[Footnote 1: For the reigns of the Nicene emperors, more
especially of John Vataces and his son, their minister,
George Acropolita, is the only genuine contemporary; but
George Pachymer returned to Constantinople with the Greeks
at the age of nineteen, (Hanckius de Script. Byzant. c. 33,
34, p. 564 - 578. Fabric. Bibliot. Graec. tom. vi. p. 448 -
460.) Yet the history of Nicephorus Gregoras, though of the
xivth century, is a valuable narrative from the taking of
Constantinople by the Latins.]