Illness and death Theodore fell seriously ill in November 1257. George Pachymeres, who was less than sixteen years old at the time, diagnosed his illness as epilepsy, mentioning that Theodore had often lost consciousness and "collapsed to the ground". Pachymeres also described Theodore's unusual appointments and his attempts to forge marriage alliances between aristocrats and commoners as symptoms of his disease. Akropolites only noticed extreme weight loss, reducing Theodore's entire body to a skeleton, while Blemmydes described Theodore's illness as "a scourge and a strange disease", also mentioning Theodore's melancholy and phobias. Theodore himself wrote of insufferable aching and paralysis in the arms. Modern historians of diseases have not agreed on a diagnosis of Theodore's illness. John Lascaratos and Panaghiotis V. Zis maintain that Pachymeres' diagnosis was correct, concluding that Theodore developed epilepsy of the tonic-clonic type in his late twenties. Historian Donald M. Nicol proposes that Theodore's illness "made him the prey of his moods, and he compensated for his nervousness by an autocratic and obstinate temper". Medical historian Georgios Makris, however, concludes in his 1995 study on epilepsy in the Byzantine Empire that Theodore did not have epilepsy. Historian Dimiter Angelov, who does not accept Pachymeres' diagnosis, proposes that Theodore most likely had cancer of the brain, the spine, or the lungs. His illness prevented Theodore from commanding his troops in person. The commanders of the army in Macedonia, most of them of humble origin, recently appointed by Theodore, could not prevent the Epirotes, Albanians and Serbians from raiding Nicaean territories. Stefan Uroš I defeated the Nicaean troops near Prilep. Michael II's sister-in-law, Maria Petraliphaina, entered into a correspondence with Theodore's commander, Constantine Chabaron, making him believe that she was eager to marry him, but Chabaron was captured during their meeting. Theodore's newly assembled army of Anatolian peasants was routed at Edessa. Michael Palaiologos, who had been allowed to return from his exile, lead a new army to Macedonia. He defeated the Epirotes, but Theodore ordered him to return instead of marching to Prilep. Palaiologos' withdrawal enabled Michael II to seize Prilep and capture Akropolites, who was its governor. Michael II was planning to launch an attack against Thessalonica, but Manfred of Sicily renewed his predecessors' claim to Byzantine territories and invaded Epirus from the west. Michael II, who did not want to abandon his plan, concluded an alliance with Manfred who expelled the Nicaean garrisons from Dyrrachium