"At the start of the eleventh century Byzantium enjoyed something of a resurgence of wealth and power under the ferocious despot Basil II (976-1025), also known as Basil the Bulgar-Slayer. He earned this epithet through an act of unparalleled ruthlessness.
Facing renewed Bulgar agression in 1014, he outmanoeuvered and trapped their army, capturing 14,000 prisoners. The Bulgar Prince Samuel escaped, so Basil decided to send him a clear message about the dangers of threatening the empire. He chose to release reather than execute his prisoners, but had ninety-nine out of every hundred blidned, leaving the hundredth man one eye with which to guide his mutilated companions back into Bulgar territory. The sight of this train of broken wretches crushed Samuel's spirit and he died of shock two days later."
Taken from Thomas Asbridge's book The First Crusade.
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