Like a Mouse in a Wallet

Yesterday's post introduced the phrase more muris in pera, "like a mouse in a wallet." It was said by William of Tyre about Andronikos Comnenos, a cousin of the Byzantine Emperor who came to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

To explain this phrase, we first have to understand that the word "wallet" was first used in the late 14th century and referred to as very different way of carrying valuables than the pocket-sized device we think of today. The wallet at the time was a satchel (from Latin saccellus, referring to a small bag or pouch) or a knapsack. (The word was first used as a "flat case for carrying money" in 1834 in American English)

What was a "wallet" centuries ago? A larger pouch, perhaps with a flap, for carrying many things necessary for life: currency, surely, but also items of daily necessity and food. It was something not easily lived without if something happened to it.

So when William of Tyre said that Andronikos acted like a mouse in a wallet, he was describing an ungovernable destructive force, taking advantage of access to valuable things.

Andronikos (born c. 1120) was an adventurous sort, with a history of scandals, both political and romantic. When he arrived in the area c.1167, he was in his 40s. Byzantine Emperor Manuel made him governor of Cilicia, but he was bored in that post and went to Antioch where there was much more excitement, like seducing Philippa of Antioch, sister of the current Prince of Antioch, Bohemond III, as well as the sister of Manuel's second wife, Maria of Antioch. Bohemond complained to Manuel, who named someone else governor of Cilicia and recalled Andronikos.

Andronikos refused, and Philippa turned the offer of marriage to the new-appointed governor of Cilicia, berating him for being inferior in all ways to Andronikos. Andronikos and Philippa went to Jerusalem where King Amalric I gave him Beirut to govern.

Andronikos abandoned Philippa a year later, and went to Acre where he seduced Theodora Comnena, the dowager widow of Amalric's predecessor, his brother King Baldwin III. The two were about 30 years apart in age. For reasons mentioned yesterday, America did not want Theodora to remarry, and consanguinity said they should not (Theodora was the daughter of Andronikos' cousin Isaac).

Again, Manuel was furious and demanded Andronikos return to Constantinople. When he did not, Manuel sent a command that Andronikos be blinded. This would, of course, make him ineligible to become emperor, no matter his standing in the imperial family. (This was a common way for the Byzantines to eliminate rivals.) Theodora got word of the letter demanding the blinding and warned Andronikos.

Andronikos could not be sure that Amalric would support him rather than Manuel, and so the two eloped and went to a place they figured they could not be touched by either Manuel or Amalric: the court of Nur ad-Din, currently the biggest rival/enemy of both those rulers! In a way, this was fortunate for Amalric: the two were well out of the way, Amalric got Acre back, and through his own wife was still allied with the Byzantines.

Andronikos had much more ahead of him, including eventually becoming emperor (the illustration shows the gold copin struck showing him being crowned by Christ), but let's at least finish the love story before we return to the Kingdom of Jerusalem under Amalric.

The two traveled a lot over the next decade before settling in northeastern Anatolia just beyond the Byzantine border as guests of the 8th King of Georgia, George III. They had children, and life was fine until Byzantine imperial forces found them and captured Theodora and their children, taking them back to Constantinople. 

Andronikos himself went to Constantinople and appeared before Manuel with a chain around his neck, pleading for Theodora and the children to be returned to him. Manuel relented, and the family was sent to Paphlagonia where they lived in a castle on the Black Sea coast. Andronikos was there to govern, and took  his duties seriously this time. In 1182, he would return to politics, by which time Theodora was probably dead, since she no longer appears in records.

The mouse had found his soulmate, apparently, and finally was out of the wallet. Now we can go back to the wallet and see what Amalric was up to.