Nicetas Acominatos

d. AFTER 1210. Byzantine historian and theologian. Born at Colossae into a rich family and educated at Constantinople, he eventually became governor of Philippopolis. When the members of the Third Crusade (1189) passed through his region, he became friendly with the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and this connection allowed him to rise to prominence in the Eastern court of Constantinople. He remained here until its fall in 1204. Then he fled to Nicea. His two most famous writings are Themsauros Orthodoxias (A Treasury of Orthodoxy) and Chronikem Diemgemsis (a history of Constantinople 1180-1206). The former is a valuable source of information for the decisions and councils of the Eastern Church from 1156 to 1166, while the latter has a valuable account of the taking of Constantinople by the Latins.