city. When this failed and the city fell to Nur al-Din, Basil fled to Samosata. Having been accused of treason by the Edessenes for his close collaboration with Zengi, he was imprisoned in Hromgla by Joscelin. He remained in prison for three years. It was during this period that he began writing his history of the city. When Joscelin was captured by the Turks in 1150, it was Basil who had heard his last confession. He died in captivity nine years later. Basil died in 1169 or 1171. Writings Basil was a well-placed eyewitness to many of the events about which he wrote. The purpose of his work was theodical as well as historical. He sought to provide an explanation for the disasters that had befallen Edessa in his lifetime consistent with God's plan. He identified Edessa with the biblical Ur of the Chaldees, reading its Syriac name, Urhay, as a combination of words meaning city (ur) and Chaldees (hay). Michael the Great uses Basil for the years 1118 to 1143. The anonymous author of the Chronicle of 1234 frequently cites Basil for the period after 1144. Most of his material on Edessa originates with Basil. He is clear that he is abridging Basil's longer account. He is also clear that he disagrees with Basil's sharp condemnation of his own flock. Aphram Barsoum hypothesized that Basil wrote a separate work on the Byzantine victory over the Pechenegs in 1122. This is based on extracts found in Michael the Great. Although it would seem out of place, it is possible that the information was found in Basil's Edessene chronicle. Basil calls the Pechenegs Cumans. The existence of the treatise About the Cumans remains hypothetical. Three dodecasyllabic poems on the fall of Edessa in 1144 have been attributed to Basil. Notes Explanatory notes Citations Bibliography 12th-century deaths Year of death uncertain Year of birth unknown 12th-century Syriac Orthodox Church bishops Bishops of Edessa County of Edessa Christians of the Second Crusade Syriac writers 12th-century historians of the medieval Islamic world 12th-century Oriental Orthodox archbishops