The commonly accepted version of events is that Dyrrhachium resisted with success, and as his casualties mounted Peter was forced to raise the siege and start his march towards Thessalonica. The march proved difficult, due to both the harsh terrain and the open hostility of the local population—the Western sources (the "Annales Ceccanenses", Richard of San Germano, Philippe Mouskes, and the continuator of Robert of Auxerre) also stress the loyalty of the local Albanian population to Theodore. After a few days, Theodore with his army confronted Peter. Theodore requested talks with the papal legate, Giovanni Colonna, whom he assured of his goodwill and support. Western sources claim that Theodore offered to recognize the primacy of the Catholic Church and the suzerainty of the Latin Empire—as well as to support Peter in his planned participation in the Fifth Crusade—and offered the Latins food and guides through the mountains. Peter was glad to receive this unexpected help, and an agreement between the two was concluded. As soon as the Latins let their guard down, Theodore fell upon them. Peter of Courtenay, Colonna, the Latin Bishop of Salona, Count William I of Sancerre, and many Latin nobles were taken captive, while Peter's army scattered into small roving bands trying to survive. Akropolites, the chronicler Ephraim, and some Western sources on the other hand claim that Dyrrhachium was captured, and are followed by some modern scholars, including the Greek I. D. Romanos and the French Alain Ducellier. According to this view, Theodore offered to acknowledge Peter's suzerainty after the city's fall, only to treacherously ambush and defeat him. As the historian John Van Antwerp Fine remarks, "it is not important which version is correct"; the outcome was the same, and if lost, Dyrrhachium was quickly retaken after Peter's capture.