William II of Sicily
Niketas Choniates, clearly not very partial to Isaac, describes him as an irascible and violent man, "boiling with anger like a kettle on the fire." Byzantine emperor Andronikos I Komnenos nevertheless bore responsibility for greater cruelties. A seeming league with William II of Sicily, a powerful thorn in the side of the Byzantine Empire, helped Isaac to hold the island for the duration of his reign, and he was also closely connected to Saladin, sultan of Egypt and Syria.