Editing Manuel I Komnenos (section)

==Chivalric narrations==
Manuel is representative of a new kind of Byzantine ruler who was influenced by his contact with western Crusaders. He arranged [[jousting]] matches, even participating in them, an unusual and discomforting sight for the Byzantines. Endowed with a fine physique, Manuel has been the subject of exaggeration in the Byzantine sources of his era, where he is presented as a man of great personal courage. According to the story of his exploits, which appear as a model or a copy of the romances of [[chivalry]], such was his strength and exercise in arms that Raymond of Antioch was incapable of wielding his lance and buckler. In a famous tournament, he is said to have entered the lists on a fiery [[courser (horse)|courser]], and to have overturned two of the stoutest Italian knights. In one day, he is said to have slain forty Turks with his own hand, and in a battle against the Hungarians he allegedly snatched a banner, and was the first, almost alone, who passed a bridge that separated his army from the enemy. On another occasion, he is said to have cut his way through a squadron of five hundred Turks, without receiving a wound; he had previously posted an ambuscade in a wood and was accompanied only by his brother and Axouch.<ref>Gibbon, ''The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', 73<br/>* K. Paparrigopoulos, ''History of the Greek Nation'', Db, 121</ref>