarked, deserting his wife and children, his throne and people.
The flight of Alexis filled the city with alarm. Constantine, the minister of finance, however, assembled the troops Restoration an deflated for Isaac. The blind old emperor was of Isaac ]ed, or rather carried, out of prison, placed upon the throne, and once more treated as the Emperor of Home. As soon as he understood the situation he sent the news of his release to his son, to the leaders of the Venetians, and to the Crusaders. His great anxiety was to hear once more his son’s voice.
Bisera Radkova 