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diff --git a/37756.txt b/37756.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c1516f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/37756.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9740 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Byzantine Empire by Charles William +Chadwick Oman + + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under +the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: The Byzantine Empire + +Author: Charles William Chadwick Oman + +Release Date: October 14, 2011 [Ebook #37756] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE*** + + + + + + The Byzantine Empire + + By + + Charles William Chadwick Oman, M.A., F.S.A. + + Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford + + Author of + + "Warwick the Kingmaker," "The Art of War in the Middle Ages," Etc. + + Third Edition + + T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd. + + Adelphi Terrace, London + + New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons + + 1902 + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Preface. +I. Byzantium. +II. The Foundation Of Constantinople. (A.D. 328-330.) +III. The Fight With The Goths. +IV. The Departure Of The Germans. +V. The Reorganization Of The Eastern Empire. (A.D. 408-518.) +VI. Justinian. +VII. Justinian's Foreign Conquests. +VIII. The End Of Justinian's Reign. +IX. The Coming Of The Slavs. +X. The Darkest Hour. +XI. Social And Religious Life. (A.D. 320-620.) +XII. The Coming Of The Saracens. +XIII. The First Anarchy. +XIV. The Saracens Turned Back. +XV. The Iconoclasts. (A.D. 720-802.) +XVI. The End Of The Iconoclasts. (A.D. 802-886.) +XVII. The Literary Emperors And Their Time. (A.D. 886-963.) +XVIII. Military Glory. +XIX. The End Of The Macedonian Dynasty. +XX. Manzikert. (1057-1081.) +XXI. The Comneni And The Crusades. +XXII. The Latin Conquest Of Constantinople. +XXIII. The Latin Empire And The Empire Of Nicaea. (1204-1261.) +XXIV. Decline And Decay. (1261-1328.) +XXV. The Turks In Europe. +XXVI. The End Of A Long Tale. (1370-1453.) +Table Of Emperors. +Index. +Footnotes + + + + + + + [Illustration] + + Interior of St. Sophia + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Fifty years ago the word "Byzantine" was used as a synonym for all that +was corrupt and decadent, and the tale of the East-Roman Empire was +dismissed by modern historians as depressing and monotonous. The great +Gibbon had branded the successors of Justinian and Heraclius as a series +of vicious weaklings, and for several generations no one dared to +contradict him. + +Two books have served to undeceive the English reader, the monumental work +of Finlay, published in 1856, and the more modern volumes of Mr. Bury, +which appeared in 1889. Since they have written, the Byzantines no longer +need an apologist, and the great work of the East-Roman Empire in holding +back the Saracen, and in keeping alive throughout the Dark Ages the lamp +of learning, is beginning to be realized. + +The writer of this book has endeavoured to tell the story of Byzantium in +the spirit of Finlay and Bury, not in that of Gibbon. He wishes to +acknowledge his debts both to the veteran of the war of Greek +Independence, and to the young Dublin professor. Without their aid his +task would have been very heavy--with it the difficulty was removed. + +The author does not claim to have grappled with all the chroniclers of the +Eastern realm, but thinks that some acquaintance with Ammianus, Procopius, +Maurice's "Strategikon," Leo the Deacon, Leo the Wise, Constantine +Porphyrogenitus, Anna Comnena and Nicetas, may justify his having +undertaken the task he has essayed. + +OXFORD, + +_February_, 1892. + + + + + + [Illustration] + + + + + +I. BYZANTIUM. + + +Two thousand five hundred and fifty-eight years ago a little fleet of +galleys toiled painfully against the current up the long strait of the +Hellespont, rowed across the broad Propontis, and came to anchor in the +smooth waters of the first inlet which cuts into the European shore of the +Bosphorus. There a long crescent-shaped creek, which after-ages were to +know as the Golden Horn, strikes inland for seven miles, forming a quiet +backwater from the rapid stream which runs outside. On the headland, +enclosed between this inlet and the open sea, a few hundred colonists +disembarked, and hastily secured themselves from the wild tribes of the +inland, by running some rough sort of a stockade across the ground from +beach to beach. Thus was founded the city of Byzantium. + +The settlers were Greeks of the Dorian race, natives of the thriving +seaport-state of Megara, one of the most enterprising of all the cities of +Hellas in the time of colonial and commercial expansion which was then at +its height. Wherever a Greek prow had cut its way into unknown waters, +there Megarian seamen were soon found following in its wake. One band of +these venturesome traders pushed far to the West to plant colonies in +Sicily, but the larger share of the attention of Megara was turned towards +the sunrising, towards the mist-enshrouded entrance of the Black Sea and +the fabulous lands that lay beyond. There, as legends told, was to be +found the realm of the Golden Fleece, the Eldorado of the ancient world, +where kings of untold wealth reigned over the tribes of Colchis: there +dwelt, by the banks of the river Thermodon, the Amazons, the warlike women +who had once vexed far-off Greece by their inroads: there, too, was to be +found, if one could but struggle far enough up its northern shore, the +land of the Hyperboreans, the blessed folk who dwell behind the North Wind +and know nothing of storm and winter. To seek these fabled wonders the +Greeks sailed ever North and East till they had come to the extreme limits +of the sea. The riches of the Golden Fleece they did not find, nor the +country of the Hyperboreans, nor the tribes of the Amazons; but they did +discover many lands well worth the knowing, and grew rich on the profits +which they drew from the metals of Colchis and the forests of Paphlagonia, +from the rich corn lands by the banks of the Dnieper and Bug, and the +fisheries of the Bosphorus and the Maeotic Lake. Presently the whole +coastland of the sea, which the Greeks, on their first coming, called +Axeinos--"the Inhospitable"--became fringed with trading settlements, and +its name was changed to Euxeinos--"the Hospitable"--in recognition of its +friendly ports. It was in a similar spirit that, two thousand years later, +the seamen who led the next great impulse of exploration that rose in +Europe, turned the name of the "Cape of Storms" into that of the "Cape of +Good Hope." + +The Megarians, almost more than any other Greeks, devoted their attention +to the Euxine, and the foundation of Byzantium was but one of their many +achievements. Already, seventeen years before Byzantium came into being, +another band of Megarian colonists had established themselves at +Chalcedon, on the opposite Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus. The settlers +who were destined to found the greater city applied to the oracle of +Delphi to give them advice as to the site of their new home, and Apollo, +we are told, bade them "build their town over against the city of the +blind." They therefore pitched upon the headland by the Golden Horn, +reasoning that the Chalcedonians were truly blind to have neglected the +more eligible site on the Thracian shore, in order to found a colony on +the far less inviting Bithynian side of the strait. + + [Illustration] + + Early Coin Of Byzantium. + + + [Illustration] + + Late Coin Of Byzantium Showing Crescent And Star. + + +From the first its situation marked out Byzantium as destined for a great +future. Alike from the military and from the commercial point of view no +city could have been better placed. Looking out from the easternmost +headland of Thrace, with all Europe behind it and all Asia before, it was +equally well suited to be the frontier fortress to defend the border of +the one, or the basis of operations for an invasion from the other. As +fortresses went in those early days it was almost impregnable--two sides +protected by the water, the third by a strong wall not commanded by any +neighbouring heights. In all its early history Byzantium never fell by +storm: famine or treachery accounted for the few occasions on which it +fell into the hands of an enemy. In its commercial aspect the place was +even more favourably situated. It completely commanded the whole Black Sea +trade: every vessel that went forth from Greece or Ionia to traffic with +Scythia or Colchis, the lands by the Danube mouth or the shores of the +Maeotic Lake, had to pass close under its walls, so that the prosperity of +a hundred Hellenic towns on the Euxine was always at the mercy of the +masters of Byzantium. The Greek loved short stages and frequent stoppages, +and as a half-way house alone Byzantium would have been prosperous: but it +had also a flourishing local trade of its own with the tribes of the +neighbouring Thracian inland, and drew much profit from its fisheries: so +much so that the city badge--its coat of arms as we should call +it--comprised a tunny-fish as well as the famous ox whose form alluded to +the legend of the naming of the Bosphorus.(1) + +As an independent state Byzantium had a long and eventful history. For +thirty years it was in the hands of the kings of Persia, but with that +short exception it maintained its freedom during the first three hundred +years that followed its foundation. Many stirring scenes took place +beneath its walls: it was close to them that the great Darius threw across +the Bosphorus his bridge of boats, which served as a model for the more +famous structure on which his son Xerxes crossed the Hellespont. Fifteen +years later, when Byzantium in common with all its neighbours made an +ineffectual attempt to throw off the Persian yoke, in the rising called +the "Ionic Revolt," it was held for a time by the arch-rebel Histiaeus, +who--as much to enrich himself as to pay his seamen--invented strait dues. +He forced every ship passing up or down the Bosphorus to pay a heavy toll, +and won no small unpopularity thereby for the cause of freedom which he +professed to champion. Ere long Byzantium fell back again into the hands +of Persia, but she was finally freed from the Oriental yoke seventeen +years later, when the victorious Greeks, fresh from the triumph of Salamis +and Mycale, sailed up to her walls and after a long leaguer starved out +the obstinate garrison [B.C. 479]. The fleet wintered there, and it was at +Byzantium that the first foundations of the naval empire of Athens were +laid, when all the Greek states of Asia placed their ships at the disposal +of the Athenian admirals Cimon and Aristeides. + +During the fifth century Byzantium twice declared war on Athens, now the +mistress of the seas, and on each occasion fell into the hands of the +enemy--once by voluntary surrender in 439 B.C., once by treachery from +within, in 408 B.C. But the Athenians, except in one or two disgraceful +cases, did not deal hardly with their conquered enemies, and the +Byzantines escaped anything harder than the payment of a heavy war +indemnity. In a few years their commercial gains repaired all the losses +of war, and the state was itself again. + +We know comparatively little about the internal history of these early +centuries of the life of Byzantium. Some odd fragments of information +survive here and there: we know, for example, that they used iron instead +of copper for small money, a peculiarity shared by no other ancient state +save Sparta. Their alphabet rejoiced in an abnormally shaped {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA~}, which +puzzled all other Greeks, for it resembled a {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~} with an extra limb.(2) The +chief gods of the city were those that we might have expected--Poseidon the +ruler of the sea, whose blessing gave Byzantium its chief wealth; and +Demeter, the goddess who presided over the Thracian and Scythian corn +lands which formed its second source of prosperity. + +The Byzantines were, if ancient chroniclers tell us the truth, a luxurious +as well as a busy race: they spent too much time in their numerous inns, +where the excellent wines of Maronea and other neighbouring places offered +great temptations. They were gluttons too as well as tipplers: on one +occasion, we are assured, the whole civic militia struck work in the +height of a siege, till their commander consented to allow restaurants to +be erected at convenient distances round the ramparts. One comic writer +informs us that the Byzantines were eating young tunny-fish--their +favourite dish--so constantly, that their whole bodies had become well-nigh +gelatinous, and it was thought they might melt if exposed to too great +heat! Probably these tales are the scandals of neighbours who envied +Byzantine prosperity, for it is at any rate certain that the city showed +all through its history great energy and love of independence, and never +shrank from war as we should have expected a nation of epicures to do. + +It was not till the rise of Philip of Macedon and his greater son +Alexander that Byzantium fell for the fifth time into the hands of an +enemy. The elder king was repulsed from the city's walls after a long +siege, culminating in an attempt at an escalade by night, which was +frustrated owing to the sudden appearance of a light in heaven, which +revealed the advancing enemy and was taken by the Byzantines as a token of +special divine aid [B.C. 339]. In commemoration of it they assumed as one +of their civic badges the blazing crescent and star, which has descended +to our own days and is still used as an emblem by the present owners of +the city--the Ottoman Sultans. But after repulsing Philip the Byzantines +had to submit some years later to Alexander. They formed under him part of +the enormous Macedonian empire, and passed on his decease through the +hands of his successors--Demetrius Poliorcetes, and Lysimachus. After the +death of the latter in battle, however, they recovered a precarious +freedom, and were again an independent community for a hundred years, till +the power of Rome invaded the regions of Thrace and the Hellespont. + +Byzantium was one of the cities which took the wise course of making an +early alliance with the Romans, and obtained good and easy terms in +consequence. During the wars of Rome with Macedon and Antiochus the Great +it proved such a faithful assistant that the Senate gave it the status of +a _civitas libera et foederata_, "a free and confederate city," and it was +not taken under direct Roman government, but allowed complete liberty in +everything save the control of its foreign relations and the payment of a +tribute to Rome. It was not till the Roman Republic had long passed away, +that the Emperor Vespasian stripped it of these privileges, and threw it +into the province of Thrace, to exist for the future as an ordinary +provincial town [A.D. 73]. + +Though deprived of a liberty which had for long years been almost nominal, +Byzantium could not be deprived of its unrivalled position for commerce. +It continued to flourish under the _Pax Romana_, the long-continued peace +which all the inner countries of the empire enjoyed during the first two +centuries of the imperial _regime_, and is mentioned again and again as +one of the most important cities of the middle regions of the Roman world. + +But an evil time for Byzantium, as for all the other parts of the +civilized world, began when the golden age of the Antonines ceased, and +the epoch of the military emperors followed. In 192 A.D., Commodus, the +unworthy son of the great and good Marcus Aurelius, was murdered, and ere +long three military usurpers were wrangling for his blood-stained diadem. +Most unhappily for itself Byzantium lay on the line of division between +the eastern provinces, where Pescennius Niger had been proclaimed, and the +Illyrian provinces, where Severus had assumed the imperial style. The city +was seized by the army of Syria, and strengthened in haste. Presently +Severus appeared from the west, after he had made himself master of Rome +and Italy, and fell upon the forces of his rival Pescennius. Victory +followed the arms of the Illyrian legions, the east was subdued, and the +Syrian emperor put to death. But when all his other adherents had yielded, +the garrison of Byzantium refused to submit. For more than two years they +maintained the impregnable city against the lieutenants of Severus, and it +was not till A.D. 196 that they were forced to yield. The emperor appeared +in person to punish the long-protracted resistance of the town; not only +the garrison, but the civil magistrates of Byzantium were slain before his +eyes. The massive walls "so firmly built with great square stones clamped +together with bolts of iron, that the whole seemed but one block," were +laboriously cast down. The property of the citizens was confiscated, and +the town itself deprived of all municipal privileges and handed over to be +governed like a dependent village by its neighbours of Perinthus. + +Caracalla, the son of Severus, gave back to the Byzantines the right to +govern themselves, but the town had received a hard blow, and would have +required a long spell of peace to recover its prosperity. Peace however it +was not destined to see. All through the middle years of the third century +it was vexed by the incursions of the Goths, who harried mercilessly the +countries on the Black Sea whose commerce sustained its trade. Under +Gallienus in A.D. 263 it was again seized by an usurping emperor, and +shared the fate of his adherents. The soldiers of Gallienus sacked +Byzantium from cellar to garret, and made such a slaughter of its +inhabitants that it is said that the old Megarian race who had so long +possessed it were absolutely exterminated. But the irresistible attraction +of the site was too great to allow its ruins to remain desolate. Within +ten years after its sack by the army of Gallienus, we find Byzantium again +a populous town, and its inhabitants are specially praised by the +historian Trebellius Pollio for the courage with which they repelled a +Gothic raid in the reign of Claudius II. + +The strong Illyrian emperors, who staved off from the Roman Empire the +ruin which appeared about to overwhelm it in the third quarter of the +third century, gave Byzantium time and peace to recover its ancient +prosperity. It profited especially from the constant neighbourhood of the +imperial court, after Diocletian fixed his residence at Nicomedia, only +sixty miles away, on the Bithynian side of the Propontis. But the military +importance of Byzantium was always interfering with its commercial +greatness. After the abdication of Diocletian the empire was for twenty +years vexed by constant partitions of territory between the colleagues +whom he left behind him. Byzantium after a while found itself the border +fortress of Licinius, the emperor who ruled in the Balkan Peninsula, while +Maximinus Daza was governing the Asiatic provinces. While Licinius was +absent in Italy, Maximinus treacherously attacked his rival's dominions +without declaration of war, and took Byzantium by surprise. But the +Illyrian emperor returned in haste, defeated his grasping neighbour not +far from the walls of the city, and recovered his great frontier fortress +after it had been only a few months out of his hands [A.D. 314]. The town +must have suffered severely by changing masters twice in the same year; it +does not, however, seem to have been sacked or burnt, as was so often the +case with a captured city in those dismal days. But Licinius when he had +recovered the place set to work to render it impregnable. Though it was +not his capital he made it the chief fortress of his realm, which, since +the defeat of Maximinus, embraced the whole eastern half of the Roman +world. + +It was accordingly at Byzantium that Licinius made his last desperate +stand, when in A.D. 323 he found himself engaged in an unsuccessful war +with his brother-in-law Constantine, the Emperor of the West. For many +months the war stood still beneath the walls of the city; but Constantine +persevered in the siege, raising great mounds which overlooked the walls, +and sweeping away the defenders by a constant stream of missiles, launched +from dozens of military engines which he had erected on these artificial +heights. At last the city surrendered, and the cause of Licinius was lost. +Constantine, the last of his rivals subdued, became the sole emperor of +the Roman world, and stood a victor on the ramparts which were ever +afterwards to bear his name. + + + + + +II. THE FOUNDATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE. (A.D. 328-330.) + + +When the fall of Byzantium had wrecked the fortunes of Licinius, the Roman +world was again united beneath the sceptre of a single master. For +thirty-seven years, ever since Diocletian parcelled out the provinces with +his colleagues, unity had been unknown, and emperors, whose number had +sometimes risen to six and sometimes sunk to two, had administered their +realms on different principles and with varying success. + +Constantine, whose victory over his rivals had been secured by his talents +as an administrator and a diplomatist no less than by his military skill, +was one of those men whose hard practical ability has stamped upon the +history of the world a much deeper impress than has been left by many +conquerors and legislators of infinitely greater genius. He was a man of +that self-contained, self-reliant, unsympathetic type of mind which we +recognize in his great predecessor Augustus, or in Frederic the Great of +Prussia. + + [Illustration] + + Constantine the Great + + +Though the strain of old Roman blood in his veins must have been but +small, Constantine was in many ways a typical Roman; the hard, cold, +steady, unwearying energy, which in earlier centuries had won the empire +of the world, was once more incarnate in him. But if Roman in character, +he was anything but Roman in his sympathies. Born by the Danube, reared in +the courts and camps of Asia and Gaul, he was absolutely free from any of +that superstitious reverence for the ancient glories of the city on the +Tiber which had inspired so many of his predecessors. Italy was to him but +a secondary province amongst his wide realms. When he distributed his +dominions among his heirs, it was Gaul that he gave as the noblest share +to his eldest and best-loved son: Italy was to him a younger child's +portion. There had been emperors before him who had neglected Rome: the +barbarian Maximinus I. had dwelt by the Rhine and the Danube; the politic +Diocletian had chosen Nicomedia as his favourite residence. But no one had +yet dreamed of raising up a rival to the mistress of the world, and of +turning Rome into a provincial town. If preceding emperors had dwelt far +afield, it was to meet the exigencies of war on the frontiers or the +government of distant provinces. It was reserved for Constantine to erect +over against Rome a rival metropolis for the civilized world, an imperial +city which was to be neither a mere camp nor a mere court, but the +administrative and commercial centre of the Roman world. + +For more than a hundred years Rome had been a most inconvenient residence +for the emperors. The main problem which had been before them was the +repelling of incessant barbarian inroads on the Balkan Peninsula; the +troubles on the Rhine and the Euphrates, though real enough, had been but +minor evils. Rome, placed half way down the long projection of Italy, +handicapped by its bad harbours and separated from the rest of the empire +by the passes of the Alps, was too far away from the points where the +emperor was most wanted--the banks of the Danube and the walls of Sirmium +and Singidunum. For the ever-recurring wars with Persia it was even more +inconvenient; but these were less pressing dangers; no Persian army had +yet penetrated beyond Antioch--only 200 miles from the frontier--while in +the Balkan Peninsula the Goths had broken so far into the heart of the +empire as to sack Athens and Thessalonica. + +Constantine, with all the Roman world at his feet, and all its +responsibilities weighing on his mind, was far too able a man to overlook +the great need of the day--a more conveniently placed administrative and +military centre for his empire. He required a place that should be easily +accessible by land and sea--which Rome had never been in spite of its +wonderful roads--that should overlook the Danube lands, without being too +far away from the East; that should be so strongly situated that it might +prove an impregnable arsenal and citadel against barbarian attacks from +the north; that should at the same time be far enough away from the +turmoil of the actual frontier to afford a safe and splendid residence for +the imperial court. The names of several towns are given by historians as +having suggested themselves to Constantine. First was his own +birth-place--Naissus (Nisch) on the Morava, in the heart of the Balkan +Peninsula; but Naissus had little to recommend it: it was too close to the +frontier and too far from the sea. Sardica--the modern Sofia in +Bulgaria--was liable to the same objections, and had not the sole advantage +of Naissus, that of being connected in sentiment with the emperor's early +days. Nicomedia on its long gulf at the east end of the Propontis was a +more eligible situation in every way, and had already served as an +imperial residence. But all that could be urged in favour of Nicomedia +applied with double force to Byzantium, and, in addition, Constantine had +no wish to choose a city in which his own memory would be eclipsed by that +of his predecessor Diocletian, and whose name was associated by the +Christians, the class of his subjects whom he had most favoured of late, +with the persecutions of Diocletian and Galerius. For Ilium, the last +place on which Constantine had cast his mind, nothing could be alleged +except its ancient legendary glories, and the fact that the mythologists +of Rome had always fabled that their city drew its origin from the exiled +Trojans of AEneas. Though close to the sea it had no good harbour, and it +was just too far from the mouth of the Hellespont to command effectually +the exit of the Euxine. + +Byzantium, on the other hand, was thoroughly well known to Constantine. +For months his camp had been pitched beneath its walls; he must have known +accurately every inch of its environs, and none of its military advantages +can have missed his eye. Nothing, then, could have been more natural than +his selection of the old Megarian city for his new capital. Yet the Roman +world was startled at the first news of his choice; Byzantium had been so +long known merely as a great port of call for the Euxine trade, and as a +first-class provincial fortress, that it was hard to conceive of it as a +destined seat of empire. + +When once Constantine had determined to make Byzantium his capital, in +preference to any other place in the Balkan lands, his measures were taken +with his usual energy and thoroughness. The limits of the new city were at +once marked out by solemn processions in the old Roman style. In later +ages a picturesque legend was told to account for the magnificent scale on +which it was planned. The emperor, we read, marched out on foot, followed +by all his court, and traced with his spear the line where the new +fortifications were to be drawn. As he paced on further and further +westward along the shore of the Golden Horn, till he was more than two +miles away from his starting-point, the gate of old Byzantium, his +attendants grew more and more surprised at the vastness of his scheme. At +last they ventured to observe that he had already exceeded the most ample +limits that an imperial city could require. But Constantine turned to +rebuke them: "I shall go on," he said, "until He, the invisible guide who +marches before me, thinks fit to stop." Guided by his mysterious +presentiment of greatness, the emperor advanced till he was three miles +from the eastern angle of Byzantium, and only turned his steps when he had +included in his boundary line all the seven hills which are embraced in +the peninsula between the Propontis and the Golden Horn. + +The rising ground just outside the walls of the old city, where +Constantine's tent had been pitched during the siege of A.D. 323, was +selected out as the market-place of the new foundation. There he erected +the _Milion_, or "golden milestone," from which all the distances of the +eastern world were in future to be measured. This "central point of the +world" was not a mere single stone, but a small building like a temple, +its roof supported by seven pillars; within was placed the statue of the +emperor, together with that of his venerated mother, the Christian Empress +Helena. + +The south-eastern part of the old town of Byzantium was chosen by +Constantine for the site of his imperial palace. The spot was cleared of +all private dwellings for a space of 150 acres, to give space not only for +a magnificent residence for his whole court, but for spacious gardens and +pleasure-grounds. A wall, commencing at the Lighthouse, where the +Bosphorus joins the Propontis, turned inland and swept along parallel to +the shore for about a mile, in order to shut off the imperial precinct +from the city. + + [Illustration] + + The Heart of Constantinople + + +North-west of the palace lay the central open space in which the life of +Constantinople was to find its centre. This was the "Augustaeum," a +splendid oblong forum, about a thousand feet long by three hundred broad. +It was paved with marble and surrounded on all sides by stately public +buildings. To its east, as we have already said, lay the imperial palace, +but between the palace and the open space were three detached edifices +connected by a colonnade. Of these, the most easterly was the Great Baths, +known, from their builder, as the "Baths of Zeuxippus." They were built on +the same magnificent scale which the earlier emperors had used in Old +Rome, though they could not, perhaps, vie in size with the enormous Baths +of Caracalla. Constantine utilized and enlarged the old public bath of +Byzantium, which had been rebuilt after the taking of the city by Severus. +He adorned the frontage and courts of the edifice with statues taken from +every prominent town of Greece and Asia, the old Hellenic masterpieces +which had escaped the rapacious hands of twelve generations of plundering +proconsuls and Caesars. There were to be seen the Athene of Lyndus, the +Amphithrite of Rhodes, the Pan which had been consecrated by the Greeks +after the defeat of Xerxes, and the Zeus of Dodona. + +Adjoining the Baths, to the north, lay the second great building, on the +east side of the Augustaeum--the Senate House. Constantine had determined +to endow his new city with a senate modelled on that of Old Rome, and had +indeed persuaded many old senatorial families to migrate eastward by +judicious gifts of pensions and houses. We know that the assembly was +worthily housed, but no details survive about Constantine's building, on +account of its having been twice destroyed within the century. But, like +the Baths of Zeuxippus, it was adorned with ancient statuary, among which +the Nine Muses of Helicon are specially cited by the historian who +describes the burning of the place in A.D. 404. + +Linked to the Senate House by a colonnade, lay on the north the Palace of +the Patriarch, as the Bishop of Byzantium was ere long to be called, when +raised to the same status as his brethren of Antioch and Alexandria. A +fine building in itself, with a spacious hall of audience and a garden, +the patriarchal dwelling was yet completely overshadowed by the imperial +palace which rose behind it. And so it was with the patriarch himself: he +lived too near his royal master to be able to gain any independent +authority. Physically and morally alike he was too much overlooked by his +august neighbour, and never found the least opportunity of setting up an +independent spiritual authority over against the civil government, or of +founding an _imperium in imperio_ like the Bishop of Rome. + + [Illustration] + + The Atmeidan Hippodrome And St. Sophia. + + +All along the western side of the Augustaeum, facing the three buildings +which we have already described, lay an edifice which played a very +prominent part in the public life of Constantinople. This was the great +Hippodrome, a splendid circus 640 cubits long and 160 broad, in which were +renewed the games that Old Rome had known so well. The whole system the +chariot-races between the teams that represented the "factions" of the +Circus was reproduced at Byzantium with an energy that even surpassed the +devotion of the Romans to horse racing. From the first foundation of the +city the rivalry of the "Blues" and the "Greens" was one of the most +striking features of the life of the place. It was carried far beyond the +circus, and spread into all branches of life. We often hear of the "Green" +faction identifying itself with Arianism, or of the "Blue" supporting a +pretender to the throne. Not merely men of sporting interests, but persons +of all ranks and professions, chose their colour and backed their faction. +The system was a positive danger to the public peace, and constantly led +to riots, culminating in the great sedition of A.D. 523, which we shall +presently have to describe at length. In the Hippodrome the "Greens" +always entered by the north-eastern gate, and sat on the east side; the +"Blues" approached by the north-western gate and stretched along the +western side. The emperor's box, called the Kathisma, occupied the whole +of the short northern side, and contained many hundreds of seats for the +imperial retinue. The great central throne of the Kathisma was the place +in which the monarch showed himself most frequently to his subjects, and +around it many strange scenes were enacted. It was on this throne that the +rebel Hypatius was crowned emperor by the mob, with his own wife's +necklace for an impromptu diadem. Here also, two centuries later, the +Emperor Justinian II. sat in state after his reconquest of Constantinople, +with his rivals, Leontius and Apsimarus, bound beneath his footstool, +while the populace chanted, in allusion to the names of the vanquished +princes, the verse, "Thou shalt trample on the Lion and the Asp." + +Down the centre of the Hippodrome ran the "spina," or division wall, which +every circus showed; it was ornamented with three most curious monuments, +whose strange juxtaposition seemed almost to typify the heterogeneous +materials from which the new city was built up. The first and oldest was +an obelisk brought from Egypt, and covered with the usual hieroglyphic +inscriptions; the second was the most notable, though one of the least +beautiful, of the antiquities of Constantinople: it was the three-headed +brazen serpent which Pausanias and the victorious Greeks had dedicated at +Delphi in 479 B.C., after they had destroyed the Persian army at Plataea. +The golden tripod, which was supported by the heads of the serpents, had +long been wanting: the sacrilegious Phocians had stolen it six centuries +before; but the dedicatory inscriptions engraved on the coils of the +pedestal survived then and survive now to delight the archaeologist. The +third monument on the "spina" was a square bronze column of more modern +work, contrasting strangely with the venerable antiquity of its +neighbours. By some freak of chance all three monuments have remained till +our own day: the vast walls of the Hippodrome have crumbled away, but its +central decorations still stand erect in the midst of an open space which +the Turks call the Atmeidan, or place of horses, in dim memory of its +ancient use. + +Along the outer eastern wall of the Hippodrome on the western edge of the +Augustaeum, stood a range of small chapels and statues, the most important +landmark among them being the _Milion_ or central milestone of the empire, +which we have already described. The statues, few at first, were increased +by later emperors, till they extended along the whole length of the forum. +Constantine's own contribution to the collection was a tall porphyry +column surmounted by a bronze image which had once been the tutelary +Apollo of the city of Hierapolis, but was turned into a representation of +the emperor by the easy method of knocking off its head and substituting +the imperial features. It was exactly the reverse of a change which can be +seen at Rome, where the popes have removed the head of the Emperor +Aurelius, and turned him into St. Peter, on the column in the Corso. + + [Illustration] + + Building A Palace (from a Byzantine MS.) + + +North of the Hippodrome stood the great church which Constantine erected +for his Christian subjects, and dedicated to the Divine Wisdom (_Hagia +Sophia_). It was not the famous domed edifice which now bears that name, +but an earlier and humbler building, probably of the Basilica-shape then +usual. Burnt down once in the fifth and once in the sixth centuries, it +has left no trace of its original character. From the west door of St. +Sophia a wooden gallery, supported on arches, crossed the square, and +finally ended at the "Royal Gate" of the palace. By this the emperor would +betake himself to divine service without having to cross the street of the +Chalcoprateia (brass market), which lay opposite to St. Sophia. The +general effect of the gallery must have been somewhat like that of the +curious passage perched aloft on arches which connects the Pitti and +Uffizi palaces at Florence. + +The edifices which we have described formed the heart of Constantinople. +Between the Palace, the Hippodrome, and the Cathedral most of the +important events in the history of the city took place. But to north and +west the city extended for miles, and everywhere there were buildings of +note, though no other cluster could vie with that round the Augustaeum. +The Church of the Holy Apostles, which Constantine destined as the +burying-place of his family, was the second among the ecclesiastical +edifices of the town. Of the outlying civil buildings, the public +granaries along the quays, the Golden Gate, by which the great road from +the west entered the walls, and the palace of the praetorian praefect, who +acted as governor of the city, must all have been well worthy of notice. A +statue of Constantine on horseback, which stood by the last-named edifice, +was one of the chief shows of Constantinople down to the end of the Middle +Ages, and some curious legends gathered around it. + + [Illustration] + + Fifteenth-Century Drawing Of The Equestrian Statue Of Constantine. + + +It was in A.D. 328 or 329--the exact date is not easily to be fixed--that +Constantine had definitely chosen Byzantium for his capital, and drawn out +the plan for its development. As early as May 11, 330, the buildings were +so far advanced that he was able to hold the festival which celebrated its +consecration. Christian bishops blessed the partially completed palace, +and held the first service in St. Sophia; for Constantine, though still +unbaptized himself, had determined that the new city should be Christian +from the first. Of paganism there was no trace in it, save a few of the +old temples of the Byzantines, spared when the older streets were levelled +to clear the ground for the palace and adjoining buildings. The statues of +the gods which adorned the Baths and Senate House stood there as works of +art, not as objects of worship. + +To fill the vast limits of his city, Constantine invited many senators of +Old Rome and many rich provincial proprietors of Greece and Asia to take +up their abode in it, granting them places in his new senate and sites for +the dwellings they would require. The countless officers and functionaries +of the imperial court, with their subordinates and slaves, must have +composed a very considerable element in the new population. The artizans +and handicraftsmen were enticed in thousands by the offer of special +privileges. Merchants and seamen had always abounded at Byzantium, and now +flocked in numbers which made the old commercial prosperity of the city +seem insignificant. Most effective--though most demoralizing--of the gifts +which Constantine bestowed on the new capital to attract immigrants was +the old Roman privilege of free distribution of corn to the populace. The +wheat-tribute of Egypt, which had previously formed part of the public +provision of Rome, was transferred to the use of Constantinople, only the +African corn from Carthage being for the future assigned for the +subsistence of the older city. + +On the completion of the dedication festival in 330 A.D. an imperial edict +gave the city the title of New Rome, and the record was placed on a marble +tablet near the equestrian statue of the emperor, opposite the Strategion. +But "New Rome" was a phrase destined to subsist in poetry and rhetoric +alone: the world from the first very rightly gave the city the founder's +name only, and persisted in calling it Constantinople. + + + + + +III. THE FIGHT WITH THE GOTHS. + + +Constantine lived seven years after he had completed the dedication of his +new city, and died in peace and prosperity on the 22nd of May, A.D. 337, +received on his death-bed into that Christian Church on whose verge he had +lingered during the last half of his life. By his will he left his realm +to be divided among his sons and nephews; but a rapid succession of +murders and civil wars thinned out the imperial house, and ended in the +concentration of the whole empire from the Forth to the Tigris under the +sceptre of Constantius II., the second son of the great emperor. The Roman +world was not yet quite ripe for a permanent division; it was still +possible to manage it from a single centre, for by some strange chance the +barbarian invasions which had troubled the third century had ceased for a +time, and the Romans were untroubled, save by some minor bickerings on the +Rhine and the Euphrates. Constantius II., an administrator of some +ability, but gloomy, suspicious, and unsympathetic, was able to devote his +leisure to ecclesiastical controversies, and to dishonour himself by +starting the first persecution of Christian by Christian that the world +had seen. The crisis in the history of the empire was not destined to fall +in his day, nor in the short reign of his cousin and successor, Julian, +the amiable and cultured, but entirely wrongheaded, pagan zealot, who +strove to put back the clock of time and restore the worship of the +ancient gods of Greece. Both Constantius and Julian, if asked whence +danger to the empire might be expected, would have pointed eastward, to +the Mesopotamian frontier, where their great enemy, Sapor King of Persia, +strove, with no very great success, to break through the line of Roman +fortresses that protected Syria and Asia Minor. + +But it was not in the east that the impending storm was really brewing. It +was from the north that mischief was to come. + + [Illustration] + + Gothic Idols. (_From the Column of Arcadius._) + + +For a hundred and fifty years the Romans had been well acquainted with the +tribes of the Goths, the most easterly of the Teutonic nations who lay +along the imperial border. All through the third century they had been +molesting the provinces of the Balkan Peninsula by their incessant raids, +as we have already had occasion to relate. Only after a hard struggle had +they been rolled back across the Danube, and compelled to limit their +settlements to its northern bank, in what had once been the land of the +Dacians. The last struggle with them had been in the time of Constantine, +who, in a war that lasted from A.D. 328 to A.D. 332, had beaten them in +the open field, compelled their king to give his sons as hostages, and +dictated his own terms of peace. Since then the appetite of the Goths for +war and adventure seemed permanently checked: for forty years they had +kept comparatively quiet and seldom indulged in raids across the Danube. +They were rapidly settling down into steady farmers in the fertile lands +on the Theiss and the Pruth; they traded freely with the Roman towns of +Moesia; many of their young warriors enlisted among the Roman auxiliary +troops, and one considerable body of Gothic emigrants had been permitted +to settle as subjects of the empire on the northern slope of the Balkans. +By this time many of the Goths were becoming Christians: priests of their +own blood already ministered to them, and the Bible, translated into their +own language, was already in their hands. One of the earliest Gothic +converts, the good Bishop Ulfilas--the first bishop of German blood that +was ever consecrated--had rendered into their idiom the New Testament and +most of the Old. A great portion of his work still survives, incomparably +the most precious relic of the old Teutonic tongues that we now possess. + +The Goths were rapidly losing their ancient ferocity. Compared to the +barbarians who dwelt beyond them, they might almost be called a civilized +race. The Romans were beginning to look upon them as a guard set on the +frontier to ward off the wilder peoples that lay to their north and east. +The nation was now divided into two tribes: the Visigoths, whose tribal +name was the Thervings, lay more to the south, in what are now the +countries of Moldavia, Wallachia, and Southern Hungary; the Ostrogoths, or +tribe of the Gruthungs, lay more to the north and east, in Bessarabia, +Transylvania, and the Dniester valley. + +But a totally unexpected series of events were now to show how prescient +Constantine had been, in rearing his great fortress-capital to serve as +the central place of arms of the Balkan Peninsula. + +About the year A.D. 372 the Huns, an enormous Tartar horde from beyond the +Don and Volga, burst into the lands north of the Euxine, and began to work +their way westward. The first tribe that lay in their way, the nomadic +race of the Alans, they almost exterminated. Then they fell upon the +Goths. The Ostrogoths made a desperate attempt to defend the line of the +Dniester against the oncoming savages--"men with faces that can hardly be +called faces--rather shapeless black collops of flesh with little points +instead of eyes; little in stature, but lithe and active, skilful in +riding, broad shouldered, good at the bow, stiff-necked and proud, hiding +under a barely human form the ferocity of the wild beast." But the enemy +whom the Gothic historian describes in these uninviting terms was too +strong for the Teutons of the East. The Ostrogoths were crushed and +compelled to become vassals of the Huns, save a remnant who fought their +way southward to the Wallachian shore, near the marshes of the Delta of +the Danube. Then the Huns fell on the Visigoths. The wave of invasion +pressed on; the Bug and the Pruth proved no barrier to the swarms of nomad +bowmen, and the Visigoths, under their Duke Fritigern, fell back in dismay +with their wives and children, their waggons and flocks and herds, till +they found themselves with their backs to the Danube. Surrender to the +enemy was more dreadful to the Visigoths than to their eastern brethren; +they were more civilized, most of them were Christians, and the prospect +of slavery to savages seems to have appeared intolerable to them. + +Pressed against the Danube and the Roman border, the Visigoths sent in +despair to ask permission to cross from the Emperor. A contemporary writer +describes how they stood. "All the multitude that had escaped from the +murderous savagery of the Huns--no less than 200,000 fighting men, besides +women and old men and children---were there on the river bank, stretching +out their hands with loud lamentations, and earnestly supplicating leave +to cross, bewailing their calamity, and promising that they would ever +faithfully adhere to the imperial alliance if only the boon was granted +them." + +At this moment (A.D. 376) the Roman Empire was again divided. The house of +Constantine was gone, and the East was ruled by Valens, a stupid, +cowardly, and avaricious prince, who had obtained the diadem and half the +Roman world only because he was the brother of Valentinian, the greatest +general of the day. Valentinian had taken the West for his portion, and +dwelt in his camp on the Rhine and Upper Danube, while Valens, slothful +and timid, shut himself up with a court of slaves and flatterers in the +imperial palace at Constantinople. + +The proposal of the Goths filled Valens with dismay. It was difficult to +say which was more dangerous--to refuse a passage to 200,000 desperate men +with arms in their hands and a savage foe at their backs, or to admit them +within the line of river and fortress that protected the border, with an +implied obligation to find land for them. After much doubting he chose the +latter alternative: if the Goths would give hostages and surrender their +arms, they should be ferried across the Danube and permitted to settle as +subject-allies within the empire. + +The Goths accepted the terms, gave up the sons of their chiefs as +hostages, and streamed across the river as fast as the Roman +Danube-flotilla could transport them. But no sooner had they reached +Moesia than troubles broke out. The Roman officials at first tried to +disarm the immigrants, but the Goths were unwilling to surrender their +weapons, and offered large bribes to be allowed to retain them: in strict +disobedience to the Emperor's orders, the bribes were accepted and the +Goths retained their arms. Further disputes soon broke out. The provisions +of Moesia did not suffice for so many hundred thousand mouths as had just +entered its border, and Valens had ordered stores of corn from Asia to be +collected for the use of the Goths, till they should have received and +commenced to cultivate land of their own. But the governor, Lupicinus, to +fill his own pockets, held back the food, and doled out what he chose to +give at exorbitant prices. In sheer hunger the Goths were driven to barter +a slave for a single loaf of bread and ten pounds of silver for a sheep. +This shameless extortion continued as long as the stores and the patience +of the Goths lasted. At last the poorer immigrants were actually beginning +to sell their own children for slaves rather than let them starve. This +drove the Goths to desperation, and a chance affray set the whole nation +in a blaze. Fritigern, with many of his nobles, was dining with Count +Lupicinus at the town of Marcianopolis, when some starving Goths tried to +pillage the market by force. A party of Roman soldiers strove to drive +them off, and were at once mishandled or slain. On hearing the tumult and +learning its cause, Lupicinus recklessly bade his retinue seize and slay +Fritigern and the other guests at his banquet. The Goths drew their swords +and cut their way out of the palace. Then riding to the nearest camp of +his followers, Fritigern told his tale, and bade them take up arms against +Rome. + +There followed a year of desperate fighting all along the Danube, and the +northern slope of the Balkans. The Goths half-starved for many months, and +smarting under the extortion and chicanery to which they had been +subjected, soon showed that the old barbarian spirit was but thinly +covered by the veneer of Christianity and civilization which they had +acquired in the last half-century. The struggle resolved itself into a +repetition of the great raids of the third century: towns were sacked and +the open country harried in the old style, nor was the war rendered less +fierce by the fact that many runaway slaves and other outcasts among the +provincial population joined the invaders. But the Roman armies still +retained their old reputation; the ravages of the Goths were checked at +the Balkans, and though joined by the remnants of the Ostrogoths from the +Danube mouth, as well as by other tribes flying from the Huns, the +Visigoths were at first held at bay by the imperial armies. A desperate +pitched battle at Ad Salices, near the modern Kustendje thinned the ranks +of both sides, but led to no decisive result. + +Next year, however, the unwarlike Emperor, driven into the field by the +clamours of his subjects, took the field in person, with great +reinforcements brought from Asia Minor. At the same time his nephew +Gratian, a gallant young prince who had succeeded to the Empire of the +West, set forth through Pannonia to bring aid to the lands of the Lower +Danube. + +The personal intervention of Valens in the struggle was followed by a +fearful disaster. In 378 A.D., the main body of the Goths succeeded in +forcing the line of the Balkans; they were not far from Adrianople when +the Emperor started to attack them, with a splendid army of 60,000 men. +Every one expected to hear of a victory, for the reputation of +invincibility still clung to the legions, and after six hundred years of +war the disciplined infantry of Rome, _robur peditum_, whose day had +lasted since the Punic wars, were still reckoned superior, when fairly +handled, to any amount of wild barbarians. + +But a new chapter of the history of the art of war was just commencing; +during their sojourn in the plains of South Russia and Roumania the Goths +had taken, first of all German races, to fighting on horseback. Dwelling +in the Ukraine they had felt the influence of that land, ever the nurse of +cavalry from the day of the Scythian to that of the Tartar and Cossack. +They had come to "consider it more honourable to fight on horse than on +foot," and every chief was followed by his war-band of mounted men. Driven +against their will into conflict with the empire, they found themselves +face to face into the army that had so long held the world in fear, and +had turned back their own ancestors in rout three generations before. + +Valens found the main body of the Goths encamped in a great "laager," on +the plain north of Adrianople. After some abortive negotiations he +developed an attack on their front, when suddenly a great body of horsemen +charged in on the Roman flank. It was the main strength of the Gothic +cavalry, which had been foraging at a distance; receiving news of the +fight it had ridden straight for the battle field. Some Roman squadrons +which covered the left flank of the Emperor's army were ridden down and +trampled under foot. Then the Goths swept down on the infantry of the left +wing, rolled it up, and drove it in upon the centre. So tremendous was +their impact that legions and cohorts were pushed together in hopeless +confusion. Every attempt to stand firm failed, and in a few minutes left, +centre, and reserve, were one undistinguishable mass. Imperial guards, +light troops, lancers, auxiliaries, and infantry of the line were wedged +together in a press that grew closer every moment. The Roman cavalry saw +that the day was lost, and rode off without another effort. Then the +abandoned infantry realized the horror of their position: equally unable +to deploy or to fly, they had to stand to be cut down. Men could not raise +their arms to strike a blow, so closely were they packed; spears snapped +right and left, their bearers being unable to lift them to a vertical +position; many soldiers were stifled in the press. Into this quivering +mass the Goths rode, plying lance and sword against the helpless enemy. It +was not till forty thousand men had fallen that the thinning of the ranks +enabled the survivors to break out and follow their cavalry in a headlong +flight. They left behind them, dead on the field, the Emperor, the Grand +Masters of the Infantry and Cavalry, the Count of the Palace, and +thirty-five commanders of different corps. + +The battle of Adrianople was the most fearful defeat suffered by a Roman +army since Cannae, a slaughter to which it is aptly compared by the +contemporary historian Ammianus Marcellinus. The army of the East was +almost annihilated, and was never reorganized again on the old Roman +lines. + +This awful catastrophe brought down on Constantinople the first attack +which it experienced since it had changed its name from Byzantium. After a +vain assault on Adrianople, the victorious Goths pressed rapidly on +towards the imperial city. Harrying the whole country side as they passed +by, they presented themselves before the "Golden Gate," its south-western +exit. But the attack was destined to come to nothing: "their courage +failed them when they looked on the vast circuit of walls and the enormous +extent of streets; all that mass of riches within appeared inaccessible to +them. They cast away the siege machines which they had prepared, and +rolled backward on to Thrace."(3) Beyond skirmishing under the walls with +a body of Saracen cavalry which had been brought up to strengthen the +garrison, they made no hostile attempt on the city. So forty years after +his death, Constantine's prescience was for the first time justified. He +was right in believing that an impregnable city on the Bosphorus would +prove the salvation of the Balkan Peninsula even if all its open country +were overrun by the invader. + +The unlucky Valens was succeeded on the throne by Theodosius, a wise and +virtuous prince, who set himself to repair, by caution and courage +combined, the disaster that had shaken the Roman power in the Danube +lands. With the remnants of the army of the East he made head against the +barbarians; without venturing to attack their main body, he destroyed many +marauders and scattered bands, and made the continuance of the war +profitless to them. If they dispersed to plunder they were cut off; if +they held together in masses they starved. Presently Fritigern died, and +Theodosius made peace with his successor Athanarich, a king who had lately +come over the Danube at the head of a new swarm of Goths from the +Carpathian country. Theodosius frankly promised and faithfully observed +the terms that Fritigern had asked of Valens ten years before. He granted +the Goths land for their settlement in the Thracian province which they +had wasted, and enlisted in his armies all the chiefs and their war-bands. +Within ten years after the fight of Adrianople he had forty thousand +Teutonic horsemen in his service; they formed the best and most formidable +part of his host, and were granted a higher pay than the native Roman +soldiery. The immediate military results of the policy of Theodosius were +not unsatisfactory; it was his Gothic auxiliaries who won for him his two +great victories over the legions of the West, when in A.D. 388 he +conquered the rebel Magnus Maximus, and in A.D. 394 the rebel Eugenius. + + [Illustration] + + Gothic Captives. (_From the Column of Arcadius._) + + +But from the political side the experiment of Theodosius was fraught with +the greatest danger that the Roman Empire had yet known. When barbarian +auxiliaries had been enlisted before, they had been placed under Roman +leaders and mixed with equal numbers of Roman troops. To leave them under +their own chiefs, and deliberately favour them at the expense of the +native soldiery, was a most unhappy experiment. It practically put the +command of the empire in their hands; for there was no hold over them save +their personal loyalty to Theodosius, and the spell which the grandeur of +the Roman name and Roman culture still exercised over their minds. That +spell was still strong, as is shown in the story which the Gothic +historian Jornandes tells about the visit of the old King Athanarich to +Constantinople. "When he entered the royal city, 'Now,' said he, 'do I at +last behold what I had often heard and deemed incredible.' He passed his +eyes hither and thither admiring first the site of the city, then the +fleets of corn-ships, then the lofty walls, then the crowds of people of +all nations, mingled as the waters from divers springs mix in a single +pool, then the ranks of disciplined soldiery. And at last he cried aloud, +'Doubtless the Emperor is as a god on earth, and he who raises a hand +against him is guilty of his own blood.' " But this impression was not to +continue for long. In A.D. 395, the good Emperor Theodosius, "the lover of +peace and of the Goths," as he was called, died, and left the throne to +his two weakly sons Arcadius and Honorius. + + + + + +IV. THE DEPARTURE OF THE GERMANS. + + +The Roman Empire, at the end of the fourth century, was in a condition +which made the experiment of Theodosius particularly dangerous. The +government was highly centralized and bureaucratic; hosts of officials, +appointed directly from Constantinople, administered every provincial post +from the greatest to the least. There was little local self-government and +no local patriotism. The civil population was looked on by the +bureaucratic caste as a multitude without rights or capacities, existing +solely for the purpose of paying taxes. So strongly was this view held, +that to prevent the revenue from suffering, the land-holding classes, from +the _curialis_, or local magnate, down to the poorest peasant, were +actually forbidden to move from one district to another without special +permission. A landowner was even prohibited from enlisting in the army, +unless he could show that he left an heir behind him capable of paying his +share in the local rates. An almost entire separation existed between the +civil population and the military caste; it was hard for a civilian of any +position to enlist; only the lower classes--who were of no account in +tax-paying--were suffered to join the army. On the other hand, every +pressure was used to make the sons of soldiers continue in the service. +Thus had arisen a purely professional army, which had no sympathy or +connection with the unarmed provincials whom it protected. + +The army had been a source of unending trouble in the third century; for a +hundred years it had made and unmade Caesars at its pleasure. That was +while it was still mainly composed of men born within the empire, and +officered by Romans. + +But Theodosius had now swamped the native element in the army by his +wholesale enlistment of Gothic war-bands. And he had, moreover, handed +many of the chief military posts to Teutons. Some of them indeed had +married Roman wives and taken kindly to Roman modes of life, while nearly +all had professed Christianity. But at the best they were military +adventurers of alien blood while at the worst they were liable to relapse +into barbarism, cast all their loyalty and civilization to the winds, and +take to harrying the empire again in the old fearless fashion of the third +century. Clearly nothing could be more dangerous than to hand over the +protection of the timid and unarmed civil population to such guardians. +The contempt they must have felt for the unwarlike provincials was so +great, and the temptation to plunder the wealthy cities of the empire so +constant and pressing, that it is no wonder if the Teutons yielded. +Caesar-making seemed as easy to the leaders as the sack of provincial +churches and treasuries did to the rank and file. + +When the personal ascendency of Theodosius was removed, the empire fell at +once into the troubles which were inevitable. Both at the court of +Arcadius, who reigned at Constantinople, and at that of Honorius, who had +received the West as his share, a war of factions commenced between the +German and the Roman party. Theodosius had distributed so many high +military posts to Goths and other Teutons, that this influence was almost +unbounded. Stilicho _Magister militum_ (commander-in-chief) of the armies +of Italy was predominant at the council board of Honorius; though he was a +pure barbarian by blood, Theodosius had married him to his own niece +Serena, and left him practically supreme in the West, for the young +emperor was aged only eleven. In the East Arcadius, the elder brother, had +attained his eighteenth year, and might have ruled his own realm had he +possessed the energy. But he was a witless young man, "short, thin, and +sallow, so inactive that he seldom spoke, and always looked as if he was +about to fall asleep." His prime minister was a Western Roman named +Rufinus, but before the first year of his reign was over, a Gothic captain +named Gainas slew Rufinus at a review, before the Emperor's very eyes. The +weak Arcadius was then compelled to make the eunuch Eutropius his +minister, and to appoint Gainas _Magister militum_ for the East. + +Gainas and Stilicho contented themselves with wire-pulling at Court; but +another Teutonic leader thought that the time had come for bolder work. +Alaric was a chief sprung from the family of the Balts, whom the Goths +reckoned next to the god-descended Amals among their princely houses. He +was young, daring, and untameable; several years spent at Constantinople +had failed to civilize him, but had succeeded in filling him with contempt +for Roman effeminacy. Soon after the death of Theodosius, he raised the +Visigoths in revolt, making it his pretext that the advisers of Arcadius +were refusing the _foederati_, or auxiliaries, certain arrears of pay. The +Teutonic sojourners in Moesia and Thrace joined him almost to a man, and +the Constantinopolitan government found itself with only a shadow of an +army to oppose the rebels. Alaric wandered far and wide, from the Danube +to the gates of Constantinople, and from Constantinople to Greece, +ransoming or sacking every town in his way till the Goths were gorged with +plunder. No one withstood him save Stilicho, who was summoned from the +West to aid his master's brother. By skilful manoeuvres Stilicho blockaded +Alaric in a mountain position in Arcadia; but when he had him at his +mercy, it was found that "dog does not eat dog." The Teutonic prime +minister let the Teutonic rebel escape him, and the Visigoths rolled north +again into Illyricum. Sated with plunder, Alaric then consented to grant +Arcadius peace, on condition that he was made a _Magister militum_ like +Stilicho and Gainas, and granted as much land for his tribesmen as he +chose to ask. [A.D. 396.] + +For the next five years Alaric, now proclaimed King of the Goths by his +victorious soldiery, reigned with undisputed sway over the eastern parts +of the Balkan Peninsula, paying only a shadow of homage to the royal +phantom at Constantinople. There appeared every reason to believe that a +German kingdom was about to be permanently established in the lands south +and west of the Danube. The fate which actually befell Gaul, Spain, and +Britain, a few years later seemed destined for Moesia and Macedonia. How +different the history of Europe would have been if the Germans had settled +down in Servia and Bulgaria we need hardly point out. + +But another series of events was impending. In A.D. 401, Alaric, instead +of resuming his attacks on Constantinople, suddenly declared war on the +Western Emperor Honorius. He marched round the head of the Adriatic and +invaded Northern Italy. The half-Romanized Stilicho, who wished to keep +the rule of the West to himself, fought hard to turn the Goths out of +Italy, and beat back Alaric's first invasion. But then the young emperor, +who was as weak and more worthless than his brother Arcadius, slew the +great minister on a charge of treason. When Stilicho was gone, Alaric had +everything his own way; he moved with the whole Visigothic race into +Italy, where he ranged about at his will, ransoming and plundering every +town from Rome downwards. The Visigoths are heard of no more in the Balkan +Peninsula; they now pass into the history of Italy and then into that of +Spain. + +While Alaric's eyes were turned on Italy, but before he had actually come +into conflict with Stilicho, the Court of Constantinople had been the seat +of grave troubles. Gainas the Gothic _Magister militum_ of the East, and +his creature, the eunuch Eutropius, had fallen out, and the man of war had +no difficulty in disposing of the wretched harem-bred Grand Chamberlain. +Instigated by Gainas, the German mercenaries in the army of Asia started +an insurrection under a certain Tribigild. Gainas was told to march +against them, and collected troops ostensibly for that purpose. But when +he was at the head of a considerable army, he did not attack the rebels, +but sent a message to Constantinople bidding Arcadius give up to him the +obnoxious Grand Chamberlain. Eutropius, hearing of his danger, threw +himself on the protection of the Church: he fled into the Cathedral of St. +Sophia and clung to the altar. John Chrysostom, the intrepid Patriarch of +Constantinople, forbade the soldiers to enter the church, and protected +the fugitive for some days. One of the most striking incidents in the +history of St. Sophia followed: while the cowering Chamberlain lay before +the altar, John preached to a crowded congregation a sermon on the text, +"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," emphasizing every period of his +harangue by pointing to the fallen Eutropius--prime minister of the empire +yesterday, and a hunted criminal to-day. The patriarch extorted a promise +that the eunuch's life should be spared, and Eutropius gave himself up. +Arcadius banished him to Cyprus, but the inexorable Gainas was not +contented with his rival's removal; he had Eutropius brought back to +Constantinople and beheaded. + +The _Magister militum_ now brought his army over to Constantinople, and +quartered it there to overawe the emperor. It appeared quite likely that +ere long the Germans would sack the city; but the fate that befell Rome +ten years later was not destined for Constantinople. A mere chance brawl +put the domination of Gainas to a sudden end. He himself and many of his +troops were outside the city, when a sudden quarrel at one of the gates +between a band of Goths and some riotous citizens brought about a general +outbreak against the Germans. The Constantinopolitan mob showed itself +more courageous and not less unruly than the Roman mob of elder days. The +whole population turned out with extemporized arms and attacked the German +soldiery. The gates were closed to prevent Gainas and his troops from +outside returning, and a desperate street-fight ranged over the entire +city. Isolated bodies of the Germans were cut off one by one, and at last +their barracks were surrounded and set on fire. The rioters had the upper +hand; seven thousand soldiers fell, and the remnant thought themselves +lucky to escape. Gainas at once declared open war on the empire, but he +had not the genius of Alaric, nor the numerical strength that had followed +the younger chief. He was beaten in the field and forced to fly across the +Danube, where he was caught and beheaded by Uldes, King of the Huns. +Curiously enough the officer who defeated Gainas was himself not only a +Goth but a heathen: he was named Fravitta and had been the sworn +guest-friend of Theodosius, whose son he faithfully defended even against +the assault of his own countrymen, [A.D. 401.] + +The departure of Alaric and the death of Gainas freed the Eastern Romans +from the double danger that has impended over them. They were neither to +see an independent German kingdom on the Danube and Morava, nor to remain +under the rule of a semi-civilized German _Magister militum_, making and +unmaking ministers, and perhaps Caesars, at his good pleasure. The weak +Arcadius was enabled to spend the remaining seven years of his life in +comparative peace and quiet. His court was only troubled by an open war +between his spouse, the Empress AElia Eudoxia, and John Chrysostom, the +Patriarch of Constantinople. John was a man of saintly life and apostolic +fervour, but rash and inconsiderate alike in speech and action. His +charity and eloquence made him the idol of the populace of the imperial +city, but his austere manners and autocratic methods of dealing with his +subordinates had made him many foes among the clergy. The patriarch's +enemies were secretly supported by the empress, who had taken offence at +the outspoken way in which John habitually denounced the luxury and +insolence of her court. She favoured the intrigues of Theophilus, +Patriarch of Alexandria, against his brother prelate, backed the Asiatic +clergy in their complaints about John's oppression of them, and at last +induced the Emperor to allow the saintly patriarch to be deposed by a +hastily-summoned council, the "Synod of the Oak" held outside the city. +The populace rose at once to defend their pastor; riots broke out, +Theodosius was chased back to Egypt, and the Emperor, terrified by an +earthquake which seemed to manifest the wrath of heaven, restored John to +his place. + +Next year, however, the war between the empress and the patriarch broke +out again. John took the occasion of the erection of a statue of Eudoxia +in the Augustaeum to recommence his polemics. Some obsolete semi-pagan +ceremonies at its dedication roused his wrath, and he delivered a scathing +sermon in which--if his enemies are to be believed--he compared the empress +to Herodias, and himself to John the Baptist. The Emperor, at his wife's +demand, summoned another council, which condemned Chrysostom, and on +Easter Day, A.D. 404, seized the patriarch in his cathedral by armed +force, and banished him to Asia. That night a fire, probably kindled by +the angry adherents of Chrysostom, broke out in St. Sophia, which was +burnt to the ground. From thence it spread to the neighbouring buildings, +and finally to the Senate-house, which was consumed with all the treasures +of ancient Greek art of which Constantine had made it the repository. + +Meanwhile the exiled John was banished to a dreary mountain fastness in +Cappadocia, and afterwards condemned to a still more remote prison at +Pityus on the Euxine. He died on his way thither, leaving a wonderful +reputation for patience and cheerfulness under affliction. This +fifth-century Becket was well-nigh the only patriarch of Constantinople +who ever fell out with the imperial Court on a question of morals as +distinguished from dogma. Chrysostom's quarrel was with the luxury, +insolence, and frivolity of the Empress and her Court; no real +ecclesiastical question was involved in his deposition, for the charges +against him were mere pretexts to cover the hatred of his disloyal clergy +and the revenge of the insulted Aelia Eudoxia. [A.D. 407.] + + + + + +V. THE REORGANIZATION OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE. (A.D. 408-518.) + + +The feeble and inert Arcadius died in A.D. 408, at the early age of +thirty-one; his imperious consort had preceded him to the grave, and the +empire of the East was left to Theodosius II., a child of seven years, +their only son. There was hardly an instance in Roman history of a minor +succeeding quietly to his father's throne. An ambitious relative or a +disloyal general had habitually supplanted the helpless heir. But the +ministers of Arcadius were exceptionally virtuous or exceptionally +destitute of ambition. The little emperor was duly crowned, and the +administration of the East undertaken in his name by the able Anthemius, +who held the office of Praetorian Praefect. History relates nothing but +good of this minister; he made a wise commercial treaty with the king of +Persia; he repelled with ease a Hunnish invasion of Moesia; he built a +flotilla on the Danube, where Roman warships had not been seen since the +death of Valens, forty years before; he reorganized the corn supply of +Constantinople; and did much to get back into order and cultivation the +desolated north-western lands of the Balkan Peninsula, from which Alaric +and his Visigothic hordes had now taken their final departure. The empire +was still more indebted to him for bringing up the young Theodosius as an +honest and god-fearing man. The palace under Anthemius' rule was the +school of the virtues: the lives of the emperor and his three sisters, +Pulcheria, Arcadia, and Marina, were the model and the marvel of their +subjects. Theodosius inherited the piety and honesty of his grandfather +and namesake, but was a youth of slender capacity, though he took some +interest in literature, and was renowned for his beautiful penmanship. His +eldest sister, Pulcheria, was the ruling spirit of the family, and +possessed unlimited influence over him, though she was but two years his +senior. When Anthemius died in A.D. 414, she took the title of Augusta, +and assumed the regency of the East. Pulcheria was an extraordinary woman: +on gathering up the reins of power she took a vow of chastity, and lived +as a crowned nun for thirty-six years; her fear had been that, if she +married, her husband might cherish ambitious schemes against her brother's +crown; she therefore kept single herself and persuaded her sisters to make +a similar vow. Austere, indefatigable, and unselfish, she proved equal to +ruling the realms of the East with success, though no woman had ever made +the attempt before. + +When Theodosius came of age he refused to remove his sister from power, +and treated her as his colleague and equal. By her advice he married in +A.D. 421, the year that he came of age, the beautiful and accomplished +Athenais, daughter of the philosopher Leontius. The emperor's chosen +spouse had been brought up as a pagan, but was converted before her +marriage, and baptized by the name of Eudocia. She displayed her literary +tastes in writing religious poetry, which had some merit, according to the +critics of the succeeding age. The austere Pulcheria--always immersed in +state business or occupied in religious observances--found herself ere long +ill at ease in the company of the lively, beautiful, and volatile literary +lady whom she had chosen as sister-in-law. If Theodosius had been less +easy-going and good-hearted he must have sent away either his sister or +his wife, but he long contrived to dwell affectionately with both, though +their bickerings were unending. After many years of married life, however, +a final quarrel came, and the empress retired to spend the last years of +her life in seclusion at Jerusalem. The cause of her exile is not really +known: we have only a wild story concerning it, which finds an exact +parallel in one of the tales of the "Arabian Nights." + + + "The emperor," so runs the tale, "was one day met by a peasant who + presented him with a Phrygian apple of enormous size, so that the + whole Court marvelled at it. And he gave the man a hundred and + fifty gold pieces in reward, and sent the apple to the Empress + Eudocia. But she sent it as a present to Paulinus, the 'Master of + the Offices,' because he was a friend of the emperor. But + Paulinus, not knowing the history of the apple, took it and gave + it to the emperor as he reentered the Palace. And Theodosius + having received it, recognized it and concealed it, and called his + wife and questioned her, saying, 'Where is the apple that I sent + you?' She answered, 'I have eaten it.' Then he bade her swear by + his salvation the truth, whether she had eaten it or sent it to + some one. And Eudocia swore that she had sent it to no man, but + had herself eaten it. Then the emperor showed her the apple, and + was exceedingly wrath, suspecting that she was enamoured of + Paulinus, and had sent it to him as a love-gift; for he was a very + handsome man. And on this account he put Paulinus to death, but he + permitted Eudocia to go to the Holy Places to pray. And she went + down from Constantinople to Jerusalem, and dwelt there all her + days." + + +That Paulinus was executed, and that Eudocia spent her last years of +retirement in Palestine, we know for certain. All the rest of the story is +in reality hidden from us. The chief improbability of the tale is that +Eudocia had reached the age of forty when the breach between her and her +husband took place, and that Paulinus was also an official of mature +years. + +Theodosius' long reign passed by in comparative quiet. Its only serious +troubles were a short war with the Persians, and a longer one with Attila, +the great king of the Huns, whose empire now stretched over all the lands +north of the Black Sea and Danube, where the Goths had once dwelt. In this +struggle the Roman armies were almost invariably unfortunate. The Huns +ravaged the country as far as Adrianople and Philippopolis, and had to be +bought off by the annual payment of 700 lbs. of gold [L31,000]. It is true +that they fell on Theodosius while his main force was engaged on the +Persian frontier, but the constant ill-success of the imperial generals +seems to show that the armies of the East had never been properly +reorganized since the military system of Theodosius I. had been broken up +by the revolt of Gainas forty years before. His grandson had neither a +trustworthy body of German auxiliaries nor a sufficiently large native +levy of born subjects of the empire to protect his borders. + + [Illustration] + + Angel Of Victory. (_From a Fifth-century Diptych._) _Reproduced from + "L'Art Byzantin." Par Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._ + + +The reconstruction of the Roman military forces was reserved for the +successors of Theodosius II. He himself was killed by a fall from his +horse in 450 A.D., leaving an only daughter, who was married to her cousin +Valentinian III., Emperor of the West. Theodosius, with great wisdom, had +designated as his successor, not his young-son-in-law, a cruel and +profligate prince, but his sister Pulcheria, who at the same time ended +her vow of celibacy and married Marcianus, a veteran soldier and a +prominent member of the Senate. The marriage was but formal, for both were +now well advanced in years: as a political expedient it was all that could +be desired. The empire had peace and prosperity under their rule, and +freed itself from the ignominious tribute to the Huns. Before Attila died +in 452, he had met and been checked by the succours which Marcianus sent +to the distressed Romans of the West. + +When Marcianus and Pulcheria passed away, the empire came into the hands +of a series of three men of ability. They were all bred as high civil +officials, not as generals; all ascended the throne at a ripe age; not one +of them won his crown by arms, all were peaceably designated either by +their predecessors, or by the Senate and army. These princes were Leo I. +(457-474), Zeno (474-491), Anastasius (491-518). Their chief merit was +that they guided the Roman Empire in the East safely through the stormy +times which saw its extinction in the West. While, beyond the Adriatic, +province after province was being lopped off and formed into a new +Germanic kingdom, the emperors who reigned at Constantinople kept a tight +grip on the Balkan Peninsula and on Asia, and succeeded in maintaining +their realm absolutely intact. Both East and West were equally exposed to +the barbarian in the fifth century, and the difference of their fate came +from the character of their rulers, not from the diversity of their +political conditions. In the West, after the extinction of the house of +Theodosius (455 A.D.), the emperors were ephemeral puppets, made and +unmade by the generals of their armies, who were invariably Germans. The +two _Magistri militum_, Ricimer and Gundovald--one Suabian, the other +Burgundian by birth--deposed or slew no less than five of their nominal +masters in seventeen years. In the East, on the other hand, it was the +emperors who destroyed one after another the ambitious generals, who, by +arms or intrigue, threatened their throne. + +While this comparison bears witness to the personal ability of the three +emperors who ruled at Constantinople between A.D. 457 and A.D. 518, it is +only fair to remember they were greatly helped by the fact that the German +element in their armies had never reached the pitch of power to which it +had attained in the West; the suppression of Gainas forty years before had +saved them from that danger. But unruly and aspiring generals were not +wanting in the East; the greatest danger of Leo I. was the conspiracy of +the great _Magister militum_ Aspar, whom he detected and slew when he was +on the eve of rebelling. Zeno was once chased out of his capital by +rebels, and twice vexed by dangerous risings in Asia Minor, but on each +occasion he triumphed over his adversaries, and celebrated his victory by +the execution of the leaders of the revolt. Anastasius was vexed for +several years by the raids of a certain Count Vitalian, who ranged over +the Thracian provinces with armies recruited from the barbarians beyond +the Danube. But, in spite of all these rebellions, the empire was never in +serious danger of sinking into disorder or breaking up, as the Western +realm had done, into new un-Roman kingdoms. So far was it from this fate, +that Anastasius left his successor, when he died in A.D. 518, a loyal army +of 150,000 men, a treasure of 320,000 lbs. of gold, and an unbroken +frontier to East and West. + +The main secret of the success of the emperors of the fifth century in +holding their own came from the fact that they had reorganized their +armies, and filled them up with native troops in great numbers. Leo I. was +the first ruler who utilized the military virtues of the Isaurians, or +mountain populations of Southern Asia Minor. He added several regiments of +them to the army of the East, but it was his son-in-law and successor, +Zeno, himself an Isaurian born, who developed the scheme. He raised an +imperial guard from his countrymen, and enlisted as many corps of them as +could be raised; moreover, he formed regiments of Armenians and other +inhabitants of the Roman frontier of the East, and handed over to his +successor, Anastasius, an army in which the barbarian auxiliaries--now +composed of Teutons and Huns in about equal numbers--were decidedly +dominated by the native elements. + +The last danger which the Eastern Empire was to experience from the hands +of the Germans fell into the reign of Zeno. The Ostrogoths had submitted +to the Huns ninety years before, when their brethren the Visigoths fled +into Roman territory, in the reign of Valens. But when the Hunnish Empire +broke up at the death of Attila [A.D. 452], the Ostrogoths freed +themselves, and replaced their late masters as the main danger on the +Danube. The bulk of them streamed south-westward, and settled in Pannonia, +the border-province of the Western Empire, on the frontier of the +East-Roman districts of Dacia and Moesia. They soon fell out with Zeno, +and two Ostrogothic chiefs, Theodoric, the son of Theodemir, and +Theodoric, the son of Triarius, were the scourges of the Balkan Peninsula +for more than twenty years. While the bulk of their tribesmen settled down +on the banks of the Save and Mid-Danube, the two Theodorics harried the +whole of Macedonia and Moesia by never-ending raids. Zeno tried to turn +them against each other, offering first to the one, then to the other, the +title of _Magister militum_, and a large pension. But now--as in the time +of Alaric and Stilicho--it was seen that "dog will not eat dog"; the two +Theodorics, after quarrelling for a while, banded themselves together +against Zeno. The story of their reconciliation is curious. + +Theodoric, the son of Theodemir, the ally of Rome for the moment, had +surrounded his rival on a rocky hill in a defile of the Balkans. While +they lay opposite each other, Theodoric, the son of Triarius [he is +usually known as Theodoric the One-Eyed], rode down to his enemy's lines +and called to him, "Madman, betrayer of your race, do you not see that the +Roman plan is always to destroy Goths by Goths? Whichever of us fails, +they, not we, will be the stronger. They never give you real help, but +send you out against me to perish here in the Desert." Then all the Goths +cried out, "The One-Eyed is right. These men are Goths like ourselves." So +the two Theodorics made peace, and Zeno had to cope with them both at once +[A.D. 479]. Two years later Theodoric the One-Eyed was slain by +accident--his horse flung him, as he mounted, against a spear fixed by the +door of his tent--but his namesake continued a thorn in the side of the +empire till 488 A.D. + +In that year Zeno bethought him of a device for ridding himself of the +Ostrogoth, who, though he made no permanent settlement in Moesia or +Macedonia, was gradually depopulating the realm by his incursions. The +line of ephemeral emperors who reigned in Italy over the shrunken Western +realm had ended in 476, when the German general Odoacer deposed Romulus +Augustulus, and did not trouble himself to nominate another puppet-Caesar +to succeed him. By his order a deputation from the Roman Senate visited +Zeno at Constantinople, to inform him that they did not require an emperor +of their own to govern Italy, but would acknowledge him as ruler alike of +East and West; at the same time they besought Zeno to nominate, as his +representative in the Italian lands, their defender, the great Odoacer. +Zeno replied by advising the Romans to persuade Odoacer to recognize as +his lord Julius Nepos, one of the dethroned nominees of Ricimer, who had +survived his loss of the imperial diadem. Odoacer refused, and proclaimed +himself king in Italy, while still affecting--against Zeno's own will--to +recognize the Constantinopolitan emperor as his suzerain. + +In 488 A.D. it occurred to Zeno to offer Theodoric the government of +Italy, if he would conquer it from Odoacer. The Ostrogoth, who had harried +the inland of the Balkan Peninsula bare, and had met several reverses of +late from the Roman arms, took the offer. He was made "patrician" and +consul, and started off with all the Ostrogothic nation at his back to win +the realm of Italy. After hard fighting with Odoacer and the mixed +multitude of mercenaries that followed him, the Goths conquered Italy, and +Theodoric--German king and Roman patrician--began to reign at Ravenna. He +always professed to be the vassal and deputy of the emperor at +Constantinople, and theoretically his conquest of Italy meant the reunion +of the East and the West. But the Western realm had shrunk down to Italy +and Illyricum, and the power of Zeno therein was purely nominal. + +With the departure of the Ostrogoths we have seen our last of the Germans +in the Balkan Peninsula; after 488 the Slavs take their place as the +molesters of the Roman frontier on the Danube. + + + + + +VI. JUSTINIAN. + + +The Emperor Anastasius died in A.D. 518 at the ripe age of eighty-eight, +and his sceptre passed to Justinus, the commander of his body-guard, whom +Senate and army alike hailed as most worthy to succeed the good old man. +The late emperor had nephews, but he had never designated them as his +heirs, and they retired into private life at his death. Justinus was well +advanced in years, as all his three predecessors had been when they +mounted the throne. But unlike Leo, Zeno, and Anastasius, he had won his +way to the front in the army, not in the civil service. He had risen from +the ranks, was a rough uncultured soldier, and is said to have been hardly +able to sign his own name. His reign of nine years would have been of +little note in history--for he made no wars and spent no treasure--if he had +not been the means of placing on the throne of the East the greatest ruler +since the death of Constantine. + +Justinus had no children himself, but had adopted as his heir his nephew +Justinian, son of his deceased brother Sabatius. This young man, born +after his father and uncle had won their way to high places in the army, +was no uncultured peasant as they had been, but had been reared, as the +heir of a wealthy house, in all the learning of the day. He showed from +the first a keen intelligence, and applied himself with zeal to almost +every department of civil life. Law, finance, administrative economy, +theology, music, architecture, fortification, all were dear to him. The +only thing in which he seems to have taken little personal interest was +military matters. His uncle trusted everything to him, and finally made +him his colleague on the throne. + +Justinian was heir designate to the empire, and had passed the age of +thirty-five, giving his contemporaries the impression that he was a staid, +business-like, and eminently practical personage. "No one ever remembered +him young," it was said, and most certainly no one ever expected him to +scandalize the empire by a sensational marriage. But in A.D. 526 the world +learnt, to the horror of the respectable and the joy of all +scandal-mongers, that he had declared his intention of taking to wife the +dancer Theodora, the star of the Byzantine comic stage. + +So many stories have gathered around Theodora's name that it is hard to +say how far her early life had been discreditable. A libellous work called +the "Secret History," written by an enemy of herself and her husband,(4) +gives us many scandalous details of her career; but the very virulence of +the book makes its tales incredible. It is indisputable, however, that +Theodora was an actress, and that Roman actresses enjoyed an unenviable +reputation for light morals. There was actually a law which forbade a +member of the senate to marry an actress, and Justinian had to repeal it +in order to legalize his own marriage. There had been scores of bad and +reckless men on the throne before, but none of them had ever dared to +commit an action which startled the world half so much as this freak of +the staid Justinian. His own mother used every effort to turn him from his +purpose, and his uncle the Emperor threatened to disinherit him: but he +was quietly persistent, and ere the aged Justinus died he had been induced +to acknowledge the marriage of his nephew, and to confer on Theodora the +title of "Patrician." + + [Illustration] + +The Empress Theodora And Her Court. _Reproduced from "L'Art Byzantin." Par + Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._ + + +Theodora, as even her enemies allow, was the most beautiful woman of her +age. Procopius, the best historian of the day, says "that it was +impossible for mere man to describe her comeliness in words, or imitate it +in art." All that her detractors could say was that she was below the +middle height, and that her complexion was rather pale, though not +unhealthy. It is unfortunate that we have no representation of her +surviving, save the famous mosaic in San Vitale at Ravenna, and mosaic is +of all forms of art that least suited to reproduce beauty. + +Whatever her early life may have been, Theodora was in spirit and +intelligence well suited to be the mate of the Emperor of the East. After +her marriage no word of scandal was breathed against her life. She rose to +the height of her situation: once her courage saved her husband's throne, +and always she was the ablest and the most trusted of his councillors. The +grave, studious, and hard-working Emperor never regretted his choice of a +consort. + +It cannot be said, however, that either Justinian or Theodora are +sympathetic characters. The Emperor was a hard and suspicious master, and +not over grateful to subjects who served him well; he was intolerant in +religious, and unscrupulous in political matters. When his heart was set +on a project he was utterly unmindful of the slaughter and ruin which it +might bring upon his people. In the extent of his conquests and the +magnificence of his public works, he was incomparably the greatest of the +emperors who reigned at Constantinople. But the greatness was purely +personal: he left the empire weaker in resources, if broader in provinces, +than he found it. Of all the great sovereigns of history he may be most +fairly compared with Louis XIV. of France; but it may be remembered to his +credit in the comparison that Louis has nothing to set against Justinian's +great legal work--the compilation of the _Pandects_ and _Institutes_, and +that Justinian's private life, unlike that of the Frenchman, was strict +even to austerity. All night long, we read, he sat alone over his State +papers in his cabinet, or paced the dark halls in deep thought. His +sleepless vigilance so struck his subjects that the strangest legends +became current even in his life-time: his enemies whispered that he was no +mere man, but an evil spirit that required no rest. One grotesque tale +even said that the Emperor had been seen long after midnight traversing +the corridors of his palace--without his head. + +If Justinian seemed hardly human to those who feared him, Theodora is +represented as entirely given up to pride and ambition, never forgiving an +offence, but hunting to death or exile all who had crossed her in the +smallest thing. She is reproached--but who that has risen from a low estate +is not?--of an inordinate love for the pomps and vanities of imperial +state. High officials complained that she had as great a voice in settling +political matters as her husband. Yet, on the whole, her influence would +appear not to have been an evil one--historians acknowledge that she was +liberal in almsgiving, religious after her own fashion, and that she often +interfered to aid the oppressed. It is particularly recorded that, +remembering the dangers of her own youth, she was zealous in establishing +institutions for the reclaiming of women who had fallen into sin. + +The aged Justinus died in 527 A.D., and Justinian became the sole occupant +of the throne, which he was destined to occupy for thirty-eight years. It +was less than half the century, yet his personality seems to pervade the +whole period, and history hardly remembers the insignificant predecessors +and successors whose reigns eke out the remainder of the years between 500 +and 600. + +The empire when Justinian took it over from the hands of his uncle was in +a more prosperous condition than it had known since the death of +Constantine. Since the Ostrogoths had moved out of the Balkan Peninsula in +A.D. 487, it had not suffered from any very long or destructive invasion +from without. The Slavonic tribes, now heard of for the first time, and +the Bulgarians had made raids across the Danube, but they had not yet +shown any signs of settling down--as the Goths had done--within the limits +of the empire. Their incursions, though vexatious, were not dangerous. +Still the European provinces of the empire were in worse condition than +the Asiatic, and were far from having recovered the effects of the ravages +of Fritigern and Alaric, Attila, and Theodoric. But the more fortunate +Asiatic lands had hardly seen a foreign enemy for centuries.(5) Except in +the immediate neighbourhood of the Persian frontier there was no danger, +and Persian wars had been infrequent of late. Southern Asia Minor had once +or twice suffered from internal risings--rebellions of the warlike +Isaurians--but civil war left no such permanent mark on the land as did +barbarian invasions. On the whole, the resources of the provinces beyond +the Bosphorus were intact. + +Justinus in his quiet reign had spent little or none of the great hoard of +treasure which Anastasius had bequeathed to him. There were more than +300,000 lbs. of gold [L13,400,000] in store when Justinian came to the +throne. The army, as we have had occasion to relate in the last chapter, +was in good order, and composed in a larger proportion of born subjects of +the empire than it had been at any time since the battle of Adrianople. +There would appear to have been from 150,000 to 200,000 men under arms, +but the extent of the frontiers of the empire were so great that Justinian +never sent out a single army of more than 30,000 strong, and forces of +only a third of that number are often found entrusted with such mighty +enterprises as the invasion of Africa or the defence of the Armenian +border. The flower of the Roman army was no longer its infantry, but its +mailed horsemen (_Cataphracti_), armed with lance and bow, as the Parthian +cavalry had once been of old. The infantry comprised more archers and +javelin-men than heavy troops: the Isaurians and other provincials of the +mountainous parts of Asia Minor were reckoned the best of them. Among both +horse and foot large bodies of foreign auxiliaries were still found: the +Huns and Arabs supplied light cavalry, the German Herules and Gepidae from +beyond the Danube heavier troops. + +The weakest point in the empire when Justinian took it over was its +financial system. The cardinal maxim of political economy, that "taxes +should be raised in the manner least oppressive to those who pay them" was +as yet undreamt of. The exaction of arbitrary customs dues, and the +frequent grant of monopolies was noxious to trade. The deplorable system +of tax-farming through middlemen was employed in many branches of the +revenue. Landed proprietors, small and great, were still mercilessly +overtaxed, in consideration of their exemption from military service. The +budget was always handicapped by the necessity for providing free corn for +the populace of Constantinople. Yet in spite of all these drawbacks +Justinian enjoyed an enormous and steady revenue. His finance minister, +John of Cappadocia, was such an ingenious extortioner that the treasury +was never empty in the hardest stress of war and famine: but it was kept +full at the expense of the future. The grinding taxation of Justinian's +reign bore fruit in the permanent impoverishment of the provinces: his +successors were never able to raise such a revenue again. Here again +Justinian may well be compared to Louis XIV. + +Justinian's policy divides into the departments of internal and foreign +affairs. Of his doings as legislator, administrator, theologian, and +builder, we shall speak in their proper place. But the history of his +foreign policy forms the main interest of his reign. He had determined to +take up a task which none of his predecessors since the division of the +Empire under Arcadius and Honorius had dared to contemplate. It was his +dream to re-unite under his sceptre the German kingdoms in the Western +Mediterranean which had been formed out of the broken fragments of the +realm of Honorius; and to end the solemn pretence by which he was +nominally acknowledged as Emperor West of the Adriatic, while really all +power was in the hands of the German rulers who posed as his vicegerents. +He aimed at reconquering Italy, Africa, and Spain--if not the further +provinces of the old empire. We shall see that he went far towards +accomplishing his intention. + +But during the first five years of his reign his attention was distracted +by other matters. The first of them was an obstinate war of four years' +duration, with Kobad, King of Persia. The causes of quarrel were +ultimately the rival pretensions of the Roman and Persian Empires to the +suzerainty of the small states on their northern frontiers near the Black +Sea, the kingdoms of Lazica and Iberia, and more proximately the +strengthening of the fortresses on the Mesopotamian border by Justinian. +His fortification of Dara, close to the Persian frontier town of Nisibis, +was the _casus belli_ chosen by Kobad, who declared war in 528, a year +after Justinian's accession. + +The Persian war was bloody, but absolutely indecisive. All the attacks of +the enemy were repelled, and one great pitched battle won over him at Dara +in 530. But neither party succeeded in taking a single fortress of +importance from the other; and when, on the death of Kobad, his son +Chosroes made peace with the empire, the terms amounted to the restoration +of the old frontier. The only importance of the war was that it enabled +Justinian to test his army, and showed him that he possessed an officer of +first-rate merit in Belisarius, the victor of the battle of Dara. + +This famous general was a native of the Thracian inland; he entered the +army very young, and rose rapidly, till at the age of twenty-three he was +already Governor of Dara, and at twenty-five _Magister militum_ of the +East.(6) His influence at Court was very great, as he had married +Antonina, the favourite and confidante of the Empress Theodora. His +position, indeed, was not unlike that which Marlborough, owing to his +wife's ascendency, enjoyed at the Court of Queen Anne. Like Marlborough, +too, Belisarius was ruled and bullied by his clever and unscrupulous wife. +Unlike the great Duchess Sarah, Antonina never set herself to thwart her +mistress; but after Theodora's death she and her husband lost favour, and +in declining years knew much the same misfortune as did the Marlboroughs. + +The year which saw the Persian War end [A.D. 532], saw also the rise and +fall of another danger, which while it lasted was much more threatening to +the Emperor's life and power. We have already noticed the "Blues" and +"Greens," the great factions of the Byzantine Circus.(7) All through the +fifth century they had been growing stronger, and interfered more and more +in politics, and even in religious controversies. To be a "Green" in 530 +meant to be a partisan of the house of the late Emperor Anastasius, and a +Monophysite.(8) The "Blues" posed as partisans of the house of Justinus, +and as strictly orthodox in matters ecclesiastical. From mere Circus +factions they had almost grown into political parties; but they still +retained at the bottom many traces of their low sporting origin. The +rougher elements pre-dominated in them; they were prone to riot and +mischief, and, as the events of 532 were to show, they were a serious +danger to the State. + +In January of that year there was serious rioting in the streets. +Justinian, though ordinarily he favoured the Blue faction, impartially +ordered the leaders of the rioters on both sides to be put to death. Seven +were selected for execution, and four of them were duly beheaded in the +presence of a great and angry mob, in front of the monastery of St. Conon. +The last three rioters were to be hung, but the hangman so bungled his +task that two of the criminals, one a Blue the other a Green, fell to the +ground alive. The guards seized them and they were again suspended; but +once more--owing no doubt to the terror of the executioners at the menaces +of the mob--the rope slipped. Then the multitude broke loose, the guards +were swept away, and the half-hung criminals were thrust into sanctuary at +the adjacent monastery. + +This exciting incident proved the commencement of six days of desperate +rioting. The Blues and Greens united, and taking as their watchword, +_Nika_, "conquer," swept through the city, crying for the deposition of +John of Cappadocia, the unpopular finance minister, and of Eudemius, +Praefect of the city, who was immediately responsible for the executions. +The ordinary police of the capital were quite unable to master them, and +Justinian was weak enough to promise to dismiss the officials. But the mob +was now quite out of hand, and refused to disperse: the trouble was +fomented by the partisans of the house of the late emperor, who began to +shout for the deposition of Justinian, and wished to make Hypatius, nephew +of Anastasius, Caesar in his stead. The city was almost empty of troops, +owing to the garrison having been sent to the Persian War. The Emperor +could only count on 4,000 men of the Imperial Guard, a few German +auxiliaries, and a regiment of 500 "Cataphracti," mailed horsemen, under +Belisarius, who had just returned from the seat of war. + +Belisarius was placed in command of the whole, and sallied out to clear +the streets, but the rioters, showing the same pluck that the Byzantine +mob displayed against the soldiers of Gainas a hundred and twenty-five +years before, offered a stout resistance. The main fighting took place +around the great square of the Augustaeum, between the Imperial palace and +the Hippodrome. In the heat of the fight the rebels set fire to the Brazen +Porch by the Senate House. The Senate House caught fire, and then the +conflagration spread east and north, till it was wafted across the square +to St. Sophia. On the third day of the riot the great cathedral was burnt +to the ground, and from thence the flames issued out to burn the hospital +of Sampson and the church of St. Irene.(9) The fire checked the fighting, +and the insurgents were now in possession of most of the city. But they +could not find their chosen leader, for the unfortunate Hypatius, who had +no desire to risk his neck, had taken refuge with the Emperor in the +palace. It was not till he was actually driven out by Justinian, who +feared to have him about his person, that this rebel in spite of himself, +fell into the hands of his own adherents. But on the sixth day of the +riots they led him to the Hippodrome, installed him in the royal seat of +the Kathisma, and crowned him there with a gold chain of his wife's, for +want of a proper diadem. + + [Illustration] + +Theodora Imperatrix. _From the Painting by Val. Prinsep. The copyright is + in the Artist's hands._ + + +Meanwhile there was dismay and diversity of councils in the Palace. John +of Cappadocia and many other ministers strove to persuade the Emperor to +fly by sea, and gather additional troops at Heraclea. There was nothing +left in his power save the palace, and they insisted that if he remained +there longer he would be surrounded by the rebels and cut off from escape. +It was then that the Empress Theodora rose to the level of the occasion, +refused to fly, and urged her husband to make one final assault on the +enemy. Her words are preserved by Procopius. + +"This is no occasion to keep to the old rule that a woman must not speak +in the council. Those who are most concerned have most right to dictate +the course of action. Now every man must die once, and for a king death is +better than dethronement and exile. May I never see the day when my purple +robe is stripped from me, and when I am no more called Lady and Mistress! +If you wish, O Emperor, to save your life, nothing is easier: there are +your ships and the sea. But _I_ agree with the old saying that 'Empire is +the best winding-sheet.' " + +Spurred on by his wife's bold words, Justinian ordered a last assault on +the rebels, and Belisarius led out his full force. The factions were now +in the Hippodrome, saluting their newly-crowned leader with shouts of +"_Hypatie Auguste, tu vincas,_" preparatory to a final attack on the +palace. Belisarius attacked at once all three gates of the Hippodrome: +that directed against the door of the Kathisma failed, but the soldiery +forced both the side entrances, and after a hard struggle the rebels were +entirely routed. Crowded into the enormous building with only five exits, +they fell in thousands by the swords of the victorious Imperialists. It is +said that 35,000 men were slain in the six days of this great "Sedition of +Nika." + +It is curious to learn that not even this awful slaughter succeeded in +crushing the factions. We hear of the Blues and Greens still rioting on +various occasions during the next fifty years. But they never came again +so near to changing the course of history as in the famous rising of A.D. +532. + + + + + +VII. JUSTINIAN'S FOREIGN CONQUESTS. + + +After the Persians had drawn back, foiled in their attempt to conquer +Mesopotamia, and after the suppression of the "Nika" sedition had cowed +the unruly populace of Constantinople, Justinian found himself at last +free, and was able to take in hand his great scheme for the reconquest of +the lost provinces of the empire. + +The enforced delay of six years between his accession and his first +attempt to execute his great plan, was, as it happened, extremely +favourable to the Emperor. In each of the two German kingdoms with which +he had first to deal, the power had passed within those six years into the +hands of a weak and incapable sovereign. In Africa, Hilderic, the king of +the Vandals, had been dethroned by his cousin Gelimer, a warlike and +ambitious, but very incapable, ruler. In Italy, Theodoric, the great king +of the Ostrogoths, had died in A.D. 526, and his grandson and successor, +Athalaric, in A.D. 533. After the death of the young Athalaric, the +kingdom fell to his mother, Amalasuntha, and she, compelled by Gothic +public opinion to take a husband to rule in her behalf, had unwisely +wedded Theodahat, her nearest kinsman. He was cruel, scheming, and +suspicious, and murdered his wife, within a year of her having brought him +the kingdom of Italy as a dowry.(10) Cowardly and avaricious as well as +ungrateful, Theodahat possessed exactly those vices which were most suited +to make him the scorn of his warlike subjects; he could count neither on +their loyalty nor their respect in the event of a war. + +Both the Vandals in Africa and the Goths in Italy were at this time so +weak as to invite an attack by an enterprising neighbour. They had, in +fact, conquered larger realms than their limited numbers were really able +to control. The original tribal hordes which had subdued Africa and Italy +were composed of fifty or sixty thousand warriors, with their wives and +children. Now such a body concentrated on one spot was powerful enough to +bear down everything before it. But when the conquerors spread themselves +abroad, they were but a sprinkling among the millions of provincials whom +they had to govern. In all Italy there were probably but three +cities--Ravenna, Verona, and Pavia--in which the Ostrogoths formed a large +proportion of the population. A great army makes but a small nation, and +the Goths and Vandals were too few to occupy such wide tracts as Italy and +Africa. They formed merely a small aristocracy, governing by dint of the +ascendency which their fathers had won over the minds of the unwarlike +populations which they had subdued. The only chance for the survival of +the Ostrogothic and Vandal monarchies lay in the possibility of their +amalgamating with the Roman provincial population, as the Franks, under +more favourable circumstances, did with the conquered inhabitants of Gaul. +This was seen by Theodoric, the great conqueror of Italy; and he did his +best to reconcile Goth and Roman, held the balance with strict justice +between the two, and employed Romans as well as Goths in the government of +the country. But one generation does little to assuage old hatreds such as +that between the conquerors and the conquered in Italy. Theodoric was +succeeded by a child, and then by a ruffian, and his work ended with him. +Even he was unable to strike at the most fatal difference of all between +his countrymen and the Italians. The Goths were Arians, having been +converted to Christianity in the fourth century by missionaries who held +the Arian heresy. Their subjects, on the other hand, were Orthodox +Catholics, almost without exception. When religious hatred was added to +race hatred, there was hardly any hope of welding together the two +nationalities. + +Another source of weakness in the kingdoms of Africa and Italy must be +noted. The Vandals of the third generation and the Goths of the second, +after their settlement in the south, seem to have degenerated in courage +and stamina. It may be that the climate was unfavourable to races reared +in the Danube lands; it may be that the temptations of unlimited luxury +offered by Roman civilization sufficed to demoralize them. A Gothic sage +observed at the time that "the Goth, when rich, tends to become Roman in +his habits; the Roman, when poor, Gothic in his." There was truth in this +saying, and the result of the change was ominous for the permanence of the +kingdom of Italy. If the masters softened and the subjects hardened, they +would not preserve for ever their respective positions. + +The case of the kingdom of Africa was infinitely worse than that of the +kingdom of Italy. The Vandals were less numerous than the Goths, in +proportion to their subjects; they were not merely heretics, but fanatical +and persecuting heretics, which the Goths were not. Moreover, they had +never had at their head a great organizer and administrator like +Theodoric, but only a succession of turbulent princes of the Viking type, +fit for war and nothing else. + +Justinian declared war on King Gelimer the moment that he had made peace +with Persia, using as his _casus belli_, not a definite re-assertion of +the claim of the empire over Africa--for such language would have provoked +the rulers of Italy and Spain to join the Vandals, but the fact that +Gelimer had wrongfully deposed Hilderic, the Emperor's ally. In July, 533, +Belisarius, who was now at the height of his favour for his successful +suppression of the "Nika" rioters, sailed from the Bosphorus with an army +of 10,000 foot and 5,000 horse. He was accompanied, luckily for history, +by his secretary, Procopius, a very capable writer, who has left a full +account of his master's campaigns. Belisarius landed at Tripoli, at the +extreme eastern limit of the Vandal power. The town was at once betrayed +to him by its Roman inhabitants. From thence he advanced cautiously along +the coast, meeting with no opposition; for the incapable Gelimer had been +caught unprepared, and was still engaged in calling in his scattered +warriors. It was not till he had approached within ten miles of Carthage +that Belisarius was attacked by the Vandals. After a hard struggle he +defeated them, and the city fell into his hands next clay. The provincials +were delighted at the rout of their masters, and welcomed the imperial +army with joy; there was neither riot nor pillage, and Carthage had not +the aspect of a conquered town. + +Calling up his last reserves, Gelimer made one more attempt to try the +fortunes of war. He advanced on Carthage, and was met by Belisarius at +Tricameron, on the road to Bulla. Again the day went against him; his army +broke up, his last fortresses threw open their gates, and there was an end +of the Vandal kingdom. It had existed just 104 years, since Genseric +entered Africa in A.D. 429. + +Gelimer took refuge for a time with the Moorish tribes who dwelt in the +fastnesses of Mount Atlas. But ere long he resolved to surrender himself +to Belisarius, whose humanity was as well known as his courage. He sent to +Carthage to say that he was about to give himself up, and--so the story +goes--asked but for three things: a harp, to which to chant a dirge he had +written on the fate of himself and the Vandal race; a sponge, to wipe away +his tears; and a loaf, a delicacy he had not tasted ever since he had been +forced to partake of the unsavoury food of the Moors! Belisarius received +Gelimer with kindness, and took him to Constantinople, along with the +treasures of the palace of Carthage, which included many of the spoils of +Rome captured by the Vandals eighty-six years before, when they sacked the +imperial city, in 453. It is said that among these spoils were some of the +golden vessels of the Temple at Jerusalem, which Titus had brought in +triumph to Rome, and which Gaiseric had carried from Rome to Carthage. + + [Illustration] + + Cavalry Scouts. (_From a Byzantine MS._) _Reproduced from "L'Art + Byzantin." Par Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._ + + +The triumphal entry of Belisarius into Constantinople with his captives +and his spoils, encouraged Justinian to order instant preparations for an +attack on the second German kingdom, on his western frontier. He declared +war on the wretched King Theodahat in the summer of A.D. 435, using as his +pretext the murder of Queen Amalasuntha, whom, as we have already said, +her ungrateful spouse had first imprisoned and then strangled within a +year of their marriage. + +The king of the Goths, whether he was conscience-stricken or merely +cowardly, showed the greatest terror at the declaration of war. He even +wrote to Constantinople offering to resign his crown, if the Emperor would +guarantee his life and his private property. Meanwhile he consulted +soothsayers and magicians about his prospects, for he was as superstitious +as he was incompetent. Procopius tells us a strange tale of the doings of +a Jewish magician of note, to whom Theodahat applied. He took thirty +pigs--to represent unclean Gentiles, we must suppose--and penned them in +three styes, ten in each. The one part he called "Goths," the second +"Italians," and the third "Imperialists." He left the beasts without food +or water for ten days, and bade the king visit them at the end of that +time, and take augury from their condition. When Theodahat looked in he +found all but two of the "Goth" pigs dead, and half of the "Italians," but +the "Imperialists," though gaunt and wasted, were all, or almost all, +alive. This portent the Jew expounded as meaning that at the end of the +approaching war the Gothic race would be exterminated and their Italian +subjects terribly thinned, while the Imperial troops would conquer, though +with toil and difficult. + +While Theodahat was busying himself with portents, actual war had broken +out on the Illyrian frontier between the Goths and the governor of +Dalmatia. There was no use in making further offers to Justinian, and the +king of Italy had to face the situation as best he could. + +In the summer of 535, Belisarius landed in Sicily, with an even smaller +army than had been given him to conquer Africa--only 3,000 Roman troops, +all Isaurians, and 4,500 barbarian auxiliaries of different sorts. +Belisarius' first campaign was as fortunate as had been that which he had +waged against Gelimer. All the Sicilian towns threw open their gates +except Palermo, where there was a considerable Gothic garrison, and +Palermo fell after a short siege. In six months the whole island was in +the hands of Belisarius. + +Theodahat seemed incapable of defending himself; he fell into a condition +of abject helplessness, which so provoked his warlike subjects, that when +the news came that Belisarius had crossed over into Italy and taken +Rhegium, they rose and slew him. In his stead the army of the Goths +elected as their king Witiges, a middle-aged warrior, well known for +personal courage and integrity, but quite incompetent to face the +impending storm. + +After the fall of Rhegium, Belisarius marched rapidly on Naples, meeting +no opposition; for the Goths were very thinly scattered through Southern +Italy, and had not even enough men to garrison the Lucanian and Calabrian +fortresses. Naples was taken by surprise, the Imperialists finding their +way within the walls by crawling up a disused aqueduct. After this +important conquest, Belisarius made for Rome, though his forces were +reduced to a mere handful by the necessity of leaving garrisons in his +late conquests. King Witiges made no effort to obstruct his approach. He +had received news that the Franks were threatening an evasion of Northern +Italy, and went north to oppose an imaginary danger in the Alps, when he +should have been defending the line of the Tiber. Having staved off the +danger of a Frankish war by ceding Provence to King Theuderic, Witiges +turned back, only to learn that Rome was now in the hands of the enemy. +The troops of Leudaris, the Gothic general, who had been left with 4,000 +men to defend the city, had been struck with panic at the approach of +Belisarius, and were cowardly and idiotic enough to evacuate it without +striking a blow. Five thousand men had sufficed to seize the ancient +capital of the world! [December, 536.] + +Next spring King Witiges came down with the main army of the Goths--more +than 100,000 strong--and laid siege to Rome. The defence of the town by +Belisarius and his very inadequate garrison forms the most interesting +episode in the Italian war. For more than a year the Ostrogoths lay before +its walls, essaying every device to force an entry. They tried open storm; +they endeavoured to bribe traitors within the city; they strove to creep +along the bed of a disused aqueduct, as Belisarius had done a year before +at Naples. All was in vain, though the besiegers outnumbered the garrison +twenty-fold, and exposed their lives with the same recklessness that their +ancestors had shown in the invasion of the empire a hundred years back. +The scene best remembered in the siege was the simultaneous assault on +five points in the wall, on the 21st of March, 537. Three of the attacks +were beaten back with ease; but near the Praenestine Gate, at the +south-east of the city, one storming party actually forced its way within +the walls, and had to be beaten out by sheer hard fighting; and at the +mausoleum of Hadrian, on the north-west, another spirited combat took +place. Hadrian's tomb--a great quadrangular structure of white marble, 300 +feet square and 85 feet high--was surmounted by one of the most magnificent +collections of statuary in ancient Rome, including four great equestrian +statues of emperors at its corners. The Goths, with their ladders, swarmed +at the foot of the tomb in such numbers, that the arrows and darts of the +defenders were insufficient to beat them back. Then, as a last resource, +the Imperialists tore down the scores of statues which adorned the +mausoleum, and crushed the mass of assailants beneath a rain of marble +fragments. Two famous antiques, that form the pride of modern +galleries--the "Dancing Faun" at Florence, and the "Barberini Faun" at +Munich--were found, a thousand years later, buried in the ditch of the tomb +of Hadrian, and must have been among the missiles employed against the +Goths. The rough usage which they then received proved the means of +preserving them for the admiration of the modern world. + +A year and nine days after he had formed the siege of Rome, the unlucky +Witiges had to abandon it. His army, reduced by sword and famine, had +given up all hope of success, and news had just arrived that the +Imperialists had launched a new army against Ravenna, the Gothic capital. +Belisarius, indeed, had just received a reinforcement of 6,000 or 7,000 +men, and had wisely sent a considerable force, under an officer named +John, to fall on the Adriatic coast. + +The scene of the war was now transported further to the north; but its +character still remained the same. The Romans gained territory, the Goths +lost it. Firmly fixed at Ancona and Rimini and Osimo, Belisarius gradually +forced his way nearer to Ravenna, and, in A.D. 540 laid siege to it. +Witiges, blockaded by Belisarius in his capital, made no such skilful +defence as did his rival at Rome three years before. To add to his +troubles, the Franks came down into Northern Italy, and threatened to +conquer the valley of the Po, the last Gothic stronghold. Witiges then +made proposals for submission; but Belisarius refused to grant any terms +other than unconditional surrender, though his master Justinian was ready +to acknowledge Witiges as vassal-king in Trans-Padane Italy. Famine drove +Ravenna to open its gates, and the Goths, enraged at their imbecile king, +and struck with admiration for the courage and generosity of Belisarius, +offered to make their conqueror Emperor of the West. The loyal general +refused; but bade the Goths disperse each to his home, and dwell peaceably +for the future as subjects of the empire. [May, 540 A.D.] He himself, +taking the great Gothic treasure-hoard from the palace of Theodoric, and +the captive Witiges, sailed for Constantinople, and laid his trophies at +his master's feet. + +Italy now seemed even as Africa; only Pavia and Verona were still held by +Gothic garrisons, and when he sailed home, Belisarius deemed his work so +nearly done, that his lieutenants would suffice to crush out the last +embers of the strife. He himself was required in the East, for a new +Persian war with Chosroesroes, son of Kobad, was on the eve of breaking +out. But things were not destined to end so. At the last moment the Goths +found a king and a hero to rescue them, and the conquest of Italy was +destined to be deferred for twelve years more. Two ephemeral rulers +reigned for a few months at Pavia, and came to bloody ends; but their +successor was Baduila,(11) the noblest character of the sixth century--"the +first knight of the Middle Ages," as he has been called. When the generals +of Justinian marched against him, to finish the war by the capture of +Verona and Pavia, he won over them the first victory that the Goths had +obtained since their enemies landed in Italy. This was followed by two +more successes; the scattered armies of Witiges rallied round the banner +of the new king, and at once the cities of Central and Southern Italy +began to fall back into Gothic hands, with the same rapidity with which +they had yielded to Belisarius. The fact was, that the war had been a +cruel strain on the Italians, and that the imperial governors, and still +more their fiscal agents, or "logothetes," had become unbearably +oppressive. Italy had lived through the fit of enthusiasm with which it +had received the armies of Justinian, and was now regretting the days of +Theodoric as a long-lost golden age. Most of its cities were soon in +Baduila's hands; the Imperialists retained only the districts round Rome, +Naples, Otranto, and Ravenna. Of Naples they were soon deprived. [B.C. +543.] Baduila invested it, and ere long constrained it to surrender. He +treated the inhabitants with a kindness and consideration which no Roman +general, except Belisarius, had ever displayed. A speech which he +delivered to his generals soon after this success deserves a record, as +showing the character of the man. A Gothic warrior had been convicted of +violating the daughter of a Roman. Baduila condemned him to death. His +officers came round him to plead for the soldier's life. He answered them +that they must choose that day whether they preferred to save one man's +life or the life of the Gothic race. At the beginning of the war, as they +knew well, the Goths had brave soldiers, famous generals, countless +treasure, horses, weapons, and all the forts of Italy. And yet under +Theodahat--a man who loved gold better than justice--they had so angered God +by their unrighteous lives, that all the troubles of the last ten years +had come upon them. Now God seemed to have avenged Himself on them enough. +He had begun a new course with them, and they must begin a new course with +Him, and justice was the only path. As for the present criminal being a +valiant hero, let them know that the unjust man and the ravisher was never +brave in fight; but that, according to a man's life, such was his luck in +battle. + +Such was the justice of Baduila; and it seemed as if his dream was about +to come true, and that the regenerate Goths would win back all that they +had lost. Ere long he was at the gates of Rome, prepared to essay, with +15,000 men, what Witiges had failed to do with 100,000. Lest all his +Italian conquests should be lost, Justinian was obliged to send back +Belisarius, for no one else could hold back the Goths. But Belisarius was +ill-supplied with men; he had fallen into disfavour at Court, and the +imperial ministers stinted him of troops and money. Unable to relieve +Rome, he had to wait at Portus, by the mouth of the Tiber, watching for a +chance to enter the city. That chance he never got. The famine-stricken +Romans, angry with the cruel and avaricious Bessas, who commanded the +garrison, began to long for the victory of their enemy; and one night some +traitors opened the Asinarian Gate, and let in Baduila and his Goths. The +King thought that his troubles were over; he assembled his chiefs, and +bade them observe how, in the time of Witiges, 7,000 Greeks had conquered, +and robbed of kingdom and liberty, 100,000 well-armed Goths. But now that +they were few, poor, and wretched, the Goths had conquered more than +20,000 of the enemy. And why? Because of old they looked to anything +rather than justice: they had sinned against each other and the Romans. +Therefore they must choose henceforth, and be just men and have God with +them, or unjust and have God against them. + +Baduila had determined to do that which no general since Hannibal had +contemplated: he would destroy Rome, and with it all the traditions of the +world-empire of the ancient city--to him they seemed but snares, tending to +corrupt the mind of the Goths. The people he sent away unharmed--they were +but a few thousand left after the horrors of the famine during the siege. +But he broke down the walls, and dismantled the palaces and arsenals. For +a few weeks Rome was a deserted city, given up to the wolf and the owl +[A.D. 550]. + +For eleven unquiet years, Baduila, the brave and just, ruled Italy, +holding his own against Belisarius, till the great general was called home +by some wretched court intrigue. But presently Justinian gathered another +army, more numerous than any that Belisarius had led, and sent it to +Italy, under the command of the eunuch Narses. It was a strange choice +that made the chamberlain into a general; but it succeeded. Narses marched +round the head of the Adriatic, and invaded Italy from the north. Baduila +went forth to meet him at Tagina, in the Apennines. For a long day the +Ostrogothic knights rode again and again into the Imperialist ranks; but +all their furious charges failed. At evening they reeled back broken, and +their king received a mortal wound in the flight [A.D. 553]. + +With the death of Baduila, it was all up with the Goths; their hero's +knightly courage and kingly righteousness had not sufficed to save them +from the same doom which had overtaken the Vandals. The broken army made +one last stand in Campania, under a chief named Teia; but he was slain in +battle at Nuceria, and then the Goths surrendered. They told Narses that +the hand of God was against them; they would quit Italy, and go back to +dwell in the north, in the land of their fathers. So the poor remnant of +the conquering Ostrogoths marched off, crossed the Po and the Alps, and +passed away into oblivion in the northern darkness. The scheme of +Justinian was complete. Italy was his; but an Italy so wasted and +depopulated, that the traces of the ancient Roman rule had almost +vanished. "The land," says a contemporary chronicler, "was reduced to +primeval solitude"--war and famine had swept it bare. + + [Illustration] + + Details Of St. Sophia. + + +It is strange to find that the Emperor was not tired out by waging this +desperate war with the Goths; the moment it ended he began to essay +another western conquest. There was civil war in Spain, and, taking +advantage of it, Liberius, governor of Africa, landed in Andalusia, and +rapidly took the great towns of the south of the peninsula--Cordova, +Cartagena, Malaga, and Cadiz. The factious Visigoths then dropped their +strife, united in arms under King Athangild, and checked the further +progress of the imperial arms. But a long slip of the lost territory was +not recovered by them. Justinian and his successors, down to A.D. 623, +reigned over the greater part of the sea-coast of Southern Spain. + + + + + +VIII. THE END OF JUSTINIAN'S REIGN. + + +The slackness with which the generals of Justinian prosecuted the Gothic +war in the period between the triumph of Belisarius at Ravenna in A.D. +540, and the final conquest of Italy in A.D. 553, is mainly to be +explained by the fact that, just at the moment of the fall of Ravenna, the +empire became involved in a new struggle with its great Eastern neighbour. +Chosroes of Persia was seriously alarmed at the African and Italian +conquests of Justinian, and remembered that he too, as well as the Vandals +and Goths, was in possession of provinces that had formerly been Roman, +and might one day be reclaimed by the Emperor. He determined to strike +before Justinian had got free from his Italian war, and while the flower +of the Roman army was still in the West. Using as his pretext for war some +petty quarrels between two tribes of Arabs, subject respectively to Persia +and the empire, he declared war in the spring of A.D. 540. Justinian, as +the king had hoped, was caught unprepared: the army of the Euphrates was +so weak that it never dared face the Persians in the field, and the +opening of the war was fraught with such a disaster to the empire as had +not been known since the battle of Adrianople, more than a hundred and +sixty years before. Avoiding the fortresses of Mesopotamia, Chosroes, who +led his army in person, burst into Northern Syria. His main object was to +strike a blow at Antioch, the metropolis of the East, a rich city that had +not seen an enemy for nearly three centuries, and was reckoned safe from +all attacks owing to its distance from the frontier. Antioch had a strong +garrison of 6,000 men and the "Blues" and "Greens" of its circus factions +had taken arms to support the regular troops. But the commander was +incompetent, and the fortifications had been somewhat neglected of late. +After a sharp struggle, Chosroes took the town by assault; the garrison +cut its way out, and many of the inhabitants escaped with it, but the city +was sacked from cellar to garret and thousands of captives were dragged +away by the Persians. Chosroes planted them by the Euphrates--as +Nebuchadnezzar had done of old with the Jews--and built for them a city +which he called Chosroantiocheia, blending his own name with that of their +ancient abode. + +This horrible disaster to the second city of the Roman East roused all +Justinian's energy; neglecting the Italian war, he sent all his disposable +troops to the Euphrates frontier, and named Belisarius himself as the +chief commander. After this, Chosroes won no such successes as had +distinguished his first campaign. Having commenced an attack on the Roman +border fortresses in Colchis, far to the north, he was drawn home by the +news that Belisarius had invaded Assyria and was besieging Nisibis. On the +approach of the king the imperial general retired, but his manoeuvre had +cost the Persian the fruits of a whole summer's preparation, and the year +A.D. 541 ended without serious fighting. In the next spring very similar +operations followed: Belisarius defended the line of the Euphrates with +success, and the invaders retired after having reduced one single +Mesopotamian fortress. The war lingered for two years more, till Chosroes, +disgusted at the ill-success of all his efforts since his first success at +Antioch, and more especially humiliated by a bloody repulse from the walls +of Edessa, consented to treat for peace [A.D. 545]. He gave up his +conquests--which were of small importance--but regarded the honours of the +war as being his own, because Justinian consented to pay him 2,000 lbs. of +gold [L108,000] on the ratification of the treaty. One curious clause was +inserted in the document--though hostilities ceased everywhere else, the +rights of the two monarchs to the suzerainty of the kingdom of Lazica, on +the Colchian frontier, hard by the Black Sea, were left undefined. For no +less than seven years a sort of by-war was maintained in this small +district, while peace prevailed on all other points of the Perso-Roman +frontier. It was not till A.D. 556, after both parties had wasted much +treasure and many men on the unprofitable contest, that Chosroes resigned +the attempt to hold the small and rugged mountain kingdom of the Lazi, and +resigned it to Justinian on the promise of an annual grant of L18,000 as +compensation money. + +But although Justinian had brought his second Persian war to a not +unsuccessful end, the empire had come badly out of the struggle, and was +by 556 falling into a condition of incipient disorder and decay. This was +partly caused by the reckless financial expedients of the Emperor, who +taxed the provinces with unexampled rigour while forced to maintain at +once a Persian and an Italian war. + +The main part of the damage, however, was wrought by other than human +means. In A.D. 542 there broke out in the empire a plague such as had not +been known for three hundred years--the last similar visitation had fallen +in the reign of Trebonianus Gallus, far back in the third century. This +pestilence was one of the epoch-making events in the history of the +empire, as great a landmark as the Black Death in the history of England. +The details which Procopius gives us concerning its progress and results +leave no doubt that it operated more powerfully than any other factor in +that weakening of the empire which is noticeable in the second half of the +sixth century. When it reached Constantinople, 5,000 persons a day are +said to have fallen victims to it. All customary occupations ceased in the +city, and the market-place was empty save for corpse-bearers. In many +houses not a single soul remained alive, and the government had to take +special measures for the burial of neglected corpses. "The disease," says +the chronicler, "did not attack any particular race or class of men, nor +prevail in any particular region, nor confine itself to any period of the +year. Summer or winter, North or South, Greek or Arabian, washed or +unwashed--of such distinctions the plague took no account. A man might +climb to the hill-top, and it was there; he might retire to the depths of +a cavern, and it was there also." The only marked characteristic of its +ravages that the chronicler could find was that, "whether by chance or +providential design, it strictly spared the most wicked."(12) + +Justinian himself fell ill of the plague: he recovered, but was never his +old self again. Though he persevered inflexibly to his last day in his +scheme for the reconquest of the empire, yet he seems to have declined in +energy, and more especially to have lost that power of organization, which +had been his most marked characteristic. The chroniclers complain that he +had grown less hopeful and less masterful. "After achieving so much in the +days of his vigour, when he entered into the last stage of his life he +seemed to weary of his labours, and preferred to create discord among his +foes or to mollify them with gifts, instead of trusting to his arms and +facing the dangers of war. So he allowed his troops to decline in numbers, +because he did not expect to require their services. And his ministers, +who collected his taxes and maintained his armies were affected with the +same indifference."(13) + +One feature of the Emperor's later years was that he took more and more +interest in theological disputes, even to the neglect of State business. +The Church question of the day was the dispute on Monophysitism, the +heresy which denied the existence both of a human and a divine nature in +Our Lord. Justinian was not a monophysite himself, but wished to unify the +sect with the main body of the Church by edicts of comprehension, which +forbade the discussion of the subject, and spent much trouble in coercing +prelates orthodox and heretical into a reconciliation which had no chance +of permanent success. His chief difficulty was with the bishops of Rome. +He forced Pope Vigilius to come to Constantinople, and kept him under +constraint for many months, till he signed all that was required of him +[A.D. 554]. The only result was to win Vigilius the reputation of a +heretic, and to cause a growing estrangement between East and West. + +The gloom of Justinian's later years was even more marked after the death +of his wife; Theodora died in A.D. 548, six years after the great plague, +and it may be that her loss was no less a cause of the diminished energy +of his later years than was his enfeebled health. Her bold and adventurous +spirit must have buoyed him up in many of the more difficult enterprises +of the first half of his reign. After her death, Justinian seems to have +trusted no one: his destined successor, Justinus, son of his sister, was +kept in the background, and no great minister seems to have possessed his +confidence. Even Belisarius, the first and most loyal soldier of the +empire, does not appear to have been trusted: in the second Gothic war the +Emperor stinted him of troops and hampered him with colleagues. At last he +was recalled [A.D. 549] and sent into private life, from which he was only +recalled on the occurrence of a sudden military crisis in A.D. 558. + +This crisis was a striking example of the mismanagement of Justinian's +later years. A nomad horde from the South Russian steppes, the Cotrigur +Huns, had crossed the frozen Danube at mid-winter, when hostilities were +least expected, and thrown themselves on the Thracian provinces. The +empire had 150,000 men under arms at the moment, but they were all +dispersed abroad, many in Italy, others in Africa, others in Spain, others +in Colchis, some in the Thebaid, and a few on the Mesopotamian frontier. +There was such a dearth of men to defend the home provinces that the +barbarians rode unhindered over the whole country side from the Danube to +the Propontis plundering and burning. One body, only 7,000 strong, came up +to within a few miles of the city gates, and inspired such fear that the +Constantinopolitans began to send their money and church-plate over to +Asia. Justinian then summoned Belisarius from his retirement, and placed +him in command of what troops there were available--a single regiment of +300 veterans from Italy, and the "Scholarian guards," a body of local +troops 3,500 strong, raised in the city and entrusted with the charge of +its gates, which inspired little confidence as its members were allowed to +practice their trades and avocations and only called out in rotation for +occasional service. With this undisciplined force, which had never seen +war, at his back, Belisarius contrived to beat off the Huns. He led them +to pursue him back to a carefully prepared position, where the only point +that could be attacked was covered with woods and hedges on either side. +The untrustworthy "Scholarians" were placed on the flanks, where they +could not be seriously molested, while the 300 Italian veterans covered +the one vulnerable point. The Huns attacked, were shot down from the woods +and beaten off in front, and fled leaving 400 men on the field, while the +Romans only lost a few wounded and not a single soldier slain. Thus the +last military exploit of Belisarius preserved the suburbs of the imperial +city itself from molestation; after defending Old Rome in his prime, he +saved New Rome in his old age. + +Even this last service did not prevent Justinian from viewing his great +servant with suspicion. Four years later an obscure conspiracy against his +life was discovered, and one of the conspirators named Belisarius as being +privy to the plot. The old emperor affected to believe the accusation, +sequestrated the general's property, and kept him under surveillance for +eight months. Belisarius was then acquitted and restored to favour: he +lived two years longer, and died in March, 565.(14) The ungrateful master +whom he had served so well followed him to the grave nine months later. + + ------------------------------------- + +Of Justinian as conqueror and governor we have said much. But there remain +two more aspects of his life which deserve notice--his work as a builder +and his codification of the laws. From the days of Diocletian the style of +architecture which we call Byzantine, for want of a better name, had been +slowly developing from the old classic forms, and many of the emperors of +the fourth and fifth centuries had been given to building. But no previous +monarch had combined in such a degree as did Justinian the will and the +power to launch out into architectural experiments. He had at his disposal +the hoarded treasures of Anastasius, and his tastes were as magnificent as +those of the great builders of the early empire, Augustus and Nero and +Hadrian. All over the empire the monuments of his wealth and taste were +seen in dozens of churches, halls of justice, monasteries, forts, +hospitals, and colonnades. The historian Procopius was able to compose a +considerable volume entirely on the subject of Justinian's buildings, and +numbers of them survive, some perfect and more in ruins, to witness to the +accuracy of the work. Even in the more secluded or outlying portions of +the empire, any fine building that is found is, in two cases out of three, +one of the works of Justinian. Not merely great centres like +Constantinople or Jerusalem, but out-of-the-way tracts in Cappadocia and +Isauria, are full of his buildings. Even in the newly-conquered Ravenna +his great churches of San Vitale, containing the celebrated mosaic +portraits of himself and his wife, and of St. Apollinare in the suburb of +Classis, outshine the older works of the fifth-century emperors and of the +Goth Theodoric. + + [Illustration] + + Columns In St. Sophia. + + + [Illustration] + + Galleries Of St. Sophia. + + +Justinian's churches, indeed, are the best known of his buildings. In +Oriental church-architecture his reign forms a landmark: up to his time +Christian architects had still been using two patterns copied straight +from Old Roman models. The first was the round domed church, whose origin +can be traced back to such Roman originals as the celebrated Temple of +Vesta--of such the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Rome may serve as a +type. The second was the rectangular church with apses, which was nothing +more than an adaptation for ecclesiastical purposes of the Old Roman +law-courts, and which had borrowed from them its name of _Basilica_. St. +Paul's Outside the Walls, at Rome is a fair specimen. Justinian brought +into use for the first time on a large scale the combination of a +cruciform ground-plan and a very large dome. The famous Church of St. +Sophia may serve as the type of this style. The great cathedral of +Constantinople had already been burnt down twice, as we have had occasion +to relate: the first time on the eve of the banishment of John Chrysostom, +the second in the great "Nika" riot of 532. Within forty days of its +destruction Justinian had commenced preparations for rebuilding it as a +monument of his triumph in the civil strife. He chose as his architect +Anthemius of Tralles, the greatest of Byzantine builders, and one of the +few whose names have survived. The third church was different in plan from +either of its predecessors, showing the new combination which we have +already specified. It is a Greek cross, 241 feet long and 224 broad, +having in its midst a vast dome, pierced by no less than forty windows, +light and airy and soaring 180 feet above the floor. In the nave the +aisles and side apses are parted from the main central spaces by +magnificent colonnades of marble pillars, the majority of _verde antique_. +These are not for the most part the work of Justinian's day, but were +plundered from the chief pagan temples of Asia, which served as an +inexhaustible quarry for the Christian builder. The whole of the interior, +both roof and dome, was covered with gilding or mosaics, which the +Vandalism of the Turks has covered with a coat of whitewash, to hide the +representations of human forms which are offensive to the Moslems' creed. +Procopius describes the church with enthusiasm, and his praises are well +justified-- + + + "It presents a most glorious spectacle, extraordinary to those who + behold it, and altogether incredible to those who know it by + report only. In height it rises to the very heavens, and overtops + the neighbouring buildings like a ship anchored among them. It + towers above the city which it adorns, and from it the whole of + Constantinople can be beheld, as from a watch-tower. Its breadth + and length are so judiciously chosen, that it appears both broad + and long without disproportion. For it excels both in size and + harmony, being more magnificent than ordinary buildings, and much + more elegant than the few which approach it in size. Within it is + singularly full of light and sunshine; you would declare that the + place is not lighted from without, but that the rays are produced + within itself, such an abundance of light is poured into it. The + gilded ceiling adds glory to its interior, though the light + reflected upon the gold from the marble surpasses it in beauty. + Who can tell of the splendour of the columns and marbles with + which the church is adorned? One would think that one had come + upon a meadow full of flowers in bloom--one wonders at the purple + tints of some, the green of others, the glowing red and glittering + white, and those, too, which nature, like a painter, has marked + with the strongest contrasts of colour. Moreover, it is impossible + accurately to describe the treasures of gold and silver plate and + gems which the Emperor has presented to the church: the Sanctuary + alone contains forty thousand pounds weight of silver." + + +Justinian was almost as great a builder of forts as of churches, but his +military works have for the most part disappeared. It may give some idea +of his energy in fortifying the frontiers when we state that the Illyrian +provinces alone were protected by 294 forts, of which Procopius gives a +list, disposed in four successive lines from the Danube back to the +Thessalian hills. Some were single towers, but many were elaborate +fortresses with outworks, and all had to be protected by garrisons. + +Thus much of Justinian as builder: space fails to enumerate a tithe of his +works. Of his great legal achievement we must speak at even shorter +length. The Roman law, as he received it from his predecessors was an +enormous mass of precedents and decisions, in which the original basis was +overlaid with the various and sometimes contradictory rescripts of five +centuries of emperors. Several of his predecessors, and most especially +Theodosius II., had endeavoured to codify the chaotic mass and reduce it +to order. But no one of them had produced a code which sufficed to bring +the law of the day into full accord with the spirit of the times. It was +no mean work to bring the ancient legislation of Rome, from the days of +the Twelve Tables down to the days of Justinian, into strict and logical +connection with the new Christian ideas which had worked their way into +predominance since the days of Constantine. Much of the old law was +hopelessly obsolete, owing to the change in moral ideas which Christianity +had introduced, but it is still astonishing to see how much of the old +forms of the times of the early empire survived into the sixth century. +Justinian employed a commission, headed by the clever but unpopular lawyer +Tribonian, to draw up his new code. The work was done for ever and a day, +and his "Institutes" and "Pandects" were the last revision of the Old +Roman laws, and the starting-point of all systematic legal study in +Europe, when, six hundred years later, the need for something more than +customary folk-right began to make itself felt, as mediaeval civilization +evolved itself out of the chaos of the dark ages. If the Roman Empire had +flourished in the century after Justinian as in that which preceded him, +other revisers of the laws might have produced compilations that would +have made the "Institutes" seem out of date. But, as a matter of fact, +decay and chaos followed after Justinian, and succeeding emperors had +neither the need nor the inclination to do his work over again. Hence it +came to pass that his name is for ever associated with the last great +revision of Roman law, and that he himself went down to posterity as the +greatest of legislators, destined to be enthroned by Dante in one of the +starry thrones of his "Paradise," and to be worshipped as the father of +law by all the legists of the Renaissance. + + + + + +IX. THE COMING OF THE SLAVS. + + +The thirty years which followed the death of Justinian are covered by +three reigns, those of Justinus II. [565-578], Tiberius Constantinus +[578-582], and Maurice [582-602]. These three emperors were men of much +the same character as the predecessors of Justinian; each of them was an +experienced official of mature age, who was selected by the reigning +emperor as his most worthy successor. Justinus was the favourite nephew of +Justinian, and had served him for many years as Curopalates, or Master of +the Palace. Tiberius Constantinus was "Count of the Excubiti," a high +Court officer in the suite of Justinus: Maurice again served Tiberius as +"Count of the Foederati," or chief of the Barbarian auxiliaries. They were +all men of capacity, and strove to do their best for the empire: +historians concur in praising the justice of Justinus, the liberality and +humanity of Tiberius, the piety of Maurice. Yet under them the empire was +steadily going down hill: the exhausting effects of the reign of Justinian +were making themselves felt more and more, and at the end of the reign of +Maurice a time of chaos and disaster was impending, which came to a head +under his successor. + +The internal causes of the disaster of this time were the weakening of the +empire by the great plague of 544 and still more by the grinding exactions +of Justinian's financial system. Its external phenomena were invasions by +new hordes from the north, combined with long and exhausting wars with +Persia. The virtues of the emperors seem to have helped them little: +Justin's justice made him feared rather than loved; Tiberius's liberality +rendered him popular, but drained the treasury; Maurice, on the other +hand, who was economical and endeavoured to fill the coffers which his +predecessors had emptied, was therefore universally condemned as +avaricious. + +The troubles on the frontier which vexed the last thirty years of the +sixth century were due to three separate sets of enemies--the Lombards in +Italy, the Slavs and Avars in the Balkan Peninsula, and the Persians in +the East. + +The empire held undisputed possession of Italy for no more than fifteen +years after the expulsion of the Ostrogoths in A.D. 553. Then a new enemy +came in from the north, following the same path that had already served +for the Visigoths of Alaric and the Ostrogoths of Theodoric. The +new-comers were the race of the Lombards, who had hitherto dwelt in +Hungary, on the Middle Danube, and had more frequently been found as +friends than as foes of the Romans. But their warlike and ambitious King +Alboin, having subdued all his nearer neighbours, began to covet the +fertile plains of Italy, where he saw the emperors keeping a very +inadequate garrison, now that the Ostrogoths were finally driven away. In +A.D. 568 Alboin and his hordes crossed the Alps, bringing with them wife +and child, and flocks and herds, while their old land on the Danube was +abandoned to the Avars. The Lombards took possession of the flat country +in the north of Italy, as far as the line of the Po, with very little +difficulty. The region, we are told, was almost uninhabited owing to the +combined effects of the great plague and the Ostrogothic war. In this once +fertile and populous, but now deserted, lowland, the Lombards settled down +in great numbers. There they have left their name as the permanent +denomination of the plain of Lombardy. Only one city, the strong fortress +of Pavia, held out against them for long; when it fell in 571, after a +gallant defence of three years, Alboin made it his capital, instead of +choosing one of the larger and more famous towns of Milan and Verona, the +older centres of life in the land he had conquered. After subduing +Lombardy the king pushed forward into Etruria, and overran the valley of +the Arno. But in the midst of his wars he was cut off, if the legend tells +us the truth, by the vengeance of his wife Queen Rosamund. She was the +daughter of Cunimund, King of the Gepidae, whom Alboin had slain in battle. +The fallen monarch's skull was, by the victor's orders, mounted in gold +and fashioned into a cup. Long years after, amid the revelry of a drinking +bout, Alboin had the ghastly cup filled with wine, and bade his wife bear +it around to his chosen warriors. The queen obeyed, but vowed to revenge +herself by her husband's death. By the sacrifice of her honour she bribed +Alboin's armour-bearer to slay his master in his bed, and then fled with +him to Constantinople [A.D. 573]. + +But the death of Alboin did not put an end to the Lombard conquests in +Italy. The kingdom, indeed, broke up for a time into several independent +duchies, but the Lombard chiefs continued to win territory from the +empire. Two of them founded the considerable duchies of Spoleto and +Benevento, the one in Central, and the other in Southern Italy. These +states survived as independent powers, but the rest of the Lombard +territories were reunited by King Autharis, in 584, and he and his +immediate successors completed the conquest of Northern Italy. + +Thus, during the reigns of Justin, Tiberius II., and Maurice, the greater +part of Justinian's Italian conquests were lost, and formed once more into +Teutonic states. The emperor retained only two large stretches of +territory, the one in Central Italy, where he held a broad belt of land, +extending right across the peninsula, from Ravenna and Ancona on the +Adriatic, to Rome on the Tyrrhenian Sea; the other comprehending the +extreme south of the land--the "toe" and "heel" of the Italian boot--and +comprising the territory of Bruttium and the Calabrian(15) towns of +Taranto, Brindisi, and Otranto. Sardinia and Sicily were also left +untouched by the Lombards, who never succeeded in building a fleet. The +Roman territory which stretched across Central Italy cut the Lombards in +two, the king ruling the main body of them in Tuscany and the valley of +the Po; while the dukes of Spoleto and Benevento maintained an isolated +existence in the south. + + [Illustration] + + Cross Of Justinus II. (_From the Vatican._) (_From "L'Art Byzantin," Par + C. Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +This partition of Italy between the Lombards and the empire is worth +remembering, from the fact that never again, till our own day, was the +whole peninsula gathered into a single state. Not till 1870, when the +kingdom of United Italy was completed by the conquest of Rome, did a time +come when all the lands between the Alps and the Straits of Messina were +governed by one ruler. Justinian had no successor till Victor Emmanuel. + +After the Lombard conquest the imperial dominions in Italy were +administered by a governor, called the Exarch, who dwelt at Ravenna, the +northernmost and strongest of the imperial fortresses. All the Italian +provinces were nominally beneath his control, but, as a matter of fact, he +was only treated with implicit obedience by those of his subordinates who +dwelt in his own neighbourhood. He found it harder to enforce his orders +at Naples and Reggio, or in the distant islands of Sicily and Sardinia. +But it was the bishops of Rome who profited most by his absence: although +a "duke," a military officer of some importance, dwelt at Rome, he was +from the first overshadowed by his spiritual neighbour. Even during the +days of the Ostrogoths the Roman bishops had acquired considerable +importance, as being the chief official representatives of the Italians in +dealings with their Teutonic masters. But they spoke with much more +freedom and weight when they had to do, not with a King of Italy dwelling +quite near them, but with a mere governor fettered by orders from distant +Constantinople. Gregory the Great [590-604] was the first of the popes who +began to assume an independent attitude and to treat the Exarch at Ravenna +with scant ceremony. He was an able and energetic man, who could not bear +to see Rome suffering for want of a ruler on the spot, and readily took +upon himself civil functions, in spite of the protests of his nominal +superior the Exarch. In 592, for example, he made a private truce for Rome +with the Lombard Duke of Spoleto, though the latter was at war with the +empire. The Emperor Maurice stormed at him as foolish and disobedient, but +did not venture to depose him, being too much troubled with Persian and +Avaric wars to send troops against Rome. On another occasion Gregory +nominated a governor for Naples, instead of leaving the appointment to the +Exarch. In 599 he acted as mediator between the Lombard king and the +government at Ravenna, as if he had been a neutral and independent +sovereign. Although he showed no wish to sever his connection with the +Roman Empire, Gregory behaved as if he considered the emperor his suzerain +rather than his immediate ruler. He would never give in on disputed +points, issued orders which contradicted imperial rescripts, and +maintained a bitter quarrel with successive patriarchs of Constantinople, +who possessed the favour of Maurice. When the patriarch John the Faster +took the title of "oecumenical bishop," Gregory wrote to Maurice to tell +him that the presumption of John was a sure sign that the days of +Antichrist were at hand, and to urge him to repress such pretensions by +the force of the civil arm. This is one of the first signs of the approach +of that mediaeval view of the papacy which imagined that it was the +pontiff's duty to censure and advise kings and emperors on all possible +topics and occasions. Gregory's immediate successors were not men of mark, +or a breach with the empire might have been precipitated. The final +disavowal of the supremacy of the Constantinopolitan monarch was to be +still delayed for nearly two hundred years. + +The wars between the Exarchs of Ravenna and the Lombard kings were little +influenced by interference from the East. The emperors during the last +thirty years of the sixth century were far more engrossed with their +Persian and Slavonic wars. Contests with the Great king of the East +occupied no less than twenty years in the reigns of Justin II., Tiberius, +and Maurice. War was declared in 572, and did not cease till 592. Like the +struggle between Justinian and Chosroes I., thirty years before, it was +wholly indecisive. There were more plundering raids than battles, and the +frontier provinces of each empire were reduced to a dreadful state of +desolation and depopulation: if the Persians pushed their ravages as far +as the gates of Antioch, Roman generals penetrated deep into Media and +Corduene, where the imperial banner had not been seen for two hundred +years. The net result of the whole twenty years of strife was that each +combatant had seriously weakened and distressed his rival, without +obtaining any definite superiority over him. Forced to make peace by the +pressure of a civil war, Chosroes II. gave back to Maurice the two +frontier cities of Dara and Martyropolis, the sole trophies of twenty +campaigns, and ceded him a slice of Armenian territory. But these trivial +gains were far from compensating the empire for the fearful losses caused +by dozens of Persian invasions. + +The Persian war was exhausting, but successful: on the northern frontier, +however, the Roman army had been faring far worse, and serious losses of +territory were beginning to take place. The enemies in this quarter were +two new tribes, who appeared on the Danube after the Lombards had departed +from it to commence their invasion of Italy. There were now no Teutons +left on the northern frontier of the empire: of the incoming tribes, one +was Tartar and the other Slavonic. The Avars were a nomadic race from +Asia, wild horsemen of the Steppes, much like their predecessors the Huns. +They had fled west to escape the Turks, who were at this time building up +an empire in Central Asia, and betook themselves to the South Russian +plains, not far from the mouth of the Danube. To cross the river and +ravage Moesia was too tempting a prospect to be neglected, and ere long +the Avaric cavalry were seen only too frequently along the Balkans and on +the coast of the Black Sea. Their first raid into Roman territory fell +into the year 562, just before the death of Justinian, and from that time +forward they were always causing trouble. They were ready enough to make +peace when money was paid them, but as they invariably broke the agreement +when the money was spent, it was never long before they reappeared south +of the Danube. + +But the Slavs were a far more serious danger to the empire than the Avars. +The latter came only to plunder, the former--like the Germans two centuries +before--came pressing into the provinces to win themselves a new home. The +Romans knew at first of only two tribes of them, the Slovenes and Antae, +but behind these there were others who were gradually to push their way to +the south and make their presence known--Croats, Servians, and many more. +The Slavs were the easternmost of the Aryan peoples of Europe, and by far +the most backward. They had always lain behind the Germans, and it was +only when the German barrier was removed by the migration of the Goths and +Lombards that they came into touch with the empire. They were rude races, +far behind the Teutons in civilization; they had hardly learnt as yet the +simplest arts, knew nothing of defensive armour, and could only use for +boats tree-trunks hollowed out by fire--like the Australian savages of +to-day. They had not learnt to live under kings or chiefs, but dwelt in +village communities, governed by the patriarchs of the several families. +Their abodes were mud huts, and they cultivated no grain but millet. When +they went to war they could send out thousands of spearmen and bowmen, but +their wild bands were not very formidable in the open field. They could +resist neither cavalry nor disciplined infantry, and were only formidable +in woods and defiles, where they formed ambuscades and endeavoured to take +their enemy by surprise, and overwhelm him by a sudden rush. We are +assured that one of their favourite devices was to conceal themselves in +ponds or rivers by lying down in the water for hours together, breathing +through reeds, whose points were the only things visible above the +surface. Thus a thousand men might be concealed, and nothing appear except +a bed of rushes. This strange stratagem would seem incredible, if we had +not on record one or two occasions on which it was actually practised. + +The Slavs had begun to make themselves felt early in the sixth century, +but it was not till the death of Justinian that we hear of them as a +pressing danger. But when the Lombards had passed away westward, they came +down to the Danube and began to cross it in great numbers, in the +endeavour to make permanent settlements on the Roman bank. The raids of +the Slavs and the Avars were curiously complicated, for the king, or +Chagan, of the Tartar tribe had made vassals of many of his Slavonic +neighbours. They, on the other hand, sometimes acted in obedience to him, +but more frequently tried to escape from his power by pushing forward into +Roman territory. Hence it comes that we often find Slav and Avar leagued +together, but at other times find them acting separately, or even in +opposition to each other. A more chaotic series of campaigns it is hard to +conceive. + +Down to this time the inland of the Balkan peninsula had been inhabited by +Thracian and Illyrian provincials, of whom the majority spoke the Latin +tongue, though a few still preserved their ancient barbaric idiom.(16) +They formed the only large body of subjects of the empire outside Italy, +who still spoke the old ruling language, and as they were about a quarter +of its population, they did much to preserve its Roman character, and to +prevent it from becoming Greek or Asiatic. Their pride in their Latin +tongue was very marked: Justinian, born in the heart of the district, was +fond of laying special stress on the fact that Latin was his native +language. + +On this Latinized Thraco-Illyrian population the invasion of the Slavs and +Avars fell with unexampled severity. The Goths had afflicted them before, +but they, at least, had been Christian and semi-civilized, while the +new-comers were in the lowest grade of savagery. It is not too much to say +that between 570 and 600 the old population was almost exterminated over +the greater part of the country north of the Balkans--the modern Servia and +Bulgaria--and very sadly cut down even in the more sheltered Macedonian and +Thracian provinces. The Latin-speaking provincials almost disappeared: the +only remnants of them were the Dalmatian islanders and the "Vlachs" or +Wallachians who are found in later times scattered in small bodies among +the Slavs who had swept over the whole country-side. The effect of the +invasion is well described by the contemporary chronicler, John of +Ephesus-- + +"The year 581 was famous for the invasion of the accursed people called +Slavonians, who overran Greece and the country by Thessalonica, and all +Thrace, and captured the cities and took many forts, and devastated and +burnt, and reduced the people to slavery, and made themselves masters of +the whole country, and settled in it, by main force, and dwelt in it as +though it had been their own. Four years have now elapsed, and still they +live at their ease in the land, and spread themselves far and wide, as far +as God permits them, and ravage and burn and take captive, and still they +encamp and dwell there." + +The open country was swept bare by the Slavs: the towns resisted better, +for neither Slav nor Avar was skilled in siege operations. Relying upon +the fortified towns as his base the great general Priscus, whom Maurice +placed in command, was able to keep his ground along the Danube, and to +perform many gallant exploits. He even crossed the river and attacked the +Slavs and Avars in their own homes beyond it; but it was to no effect that +he burnt their villages and slew off their warriors. He could not protect +the unarmed population in the open country within the Roman boundary, and +the girdle of fortresses along the Danube soon covered nothing but a +wasted region, sparsely inhabited by Slavs. The limit of Roman population +had fallen back to the line of the Balkans, and even to the south of it, +and the Slavs were ever slipping across the Danube in larger and larger +numbers, despite the garrisons along the river which were still kept up +from Singidunum [Belgrade] to Dorostolum [Silistria]. + +The misfortunes of the Avaric and Slavonic war were the cause of the fall +of the Emperor Maurice. He had won some unpopularity by his manifest +inability to stem the tide of the barbarian invasion, and more by an act +of callousness, of which he was guilty in 599. The Chagan of the Avars had +captured 15,000 prisoners, and offered to release them for a large ransom. +Maurice--whose treasury was empty--refused to comply, and the Chagan +massacred the wretched captives. But the immediate cause of the emperor's +fall was his way of dealing with the army. He was unpopular with the +soldiery, though an old soldier himself, and did not possess their respect +or confidence. Yet he was an officer of some merit and had written a long +military treatise called the "Strategicon," which was the official +handbook of the imperial armies for three hundred years. + +Maurice sealed his fate when, in 602, he issued orders for the +discontented army of the Danube to winter north of the river, in the waste +marshes of the Slavs. The troops refused to obey the order, and chased +away their generals. Then electing as their captain an obscure centurion, +named Phocas, they marched on Constantinople. + +Maurice armed the city factions, the "Blues" and "Greens," and strove to +defend himself. But when he saw that no one would fight for him, he fled +across the Bosphorus with his wife and children, to seek refuge in the +Asiatic provinces, where he was less unpopular than in Europe. Soon he was +pursued by orders of Phocas, whom the army had now saluted as emperor, and +caught at Chalcedon. The cruel usurper had him executed along with all his +five sons, the youngest a child of only three years of age. Maurice died +with a courage and piety that moved even his enemies, exclaiming with his +last breath, "Thou art just, O Lord, and just are thy judgments!" + + + + + +X. THE DARKEST HOUR. + + +For the first time since Constantinople had become the seat of empire the +throne had been won by armed rebellion and the murder of the legitimate +ruler. The break in the peaceful and orderly succession which had hitherto +prevailed was not only an evil precedent, but an immediate disaster. The +new emperor proved a far worse governor than the unfortunate Maurice, who, +in spite of his faults and his ill luck, had always been hard-working, +moderate, pious, and economical. Phocas was a mere brutal soldier--cruel, +ignorant, suspicious, and reckless, and in his incapable hands the empire +began to fall to pieces with alarming rapidity. He opened his reign with a +series of cruel executions of his predecessor's friends, and from that +moment his deeds of bloodshed never ceased: probably the worst of them was +the execution of Constantina, widow of Maurice and daughter of Tiberius +II., whom he slew together with her three young daughters, lest their +names might be used as the excuse for a conspiracy against him. But even +greater horror seems to have been caused when he burnt alive the able +general Narses,(17) who had won many laurels in the last Persian war. +Narses had come up to the capital under safe conduct to clear himself from +accusations of treason: so the Emperor not only devised a punishment which +had never yet been heard of since the empire became Christian, but broke +his own plighted oath. + +The moment that Phocas had mounted the throne, Chosroes of Persia declared +war on him, using the hypocritical pretext that he wished to revenge +Maurice, for whom he professed a warm personal friendship. This war was +far different from the indecisive contests in the reigns of Justinian and +Justin II. In two successive years the Persians burst into North Syria and +ravaged it as far as the sea; but in the third they turned north and swept +over the hitherto untouched provinces of Asia Minor. In 608 their main +army penetrated across Cappadocia and Galatia right up to the gates of +Chalcedon. The inhabitants of Constantinople could see the blazing +villages across the water on the Asiatic shore--a sight as new as it was +terrifying; for although Thrace had several times been harried to within +sight of the city, no enemy had ever been seen in Bithynia. + +Plot after plot was formed in the capital against Phocas, but he succeeded +in putting them all down, and slew the conspirators with fearful tortures. +For eight years his reign continued: Constantinople was full of +executions; Asia was ravaged from sea to sea; the Thracian and Illyrian +provinces were overrun more and more by the Slavs, now that the army of +Europe had been transferred across the Bosphorus to make head against the +Persians. Yet Phocas still held on to Constantinople: the creature of a +military revolt himself, it was by a military revolt alone that he was +destined to be overthrown. + +Africa was the only portion of the Roman Empire which in the reign of +Phocas was suffering neither from civil strife nor foreign invasion. It +was well governed by the aged exarch Heraclius, who was so well liked in +the province that the emperor had not dared to depose him. Urged by +desperate entreaties from all parties in Constantinople to strike a blow +against the tyrant, and deliver the empire from the yoke of a monster, +Heraclius at last consented. He quietly got ready a fleet, which he placed +under the orders of his son, who bore the same name as himself. This he +despatched against Constantinople, while at the same time his nephew +Nicetas led a large body of horse along the African shore to invade Egypt. + +When Heraclius the younger arrived with his fleet at the Dardanelles, all +the prominent citizens of Constantinople fled secretly to take refuge with +him. As he neared the capital the troops of Phocas burst into mutiny: the +tyrant's fleet was scattered after a slight engagement, and the city threw +open its gates. Phocas was seized in the palace by an official whom he had +cruelly wronged, and brought aboard the galley of the conqueror. "Is it +thus," said Heraclius, "that you have governed the empire?" "Will you +govern it any better?" sneered the desperate usurper. Heraclius spurned +him away with his foot, and the sailors hewed him to pieces on the deck. + +Next day the patriarch and the senate hailed Heraclius as emperor, and he +was duly crowned in St. Sophia on October 5, A.D. 610. + +Heraclius took over the empire in such a state of disorder and confusion +that he must soon have felt that there was some truth in the dying sneer +of Phocas. It seemed almost impossible to get things into better order, +for resources were wanting. Save Africa and Egypt and the district +immediately around the capital, all the provinces were overrun by the +Persian, the Avar, and the Slav. The treasury was empty, and the army had +almost disappeared owing to repeated and bloody defeats in Asia Minor. + +Heraclius seems at first to have almost despaired of the possibility of +evolving order out of this chaos, though he was in the prime of life and +strength--"a man of middle stature, strongly built, and broad-chested, with +grey eyes and yellow hair, and of a very fair complexion; he wore a bushy +beard when he came to the throne, but afterwards cut it short." For the +first twelve years of his reign he remained at Constantinople, +endeavouring to reorganize the empire, and to defend at any rate the +frontiers of Thrace and Asia Minor. The more distant provinces he hardly +seems to have hoped to save, and the chronicle of his early years is +filled with the catalogue of the losses of the empire. Mesopotamia and +North Syria had already been lost by Phocas, but in 613, while the +imperial armies were endeavouring to defend Cappadocia, the Persian +general Shahrbarz turned southwards and attacked Central Syria. The great +town of Damascus fell into his hands; but worse was to come. In 614 the +Persian army appeared before the holy city of Jerusalem, took it after a +short resistance, and occupied it with a garrison. But the populace rose +and slaughtered the Persian troops when Shahrbarz had departed with his +main army. This brought him back in wrath: he stormed the city and put +90,000 Christians to the sword, only sparing the Jewish inhabitants. +Zacharias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, was carried into captivity, and with +him went what all Christians then regarded as the most precious thing in +the world--the wood of the "True Cross." Helena, the mother of Constantine, +had dug the relic up, according to the well-known legend, on Mount Moriah, +and built for it a splendid shrine. Now Shahrbarz desecrated the church +and took off the "True Cross" to Persia. + +This loss brought the inhabitants of the East almost to despair; they +thought that the luck of the empire had departed with the Holy Wood, which +had served as its Palladium, and even imagined that the Last Day was at +hand and that Chosroes of Persia was Antichrist. The mad language of pride +and insult which the Persian in the day of his triumph used to Heraclius +might also explain their belief. His blasphemous phrases seem like an echo +of the letter of Sennacherib in the Second Book of Kings. The epistle +ran:-- + +"Chosroes, greatest of gods, and master of the whole earth, to Heraclius, +his vile and insensate slave. Have I not destroyed the Greeks? You say you +trust in your God: why, then, has he not delivered out of my hand +Caesarea, Jerusalem, and Alexandria? Shall I not also destroy +Constantinople? But I will pardon all your sins if you will come to me +with your wife and children; I will give you lands, vines, and olive +groves, and will look upon you with a kindly aspect. Do not deceive +yourself with the vain hope in that Christ, who was not even able to save +himself from the Jews, who slew him by nailing him to a cross." + +The horror and rage roused by the loss of the "True Cross" and the +blasphemies of King Chosroes brought about the first real outburst of +national feeling that we meet in the history of the Eastern Empire. It was +felt that the fate of Christendom hung in the balance, and that all, from +highest to lowest, were bound to make one great effort to beat back the +fire-worshipping Persians from Palestine, and recover the Holy Places. The +Emperor vowed that he would take the field at the head of the army--a thing +most unprecedented, for since the death of Theodosius I., in 395, no +Caesar had ever gone out in person to war. The Church came forward in the +most noble way--at the instance of the Patriarch Sergius all the churches +of Constantinople sent their treasures and ornaments to the mint to be +coined down, and serve as a great loan to the state, which was to be +repaid when the Persians should have been conquered. The free dole of corn +which the inhabitants of the capital had been receiving ever since the +days of Constantine was abolished, and the populace bore the privation +without demur. It was indeed observed that this measure not only saved the +treasury, but drove into the army--where they were useful--thousands of the +able-bodied loiterers who were the strength of the circus factions and the +pest of the city. If the dole had been continued Heraclius could not have +found a penny for the war. Egypt, the granary of the empire, had been lost +in 616, and the supply of government corn entirely cut off, so that the +dole would have had to be provided by the treasury buying corn, a +ruinously expensive task. + +By the aid of the Church loan Heraclius equipped a new army and +strengthened his fleet. He also provided for the garrisoning of +Constantinople by an adequate force, a most necessary precaution, for in +617 the Persians had again forced their way to the Bosphorus, and this +time captured Chalcedon. Heraclius would probably have taken the field +next year but for troubles with the Avars. That wild race had long been +working their wicked will on the almost undefended Thracian provinces, but +now they promised peace. Heraclius went out, at the Chagan's pressing +invitation, to meet him near Heraclea. But the conference was a snare, for +the treacherous savage had planted ambushes on the way to secure the +person of the Emperor, and Heraclius only escaped by the speed of his +horse. He cast off his imperial mantle to ride the faster, and galloped +into the capital just in time to close its gates as the vanguard of the +Chagan's army came in sight. The Avars kept the Emperor engaged for some +time, and it was not till 622 that he was able to take the field against +the Persians. + +This expedition of Heraclius was in spirit the first of the Crusades. It +was the first war that the Roman Empire had ever undertaken in a spirit of +religious enthusiasm, for it was to no mere political end that the Emperor +and his people looked forward. The army marched out to save Christendom, +to conquer the Holy Places, and to recover the "True Cross." The men were +wrought up to a high pitch of enthusiasm by warlike sermons, and the +Emperor carried with him, to stimulate his zeal, a holy picture--one of +those _eikons_ in which the Greek Church has always delighted--which was +believed to be the work of no mortal hands. + +Heraclius made no less than six campaigns (A.D. 622-27) in his gallant and +successful attempt to save the half-ruined empire. He won great and +well-deserved fame, and his name would be reckoned among the foremost of +the world's warrior-kings if it had not been for the misfortunes which +afterwards fell on him in his old age. + +His first campaign cleared Asia Minor of the Persian hosts, not by a +direct attack, but by skilful strategy. Instead of attacking the army at +Chalcedon, he took ship and landed in Cilicia, in the rear of the enemy, +threatening in this position both Syria and Cappadocia. As he expected, +the Persians broke up from their camp opposite Constantinople, and came +back to fall upon him. But after much manoeuvring he completely beat the +general Shahrbarz, and cleared Asia Minor of the enemy. + +In his next campaigns Heraclius endeavoured to liberate the rest of the +Roman Empire by a similar plan: he resolved to assail Chosroes at home, +and force him to recall the armies he kept in Syria and Egypt to defend +his own Persian provinces. In 623-4 the Emperor advanced across the +Armenian mountains and threw himself into Media, where his army revenged +the woes of Antioch and Jerusalem by burning the fire-temples of +Ganzaca--the Median capital--and Thebarmes, the birthplace of the Persian +prophet Zoroaster. Chosroes, as might have been expected, recalled his +troops from the west, and fought two desperate battles to cover Ctesiphon. +His generals were defeated in both, but the Roman army suffered severely. +Winter was at hand, and Heraclius fell back on Armenia. In his next +campaign he recovered Roman Mesopotamia, with its fortresses of Amida, +Dara, and Martyropolis, and again defeated the general Shahrbarz. + +But 626 was the decisive year of the war. The obstinate Chosroes +determined on one final effort to crush Heraclius, by concerting a joint +plan of operations with the Chagan of the Avars. While the main Persian +army watched the emperor in Armenia, a great body under Shahrbarz slipped +south of him into Asia Minor and marched on the Bosphorus. At the same +moment the Chagan of the Avars, with the whole force of his tribe and of +his Slavonic dependants, burst over the Balkans and beset Constantinople +on the European side. The two barbarian hosts could see each other across +the water, and even contrived to exchange messages, but the Roman fleet +sailing incessantly up and down the strait kept them from joining forces. + +In the June, July, and August of 626 the capital was thus beset: the +danger appeared imminent, and the Emperor was far away on the Euphrates. +But the garrison was strong, the patrician Bonus, its commander, was an +able officer, the fleet was efficient, and the same crusading fervour +which had inspired the Constantinopolitans in 622 still buoyed up their +spirits. In the end of July 80,000 Avars and Slavs, with all sorts of +siege implements, delivered simultaneous assaults along the land front of +the city, but they were beaten back with great slaughter. Next the Chagan +built himself rafts and tried to bring the Persians across, but the Roman +galleys sunk the clumsy structures, and slew thousands of the Slavs who +had come off in small boats to attack the fleet. Then the Chagan gave up +the siege in disgust and retired across the Danube. + +Heraclius had shown great confidence in the strength of Constantinople and +the courage of its defenders. He sent a few veteran troops to aid the +garrison, but did not slacken from his attack on Persia. While Shahrbarz +and the Chagan were besieging his capital, he himself was wasting Media +and Mesopotamia. He imitated King Chosroes in calling in Tartar allies +from the north, and revenged the ravages of the Avars in Thrace by turning +40,000 Khazar horsemen loose on Northern Persia. The enemy gave way before +him everywhere, and the Persians began to grow desperate. + +Next year King Chosroes put into the field the last levy of Persia, under +a general named Rhazates, whom he bid to go out and "conquer or die." At +the same time he wrote to command Shahrbarz to evacuate Chalcedon and +return home in haste. But Heraclius intercepted the despatch of recall, +and Shahrbarz came not. + +Near Nineveh Heraclius fell in with the Persian home army and inflicted on +it a decisive defeat. He himself, charging at the head of his cavalry, +rode down the general of the enemy and slew him with his lance. Chosroes +could put no new army in the field, and by Christmas Heraclius had seized +his palace of Dastagerd, and divided among his troops such a plunder as +had never been seen since Alexander the Great captured Susa. + +The Nemesis of Chosroes' insane vanity had now arrived. Ten years after he +had written his vaunting letter to Heraclius he found himself in far worse +plight than his adversary had ever been. After Dastagerd had fallen he +retired to Ctesiphon, the capital of his empire, but even from thence he +had to flee on the approach of the enemy. Then the end came: his own son +Siroes and his chief nobles seized him and threw him in chains, and a few +days after he died--of rage and despair according to one story, of +starvation if the darker tale is true. + +The new king sent the humblest messages to the victorious Roman, hailing +him as his "father," and apologizing for all the woes that the ambition of +Chosroes had brought upon the world. Heraclius received his ambassadors +with kindness, and granted peace, on the condition that every inch of +Roman territory should be evacuated, all Roman captives freed, a war +indemnity paid, and the spoils of Jerusalem, including the "True Cross," +faithfully restored. Siroes consented with alacrity, and in March, 628, a +glorious peace ended the twenty-six years of the Persian war. + +Heraclius returned to Constantinople in the summer of the same year with +his spoils, his victorious army, and his great trophy, the "Holy Wood." +His entry was celebrated in the style of an old Roman triumph, and the +Senate conferred on him the title of the "New Scipio." The whole of the +citizens, bearing myrtle boughs, came out to meet the army, and the +ceremony concluded with the exhibition of the "True Cross" before the high +altar of St. Sophia. Heraclius afterwards took it back in great pomp to +Jerusalem. + +This was, perhaps, the greatest triumph that any emperor ever won. +Heraclius had surpassed the eastern achievements of Trajan and Severus, +and led his troops further east than any Roman general had ever +penetrated. His task, too, had been the hardest ever imposed on an +emperor; none of his predecessors had ever started to war with his very +capital beleaguered and with three-fourths of his provinces in the hands +of the enemy. Since Julius Caesar no one had fought so incessantly--for six +years the emperor had not been out of the saddle--nor met with such uniform +success. + +Heraclius returned to Constantinople to spend, as he hoped, the rest of +his years in peace. He had now reached the age of fifty-four, and was much +worn by his incessant campaigning. But the quiet for which he yearned was +to be denied him, and the end of his reign was to be almost as disastrous +as the commencement. + +The great Saracen invasion was at hand, and it was at the very moment of +Heraclius' triumph that Mahomet sent out his famous circular letter to the +kings of the earth, inviting them to embrace Islam. If the Emperor could +but have known that his desolated realm, spoiled for ten long years by the +Persian and the Avar, and drained of men and money, was to be invaded by a +new enemy far more terrible than the old, he would have prayed that the +day of his triumph might also be the day of his death. + + + + + +XI. SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. (A.D. 320-620.) + + +The reign of Heraclius forms the best dividing point in the history of the +empire between what may roughly be called Ancient History and the Middle +Ages. There is no break at all between Constantine and Heraclius, though +the area, character, social life, and religion of the empire had been +greatly modified in the three hundred years that separated them. The new +order of things, which commenced when Constantine established his capital +on the Bosphorus, had a peaceable and orderly development. The first +prominent fact that strikes the eye in the history of the three centuries +is that the sceptre passed from sovereign to sovereign in quiet and +undisturbed devolution. From the death of Valens onward there is no +instance of a military usurper breaking the line of succession till the +crowning of Phocas in 602. The emperors were either designated by their +predecessors or--less frequently--chosen by the high officials and the +senate. The regularity of their sequence is all the more astonishing when +we realize that only in three cases in the whole period was father +succeeded by son. Saving Constantine himself, Theodosius I., and Arcadius, +not a single emperor left male issue; yet the hereditary instinct had +grown so strong in the empire that nephews, sons-in-law, and +brothers-in-law of sovereigns were gladly received as their legitimate +heirs. Considering this tendency, it is extraordinary to note that the +whole three hundred years did not produce a single unmitigated tyrant. +Constantius II. was gloomy and sometimes cruel, Valens was stupid and +avaricious, Arcadius utterly weak and inept, Justinian hard and thankless; +but the general average of the emperors were men of respectable ability, +and in moral character they will compare favourably with any list of +sovereigns of similar length that any country can produce. + +The chief modifications which must be marked in the character of the +empire between 320 and 620 depend on two processes of gradual change which +were going on throughout the three centuries. The first was the gradual +de-Romanization (if we may coin the uncouth word) alike of the governing +classes and the masses of population. In the fourth century the Roman +impress was still strong in the East; the Latin language was habitually +spoken by every educated man, and nearly all the machinery of the +administration was worked in Latin phraseology. All law terms are +habitually Latin, all titles of officers, all names of taxes and +institutions. Writers born and bred in Greece or Asia still wrote in Latin +as often as in the Greek which must have been more familiar to them. +Ammianus Marcellinus may serve as a fair example: born in Greece, he wrote +in the tongue of the ruling race rather than in his own idiom. Moreover +there was still in the lands east of the Adriatic a very large body of +Latin-speaking population--comprising all the inhabitants of the inland of +the Balkan peninsula, for, except Greece proper, Macedonia, and a +scattered line of cities along the Thracian coast, the whole land had +learnt to speak the tongue of its conquerors. + +By the seventh century this Roman element was rapidly vanishing. It is +true that the Emperor was still hailed as the "Pius, Felix, Perpetuus, +Augustus": it was not till about A.D. 800 that he dropped the old style +and called himself "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI AND YPOGEGRAMMENI~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER RHO WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}." Nor were the +old Roman official titles yet disused: men were still tribunes and +patricians, counts and praetors, but little more than the names survived. +Already in the sixth century a knowledge of Latin was growing unusual even +among educated men. The author Johannes Lydus tells us that he owed his +rise in the civil service mainly to this rare accomplishment. Procopius, +the best writer of the day and a man of real merit and discernment, was +absolutely ignorant of the rudiments of Latin, and blunders when he tries +to translate the simplest phrase. Justinian was the last emperor who spoke +Latin as his mother tongue, all his successors were better skilled in +Greek. + +The gradual disuse of Latin has its origin in the practical--though not +formal--solution of the continuity between Rome and the East, which began +with the division of the empire between the sons of Constantine and became +more complete after Odoacer made himself King of Italy in 476. In the +course of a century and a half the Latin element in the East, cut off from +the Latin-speaking West, was bound to yield before the predominant Greek. +But the process would have been slower if the Eastern provinces which +spoke Latin had not been those which suffered most from the barbarians. +The Visigoths and Ostrogoths harassed and decimated the Thracians, +Illyrians, and Moesians, but the Slavs a century later almost exterminated +them. In A.D. 400 probably a quarter of the provincials east of the +Adriatic spoke Latin; in A.D. 620 not a tenth. The Romanized lands of the +Balkan peninsula had now become Slavonic principalities: only the +Dalmatian seaports and a few scattered survivors in the Balkans still used +the old tongue. The only districts where a considerable Latin-speaking +population obeyed the Emperor were Africa and the Italian Exarchate, now +reunited to Constantinople by the conquests of Justinian. But they seem to +have been too remote from the centre of life and government to have +exercised any influence or delayed the de-Romanizing of the East. The last +notable author, who being a subject of the empire wrote in Latin as his +native tongue, was the poet Flavius Corippus who addressed a long +panegyric to Justinus II.: as might have been expected, he was an African. + +While the empire was losing its Roman characteristics, it was at the same +time growing more and more Christian at heart. Under Constantine and his +immediate successors the machinery of government was only just beginning +to be effected by the change of the emperor's religion. Though the +sovereign personally was Christian, the system remained what it had been +before. Many of the high officials were still pagans, and the form and +spirit of all administrative and legal business was unaltered from what it +had been in the third century. It is not till forty years after +Constantine's death that we find the Christian spirit fully penetrating +out of the spiritual into the material sphere of life. Attempts by the +State to suppress moral sin no less than legal crime begin with Theodosius +I., whose crusade against sexual immorality would have been +incomprehensible to even the best of the pagan emperors. The old +gladiatorial shows, one of the most characteristic and repulsive features +of Roman life, were abolished not long after. They survived for sixty +years at Rome, though Christian Constantinople never knew them. But this +was not the work of the State, but of a single individual. One day in A.D. +404 the games had begun, and the gladiators were about to engage, when the +monk Telemachus leapt down into the arena and threw himself between the +combatants, adjuring them not to slay their brethren. There was an angry +scuffle, and the good monk was slain. But his death had the effect that +his protests might have failed to bring about, and no gladiatorial show +was ever given again. + + [Illustration] + +General View Of St. Sophia. (_From "L'Art Byzantin." Par C. Bayet. Paris, + Quantin, 1883._) + + +In other provinces of social life the work of Christianity was no less +marked. It put an end to the detestable practice of infanticide which +pervaded the ancient world, resting on the assumption that the father had +the right to decide whether or not he would rear the child he had +begotten. Constantine made the State assume the charge of feeding and +rearing the children of the destitute, lest their parents should be +tempted to cast them forth to perish in the old fashion, and Valentinian +I. in 374 assimilated infanticide to other forms of murder, and made it a +capital offence. + +Slavery was also profoundly affected by the teaching of the Church. The +ancient world, save a few philosophers, had regarded the slave with such +contempt that he was hardly reckoned a moral being or conceived to have +rights or virtues. Christianity taught that he was a man with an immortal +soul, no less than his own master, and bade slaves and freemen meet on +terms of perfect equality around the baptismal font and before the sacred +table. It was from the first taught that the man who manumitted his slaves +earned the approval of heaven, and all occasions of rejoicing, public and +private, were fitly commemorated by the liberation of deserving +individuals. Though slavery was not extinguished for centuries, its evils +were immensely modified; Justinian's legislation shows that by his time +public opinion had condemned the characteristic evils of ancient slavery: +he permitted the intermarriage of slaves and free persons, stipulating +only for the consent of the owner of the servile partner in the wedlock. +He declared the children of such mixed marriages free, and he made the +prostitution of a slave by a master a criminal offence. Hereditary slavery +became almost unknown, and the institution was only kept up by the +introduction of barbarian captives, heathens and enemies, whose position +did not appeal so keenly to the mind of their captors. + +The improvement of the condition of all the unhappy classes of which we +have been speaking--women, infants, slaves, gladiators--can be directly +traced back to a single fundamental Christian truth. It was the belief in +the importance of the individual human soul in the eyes of God that led +the converted Roman to realize his responsibility, and change his attitude +towards the helpless beings whom he had before despised and neglected. It +is only fair to add that the realization of this central truth did not +always operate for good in the Roman world of the fifth and sixth +centuries. Some of the developments of the new idea were harmful and even +dangerous to the State. They took the form of laying such exclusive stress +on the relations between the individual soul and heaven, that the duties +of man to the State were half forgotten. Chief among these developments +was the ascetic monasticism which, starting from Egypt, spread rapidly all +over the empire, more especially over its eastern provinces. When men +retire from their duties as citizens, intent on nothing but on saving +their own souls, take up a position outside the State, and cease to be of +the slightest use to society, the result may be harmless so long as their +numbers are small. But at this time the monastic impulse was working on +such a large scale that its development was positively dangerous. It was +by thousands and ten thousands that the men who ought to have been bearing +the burdens of the State, stepped aside into the monastery or the hermit's +cave. The ascetics of the fifth century had neither of the justifications +which made monasticism precious in a later age, they were neither +missionaries nor men of learning. The monastery did not devote itself +either to sending out preachers and teachers, or to storing up and +cherishing the literary treasures of the ancient world. The first abbot to +whom it occurred to turn the vast leisure of his monks to good account by +setting them systematically to work at copying manuscripts was +Cassiodorus, the ex-secretary to King Theodoric the Goth [A.D. 530-40]. +Before his time monks and books had no special connection with each other. + +When a State contains masses of men who devote their whole energies to a +repulsively selfish attempt to save their own individual souls, while +letting the world around them slide on as best it may, then the body +politic is diseased. The Roman Empire in its fight with the barbarians was +in no small degree hampered by this attitude of so many of its subjects. +The ascetic took the barbarian invasions as judgments from heaven rightly +inflicted upon a wicked world, and not as national calamities which called +on every citizen to join in the attempt to repel them. Many men +complacently interpreted the troubles of the fifth century as the +tribulations predicted in the Apocalypse, and watched them develop with +something like joy, since they must portend the close approach of the +Second Advent of our Lord. + +This apathetic attitude of many Christians during the afflictions of the +empire was maddening to the heathen minority which still survived among +the educated classes. They roundly accused Christianity of being the ruin +of the State by its anti-social teaching which led men to neglect every +duty of the citizen. The Christian author Orosius felt himself compelled +to write a lengthy history to confute this view, aiming his work at the +pagan Symmachus whose book had been devoted to tracing all the calamities +of the world to the conversion of Constantine. + +It was fortunate for the empire that its governing classes continued to +preserve the old traditions of Roman state-craft, and fought on doggedly +against all the ills of their time--barbarian invasion, famine, and +pestilence, instead of bowing to the yoke and recognizing in every +calamity the righteous judgment of heaven and the indication of the +approaching end of the world. + +Paganism had practically disappeared by the end of the fifth century as an +active force; none save a few philosophers made an open profession of it, +and in 529 Justinian put a formal end to their teaching, by closing the +schools of Athens, the last refuge of the professors of the expiring +religion. But if open heathenism was dead, a large measure of +indifferentism prevailed among the educated classes: many men who in the +fifth century would have been pagans were Christians in name in the sixth, +but little affected by Christianity in their lives. This type was +extremely common among the literary and official classes. There are plenty +of sixth-century authors--Procopius may serve as an example--whose works +show no trace of Christian thought, though the writer was undoubtedly a +professing member of the Church. Similar examples could be quoted by the +dozen from among the administrators, lawyers, and statesmen of the day, +but all were now nominally Christian. As time went on, such men grew +rarer, and the old stern, non-religious Roman character passed away into +the emotional and superstitious mediaeval type of mind. The survival of +pre-Christian feeling, which appeared as indifferentism among the educated +classes, took a very different shape among the lower strata of society. It +revealed itself in a crowd of gross superstitions connected with magic, +witchcraft, fortune-telling, charms, and trivial or obscene ceremonies +practised in secret. The State highly disapproved of such practices, +treated them as impious or heretical, and imposed punishment on those who +employed them: but nevertheless these contemptible survivals of heathenism +persisted down to the latest days of the empire. + +It has been usual to include all the Eastern Romans of all the centuries +between Constantine I. and Constantine XIV. in one sweeping condemnation, +as cowardly, corrupt, and effete. The ordinary view of Byzantine life may +be summed up in Mr. Lecky's irritating statement(18) that "the universal +verdict of history is that it constitutes the most base and despicable +form that civilization ever assumed, and that there has been no other +enduring civilization so absolutely destitute of all the forms and +elements of greatness, none to which the epithet _mean_ may be so +emphatically applied. It is a monstrous story of the intrigues of priests, +eunuchs, and women; of poisoning, conspiracies, uniform ingratitude, +perpetual fratricide." How Mr. Lecky obtained his universal verdict of +history, it is hard to see: certainly that verdict can not have been +arrived at after a study of the evidence bearing on the life of the +persons accused. It sounds like a cheap echo of the second-hand historians +of fifty years ago, whose staple commodity was Gibbon-and-water. + + [Illustration] + +Illuminated Initials. (_From Byzantine MSS._) (_From "L'Art Byzantin." Par + C. Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +If we must sum up the characteristics of the East Romans and their +civilization, the conclusion at which we arrive will be very different. It +is only fair to acknowledge that they had their faults: what else could be +expected when we know that the foundations of the Eastern Empire were laid +upon the Oriental provinces of the old Roman world, among races that had +long been stigmatized by their masters as hopelessly effete and +corrupt--Syrians, Egyptians, and Hellenized Asiatics, whom even the +degenerate Romans of the third century had been wont to despise. The +Byzantine Empire displayed from its very cradle a taint of weakness +derived from this Oriental origin. It showed features particularly +obnoxious to the modern mind of the nineteenth century--such as the +practice of a degrading and grovelling court etiquette, full of +prostrations and genuflexions, the introduction of eunuchs and slaves into +high offices of State, the wholesale and deliberate use of treachery and +lying in matters of diplomacy. + +But remembering its origins we shall, on the whole, wonder at the good +points in Byzantine civilization rather than at its faults. It may fairly +be said that Christianity raised the Roman East to a better moral position +than it had known for a thousand years. With all their faults the monks +and hermits of the fifth century are a good substitute for the priests of +Cybele and Mithras of the second. It was something that the Government and +the public opinion of the day had concurred to sweep away the orgies of +Daphne and Canopus. Church and State united in the reign of Justinian to +punish with spiritual and bodily death the unnatural crimes which had been +the open practice of emperors themselves in the first centuries of the +empire. + +The vices of which the East Romans have most commonly been accused are +cowardice, frivolity, and treachery. On each of these points they have +been grossly wronged. Cowardice was certainly not the chief characteristic +of the centuries that produced emperors like Theodosius I. and Heraclius, +prelates like Athanasius and Chrysostom, public servants like Belisarius +and Priscus. It is not for cowardice that we note the Byzantine populace +which routed Gainas and his mercenaries, and raised the _Nika_ sedition, +but for turbulence. If military virtue was wanting to the East-Roman +armies, how came the Ostrogoth and Vandal to be conquered, the Persian and +the Hun to be driven off, how, above all, was the desperate struggle +against the fanatical Saracen protracted for four hundred years, till at +last the Caliphate broke up? + +Frivolity and luxury are an accusation easy to bring against any age. +Every moralist, from Jeremiah to Juvenal, and from Juvenal to Mr. Ruskin, +has believed his own generation to be the most obnoxious and contemptible +in the world's history. We have numerous tirades against the manners of +Constantinople preserved in Byzantine literature, and may judge from them +something of the faults of the time. It would seem that there was much of +the sort of luxury to which ascetic preachers take exception--much +splendour of raiment, much ostentatious display of plate and furniture, of +horses and chariots. Luxury and evil living often go together, but when we +examine all the enormities laid to the charge of the Byzantines, there is +less alleged than we might expect. When Chrysostom raged against the +contemporaries of Arcadius, his anathemas fell on such crimes as the use +of cosmetics and dyes by fashionable dames, on the gambling propensities +of their husbands, on the immoral tendencies of the theatre, on the +drunken orgies at popular festivals--accusations to which any age--our own +included--might plead guilty. The races of the Circus played a +disproportionate part in social life, and attracted the enthusiastic +attention of thousands of votaries; but it is surely hard that our own +age, with all its sporting and athletic interests, should cast a stone at +the sixth century. We have not to look far around us to discover classes +for whom horse-racing still presents an inexplicable attraction. When we +remember that the Constantinopolitans were excitable Orientals, and had no +other form of sport to distract their attention from the Circus, we can +easily realize the genesis of the famous riots of the Blues and Greens. + +From the darker forms of vice great cities have never been free, and there +is no reason to think that Constantinople in the sixth century differed +from London in the nineteenth. It is fair to point out that Christian +public opinion and the Government strove their best to put down sexual +immorality. Theodosius and Justinian are recorded to have entered upon the +herculean task of endeavouring to suppress all disorderly houses: the +latter made exile the penalty for panders and procuresses, and inflicted +death on those guilty of the worst extremes of immorality. We must +remember, too, that if Constantinople showed much vice, it also displayed +shining examples of the social virtues. The Empress Flaccilla was wont to +frequent the hospitals, and tend the beds of the sick. Of the monastic +severity which the Empress Pulcheria displayed in the palace we have +spoken already. + +After cowardice and light morals, it is treachery that is popularly cited +as the most prominent vice of the Eastern Empire. There have been other +states and epochs more given to plots and revolts, but it is still true +that there was too much intrigue at Constantinople. The reason is not far +to seek: the "_carriere ouverte aux talents_" practically existed there, +and the army and the civil service were full of poor, able, and ambitious +men of all races and classes mixed together. The converted Goth or the +renegade Persian, the half-civilized mountaineer from Isauria, the Copt +and Syrian and Armenian were all welcomed in the army or civil service, if +only they had ability. Both the bureaucracy and the army therefore had +elements which lacked patriotism, conscience, and stability, and were +prone to seek advancement either by intrigue or military revolt. This +being granted, it is perhaps astonishing to have to record that between +350 and 600 the empire never once saw its legitimate ruler dethroned, +either by palace intrigue or military revolt. The fact that all the +plots--and there were many in the period--failed hopelessly, is, on the +whole, a proof that if there was much treachery there was much loyalty +among the East Romans. There have certainly been periods in more recent +times which show a much worse record.(19) A single instance may +suffice--Mediaeval Italy from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century could +produce far more shocking examples of conscienceless and unjustifiable +plotting than the Byzantine Empire in the whole thousand years of its +existence. + + + + + +XII. THE COMING OF THE SARACENS. + + +After the peace of 628 the Roman and the Persian Empires, drained of men +and money, and ravaged from end to end by each other's marauding armies, +sank down in exhaustion to heal them of their deadly wounds. Never before +had either power dealt its neighbour such fearful blows as in this last +struggle: in previous wars the contest had been waged around border +fortresses, and the prize had been the conquest of some small slice of +marchland. But Chosroes and Heraclius had struck deadly blows at the heart +of each other's empire, and harried the inmost provinces up to the gates +of each other's capitals. The Persian had turned the wild hordes of the +Avars loose on Thrace, and the Roman had guided the yet wilder Chazars up +to the walls of Ctesiphon. Hence it came to pass that at the end of the +war the two powers were each weaker than they had ever been before. They +were bleeding at every pore, utterly wearied and exhausted, and desirous +of nothing but a long interval of peace to recover their lost strength. + +Precisely at this moment a new and terrible enemy fell upon the two +war-worn combatants, and delivered an attack so vehement that it was +destined to destroy the ancient kingdom of Persia and to shear away half +the provinces of the Roman Empire. + +The politics of Arabia had up to this time been of little moment either to +Roman or Persian. Each of them had allies among the Arab tribes, and had +sometimes sent an expedition or an embassy southward, into the land beyond +the Syrian desert. But neither of them dreamed that the scattered and +disunited tribes of Arabia would ever combine or become a serious danger. + +But while Heraclius and Chosroes were harrying each other's realms events +of world-wide importance had been taking place in the Arabian peninsula. +For the first and last time in history there had arisen among the Arabs +one of those world-compelling minds that are destined to turn aside the +current of events into new channels, and change the face of whole +continents. + +Mahomet, that strangest of moral enigmas, prophet and seer, fanatic and +impostor, was developing his career all through the years of the Persian +war. By an extraordinary mixture of genuine enthusiasm and vulgar cunning, +of self-deception and deliberate imposture, of benevolence and cruelty, of +austerity and licence, he had worked himself and his creed to the front. +The turbulent polytheists of Arabia had by him been converted into a +compact band of fanatics, burning to carry all over the world by the force +of their swords their new war-cry, that "God was God, and Mahomet His +prophet." + +In 628, the last year of the great war, the Arab sent his summons to +Heraclius and Chosroes, bidding them embrace Islam. The Persian replied +with the threat that he would put the Prophet in chains when he had +leisure. The Roman made no direct reply, but sent Mahomet some small +presents, neglecting the theological bent of his message, and only +thinking of enlisting a possible political ally. Both answers were +regarded as equally unsatisfactory by the Prophet, and he doomed the two +empires to a similar destruction. Next year [629] the first collision +between the East-Romans and the Arabs took place, a band of Moslems having +pushed a raid up to Muta, near the Dead Sea. But it was not till three +years later, when Mahomet himself was already dead, that the storm fell on +the Roman Empire. In obedience to the injunctions of his deceased master, +the Caliph Abu Bekr prepared two armies, and launched the one against +Palestine and the other against Persia. + +Till the last seven or eight years English writers have been inclined to +underrate the force and fury of an army of Mahometan fanatics in the first +flush of their enthusiasm. Now that we have witnessed in our own day the +scenes of Tamaai and Abu Klea we do so no longer. The rush that can break +into a British square bristling with Martini-Henry rifles is not a thing +to be despised. For the future we shall not treat lightly the armies of +the early Caliphs, nor scoff with Gibbon at the feebleness of the troops +who were routed by them. If the soldiers of Queen Victoria, armed with +modern rifles and artillery, found the fanatical Arab a formidable foe, +let us not blame the soldiers of Heraclius who faced the same enemy with +pike and sword alone. In the early engagements between the East-Romans and +the Saracens the superior discipline and more regular arms of the one were +not a sufficient counterpoise to put against the mad recklessness of the +other. The Moslem wanted to get killed, that he might reap the fruits of +martyrdom in the other world, and cared not how he died, if he had first +slain an enemy. The Roman fought well enough; but he did not, like his +adversary, yearn to become a martyr, and the odds were on the man who held +his life the cheapest. + +The moment of the Saracen invasion was chosen most unhappily for +Heraclius. He had just paid off the enormous debt that he had contracted +to the Church, and to do so had not only drained the treasury but imposed +some new and unwise taxes on the harassed provincials, and disbanded many +of his veterans for the sake of economy. Syria and Egypt, after spending +twelve and ten years respectively under the Persian yoke, had not yet got +back into their old organization. Both countries were much distracted with +religious troubles; the heretical sects of the Monophysites and Jacobites +who swarmed within their boundaries had lifted up their heads under the +Persian rule, being relieved from the governmental repression that had +hitherto been their lot. They seem to have constituted an actual majority +of the population, and bitterly resented the endeavours of Heraclius to +enforce orthodoxy in the reconquered provinces. Their discontent was so +bitter that during the Saracen invasion they stood aside and refused to +help the imperial armies, or even on occasion aided the alien enemy. + +The details of the Arab conquest of Syria have not been preserved by the +East-Roman historians, who seem to have hated the idea of recording the +disasters of Christendom. The Moslems, on the other hand, had not yet +commenced to write, and ere historians arose among them, the tale of the +invasion had been intertwined with a whole cycle of romantic legends, +fitter for the "Arabian Nights" than the sober pages of a chronicle. + +But the main lines of the war can be reconstructed with accuracy. The +Saracen horde under Abu Obeida emerged from the desert in the spring of +634 and captured Bostra, the frontier city of Syria to the east, by the +aid of treachery from within. The Romans collected an army to drive them +off, but in July it was defeated at Aijnadin [Gabatha] in Ituraea. +Thoroughly roused by this disaster Heraclius set all the legions of the +East marching, and sixty thousand men crossed the Jordan and advanced to +recover Bostra. The Arabs met them at the fords of the Hieromax, an +Eastern tributary of the Jordan, and a fierce battle raged all day. The +Romans drove the enemy back to the very gates of their camp, but a last +charge, headed by the fierce warrior Khaled, broke their firm array when a +victory seemed almost assured. All the mailed horsemen of Heraclius, his +Armenian and Isaurian archers, his solid phalanx of infantry, were +insufficient to resist the wild rush of the Arabs. Urged on by the cry of +their general, "Paradise is before you, the devil and hell-fire behind," +the fanatical Orientals threw themselves on regiment after regiment and +drove it off the field. + +All Syria east of Jordan was lost in this fatal battle. Damascus, its +great stronghold, resisted desperately but fell early in 635. Most of its +population were massacred. This disaster drew Heraclius into the field, +though he was now over sixty, and was beginning to fail in health. He +could do nothing; Emesa and Heliopolis were sacked before his eyes, and +after an inglorious campaign he hurried to Jerusalem, took the "True +Cross" from its sanctuary, where he had replaced it in triumph five years +before, and retired to Constantinople. Hardly had he reached it when the +news arrived that his discontented and demoralized troops had proclaimed a +rebel emperor, though the enemy was before them. The rebel--his name was +Baanes--was put down, but meanwhile Antioch, Chalcis, and all Northern +Syria fell into the hands of the Arabs. + +Worse yet was to follow. In the next year, 637, Jerusalem fell, after a +desperate resistance, protracted for more than twelve months. The +inhabitants refused to surrender except to the Caliph in person, and the +aged Omar came over the desert, proud to take possession of the city which +Mahomet had reckoned the holiest site on earth save Mecca alone. The +Patriarch Sophronius was commanded to guide the conqueror around the city, +and when he saw the rude Arab standing by the altar of the Church of the +Holy Sepulchre, cried aloud, "Now is the Abomination of Desolation, which +was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, truly in the Holy Place." The Caliph +did not confiscate any of the great Christian sanctuaries, but he took the +site of Solomon's Temple, and erected on it a magnificent Mosque, known +ever since as the Mosque of Omar. + +The tale of the last years of Heraclius is most melancholy. The Emperor +lay at Constantinople slowly dying of dropsy, and his eldest son +Constantine had to take the field in his stead. But the young prince +received a crushing defeat in 638, when he attempted to recover North +Syria, and next year the Arabs, under Amrou, pressed eastward across the +Isthmus of Suez, and threw themselves upon Egypt. Two years more of +fighting sufficed to conquer the granary of the Roman Empire; and in +February, 641, when Heraclius died, the single port of Alexandria was the +sole remaining possession of the Romans in Egypt. + +The ten years' war which had torn Syria and Egypt from the hands of the +unfortunate Heraclius had been even more fatal to his Eastern neighbour. +The Arabs had attacked the Persian kingdom at the same moment that they +fell on Syria: two great battles at Kadesia [636] and Yalulah [637] +sufficed to place all Western Persia in the hands of the Moslems. King +Isdigerd, the last of the Sassanian line, raised his last army in 641, and +saw it cut to pieces at the decisive field of Nehauend. He fled away to +dwell as an exile among the Turks, and all his kingdom as far as the +borders of India became the prey of the conquerors. + +Heraclius had married twice; by his first wife, Eudocia, he left a single +son, Constantine, who should have been his sole heir. But he had taken a +second wife, and this wife was his own niece Martina. The incestuous +choice had provoked much scandal, and was the one grave offence which +could be brought against Heraclius, whose life was in other respects +blameless. Martina, an ambitious and intriguing woman, prevailed on her +aged husband to make her eldest son, Heracleonas, joint-heir with his half +brother Constantine. + +This arrangement, as might have been expected, worked very badly. The +court and army was at once split up between the adherents of the two young +Emperors, and while the defence of the empire against the Saracens should +have been the sole care of the East-Romans, they found themselves +distracted by fierce Court intrigues. Armed strife between the Emperors +seemed destined to break out, but after reigning only a few months +Constantine III. died. It was rumoured far and wide that his step-mother +had poisoned him, to make the way clear for her own son Heracleonas, who +immediately proclaimed himself sole emperor. The senate and the Byzantine +populace were both highly indignant at this usurpation, for the deceased +Constantine left a young son named Constans, who was thus excluded from +the throne to which he was the natural heir. Heracleonas had reigned alone +no more than a few weeks when the army of the East and the mob of +Constantinople were heard demanding in angry tones that Constans should be +crowned as his uncle's colleague. Heracleonas was frightened into +compliance, but his submission only saved him for a year. In the summer of +642 the senate decreed his deposition, and he was seized by the adherents +of Constans and sent into exile, along with his mother Martina. The +victorious faction very cruelly ordered the tongue of the mother and the +nose of the son to be slit--the first instance of that hateful Oriental +practice being applied to members of the royal house, but not the last. + +Constans II. was sole emperor from 642 to 668, and his son and successor, +Constantine IV., reigned from 668 to 685. They were both strong, +hard-headed warrior princes, fit descendants of the gallant Heraclius. +Their main credit lies in the fact that they fought unceasingly against +the Saracen, and preserved as a permanent possession of the empire nearly +every province that they had still remained Roman at the death of +Heraclius. During the minority indeed of Constans II., Alexandria(20) and +Aradus, the two last ports preserved by the Romans in Egypt and Syria were +lost. But the Saracens advanced no further by land; the sands of the +African desert and the passes of Taurus were destined to hold them back +for many years. The times, however, were still dangerous till the murder +of the Caliph Othman in 656, after which the outbreak of the first civil +war among the Moslems--the contest of Ali and Moawiah for the +Caliphate--gave the empire a respite. Moawiah, who held the lands on the +Roman frontier--his rival's power lying further to the east--secured a free +hand against Ali, by making peace with Constans. He even consented to pay +him a small annual subsidy so long as the truce should last. This +agreement was invaluable to the empire. After twenty-seven years of +incessant war the mangled realm at last obtained an interval of repose. It +was something, too, that the Saracens were induced to pause, and saw that +the extension of their conquests was not destined to spread at once over +the whole world. When they realized that their victories were not to go on +for ever, they lost the first keenness of the fanatical courage which had +made them so terrible. + +Freed from the Saracen war, which had threatened not merely to curtail, +but to extinguish the empire, Constans was at liberty to turn his +attention to other matters. It seems probable that it was at this moment +that the reorganization of the provinces of the empire took place, which +we find in existence in the second half of the seventh century. The old +Roman names and boundaries, which had endured since Diocletian's time, now +disappear, and the empire is found divided into new provinces with strange +denominations. They were military in their origin, and each consisted of +the district covered by a large unit of soldiery--what we should call an +army corps. "Theme" meant both the corps and the district which it +defended, and the corps-commander was also the provincial governor. There +were six corps in Asia, called the Armeniac, Anatolic, Thracesian, +Bucellarian, Cibyrrhaeot, and Obsequian themes. Of these the first two +explain themselves, they were the "army of Armenia" and the "army of the +East"; the Obsequian theme, quartered along the Propontis, was so called +because it was a kind of personal guard for the Emperor and the home +districts. The Thracesians were the "Army of Thrace," who in the stress of +the war had been drafted across to Asia to reinforce the Eastern troops. +The Bucellarii seem to have been corps composed of natives and barbarian +auxiliaries mixed; they are heard of long before Constans, and he probably +did no more than unite them and localize them in a single district. The +Cibyrrhaeot theme alone gets its name from a town, the port of Cibyra in +Pamphylia, which must have been the original headquarters of the +South-Western Army Corps. Its commander had a fleet always in his charge, +and his troops were often employed as marines.(21) + +The western half of the empire seems to have had six "Themes" also; they +bear however old and familiar names--Thrace, Hellas, Thessalonica, Ravenna, +Sicily, and Africa, and their names explain their boundaries. In both +halves of the empire there were, beside the great themes, smaller +districts under the command of military governors, who had charge of +outlying posts, such as the passes of Taurus, or the islands of Cyprus and +Sardinia. Some of these afterwards grew into independent themes. + +Thus came to an end the old imperial system of dividing military authority +and civil jurisdiction, which Augustus had invented and Diocletian +perpetuated. Under stress of the fearful Saracenic invasion the civil +governors disappear, and for the future a commander chosen for his +military capacity has also to discharge civil functions. + +Constans II., when once he had made peace with Moawiah, would have done +well to turn to the Balkan Peninsula, and evict the Slavs from the +districts south of Haemus into which they had penetrated during the reign +of Heraclius. But he chose instead to do no more than compel the Slavs to +pay homage to him and give tribute, and set out to turn westward, and +endeavour to drive the Lombards out of Italy. Falling on the Duchy of +Benevento, he took many towns, and even laid siege to the capital. But he +failed to take it, and passed on to Rome, which had not seen the face of +an emperor for two hundred years. When an emperor did appear he brought no +luck, for Constans signalized his visit by taking down the bronze tiles of +the Pantheon and sending them off to Constantinople [664]. + +The Emperor lingered no less than five years in the West, busied with the +affairs of Italy and Africa, till the Constantinopolitans began to fear +that he would make Rome or Syracuse his capital. But in 668 he was +assassinated in a most strange manner. "As he bathed in the baths called +Daphne, Andreas his bathing attendant smote him on the head with his +soap-box, and fled away." The blow was fatal, Constans died, and +Constantine his son reigned in his stead. + +Constantine IV., known as Pogonatus, "the Bearded," reigned for seventeen +years, of which more than half were spent in one long struggle with the +Saracens. Moawiah, the first of the Ommeyades, had now made himself sole +Caliph; the civil wars of the Arabs were now over, and once more they fell +on the empire. Constantine's reign opened disastrously, with simultaneous +attacks by the armies and fleets of Moawiah on Africa, Sicily, and Asia +Minor. But this was only the prelude; in 673 the Caliph made ready an +expedition, the like of which had never yet been undertaken by the +Saracens. A great fleet and land army started from Syria to undertake the +siege of Constantinople itself, an enterprise which the Moslems had not +yet attempted. It was headed by the general Abderrahman, and accompanied +by Yezid, the Caliph's son and heir. The fleet beat the imperial navy off +the sea, forced the passage of the Dardanelles, and took Cyzicus. Using +that city as its base, it proceeded to blockade the Bosphorus. + +The great glory of Constantine IV. is that he withstood, defeated, and +drove away the mighty armament of Moawiah. For four years the investment +of Constantinople lingered on, and the stubborn resistance of the garrison +seemed unable to do more than stave off the evil day. But the happy +invention of fire-tubes for squirting inflammable liquids (probably the +famous "Greek-fire" of which we first hear at this time), gave the +Emperor's fleet the superiority in a decisive naval battle. At the same +time a great victory was won on land and thirty thousand Arabs slain. +Abderrahman had fallen during the siege, and his successors had to lead +back the mere wrecks of a fleet and army to the disheartened Caliph. + +It is a thousand pities that the details of this, the second great siege +of Constantinople, are not better known. But there is no good contemporary +historian to give us the desired information. If he had but met with his +"sacred bard," Constantine IV. might have gone down to posterity in +company with Heraclius and Leo the Isaurian, as the third great hero of +the East-Roman Empire. + +The year after the raising of the great siege, Moawiah sued for peace, +restored all his conquests, and offered a huge war indemnity, promising to +pay 3000 lbs. of gold per annum for thirty years. The report of the +triumph of Constantine went all over the world, and ambassadors came even +from the distant Franks and Khazars to congratulate him on the victory +which had saved Eastern Christendom from the Arab. + +While Constantine was defending his capital from the Eastern enemy, the +wild tribes of his northern border took the opportunity of swooping down +on the European provinces, whose troops had been drawn off to resist the +Arabs. The Slavs came down from the inland, and laid siege for two years +to Thessalonica, which was only relieved from their attacks when +Constantine had finished his war with Moawiah. But a far more dangerous +attack was made by another enemy in the eastern part of the Balkan +Peninsula. The Bulgarians, a nomad tribe of Finnish blood, who dwelt in +the region of the Pruth and Dniester, came over the Danube, subdued the +Slavs of Moesia, and settled between the Danube and the Eastern Balkans, +where they have left their name till this day. They united the scattered +Slavonic tribes of the region into a single strong state, and the new +Bulgarian kingdom was long destined to be a troublesome neighbour to the +empire. The date 679 counts as the first year of the reign of Isperich +first king of Bulgaria. Constantine IV. was too exhausted by his long war +with Moawiah to make any serious attempt to drive the Bulgarians back over +the Danube, and acquiesced in the new settlement. + +The last six years of Constantine's reign were spent in peace. The only +notable event that took place in them was the meeting at Constantinople of +the Sixth Oecumenical Council in 680-1. At this Synod, the doctrine of the +Monothelites, who attributed but one will to Our Lord, was solemnly +condemned by the united Churches of the East and West. The holders of +Monothelite doctrines, dead and alive, were solemnly anathematised, among +them Pope Honorius of Rome, who in a previous generation had consented to +the heresy. + +Constantine IV. died in 685, before he had reached his thirty-sixth year, +leaving his throne to his eldest son Justinian, a lad of sixteen. + + + + + +XIII. THE FIRST ANARCHY. + + +Justinian II., the last of the house of Heraclius, was a sovereign of a +different type from any emperor that we have yet encountered in the annals +of the Eastern Empire. He was a bold, reckless, callous, and selfish young +man, with a firm determination to assert his own individuality and have +his own way,--he was, in short, of the stuff of which tyrants are made. +Justinian was but seventeen when he came to the throne, but he soon showed +that he intended to rule the empire after his own good pleasure long +before he had begun to learn the lessons of state-craft. + +Ere he had reached his twenty-first year Justinian had plunged into war +with the Bulgarians. He attacked them suddenly, inflicted several defeats +on their king, and took no less than thirty thousand prisoners, whom he +sent over to Asia, and forced to enlist in the army of Armenia. He next +picked a quarrel with the Saracen Caliph on the most frivolous grounds. +The annual tribute due by the treaty of 679 had hitherto been paid in +Roman _solidi_, but in 692 Abdalmalik tendered it in new gold coins of his +own mintage, bearing verses of the Koran. Justinian refused to receive +them, and declared war. + +His second venture in the field was disastrous: his unwilling recruits +from Bulgaria deserted to the enemy, when he met the Saracens at +Sebastopolis in Cilicia, and the Roman army was routed with great +slaughter. The two subsequent campaigns were equally unsuccessful, and the +troops of the Caliph harried Cappadocia far and wide. + +Justinian's wars depleted his treasury; yet he persisted in plunging into +expensive schemes of building at the same time, and was driven to collect +money by the most reckless extortion. He employed two unscrupulous +ministers, Theodotus, the accountant general--an ex-abbot who had deserted +his monastery--and the eunuch Stephanus, the keeper of the privy purse. +These men were to Justinian what Ralph Flambard was to William Rufus, or +Empson and Dudley to Henry VII: they raised him funds by flagrant +extortion and illegal stretching of the law. Both were violent and cruel: +Theodotus is said to have hung recalcitrant tax-payers up by ropes above +smoky fires till they were nearly stifled. Stephanus thrashed and stoned +every one who fell into his hands; he is reported to have actually +administered a whipping to the empress-dowager during the absence of her +son, and Justinian did not punish him when he returned. + +While the emperor's financial expedients were making him hated by the +moneyed classes, he was rendering himself no less unpopular in the army. + +After his ill-success in the Saracen war, he began to execute or imprison +his officers, and to decimate his beaten troops: to be employed by him in +high command was almost as dangerous as it was to be appointed a +general-in-chief during the dictatorship of Robespierre. + +In 695 the cup of Justinian's iniquities was full. An officer named +Leontius being appointed, to his great dismay, general of the "theme" of +Hellas, was about to set out to assume his command. As he parted from his +friends he exclaimed that his days were numbered, and that he should be +expecting the order for his execution to arrive at any moment. Then a +certain monk named Paul stood forth, and bade him save himself by a bold +stroke; if he would aim a blow at Justinian he would find the people and +the army ready to follow him. + +Leontius took the monk's counsel, and rushing to the state prison, at the +head of a few friends, broke it open and liberated some hundreds of +political prisoners. A mob joined him, he seized the Cathedral of St. +Sophia, and then marched on the palace. No one would fight for Justinian, +who was caught and brought before the rebel leader in company with his two +odious ministers. Leontius bade his nose be slit, and banished him to +Cherson. Theodotus and Stephanus he handed over to the mob, who dragged +them round the city and burnt them alive. + +Twenty years of anarchy followed the usurpation of Leontius. The new +emperor was not a man of capacity, and had been driven into rebellion by +his fears rather than his ambition. He held the throne barely three years, +amid constant revolts at home and defeats abroad. The Asiatic frontier was +ravaged by the armies of Abdalmalik, and at the same time a great disaster +befel the western half of the empire. A Saracen army from Egypt forced its +way into Africa, where the Romans had still maintained themselves by hard +fighting while the emperors of the house of Heraclius reigned. They +reduced all its fortresses one after the other, and finally took Carthage +in 697--a hundred and sixty-five years after it had been restored to the +empire by Belisarius. + + [Illustration] + + Church Of The Twelve Apostles At Thessalonica. (_From "L'Art Byzantin." + Par Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +The larger part of the army of Africa escaped by sea from Carthage when +the city fell. The officers in command sailed for Constantinople, and +during their voyage plotted to dethrone Leontius. They enlisted in their +scheme Tiberius Apsimarus, who commanded the imperial fleet in the Aegean, +and proclaimed him emperor when he joined them with his galleys. The +troops of Leontius betrayed the gates of the capital to the followers of +the rebel admiral, and Apsimarus seized Constantinople. He proclaimed +himself emperor by the title of Tiberius, third of that name, and +condemned his captive rival to the same fate that he himself had inflicted +on Justinian II. Accordingly the nose of Leontius was slit, and he was +placed in confinement in a monastery. + +Tiberius III. was more fortunate in his reign than his predecessor: his +troops gained several victories over the Saracens, recovered the frontier +districts which Justinian II. and Leontius had lost, and even invaded +Northern Syria. But these successes did not save Tiberius from suffering +the same doom which had fallen on Justinian and Leontius. The people and +army were out of hand, the ephemeral emperor could count on no loyalty, +and any shock was sufficient to upset his precarious throne. + +We must now turn to the banished Justinian, who had been sent into exile +with his nose mutilated. He had been transported to Cherson, the Greek +town in the Crimea, close to the modern Sebastopol, which formed the +northernmost outpost of civilization, and enjoyed municipal liberty under +the suzerainty of the empire. Justinian displayed in his day of adversity +a degree of capacity which astonished his contemporaries. He fled from +Cherson and took refuge with the Khan of the Khazars, the Tartar tribe who +dwelt east of the Sea of Azof. With this prince the exile so ingratiated +himself that he received in marriage his sister, who was baptized and +christened Theodora. But Tiberius III. sent great sums of money to the +Khazar to induce him to surrender Justinian, and the treacherous barbarian +determined to accept the bribe, and sent secret orders to two of his +officers to seize his brother-in-law. The emperor learnt of the plot +through his wife, and saved himself by the bold expedient of going at once +to one of the two Khazar chiefs and asking for a secret interview. When +they were alone he fell on him and strangled him, and then calling on the +second Khazar served him in the same fashion, before the Khan's orders had +been divulged to any one. + +This gave him time to escape, and he fled in a fishing boat out into the +Euxine with a few friends and servants who had followed him into exile. +While they were out at sea a storm arose, and the boat began to fill. One +of his companions cried to Justinian to make his peace with God, and +pardon his enemies ere he died. But the Emperor's stern soul was not bent +by the tempest. "May God drown me here," he answered, "if I spare a single +one of my enemies if ever I get to land!" The boat weathered the storm, +and Justinian survived to carry out his cruel oath. He came ashore in the +land of the Bulgarians, and soon won favour with their king Terbel, who +wanted a good excuse for invading the empire, and found it in the pretence +of supporting the exiled monarch. With a Bulgarian army at his back +Justinian appeared before Constantinople, and obtained an entrance at +night near the gate of Blachernae. There was no fighting, for the adherents +of Tiberius were as unready to strike a blow for their master as the +followers of Leontius had been [705 A.D.] + +So Justinian recovered his throne without fighting, for the people had by +this time half forgotten his tyranny, and regretted the rule of the house +of Heraclius. But they were soon to find out that they had erred in +submitting to the exile, and should have resisted him at all hazards. +Justinian came back in a relentless mood, bent on nothing but revenging +his mutilated nose and his ten years of exile. His first act was to send +for the two usurpers who had sat on his throne: Leontius was brought out +from his monastery, and Tiberius caught as he tried to flee into Asia. +Justinian had them led round the city in chains, and then bound them side +by side before his throne in the Cathisma, the imperial box at the +Hippodrome. There he sat in state, using their prostrate bodies as a +footstool, while his adherents chanted the verse from the ninety-first +Psalm, "Thou shalt tread on the lion and asp: the young lion and dragon +shalt thou trample under thy feet." The allusion was to the names of the +usurpers, the Lion and Asp being Leontius and Apsimarus! + +After this strange exhibition the two ex-emperors were beheaded. Their +execution began a reign of terror, for Justinian had his oath to keep, and +was set on wreaking vengeance on every one who had been concerned in his +deposition. He hanged all the chief officers and courtiers of Leontius, +and put out the eyes of the patriarch who had crowned him. Then he set to +work to hunt out meaner victims: many prominent citizens of Constantinople +were sown up in sacks and drowned in the Bosphorus. Soldiers were picked +out by the dozen and beheaded. A special expedition was sent by sea to +sack Cherson, the city of the Emperor's exile, because he had a grudge +against its citizens. The chief men were caught and sent to the capital, +where Justinian had them bound to spits and roasted. + +These atrocities were mere samples of the general conduct of Justinian. In +a few years he had made himself so much detested that it might be said +that he had been comparatively popular in the days of his first reign. + +The end came into 711, when a general named Philippicus took arms, and +seized Constantinople while Justinian was absent at Sinope. The army of +the tyrant laid down their arms when Philippicus approached, and he was +led forth and beheaded without further delay--an end too good for such a +monster. The conqueror also sought out and slew his little son Tiberius, +whom the sister of the Khan of the Khazars had borne to him during his +exile. So ended the house of Heraclius, after it had sat for five +generations and one hundred and one years on the throne of Constantinople. + +The six years which followed were purely anarchical. Justinian's wild and +wicked freaks had completed the demoralization which had already set in +before his restoration. Everything in the army and the state was +completely disorganized and out of gear. It required a hero to restore the +machinery of government and evolve order out of chaos. But the hero was +not at once forthcoming, and the confusion went on increasing. + +To replace Justinian by Philippicus was only to substitute King Log for +King Stork. The new emperor was a mere man of pleasure, and spent his time +in personal enjoyment, letting affairs of state slide on as best they +might. In less than two years he was upset by a conspiracy which placed on +the throne Artemius Anastasius, his own chief secretary. Philippicus was +blinded, and compelled to exchange the pleasures of the palace for the +rigours of a monastery. But the Court intrigue which dethroned Philippicus +did not please the army, and within two years Anastasius was overthrown by +the soldiers of the Obsequian theme, who gave the imperial crown to +Theodosius of Adrammytium, a respectable but obscure commissioner of +taxes. More merciful than any of his ephemeral predecessors, Theodosius +III. dismissed Anastasius unharmed, after compelling him to take holy +orders. + +Meanwhile the organization of the empire was visibly breaking up. "The +affairs both of the realm and the city were neglected and decaying, civil +education was disappearing, and military discipline dissolved." The +Bulgarian and Saracen commenced once more to ravage the frontier +provinces, and every year their ravages penetrated further inland. The +Caliph Welid was so impressed with the opportunity offered to him, that he +commenced to equip a great armament in the ports of Syria with the express +purpose of laying siege to Constantinople. No one hindered him, for the +army raised to serve against him turned aside to engage in the civil war +between Anastasius and Theodosius. The landmarks of the Saracens' +conquests by land are found in the falls of the great cities of Tyana +[710], Amasia [712], and Antioch-in-Pisidia [713]. They had penetrated +into Phrygia by 716, and were besieging the fortress of Amorium with every +expectation of success, when at last there appeared the man who was +destined to save the East-Roman Empire from a premature dismemberment. + +This was Leo the Isaurian, one of the few military officers who had made a +great reputation amid the fearful disasters of the last ten years. He was +now general of the "Anatolic" theme, the province which included the old +Cappadocia and Lycaonia. After inducing the Saracens, more by craft than +force, to raise the siege of Amorium, Leo disowned his allegiance to the +incapable Theodosius and marched toward the Bosphorus. + +The unfortunate emperor, who had not coveted the throne he occupied, nor +much desired to retain it, allowed his army to risk one engagement with +the troops of Leo. When it was beaten he summoned the Patriarch, the +Senate, and the chief officers of the court, pointed out to them that a +great Saracen invasion was impending, that civil war had begun, and that +he himself did not wish to remain responsible for the conduct of affairs. +With his consent the assembly resolved to offer the crown to Leo, who +formally accepted it early in the spring of 717. + +Theodosius retired unharmed to Ephesus, where he lived for many years. +When he died the single word {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA~}, "Health," was inscribed on his tomb +according to his last directions. + + + + + +XIV. THE SARACENS TURNED BACK. + + +By dethroning Theodosius III. on the very eve of the great Saracen +invasion, Leo the Isaurian took upon himself the gravest of +responsibilities. With a demoralized army, which of late had been more +accustomed to revolt than to fight, a depleted treasury, and a +disorganized civil service, he had to face an attack even more dangerous +than that which Constantine IV. had beaten off thirty years before. +Constantine too, the fourth of a race of hereditary rulers, had a secure +throne and a loyal army, while Leo was a mere adventurer who had seized +the crown only a few months before he was put to the test of the sword. + +The reigning Caliph was now Suleiman, the seventh of the house of the +Ommeyades. He had strained all the resources of his wide empire to provide +a fleet and army adequate to the great enterprise which he had taken in +hand. The chief command of the expedition was given to his brother +Moslemah, who led an army of eighty thousand men from Tarsus across the +centre of Asia Minor, and marched on the Hellespont, taking the strong +city of Pergamus on his way. Meanwhile a fleet of eighteen hundred sail +under the vizier Suleiman, namesake of his master the Caliph, sailed from +Syria for the Aegean, carrying a force no less than that which marched by +land. Fleet and army met at Abydos on the Hellespont without mishap, for +Leo had drawn back all his resources, naval and military, to guard his +capital. + +In August, 717, only five months after his coronation, the Isaurian saw +the vessels of the Saracens sailing up the Propontis, while their army had +crossed into Thrace and was approaching the city from the western side. +Moslemah caused his troops to build a line of circumvallation from the sea +to the Golden Horn, cutting Constantinople off from all communication with +Thrace, while Suleiman blocked the southern exit of the Bosphorus, and +tried to close it on the northern side also, so as to prevent any supplies +coming by water from the Euxine. Leo, however, sallied forth from the +Golden Horn with his galleys and fire-vessels bearing the dreaded Greek +fire, and did so much harm to the detachment of Saracen ships which had +gone northward up the strait, that the blockade was never properly +established on that side. + +The Saracens relied more on starving out the city than on taking it by +storm: they had come provided with everything necessary for a blockade of +many months, and sat down as if intending to remain before the walls for +an indefinite time. But Constantinople had been provisioned on an even +more lavish scale; each family had been bidden to lay in a stock of corn +for no less a period than two years, and famine appeared in the camp of +the besiegers long ere it was felt in the houses of the besieged. Nor had +Moslemah and Suleiman reckoned with the climate. Hard winters occasionally +occur by the Black Sea, as our own army learnt to its cost in the Crimean +War. But the Saracens were served even worse by the winter of 717-18, when +the frost never ceased for twelve weeks. Leo might have boasted, like Czar +Nicholas, that December, January, and February were his best generals--for +these months wrought fearful havoc in the Saracen host. The lightly clad +Orientals could not stand the weather, and died off like flies of +dysentery and cold. The vizier Suleiman was among those who perished. +Meanwhile the Byzantines suffered little, being covered by roofs all the +winter. + +When next spring came round Moslemah would have had to raise the siege if +he had not been heavily reinforced both by sea and land. A fleet of +reserve arrived from Egypt, and a large army came up from Tarsus and +occupied the Asiatic shores of the Bosphorus. + +But Leo did not despair, and took the offensive in the summer. His +fire-ships stole out and burnt the Egyptian squadron as it lay at anchor. +A body of troops landing on the Bithynian coast, surprised and cut to +pieces the Saracen army which watched the other side of the strait. Soon, +too, famine began to assail the enemy; their stores of provisions were now +giving out, and they had harried the neighbourhood so fiercely that no +more food could be got from near at hand, while if they sent foraging +parties too far from their lines they were cut off by the peasantry. At +last Moslemah suffered a disaster which compelled him to abandon his task. +The Bulgarians came down over the Balkans, and routed the covering army +which observed Adrianople and protected the siege on the western side. No +less than twenty thousand Saracens fell, by the testimony of the Arab +historians themselves, and the survivors were so cowed that Moslemah gave +the order to retire. The fleet ferried the land army back into Asia, and +both forces started homeward. Moslemah got back to Tarsus with only thirty +thousand men at his back, out of more than a hundred thousand who had +started with him or come to him as reinforcements. The fleet fared even +worse: it was caught by a tempest in the Aegean, and so fearfully +shattered that it is said that only five vessels out of the whole Armada +got back to Syria unharmed. + +Thus ended the last great endeavour of the Saracen to destroy +Constantinople. The task was never essayed again, though for three hundred +and fifty years more wars were constantly breaking out between the Emperor +and the Caliph. In the future they were always to be border struggles, not +desperate attempts to strike at the heart of the empire, and conquer +Europe for Islam. To Leo, far more than to his contemporary the Frank +Charles Martel, is the delivery of Christendom from the Moslem danger to +be attributed. Charles turned back a plundering horde sent out from an +outlying province of the Caliphate. Leo repulsed the grand-army of the +Saracens, raised from the whole of their eastern realms, and commanded by +the brother of their monarch. Such a defeat was well calculated to impress +on their fatalistic minds the idea that Constantinople was not destined by +providence to fall into their hands. They were by this time far removed +from the frantic fanaticism which had inspired their grandfathers, and the +crushing disaster they had now sustained deterred them from any repetition +of the attempt. Life and power had grown so pleasant to them that +martyrdom was no longer an "end in itself"; they preferred, if checked, to +live and fight another day. + +Leo was, however, by no means entirely freed from the Saracens by his +victory of 718. At several epochs in the latter part of his reign he was +troubled by invasions of his border provinces. None of them, however, were +really dangerous, and after a victory won over the main army of the +raiders in 739 at Acroinon in Phrygia, Asia Minor was finally freed from +their presence. + + + + + +XV. THE ICONOCLASTS. (A.D. 720-802.) + + +If Leo the Isaurian had died on the day on which the army of the Caliph +raised the siege of Constantinople it would have been well for his +reputation in history. Unhappily for himself, though happily enough for +the East-Roman realm, he survived yet twenty years to carry through a +series of measures which were in his eyes not less important than the +repulse of the Moslems from his capital. Historians have given to the +scheme of reform which he took in hand the name of the Iconoclastic +movement, because of the opposition to the worship of images which formed +one of the most prominent features of his action. + +For the last hundred years the empire had been declining in culture and +civilization; literature and art seemed likely to perish in the +never-ending clash of arms: the old-Roman jurisprudence was being +forgotten, the race of educated civil servants was showing signs of +extinction, the governors of provinces were now without exception rough +soldiers, not members of that old bureaucracy whose Roman traditions had +so long kept the empire together. Not least among the signs of a decaying +civilization were the gross superstitions which had grown up of late in +the religious world. Christianity had begun to be permeated by those +strange mediaeval fancies which would have been as inexplicable to the +old-Roman mind of four centuries before as they are to the mind of the +nineteenth century. A rich crop of puerile legends, rites, and observances +had grown up of late around the central truths of religion, unnoticed and +unguarded against by theologians, who devoted all their energies to the +barren Monothelite and Monophysite controversies. Image-worship and +relic-worship in particular had developed with strange rapidity, and +assumed the shape of mere Fetishism. Every ancient picture or statue was +now announced as both miraculously produced and endued with miraculous +powers. These wonder-working pictures and statues were now adored as +things in themselves divine: the possession of one of them made the +fortune of a church or monastery, and the tangible object of worship seems +to have been regarded with quite as much respect as the saint whose memory +it recalled. The freaks to which image-worship led were in some cases +purely grotesque; it was, for example, not unusual to select a picture as +the godfather of a child in baptism, and to scrape off a little of its +paint and produce it at the ceremony to represent the saint. Even +patriarchs and bishops ventured to assert that the hand of a celebrated +representation of the Virgin distilled fragrant balsam. The success of the +Emperor Heraclius in his Persian campaign was ascribed by the vulgar not +so much to his military talent as to the fact that he carried with him a +small picture of the Virgin, which had fallen from heaven! + + [Illustration] + + Bishops, Monks, Kings, Laymen, And Women, Adoring The Madonna. (_From a + Byzantine MS._) (_From "L'Art Byzantin." Par Charles Bayet. Paris, + Quantin, 1883._) + + +All these vain beliefs, inculcated by the clergy and eagerly believed by +the mob, were repulsive to the educated laymen of the higher classes. +Their dislike for vain superstitions was emphasized by the influence of +Mahometanism on their minds. For a hundred years the inhabitants of the +Asiatic provinces of the empire had been in touch with a religion of which +the noblest feature was its emphatic denunciation of idolatry under every +shape and form. An East-Roman, when taunted by his Moslem neighbour for +clinging to a faith which had grown corrupt and idolatrous, could not but +confess that there was too much ground for the accusation, when he looked +round on the daily practice of his countrymen. + +Hence there had grown up among the stronger minds of the day a vigorous +reaction against the prevailing superstitions. It was more visible among +the laity than among the clergy, and far more widespread in Asia than in +Europe. In Leo the Isaurian this tendency stood incarnate in its most +militant form, and he left the legacy of his enthusiasm to his +descendants. Seven years after the relief of Constantinople he commenced +his crusade against superstition. The chief practices which he attacked +were the worship of images and the ascription of divine honours to +saints--more especially in the form of Mariolatry. His son Constantine, +more bold and drastic than his father, endeavoured to suppress monasticism +also, because he found the monks the most ardent defenders of images; but +Leo's own measures went no further than a determined attempt to put down +image-worship. + +The struggle which he inaugurated began in A.D. 725, when he ordered the +removal of all the images in the capital. Rioting broke out at once, and +the officials who were taking down the great figure of Christ Crucified, +over the palace-gate, were torn to pieces by a mob. The Emperor replied by +a series of executions, and carried out his policy all over the empire by +the aid of armed force. + +The populace, headed by the monks, opposed a bitter resistance to the +Emperor's doings, more especially in the European provinces. They set the +wildest rumours afloat concerning his intentions; it was currently +reported that the Jews had bought his consent to image-breaking, and that +the Caliph Yezid had secretly converted him to Mahometanism. Though Leo's +orthodoxy in matters doctrinal was unquestioned, and though he had no +objection to the representation of the cross, as distinguished from the +crucifix, he was accused of a design to undermine the foundations of +Christianity. Arianism was the least offensive fault laid to his account. +The Emperor's enemies did not confine themselves to passive resistance to +his crusade against images. Dangerous revolts broke out in Greece and +Italy, and were not put down without much fighting. In Italy, indeed, the +imperial authority was shaken to its foundations, and never thoroughly +re-established. The Popes consistently opposed the Iconoclastic movement, +and by their denunciation of it placed themselves at the head of the +anti-imperial party, nor did they shrink from allying themselves with the +Lombards, who were now, as always, endeavouring to drive the East-Roman +garrisons from Ravenna and Naples. + +The hatred which Leo provoked might have been fatal to him had he not +possessed the full confidence of the army. But his great victory over the +Saracens had won him such popularity in the camp, that he was able to +despise the wrath of the populace, and carry out his schemes to their end. +Beside instituting ecclesiastical reforms he was a busy worker in all the +various departments of the administration. He published a new code of +laws, the first since Justinian, written in Greek instead of Latin, as the +latter language was now quite extinct in the Balkan Peninsula. He +reorganized the finances of the empire, which had fallen into hopeless +confusion in the anarchy between 695 and 717. The army had much of his +care, but it was more especially in the civil administration of the empire +that he seems to have left his mark. From Leo's day the gradual process of +decay which had been observable since the time of Justinian seems to come +to an end, and for three hundred years the reorganized East-Roman state +developed a power and energy which appear most surprising after the +disasters of the unhappy seventh century. Having once lived down the +Saracen danger, the empire reasserted its ancient mastery in the East, +until the coming of the Turks in the eleventh century. We should be glad +to have the details of Leo's reforms, but most unhappily the monkish +chroniclers who described his reign have slurred over all his good deeds, +in order to enlarge to more effect on the iniquities of his crusade +against image-worship. The effects of his work are to be traced mainly by +noting the improved and well-ordered state of the empire after his death, +and comparing it with the anarchy that had preceded his accession. + + [Illustration] + + Representation Of The Madonna Enthroned. (_From a Byzantine Ivory._) + (_From "L'Art Byzantin." Par Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +Leo died in 740, leaving the throne to his son, Constantine V., whom he +had brought up to follow in his own footsteps. The new emperor was a good +soldier and a capable man of business, but his main interest in life +centred in the struggle against image-worship. Where Leo had chastised the +adherents of superstition with whips Constantine chastised them with +scorpions. He was a true persecutor, and executed not only rioters and +traitors, as his father had done, but all prominent opponents of his +policy who provoked his wrath. Hence he incurred an amount of hatred even +greater than that which encompassed Leo III., and his very name has been +handed down to history with the insulting byword _Copronymus_ tacked on to +it. + +Though strong and clever, Constantine was far below his father in ability, +and his reign was marked by one or two disasters, though its general tenor +was successful enough. Two defeats in Bulgaria were comparatively +unimportant, but a noteworthy though not a dangerous loss was suffered +when Ravenna and all the other East-Roman possessions in Central Italy +were captured by the Lombards in A.D. 750. At this time Pope Stephen, when +attacked by the same enemy, sent for aid to Pipin the Frank, instead of +calling on the Emperor, and for the future the papacy was for all +practical purposes dependent on the Franks and not on the empire. The loss +of the distant exarchate of Ravenna seemed a small thing, however, when +placed by the side of Constantine's successes against the Saracens, Slavs, +and Bulgarians, all of whom he beat back with great slaughter on the +numerous occasions when they invaded the empire. + +But in the minds both of Constantine himself and of his contemporaries, +his dealings with things religious were the main feature of his reign. He +collected a council of 338 bishops at Constantinople in 761, at which +image-worship was declared contrary to all Christian doctrine, and after +obtaining this condemnation, attacked it everywhere as a heresy and not +merely a superstition. In the following year, finding the monks the +strongest supporters of the images, he commenced a crusade against +monasticism. He first forbade the reception of any novices, and shortly +afterwards begun to close monasteries wholesale. We are told that he +compelled many of their inmates to marry by force of threats; others were +exiled to Cyprus by the hundred; not a few were flogged and imprisoned, +and a certain number of prominent men were put to death. These unwise +measures had the natural effect: the monks were everywhere regarded as +martyrs, and the image-worship which they supported grew more than ever +popular with the masses. + +While still in the full vigour of his persecuting enthusiasm, Constantine +Copronymus died in 775, leaving the throne to his son, Leo IV., an +Iconoclast, like all his race, but one who imitated the milder measures of +his grandfather rather than the more violent methods of his father. Leo +was consumptive and died young, after a reign of little more than four +years, in which nothing occurred of importance save a great victory over +the Saracens in 776. His crown fell to his son, Constantine VI., a child +of ten, while the Empress-Dowager Irene became sole regent, and her name +was associated with that of her son in all acts of state. + +The Isaurian dynasty was destined to end in a fearful and unnatural +tragedy. The Empress Irene was clever, domineering, and popular. The +irresponsible power of her office of regent filled her with overweening +ambition. She courted the favour of the populace and clergy by stopping +the persecution of the image-worshippers, and filled all offices, civil +and military, with creatures of her own. For ten years she ruled +undisturbed, and grew so full of pride and self-confidence that she looked +forward with dismay to the prospect of her son's attaining his majority +and claiming his inheritance. Even when he had reached the age of manhood +she kept him still excluded from state affairs, and compelled him to +marry, against his will, a favourite of her own. Constantine was neither +precocious nor unfilial, but in his twenty-second year he rebelled against +his mother's dictation, and took his place at the helm of the state. Irene +had actually striven to oppose him by armed force, but he pardoned her, +and after secluding her for a short time, restored her to her former +dignity. The unnatural mother was far from acquiescing in her son's +elevation, and still dreamed of reasserting herself. She took advantage of +the evil repute which Constantine won by a disastrous war with Bulgaria, +and an unhappy quarrel with the Church, on the question of his divorce +from the wife who had been forced upon him. More especially, however, she +relied on her popularity with the multitude, which had been won by +stopping the persecution of the image-worshippers during her regency, for +Constantine had resumed the policy of his ancestors and developed strong +Iconoclastic tendencies when he came to his own. + +In 797 Irene imagined that things were ripe for attacking her son, and +conspirators, acting by her orders, seized the young emperor, blinded him, +and immured him in a monastery before any of his adherents were able to +come to his aid. Thus ended the rule of the Isaurian dynasty. Constantine +himself, however, survived many years as a blind monk, and lived to see +the ends of no less than five of his successors. + +The wicked Irene sat on her ill-gained throne for some five troublous +years, much vexed by rebellion abroad and palace intrigues at home. It is +astonishing that her reign lasted so long, but it would seem that her +religious orthodoxy atoned in the eyes of many of her subjects for the +monstrous crime of her usurpation. The end did not come till 802, when +Nicephorus, her grand treasurer, having gained over some of the eunuchs +and other courtiers about her person, quietly seized her and immured her +in a monastery in the island of Chalke. No blow was struck by any one in +the cause of the wicked empress, and Nicephorus quietly ascended the +throne. + + [Illustration] + + Details Of St. Sophia. + + +Though containing little that is memorable in itself, the reign of Irene +must be noted as the severing-point of that connection between Rome and +Constantinople, which had endured since the first days of empire. In the +year 800 Pope Leo III. crowned Karl, King of the Franks, as Roman Emperor, +and transferred to him the nominal allegiance which he had hitherto paid +to Constantinople. Since the Italian rebellion in the time of Constantine +Copronymus, that allegiance had been a mere shadow, and the papacy had +been in reality under Frankish influence. But it was not till 800 that the +final breach took place. The Iconoclastic controversy had prepared the way +for it, while the fact that a woman sat on the imperial throne served as a +good excuse for the Pope's action. Leo declared that a female reign was an +anomaly and an abomination, and took upon himself the onus of ending it, +so far as Italy was concerned, by creating a new emperor of the West. +There was, of course, no legality in the act, and Karl the Great was in no +real sense the successor of Honorius and Romulus Augustulus, but he ruled +a group of kingdoms which embraced the larger half of the old Western +Empire, and formed a fair equipoise to the realm now ruled by Irene. From +800, then, onward we have once more a West-Roman empire in existence as +well as the East-Roman, and it will be convenient for many purposes to use +the adjective Byzantine instead of the adjective Roman, when we are +dealing with the remaining history of the realm that centred at +Constantinople. + + + + + +XVI. THE END OF THE ICONOCLASTS. (A.D. 802-886.) + + +The Iconoclastic controversy was far from being extinguished with the fall +of the house of Leo the Isaurian. It was destined to continue in a milder +form for more than half a century after the dethronement of Constantine +VI. The lines on which it was fought out were still the same--the official +hierarchy and the Asiatic provinces favoured Iconoclasm, the clergy and +the European provinces were "Iconodules."(22) Hence it is interesting to +note that through the greater part of the ninth century, while emperors of +Eastern birth sat on the throne, the views of Leo the Isaurian were still +in vogue, and that the eventual triumph of the image-worshippers only came +about when a royal house sprung from one of the European themes--the family +of Basil the Macedonian--gained possession of the crown. + +The treasurer, Nicephorus, who overthrew Irene, and so easily obtained +possession of the empire, was of Oriental extraction. His ancestor had +been a Christian Arab prince, expelled from his country at the time of the +rise of Mahomet, and his family had always dwelt in Asia Minor. Hence we +are not surprised to find that Nicephorus was an Iconoclast, and refused +to follow in the steps of Irene in the direction of restoring +image-worship. He did not persecute the "Iconodules," as the Isaurians had +done, but he gave them no personal encouragement. This being so, it is +natural that we should find his character described in the blackest terms +by the monkish chroniclers of the succeeding century. He was, we are told, +a hypocrite, an oppresser, and a miser; but we cannot find any very +distinct traces of the operation of such vices in his conduct during the +nine years of his reign. He was not, however, a very fortunate ruler; +though he put down with ease several insurrections of discontented +generals, he was unlucky with his foreign wars. The Caliph +Haroun-al-Raschid did much harm to the Asiatic provinces, ravaging the +whole country as far as Ancyra, nor could Nicephorus get rid of him +without signing a rather ignominious peace, and paying a large +war-indemnity. A yet greater disaster concluded another war. Nicephorus +invaded Bulgaria in 811, to punish King Crumn for ravaging Thrace. The +Byzantine army won a battle and sacked the palace and capital of the +Bulgarian king; but a few days later Nicephorus allowed himself to be +surprised by a night attack on his camp. In the panic and confusion the +emperor fell, and his son and heir, Stauracius, was desperately wounded. +The routed army did not stay its flight till Adrianople, and left the body +of the Emperor in the hands of the Bulgarians, who cut off his head, and +made the skull into a drinking-cup, just as the Lombards had dealt with +the skull of King Cunimund three hundred years before.(23) + +Stauracius, the only son of Nicephorus, was proclaimed emperor, but it +soon became evident that his wound was mortal, and Michael Rhangabe, his +brother-in-law, who had married the eldest daughter of Nicephorus, took +his place on the throne before the breath was out of the dying emperor's +body. + +Michael I. was a weak, good-natured man, who owed his elevation to the +mere chance of his marriage. He was a devoted servant and admirer of +monks, and began to undo the work of his father-in-law, and remove all +Iconoclasts from office. This provoked the wrath of that powerful party, +and led to conspiracies against Michael, but he might have held his own if +it had not been for the disgracefully incompetent way in which he +conducted the Bulgarian war. He allowed an enemy whom the East-Romans had +hitherto despised, not only to ravage the open country in Thrace, but to +storm the fortresses of Mesembria and Anchialus, and to push their +invasions up to the gates of Constantinople. The discontent of the army +found vent in a mutiny, and Leo the Armenian, an officer of merit and +capacity, was proclaimed emperor in the camp. Michael I. made no +resistance, and retired into a monastery after only two years of reign. +[811-13.] + +Leo the Armenian proved himself worthy of the confidence of the army. When +the Bulgarians appeared in front of the walls of Constantinople they were +repulsed, but Leo tarnished the glory of his success by a treacherous +attempt to assassinate King Crumn at a conference--a crime as unnecessary +as it was unsuccessful, for the Emperor might, as the event proved, have +trusted to the sword instead of the dagger. In the next spring he took the +offensive himself, marched out to Mesembria, and inflicted on the enemy +such a sanguinary defeat that hardly a man escaped his sword, and Bulgaria +was so weakened that it gave no further trouble for more than fifty years. + +Almost the moment that he was freed from the Bulgarian war, Leo became +involved in the fatal Iconoclastic controversy. Being a native of an +Oriental theme, he was naturally imbued with the views of his great +namesake, the Isaurian, and inclined to reverse the policy of the +monk-loving Michael I. But being moderate and wary he tried to introduce, +without the use of force, a middle policy between image-breaking and +image-worship--a fruitless attempt, which only brought him the nickname of +"the Chameleon." Leo's idea was the quaint device of permitting the use of +images, but of hanging them so high from the ground that the public should +not be able to touch or kiss them! This pleased nobody; on the one side, +the patriarch and his monks inveighed against the moving of the images, +while, on the other, tumultuous companies of Asiatic soldiery broke into +churches and mutilated all the pictures and figures they could find. The +seven years of Leo's reign were full of ecclesiastical bickerings, but it +should be remembered to his credit that no single person suffered death +for his conscience' sake in the whole period. The most violent of the +opponents of the Emperor were merely interned in remote monasteries, when +they ventured to set their will against his. Long ere the end of his +reign, Leo had been compelled to leave his half measures and prohibit all +use of images. Like Constantine Copronymus, he called a council to endorse +his action, and a majority of the Eastern bishops resolved that Iconolatry +was a dangerous heresy, and anathematized the patriarch Nicephorus and all +other defenders of the images. + +Leo's reign was prosperous in all save the matter of his religious +troubles. But he was not destined to die in peace in his bed. Michael the +Amorian, the best general in the empire, was detected in a conspiracy +against his master. Leo cast him into prison, but delayed his punishment, +and left his accomplices at large. Michael had many friends in the palace +who determined to strike a blow ere the Emperor should have discovered +their guilt. They resolved to slay Leo in his private chapel, as he +attended matins on Christmas Day, for he was accustomed to come unarmed +and unguarded to the early communion. Accordingly, the conspirators +attended the service, and attacked the Emperor in the midst of the +Eucharistic hymn. Leo snatched the heavy metal cross off the altar and +struck down some of his assailants, but numbers were too many for him, and +he was cut down and slain at the very foot of the holy table. [Christmas +Day, 820.] + +Michael the Amorian was dragged out of his dungeon, saluted as emperor, +and crowned, even before the fetters were off his feet. It was not till +the ceremony had been performed that time was found to send for a smith to +strike away the rings. + +Michael was by birth a mere peasant, but had raised himself to high rank +in the army by his courage and ability. He is sometimes styled "the +Amorian," from his birth-place, Amorium in Phrygia, but more often +mentioned by his nickname of "the Stammerer." He had been the friend and +adviser of Leo the Armenian at the time of the latter's elevation to the +throne, and his conspiracy must be reckoned a gross piece of ingratitude, +even though we acknowledge that he was not personally responsible for his +master's murder. + +Though rough and uncultured, Michael was a man of very considerable +ability. He strengthened his title to the crown by a marriage with the +last scion of the Isaurian house, the princess Euphrosyne, daughter of the +blind Constantine VI. The religious difficulties of the day he endeavoured +to treat in an absolutely impartial way, so as to offend neither +Iconoclasts nor Iconodules. He recalled from exile the image-worshipping +monks whom Leo the Armenian had sent to distant monasteries, and +proclaimed that for the future every subject of the empire should enjoy +complete liberty of conscience on the disputed question. This was far from +satisfying the image-worshippers, who wished Michael to restore their +idols to their ancient places: but the Amorian would not consent to this, +and obtained but a very qualified measure of approval from the monastic +party. + +It was not to be expected that the reign of a military usurper, with no +title to the throne whatever, would be untroubled by revolts. Michael had +his share of such afflictions, and though he finally slew Thomas and +Euphemius, the two pretenders who laid claim to his crown, yet by their +means he lost two not inconsiderable provinces of his empire. While the +rebellion of Thomas was in progress, an army of Saracens from Alexandria +threw themselves on the island of Crete, and conquered it from end to end. +When Michael's hands were free he sent two great armaments to expel the +intruders, but both failed, and Crete was destined to remain for a whole +century in Moslem hands. Its hundred harbours became the haunts of +innumerable Corsairs, who grew to be the bane of commerce in the Levant, +and were a serious danger to the empire whenever its fleet fell into bad +hands and failed to keep the police of the seas. + +A similar rising in Sicily under a rebel named Euphemius led to the +invasion of that island by an army of Moors from Africa, who landed in +827, and maintained a foothold in spite of all efforts to expel them. At +first their gains were not rapid, but in the time of Michael's successors +they gradually won for themselves the whole of the island. + + [Illustration] + + Byzantine Metal Work (Our Lord and the Twelve Apostles). (_From "L'Art + Byzantin." Par Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +After nine years of reign the Amorian died a natural death, still wearing +the crown he had won. It was just fifty years since any ruler of the +empire had met such a peaceful end. He was succeeded by his son +Theophilus, a vehement Iconoclast, whose persecuting tendencies had been +with difficulty restrained in his father's life-time. His accession was +the signal for a new campaign against image-worship; he induced the +patriarch John the Grammarian, a strong Iconoclast like himself, to +excommunicate as idolaters all who differed from him, and began to flog, +banish, and imprison their leading men. His persecution would have been +almost as vehement as that of Constantine Copronymus, but for the fact +that he did not ever inflict the punishment of death; branding and +mutilation however he did not disdain. + +The Iconodules saw the vengeance of heaven for the misdeeds of Theophilus +in the disasters which he suffered in war from the Saracens. He fell out +with the Caliph Motassem, and in the first campaign took and burnt the +town of Zapetra, for which the Commander of the Faithful had great +regard.(24) This roused Motassem to furious wrath; he swore that he would +destroy in revenge the town which Theophilus held most dear; he collected +the largest Saracen army that had been seen since Moslemah beleaguered +Constantinople in 717, and marched out of Tarsus with 130,000 men, each of +whom (if legend speaks true) had the word Amorium painted on his shield. +For it was Amorium, the birth-place of the Emperor, and the home of his +ancestors that Motassem had sworn to sack. While one division of the +Caliph's army defeated Theophilus, who had taken the field in person, +another headed by Motassem himself marched straight on Amorium, and took +it after a brave defence of fifty-five days. Thirty thousand of its +inhabitants were massacred, and the town was burnt, but the Caliph then +turned home satisfied with his revenge, and the empire suffered nothing +more from this most dangerous invasion. The Saracen war dragged on in an +indecisive way, but no further disaster was encountered. + +There are other things to be recorded of Theophilus beside his persecution +of image-worshippers and his war with the Caliph. He was long remembered +for his taste for gorgeous display; of all the East-Roman emperors he +seems to have delighted the most in gold and silver work, gems and +embroidery. His golden plane-tree was the talk of the East, and the golden +lions at the foot of his throne, which rose and roared by the means of +ingenious machinery within, were remembered for generations. + +Nor should the curious tale of his second marriage be left untold. When +left a widower he bade the Empress-dowager Euphrosyne assemble at her +levee all the most beautiful of the daughters of the East-Roman +aristocracy, and came among them to choose a wife, carrying like Paris a +golden apple in his hand. His glance was first fixed on the fair Eikasia, +but approaching her he found no better topic to commence a conversation +than the awkward statement that "most of the evil had come into the world +by means of women." The lady retorted that surely most of the good had +also come into the world by their means, a reply which apparently +discomposed Theophilus, for he walked on and without a further word gave +the golden apple to Theodora, a rival beauty. The choice was hasty and +unhappy, for Theodora was a devoted Iconodule, and used all her influence +against her husband's religious opinions. + +Theophilus died in 842, while still a young man, leaving the throne to his +only son Michael, a child of three years, and the regency to the young +empress. The moment that her husband's grave was closed Theodora set to +work to undo his policy. Amid the applause of the monks and the populace +of Constantinople she proclaimed the end of the persecution, sent for the +banished image-worshippers from their places of exile, and deposed John +the Grammarian, the Iconoclastic patriarch who had served Theophilus. +Within thirty days of the commencement of the new reign the images had +appeared once more on the walls of all the churches of Constantinople. The +Iconoclasts seem to have been taken by surprise, and made no resistance to +the revolution: however the empress did not take any measures to persecute +them; it was only power and not security for life and limb that they lost. +The sole permanent result of the long struggle which they had kept up was +a curious compromise in the Eastern Church on the subject of +representation of the human figure. Statues were never again erected in +places of worship, but only paintings and mosaics. It was apparently +believed that the actual image savoured too much of the heathen idol, but +that no offence could possibly be given by the picture, which served as a +pious remembrance of the holy personage it represented, but could be +nothing more. Nevertheless the veneration of the Byzantines for their holy +"Eikons" became almost as grotesque as idol-worship, and led to many +quaint and curious forms of superstition. + +Theodora, engrossed in things religious, handed over the education of her +young son to her brother Bardas, who became her co-regent and was +afterwards made Caesar. He brought up the young Michael in the most +reckless and unconscientious manner, teaching him his own vices of +drunkenness and debauchery. Michael was an apt pupil, and ere he reached +the age of twenty-one had become a confirmed dipsomaniac. History knows +him by the dishonourable nickname of "Michael the Drunkard." Some years +after his majority he grew discontented with his uncle, and slew him, in +order that he might reign alone. His profligacy and intemperance became +still more unbearable after Bardas was dead, and had it not been for the +splendid organization of the Byzantine civil service the administration of +the empire must have gone to pieces. Presently Michael grew tired of +spending on state affairs any time that he could spare from his orgies, +and appointed as Caesar and colleague his boon companion Basil the +Macedonian. Basil had reached the position of grand chamberlain purely by +the Emperor's favour; he rose from the lowest ranks and is said to have +first entered Michael's service in the humble position of a groom. His +practical ability, combined with a head hard enough to withstand the +effect of even the longest debauch, won Michael's admiration, and so he +came to be first chamberlain and then Caesar. Under the mask of a +roisterer Basil concealed the most devouring ambition, and when he knew +that his drunken benefactor had won the contempt of all the East-Roman +world, had the impudence and ingratitude to plan his murder. Michael was +stabbed while sleeping off the effects of one of his orgies, and his +low-born colleague seized the palace and proclaimed himself emperor. + +It might have been expected that the East-Roman world would have refused +to receive as its lord a man who owed his elevation to the freak of a +drunkard, and had then become the assassin of his benefactor. But +strangely enough Basil was destined to found the longest dynasty that ever +sat upon the Constantinopolitan throne. He turned out a far better ruler +than might have been expected from his disgraceful antecedents, being one +of those fortunate men who are able to utilize the work of others when +their own powers and knowledge fall short. + +Basil is mainly remembered for his codification of the laws of the empire, +which superseded the _Ecloga_ of Leo the Isaurian, even as Leo's +compilation had superseded the more solid and thorough work of Justinian. +The _Basilika_ of Basil with the additions made by his son Leo VI. formed +the code of the Byzantine Empire down to its last days, no further +rearrangement being ever made. + +Basil, being of European birth and not an Asiatic like the preceding +emperors, was naturally an orthodox image-worshipper. He showed his +bigotry by a fierce persecution of the Paulicians, an Asiatic sect of +heretics accused of Manicheanism, whom the Iconoclast emperors had been +wont to tolerate. Basil's oppression drove many of them over the Saracen +frontier, where they took refuge with the Moslems and maintained +themselves by plundering the borders of the empire. + +Among the other transactions of his nineteen years of reign [867-886], the +only one deserving notice is the final loss of Sicily. The Saracens of +Africa, who had held a footing in the island ever since the time of +Michael II., now finished their work by storming Syracuse in 878. + + + + + +XVII. THE LITERARY EMPERORS AND THEIR TIME. (A.D. 886-963.) + + +The eighty years which followed the death of Basil the Macedonian were the +most uneventful and monotonous in the whole history of the empire. They +are entirely taken up by the two long reigns of Leo the Wise and +Constantine Porphyrogenitus,(25) the son and grandson of the founder of +the dynasty. Basil had been a mere adventurer, an ignorant and uneducated +but capable upstart. His successors--strange issue from such a stock--were a +pair of mild, easy-going, and inoffensive men of literature. They wrote no +annals with their sword, though the times were not unpropitious for +military enterprise, but devoted themselves to the pen, and have left +behind them some of the most useful and interesting works in Byzantine +literature. + +If the times had been harder it is doubtful whether Leo VI. and +Constantine VII. would have been strong enough to protect their throne. +But the period 880-960 was less troubled by foreign wars than any other +corresponding period in the history of the East-Roman state. The empire of +the Caliphs was breaking up in the East--the empire of Charles the Great +had already broken up in the West--the Bulgarians and other neighbours of +the realm on the north were being converted to Christianity, and settling +down into quiet. The only troubles to which the East-Roman realm was +exposed were piratical raids of the Russians on the north and the Saracens +of Africa on the south. These were vexatious, but not dangerous. An active +and warlike emperor would probably have found the time propitious for +conquest from his neighbours, but Leo and Constantine were quiet, +unenterprising men, who dwelt contentedly in the palace, and seldom or +never took the field. + +Leo's reign of twenty-six years was only diversified by an unfortunate +invasion of Bulgaria, which failed through the mismanagement of the +generals, and for a great raid of Saracen pirates on Thessalonica in 904. +The capture of the second city of the empire by a fleet of African +adventurers was an incident disgraceful to the administration of Leo, and +caused much outcry and sensation. But it is fair to say that it was taken +almost by surprise, and stormed from the side of the sea where no attack +had been expected. The armies and fleet of the empire would have availed +to rescue the town if only its fall had been delayed a few weeks. When +they had taken it the Saracens fled with their booty, and made no attempt +to hold its walls. + +Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the offspring of the fourth wife of Leo the +Wise, and the child of his old age, was only seven when his heritage fell +to him. For many years he was under the tutelage of guardians; first his +father's brother Alexander ruled as his colleague, and became +emperor-regent. Some years after Alexander had died an ambitious admiral +named Romanus Lecapenus usurped the same position, declared himself +emperor, and administered the realm. The life of Romanus was protracted +into extreme old age, long after Constantine had reached his majority; but +the ambitious veteran held tight to the sceptre, and kept the rightful +heir in the background. Constantine consoled himself by writing books and +painting pictures; it was not till he was nearly forty that he came to his +own. Even then his success was not owing to his own energy; the sons of +the aged Romanus had resolved to succeed their parent on the throne, in +despite of the rights of Constantine. But when they declared themselves +emperors and made their old father abdicate, an outburst of popular wrath +was provoked. The mob and the guards joined to sweep away the presumptuous +Stephen Lecapenus and his brother. They were immured in monasteries, and +Constantine emerged from his seclusion to administer the empire for twenty +years. He was somewhat weak and ineffective, but neither obstinate nor +tyrannical; many abler men made worse rulers. + +The chief achievements of both Leo and Constantine were their books. Those +of Leo consist of a manual on the Art of War, some theological treatises, +and a book of prophecies, a collection of political enigmas, which were +long the puzzle and admiration of the East.(26) The first-named work is +most valuable and interesting, bringing down the history of military +organization, tactics, and strategy to Leo's own time, and giving us a +perfect picture of the Byzantine army and its tactics, as well as +incidental sketches of all the enemies with which it had to contend. The +backbone of the force was still the "themes" or "turmae" of heavy cavalry, +of which every province had one. The number of the provinces had been much +increased since the days of the emperors of the house of Heraclius, and +this implied a corresponding increase in the troops. They were raised from +subjects of the empire and officered by the Byzantine nobility, for as Leo +observed, "There was no difficulty in obtaining officers of good birth and +private means, whose origin made them respected by the soldiery, while +their money enabled them to win the good graces of their men by many gifts +of small creature comforts, over and above their pay." The names of some +of the great noble houses are found for generation after generation in the +imperial muster rolls, such as those of Ducas, Phocas, Comnenus, +Bryennius, Kerkuas, Diogenes, and many more. The pages of Leo's work +breathe an entire confidence in the power of the army to deal with any +foe; against Saracen, Turk, Hungarian, and Slav, instant and decisive +action is advised; when caught, they should be fought and beaten. It is +only when dealing with the men of the West, the Franks and Lombards, that +Leo recommends caution and deprecates any rash engagement in a general +action, preferring to wear the enemy down by cutting off his supplies and +harassing his marches. We gather a very favourable impression of the +Byzantine army from Leo's book; it was organized, armed, and supplied in a +manner that has no parallel till modern times. Each regiment possessed its +special uniform, and was equipped with regularity. There was none of that +variety in arms and organizations which was the bane of mediaeval armies. +The regiments had each attached to them an elaborate military train, a +small body of engineers, and a provision of surgeons and ambulances. To +encourage the saving of wounded men, Leo tells us that the bearer company +was given a gold piece for every disabled soldier whom it brought off the +field after a lost battle. It would be hard to find any similar care shown +for the wounded till the days of our own century. + +The Byzantine fleet, as Leo describes it, had for its chief object the +maintenance of the police of the seas in the Aegean, Levant, and South +Italian waters. Its enemies were the Saracens of the Syrian and African +coasts, and more especially the troublesome Corsairs of Crete, who were +often beaten but never subdued till Nicephorus Phocas exterminated them in +961. The empire maintained three fleets, small ones in the Black Sea and +in Western waters; but the largest in the Aegean. This was composed of +sixty "dromonds," or war-vessels of the largest rating; their great depot +was in the arsenal at Constantinople, but they could also be refitted at +Samos, Thessalonica, and several other ports. Owing to their superior +size, and still more to their employment of the celebrated Greek fire, the +imperial fleets generally had the better of the Saracen, but though they +checked his larger squadrons, they could never suppress the petty piracy +by isolated sea-robbers, which rendered all mediaeval commerce so +dangerous. + +The works of Constantine Porphyrogenitus are even more interesting than +those of his father. His treatise called "On the Themes" is invaluable to +the historian, as it gives a complete list of the Themes, their +boundaries, inhabitants, characteristics, and resources, with some other +incidental notices of value. Still more important is the book, "On the +Administration of the Empire," which contains directions for the foreign +policy of the realm, and sketches the condition and resources of the +various nations with whom the Constantinopolitan government had dealings. +Constantine also wrote a biography of his grandfather, Basil the +Macedonian, couched in terms of respect which that hardy usurper was far +from deserving. But his longest and most ambitious work was on Court +Ceremonies, a manual of etiquette and precedence, describing the official +hierarchy of the empire, its duties and privileges, and containing +elaborate directions for the conduct of state ceremonials and the interior +economy of the royal household. On this comparatively trifling topic +Constantine spent far more pains than on the works of larger interest +which he composed. His books show him to have been a man of no great +originative faculty, but gifted with the powers of a careful and +methodical compiler, who loved details and never shirked trouble. His care +for court pageants was very characteristic of the peaceful emperor, who +had long been kept at home by his guardian, and forced to compensate +himself by ceremonial for the want of real power. + +The fact that two successive emperors devoted themselves to literary work +is a sufficient sign that by the end of the ninth century the times of +intellectual dearth and destitution which had so long prevailed were now +at an end. From the death of Justinian to the end of the Heraclian dynasty +matters grew gradually worse; from the rise of Leo the Isaurian onward +they began slowly to improve. The darkest age in Byzantine literary +history was from about 600 to 750, a period in which we have hardly any +contemporary annalists, no poetry save the lost Heracliad of George of +Pisidia, and very little even of theology. Literature seemed absolutely +dead at the accession of the Isaurians, but the quickening influence of +the reforms of the great Leo seems to have been felt in that province as +in every other. By the end of the eighth century writers were far more +numerous, though many of them were only anti-Iconoclastic +controversialists, like Theodore Studita. By the ninth century we can +trace the existence of a much larger literary class, and find a few really +first-rate authors, such as the patriarch Photius (857-69), whose learning +and width of culture was astonishing, and whose library-catalogue is the +envy of modern scholars. + +Perhaps the most interesting development of Byzantine literature were the +epics, or Romances of Chivalry as we feel more inclined to call them, +which were written toward the end of the times of the Macedonian dynasty. +The epic of Digenes Akritas, a work of the end of the tenth century, +celebrating the praises of a hero who lived in the reigns of Nicephorus +Phocas and John Zimisces [963-80], may serve as a type of the class. It +tells of the adventures in love and war of Basil Digenes Akritas, warden +of the Cilician Marches, or "Clissurarch of Taurus," as his official title +would have run. He was a mighty hunter, both of bears and of Saracens, put +down the Apelates (or moss-troopers, to use a modern analogy) who infested +the border, and led many a foray into Syria. He is even credited with the +slaying of an occasional dragon by his admiring bard. But perhaps the most +interesting episode is the story of his elopement with the fair Eudocia +Ducas, daughter of the general of the Cappadocian theme, whom he carried +off in despite of her father and seven brethren. Pursued by the irate +family, he rode them down one by one at vantage points in the passes, but +spared their lives, and was reconciled to them at the intercession of his +bride. "Digenes Akritas" is the best as well as the earliest of the class +which it represents. + + [Illustration] + +A Warrior-Saint (St. Leontius). (_From a Byzantine Fresco._) (_From "L'Art + Byzantin." Par Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin. 1883._) + + +Art followed much the same course as literature in the period 600-900. It +was in a state of decay for the first century and a half, and the +surviving works of that time are often grotesquely rude. For sheer bad +drawing and bad execution nothing can be worse than a coin of Constans II. +or Constantine V.; a Frankish or Visigoth piece could not be much more +unsightly. The few manuscripts which survive from that period display a +corresponding, though not an equally great, decline in art. Mosaic work +perhaps showed less decline than other branches of the decoration, but +even here seventh and eighth century work is very rare. + +In the ninth century everything improves wonderfully. It is most +astonishing to see how the old classical tradition of painting revive in +the best manuscript illumination of the period; many of them might have +been executed in the fifth or even the fourth century, so closely do they +reproduce the old Roman style. It seems that the Iconoclastic controversy +stimulated painting; persecuted by the emperors, the art of sacred +portraiture became respected above all others by the multitude. Several of +the most prominent "Iconodule" martyrs were painters, of whom it is +recorded that their works were no less beautiful than edifying: those of +Lazarus, whom the Emperor Theophilus tortured, are especially cited as +triumphs of art as well as sanctity. + +Though a persecutor of painters, Theophilus deserves a word of mention as +the first great builder since Justinian, and as a patron of the minor arts +of jewellery, silver work, and mosaic. There is good evidence that these +were all in a very flourishing condition in his time. [829-42.] + +There is one more point in the history of the empire in the ninth century +to which attention must be called. This is the unique commercial +importance of Constantinople during this and the two succeeding centuries. +All other commerce than that of the empire had been swept off the seas by +the Saracen pirates in the preceding hundred years, and the only touch +between Eastern and Western Christendom was kept up under the protection +of the imperial navy. The Eastern products which found their way to Italy +or France were all passed through the warehouses of the Bosphorus. It was +East-Roman ships that carried all the trade; save a few Italian ports, +such as Amalphi and the new city of Venice, no place seems even to have +possessed merchant ships. This monopoly of the commerce of Europe was one +of the greatest elements in the strength of the empire. So much money and +goods passed through it that a rather harsh and unwise system of taxation +did no permanent harm. + + + + + +XVIII. MILITARY GLORY. + + +While Constantine Porphyrogenitus had been dragging out the monotonous +years of his long reign, events which completely changed the aspect of +affairs in the Moslem East had been following each other in quick +succession on the Asiatic frontier of his realm. Ever since it first came +into existence the Byzantine Empire had been faced in Asia by a single +powerful enemy; first by the Sassanian kingdom of Persia, then by the +Caliphate under the two dynasties of the Ommeyades and the Abbasides. Now, +however, the Caliphate had at last broken up, and the descendants of +Abdallah-es-Saffah and Haroun-al-Raschid had become the vassals of a +rebellious subject, and preserved a mere nominal sovereignty which did not +extend beyond the walls of their palace in Bagdad. + +The crisis had come in 951 A.D., when the armies of the Buhawid prince +Imad-ud-din, who had seized on the sovereignty of Persia, broke into +Bagdad and made the Caliph a prisoner in his own royal residence. For the +future the Caliphs were no more than puppets, and the Buhawid rulers used +their names as a mere form and pretence. But the conquerors did not gain +possession of the whole of the Caliphate; only Persia and the Lower +Euphrates Valley obeyed them. Other dynasties rose and fought for the more +western provinces of the old Moslem realm. The Emirs of Aleppo and Mosul, +who ruled respectively in North Syria and in Mesopotamia, became the +immediate neighbours of the East-Roman Empire, while the lands beyond +them, Egypt and South Syria, formed the dominions of the house of the +Ikshides. + +Thus the Byzantines found on their eastern frontier no longer one great +centralized power, but the comparatively weak Emirates of Aleppo and +Mosul, with the Buhawid and Ikshidite kingdoms in their rear. The four +Moslem states were all new and precarious creations of the sword, and were +generally at war with each other. An unparalleled opportunity had arrived +for the empire to take its revenge on its ancient enemies and to move back +the Mahometan boundaries from the line along the Taurus where they had so +long been fixed. + +Fortunately it was not only the hour that had arrived, but also the man. +The empire had at its disposal at this moment the best soldier that it had +possessed since the death of Leo the Isaurian. Nicephorus Phocas was the +head of one of those great landholding families of Asia Minor who formed +the flower of the Byzantine aristocracy; he owned broad lands in +Cappadocia, along the Mahometan frontier. His father and grandfather +before him had been distinguished officers, for the whole race lived by +the sword, but Nicephorus far surpassed them. He was not only a practical +soldier, but a military author: his book, {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}, dealing +with the organization of armies, still survives to testify to his +capacity. + +It was on Nicephorus then that Romanus II., the son and heir of +Constantine VII., fixed his choice, when he resolved to commence an attack +on the Mahometan powers. The point selected for assault was the island of +Crete, the dangerous haunt of Corsairs which lay across the mouth of the +Aegean, and sheltered the pestilent galleys that preyed on the trade of +the empire with the West. Several expeditions against it had failed during +the last half-century, but this one was fitted out on the largest scale. +The vessels are said to have been numbered by the thousand, and the land +force was chosen from the flower of the Asiatic "themes." Complete success +followed the arms of Nicephorus. He drove the Saracens into their chief +town Chandax (Candia), stormed that city, and took an enormous booty--the +hoarded wealth of a century of piracy. The whole island then submitted, +and Nicephorus sailed back to Constantinople to present to his sovereign, +in bonds, Kurup the captive Emir of Crete, and all the best of the booty +of the island [961 A.D.]. + +Nicephorus was duly honoured for his feat of arms, and given command of an +army destined to open a campaign in the next year against the great +frontier strongholds of the Saracens in Asia Minor. Descending by the +passes of the Central Taurus into Cilicia, Phocas stormed Anazarbus, and +then forced Mount Amanus, and marched into Northern Syria. There he took +the great town of Hierapolis, and laid siege to Aleppo, the capital of the +Emir Seyf-ud-dowleh, who ruled from Mount Lebanon to the Euphrates. The +Emir was routed, the walls of his capital were stormed, and Aleppo, with +all its wealth, fell into the hands of the Byzantine general. But the +citadel still held out, and its protracted resistance gave time for the +Moslems of South Syria and Mesopotamia to combine for the relief of their +northern compatriots. So great an army appeared before the walls of Aleppo +that Phocas determined not to risk a battle, and retreated with his booty +and his numerous prisoners into the defiles of Taurus [962 A.D.]. Sixty +captured forts and castles in Cilicia and North Syria were the permanent +fruits of his campaign. + +The next year the emperor Romanus II. died, very unexpectedly, ere he had +reached his twenty-sixth year. He left a young wife, and two little boys, +Basil, aged seven, and Constantine, who was only two. There followed the +form of regency that custom had made usual. Nicephorus, the most powerful +and popular subject of the empire, claimed the guardianship of the two +young Caesars, and had himself crowned as their colleague. To secure his +place he married their mother, the young and beautiful empress-dowager +Theophano. + +The joint reign of Nicephorus Phocas and his wards, Basil II. and +Constantine VIII. lasted six years, 963-969. The regent behaved with +scrupulous loyalty to the young princes, and made no attempt to encroach +on their rights, or to supplant them by any of his numerous nephews, who +had looked forward to his accession as likely to lead to their own +promotion to imperial power. + +Nicephorus was an indefatigable soldier, and spent more of his reign in +the field than in the palace. His end in life was to complete, as emperor, +the conquest of Cilicia and North Syria, which he had commenced as +general. The years 964 and 965 were spent in achieving the former object: +three long sieges made him master of the great Cilician frontier +fortresses, Adana, Mopsuestia, and Tarsus. Their rich bronze gates were +sent as trophies to Constantinople, and set up again in the archways of +the imperial palace. A few months later the tale of victories was +completed by the news that Cyprus also had fallen back into Byzantine +hands, after having passed seventy-seven years in the power of the +Saracens. + +For two years after this Phocas was employed at home, where his +administration was less popular than in the camp. The stern old soldier +was not a friend of either priests or courtiers. He had several quarrels +with the patriarch Polyeuctus, which made him detested by the clergy, and +in his public life he displayed a dislike for pomp and ceremony which led +the Byzantine populace to style him a niggard and an extortioner. He +suppressed shows and sports, and turned all the public revenues into the +war budget, which lay nearest his heart. When he left the city in 968 for +a new campaign against the Saracens, he was a much less popular ruler than +when he had entered it in triumph in 966 after the conquest of Cilicia. + +In the camp, however, Nicephorus was as well loved and as successful as +ever. His last Syrian expedition was no less glorious than his earlier +campaign in the same quarter six years before. All the North Syrian cities +fell into his hands--Emesa, Hierapolis, Laodicea, and with them Aleppo, the +residence of the Emir: Damascus bought off the invader by a great tribute. +Only Antioch, the ancient capital of the land, held out, and Antioch also +was taken in the winter by escalade, through the daring of an officer +named Burtzes. The story of its fall is curious. The Emperor had left a +blockading army before it under a general named Peter, with orders not to +risk an assault. Burtzes, the second in command, disobeyed orders and +stormed a corner tower on a snowy night at the head of a small band of 300 +men. Peter, in fear of the Emperor's orders, refused to send him aid, and +for more than two days Burtzes maintained himself unaided in the tower he +had won. At last, however, the main body entered, and the Saracens fled +from the town. Nicephorus dismissed both his generals from the +service--Burtzes for having acted against orders, Peter for having obeyed +them too slavishly, and allowing an important advantage to be imperilled. + +Nicephorus returned to Constantinople in the following year, to meet his +death at the hands of those who should have been his nearest and dearest. +His wife, Theophano had learnt to hate her grim and stern husband, who, +though he possessed all the virtues, displayed none of the graces. She had +cast her eyes in love on the Emperor's favourite nephew, John Zimisces, a +young cavalry officer, who had greatly distinguished himself in the Syrian +war. Zimisces listened to her tempting, but he was not swayed by lust, but +by ambition: he had hoped that his uncle would make him heir to the +throne, to the detriment of the young emperor Basil. The loyal old soldier +had no idea of wronging his wards, and his nephew resolved to gain by +murder what he could not gain by favour. + + [Illustration] + + Return Of A Victorious Emperor. (_From an Embroidered Robe._) (_From + "L'art Byzantin." Par Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +So John and Theophano conspired against their best friend, and basely +murdered him in the palace one December night in 969. The Emperor was +awakened from sleep to find a dozen of the assassins forcing his door. +John threw him to the ground, and the others stabbed him, while he cried +in his death-agony, "Oh, God! grant me Thy mercy!" + +Thus ended the brave and virtuous Nicephorus Phocas. His murderers +succeeded in their end, for John Zimisces was able to seduce the guards, +overawe the ministers, and force the patriarch to crown him emperor. He +showed some contrition for the base slaughter of his uncle, giving away +half his private fortune to found hospitals for lepers, and the other half +to be distributed among the poor of the city. He did not wed the partner +of his guilt, the empress Theophano, but refused to see her face, and +ultimately sent her to a monastery. + +If the manner of his accession could but be forgiven John might pass for a +favourable specimen of an emperor. He respected the rights of the young +emperors Basil and Constantine as scrupulously as his uncle had done, and +proved that as an administrator and a soldier he was not unworthy to sit +in the seat of Phocas. But the Nemesis of the murder of his uncle rested +upon him in the shape of a long civil war. His cousin Bardas Phocas took +arms to revenge the death of the old Nicephorus, and stirred up troubles +among his Cappadocian countrymen for several years, till at last he was +captured and immured in a monastery. + +The chief feat for which John Zimisces is remembered is his splendid +victory over the Russians, whose great invasion of the Balkan Peninsula +falls within the limits of his reign. We have not yet had much occasion to +mention the Russian tribes, who for many centuries had been dwelling in +obscurity and barbarism, by the waters of the Dnieper and the Duna, in a +land of forest and marsh, far remote from the boundaries of the empire. +Nor should we hear of them now, but for the fact that their scattered +tribes had been of late unified into a single horde by a power from +without, and urged forward into a career of conquest by a race of +ambitious princes. Into the land of the Russians there had come some +hundred years before the reign of John Zimisces [862 A.D.], a Viking band +from Sweden, headed by Rurik, the ancestor of all the princes and Tzars of +Russia. The descendants of these adventurers from the north had gradually +conquered and subdued all the Slavonic tribes of the great forest-land, +and formed them into a single powerful kingdom. Its capital lay at Kief on +the Dnieper, and it had proved a formidable neighbour to all the barbarous +tribes around. The Viking blood of the new Russian princes drove them +seaward, and ere many generations had passed they had forced their way +down the Dnieper into the Euxine, and begun to vex the northern borders of +the Byzantine Empire with raids and ravages like those which the Danes +inflicted on Western Europe. Twice already, within the tenth century, had +large fleets of light Russia row-boats--they were copies on a smaller scale +of the Viking ships of the North--stolen down from the Dnieper mouth to the +shores of Thrace, and landed their plundering crews within a few miles of +the Bosphorus, for a hurried raid on the rich suburban provinces. On the +first occasion in 907, the Russians had returned home laden with plunder, +but on the second, which fell in 941, the Byzantine fleet had caught them +at sea, and revenged the harrying of Thrace by sinking scores of their +light boats, which could not resist for a moment the impact of the heavy +war-galley urged by its hundred oars. + + [Illustration] + +Arabesque Design From A Byzantine MS. (_From "L'Art Byzantin." Par Charles + Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +But the attack which John Zimisces had to meet in 970 was far more +formidable than either of those which had preceded it. Swiatoslaf, king of +the Russians, had come down the Dnieper with no less than 60,000 men, and +had thrown himself on to the kingdom of Bulgaria, which was at the moment +distracted by civil war. He conquered the whole country, and soon his +marauders were crossing the Balkans and showing themselves in the plain of +Thrace. They even sacked the considerable town of Philippopolis before the +imperial troops came to its aid. This roused Zimisces, who had been absent +in Asia Minor, and in the early spring of 971 an imperial army of 30,000 +men set out to cross the Balkans and drive the Russians into the Danube. +The struggle which ensued was one of the most desperate which East-Roman +history records. The Russians all fought on foot, in great square columns, +armed with spear and axe: they wore mail shirts and peaked helmets, just +like the Normans of Western Europe, to whom their princes were akin. The +shock of their columns was terrible, and their constancy in standing firm +almost incredible. Against these warriors of the North Zimisces led the +mailed horsemen of the Asiatic themes, and the bowmen and slingers who +were the flower of the Byzantine infantry. The tale of John's two great +battles with the Russians at Presthlava and Silistria reads much like the +tale of the battle of Hastings. In Bulgaria, as in Sussex, the sturdy +axeman long beat off the desperate cavalry charges of their opponents. But +they could not resist the hail of arrows to which they had no missile +weapons to oppose, and when once the archers had thinned their ranks, the +Byzantine cavalry burst in, and made a fearful slaughter in the broken +phalanx. More fortunate than Harold Godwineson at the field of Senlac, +King Swiatoslaf escaped with his life and the relics of his army. But he +was beleaguered within the walls of Silistria, and forced to yield +himself, on the terms that he and his men might take their way homeward, +on swearing never to molest the empire again. The Russian swore the oath +and took a solemn farewell of Zimisces. The contrast between the two +monarchs struck Leo the Deacon, a chronicler who seems to have been +present at the scene, and caused him to describe the meeting with some +vigour. We learn how the Emperor, a small alert fair-haired man, sat on +his great war-horse by the river bank, in his golden armour with his +guards about him, while the burly Viking rowed to meet him in a boat, clad +in nothing but a white shirt, and with his long moustache floating in the +wind. They bade each other adieu, and the Russian departed, only to fall +in battle ere the year was out, at the hands of the Patzinak Tartars of +the Southern Steppes. Soon after Swiatoslaf's death the majority of the +Russians became Christians, and ere long ceased to trouble the empire by +their raids. They became faithful adherents of the Eastern Church, and +drew their learning, their civilization, even their names and titles from +Constantinople. The Tzars are but Caesars misspelt, and the list of their +names--Michael, Alexander, Nicholas, John, Peter, Alexis--sufficiently +witnesses to their Byzantine godparents. Russian mercenaries were ere long +enlisted in the imperial army, and formed the nucleus of the "Varangian +guard," in which at a later day, Danes, English, and Norsemen of all sorts +were incorporated. + + [Illustration] + +Russian Architecture From Byzantine Model. (_Church at Vladimir._) (_From + "L'Art Byzantin." Par Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +John Zimisces survived his great victory at Silistria for five years, and +won, ere he died, more territory in Northern Syria from the Saracens. The +border which his uncle Nicephorus had pushed forward to Antioch and Aleppo +was advanced by him as far as Amida and Edessa in Mesopotamia. But in the +midst of his conquests Zimisces was cut off by death, while still in the +flower of his age. Report whispered that he had been poisoned by one of +his ministers, whom he had threatened to displace. But the tale cannot be +verified, and all that is certain is that John died after a short illness, +leaving the throne to his young ward Basil II., who had now attained the +age of twenty years [976 A.D.]. + + + + + +XIX. THE END OF THE MACEDONIAN DYNASTY. + + +Basil II., who now sat in his own right on the throne which his warlike +guardians Nicephorus and John had so long protected, was by no means +unworthy to succeed them. Unlike his ancestors of the Macedonian house, he +showed from the first a love for war and adventure. Probably the deeds of +John and Nicephorus excited him to emulation: at any rate his long reign +from 976 till 1025, is one continuous record of wars, and almost entirely +of wars brought to a successful termination. Basil seemed to have modelled +himself on the elder of his two guardians, the stern Nicephorus Phocas. +His earliest years on the throne, indeed, were spent in the pursuit of +pleasure, but ere he reached the age of thirty a sudden transformation was +visible in him. He gave himself up entirely to war and religion: he took a +vow of chastity, and always wore the garb of a monk under his armour and +his imperial robes. His piety was exaggerated into bigotry and fanaticism, +but it was undoubtedly real, though it did not keep him from the +commission of many deeds of shocking cruelty in the course of his wars. +His justice was equally renowned, but it often degenerated into mere +harshness and indifference to suffering. No one could have been more +unlike his gay pleasure-loving father, or his mild literary grandfather, +than the grim emperor who won from posterity the title of Bulgaroktonos, +"the Slayer of the Bulgarians." + +Basil's life-work was the moving back of the East-Roman border in the +Balkan Peninsula as far as the Danube, a line which it had not touched +since the Slavonic immigration in the days of Heraclius, three hundred and +fifty years before. In the first years of his reign, indeed, he +accomplished little, being much harassed by two rebellions of great +Asiatic nobles--Bardas Phocas, the nephew of Nicephorus II., and Bardas +Skleros, the general of the Armeniac theme. But after Phocas had died and +Skleros had surrendered, Basil reserved all his energies for war in +Europe, paying comparatively little attention to the Eastern conquests +which had engrossed Nicephorus Phocas and John Zimisces. + +The whole interior of the Balkan Peninsula formed at this period part of +the dominions of Samuel King of the Bulgarians, who reigned over Bulgaria, +Servia, inland Macedonia, and other districts around them. It was a strong +and compact kingdom, administered by an able man, who had won his way to +the throne by sheer strength and ability, for the old royal house had +ceased out of the land during Swiatoslaf's invasion of Bulgaria ten years +before. The main power of Samuel lay not in the land between Balkan and +Danube, which gave his kingdom its name, but in the Slavonic districts +further West and South. The centre of his realm was the fortress of +Ochrida, which he had chosen as his capital--a strong town situated on a +lake among the Macedonian hills. There Samuel mustered his armies, and +from thence he started forth to attach either Thessalonica or Adrianople, +as the opportunity might come to him. + +The duel between Basil and Samuel lasted no less than thirty-four years, +till the Bulgarian king died a beaten man in 1014. This long and +unremitting struggle taxed all the energies of the empire, for Samuel was +not a foe to be despised; he was no mere barbarian, but had learnt the art +of war from his Byzantine neighbours, and had specially studied +fortification. It was the desperate defences of his numerous hill-castles +that made Basil's task such a long one. The details of the struggle are +too long to follow out: suffice it to say that after some defeats in his +earlier years, Basil accomplished the conquest of Bulgaria proper, as far +as the Danube, in 1002, the year in which Widdin, the last of Samuel's +strongholds in the North surrendered to him. For twelve years more the +enemy held out in the Central Balkans, in his Macedonian strongholds, +about Ochrida and Uskup. But at last, Basil's constant victories in the +field, and his relentless slaughter of captives after the day was won, +broke the force of the Bulgarian king. In 1014 the Emperor gained a +crowning victory, after which he took 15,000 prisoners: he put out the +eyes of all save one man in each hundred, and sent the poor wretches with +their guides to seek King Samuel in his capital. The old Bulgarian was so +overcome at the horrible sight that he was seized with a fit, and died on +the spot, of rage and grief. His successors Gabriel and Ladislas could +make no head against the stern and relentless emperor, and in 1018 the +last fortress of the kingdom of Ochrida surrendered at discretion. +Contrary to his habit, Basil treated the vanquished foe with mildness, +indulged in no massacres, and contented himself with repairing the old +Roman roads and fortresses of the Central Balkans, without attempting to +exterminate the Slavonic tribes that had so often defied him. His +conquests rounded off the empire on its northern frontier, and made it +touch the Magyar kingdom of Hungary, for Servia no less than Bulgaria and +Macedonia formed part of his conquests. The Byzantine border now ran from +Belgrade to the Danube mouth, a line which it was destined to preserve for +nearly two hundred years, till the great rebellion of Bulgaria against +Isaac Angelus in the year 1086. + +Having justly earned his grim title of "the Slayer of the Bulgarians" by +his long series of victories in Europe, Basil turned in his old age to +continue the work of John Zimisces on the Eastern frontier. There the +Moslem states were still weak and divided; though a new power, the +Fatimite dynasty in Egypt, had come to the front, and acquired an +ascendency over its neighbours. Basil's last campaigns, in 1021-2, were +directed against the princes of Armenia, and the Iberians and Abasgians +who dwelt beyond them to the north. His arms were entirely successful, and +he added many Armenian districts to his Eastern provinces; but it may be +questioned whether these conquests were beneficial to the empire. A strong +Armenian kingdom was a useful neighbour to the Byzantine realm; being a +Christian state it was usually friendly to the empire, and acted as a +barrier against Moslem attacks from Persia. Basil broke up the Armenian +power, but did not annex the whole country, or establish in it any +adequate provision against the ultimate danger of attacks from the East by +the Mahometan powers. + +Basil died in 1025 at the age of sixty-eight, just as he was preparing to +send forth an expedition to rescue Sicily from the hands of the Saracens. +He had won more provinces for the empire than any general since the days +of the great Belisarius, and at his death the Byzantine borders had +reached the furthest extension which they ever knew. His successors were +to be unworthy of his throne, and were destined to lose provinces with as +constant regularity as he himself had shown in gaining them. There was to +be no one after him who could boast that he had fought thirty campaigns in +the open field with harness on his back, and had never turned aside from +any enterprise that he had ever taken in hand. + +Basil's brother Constantine had been his colleague in name all through the +half century of his reign. No one could have been more unlike the ascetic +and indefatigable "Slayer of the Bulgarians." Constantine was a mere +worldling, a man of pleasure, a votary of the table and the wine cup, +whose only redeeming tastes were a devotion to music and literature. He +had dwelt in his corner of the palace surrounded by a little court of +eunuchs and flatterers, and excluded by the stern Basil from all share and +lot in the administration of the empire. Now Constantine found himself the +heir of his childless brother, and was forced at the age of sixty to take +up the responsibilities of empire. He proved an idle and incompetent, but +not an actively mischievous sovereign. His worst act was to hand over the +administration of the chief offices of state to six of his old +courtiers--all eunuchs--whose elevation was a cause of wild anger to the +great noble families, and whose inexperience led to much weak and futile +government during his short reign. + +Constantine died in 1028, after a very brief taste of empire. He was the +last male of the Macedonian house, and left no heirs save his elderly +unmarried daughters--whose education and moral training he had grossly +neglected. Zoe, the eldest, was more than forty years of age, but her +father had never found her a husband. On his death-bed, however, he sent +for a middle-aged noble named Romanus Argyrus, and forced him, at an +hour's notice, to wed the princess. Only two days later Romanus found +himself left, by his father-in-law's death, titular head of the empire. +But Zoe, a clever, obstinate, and unscrupulous woman, kept the reins of +authority in her own hands, and gave her unwilling spouse many an evil +hour. She was inordinately vain, and pretended, like Queen Elizabeth of +England, to be the mistress of all hearts long after she was well advanced +in middle age. Her husband let her go her own way, and devoted himself to +such affairs of state as he was allowed to manage. His interference with +warlike matters was most unhappy. Venturing a campaign in Syria, he led +his army to defeat, and saw several towns on the border fall into the +hands of the Emir of Aleppo. After a reign of six years Romanus died of a +lingering disease, and Zoe was left a widow. Almost before the breath was +out of her husband's body, the volatile empress--she was now over fifty--had +chosen and wedded another partner. The new emperor was Michael the +Paphlagonian, a young courtier who had been Gentleman of the Bedchamber to +Romanus: he was twenty-eight years of age and noted as the most handsome +man in Constantinople. His good looks had won Zoe's fancy, and to his own +surprise he found himself seated on the throne by his elderly admirer +[1034]. + +The object of Zoe's anile affection was a capable man, and justified his +rather humiliating elevation by good service to the empire. He beat back +the Saracens from Syria and put down a Bulgarian rebellion with success. +But in his last years he saw Servia, one of the conquests of Basil II., +burst out into revolt, and could not quell it. He also failed in a project +to reconquer Sicily from the Moors, though he sent against the island +George Maniakes, the best general of the day, who won many towns and +defeated the Moslems in two pitched battles. The attempt to subdue the +whole island failed, and the conquests of Maniakes were lost one after the +other. Michael IV., though still a young man, was fearfully afflicted with +epileptic fits, which sapped his health, and so enfeebled him that he died +a hopeless invalid ere he reached the age of thirty-six. The irrepressible +Zoe, now again a widow, took a few days to decide whether she would adopt +a son, or marry a third husband. She first tried the former alternative, +and crowned as her colleague her late spouse's nephew and namesake Michael +V. But the young man proved ungrateful, and strove to deprive the aged +empress of the control of affairs. When he announced his intention of +removing her from the capital, the city mob, who loved the Macedonian +house, and laughed at rather than reprobated the foibles of Zoe, took arms +to defend their mistress. In a fierce fight between the rioters and the +guards of Michael V., 3,000 lives were lost: but the insurgents had the +upper hand, routed the soldiery, and caught and blinded Michael. + +Zoe, once more at the head of the state, now made her third marriage, at +the age of sixty-two. She chose as her partner Constantine Monomachus, an +old debauchee who had been her lover thirty years ago. Their joint reign +was unhappy both at home and abroad. Frequent rebellions broke out both in +Asia Minor and in the Balkan Peninsula. The Patzinaks sent forays across +the Danube, while a new enemy, the Normans of South Italy, conquered the +"theme of Langobardia," the last Byzantine possession to the West of the +Adriatic, and established in its stead the duchy of Apulia [1055]. A still +more dangerous foe began also to be heard of along the Eastern frontier. +The Seljouk Turks were now commencing a career of conquest in Persia and +the lands on the Oxus. In 1048 the advance guard of their hordes began to +ravage the Armenian frontier of the empire. But this danger was not yet a +pressing one. + +When Zoe and Constantine IX. were dead, the sole remaining scion of the +Macedonian house was saluted as ruler of the empire. This was Theodora, +the younger sister of Zoe, an old woman of seventy, who had spent the best +part of her days in a nunnery. She was as sour and ascetic as her sister +had been vain and amorous; but she does not seem to have been the worst of +the rulers of Byzantium, and her two years of power were not troubled by +rebellions or vexed by foreign war. Her austere virtues won her some +respect from the people, and the fact that she was the last of her house, +and that with its extinction the troubles of a disputed succession were +doomed to come upon the empire, seems to have sobered her subjects, and +led them to let the last days of the Basilian dynasty pass away in peace. + +Theodora died on the 30th of August, 1057, having on her death-bed +declared that she adopted Michael Stratioticus as her successor. Then +commenced the reign of trouble, the "third anarchy" in the history of the +Byzantine Empire. + + + + + +XX. MANZIKERT. (1057-1081.) + + +The moment that the last of the Macedonian dynasty was gone, the elements +of discord seemed unchained, and the double scourge of civil war and +foreign invasion began to afflict the empire. In the twenty-four years +between 1057 and 1081 were pressed more disasters than had been seen in +any other period of East-Roman history, save perhaps the reign of +Heraclius. For now came the second cutting-short of the empire, the blow +that was destined to shear away half its strength, and leave it maimed +beyond any possibility of ultimate recovery. + +Domestic troubles were the first inevitable consequence of the extinction +of the Macedonian dynasty. The aged Theodora had named as her successor on +the throne Michael Stratioticus, a contemporary of her own who had been an +able soldier twenty-five years back. But Michael VI. was grown aged and +incompetent, and the empire was full of ambitious generals, who would not +tolerate a dotard on the throne. Before a year had passed a band of great +Asiatic nobles entered into a conspiracy to overturn Michael, and replace +him by Isaac Comnenus, the chief of one of the ancient Cappadocian houses, +and the most popular general of the East. + +Isaac Comnenus and his friends took arms, and dispossessed the aged +Michael of his throne with little difficulty. But a curse seemed to rest +upon the usurpation; Isaac was stricken down by disease when he had been +little more than a year on the throne, and retired to a monastery to die. +His crown was transferred to Constantine Ducas, another Cappadocian noble, +who was supposed to be second only to Isaac in competence and popularity. +Constantine reigned for seven troubled years, and disappointed all his +supporters, for he proved but a sorry administrator. His mind was set on +nothing but finance, and in the endeavour to build up again the imperial +treasure, which had been sorely wasted since the death of Basil II., he +neglected all the other departments of state. To save money he disbanded +no inconsiderable portion of the army, and cut down the pay of the rest. +This was sheer madness, when there was impending over the empire the most +terrible military danger that had been seen for four centuries. The safety +of the realm was entirely in the hands of its well-paid and +well-disciplined national army, and anything that impaired the efficiency +of the army was fraught with the deadliest peril. + +The Seljouk Turks were now drawing near. Pressing on from the Oxus lands, +their hordes had overrun Persia and extinguished the dynasty of the +Buhawides. In 1050, they had penetrated to Bagdad, and their great chief, +Togrul Beg, had declared himself "defender of the faith and protector of +the Caliph." Armenia had next been overrun, and those portions of it which +had not been annexed to the empire, and still obeyed independent princes, +had been conquered by 1064. In that year fell Ani, the ancient Armenian +capital, and the bulwark which protected the Byzantine Empire from Eastern +invasions. + +The reign of Constantine Ducas was troubled by countless Seljouk invasions +of the Armeniac, Anatolic, and Cappadocian themes. Sometimes the invaders +were driven back, sometimes they eluded the imperial troops and escaped +with their booty. But whether successful or unsuccessful, they displayed a +reckless cruelty, far surpassing anything that the Saracens had ever +shown. Wherever they passed they not merely plundered to right and left, +but slew off the whole population. Meanwhile, Constantine X., with his +reduced army, proved incompetent to hold them back; all the more so that +his operations were distracted by an invasion of the Uzes, a Tartar tribe +from the Euxine shore, who had burst into Bulgaria. + +Ducas died in 1067, leaving the throne to his son, Michael, a boy of +fourteen years. The usual result followed. To secure her son's life and +throne, the Empress-dowager Eudocia took a new husband, and made him +guardian of the young Michael. The new Emperor-regent was Romanus +Diogenes, an Asiatic noble, whose brilliant courage displayed in the +Seljouk wars had dazzled the world, and caused it to forget that caution +and ability are far more regal virtues than headlong valour. Romanus took +in hand with the greatest vigour the task of repelling the Turks, which +his predecessor had so grievously neglected. He led into the field every +man that could be collected from the European or Asiatic themes, and for +three successive years was incessantly marching and counter-marching in +Armenia, Cappadocia, and Syria, in the endeavour to hunt down the +marauding bands of the Seljouks. + +The operations of Romanus were not entirely unsuccessful. Alp Arslan, the +Sultan of the Seljouks, contented himself at first with dispersing his +hordes in scattered bands, and attacking many points of the frontier at +once. Hence the Emperor was not unfrequently able to catch and slay off +one of the minor divisions of the Turkish army. But some of them always +contrived to elude him; his heavy cavalry could not come up with the light +Seljouk horse bowmen, who generally escaped and rode back home by a long +detour, burning and murdering as they went. Cappadocia was already +desolated from end to end, and the Turkish raids had reached as far as +Amorium, in Phrygia. + +In 1071 came the final disaster. In pursuing the Seljouk plunderers, +Romanus was drawn far eastward, to Manzikert, on the Armenian frontier. +There he found himself confronted, not by a flying foe, but by the whole +force of the Seljouk sultanate, with Alp Arslan himself at its head. +Though his army was harassed by long marches, and though two large +divisions were absent, the Emperor was eager to fight. The Turks had never +before offered him a fair field, and he relied implicitly on the power of +his cuirassiers to ride down any number, however great, of the light +Turkish horse. + + [Illustration] + + Our Lord Blessing Romanus Diogenes And Eudocia. (_From an Ivory at + Paris._) (_From "L'Art Byzantin." Par Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, + 1883._) + + +The decisive battle of Manzikert, which it is not too much to call the +turning-point of the whole course of Byzantine history, was fought in the +early summer of 1071. For a long day the Byzantine horsemen continued to +roll back and break through the lines of Turkish horse bowmen. But fresh +hordes kept coming on, and in the evening the fight was still undecided. +As the night was approaching, Romanus prepared to draw his troops back to +the camp, but an unhappy misconception of orders broke up the line, and +the Seljouks edged in between the two halves of the army. Either from +treachery or cowardice Andronicus Ducas, the officer who commanded the +reserve, led his men off without fighting. The Emperor's division was +beset on all sides by the enemy, and broke up in the dusk. Romanus himself +was wounded, thrown from his horse, and made prisoner. The greater part of +his men were cut to pieces. + + [Illustration] + +Nicephorus Botaniates Sitting In State. (_From a contemporary MS._) (_From + "L'Art Byzantin." Par Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +Alp Arslan showed himself more forbearing to his prisoner than might have +been expected. It is true that Romanus was led after his capture to the +tent of the Sultan, and laid prostrate before him, that, after the Turkish +custom, the conqueror might place his foot on the neck of his vanquished +foe. But after this humiliating ceremony the Emperor was treated with +kindness, and allowed after some months to ransom himself and return home. +He would have fared better, however, if he had remained the prisoner of +the Turk. During his captivity the conduct of affairs had fallen into the +hands of John Ducas, uncle of the young emperor Michael. The unscrupulous +regent was determined that Romanus should not supersede him and mount the +throne again. When the released captive reappeared, John had him seized +and blinded. The cruel work was so roughly done that the unfortunate +Romanus died a few days later. + +After this fearful disaster Asia Minor was lost; there was no chief to +take the place of Romanus, and the Seljouk hordes spread westward almost +unopposed. The next ten years were a time of chaos and disaster. While the +Seljouks were carving their way deeper and deeper into the vitals of the +empire, the wrecks of the Byzantine army were employed not in resisting +them, but in carrying on a desperate series of civil wars. After the death +of Romanus, every general in the empire seemed to think that the time had +come for him to assume the purple buskins and proclaim himself emperor. +History records the names of no less than six pretenders to the throne +during the next nine years, besides several rebels who took up arms +without assuming the imperial title. The young emperor, Michael Ducas, +proved, when he came of age, to be a vicious nonentity; he is remembered +in Byzantine history only by his nickname of Para-pinakes, the +"peck-filcher," given him because in a year of famine he sold the measure +of wheat to his subjects a fourth short of its proper contents. His name +and that of Nicephorus Botaniates, the rebel who overthrew him, cover in +the list of emperors a space of ten years that would better be represented +by a blank; for the authority of the nominal ruler scarcely extended +beyond the walls of the capital, and the themes that were not overrun by +the Turks were in the hands of governors who each did what was right in +his own eyes. At last a man of ability worked himself up to the surface. +This was Alexius Comnenus, nephew of the emperor Isaac Comnenus, whose +short reign we related in the opening paragraph of this chapter. + +Alexius was a man of courage and ability, but he displayed one of the +worst types of Byzantine character. Indeed, he was the first emperor to +whom the epithet "Byzantine," in its common and opprobrious sense could be +applied. He was the most accomplished liar of his age, and, while winning +and defending the imperial throne, committed enough acts of mean +treachery, and swore enough false oaths to startle even the courtiers of +Constantinople. He could fight when necessary, but he preferred to win by +treason and perjury. Yet as a ruler he had many virtues, and it will +always be remembered to his credit that he dragged the empire out of the +deepest slough of degradation and ruin that it had ever sunk into. Though +false, he was not cruel, and seven ex-emperors and usurpers, living +unharmed in Constantinople under his sceptre, bore witness to the mildness +of his rule. The tale of his reign sufficiently bears witness to the +strange mixture of moral obliquity and practical ability in his character. + + + + + +XXI. THE COMNENI AND THE CRUSADES. + + +Alexius Comnenus found himself, in 1081, placed in a position almost as +difficult and perilous as that which Leo the Isaurian faced in 716. Like +Leo, he was a usurper without prestige or hereditary claims, seated on an +unsteady throne, and forced to face imminent danger from the Moslem enemy +without, and from rival adventurers within. It may be added that the +Isaurian, grievously threatened as he was by the enemy from the East, had +no peril impending from the West. Alexius had to face at one and the same +time the assault of the Seljouks on Asia Minor, and the attack of a new +and formidable foe in his western provinces. We have already mentioned the +manner in which the Byzantine dominion in Italy had come to an end. Now +the same Norman adventurers who had stripped the empire of Calabria and +Apulia were preparing to cross the straits of Otranto, and seek out the +Emperor in the central provinces of his realm. The forces of the Italian +and Sicilian Normans were united under their great chief Robert Guiscard, +the hardy and unscrupulous Duke of Apulia. Just ten years before he had +captured Bari, the last Byzantine fortress on his own side of the straits; +now he was resolved to take advantage of the anarchy which had prevailed +in the empire ever since the day of Manzikert, and to build up new Norman +principalities to the east of the Adriatic. There seemed to be nothing +presumptuous in the scheme to those who remembered how a few hundred +Norman adventurers had conquered all Southern Italy and Sicily, and +swelled into a victorious army fifty thousand strong. Nor could the +invaders fail to remember how, but fifteen years before, another Norman +duke had crossed another strait in the far West, and won by his strong +right hand the great kingdom of England. Alexius Comnenus sat like Harold +Godwinson on a lately-acquired and unsteady throne, and Duke Robert +thought to deal with him much as Duke William had dealt with the +Englishman. + +In June, 1081, the Normans landed, thirty thousand strong, and laid siege +to Durazzo, the maritime fortress that guarded the Epirot coast. The +Emperor at once flew to its succour. Always active, hopeful, and +versatile, he trusted that he might be able to beat off the new invaders, +whose military worth he was far from appreciating at its true value. He +patched up a hasty pacification with Suleiman, Sultan of the Seljouks, by +surrendering to him all the territory of which the Turk was in actual +possession, a tract which now extended as far as the waters of the +Propontis, and actually included the city of Nicaea, close to the +Bithynian shore, and only seventy miles from Constantinople. + +The army with which Alexius had to face the Normans was the mere wreck and +shadow of that which Romanus IV. had led against the Turks ten years +before. The military organization of the empire had gone to pieces, and we +no longer hear of the old "Themes" of heavy cavalry which had formed its +backbone. The new army contained quite a small proportion of national +troops. Its core was the imperial guard of Varangians--the Russian, Danish, +and English mercenaries, whose courage had won the confidence of so many +emperors. With them marched many Turkish, Frankish, Servian, and +South-Slavonic auxiliaries; the native element comprised the regulars of +the three provinces of Thrace, Macedonia, and Thessaly, all that now +remained in Alexius' hands of the ancient East-Roman realm. + +Alexius brought Robert Guiscard to battle in front of Durazzo, and +suffered a crushing defeat at his hands. The Emperor's bad tactics were +the main cause of his failure: his army came upon the ground in successive +detachments, and the van was cut to pieces before the main body had +reached the field. The brunt of the battle was borne by the Varangians: +carried away by their fiery courage, they charged the Normans before the +rest of Alexius's troops had formed their line of battle. Rushing on the +wing of Robert's army, commanded by the Count of Bari, they drove it horse +and foot into the sea. Their success, however, disordered their ranks, and +the Norman duke was able to turn his whole force against them ere the +Emperor was near enough to give them aid. A fierce cavalry charge cut off +the greater part of the Varangians; the rest collected on a mound by the +sea-shore, and for some time beat off the Normans with their axes, as King +Harold's men had done at Senlac on the last occasion when English and +Norman had met. But Robert shot them down with his archers, and then sent +more cavalry against them. They fell, save a small remnant who defended +themselves in a ruined chapel, which Guiscard had finally to burn before +he could make an end of its obstinate defenders. + +The rest of Alexius's army only came into action when the Varangians had +been destroyed. It was cowed by the loss of its best corps, fought badly, +and fled in haste. Alexius himself, who lingered last upon the field, was +surrounded, and only escaped by the speed of his horse and the strength of +his sword-arm. Durazzo fell, and in the next year the Normans overran all +Epirus and descended into Thessaly. Alexius risked two more engagements +with them, but his inexperienced troops were defeated in both. Disaster +taught him to avoid pitched battles, and at last, in 1083, after a more +cautious campaign, his patience was rewarded by the dispersion of the +Norman army. Catching it while divided, the Emperor inflicted on it a +severe defeat at Larissa, and forced it back into Epirus. After this the +war slackened, and when Robert Guiscard died in 1085 the Norman danger +passed away. + +Thus one foe was removed, but Alexius was not destined to win peace. +Constant rebellions at home, and wars with the Patzinaks, the Slavs, and +the Seljouks filled the next ten years. Alexius, however, was never +discouraged: "eking out the lion's skin with the fox's hide," he fought +and intrigued, lied and negotiated, and at the end of the time had held +his own and lost no more territory, while his throne was growing more +secure. + +But in the fifteenth year of his reign a new cloud began to arise in the +west, which was destined to exercise unsuspected influence, both for good +and evil, on the empire. The Crusades were on the eve of their +commencement. Ever since the Seljouks had taken Jerusalem in 1075, four +years after Manzikert, the western pilgrims to the Holy Land had been +suffering grievous things at the hands of the barbarians. But all the +wrath that their ill-treatment provoked would have been fruitless, if the +way to Syria had not been opened of late to the nations of Western +Christendom. Two series of events had made free communication between East +and West possible in the end of the eleventh century, in a measure which +had never before been seen. + +The first of these was the conversion of Hungary, begun by St. Stephen in +1000, and completed about 1050. For the future there lay between the +Byzantine Empire and Germany not a barbarous pagan state, but a +semi-civilized Christian kingdom, which had taken its place among the +other nations of the Roman Catholic faith. Communication down the Danube, +between Vienna and the Byzantine outposts in Bulgaria, became for the +first time possible, and ere long the route grew popular. The second +phenomenon which made the Crusades possible was the destruction of the +Saracen naval power in the Central Mediterranean. This was carried out +first by the Pisans and Genoese, whose fleets conquered Corsica and +Sardinia from the Moslems, and then by the Normans, whose occupation of +Sicily made the voyage from Marseilles and Genoa to the East safe and +sure. Four new maritime powers--the Genoese, Pisans, and Normans in the +open sea, and the Venetians in the Adriatic--had developed themselves into +importance, and now their fleets swept the waters where no Christian +war-galleys save those of Byzantium, had ever been seen before. + +It was the fact that free access to the East was now to be gained, both by +land and sea, as it had never been before, that made the Crusades +feasible. Of the preaching of Peter the Hermit and the efforts of Pope +Urban we need not speak. Suffice it to say, that in 1095 news came to the +Emperor Alexius that the nations of the West were mustering by myriads, +and directing their march towards his frontiers, with the expressed +intention of driving the Moslems from Palestine. The Emperor had little +confidence in the purity of the zeal of the Crusaders; his wily mind could +not comprehend their enthusiasm, and he dreaded that some unforeseen +circumstance might turn their arms against himself. When the hordes of +armed Frankish pilgrims began to arrive, his fears were justified: the +new-comers pillaged his country right and left upon their way, and were +drawn into many bloody fights with the peasantry and the imperial +garrisons, which might have ended in open war. But Alexius set himself to +work to smooth matters down; all his tact and patience were needed, and +there was ample scope for his talent for intrigue and insincere diplomacy. +He had resolved to induce the crusading chiefs to do him homage, and to +swear to restore to him all the old dominions of the empire which they +might reconquer from the Turks. After long and tedious negotiations he had +his way: the leaders of the Crusade, from Godfrey of Bouillon and Hugh of +Vermandois down to the smallest barons, were induced to swear him +allegiance. Some he flattered, others he bribed, others he strove to +frighten into compliance. The pages of the history written by his +daughter, Anna Comnena, who regarded his powers of cajolery with greater +respect than any other part of his character, are full of tales of the +ingenious shifts by which he brought the stupid and arrogant Franks to +reason. At length they went on their way, with Alexius's gold in their +pockets, and encouraged by his promise that he would aid them with his +troops, continue to supply them with provisions, and never abandon them +till the Holy City was reconquered. + +In the spring of 1097 the Crusaders began to cross the Bosphorus, and in +two marches found themselves within Turkish territory. They at once laid +siege to Nicaea, the frontier fortress of the Seljouk Sultan. Encompassed +by so great a host the Turkish garrison soon lost heart and surrendered, +not to the Franks, but to Alexius, whose troops they secretly admitted +within the walls. This nearly led to strife between the Emperor and the +Crusaders, who had been reckoning on the plunder of the town; but Alexius +appeased them with further stores of money, and the pilgrim host rolled +forward once more into the interior of Asia Minor. + + [Illustration] + + Byzantine Ivory-Carving Of The Twelfth Century. (_From the British + Museum._) (_From "L'Art Byzantin." Par Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, + 1883._) + + +In 1097 the Crusaders forced their way through Phrygia and Cappadocia, +beating back the Seljouks at every encounter, till they reached North +Syria, where they laid siege to Antioch. Alexius had undertaken to help +them in their campaign, but he was set on playing an easier game. When +they were crushing the Turks he followed in their rear at a safe distance, +like the jackal behind the lion, picking up the spoil which they left. +While the Sultan was engaged with them Alexius despoiled him of Smyrna, +Ephesus, and Sardis, reconquering Western Asia Minor almost without a +blow, since the Seljouk hordes were drawn away eastward. It was the same +in the next year; when the Crusaders were fighting hard round Antioch +against the princes of Mesopotamia, and sent to ask for instant help, +Alexius despatched no troops to Syria, but gathered in a number of Lydian +and Phrygian fortresses which lay nearer to his hand. Hence there resulted +a bitter quarrel between the Emperor and the Franks, for since he gave +them no help they refused to hand over to him Antioch and their other +Syrian conquests. Each party, in fact, broke the compact signed at +Constantinople, and accused the other of treachery. Hence it resulted that +the Crusade ended not in the re-establishment of the Byzantine power in +Syria, but in the foundation of new Frankish states, the principalities of +Edessa, Antioch, and Tripoli, and the more important kingdom of Jerusalem. + +That he did not recover Syria was no real loss to Alexius; he would not +have been strong enough to hold it, had it been handed over to him. The +actual profit which he made by the Crusade was enough to content him: the +Franks had rolled back the Turkish frontier in Asia not less than two +hundred miles: instead of the Seljouk lying at Nicaea, he was now chased +back behind the Bithynian hills, and the empire had recovered all Lydia +and Caria with much of the Phrygian inland. The Seljouks were hard hit, +and for well-nigh a century were reduced to fight on the defensive. + +Owing, then, to the fearful blow inflicted by the Crusades on the Moslem +powers of Asia Minor and Syria, the later years of Alexius were free from +the danger which had overshadowed the beginning of his reign. He was able, +between 1100 and 1118, to strengthen his position at home and abroad; the +constant rebellions which had vexed his early years ceased, and when the +Normans, under Bohemund of Tarentum, tried to repeat, in 1107, the feats +which Robert Guiscard had accomplished in 1082, they were beaten off with +ease, and forced to conclude a disadvantageous peace. + +The reign of Alexius might have been counted a period of success and +prosperity if it had not been for two considerations. The first was the +rapid decline of Constantinople as a commercial centre, which was brought +about by the Crusades. When the Genoese and Venetians succeeded in +establishing themselves in the seaports of Syria, they began to visit +Constantinople far less than before. It paid them much better to conduct +their business at Acre or Tyre than on the Bosphorus. The king of +Jerusalem, the weakest of feudal sovereigns, could be more easily bullied +and defrauded than the powerful ruler of Constantinople. In his own +seaports he possessed hardly a shadow of authority: the Italians traded +there on such conditions as they chose. Hence the commerce of the West +with Persia, Egypt, Syria, and India, ceased to pass through the +Bosphorus. Genoa and Venice became the marts at which France, Italy, and +Germany, sought their Eastern goods. It is probable that the trade of +Constantinople fell off by a third or even a half in the fifty years that +followed the first Crusade. The effect of this decline on the coffers of +the state was deplorable, for it was ultimately on its commercial wealth +that the Byzantine state based its prosperity. All through the reigns of +Alexius and his two successors the complaints about the rapid fall in the +imperial revenue grew more and more noticeable. + +This dangerous decay in the finances of the empire was rendered still more +fatal by the political devices of Alexius, who began to bestow excessive +commercial privileges to the Italian republics, in return for their aid in +war. This system commenced in 1081, when the Emperor, then in the full +stress of his first Norman war, granted the Venetians the free access to +most of the ports of his empire without the payment of any customs dues. +To give to foreigners a boon denied to his own subjects was the height of +economic lunacy; the native merchants complained that the Venetians were +enabled to undersell them in every market, owing to this exemption from +import and export duties. Matters were made yet worse in 1111, when +Alexius bestowed a similar, though less extensive, grant of immunities on +the Pisans. + +When John II., the son of Alexius, succeeded in 1118 to the empire which +his father had saved, the fabric was less strong than it appeared to the +outward eye. Territorial extension seemed to imply increased strength, and +the rapid falling off in the financial resources of the realm attracted +little attention. John however was one of those prudent and economical +princes who stave off for years the inevitable day of distress. Of all the +rulers who ever sat upon the Byzantine throne, he is the only one of whom +no detractor has ever said an evil word. When we remember that he was his +father's son, it is astonishing to find that his honesty and good faith +were no less notable than his courage and generosity. His subjects named +him "John the Good," and their appreciation of his virtues was +sufficiently marked by the fact that no single rebellion(27) marred the +internal peace of his long reign. [1118-1143.] + +John was a good soldier, and during his rule the frontier of the empire in +Asia continued to advance, at the expense of the Turks. But his strategy +would seem to have been at fault since he preferred to reconquer the coast +districts of Northern and Southern Asia Minor, rather than to strike at +the heart of the Seljouk power on the central table-land. When he had +reduced all Cilicia, Pisidia, and Pontus, his dominions became a narrow +fringe of coast, surrounding on three sides the realm of the Sultan, who +still retained all the Cappadocian and Lycaonian plateau. It should then +have been John's task to finish the reconquest of Asia Minor, but he +preferred to plunge into Syria, where he forced the Frank prince of +Antioch and the Turkish Emir of Aleppo to pay him tribute, but left no +permanent monument of his conquests. He was preparing a formidable +expedition against the Franks of the kingdom of Jerusalem, when he +perished by accident while on a hunting expedition.(28) + +John the Good was succeeded by his son Manuel, whose strength and weakness +combined to give a deathblow to the empire. Manuel was a mere +knight-errant, who loved fighting for fighting's sake, and allowed his +passion for excitement and adventure to be his only guide. His whole reign +was one long series of wars, entered into and abandoned with equal levity. +Yet for the most part they were successful wars, for Manuel was a good +cavalry officer if he was but a reckless statesman, and his fiery courage +and untiring energy made him the idol of his troops. At the head of the +veteran squadrons of mercenary horsemen that formed the backbone of his +army, he swept off the field every enemy that ever dared to face him. He +overran Servia, invaded Hungary, to whose king he dictated terms of peace, +and beat off with success an invasion of Greece by the Normans of Sicily. +His most desperate struggle, however, was a naval war with Venice, in +which his fleet was successful enough, and drove the Doge and his galleys +out of the AEgean. But the damage done to the trade of Constantinople by +the Venetian privateers, who swarmed in the Levant after their main fleet +had been chased away, was so appalling that the Emperor concluded peace in +1174, restoring to the enemy all the disastrous commercial privileges +which his grandfather Alexius had granted them eight years before. + + [Illustration] + + Hunters. (_From a Byzantine MS._) (_From "L'Art Byzantin." Par Charles + Bayet, Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +The main fault of Manuel's wars was that they were conducted in the most +reckless disregard of all financial considerations. With a realm which was +slowly growing poorer, and with a constantly dwindling revenue, he +persisted in piling war on war, and on devoting every bezant that could be +screwed out of his subjects to the support of the army alone. The civil +service fell into grave disorder, the administration of justice was +impaired, roads and bridges went to decay, docks and harbours were +neglected, while the money which should have supported them was wasted on +unprofitable expeditions to Egypt, Syria, or Italy. So long as the ranks +of his mercenaries were full and their pay forthcoming, the Emperor cared +not how his realm might fare. + +Of all Manuel's wars only one went ill, but that was the most important of +them all, the one necessary struggle to which he should have devoted all +his energies. This was the contest with the Seljouks, which ended in 1176 +by a disastrous defeat at Myriokephalon in Phrygia, brought about by the +inexcusable carelessness of Manuel himself, who allowed his army to be +caught in a defile from which there was no exit, and routed piecemeal by +an enemy who could have made no stand on the open plains. Manuel then made +peace, and left the Seljouks alone for the rest of his reign. + +In 1180 Manuel died, and with him died the good fortune of the House of +Comnenus. His son and heir, Alexius, was a boy of thirteen, and the +inevitable contest for the regency, which always accompanied a minority, +ensued. After two troubled years Andronicus Comnenus, a first cousin of +the Emperor Manuel, was proclaimed Caesar, and took over the guardianship +of the young Alexius. Andronicus was an unscrupulous ruffian, whose past +life should have been sufficient warning against putting any trust in his +professions. He had once attempted to assassinate Manuel, and twice +deserted to the Turks. But he was a consummate hypocrite, and won his way +to the throne by professions of piety and austere virtue. No sooner was he +seated by the side of Alexius II., and felt himself secure, than he seized +and strangled his young relative [1183]. + +But, like our own Richard III., Andronicus found that the moment of his +accession to sole power was the moment of the commencement of his +troubles. Rebels rose in arms all over the empire to avenge the murdered +Alexius, and the Normans of Sicily seized the opportunity of invading +Macedonia. Conspiracies were rife in the capital, and the executions which +followed their detection were so numerous and bloody that a perfect reign +of terror set in. The Emperor plunged into the most reckless cruelty, till +men almost began to believe that his mind was affected. Ere long the end +came. An inoffensive nobleman named Isaac Angelus, being accused of +treason, was arrested at his own door by the emissaries of the tyrant. +Instead of surrendering himself, Isaac drew his sword and cut down the +official who laid hands on him. A mob came to his aid, and met no +immediate opposition, for Andronicus was absent from the capital. The mob +swelled into a multitude, the guards would not fight, and when the Emperor +returned in haste, he was seized and torn to pieces without a sword being +drawn in his cause. Isaac Angelus reigned in his stead. + + + + + +XXII. THE LATIN CONQUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE. + + +The state which had been drained of its resources by the energetic but +wasteful Manuel, and disorganized by the rash and wicked Andronicus, now +passed into the hands of the two most feeble and despicable creatures who +ever sat upon the imperial throne--the brothers Isaac and Alexius Angelus, +whose reigns cover the years 1185-1204. + +Among all the periods which we have hitherto described in the tale of the +East-Roman Empire, that covered by the reign of the two wretched Angeli +may be pronounced the most shameful. The peculiar disgrace of the period +lies in the fact that the condition of the empire was not hopeless at the +time. With ordinary courage and prudence it might have been held together, +for the attacks directed against it were not more formidable than others +which had been beaten off with ease. If the blow had fallen when a hero +like Leo III., or even a statesman like Alexius I. was on the throne, +there is no reason to doubt that it would have been parried. But it fell +in the times of two incompetent triflers, who conducted the state on the +principle of, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Isaac and +Alexius felt in themselves no power of redeeming the empire from the evil +day, and resignedly fell back on personal enjoyment. Isaac's taste lay in +the direction of gorgeous raiment and the collecting of miraculous +"eikons." Alexius preferred the pleasures of the table. Considered as +sovereigns there was little to choose between them. Each was competent to +ruin an empire already verging on its decline. + +The disaster which the Angeli brought on their realm was rendered possible +only by its complete military and financial disorganization. As a military +power the empire had never recovered the effects of the Seljouk invasions, +which had robbed it of its great recruiting-ground for its native troops +in Asia Minor. After that loss the use of mercenaries had become more and +more prevalent. The brilliant campaigns of Manuel Comnenus had been made +at the head of a soldiery of whom two-thirds were not born-subjects of the +empire. He, it is true, had kept them within the bounds of strict +discipline, and contrived at all costs to provide their pay. But the weak +and thriftless Angeli were able neither to find money nor to maintain +discipline. A state which relies for its defence on foreign mercenaries is +ruined, if it allows them to grow disorderly and inefficient. In times of +stress they mutiny instead of fighting. + +The civil administration was in almost as deplorable a condition, while +those two "Earthly Angels" (as a contemporary chronicler called them) were +charged with its care. Isaac Angelus put the finishing touch to +administrative abuses, which had already been rife enough under the +Comneni, by exposing offices and posts to auction. Instead of paying his +officials he "sent them forth without purse or scrip, like the apostles of +old, to make what profit they could by extortion from the +provincials."(29) His brother Alexius promised on his accession to make +all appointments on the ground of merit, but proved in reality as bad as +Isaac. He was surrounded by a ring of rapacious favourites, who managed +all patronage, and dispensed it in return for bribes. When high posts were +not sold, they were given as douceurs to men of local influence, whose +rebellion was dreaded. + +The history of the twenty years covered by the reigns of the two Angeli is +cut into two equal halves at the deposition of Isaac by his brother in +1195. It is only necessary to point out how the responsibility for the +disasters of the period is to be divided between them. + +Isaac's share consists in the loss of Bulgaria and Cyprus. The former +country had now been in the hands of the Byzantines for nearly two hundred +years, since its conquest by Basil II. But the Bulgarians had not merged +in the general body of the subjects of the empire. They preserved their +national language and customs, and never forgot their ancient +independence. In 1187, three brothers named Peter, John, and Azan stirred +up rebellion among them. If firmly treated it might have been crushed with +ease by the regular troops of the empire. But Isaac first appointed +incompetent generals, who let the rebellion grow to a head, and when at +last he placed an able officer, Alexis Branas, in command, his lieutenant +took the opportunity of using his army for revolt. Branas marched against +Constantinople, and would have taken it, had not Isaac committed the +charge of the troops that remained faithful to him to stronger hands than +his own. He bribed an able adventurer from the West, Conrad, Marquis of +Montferrat, by the offer of his sister's hand and a great sum of money to +become his saviour. The gallant Lombard routed the forces of Branas, slew +the usurper, and preserved the throne for his brother-in-law. But while +the civil war was going on, the Bulgarians were left unchecked, and made +such head that there was no longer much apparent chance of subduing them. +Isaac took the field against them in person, only to see the great towns +of Naissus, Sophia, and Varna taken before his eyes. + +While a national revolt deprived the Emperor of Bulgaria, Cyprus was lost +to a meaner force. Isaac Comnenus, a distant relative of the Emperor +Manuel II., raised rebellion among the Cypriots and defeated the fleet and +army which his namesake of Constantinople sent against him. He held out +for six years, and appeared likely to establish a permanent kingdom in the +island. This revolt was of the worst augury to the empire. It had often +lost provinces by the invasion of barbarian hordes, or the rebellion of +subject nationalities. But that a native rebel should sever a civilized +Greek province from the empire, and reign as "Emperor of Cyprus," was a +new phenomenon. By the imperial theory the idea of an independent "Empire +of Cyprus" was wholly monstrous and abnormal. The successful rebellion of +Isaac Comnenus pointed to the possibility of a general breaking up of the +Byzantine dominion into fragments, a danger that had never appeared +before. Till now the provinces had always obeyed the capital, and no +instance had been known of a rebel maintaining himself by any other way +than the capture of Constantinople. Isaac Comnenus might, however, have +founded a dynasty in Cyprus, if he had not quarrelled with Richard +Coeur-de-Lion, the crusading King of England. When he maltreated some +shipwrecked English crews, Richard punished him by landing his army in +Cyprus and seizing the whole island. Isaac was thrown into a dungeon, and +the English king gave his dominions to Guy of Lusignan, who called in +Frank adventurers to settle up the land, and made it into a feudal kingdom +of the usual Western type. + +While Isaac II. was in the midst of his Bulgarian war, and misconducting +it with his usual fatuity, he was suddenly dethroned by a palace intrigue. +His own brother, Alexius Angelus, had hatched a plot against him, which +worked so successfully that Isaac was caught, blinded, and immured in a +monastery long before his adherents knew that he was in danger. + +Alexius III. never showed any other proof of energy save this skilful +_coup d'etat_ aimed against his brother. He continued the Bulgarian war +with the same ill-success that had attended Isaac's dealings with it. He +plunged into a disastrous struggle with the Seljouk Sultan of Iconium, and +he quarrelled with the Emperor Henry VI., who would certainly have invaded +his dominions if death had not intervened to prevent it. But as long as +Alexius was permitted to enjoy the pleasures of the table in his villas on +the Bosphorus, the ill-success abroad of his arms and his diplomacy vexed +him but little. + +But in 1203, a new and unexpected danger arose to scare him from his +feasting. His blind brother Isaac had a young son named Alexius, who +escaped from Constantinople to Italy, and took refuge with Philip of +Suabia, the new Emperor of the West. Philip had married a daughter of +Isaac Angelus, and determined to do something to help his young +brother-in-law. The opportunity was not hard to seek. Just at this moment +a large body of French, Flemish, and Italian Crusaders, who had taken arms +at the command of the Pope, were lying idle at Venice. They had marched +down to the great Italian seaport with the intention of directing a blow +against Malek-Adel, Sultan of Egypt. The Venetians had contracted to +supply them with vessels for the Crusade, but for reasons of their own had +determined that the attack should not fall on the shore for which it had +been destined. They were on very good terms with the Egyptian sovereign, +who had granted them valuable commercial privileges at Alexandria, which +threw the whole trade with the distant realms of India into Venetian +hands. Accordingly they had determined to avert the blow from Egypt and +turn it against some other enemy of Christendom. The leaders of the Fourth +Crusade proved unable to pay the full sum which they had contracted to +give the Venetians as ship-hire, and this was made an excuse for keeping +them camped on the unhealthy islands in the Lagoons till their patience +and their stores were alike exhausted. Henry Dandolo, the aged but wily +doge, then proposed to the Crusaders that they should pay their way by +doing something in aid of Venice. The Dalmatian town of Zara had lately +revolted and done homage to the King of Hungary; if the Crusaders would +recover it, the Venetian state would wipe out their debts and transport +them whither they wished to go. + +The Crusaders had taken arms for a holy war against the Moslems. They were +now invited to turn aside against a Christian town and interest themselves +in Venetian politics. Conscientious men would have refused to join in such +an unholy bargain, and would have insisted in carrying out their original +purpose against Egypt. But conscientious men had been growing more and +more rare among the Crusaders for the last hundred years. There were as +many greedy military adventurers among them as single-hearted pilgrims. +The more scrupulous chiefs were over-persuaded by their designing +companions, and the expedition against Zara was undertaken. + +Zara fell, but another and a more important enterprise was then placed +before the Crusaders. While they wintered on the Dalmatian coast the young +Alexius Angelus appeared in their camp, escorted by the ambassadors of his +brother-in-law, the Emperor Philip of Suabia. The exiled prince besought +them to turn aside once more before they sailed to the East, and to rescue +his blind father from the dungeon into which he had been cast by his cruel +brother Alexius III. If they would drive out the usurper and restore the +rightful ruler to his throne, they should have anything that the Byzantine +Empire could afford to help them for their Crusade--money in plenty, +stores, a war fleet, a force of mercenary troops, and his own presence as +a helper in the war with Egypt. + +Pope Innocent III. had already been storming at the adventurers for +shedding Christian blood at Zara, and tampering with their Crusader's +oath. But the prospect of Byzantine gold seduced the needy Western barons, +and the desire of keeping the war away from Egypt ruled the minds of the +Venetians. They hesitated and began to treat with Alexius, though they +knew that thereby they were calling down on themselves the terrors of a +Papal excommunication. All now depended on the leaders, and among them the +abler minds were set on the acceptance of the proposal of the young +Byzantine exile. The three chiefs of the Crusade were the Doge Henry +Dandolo, Boniface Marquis of Montferrat, and Baldwin Count of Flanders. In +Dandolo the ruthless energy of the Italian Republics stood incarnate; he +was the one man in the crusading army who knew exactly what he wanted. Old +and blind, but clear-headed and inflexible, he was set on revenging an +ancient grudge against the Greeks, and on furthering, by any means, good +or evil, the fortunes of his native city. Baldwin and Boniface, the two +secondary figures in the camp of the Franks, are perfect representations +of the two types of crusader. The Fleming, gallant and generous, pious and +debonnair, worthy of a more righteous enterprise and a more honourable +death, was a true successor of Godfrey of Bouillon, and the heroes of the +First Crusade. The Lombard, a deep and hardy schemer, to whom force and +fraud seemed equally good, was simply seeking for wealth and fame in the +realms of the East. He cared little for the Holy Sepulchre, and much for +his own private advancement. Behind these three leaders we descry the +motley crowd of the feudal world; relic-hunting abbots in coats of mail, +wrangling barons and penniless knights, the half-piratical seamen of +Venice, and the brutal soldiery of the West. + + [Illustration] + + View Of Constantinople. (From The Side Of The Harbour.) + + +Boniface of Montferrat and Doge Dandolo gradually talked over the more +scrupulous Baldwin and his friends, and the crusading fleet was launched +against Constantinople, after a treaty had been signed which bound Alexius +Angelus and his blind father, Isaac II., to pay the Crusaders 200,000 +marks of silver, send ten thousand men to Palestine, and acknowledge the +supremacy of the Pope over the Eastern Church. In these conditions lay the +germs of much future trouble. + +The Crusading armament reached the Dardanelles without having to strike a +blow. The slothful and luxurious emperor let things slide, and had not +even a fleet ready to send against them in the Aegean. He shut himself up +in Constantinople, and trusted to the strength of its walls to deliver +him, as Heraclius and Leo III. and many more of his predecessors had been +delivered. If the siege had been conducted from the land side only, his +hopes might have been justified, for the Danes and English of the +Varangian Guard beat back the assault of the Franks on the land-wall. But +Alexius III., unlike earlier emperors, was attacked by a fleet to which he +could oppose no adequate naval resistance. Though the Crusaders were +driven off on shore, the Venetians stormed the sea-wall, by the expedient +of building light towers on the decks, and throwing flying bridges from +the towers on to the top of the Byzantine ramparts. The blind Doge pushed +his galley close under the wall, and urged on his men again and again till +they had won a lodgment in some towers on the port side of the sea-wall. +The Venetians then fired the city, and a fearful conflagration followed. + +Hearing that the enemy was within the ramparts, the cowardly Alexius III. +mounted his horse and fled away into the inland of Thrace, leaving his +troops, who were not yet half beaten, without a leader or a cause to fight +for. The garrison bowed to necessity, and the chief officers of the army +drew the aged Isaac II. out of his cloister prison and proclaimed his +restoration to the throne. They sent to the Crusading camp to announce +that hostilities had ceased, and to beg Prince Alexius to enter the city +and join his father in the palace. + +The end of the expedition of the Crusaders had now been attained, but it +may safely be asserted that the chief feeling in their ranks was a bitter +disappointment at being cheated out of the sack of Constantinople, a +prospect over which they had been gloating ever since they left Zara. They +spent the next three months in endeavouring to wring out of their +triumphant proteges, Isaac and Alexius, every bezant that could be scraped +together. The old emperor, already blind and gout-ridden, was driven to +imbecility by their demands: his son was a raw, inexperienced youth who +could neither be firm, nor frank, nor dignified in dealing with any one. +He angered the Franks by insincere diplomacy, and the Greeks by his +reckless schemes for extracting money from them. The winter of 1203-4 was +spent in ceaseless wrangling about the subsidy due to the Crusaders, till +Alexius, growing seriously frightened, began exactions on his subjects +which drove them to revolt. When he seized and melted down the golden +lamps and silver candelabra which formed the pride of St. Sophia, stripped +its eikonostasis of its rich metal plating, and requisitioned the jewelled +eikons and reliquaries of every church in the city, the populace would +stand his proceedings no longer. They would not serve an emperor who had +sold himself to the Franks, and only reigned in order to subject the +Eastern Church to Rome, and to pour the hoarded wealth of the ancient +empire into the coffers of the upstart Italian republics. + +In January, 1204, the storm burst. The populace and troops shut the gates +of the city, and fell on the isolated Latins who were within the walls. +They were not long without a leader; a fierce and unscrupulous officer +named Alexius Ducas put himself at their head and determined to seize the +throne. Isaac II. died of fright in the midst of the tumult; his son +Alexius was caught and strangled by the usurper. Thus the Angeli ceased +out of the land, and Alexius V. reigned in their stead. He is less +frequently named by chroniclers under his family name of Ducas, than under +his nickname of "Murtzuphlus," drawn from the bushy overhanging eyebrows +which formed the most prominent feature of his countenance. + +Alexius Ducas had everything against him. He was a mere usurper, whose +authority was hardly recognized beyond the walls of Constantinople. The +Angeli had so drained the treasury that nothing remained in it. Twenty +years of indiscipline and disaster had spoilt the army; the fleet was +nonexistent, for the admirals of Alexius Angelus had laid up the vessels +in ordinary, and sold the stores to fill their own pockets. Nevertheless +Murtzuphlus made a far better fight than his despicable predecessor and +namesake. He collected a little money by confiscating the properties of +the unpopular courtiers and ministers of the Angeli, and used it to the +best advantage. The army received some of the arrears due to them, and +Alexius spent every spare moment in seeing to their drill and endeavouring +to improve their discipline. He strengthened the sea-wall, whose weakness +had been proved so fatally four months ago, by erecting wooden towers +along it, and building platforms for all the military engines that could +be found in the arsenal. He ordered, too, the enrolment of a national +militia, and compelled the nobles and burghers of Constantinople to take +arms and man the walls. To the discredit of the Byzantines this order was +received with many murmurs: the citizens complained that they paid taxes +to support the regular army, and that they therefore ought to be excused +personal service. Little good was got out of these new and raw levies; +they swelled the numbers of the garrison, but hardly added anything +appreciable to its strength. + +Alexius Ducas himself with his cavalry scoured the country round the +Crusading camp every day, to cut off the foraging parties of the Franks, +and when not in the field, rode round the city superintending the works, +inspecting the guard-posts, and haranguing the soldiery. If courage and +energy command success, he ought to have held his own. But he could not +counteract the work of twenty years of decay and disorganization, and felt +that his throne rested on the most fragile of foundations. + +The Crusaders took two months to prepare for their second assault on +Constantinople, which they felt would be a far more formidable affair than +the attack in the preceding autumn. They directed their chief efforts +against the sea-wall, which they had found vulnerable in the previous +siege, and left the formidable land-wall alone. The ships were told off +into groups, each destined to attack a particular section of the wall, and +covered with as many military engines as they could carry. Flying bridges +were again prepared, and landing parties were directed to leap ashore on +the narrow beach between the wall and the water, and get to work with rams +and scaling ladders. The attack was made on April 8th, at more than a +hundred points along two miles of sea-wall, but it was beaten off with +loss. Alexius Ducas had made his arrangements so well, that the fire of +his engines swept off all who attempted to gain a footing on the ramparts. +The ships were much damaged, and at noon the whole fleet gave back, and +retired as best it could to the opposite side of the Golden Horn. + +Many of the Crusaders were now for returning; they thought their defeat +was a judgment for turning their arms against a Christian city, and wished +to sail for the Holy Land. But Dandolo and the Venetians insisted upon +repeating the assault. Three days were spent in repairing the fleet, and +on April 12th a second attack was delivered. This time the ships were +lashed together in pairs to secure stability, and the attack was +concentrated on a comparatively small front of wall. At last, after much +fighting, the military engines of the fleet and the bolts of its +crossbowmen cleared a single tower of its defenders. A bridge was +successfully lowered on to it, and a footing secured by a party of +Crusaders, who then threw open a postern gate and let the main body in. +After a short fight within the walls, the troops of Alexius Ducas retired +back into the streets. The Crusaders fired the city to cover their +advance, and by night were in possession of the north-west angle of +Constantinople, the quarter of the palace of Blachern. + + [Illustration] + + Byzantine Reliquary. (_From "L'Art Byzantin." Par C. Bayet. Paris, + Quantin, 1883._) + + +While the fire was keeping the combatants apart, the Emperor tried to +rally his troops and to prepare for a street-fight next day. But the army +was cowed; many regiments melted away; and the Varangian Guard, the best +corps in the garrison, chose this moment to demand that their arrears of +pay should be liquidated; they would not return to the fight without their +money! The twenty years of disorganization under the Angeli was now +bearing its fruit, and deeply was the empire to rue the next day. + +Alexius Ducas, in despair at being unable to make his men fight, left the +city by night. He was soon followed by the last Greek officer who kept his +head, the general Theodore Lascaris, who endeavoured to make one final +attack on the Crusaders even after his master had departed. Next morning +the Franks found themselves in full possession of the city, though they +had been expecting to face a hard day of street-fighting before this end +could be attained. + +In cold blood, twelve hours after all fighting had ended, the Crusaders +proceeded with great deliberation to sack the place. The leaders could not +or would not hold back their men, and every atrocity that attends the +storm of a great city was soon in full swing. Though no resistance was +made, the soldiery, and especially the Venetians, took life recklessly, +and three or four thousand unarmed citizens were slain. But there was no +general massacre; it was lust and greed rather than bloodthirstiness that +the army displayed. All the Western writers, no less than the Greeks, +testify to the horrors of the three days' carnival of rape and plunder +that now set in. Every knight or soldier seized on the house that he liked +best, and dealt as he chose with its inmates. Churches and nunneries fared +no better than private dwellings; the orgies that were enacted in the +holiest places caused even the Pope to exclaim that no good could ever +come out of the conquest. The drunken soldiery enthroned a harlot in the +patriarchal chair in St. Sophia, and made her rehearse ribald songs and +indecent dances before the high altar. There were plenty of clergy with +the Crusading army, but instead of endeavouring to check the sacrilegious +doings of their countrymen, they devoted themselves to plundering the +treasuries of the churches of all the holy bones and relics that were +stored in them. "The Franks," remarked a Greek writer who saw the sack of +Constantinople, "behaved far worse than Saracens; the infidels when a town +has surrendered at any rate respect churches and women." + +After private plunder had reigned unchecked for three days, the leaders of +the Crusaders collected such valuables as could be found for public +division. Though so much had been stolen and concealed, they were able to +produce no less than L800,000 in hard gold and silver for distribution. +The sum was afterwards supplemented by the use of a resource which makes +the modern historian add a special curse of his own to the account of the +Crusaders. Down to 1204 Constantinople still contained the monuments of +ancient Greek art in enormous numbers. In spite of the wear and tear of +900 years, her squares and palaces were still crowded with the +art-treasures that Constantine and his sons had stored up. Nicetas, who +was an eyewitness of all, has left us the list of the chief statues that +suffered. The Heracles of Lysippus, the great Hera of Samos, the brass +figures which Augustus set up after Actium, the ancient Roman bronze of +the Wolf with Romulus and Remus, Paris with the Golden Apple, Helen of +Troy, and dozens more all went into the melting-pot, to be recast into +wretched copper money. The monuments of Christian art fared no better; the +tombs of the emperors were carefully stripped of everything in metal, the +altars and screens of the churches scraped to the stone. Everything was +left bare and desolate. + +Such was "the greatest conquest that was ever seen, greater than any made +by Alexander or Charlemagne, or by any that have lived before or after," +as a Western chronicler wrote, while the Greeks grew hyperbolical in +lamentation, as they saw "the eye of the world, the ornament of nations, +the fairest sight on earth, the mother of churches, the spring whence +flowed the waters of faith, the mistress of Orthodox doctrine, the seat of +the sciences, draining the cup mixed for her by the hand of the Almighty, +and consumed by fires as devouring as those which ruined the five Cities +of the Plain." + +At last the Crusaders sat down to divide up their conquests. They elected +Baldwin of Flanders Emperor of the East, and handed over to him the ruined +city of Constantinople, half of it devoured by the flames of the +conflagrations that attended the two sieges, and all of it plundered from +cellar to attic. Four-fifths of the population had fled, and no one had +remained save beggars who had nothing to save by flight. With the capital +Baldwin was given Thrace and the Asiatic provinces--Bithynia, Mysia, and +Lydia, all of which had still to be conquered. His colleague, Boniface of +Montferrat, was made "King of Thessalonica," and did homage to Baldwin for +a fief consisting of Macedonia, Thessaly, and inland Epirus. The Venetians +claimed "a quarter and half-a-quarter" of the empire, and took out their +share by receiving Crete, the Ionian Islands, the ports along the west +coast of Greece and Albania, nearly the whole of the islands of the +Aegean, and the land about the entrance of the Dardanelles. They seized on +every good harbour and strong sea-fortress, but left the inland alone; +commerce rather than annexation was their end. The rest of the empire was +parcelled out among the minor leaders of the Crusade; they had first to +conquer their fiefs, and were then to do homage for them to the Emperor +Baldwin. Most of them never lived to accomplish the scheme. Meanwhile a +Venetian prelate was appointed patriarch of Constantinople, and news was +sent to the Pope that the union of the Eastern and Western Churches was +accomplished, by the forcible extinction of the Greek patriarchate. + +It only remains to speak of Alexius Ducas, the fugitive Greek emperor. He +fell into the hands of the Crusaders, was tried for the murder of the +young Alexius Angelus, and suffered death by being taken to the top of a +lofty pillar and hurled from it. The Greeks saw in this strange end the +fulfilment of an obscure prophecy about the last of the Caesars, which had +long puzzled the brains of the oracle-mongers. + + + + + +XXIII. THE LATIN EMPIRE AND THE EMPIRE OF NICAEA. (1204-1261.) + + +Seldom has any state dragged out fifty-seven years in such constant misery +and danger as the Latin Empire experienced in the course of its inglorious +existence. The whole period was one protracted death-agony, and at no date +within it did there appear any reasonable prospect of recovery. Thirty +thousand men can take a city, but they cannot subdue a realm 800 miles +long and 400 broad. Far more than any government which has since held sway +on the same spot did the Latin Empire of Romania deserve the name of "the +Sick Man." It is not too much to say that but for the unequalled strength +of the walls of Constantinople the new power must have ceased to exist +within ten years of its establishment. + +But once fortified within the ramparts of Byzantium the Franks enjoyed the +inestimable advantage which their Greek predecessors had possessed: they +were masters of a fortress which--as military science then stood--was +practically impregnable, if only it was defended with ordinary skill, and +adequately guarded on the front facing the sea. As long as the Venetians +kept up their naval supremacy in Eastern waters, the city was safe on that +side, and even the very limited force which the Latin emperor could put +into the field sufficed, when joined to the armed burghers of the Italian +quarters, to defend the tremendous land wall. + +From the first year of its existence the Latin Empire was marked out by +unfailing signs as a power not destined to continue. The intention of its +founders had been to replace the centralized despotism which they had +overthrown by a great feudal state, corresponding in territorial extent to +its predecessor. But within a few months it became evident that the +conquest of the broad provinces which the Crusaders had distributed among +themselves by anticipation, was not to be carried out. The new emperor +himself was the first to discover this. He set out with his chivalry to +drive from Northern Thrace the Bulgarian hordes, who had flocked down into +the plains to profit by the plunder of the dismembered realm. But near +Adrianople he met Joannicios, the Bulgarian king, with a vast army at his +back. The Franks charged gallantly enough, but they were simply +overwhelmed by numbers. The larger part of the army was cut to pieces, and +Baldwin himself was taken prisoner. The Bulgarian kept him in chains for +some months, and then put him to death, after he had worn the imperial +crown only one year [1205]. + +Henry of Flanders, the brother of Baldwin, became his successor. He was an +honest and able man, but he could do nothing towards conquering the +provinces of Asia, pushing the Bulgarians back over the Balkans, or +conciliating the subject Greek population. All his reign he had to fight +on the defensive against his neighbours to the north and south. By the +time that he died the empire was practically confined to a narrow slip of +land along the Propontis, reaching from Gallipoli to Constantinople. Nor +was the chief of the minor Latin states any better off; Boniface of +Montferrat had fallen in 1207, slain in battle by the same Bulgarian +hordes which had cut off the army of his suzerain Baldwin. With his death +it became evident that the kingdom of Thessalonica was no more able to +conquer all the old Byzantine provinces in its neighbourhood than was the +empire of Constantinople. Boniface's son and heir was a mere infant; +during his minority the lands of his kingdom were lopped away, one after +another, by the Greek despot of Epirus, the able Theodore Angelus. At last +the capital itself was retaken by the Greeks in 1222, and the kingdom of +Thessalonica came to an end. + +The Latin states in the southern parts of the Balkan Peninsula fared +somewhat better. William of Champlitte had contrived to hew out for +himself a principality in the western parts of the Peloponnesus, and had +organized there a small state with twelve baronies and 136 knights fees. +The resistance of the natives in this district was particularly weak, and +one battle sufficed to give William all the coast-plain of Elis and +Messenia. Yet he did not succeed in subduing the mountaineers of the +peninsula of Maina, or the coast towns of Argolis and Laconia, so that the +Greeks still had some foothold in the peninsula. + +Another small Latin state was set up by Otho de la Roche in Central +Greece, where as "Duke of Athens" he ruled Attica and Boeotia. He treated +his Greek subjects with more consideration than any of his fellow +Crusaders, and was rewarded by obtaining a degree of respect and deference +which was not found in any other Latin state. Though the smallest, the +duchy of Athens was undoubtedly the most prosperous of the new creations +of the conquest of 1204. + +Meanwhile it is time to speak of the fortunes of those parts of the +Eastern Empire which the Franks did not succeed in seizing when +Constantinople fell. The provinces had hitherto been accustomed to accept +without a murmur the ruler whom the capital obeyed. But in 1204 it was +found that the centralization of the Byzantine Empire, great as it was, +had not so thoroughly crushed the individuality of the provinces as to +make them submit without resistance to the Latin yoke. Wherever the +provincials found a leader, whether a member of one of the ex-imperial +houses, or an energetic governor, or a landholder of local influence, they +stood up to defend themselves. The Byzantine Empire, like some creature of +low organism, showed every sign of life in its limbs, though its head had +been shorn off. Wherever a centre of resistance could be found the people +refused to submit to the piratical Frank, and to his yet more hated +companions the priests of the Roman Church. + +Of the nine or ten leaders who put themselves at the head of provincial +risings three were destined to carve out kingdoms for themselves. Of these +the most important was Theodore Lascaris, the last officer who had +attempted to strike a blow against the Franks when Constantinople +fell.(30) He might claim some shadow of hereditary right to the imperial +crown as he had married the daughter of the imbecile Alexius III., but his +true title was his well-approved courage and energy. The wrecks of the old +Byzantine army rallied around him, the cities of Bithynia opened their +gates, and when the Latins crossed into Asia to divide up the land into +baronies and knights fees, they found Theodore waiting to receive them +with the sword. His defence of the strong town of Prusa, which +successfully repelled Henry of Flanders, put a limit to the extension of +the Frank Empire; beyond a few castles on the Bithynian coast they made no +conquests. Having thus checked the invaders, Theodore had himself solemnly +crowned at Nicaea, and assumed imperial state [1206]. + + [Illustration] + +Finial From A Byzantine MS. (_From "L'Art Byzantin." Par C. Bayet. Paris, + Quantin, 1883._) + + +Having beaten off the Latins, Theodore had to cope with another who +aspired like himself to pose as the rightful heir to the imperial throne. +Alexius Comnenus, a grandson of the wicked emperor Andronicus I., had +betaken himself to the Eastern frontiers of the empire when Constantinople +fell, and obtained possession of Trebizond and the long slip of coast-land +at the south-east corner of the Black Sea, from the mouth of the Phasis to +Sinope. He aspired to conquer the whole of Byzantine Asia, and sent his +brother David Comnenus to attack Bithynia. But Theodore defended his newly +won realm with success; Comnenus gained no territory from him, and was +constrained to content himself with the narrow bounds of his Pontic realm, +where his descendants reigned in obscurity for three hundred years as +emperors of Trebizond. A greater danger beset the empire of Nicaea when +the warlike sultan of the Seljouks came down from his plateau to ravage +its borders. But the valour of Theodore Lascaris triumphed over this enemy +also. In the battle of Antioch-on-Maeander he slew Sultan Kaikhosru with +his own hand in single combat, and the Turks were beaten back with such +slaughter that they left the empire alone for a generation. + +Meanwhile a third Greek state had sprung into existence in the far West. +Michael Angelus, a cousin of Alexius III. and Isaac II., put in a claim to +their heritage, though he was disqualified by his illegitimate birth. He +was recognized as ruler by the cities of Epirus, and proclaimed himself +"despot" of that land. Raising an army among the warlike tribes of +Albania, he maintained his position with success, and discomfited the +Franks of Athens and Thessalonica when they took arms against him. He died +early, but left a compact heritage to his brother Theodore, who succeeded +him on the throne, and within a few years conquered the whole of the Frank +kingdom of Thessalonica. + +It was soon evident that there would be a trial of strength between the +two Greek emperors who claimed to succeed to the rights of the +dispossessed Angeli. The Latin Empire was obviously destined to fall +before one of them. The only doubt was, whether the Epirot or the Nicene +was to be its conqueror. This question was not settled till 1241, when the +two powers met in decisive conflict. + +By this time Theodore Lascaris had been succeeded in Asia by his +son-in-law John Ducas,(31) and Theodore of Thessalonica by his son John +Angelus. At Constantinople the succession of Latin emperors had been much +more rapid. Henry of Flanders had died in 1216; he was followed by Peter +of Courtenay, who was slain by the Epirots in less than a year. To him +succeeded Robert his son, and when Robert died in 1228 his brother Baldwin +II., reigned in his stead. The young Courtenays were both thoroughly +incapable, and saw their empire melt away from them till nothing was left +beyond the walls of Constantinople itself. + +John III. of Nicaea was an excellent sovereign, a very worthy heir to his +gallant father-in-law. Not only was he a good soldier and an able +administrator, but by constant supervision and strict frugality he had got +the financial condition of his empire into a more hopeful condition--a +state of things which had never been seen in Romania since the time of +John Comnenus, a hundred years before. In 1230 the troops of Nicaea +crossed into Europe, and drove the Franks out of Southern Thrace, while in +1235 John Ducas laid siege to Constantinople itself. But the time of its +fall was not yet arrived, and when a Venetian fleet approached to succour +it the Emperor was constrained to raise the siege. + + [Illustration] + + Fountain In The Court Of St. Sophia. + + +Recognizing that Constantinople was not yet ripe for its fall, John Ducas +resolved to measure himself with his rivals the Angeli of Thessalonica. He +beat their forces out of the field, and laid siege to their capital in +1341. Then John Angelus engaged to resign the title of emperor, call +himself no more than "despot of Epirus," and to acknowledge himself as the +vassal of the ruler of Nicaea. This satisfied Ducas for a time, but when +Angelus died, four years later, he seized Thessalonica and united it to +the imperial crown. The heir of the Angeli escaped to Albania and +succeeded in retaining a small fraction only of his ancestral dominions +[1246]. + +John Ducas died in 1254, leaving the throne of Nicaea to his son Theodore +II., who bid fair to continue the prosperous career of his father and +grandfather. He drove the Bulgarians out of Macedonia, and penned the +Albanians into their hills. But he became subject to epileptic fits, and +died after a reign of only four years, before he had reached the age of +thirty-eight [1258]. + +This was a dreadful misfortune for the empire, for John Ducas, the son and +heir of Theodore, was a child of eight years, and minorities were always +disastrous to the state. We have seen in the history of previous centuries +how frequently the infancy of a prince led to a violent contest for the +place of regent, or even to a usurpation of the throne. The case of John +IV. was no exception to the rule; the ministers of his father fought and +intrigued to gain possession of the helm of affairs, till at last an able +and unprincipled general, named Michael Paleologus, thrusting himself to +the front, was named tutor to the Emperor, and given the title of +"Despot." + +Michael was as ambitious as he was unscrupulous. The place of regent was +far from satisfying his ambition, and he determined to seize the throne, +though he had steeped himself to the lips in oaths of loyalty to his young +master. He played much the same game that Richard III. was destined to +repeat in England two centuries later. He cleared away from the capital +the relatives and adherents of the little prince, placed creatures of his +own in their places, and conciliated the clergy by large gifts and +hypocritical piety. Presently the partisans of Michael began to declaim +against the dangers of a minority, and the necessity for a strong hand at +the helm. After much persuasion and mock reluctance the regent was induced +to allow himself to be crowned. From that moment the boy John Ducas was +thrust aside and ignored: ere he had reached the age of ten his wicked +guardian put out his eyes and plunged him into a dungeon, where he spent +thirty years in darkness and misery. + +The usurpation of Michael tempted all the enemies of the Greek Empire to +take arms. The Epirot despot allied himself with the Frankish lords of +Greece, and their united armies, aided by auxiliaries from Italy, invaded +Macedonia; moreover the Latin emperor of Constantinople stirred up the +Venetians to ravage his neighbours' borders. But in 1260 the troops of +Michael won, over the allied armies of the Franks and Epirots, the last +great victory that a Byzantine army was ever destined to achieve. The +field of Pelagonia decided the lot of the house of Paleologus, for +Michael's enemies were so crushed that they could never afterwards make +head against him. + +Freed from all danger from the West, Michael was now able to turn against +Constantinople, and complete the reconstruction of the empire. The city +was ripe for its fall, and Baldwin of Courtenay had long been awaiting his +doom. + +The long reign of the last Latin sovereign of Constantinople is +sufficiently characterized by the fact that Baldwin spent nearly half the +years of his rule outside the bounds of Romania, as he wandered from court +to court in the West, striving to stir up some champion who would deliver +him from the inevitable destruction impending over his realm. He gained +little by his tours, his greatest success being that, in 1244, he got from +St. Louis a considerable sum of ready money in acknowledgment of the +liberality with which he had presented the holy king with a choice +selection of relics, including the rod of Moses, the jawbone of John the +Baptist, and our Lord's crown of thorns. + +In 1261 Baldwin was in worse straits than ever. He was stripping off the +lead of his own palace roof, to sell it for a few zecchins to the +Venetians, and burning the beams of his outhouses in default of money to +buy fuel. His son and heir was in pawn to the Venetian banking firm of the +Capelli, who had taken him as the only tangible security that could be +found for a modest loan which they had advanced to the imperial exchequer. +With the government in such a desperate condition there was no longer any +power of resistance left in Constantinople. When the Venetian fleet, the +sole remaining defence of the empire, was away at sea, the city fell +before a sudden and unpremeditated attack, made by Alexius Strategopulus, +commander in Thrace under the emperor Michael. + +Alexius, with eight hundred regular troops and a few scores of half-armed +volunteers, was admitted by treachery within the walls. Before this +formidable array the heirs of the Crusaders fled in base dismay, and the +Empire of Romania came to an inglorious and a well-deserved end. + +Its monarch resumed his habitual mendicant tours in Western Europe, and +never ceased to besiege the ears of popes and kings with demands for aid +to recover his lost realm. At last Baldwin passed away: his sole memorial +is the fact that he made a distressed and itinerant emperor in search of a +champion, one of the stock figures in the Romances of his day. No one in +Western Europe was ignorant of his tale, and he survives as the prototype +of the dispossessed sovereigns of fifty legends of chivalry. + + + + + +XXIV. DECLINE AND DECAY. (1261-1328.) + + +There was now once more a Byzantine empire, and to an unobservant reader +the history of the reigns of the Paleologi looks like the natural +continuation and sequel of the history of the reigns of Isaac Angelus and +his brother. If the annals of Michael VIII. and his son were written on to +the end of that of Alexius Angelus, the intervening gap of the Latin +Conquest might almost pass unperceived, and the reader might imagine that +he was investigating a single continuous course of events. The Frank +dominion at Constantinople, and the heroic episode of the Empire of +Nicaea, would pass equally unnoticed. + +We need not insist on the perniciousness of such a view. Great as may seem +the similarity of the Byzantine Empire of 1204, and that of 1270, it had +really suffered an entire transformation in that period. To commence by +the most obvious and external sign of change, it will be observed that the +lands subject to Michael Paleologus were far more limited in extent than +those which had obeyed Alexius Angelus. The loss in Asia was less than +might have been expected: Theodore Lascaris and John Ducas had kept back +the Turk, and only two districts of no great extent had fallen into Moslem +hands--the Pisidian coast with the seaport of Adalia on the south, and the +Paphlagonian coast with the seaport of Sinope on the north. Besides these +the distant Pontic province had now become the empire of Trebizond. + +In Europe the loss was far more serious: four great blocks of territory +had been lost for ever. The first was a slip along the southern slope of +the Balkans, in Northern Thrace and Macedonia, which had fallen into the +hands of the Bulgarians, and become completely Slavonized. The second was +the district which is represented by the modern land of Albania. When the +Angeli of Thessalonica fell before John Ducas, a younger member of the +house retired to the original mountain house of the dynasty, and preserved +the independence of the "Despotate of Epirus." Here the Angeli survived +for some generations, maintaining themselves against the Emperors of +Constantinople by a strict alliance with the Latin princes of Southern +Greece. + +Next in the list of Old-Byzantine territories which Michael never +recovered, we must place Greece proper, now divided between the Princes of +Achaia, of the house of Villehardouin, and the Briennes, who had succeeded +to the Duchy of Athens. But the Paleologi still retained a considerable +slice of the Peloponnesus, and were destined to encroach ere long on their +Frankish neighbours. Lastly, we must mention the islands of the Aegean, of +which the large majority were held either by the Venetian government, or +by Venetian adventurers, who ruled as independent lords, but subordinated +their policy to that of their native state. + +But the territorial difference between the empire of 1204 and the empire +of 1261 was only one of the causes which crippled the realm of the +Paleologi. Bad though the internal government of the dominions of Alexius +III. had been, there was still then some hope of recovery. The old +traditions of East-Roman administrative economy, though neglected, were +not lost, and might have been revived by an emperor who had a keen eye to +discover ability and a ready hand to reward merit. New blood in the +_personnel_ of the ministry, and a keen supervision of details by the +master's eye, would have produced an improvement in the state of the +empire, though any permanent restoration of strength was probably made +impossible by the deep-seated decay of society. But by the time of Michael +Paleologus even amelioration had become impossible. The three able +emperors who reigned at Nicaea, though they had preserved their +independence against Turk and Frank, had utterly failed in restoring +administrative efficiency in their provinces. John Vatatzes, himself a +thrifty monarch, who could even condescend to poultry-farming to fill his +modest exchequer, found that all his efforts to protect native industry +could not cause the dried-up springs of prosperity to flow again. The +whole fiscal and administrative machinery of government had been thrown +hopelessly out of gear. + +It was the commercial decline of the empire that made a reform of the +administration so hopeless. The Paleologi were never able to reassert the +old dominion over the seas which had made their predecessors the arbiters +of the trade of Christendom. The wealth of the elder Byzantine Empire had +arisen from the fact that Constantinople was the central emporium of the +trade of the civilized world. All the caravan routes from Syria and Persia +converged thither. Thither, too, had come by sea the commodities of Egypt +and the Euxine. All the Eastern products which Europe might require had to +be sought in the storehouses of Constantinople, and for centuries the +nations of the West had been contented to go thither for them. But the +Crusades had shaken this monopoly, when they taught the Italians to seek +the hitherto unknown parts of Syria and Egypt, and buy their Eastern +merchandize from the producer and not from the middleman. Acre and +Alexandria had already profited very largely at the expense of +Constantinople ere the Byzantine Empire was upset in 1204. But the Latin +conquest was the fatal blow. It threw the control of the trade of the +Bosphorus into the hands of the Venetians, and the Venetians had no desire +to make Constantinople their one central mart: they were just as ready to +trade through the Syrian and Egyptian ports. To them the city was no more +than an important half-way house for the Black Sea trade, and an emporium +for the local produce of the countries round the Sea of Marmora. + +From 1204 onward Italy rather than Constantinople became the centre and +starting-place for all European trade, and the great Italian republics +employed all their vigilance to prevent the Greek fleet from recovering +its old strength. Henceforth the Byzantine war-navy was insignificant, and +without a war-navy the Paleologi could not drive away the intruders and +restore the free navigation of the Levant to their own mercantile marine. + +The emperors who succeeded each other on the restored throne of +Constantinople were, without exception, men more fitted to lose than to +hold together an exhausted and impoverished empire. Their lot was cast, it +is true, in hard times; but hardly one of them showed a spark of ability +or courage in endeavouring to face the evil day. The three monarchs of the +house of Lascaris who ruled at Nicaea had been keen soldiers and competent +administrators, but with the return of the emperors to Constantinople the +springs of energy began to dry up, and the gloom and decay of the ruined +capital seemed to affect the spirit and brain of its rulers. + + [Illustration] + + Byzantine Chapel At Ani, The Old Capital Of Armenia. (_From "L'Art + Byzantin." Par Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +Michael Paleologus, though it was his fortune to recover the city which +his abler predecessors had failed to take, was a mere wily intriguer, not +a statesman or general. Having usurped the throne by the basest treachery +towards his infant sovereign, he always feared for himself a similar fate. +Suspicion and cruelty were his main characteristics, and in his care for +his own person he quite forgot the interests of the State. Even +contemporary chroniclers saw that he was deliberately setting himself to +weaken the empire, because he dreaded the resentment of his subjects. He +disbanded nearly all the native Greek troops, and refrained as far as +possible from employing Greek generals. + +One of his minor acts in this direction may be said to have been the +original circumstance which set the Ottoman Turks, the future bane of the +empire, on their career of conquest. The borders of the empire in Asia +were defended by a native militia, who held their lands under condition of +defending the castles and passes of the Bithynian and Phrygian mountains. +The institution, which somewhat resembled a simple form of European +feudalism, had worked so well that the Byzantine Empire had for a century +and a half kept its Asiatic frontier practically intact, in spite of all +the pressure of the Seljouk Turks of the Sultanate of Iconium. But the +Bithynian militia were known to be attached to the house of Ducas, which +Michael had dethroned, and he therefore resolved to disarm them. The +measure was carried out, not without bloodshed, but the disbanded levy +were not replaced by any adequate number of regular troops. Michael's +financial straits did not permit him to keep under arms a very large +force, such as was required to garrison his eastern line of forts after +the abolition of the previous machinery of defence. Ten years only before +Othman, the father of the Ottoman Turks, succeeded to the petty +principality which was destined to be the nucleus of the Turkish Empire, +the way for him had been thrown open by Michael's suspicious disarmament +of the guards of his own frontier. + +Michael lived for twenty-one years after the recovery of Constantinople, +but he did not win a single important advantage in all the rest of his +reign. In Europe he barely held his own against the Bulgarians, the +Franks, and the fleets of Genoa and Venice. The troubles which befell him +at the hands of the two naval powers were largely of his own creation, for +he shifted his alliance from one to the other with such levity and +suddenness that both regarded him as unfriendly. Though all through his +reign he was at war either with Genoa or Venice, yet such was the distrust +felt for him that, when at war with one of the rivals, he could not always +secure the help of the other. Venice had been the mainstay of the Frank +emperors of Constantinople, and Michael might, therefore, have been +expected to remain staunch to the Genoese. On the other hand, the Genoese +had designs on the Black Sea trade, which touched the Emperor's pocket +very closely, while the Venetians were more connected with the distant +commerce of Syria and Egypt, which did not concern him. Balancing one +consideration with the other, Michael played false to both the powers, and +often saw his coast ravaged and his small fleet compelled to take refuge +in the Golden Horn, while the enemy's vessels swept the seas. On land he +was less unlucky, and the Duke of Athens and the despot of Epirus were +both kept in check, though neither of them were subdued. + +But it was in Asia that Michael's rule was most unfortunate. In the second +half of his reign the Seljouks, though split into several principalities +owing to the break up of the Sultanate of Iconium, united to assail the +borders of the empire. They conquered the Carian and Lydian inland, though +Tralles and several other towns made a vigorous resistance, and reduced +Michael's dominion in South-western Asia Minor to a mere strip along the +coast. A similar fate befell Eastern Bithynia, where the Turks forced +their way as far as the river Sangarius. + +But the ruin of Byzantine Asia was reserved to fall into the times of +Michael's son and successor, Andronicus II. This prince had all the faults +of his father, levity, perfidy, and cruelty, with others added from which +Michael had been free--cowardice and superstition. The main interest which +Andronicus took in life was concerned with things ecclesiastical--it would +be wrong to say things religious--and he spent his life in making and +unmaking patriarchs of Constantinople. No prelate could bear with him +long, and in the course of his reign he deposed no less than nine of them. + +While Andronicus was quarrelling with his patriarchs the empire was going +to ruin. The Seljouk chiefs from the plateau of Asia Minor were pressing +down more and more towards the coast, and making their way to the very +gates of Ephesus and Smyrna. At last the emperor, growing seriously +alarmed when the Turks appeared on the shores of the Propontis itself, and +threatened the walls of Nicaea and Prusa, resolved to make an unwonted +effort to beat them back. + + [Illustration] + + Adronicus Paleologus Adoring Our Lord. (_From "L'Art Byzantin." Par + Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +In 1302 the long war of the "Sicilian Vespers" between the houses of Anjou +and Aragon came to an end, and the hordes of mercenaries of all nations +which the two pretenders to the crown of Sicily had maintained were turned +loose on the world. It occurred to Andronicus that he might hire enough of +the veterans of the Sicilian war to enable him to beat back the Turks into +their hills. All Europe acknowledged that they were the hardiest and +best-disciplined troops in Christendom, though they were also the most +cruel and lawless. Accordingly the emperor applied to Roger de Flor, a +renegade Templar, the commander of the mercenaries who had served Frederic +of Aragon, and offered to take him into his service, with as many of his +followers as could be induced to accompany him. Roger accepted with +alacrity, and came to Constantinople in 1303 with 6,000 men at his back; +other bodies were soon to follow. Andronicus loaded the "Grand Company," +as Roger de Flor styled his men, with unlimited promises, and a certain +amount of ready money. Roger himself was given the title of "Grand Duke," +and married to a lady of the imperial house. After clearing the Turks out +of the Bithynian coast-land the "Grand Company" spent the winter of 1303-4 +in free quarters along the southern coast of Propontis. Their plundering +habits and their arrogance soon brought them into ill odour with the +inhabitants, who complained that they were well-nigh as great a curse as +the Turks. In the next year Roger moved south with his host, and drove the +Turks out of Lydia and Caria; but instead of putting the emperor into +possession of the reconquered land, he garrisoned every fortress with his +own men, and raised and appropriated the imperial taxes. There can be +little doubt that he was plotting to seize on the provinces he had +regained, and to reign at Ephesus as an independent prince. At last Roger +went so far as to lay formal siege to Philadelphia, because its +inhabitants preferred to obey orders from Constantinople, and would not +admit him within their gates. Andronicus then lured him to an interview at +Adrianople, and in his very presence the great _condottiere_ was +assassinated by George the Alan, an officer whose son had been slain in a +brawl by Roger's soldiers. The Emperor had probably arranged the murder, +and certainly refused to arrest its perpetrator [1307]. + +He was promptly punished. The "Grand Company" was not disorganized by the +loss of its leader, and thought of nothing but revenge. Assembling +themselves in haste, and abandoning Asia Minor to the Turks, they marched +on Constantinople, harrying the land far and wide with fiendish cruelty. +The Emperor sent his son Michael against them, but the young prince was +disgracefully beaten in two fights at Gallipoli and Apros, and the +mercenaries spread themselves all over Thrace and plundered it up to the +gates of the capital. It almost looked as if a second Latin Conquest of +Constantinople was about to take place, for the leaders of the "Grand +Company" got succour from Europe, raised a corps of Turkish auxiliaries, +and occupied Thrace for two years. But they could not storm the walls of +Constantinople or Adrianople, and at last, after two years of plundering, +they had stripped the country so bare that they were driven away by +famine. Drifting southward and westward they ravaged Macedon and Thessaly, +and at last reached Greece. Here they fell into a quarrel with Walter de +Brienne, Duke of Athens, slew him in battle and took his capital. Then at +last did the wandering horde settle down; they seized the duchy, divided +its fiefs among themselves, and established a new dynasty on the Athenian +throne. The empire was at last quit of them, for when once they ceased to +wander the "Grand Company" ceased to be dangerous. + +This disastrous war with the mercenaries not only ruined Thrace and +Macedonia, but was the cause of the final loss of the Byzantine provinces +of Asia Minor. While Andronicus was feebly attempting to cope with the +"Grand Company," the Seljouk chiefs had conquered Lydia and Phrygia once +more, and then advanced yet further north to siege Mysia and Bithynia. By +1325 they had reduced the Emperor's dominions on the east of the straits +to a narrow strip, reaching from the Dardanelles to the northern exit of +the Bosphorus, and bounded by the Bithynian hills to the south. Five +Seljouk leaders had carved out for themselves principalities in the +conquered districts, Menteshe in the south, Aidin and Saroukhan in Lydia, +Karasi in Mysia, and in the Bithynian borderland Othman, destined to a +fame very different from that of his long-forgotten compeers. + +While Othman and the rest were turning the once thickly-peopled countries +of Western Asia Minor into a desert sparsely inhabited by wandering +nomads, Andronicus II. was busied in a war even more uncalled for than +that with the mercenaries. He wished to exclude from the succession to the +throne his grandson and heir, who bore the same name as himself. But the +younger Andronicus took measures to defend his rights, and raised armed +bands. Grandfather and grandson were ere long engaged in a long but +feebly-conducted war, which was only terminated in 1328, when the old man +acknowledged Andronicus the younger as his heir, and made him his +colleague on the throne. But his grandson, not contented with this measure +of success, made him retire from the conduct of affairs, and assumed +control over every function of government. The name of Andronicus II. was +still associated with that of Andronicus III. on the coinage and in the +public prayers, but he took no further part in the rule of the empire. In +1332 he died, at a good old age, lamented by no single individual in the +realm which he had ruled for fifty years. At his death the empire was only +two-thirds of the size that it had been at his accession. + + + + + +XXV. THE TURKS IN EUROPE. + + +Andronicus III. was a shade better than the incapable old man whom he +supplanted. Though he was given--like all his house--to treachery and +deceit, and though his life was loose and luxurious, he was at any rate +active and energetic. He may be described as a weak reflection or copy of +Manuel Comnenus, being a mighty hunter, a bold spear both in the +tournament and on the battle-field, and a great spender of money. If he +had not the brains to keep his empire together, he at any rate fought his +best, and did not sit apathetically at home like his grandfather while +everything was going to rack and ruin. + +Nevertheless, Andronicus III. was destined to see the termination of the +process which had begun under Andronicus II.--the entire loss of the +Asiatic provinces of the empire to the Turks. It was now with the Ottomans +almost exclusively that he had to deal; the other Seljouk hordes had no +longer any marchland along the shrunken frontier of his dominions. + +These new foes of the empire deserve a word of description. Othman, the +son of Ertogrul, was a vassal of the Seljouk Sultan of Roum, who had been +granted a tract in the Phrygian highlands under the condition of military +service against the Greeks. His fief lay in the north-west angle of the +great central plateau of Asia Minor. Behind it lay the rolling country of +hills and uplands already occupied by the Seljouks. Before it were the +Bithynian mountains, with their passes protected by forts, and garrisoned +by local militia, till the day when they were so perversely stripped of +their defenders by the action of Michael Paleologus. Othman, and his +father Ertogrul before him, owned nothing in the hills, nor could they +have pushed on if Michael had not made the way easy for them. But after +1270 the native militia was gone, and the followers of Othman, instead of +having to face an armed population, fighting to protect its own fields, +found to oppose them only inadequate garrisons of regular troops at long +intervals. + +Othman's life covered two series of great events, the disastrous reign of +Andronicus II. at Constantinople, and in Asia Minor the no less disastrous +break-up of the power of his own suzerain, the Sultan of Roum. In 1294, +Gaiaseddin, the last undisputed sovereign of the Seljouk line, fell in +battle against rebels; and in 1307, Alaeddin III., the last prince who +claimed to be supreme Sultan, died in exile. This made Othman an +independent prince; but he did not take the title of Sultan, contenting +himself with the humbler name of Emir. + +Othman's field of operation from 1281 to 1326 was the Byzantine borderland +of Bithynia and Mysia. He was by no means the strongest of the Seljouk +chiefs who made a lodgement within the borders of the empire, and it took +him twenty years before he conquered one large town. His wild horsemen +harried the open sea-coast plain of Bithynia again and again, till at last +the wretched inhabitants emigrated, or acknowledged him as their +sovereign. But the towns, within their strong Roman walls, were +unassailable by the light cavalry which formed his only armed strength. +The siege of Prusa [Broussa], the capital and key of the region, lasted +ten years. The Turks built a chain of forts around it and gradually made +the introduction of provisions more and more difficult, till at last a +large force was required to march out every time that a convoy was +expected. At length the inhabitants could find no advantage in spending +their whole lives in a beleaguered town undergoing slow starvation. Prusa +surrendered in 1326, and Othman heard of the news on his death-bed. The +Turkish frontier now once again touched the Sea of Marmora, which it had +not reached since the Crusaders thrust it back inland in 1097. + +The reign of Othman's son Orkhan, the second Emir of the Ottomans, almost +coincided with that of Andronicus III. All that the one lost the other +gained. Orkhan's life-work was the completion of the conquest of Bithynia, +which his father had begun. He took Nicomedia in 1327 and Nicaea in 1333, +with all the surrounding territory, so that Andronicus retained nothing +but Chalcedon and the district immediately facing Constantinople beyond +the Bosphorus. Only once did he have to meet the Emperor in pitched +battle; this was at the fight of Pelekanon in 1329. Andronicus was wounded +early in the day, and his army, deprived of its leader went to pieces and +was severely beaten. After his recovery from his wounds the Emperor never +faced the Ottomans again. + +After conquering Bithynia, Orkhan subdued his nearest neighbours among the +other Seljouk Emirs, and then turned to organizing his state. This was the +date of the institution of his famous corps of the Janissaries, the first +steady infantry that any Eastern power had ever possessed. He imposed on +his Christian subjects in Mysia and Bithynia a tribute, not of money, but +of male children. The boys were taken over while very young, placed in +barracks, educated in the strictest and most fanatical Moslem code, and +trained to the profession of arms. Having light horse enough and to spare, +Orkhan taught the Janissaries to fight on foot with bow and sabre. They +were well drilled, and moved in compact masses, which for many ages no foe +proved competent to sunder and disperse. So thorough was the physical and +moral discipline to which the Janissaries were subjected, that it was +almost unknown for one of them to turn back from his career and relapse +into Christianity. To keep them firm in their allegiance there acted not +only the military and conventual discipline to which they were subject, +but the dazzling prospect of future greatness. The Ottoman sovereigns made +it their rule to select their generals and governors, their courtiers and +personal attendants from the ranks of the tribute-children. It was +calculated that more than two-thirds of the Grand-Viziers of Turkey, in +the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, had begun their career +as Janissaries. + +The first generation of the "New Soldiery" [for such is the meaning of the +word Janissary] grew up to the military age during the latter half of the +reign of Orkhan, and it was he who first utilized them on the European +shore of the Bosphorus. + +Andronicus III. died in 1241, and left his shrunken dominions to the risks +of a minority, for his son and heir, John III., was only nine years of +age. If anything had been wanting to aid in the destruction of the empire, +it was the arrival of such a contingency. The usual troubles soon set in, +and the inevitable civil war was not far off. + + [Illustration] + + John Cantacuzenus Sitting In State. (_From a Contemporary MS._) (_From + "L'Art Byzantin." Par C. Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +The evil spirit of the time was John Cantacuzenus, the prime minister of +the deceased emperor. He was a clever, shifty, intriguing courtier, with a +turn for literature, but had the abilities neither of a general nor of a +statesman. However, he had read the tale of the rise of the Paleologi to +some purpose, and had resolved to imitate the career of Michael VIII. Now, +as in 1258, there was the best of chances for an unscrupulous minister to +make himself first the colleague and then the supplanter of his young +master. Cantacuzenus did his best to repeat the doings of Michael on +Michael's great-great-grandson. He bribed and intrigued, made himself a +party in the state, and prepared for a _coup d'etat_ when the time should +be ripe. Unfortunately for himself, Cantacuzenus was not of the stuff of +which successful usurpers are made. He had his scruples and superstitions, +and showed a fatal habit of procrastination which always led him to act a +day too late. The Empress Dowager, Anne of Savoy, succeeded in raising a +party against him, and when he threw off the mask and declared himself +emperor he found himself unable to seize the capital, though he mustered +an army under its walls. Finding that he was playing a losing game, +Cantacuzenus took the usual step of calling in the national enemy to aid +him. It was for the last time that this was done in Byzantine history, but +never before had the result been so fatal. The usurper summoned to his aid +first Stephen Dushan, the king of the Servians, and a little later the +Turkish princes from across the Aegean--Orkhan the son of Othman, and his +rival, Amour, Emir of Aidin. + +These allies kept the cause of John Cantacuzenus from destruction, but it +was by destroying the empire that John had coveted. King Stephen entered +Macedonia and Thrace, and occupied the whole countryside, except +Thessalonica and a few other towns. He then pushed further south, +conquered Thessaly, and made the despot of Epirus do him homage. The +Byzantine government retained little more than the capital, and the +districts round Adrianople and Thessalonica. Most of this country was lost +for ever to the imperial crown, and it seemed as if a Servian domination +in the Balkan Peninsula was about to begin, for Stephen moved south from +Servia, made Uscup in Macedonia his capital, and proclaimed himself +"Emperor of the Servians and Romans." + +It would perhaps have been well for Christendom if Stephen had actually +conquered Constantinople and made an end of the empire. In that case there +would have been a single great power in the Balkan Peninsula, ready to +meet the oncoming assault of the Turks. But Dushan was not strong enough +to take the great city, and to the misfortune of Europe he died in 1355 +leaving a realm extending from the Danube to the pass of Thermopylae. But +his young son Urosh was soon assassinated, and the Servian Empire broke up +as rapidly as it had grown together. A dozen princes were soon scrambling +for the remnants of Stephen's heritage. + +The other allies whom John Cantacuzenus called in were the Turks Amour and +Orkhan, and on them he depended far more than on the Servian. He took over +into Thrace a large body of Turkish horse, and allowed them to harry the +country-side and carry away his subjects by thousands, to be sold in the +slave-markets of Smyrna and Broussa. But the depth of John's degradation +was reached when he gave his daughter Theodora to Orkhan, to be immured in +the Turk's harem. Thrace was rapidly assuming the aspect of a desert under +the incursions of the Ottoman mercenaries of Cantacuzenus, when after six +years of war the party of the Empress Anne consented to recognize the +usurper as the colleague and guardian of the rightful heir. A hollow peace +was patched up, and the two Johns could take stock of their dilapidated +realm [1347]. The net result of their civil war had been that Macedonia +and Thessaly were in Servian hands, and that Thrace was utterly ruined by +the Turks. There was nothing left that could be called an empire; all that +remained was Constantinople and Adrianople, the town of Thessalonica and +the Byzantine province in the Peloponnesus. Cantacuzenus certainly +deserves a notable place by the side of Isaac and Alexius Angelus, as the +third of the great destroyers of the Eastern Empire. + +But his evil work was not yet done. For seven years he ruled in +conjunction with John Paleologus, waging an unsuccessful war against +Servia in the hopes of winning back Dushan's conquests. But in 1354 the +young emperor, having attained the age of twenty-four, resolved to assert +himself, and took arms to dethrone his guardian. Cantacuzenus resisted, +and sent over to Asia for the troops of his son-in-law Orkhan, who crossed +into Thrace and drove the adherents of the Paleologi out of several +fortresses. But a night surprise from the side of the sea put John +Paleologus in possession of Constantinople, and by a fortunate chance he +got Cantacuzenus himself into his hands. The usurper was, in accordance +with the usual practice, tonsured and placed in a monastery; by +exceptional good fortune he was spared the loss of his eyes, and was able +to spend the remainder of his life in writing a history of his own time. + +But it was of little use to sweep away Cantacuzenus while Orkhan's Turks +were in Thrace. The Ottomans had come as auxiliaries in the war, but they +were resolved to stop as principals. Suleiman, the son of Orkhan, seized +Gallipoli for himself, filled it with Turkish families, and made it a +permanent settlement. This was the first Ottoman foothold in Europe, but +it was not long to remain isolated. + +In 1359 Orkhan died, and his successor, Murad I., determined to cross over +into Europe, and try the fortune of his arms. John Paleologus was not a +worse man than his immediate predecessors on the throne, but thanks to +Cantacuzenus he had far less resources than even they had possessed. Two +years of fighting sufficed to put Thrace in the hands of Murad from sea to +sea. A decisive battle in front of Adrianople in 1361 was the finishing +stroke, and the empire became a mere head without a body; its last +home-province had been lopped away, and beyond the walls of Constantinople +no land acknowledged John V. as sovereign save the district of +Thessalonica and the Peloponnesus. + +Why Murad I. did not finish the task he had begun, and take Constantinople +itself, it is hard to discern. Its walls were still formidable, and the +Genoese and Venetians could still protect it on the side of the sea. But a +siege pressed firmly to an end must at last have triumphed over the mere +inert resistance of stone and mortar, unsupported by an adequate garrison +within. However, Murad preferred to press on against worthier adversaries +than the weak Paleologus, and spent his life in incessant and successful +wars with the Servians, the Bulgarians, and the Seljouk Emirs of Southern +Asia Minor. In a reign of thirty years he extended his borders to the +Balkans on the north, and annexed large tracts of Seljouk territory from +his brother Emirs in Asia Minor. + +John Paleologus was his humble vassal and slave. After a vain attempt to +get help from the Pope, this emperor without an empire resolved to make +what terms he could, and rejoiced when he found that Murad was prepared to +grant him peace. The Turk was a hard master, and rejoiced in giving his +vassal unpalatable tasks. Best remembered among the tribulations of John +is the siege of Philadelphia. That place had preserved a precarious +independence after all the other cities of Byzantine Asia fell into the +hands of the Turkish Emirs. Being far away in the Lydian hills, it lost +touch with Constantinople, and had become a free town. Murad, wishing to +subdue it, compelled John V. and his son Manuel to march in person against +the last Christian stronghold in Asia. The Emperor submitted to the +degradation, and Philadelphia surrendered when it saw the imperial banner +hoisted among the horse-tails of the Turkish pashas above the camp of the +besiegers. The humiliation of the empire could go no further than when the +heir of Justinian and Basil Bulgaroktonos took the field at the behest of +an upstart Turkish Emir, in order to extinguish the last relics of freedom +among his own compatriots. + + + + + +XXVI. THE END OF A LONG TALE. (1370-1453.) + + +The tale of the last seventy-five years of the Byzantine Empire is a mere +piece of local history, and no longer forms an important thread in the web +of the history of Christendom. Murad the Turk might have taken +Constantinople in 1370, without altering in any very great measure the +course of events in Eastern Europe during the next century. For after 1370 +the empire ceased to exercise its old function of "bulwark of Christendom +against the Ottomite." That duty now fell to the Servians and Hungarians, +who continued to discharge it for the next hundred and fifty years. The +Paleologi, by their base subservience to the Turk, protracted the life of +the empire long after all justification for its existence had disappeared. + +If Constantinople had fallen in 1370, instead of 1453, there are only two +ways in which European history would have been somewhat modified. The +commercial resources of Genoa and Venice would have been straitened before +the appointed time, and ere the Cape route to India enabled Europe to +dispense with the use of Constantinople as half-way house to the East. +And, we may add, the Renaissance would have been shorn of some of its +brilliance in the next century, if the dispersion of the Greeks had taken +place before Italy was quite fitted to receive them and turn their +learning to account. But in other respects it is hard to see that much +harm would have resulted from the fall of Constantinople in the end of the +fourteenth rather than the middle of the fifteenth century. + +While Murad I. was conquering the Servians and Bulgarians, John Paleologus +was dragging out a long and unhonoured old age. His reign was protracted +for over half a century, but his later years were much vexed by the +undutiful behaviour of his children. His son Andronicus twice rebelled +against him, and once succeeded in seizing the throne for a short space. +Andronicus allied himself unto Saoudji, a son of Murad I., who plotted a +similar treason against his father the Emir. But Murad easily quelled the +rebellion, put out the eyes of his own son, and sent Andronicus in chains +to John II., bidding him to follow his example. The Emperor did not dare +to disobey, and ordered his son to be blinded. But the operation was so +ineffectually performed that Andronicus retained a measure of sight, and +was even able to venture on a second rebellion against his father. + +In consequence of his heir's unnatural conduct, the aged John determined +to deprive him of his succession, and when he died in 1391, he left the +throne to his second son Manuel, and not to his eldest born. Manuel II. +was above the average of the Paleologi, and showed some signs of capacity, +but of what use was it to a prince whose sole dominions were +Constantinople, Thessalonica, and the Peloponnesus? He had neither +military strength nor money to justify rebellion against the Turk, and +could only wait on the course of events. + +There was, however, one moment in Manuel's life at which the liberation of +the empire from the Ottoman suzerainty appeared possible and even +probable. In 1402, there burst into Asia Minor a great horde of Tartars, +under the celebrated conqueror Timour [Tamerlane]. Sultan Bayezid, the +successor of Murad I., went forth to withstand the invader. But at Angora +in Galatia, he suffered a crushing defeat, and the Ottoman Empire seemed +likely to perish by the sword. Bayezid was captured, his trusty +Janissaries were cut to pieces, his light horsemen scattered to the winds. +The Tartars swarmed all over Asia Minor, occupied Broussa, the Ottoman +capital, and restored to their thrones all the Seljouk Emirs whose +dominions Murad I. had annexed. Bayezid died in captivity, and his sons +began to fight over the remains of his empire: Prince Suleiman seized +Adrianople, Prince Eesa Nicaea, and each declared himself Sultan. + + [Illustration] + + Manuel Paleologus And His Family. (_From a Contemporary MS._) (_From + "L'Art Byzantin." Par C. Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +This was a rare opportunity for Manuel Paleologus: the thieves had fallen +out, and the rightful owner might perchance come again to his own, if he +played his cards well. The control of the Straits was of great importance +to each of the Turkish pretenders, so much so, that Manuel was able to +sell his aid to Suleiman for a heavy price. In order to keep Eesa from +crossing the water, the holder of the European half of the Ottoman realm +ceded to the Emperor Thessalonica, the lower valley of the Strymon, the +coast of Thessaly, and all the seaports of the Black Sea from the mouth of +the Bosphorus up to Varna. + +For a moment Manuel once more ruled what might in courtesy be called an +empire, and so long as the Ottomans were occupied in civil war he +contrived to retain his gains. The strife of the sons of Bayezid lasted +ten years: Suleiman was slain by his brother Musa, Eesa by his brother +Mohammed, and the two supplanters continued the war. By all Oriental +analogies their empire ought to have fallen to pieces, for it is very much +easier to build up a new state in the East than to keep together an old +one which is breaking asunder. But Mohammed, the youngest of the sons of +Bayezid, was a man of genius: he triumphed over the last of his brothers, +and united all the remnants of the Ottoman realm that remained. Much had +been lost to the Seljouk Emirs in Asia Minor, and to the Servians and +Manuel Paleologus in Europe, but the rest was back in Mohammed's hands by +A.D. 1421. Manuel had very luckily cast in his lot with Mohammed during +the later years of the Turkish civil war, and his ally let him enjoy the +dominions he had recovered by his original treaty with Suleiman in 1403. + +Between 1402 and 1421, Europe had an unparalleled opportunity to rid +herself of the Ottomans. Unfortunately it was not taken. Sigismund, king +of Hungary, and at the same time Emperor, was the sovereign on whom the +duty of leading the attack ought to have fallen. But Sigismund was now +engaged in his great struggle with the Hussites in Bohemia. This wretched +religious war directed the strength of Hungary northward when it was +wanted in the south. Without such a power to back them the Servians, +though they recovered their own liberty as a result of the battle of +Angora, could do nothing towards driving the Turks from the Balkans. There +was never any sympathy between Serb and Magyar, and save under the direct +pressure of fear of a Moslem invasion they would not act together. The +Hungarian kings had always laid claim to a suzerainty over the crown of +Servia, and from time to time tried to convert their neighbours to Roman +Catholicism by force of arms. Hence there was no love lost between them, +and a crusade to expel the Turks was never concerted. + + [Illustration] + +Arabesque Design From A Byzantine MS. (_From "L'Art Byzantin." Par Charles + Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._) + + +Mahomet the Unifier died in 1421, and evil days at once set in for +Constantinople and for Christendom, when his ambitious son Murad II. came +to the throne. Manuel Paleologus was one of the first to feel the change +in the times. He tried to make trouble for Murad, by supporting against +him two claimants to the Ottoman Sultanate, each named Mustapha, one the +uncle, the other the brother of the new ruler. This drew down on the +empire the fate which had been delayed since 1370: the Sultan declared war +on Manuel, took one after another all the fortresses which had been +recovered by the peace of 1403, and finally laid siege to Constantinople. +For the last time the walls of the city proved strong enough to repulse an +assault. Though Murad levelled against them cannon, then seen for the +first time in the East, built movable towers to shelter his troops, and +launched his terrible Janissaries to the assault, he could not succeed. +The report of a miraculous vision of the Virgin, who vouchsafed to reveal +herself as the defender of the city, encouraged the Greeks to resist with +a better spirit than might have been expected. At last the pretender +Mustapha, whom Manuel had supplied with money to cause a revolt against +his brother, began to stir up such trouble in Asia Minor, that the Sultan +determined to raise the siege and march against him. He granted Manuel +peace, on the condition that he ceded all his dominions save the cities of +Constantinople and Thessalonica and the Peloponnesian province. Thus the +empire once more sank back into a state of vassalage to the Ottomans +[1422]. + +Manuel II. died three years after, at the age of seventy-seven. He was the +last sovereign of Constantinople who won even a transient smile from +fortune. The tale of the last thirty years of the empire is one of +unredeemed gloom. + +To Manuel succeeded his son John VI., whose whole reign was passed in +peace, without an attempt to shake off the Turkish yoke; such an attempt +indeed would have been hopeless, unless backed by aid from without. As +Manuel II. once observed, "the empire now requires a bailiff not a +statesman to rule it." Treaties, wars, and alliances were not for him: all +that he could do was to try to save a little money, and to keep his walls +in good repair, and even these humble tasks were not always feasible. + +All the descriptions of Constantinople in the fifteenth century, whether +written by Greek natives or by Western travellers, bear witness to a state +of exhaustion and debility which make us wonder that the empire did not +collapse sooner. The country outside the walls was a desert. Within them +more than half the ground was unoccupied, and covered only by ruins which +testified to ancient magnificence. The great palace by the Augustaeum, +which sheltered so many generations of emperors, had grown so dilapidated +that the Paleologi dwelt in a mere corner of it. Part of the porticoes of +St. Sophia had fallen down, and the Greeks could not afford to repair even +the greatest sanctuary of their faith. The population of the city had +shrunk to about a hundred thousand souls, most of them dwelling in great +poverty. Such commerce and wealth as still survived in Constantinople had +passed almost entirely into the hands of the Italians of Genoa and Venice, +whose fortified factories at Galata and Pera now contained the bulk of the +wares that passed through the city. The military strength of the empire +was composed of about four thousand mercenary troops, of whom many were +Franks and hardly any were born subjects of the empire. The splendid +court, which had once been the wonder of East and West, had shrunk to such +modest dimensions that a Burgundian traveller noted with surprise that no +more than eight attendants accompanied the empress when she went in state +to worship in St. Sophia.(32) + +John VI., in spite of the caution with which he avoided all action, was +destined to see the empire lose its most important possession beyond the +walls of Constantinople. His brother Andronicus, governor of Thessalonica, +traitorously sold that city to the Venetians for 50,000 zecchins. The +Sultan, incensed at a transfer of Greek territory having taken place +without his permission, pounced down on the place, expelled the Venetians +and annexed Thessalonica to the Ottoman Empire [1430]. + +The chief feature of the reign of the last John Paleologus was his attempt +to win aid for the empire by enlisting sympathy in Western Europe. He +determined to conform to Roman Catholicism and to throw himself on the +generosity of the Pope. Accordingly he betook himself to Italy in 1438, +with the Patriarch of Constantinople and many bishops in his train. He +appeared at the Councils of Ferrara and Florence, and was solemnly +received into the Roman Church in the Florentine Duomo, on July 6, 1439. +It had apparently escaped John's notice that Eugenius IV., the pope of his +own day, was a very different personage from the great pontiffs of the +eleventh and twelfth centuries, who were able to depose sovereigns and +send forth Crusades at their good pleasure. Since the Great Schism the +papacy had been hopelessly discredited in Christendom. Eugenius IV. was +engaged in waging a defensive war against the Council of Basle, which was +attempting to depose him, and had little thought or power to spend on +aiding the Eastern Christians. All that John could get from him was a sum +of money and a body of three hundred mercenary troops. This was a poor +return for his journey and conversion. + +Only one thing of importance was accomplished by the apostasy of the +Emperor--the outbreak of a venomous ecclesiastical struggle at +Constantinople between the conformists who had taken the oath at Florence, +and the bulk of the clergy, who disowned the treaty of union. John was +practically boycotted by the majority of his subjects; the Orthodox +priests ceased to pray for him, and the populace refused to enter St. +Sophia again, when it had been profaned by the celebration of the Roman +Mass. The opinion of the majority of the Greeks was summed up in the +exclamation of the Grand-Duke John Notaras--"Better the turban of the Turk +in Constantinople than the Pope's Tiara." + +The last years of the reign of John VI. coincided with the great campaigns +of Huniades and Ladislas of Poland against the Turks. For a moment it +seemed as if the gallant king of Poland and Hungary, backed by his great +Warden of the Marches, might restore the Balkan lands to Christendom. They +thrust Murad II. back over the Balkans, and appeared in triumph at Sophia. +But the fatal battle of Varna [1444] ended the career of King Ladislas in +an untimely death, and after that fight the Ottomans were obviously fated +to accomplish their destiny without a check. John Paleologus watched the +struggle without movement if not without concern. He was too cautious to +stir a finger to aid the Hungarians, for he knew that if he once offended +the Sultan his days would be numbered. + +John VI. passed away in 1448, and Sultan Murad in 1451. The one was +succeeded by his brother Constantine, the last Christian sovereign of +Byzantium, the other by his young son Mohammed the Conqueror. Constantine +was a Romanist like his elder brother, and was therefore treated with +great suspicion and coolness by his handful of subjects. He was the best +man that the house of Paleologus had ever reared, brave, pious, generous, +and forgiving. Like King Hosea of Israel, "he did not evil as the kings +that were before him," yet was destined to bear the penalty for all the +sins and follies of his long line of predecessors. + +Mohammed II., the most commanding personality among the whole race of +Ottoman Sultans, set his heart from the first on seizing Constantinople, +the natural centre of his empire, and making it his capital. Some excuse +had to be found for falling on his vassal: the one that he chose was a +rather unwise request which Constantine had made. There dwelt at +Constantinople a Turkish prince of the royal house named Orkhan, for whom +Mohammed paid a considerable subsidy, on condition that he was kept out of +the way of mischief and plotting. Some unhappy inspiration impelled +Constantine to ask for an increase in the subsidy, and to hint that Orkhan +had claims to the Sultanate. This was excuse enough for Mohammed: without +taking the trouble to declare war he sent out troops and engineers, and +began to erect forts on Greek soil, only four miles away from +Constantinople, at the narrowest point of the Bosphorus, so as to block +the approach to the city from the Black Sea. The Emperor did not dare to +remonstrate, but when the Turks began to pull down a much-venerated +church, in order to utilize its stones in the new fort, a few Greeks took +arms and drove the masons away. They were at once cut down by the Turkish +guards: Constantine demanded redress, and then Mohammed, having fairly +picked his wolf-and-lamb quarrel with his unfortunate vassal, commenced +open hostilities [Autumn 1452]. + +Turkish light troops at once appeared to blockade the city while the +Sultan began to collect a great train of cannon at Adrianople, and to +build a large fleet of war galleys in the ports of Asia: the siege was to +begin in the ensuing spring. + +The empire was now in its death agony, and Constantine recognized the +fact. He spent the winter in making frantic appeals to the Pope and the +Italian naval powers to save him from destruction. Nicholas V. was willing +enough to help; now that the Emperor was a convert to Catholicism +something must be done to aid him. But all that the Pope could send was a +cardinal, a moderate sum of money, and a few hundred soldiers of fortune +hastily hired in Italy. Venice and Genoa could have done much more, but +they had so often heard the cry of "Wolf" raised that they did not realize +the danger to their Eastern trade at its true extent. From Genoa, Giovanni +Giustiniani brought no more than two galleys and three hundred men. Venice +did even less, only commissioning the bailiff of its factory at Galata to +arm such able-bodied Venetians as were with him for the protection of the +city. Altogether the Franks, counting both trained mercenaries and armed +burghers, who co-operated in the defence of Constantinople, were not more +than three thousand strong. Yet either Genoa or Venice could have thrown a +hundred galleys and twenty thousand men into the scale if they had chosen. + + [Illustration] + + Details Of St. Sophia. + + +Constantine's own troops were about four thousand strong, but he hoped to +recruit them by a general levy of the male population of the city. He +issued a passionate appeal to his subjects to join in saving the holy +city, the centre of Eastern Christendom. But the Greeks only remembered +that he was an apostate, who had foresworn the faith of his fathers and +done homage to the Pope. They stood aside in sullen apathy, and from the +whole population of the city only two thousand volunteers were enlisted. +Theological bitterness led the blind multitude to cry with Notaras that it +preferred the Turk to the Roman. + +In April, 1453, the young Sultan, with seventy thousand picked troops at +his back, laid formal siege to the city on the land side, while a fleet of +several hundred war galleys beset the Bosphorus. The end could not be for +a moment doubtful; nine thousand men could not hope to defend the vast +circuit of the land and sea-wall against a veteran army urged on by a +young and fiery general. Mohammed set his cannon to play on the walls, and +it was soon seen that the tough old Roman mortar and stone that had +blunted the siege engines of so many foes could not resist the force of +gunpowder. The Sultan's artillery was rude, but it was heavy and numerous; +ere long the walls began to come down in flakes, and breaches commenced to +show themselves in several places. + +Constantine XIII. and his second in command, the Genoese Giustiniani, did +all that brave and skilful men might, in protracting the siege. They led +sorties, organized attacks by water on the Turkish fleet, and endeavoured +to drive off the siege artillery of the enemy by a counter fire of cannon. +But it was found that the old walls were too narrow to bear the guns, and +where any were hoisted up and brought to bear, their recoil shook the +fabric in such a dangerous way that the fire was soon obliged to cease. + +At sea the Christians won one great success, when four galleys from the +Aegean forced their way in through the whole Turkish fleet, and reached +the Golden Horn in safety, after sinking many of their assailants. But the +Turks had as great a numerical superiority on the water as on land, and +the inevitable could only be delayed. Mohammed even succeeded in getting +control of the harbour of the city, above its mouth, by dragging light +galleys on rollers over the neck of land between the Bosphorus and the +Golden Horn, and launching them in the inland waters just above Galata. +Thus the inner, as well as the outer, sea-face of the city was beset by +enemies. + +The end came on May 29, 1453. The Sultan had opened several practicable +breaches, of which the chief lay in the north-west angle of the city by +the gate of St. Romanus, where two whole towers and the curtain between +them had been battered down and choked the ditch. The storm was obviously +at hand, and the doomed Emperor was obliged to face his fate. Greek +historians dwelt with loving sorrow on the last hours of the unfortunate +prince. He left the breach at midnight, partook of the sacrament according +to the Latin rite in St. Sophia, and snatched a few hours of troubled +sleep in his half-ruined palace. Next morning, with the dawn, he rose to +ride back to the post of danger. His ministers and attendants crowded +round his horse as he started on what all knew to be his last journey. +Looking steadfastly on them he prayed one and all to pardon him for any +offence that he might wittingly or unwittingly have committed against any +man. The crowd answered with sobs and wails, and with the sounds of woe +ringing in his ears Constantine rode slowly off to meet his death. + +The assault commenced at dawn; three main attacks and several secondary +ones were directed against weak spots in the wall. But the chief stress +was on the great breach by the gate of St. Romanus. There the Emperor +himself and Giustiniani at his side stood in the midst of the yawning gap +with their best men around them, and opposed a barrier of steel to the +oncoming assailants. Twelve thousand Janissaries, sabre in hand, formed +successive columns of attack; as soon as one was beaten off another +delivered its assault. They fell by hundreds before the swords of the +mailed men in the breach, for their felt caps and unarmoured bodies were +easy marks for the ponderous weapons of the fifteenth century. But the +ranks of the defenders grew thin and weary; Giustiniani was wounded in the +face by an arrow, and taken on board his galley to die. Constantine at +last stood almost alone in the breach, and a forlorn hope of Janissaries +headed by one Hassan of Ulubad, whom Turkish chroniclers delight to +honour, at last forced their way over the wall. The Emperor and his +companions were trodden under foot, and the victorious army rushed into +the desolate streets of Constantinople, seeking in vain for foes to fight. +The Greeks, half expecting that God would interfere to save the queen of +Christian cities by a miracle, had crowded into the churches, and were +passing the fatal hour in frantic prayer! The shouts of the victorious +enemy soon showed them how the day had gone, and the worshippers were +dragged out in crowds, to be claimed as slaves and divided among the +conquerors. + +Mohammed II. rode through the breach after his men, and descended into the +city, scanning from within the streets that so many Eastern conquerors had +in vain desired to see. He bade his men search for the Emperor, and the +corpse of Constantine was found at last beneath a heap of slain, so gashed +and mauled that it was only identified by the golden eagles on his mail +shoes. The Turk struck off his head, and sent it round their chief cities +as a token of triumph. Riding through the hippodrome towards St. Sophia, +Mohammed noted the Delphic tripod with its three snakes,(33) standing +where Constantine the Great had placed it eleven hundred years before. +Either because the menacing heads of the serpents provoked him, or merely +because he wished to try the strength of his arm, the Sultan rose in his +stirrups and smote away the jaws of the nearest snake with one blow of his +mace. There was something typical in the deed though Mohammed knew it not. +He had defaced the monument of the first great victory of the West over +the East. He, the successor in spirit not only of Xerxes but of Chosroes +and Moslemah and many another Oriental potentate, who had failed where he +succeeded, could not better signalize the end of Greek freedom than by +dealing a scornful blow at that ancient memorial, erected in the first +days of Grecian greatness, to celebrate the turning back of the Persians +on the field of Plataea. + +At last the Sultan came to St. Sophia, where the crowd of wailing captives +was being divided among his soldiery. He rode in at the eastern door, and +bade a mollah ascend the pulpit and repeat there the formula of the Moslem +faith. So the cry that God was great and Mohammed his prophet rang through +the dome where thirty generations of patriarchs had celebrated the Holy +Mysteries, and all Europe and Asia knew the end was come of the longest +tale of Empire that Christendom has yet seen. + +Finis. + + + + + +TABLE OF EMPERORS. + + +Arcadius, 395-408 +Theodosius II., 408-450 +Marcianus, 450-457 +Leo I., 457-474 +Zeno, 474-491 +Anastasius I., 491-518 +Justinus I., 518-527 +Justinianus I., 527-565 +Justinus II., 565-578 +Tiberius II., Constantinus, 578-582 +Mauricius, 582-602 +Phocas, 602-610 +Heraclius, 610-641 +Heraclius Constantinus and Heracleonas, 641-2 +Constans II., 642-668 +Constantine IV., 668-685 +Justinian II., 685-695 +Leontius, 695-697 +Tiberius III., Apsimarus, 697-705 +Justinian II. (restored), 705-711 +Philippicus, 711-713 +Anastasius II., Artemius, 713-715 +Theodosius III., 715-717 +Leo III., the Isaurian, 717-740 +Constantine V., Copronymus, 740-775 +Leo IV., 775-779 +Constantine VI., 779-797 +Irene, 797-802 +Nicephorus I., 802-811 +Stauracius, 811 +Michael I., Rhangabe, 811-813 +Leo V., the Armenian, 813-820 +Michael II., the Amorian, 820-829 +Theophilus, 829-842 +Michael III., 842-867 +Basil I., the Macedonian, 867-886 +Leo VI., the Wise, 886-912 +Constantine VII., Porphyrogenitus, 912-958 + [Co-regent Emperors-- + Alexander, 912-913 + Romanus I., Lecapenus, 919-945] +Romanus II., 958-963 +Basil II., Bulgaroktonos, 963-1025 + [Co-regent Emperors-- + Nicephorus II., Phocas, 963-969 + John I., Zimisces, 969-976] +Constantine VIII., 1025-28 +Romanus III., Argyrus, 1028-34 +Michael IV., the Paphlagonian, 1034-42 +Michael V., 1042 +Constantine IX., Monomachus, 1042-55 +Theodora, 1055-57 +Michael VI., Stratioticus, 1056-57 +Isaac I., Comnenus, 1057-59 +Constantine X., Ducas, 1059-67 +Michael VII., Ducas, 1067-78 + [Co-regent Emperor-- + Romanus IV., Diogenes, 1067-71] +Nicephorus III., Botaniates, 1078-81 +Alexius I., Comnenus, 1081-1118 +John II., Comnenus, 1118-43 +Manuel I., Comnenus, 1143-80 +Alexius II., Comnenus, 1180-83 +Andronicus I., Comnenus, 1183-85 +Isaac II., Angelus, 1185-95 +Alexius III., Angelus, 1195-1203 +Isaac II. (restored), 1203-4 +Alexius V., Ducas, 1204 + +LATIN EMPERORS. + +Baldwin I., 1204-5 +Henry, 1205-16 +Peter, 1217-19 +Robert, 1219-28 +Baldwin II., 1228-61 + +NICAEAN EMPERORS. + +Theodore I., Lascaris, 1204-22 +John III., Ducas, 1222-54 +Theodore II., Ducas, 1254-59 +John IV., Ducas, 1259-60 + +EMPIRE RESTORED. + +Michael VIII., Paleologus, 1260-82 +Andronicus II., Paleologus, 1282-1328 +Andronicus III., Paleologus, 1328-41 +John V., Paleologus, 1341-91 + [Co-regent-- + John VI., Cantacuzenus, 1347-54] +Manuel II., 1391-1425 +John VII., 1425-48 +Constantine XI., 1448-53 + + + + + +INDEX. + + +Abdalmelik, the Caliph, wars of, with Justinian II., 174-6 + +Abubekr, the Caliph, wars of, with Heraclius, 160 + +Achaia, Frank principality of, 296 + +Acroinon, battle of, 188 + +Adana, taken by Nicephorus Phocas, 230 + +Adrianople, battle of, 40; + besieged by the Goths, 41; + captured by the Turks, 329 + +Africa, conquered by Belisarius, 84-5; + overrun by the Saracens, 176 + +Aijnadin, battle of, 162 + +Alaric the Goth, 47; + wars with Stilicho, 48; + departs to Italy, 49 + +Alaeddin, Sultan of the Seljouks, 322 + +Alboin the Lombard invades and conquers Italy, 116 + +Aleppo, Emirate of, 227; + attacked by Nicephorus Phocas, 231; + tributary to the empire, 270 + +Alexander, emperor-regent, 217 + +Alexandria, stormed by the Arabs, 166 + +Alexius I. (Comnenus), usurpation of, 257; + wars with the Normans, 259; + conquests of in Asia Minor, 205; + commercial policy of, 268 + +Alexius II. (Comnenus), short reign and murder of, 272 + +Alexius III. (Angelus), usurpation of, 278; + attacked by the Crusaders, 282; + flies, 284 + +Alexius IV. (Angelus), takes refuge in Germany, 279; + persuades the Crusaders, 280; + made emperor, 284; + murdered, 285 + +Alexius V. (Ducas), murders Alexius IV., 285; + defends Constantinople, 287; + slain, 293 + +Alexius Comnenus, emperor of Trebizond, 298 + +Alp Arslan, Sultan of the Seljouk Turks, attacks the empire, 252; + defeats Romanus IV., 254 + +Amalasuntha, Gothic queen, murdered, 82 + +Amalphi, commerce of, 225 + +Amorium, stormed by the Saracens, 210 + +Amour, Turkish Emir, 327 + +Amrou conquers Egypt, 166 + +Anastasius I., reign of, 61 + +Anastasius II., usurpation of, 181 + +Anatolic theme, 167 + +Andreas murders Constans II., 169 + +Andronicus I. (Comnenus), crimes and fall of, 272-3 + +Andronicus II. (Paleologus), reign of, 315-20 + +Andronicus III. (Paleologus), reign of, 321-2 + +Angelus, house of, _see_ Isaac II. Alexius III. and Theodore of Epirus + +Angora, battle of, 334 + +Ani, taken by the Turks, 251 + +Anthemius, prime minister of Theodosius II., 54-5 + +Anthemius, architect of St. Sophia, 107 + +Anne of Savoy, empress-regent, 326 + +Antioch, taken by the Persians, 99; + taken a second time, 129; + stormed by the Saracens, 163; + retaken by Nicephorus Phocas, 231; + lost to the Turks, 256; + besieged by the Crusaders, 265; + tributary to the Comneni, 270 + +Antioch-on-Maeander, battle of, 299. + +Antonia, wife of Belisarius, 74 + +Apsimarus, Tiberius, emperor, 177; + executed, 179 + +Arabs, _see_ Saracens + +Arcadius, reign of, 47-54; + his dealings with the Goths, 48; + quarrels with Chrysostom, 52 + +Armenia, conquered by the Byzantines, 243; + overrun by the Turks, 251 + +Army, reformed by Leo and Zeno, 61; + description of, in tenth century, 218 + +Artemius Anastasius, reign of, 61 + +Art, decay and revival of, 222-4 + +Aspar, executed by Leo I., 60 + +Athalaric, Gothic king, 81 + +Athanarich, Gothic king, 42; + visits Constantinople, 44 + +Athens, early Byzantines at war with, 6; + schools of, closed by Justinian, 150; + Frank duchy of, 297; + conquered by the "Grand Company," 319 + +Attila, king of the Huns, wars of with the empire, 57 + +Augustaeum, description of the, 19 + +Avars, invasions of, the 122; + war of, with Heraclius, 134; + besiege Constantinople, 137 + +Baanes, rebel in Syria, 163 + +Baduila, Gothic king, victories of, 92; + takes Rome, 94; + slain in battle, 95 + +Baldwin I., emperor, his character,281; + crowned, 292; + slain by the Bulgarians, 295 + +Baldwin II., reign of, 301; + his travels, 305; + expelled from Constantinople, 306 + +Bardas Caesar, 212; + murdered by Michael III., 213 + +Bari, taken by the Normans, 259 + +Basil I., made Caesar, 213; + assassinates Michael III., 213; + laws of, 214 + +Basil II., ascends the throne, 229; + assumes the full power, 240; + his Bulgarian victories, 241-3; + campaigns in Asia, 243; + dies, 244 + +Bayezid, Turkish Sultan, 334 + +Belisarius, Persian victories of, 73; + quells the _Nika_ riots, 79; + conquers Africa, 84; + takes Palermo, 88; + takes Rome, 89; + takes Ravenna, 91; + recalled, 92; + acts against Persia, 100; + defeats the Huns, 104; + disgraced, 105 + +Beneventum, Lombard duchy of, 117; + wars of with Constans II., 169 + +Black Sea, Greek trade with, 2 + +"Blues and Greens," Circus factions, 22, 75; + great riot of, against Justinian, 76-7; + armed by Maurice, 127 + +Bohemund the Norman, wars of with Alexius I., 267 + +Boniface of Montserrat, 281-2; + made king of Thessalonica, 292; + slain in battle, 296 + +Bosphorus, the, 1-2 + +Bostra, stormed by the Saracens, 162 + +Branas, Alexius, rebellion of, 277 + +Brienne, house of, at Athens, 308; + expelled by the "Grand Company," 319 + +Broussa, _see_ Prusa + +Bucellarian Theme, 167-8 + +Buhawides, Persian dynasty, 226-7 + +Bulgarians, invade and settle in Moesia, 171; + defeated by Justinian II., 173; + aid Justinian, 179; + defeat the Saracens, 187; + at war with Constantine V., 196; + defeat Constantine VI., 198; + slay Nicephorus I., 203; + besiege Constantinople, 204; + routed by Leo V., 205; + defeat Leo VI, 216; + conquered by the Russians, 235; + conquered by Basil II., 241-3; + revolt against Isaac II., 276-7; + slay Baldwin I., 295; + conquests of, 308; + subdued by the Turks, 330 + +Burtzes storms Antioch, 231 + +Byzantium, founded, 1; + early history of, 2-8; + under the Romans, 9-12; + chosen as Constantine's capital, 17; + _see afterwards under_ Constantinople + +Candia taken by Nicephorus Phocas, 228 + +Cantacuzenus, John, usurpation of, 325-8 + +Caracalla, grants privileges to Byzantium, 10 + +Carthage, taken by Belisarius, 85; + taken by the Saracens, 176 + +Cassiodorus, his work in literary copying, 149 + +Chalcedon, founded. 3; + taken by the Persians, 134 + +Champlitte, William of, founds principality of Achaia, 296 + +Charles the Great crowned emperor, 109 + +Cherson. Justinian II. at, 177; + sacked, 180 + +Chosroes I., king of Persia, wars of, with Justinian, 72-4, 90-100 + +Chosroes II.. wars with Phocas and Heraclius, 120-135; + death of, 138 + +Chosroantiocheia, foundation of, 72 + +Christianity, influence of, on the empire and society, 145-149 + +Chrysostom, _see under_ John Chrysostom + +Cilicia, conquered by Nicephorus Phocas, 230; + lost to the Turks, 236; + reconquered by the Comneni, 270 + +Column, of the Hippodrome, 25; + of Constantine, 25 + +Commerce, centralization of, at Constantinople, 224, 225; + decline of, under the Comneni, 267; + effects of Fourth Crusade on, 310 + +Comnena, Anna, writes her father's life, 264 + +Comnenus, _see under_ Alexius, John, Andronicus, Manuel, David, Isaac + +Conrad of Montserrat defeats Branas, 277 + +Constans II., reign of, 166; + wars of with the Saracens, 167; + murdered, 169 + +Constantine I., besieges Byzantium, 12; + master of the world, 14; + seeks a capital, 16; + founds Constantinople, 18 + +Constantine III., defeated by the Saracens, 164; + short reign of, 165 + +Constantine IV. (Pogonatus), wars of with the Saracens, 170; + defeats Moawiah, 171; + holds the Council of Constantinople, 172 + +Constantine V. (Copronymus), wars of, 196; + persecutes the Image-worshippers, 197 + +Constantine VI., reign of, 198; + blinded by his mother, 198 + +Constantine VII. (Porphyrogenitus), reign of, 216, 217; + literary works of, 220, 221 + +Constantine VIII., reign of, 245 + +Constantine IX. (Monomachus), reign of, 247 + +Constantine X. (Ducas), reign of, 250, 251 + +Constantine XI. (Paleologus), accession of, 343; + attacked by the Turks, 344; + last hours of, 347; + death of, 348 + +Constantinople founded by Constantine, 18; + topography of, 19-29; + besieged by the Goths, 41; + street fighting in, 51; + besieged by Avars and Persians, 136, 137; + besieged for the first time by the Saracens, 170; + besieged for the second time by the Saracens, 185, 186; + besieged by Bulgarians, 205; + commercial importance of, 224; + riots in, 247; + the Crusaders at, 264; + taken by the Franks and Venetians, 284; + stormed and sacked a second time, 287, 288; + devastation of, by the Latins, 291; + besieged by John Ducas, 301; + recovered by the Greeks, 305; + taken by John Paleologus, 329; + besieged by Murad II., 337; + last siege of, 346; + taken by the Turks, 348 + +Corippus, poem of, 144 + +Council of Constantinople, under Constantine IV., 172; + under Constantine V., 197; + under Leo V., 206 + +Council of Florence, John VI. at, 341 + +Courtenay, house of at Constantinople, 300, 301 + +Crete, conquered by the Saracens, 208; + recovered by Nicephorus Phocas, 228; + taken by the Venetians, 292 + +Cross, the Holy, captured by the Persians, 132; + recovered by Heraclius, 139; + removed to Constantinople, 163 + +Crumn, king of Bulgaria, defeats Nicephorus I., 203; + besieges Constantinople, 205 + +Crusaders, their dealings with Alexius I., 263, 264; + enter Syria, 265; + of the Fourth Crusade, 279; + conquer Constantinople, 288 + +Ctesiphon, Heraclius at, 138 + +Cyprus, monks banished to, 197; + recovered by Nicephorus Phocas, 230; + seized by Isaac Comnenus, 277; + taken by Richard I. of England, 278 + +Damascus, taken by the Persians, 131; + taken by the Saracens, 163 + +Dandolo, Henry, doge of Venice, 280, 281; + at the storm of Constantinople, 284, 288 + +Dara taken in the Persian wars, 136 + +Dastagerd taken by Heraclius, 138 + +David Comnenus defeated by Theodore I., 299 + +Delphic tripod, the, 24; + mutilated by Mahomet II., 349 + +Delphic oracle, the, orders foundation of Byzantium, 3 + +Digenes Akritas, epic of, 222 + +Diocletian makes Nicomedia his capital, 15 + +Diogenes, Romanus, reign of, 251; + defeated at Manzikert, 254; + slain, 256 + +Ducas, _see under_ Constantine X., Michael VII., John III., Theodore II. + +Durazzo, battle of, 260 + +Dushan, Stephen, king of Servia, conquests of, 327 + +Ecloga, the, Leo III.'s code of laws, 194 + +Eesa, Sultan, 334-5 + +Egypt, conquered by the Persians, 134; + conquered by the Saracens, 164; + separated from the Caliphate, 227 + +Eikasia, story of, 211 + +Emesa, taken by the Saracens, 163; + taken by Nicephorus Phocas, 231 + +Epirus, the despotate of, 298, 301, 304, 327 + +Ertogrul, the Turk, 322 + +Eudocia (Athenais), wife of Theodosius II., her disgrace, 56 + +Eudocia, wife of Romanus Diogenes, 251 + +Eudoxia, AElia, wife of Arcadius, 52 + +Eugenius IV., pope, treaty of, with John VI., 341 + +Euphrosyne, wife of Michael the Amorian, 207 + +Eutropius, minister of Arcadius, 47; + protected by Chrysostom, 50 + +Euphemius, rebel in Sicily, 208 + +Exarchate, of Ravenna, 119; + conquered by the Lombards, 196 + +Fatimite dynasty in Egypt, 243 + +Ferrara, John VI. at Council of, 341 + +Flaccilla, benevolence of, 156 + +Florence. Council of, 341 + +Franks, threaten Italy, 89; + summoned by Witiges, 91; + protect the Papacy, 196 + +Fritigern, Gothic ruler, 35-7; + victory of over Valens, 40 + +Fravitta defeats Gainas, 31 + +Gainas, minister of Arcadius, 47; + rebellion of, 50; slain, 51 + +Gallienus, Byzantium destroyed by, 10 + +Gallipoli seized by the Turks, 329 + +Ganzaca burnt by Heraclius, 136 + +Gelimer, king of the Vandals, 81; + defeated and captured, 85 + +Genoa, rise of, 263; + trade of, with the East, 267; + allied to Michael Paleologus, 314; + sends aid to Constantine XI., 344 + +George the Alan, 318 + +George of Pisidia, poems of, 221 + +Giustiniani, John, defends Constantinople, 344-8 + +Godfrey of Bouillon, 264 + +Goths, early history of, 32; + cross the Danube, 37; + defeat Valens, 39; + besiege Constantinople, 41; + submit to Theodosius, 42; + the Visigoths under Alaric, 48; + quit the East, 49; + the Ostrogoths under Theodoric at war with Zeno, 62; + invade Italy, 64; + kingdom of, attacked by Belisarius, 86; + wars of, with Justinian, 88-94; + defeated and destroyed, 95 + +"Grand Company," the, hired by Andronicus II., 317; + ravage Thrace, 318; + conquer Athens, 319 + +Greece, invaded by the Goths, 48; + overrun by the Slavs, 125; + conquered by the Crusaders, 296, 297 + +Greek fire, invented, 170; + used by the Byzantine fleet, 220 + +Gregory the Great, Pope, 120, 121 + +Guiscard, Robert, wars of, with Alexius I., 259-61 + +Haroun-al-Raschid, wars of, with Nicephorus I., 203 + +Helena, mother of Constantine I., 19 + +Hellas, theme of, 168; + revolts against Leo III., 193 + +Henry of Flanders, Emperor, 295-6 + +Henry VI. of Swabia, Emperor of the West, 278 + +Heracleonas, reign and fall of, 165-6 + +Heraclius the Elder, rebellion of, 130 + +Heraclius I., sails against Constantinople, 130; + slays Phocas, 130; + disasters of the Persian War, 132; + his Crusade, 133; + victorious campaign of, 135-7; + his triumph, 139; + attacked by the Saracens, 160; + defeated, 163; + last years of, 164 + +Heraclius Constantinus, son of Heraclius I., short reign of, 165 + +Hierapolis taken by Nicephorus Phocas, 231 + +Hieromax, battle of the, 162 + +Hilderic, Vandal king, deposed, 81 + +Hippodrome, the great, 22 + +Histiaeus holds Byzantium, 5 + +Honorius slays Stilicho, 49 + +Hungary, converted to Christianity, 262; + invaded by Manuel I., 271; + attacks the Ottoman Turks, 342 + +Huniades, John, 342 + +Huns, under Attila, 57; + ravage Syria, 71; + threaten Constantinople, 104; + defeated by Belisarius, 105 + +Iconium, Sultanate of, _see under_ Seljouks + +Iconoclasm, the movement, 188-9; + vigorous under the Isaurian emperors, 192-7; + in the ninth century, 203-10; + ended by Michael III., 212 + +Iconodules, 202 + +Images, superstitions connected with, 190; + removed by Leo III., 192; + use of, ceases in the East, 212 + +Innocent III., sends out Fourth Crusade, 281; + wrath of with the Crusaders, 290 + +Irene, the empress, regency of, 107; + deposed, 198; + blinds her son and seizes the throne, 199 + +Isaac I. (Comnenus), his short reign, 250 + +Isaac II. (Angelus), rebels, 273; + his reign, 276; + deposed by his brother, 278; + restored, 284; + dies, 285 + +Isaac Comnenus, of Cyprus, 277-8 + +Isaurians, the, enlisted by Leo and Zeno, 61; + dynasty of the, 192-9 + +Isperich, king of Bulgaria, 172 + +Italy, conquered by Belisarius, 88-91; + partly conquered by the Lombards, 116; + Constans II. in, 169; + central parts of, lost, 196; + southern parts of, conquered by the Normans, 258 + +Jacobites, in Egypt and Syria, 161 + +Janissaries, the, 324 + +Jerusalem, Eudocia at, 57; + taken by Persians, 132; + Heraclius at, 139; + taken by the Saracens, 163; + taken by the Crusaders, 265 + +John I. (Zimisces), murders his uncle, 232; + successful wars of, 234-7; + dies, 239 + +John II. (Comnenus), reign and conquests of, 268-9 + +John III. (Ducas Vatatzes), 300; + conquers Thrace and Macedonia, 301 + +John IV. (Ducas), dethroned by Michael Paleologus, 304 + +John V. (Paleologus), minority of, 325-8; + expels John Cantacuzenus, 329; + defeated by the Turks, 330; + later years of, 333 + +John VI. (Paleologus), reign of, 339; + embraces Catholicism, 341 + +John (Angelus), Emperor of Thessalonica, 300 + +John, King of Bulgaria, 276; + conquers Baldwin I., 295 + +John the Cappadocian, finance minister, 76 + +John Chrysostom, patriarch, 52; + exiled, 53 + +John Ducas, regent, 255 + +John the Faster, patriarch, 120 + +John the Grammarian, patriarch, 209, 212 + +John Huniades, general, 342 + +John Lydus, author, 143 + +Julian, reign of, 32 + +Justin I., reign of, 65 + +Justin II., reign and wars of, 117 + +Justinian I., character of, 65; + marries Theodora, 66; + first Persian war of, 71-4; + Italian and African wars of, 83-93; + recalls Belisarius, 91; + his buildings, 106-9; + his legal work, 112 + +Justinian II., misfortunes of, 172; + banished, 175; + reconquers his throne, 179; + slain, 180 + +Kadesia, battle of, 164 + +Kaikhosru, Sultan, slain in battle, 299 + +Karasi, Emirs of, 319 + +Karl the Great, crowned emperor, 201 + +Kathisma, the, 24 + +Khaled, victories of, 162 + +Khazars, allied to Heraclius, 137; + shelter Justinian II., 178 + +Kief, Russian capital, 234 + +Kobad, wars of, with Justinian, 71 + +Ladislas, king of Bulgaria, 243 + +Ladislas, king of Poland and Hungary, 342 + +Larissa, battle of, 261 + +Lascaris, _see under_ Theodore I. + +Latin language, used in the Balkan Peninsula, 124; + decay of the, 144 + +Law, Roman, codified by Justinian, 112; + changes of Leo III., 194; + of Basil I., 214 + +Lazarus the painter, 224 + +Lecky, Mr., views of, discussed, 153 + +Lazica, wars of Justinian and Chosroes about, 100 + +Leo I., reign of, 60 + +Leo III., the Isaurian, seizes the crown, 182; + defends Constantinople, 184; + religious reforms of, 192; + political reforms of, 194 + +Leo IV., short reign of, 197 + +Leo V. (the Armenian) seizes the throne, 204; + defeats the Bulgarians, 205; + murdered, 206 + +Leo VI. (the Wise), reign of, 216; + literary works of, 218 + +Leo the Deacon, 237 + +Leontius, usurpation and fall of, 175-7; + slain, 179 + +Liberius conquers South Spain, 96-7 + +Licinius, wars of with Maximinus Daza, 11; + dethroned by Constantine I., 12 + +Literature, 221-2 + +Lombards, the, leave Pannonia, 115; + conquer North Italy, 117; + defeated by Constans II., 169; + subdue the Exarchate, 196 + +Louis IX., of France, gives money to Baldwin II., 305 + +Lupicinus, governor of Moesia, 37 + +Lydus, John, author, 143 + +Macedonia, overrun by Slavs, 125; + in hands of Boniface of Montferrat, 292; + conquered by Stephen Dushan, 327 + +Maeander, battle of the, 299 + +Mahomet, the prophet, rise of, 159 + +Mahomet I., Sultan, reunites the Ottoman Empire, 336 + +Mahomet II. conquers Constantinople, 343-50 + +Maniakes, wars of, 246 + +Manuel I. (Comnenus), reign and wars of, 271-2 + +Manuel II. (Paleologus), reign and misfortunes of, 336-9 + +Manzikert, battle of, 254 + +Marcianus, reign of, 59 + +Martina, niece and wife of Heraclius, 165; + exiled, 166 + +Martyropolis, 121 + +Maurice, reign of, 120; + Persian wars, 121; + fall and death of, 127 + +Maximinus Daza takes Byzantium, 11 + +Melek-Adel, Sultan of Egypt, 279 + +Mesembria, taken by Bulgarians, 204; + battle of, 205 + +Mesopotamia, conquered by Heraclius, 136; + invaded by John Zimisces, 239 + +Michael I. (Rhangabe), short reign of, 204 + +Michael II. (the Amorian), conspiracy of, 206; + ecclesiastical policy of, 207; + wars of, 208 + +Michael III. (the Drunkard), minority of, 212; + excesses and murder of, 213 + +Michael IV. (the Paphlagonian), reign and wars of, 246 + +Michael V., ephemeral power of, 247 + +Michael VI. (Stratioticus), short reign of, 248-9 + +Michael VII. (Ducas), minority of, 251; + disastrous reign of, 256 + +Michael VIII. (Paleologus), usurpation of, 303-4; + overthrows the Latin Empire, 305; + disbands the Asiatic militia, 313; + wars of, 304, 314 + +Michael IX., son and colleague of Andronicus II., defeated by the "Grand + Company," 318 + +Michael Angelus, despot of Epirus, 300 + +Moawiah, Caliph, attacks Constantinople, 170; + his armies defeated, 171 + +Moesia, invaded by the Goths, 37; + seized by the Bulgarians, 171 + +Monks, characteristics of the early, 149; + favour image worship, 193; + persecuted by Constantine Copronymus, 197 + +Monophysites, 75 + +Moors, Gelimer flies to the, 85 + +Montferrat, _see under_ Boniface and Conrad + +Morals, effect of Christianity on, 145-7; + general character of Byzantine, 155-6 + +Moslemah besieges Constantinople, 185-7 + +Motassem, the Caliph, sacks Amorium, 210 + +Murad I., conquers Thrace, 329; + suzerain of John V., 330; + conquers the Serbs, 332 + +Murad II., besieges Constantinople, 337; + makes peace with Manuel II., 338; + wars of, 342 + +Murtzuphlus, _see_ Alexius V. (Ducas) + +Myriokephalon, battle of, 272 + +Naissus, birthplace of Constantine I., 16; + taken by the Bulgarians, 277 + +Naples, taken by Belisarius, 88; + interference of the Pope with, 120 + +Narses, the eunuch, conquers Italy from the Goths, 95 + +Narses, General, burnt alive by Phocas, 129 + +Navy, the Byzantine, 219-20 + +Nicaea, taken by the Crusaders, 264; + by the Ottomans, 323 + +Nicephorus I. dethrones Irene, 199; + disastrous wars of, 203 + +Nicephorus II., Phocas, takes Candia, 228; + emperor, 229; + wars of, 231; + murdered by Zimisces, 232 + +Nicholas V., pope, sends aid to Constantine XI., 344 + +Nicomedia, taken by the Ottomans, 323 + +Nineveh, battle of, 138 + +Normans, conquer Byzantine Italy, 247; + invade the empire, 259; + second invasion of repelled, 267; + third invasion of, 273 + +Notaras, John, 342 + +Nuceria, Goths beaten at, 95 + +Obeydah, Saracen general, 162 + +Obsequian theme, the, 168 + +Odoacer, conquered by Theodoric, 63, 64 + +Omar, the Caliph, visits Jerusalem, 163 + +Omeyades, dynasty of the, 170 + +Orkhan, Emir of the Ottomans, reign and successes of, 323-4; + Pretender to the Sultanate, 343 + +Orosius, history of, 150 + +Ostrogoths, under Theodoric in Moesia, 62; + conquer Italy, 64; + weakness of the kingdom of, 82; + attacked by Justinian, 88; + wars of with Belisarius and Narses, 89-94; + crushed, 95 + +Othman, Emir of the Turks, conquests of, 321-23 + +Palace, imperial, at Constantinople, 19 + +Paleologus, house of, _see under_ Michael VI., Andronicus II. and III., + John V. and VI., Constantine XI. + +Palermo, taken by Belisarius, 88 + +Palestine, conquered by the Persians, 132; + overrun by the Arabs, 163; + subdued by the Crusaders, 265 + +Pandects, compiled by Justinian, 112 + +Patriarchal palace of Constantinople, 21 + +Patriarchs, _see under_ John, Sergius, &c. + +Paulicians, sect of the persecuted by Basil I, 214 + +Paulinus, put to death by Theodosius II., 57 + +Patzinak Tartars, the, 237; + wars of with Alexius I., 262 + +Pavia, taken by the Lombards, 116 + +Persian Empire destroyed by the Arabs, 164 + +Persian Wars under Julian, 32; + under Justinian, 71, 99; + under Maurice, 121; + under Phocas and Heraclius, 130-36 + +Peter, general under Nicephorus Phocas, 231 + +Philip of Macedon, attacks Byzantium, 7 + +Philip of Swabia, helps Alexius Angelus the younger, 279-8 + +Philippicus, usurpation and fall of, 180-1 + +Phocas, emperor, his usurpation, 127; + cruelty of, 129; + slain, 130 + +Phocas, Bardas, rebels against John Zimisces, 233; + against Basil II., 241 + +Phocas, Nicephorus, reign of, 228-30; + wars of, 231; + murdered, 233 + +Photius, patriarch, his learning, 221 + +Plague, the great of A.D. 542, 101 + +Popes, rise of the power of, 120; + estranged from the empire, 196; + call in the Franks, 199 + +Priscus, general of Maurice, 126 + +Prusa, taken by the Turks, 323; + sacked by the Mongols, 334 + +Pulcheria, Empress, with her brother Theodosius II., 55; + marries Marcianus, 59 + +Pelekanon, battle of, 323 + +Polyeuktus, patriarch, 230 + +Ravenna, taken by Belisarius, 91; + exarchate of, 119; + occupied by the Lombards, 196 + +Rhangabe, Michael, short reign of, 204 + +Rhazates, general, slain by Heraclius, 137 + +Richard Coeur de Leon, conquers Cyprus, 278 + +Robert Guiscard, wars of with Alexius I., 259-60; + final repulse of, 261 + +Roger de Flor, hired by Andronicus II., 317; + conquests of, 318; + assassinated, 318 + +Romanus I. (Lecapenus), long regency of, 217 + +Romanus II, short reign of, 228-9 + +Romanus III. (Argyrus), married to Zoe, 245; + dies, 246 + +Romanus IV. (Diogenes), reign of, 251; + defeated by Turks, 254; + dies, 256 + +Rome, taken by Belisarius, 89; + besieged by the Goths, 90; + taken by Baduila, 94; + Gregory the Great at, 120; + Constans II. at, 169; + Charles the Great at, 199 + +Ruric, founds the Russian kingdom, 234 + +Russians, early invasions of, 216; + attack Bulgaria, 234; + defeated by John Zimisces, 237; + converted to Christianity, 239 + +Sabatius, father of Justinian, 65 + +Samuel, king of Bulgaria, 241; + wars and death of, 242 + +Saoudji, rebels against Murad I., 333 + +Sapor, king of Persia, 32 + +Saracens, the, converted by Mahomet, 159; + invade Syria, 160-2; + conquer Egypt, 166; + conquer Persia, 164; + civil wars of the, 166; + for later history, _see under_ names of the Caliphs + +Sardis, taken by Alexius I., 265 + +Scholarian Guards, the, 104 + +Seljouk Turks, conquer Persia and Armenia, 250-1; + invade the empire, 252; + conquer Asia Minor, 254; + defeated by the Crusaders, 265; + wars of with the Comneni, 265-7-72; + with Theodore I., 298 + +Sergius, patriarch, 133 + +Senate House at Constantinople, 21 + +Servians, cross the Danube, 123; + conquered by Basil II., 243; + rebel against Michael IV., 246; + conquered by Manuel I., 271; + overrun Macedonia, 327; + subdued by the Turks, 330 + +Severus, emperor, takes Byzantium, 9 + +Shahrbarz, the Persian, takes Jerusalem, 132; + defeated by Heraclius, 135 + +Sicily, conquered by Belisarius, 88; + invaded by Saracens, 208; + finally conquered by Saracens, 214; + invaded by Maniakes, 246 ; + +Siroes, deposes his father Chosroes, 138 + +Skleros, Bardas, rebel against Basil II., 241 + +Slavery, influence of Christianity on, 147-8 + +Slavs, invade the Balkan Peninsula, 123; + subject to the Avars, 124-37; + ravages of the, 125, 129; + made tributary by Constans II., 169; + besiege Thessalonica, 171 + +Sophia. St., first building of, 27; + burnt in 410 A.D., 53; + burnt in the _Nika_ riots, 77; + rebuilding of by Justinian, 107-9; + desecrated by the Turks, 349 + +Spain, South of, conquered by Justinian's generals, 96-7 + +Stauracius, emperor, short reign of, 204 + +Statues at Constantinople, 21, 25; + destruction of by the Crusaders, 291 + +Suleiman, Saracen vizier, besieges Constantinople, 185; + dies, 186; + Turkish Sultan, reign of, 334-6 + +Stephen Lecapenus, usurpation of, 217 + +Stephen Dushan, king of Servia, conquests of, 327 + +Stephen, pope, calls in the Franks, 196 + +Stilicho, wars of with Alaric, 47-8; + murdered by Honorius, 49 + +Swiatoslaf, king of Russia, conquers Bulgaria, 235; + defeated by Zimisces, 237 + +Syria, invaded by the Huns, 71; + invaded by Kobad, 73; + conquered by Shahrbarz, 129-30; + invaded and conquered by the Saracens, 162-3; + conquests of Nicephorus Phocas in, 229; + subdued by the Crusaders, 265 + +Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem, 163 + +Tagina, battle of, 95 + +Tarsus, taken by Nicephorus Phocas, 230 + +Teia, Gothic king, slain in battle, 95 + +Telemachus, martyrdom of, 145 + +Terbel, king of Bulgaria, aids Justinian II., 178 + +Themes, institution of the provincial system of, 167-8 + +Theodahat, Gothic king, murders his wife, 82; + war of with Justinian, 87; + slain, 88 + +Theodora, wife of Justinian, career of, 66-8; + in the _Nika_ riots, 79; + death of, 103 + +Theodora, wife of Theophilus, 211; + regency of, 212 + +Theodora, daughter of Constantine VIII., reign of, 248 + +Theodora, daughter of Cantacuzenus, married to Orkhan, 328 + +Theodore I. (Lascaris), at the siege of Constantinople, 289; + made emperor at Nicaea, 298; + wars of, 299 + +Theodore II. (Ducas), short reign of, 303 + +Theodore, Studita, 221 + +Theodoric, son of Triarius, wars of with Zeno, 62-3 + +Theodoric, son of Theodemir, rebels against Zeno, 62; + conquers Italy, 64; + dies, 81 + +Theodotus, minister of Justinian II., 174 + +Theodosius I., wars of, with the Goths, 42; + dies, 44 + +Theodosius II., reign of, 54-6; + war with Attila, 57 + +Theodosius III., usurpation of, 181; + abdicates, 183 + +Theophano, empress, 229; + murders her husband, 233 + +Theophilus, emperor, reign and wars of, 208-11; + his love of art, 224-5 + +Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, 52 + +Thessalonica, besieged by the Slavs, 171; + stormed by the Saracens, 216; + Crusading kingdom of, 292; + retaken by the Greeks, 296; + taken by the Turks, 330; + recovered, 336; + finally lost, 341 + +Theuderic, Frankish king, attacks Witiges, 89 + +Thomas, rebel in Asia, 208 + +Tiberius II., Constantinus, short reign of, 114; + wars of, 117 + +Tiberius III., Apsimarus, rebellion of, 177; + deposed and slain, 179 + +Tiberius, son of Justinian II., slain, 180 + +Togrul Beg, Turkish chief, conquers Bagdad, 251 + +Totila, _see under_ Baduila + +Trebizond, empire of, founded, 298 + +Tribonian, minister of Justinian I., 112 + +Tricameron, battle of, 85 + +Turks, _see under_ Seljouks, and names of Ottoman Sultans + +Tuscany, conquered by the Lombards, 116 + +Tyana, sacked by Saracens, 182 + +Uldes, king of the Huns, 51 + +Urosh, king of Servia, 327 + +Uscup, capital of Stephen Dushan, 327 + +Valens, reign of, 36; + slain in battle by the Goths, 41 + +Vandals, kingdom of the, in Africa, 82; + conquered by Belisarius, 85 + +Varangian guards, 239; + at Durazzo, 260; + at siege of Constantinople, 282, 288 + +Verona, Baduila at, 92 + +Venice, rise of, 225; + commercial treaties of, with Alexius I., 268; + wars with Manuel I., 271; + aids the Fourth Crusade, 279; + engages in war with Alexius III., 282; + share of in plunder of Constantinople, 292; + at war with Michael VIII., 314 + +Vigilius, pope, persecuted by Justinian, 103 + +Vikings, the, in Russia, 234 + +Visigoths, the, invade Moesia, 35; + slay Valens, 41; + under Alaric, 48; + migrate to Italy, 49 + +Vitalian, rebellion of, 61 + +Welid, caliph, wars of, with the empire, 182 + +Witiges, Gothic king, 88; + besieges Rome, 90; + submits to Belisarius, 91 + +Yezid, Saracen prince, wars of with the empire, 170 + +Zachariah, patriarch of Jerusalem, 132 + +Zapetra, taken by Theophilus, 210 + +Zara, taken by the Crusaders, 280 + +Zeno, emperor, reorganizes the army, 61; + wars of with the Goths, 62; + sends Theodoric to Italy, 64 + +Zeuxippus, baths of, 19 + +Zimisces, John, murders Nicephoras 1, 233; + Russian war of, 235-7; + Asiatic conquests of, 239 + +Zoe, empress, her marriages and reign, 245-7 + + + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + + 1 See coin on opposite page. The Bosphorus was supposed to have drawn + its name from being the place where Io, when transformed into a cow, + forded the strait from Europe into Asia {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}-{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}. + + 2 See coin on page 4. + + 3 Ammianus Marcellinus. + + 4 Certainly not by Procopius, whose name it bears. + + 5 There had been only an isolated raids of Huns in A.D. 395, which + penetrated as far as Palestine. No other invasion reached as far as + Antioch. + + 6 "Born in Germania, a district between Thrace and Illyricum," says + his secretary, Procopius. We do not know where the district--a German + settlement, presumably--was situated. + + 7 See chap. ii. p. 22. + + 8 To hold the view which denied the existence both of a truly human + and a truly Divine nature in Our Lord Jesus Christ. + + 9 See map on p. 20. + + 10 The murder of Amalasuntha took place _after_ the Roman invasion of + Africa; but Theodahat was already on the throne when the Vandal war + was proceeding. + + 11 The king's real name was Baduila, as shown on his coins, and + recorded by some historians, but Imperialist writers always call him + Totila, which seems to have been a nickname. + + 12 Bury's "Later Roman Empire," i. 402. + + 13 Agathias. + + 14 It is comforting to know that the popular legend which tells how the + great general lived in poverty and disgrace, begging the passer-by + "dare obolum Belisario," and dying in the streets, is untrue. But + the suspicious emperor's conduct was quite unpardonable. + + 15 Calabria is here used in its old sense, meaning South Apulia, and + not the extreme point of Italy down by Reggio and Squillace. + + 16 From them the Albanians descend: the Albanian tongue is the only + relic of ancient Illyria. + + 17 To be carefully distinguished from his homonym in Justinian's time. + + 18 "History of European Morals," ii. p. 13. + + 19 Mr. Lecky speaks of the "perpetual fratricide" of the Byzantine + emperors. It may be interesting to point out that from 340 to 1453 + there was not a single emperor murdered by a brother, and only one + dethroned by a brother. Two were dethroned by sons, but not + murdered. + + 20 To the credit of Amrou and his Saracens it must be recorded that the + great Alexandrian Library was not burnt by them in sheer fanatical + wantonness as the legends tell. It had perished long before. + + 21 Mr. Bury's excellent chapter on "Themes," in vol. ii. of his "Later + Roman Empire," is most convincing as to these very puzzling + provinces and their origin. + + 22 "Slaves to images"; a term of contempt not unfairly applied to the + image-worshippers. + + 23 See p. 116. + + 24 It is said to have been either his birth-place or that of his + mother. + + 25 This name was given him because he was born in the Purple Chamber, + the room in the palace set aside for the Empress. Emperors born in + their father's reign had been scarce of late. Constantine VI. and + Michael the Drunkard were the only two in the 110 years before + Constantine VII. + + 26 There is a splendid copy of this book in the Bodleian Library, made + as late as 1560, where all the prophecies are applied to the Turks + and Venetians. + + 27 There were two palace intrigues against him, both headed by members + of his own family. Neither of them won any support from people or + army. + + 28 He pierced himself by misadventure with one of his own poisoned + arrows, and died of the wound. + + 29 Nicetas, "Isaac Angelus," book iii. ch. 8, § 6. + + 30 See page 289. + + 31 Sometimes known as John Vatatzes. + + 32 See Bertrandon de la Broquiere quoted in Finlay, vol. iii. p. 493, a + very interesting passage. + + 33 See pp. 24, 25. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE*** + + + +CREDITS + + +October 14, 2011 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. 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