diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/60938-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60938-0.txt | 12001 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 12001 deletions
diff --git a/old/60938-0.txt b/old/60938-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 2a10bd6..0000000 --- a/old/60938-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12001 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Empresses of Constantinople, by Joseph -McCabe - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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 -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: The Empresses of Constantinople - - -Author: Joseph McCabe - - - -Release Date: December 16, 2019 [eBook #60938] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMPRESSES OF CONSTANTINOPLE*** - - -E-text prepared by Turgut Dincer, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images -generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 60938-h.htm or 60938-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/60938/60938-h/60938-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/60938/60938-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/empressesofconst00mcca - - - - - -THE EMPRESSES OF CONSTANTINOPLE - - -[Illustration: ANCIENT CONSTANTINOPLE, SHOWING THE HIPPODROME, THE -IMPERIAL PALACE, AND THE MOSQUE OF S. SOPHIA - -FROM THE RECONSTRUCTION BY DJELAL ESSAD AFTER THE PLAN BY LABARTE] - - -THE EMPRESSES OF CONSTANTINOPLE - -by - -JOSEPH McCABE - -Author of “The Empresses of Rome,” etc. - -With Eight Illustrations - - -[Illustration: ARTI _et_ VERITATI] - - - - - - -Richard G. Badger -The Gorham Press -Boston - - - - -PREFACE - - -In concluding an earlier volume on the mistresses of the western Roman -Empire I observed that, as the gallery of fair and frail ladies closed, -we stood at the door of “the long, quaint gallery of the Byzantine -Empresses.” It seemed natural and desirable to pass on to this more -interesting and less familiar series of the mistresses of the eastern -Roman Empire, and the present volume will therefore tell the story of -the Empresses, or Queens, as they preferred to be called, who occupied -the throne set up by Constantine in New Rome, or ancient Byzantium, -until the victorious Turk thrust it disdainfully aside to make way for -his more spacious harem. - -The eastern or Byzantine Empire has long been regarded in Europe as -a world of far less interest than that which centred on the banks of -the Tiber: a world of monotonous piety and little adventure or spirit, -almost Chinese in its placid and unchanging adherence to traditional -and very conventional forms. One is tempted to attribute this error, -not merely to the longer concealment of Byzantine antiquities from our -fathers and the superior attractiveness of Italy, but, in some measure, -to the disproportion of Gibbon’s work. By the time the great historian -has advanced only one or two centuries in the life of the East he -finds that the superb generosity of his plan has committed him to an -unachievable task, and he begins to compress whole chapters of the -most vivid and adventurous history into a few disdainful pages; and as -Finlay, the proper historian of the Greek civilization, not only lacks -the charm which draws each generation with fresh wonder to the volumes -of Gibbon, but shares and expresses the same disdain for his subject, -his work has not tended to redeem the Byzantine Empire from neglect. -Of late years there has been some quickening of interest in the -eastern Empire. Professor Bury in this country,[1] M. Diehl in France, -Schlumberger in Germany, and other historians, have done much to draw -attention to the extraordinary interest and the very lively character -of Byzantine life. - -When we confine our attention, as we do in this volume, to the Court -life and the personality of the imperial women, the interest rises to -the pitch of romance, and is often sustained at that height for many -chapters. Few Courts in the world have, in their thousand years of -history, witnessed so much adventure, intrigue, comedy and tragedy, -as that of the Byzantine Empresses. From all quarters of the Empire, -in the most varied ways, all sorts of women, from princesses to -village girls, tavern girls or circus girls, make their way to the -bronze-roofed palace and wear for a season the prodigious jewels and -the glittering robes of an Empress of Constantinople; and, as there -is no law or method of succession to the throne, the rise and fall -of Emperors and Empresses gives a dramatic movement to the story. -The notion that the eastern Empresses are enwrapped in a rigid piety -and formalism, as they are in their stiff tunics of gold-cloth, is a -ludicrous mistake. Their piety is usually external and superficial, -and often they make not the least pretence of it; while, even when -it is obviously sincere, it is associated with a skill in casuistry -which allows a free play of their ambitions, their passions, and even -their criminal impulses. Indeed, it is only fair to say at the outset -that if a reader passes from the gallery of the “pagan” Empresses into -that of the Empresses of Constantinople in the hope of encountering -more restful, more virtuous and more domestic types of womanhood, he -will be grievously disappointed. We may not find a Messalina among -them, but irregularity of life is more evenly distributed than among -the Roman Empresses, ambition and intrigue are far more cultivated, -and there is a strain of barbaric cruelty running through the greater -part of the story which it would have been more pleasant, had it been -consistent with truthfulness, to omit. But the biographer should not be -a moralist. My simple purpose is to depict, as far as it is possible, -the very varied types of womanhood which come into “the fierce light -that beats about a throne” in that strange world where Greek and Roman -and Syrian blood blend to produce a new character. - -The difficulties of the task have been considerable, and may be urged -in extenuation of some of the apparent defects of the story. Apart -from sketches of the lives of five or six of the Byzantine Empresses, -especially those in M. Diehl’s fine “Figures Byzantines,” the study -is entirely new, and the material has had to be laboriously collected -from the endless pages of the Greek chroniclers. These chroniclers are -largely monks, and in nearly all cases they are little disposed to -speak of the imperial women until they either misbehave themselves or -come to wield a mastery over men. Their references to the Empresses -are usually brief and scattered sentences which have to be gleaned -with care, and in hardly any single case do even contemporary -writers condescend to give us a portrait of an Empress. Seeing that, -in addition, we have not (as in the case of Rome) any statues or -portrait-busts of the Empresses, and the few representations of them -which have survived (in miniatures, ivories, etc.) are lifeless and -conventionalized pictures, it is not possible to bring them before -the eye in as satisfactory a way as one could wish. In this, as in -the preceding volume, I have utterly refused to follow the genial -example of Roergas de Serviez, and allow imagination to come to the -aid of fact. But I have carefully gathered and included all that is -known about the eastern Empresses, and, lest it be thought that the -less-known Empresses might alter the balance of vice or virtue, I have -inserted even the scanty references to these. - -It remains only to explain the starting-point of the volume. In my -“Empresses of Rome,” which includes all Empresses down to the fall of -Rome, I necessarily included the early Empresses of the eastern series, -when east and west were branches of one dominion. It is therefore not -necessary to repeat the story of the beautiful and languid Eudoxia, -the daughter of a Frankish chief whom a palace intrigue raised to the -purple, and who is one of the butts of St Chrysostom’s fiery sermons; -nor of Eudocia, the Athenian girl who set out to find her father’s -money and obtained a kingdom, who wrote poems in her native tongue -and at last passed from the Court under a cloud of suspicion; nor of -Pulcheria, the virgin-sister of Theodosius and rival of Eudocia, who -ruled the Empire for her brother and, after his death, took to herself -a nominal husband and, with Marcian, was governing the Eastern world at -the time of the fall of Rome. I have adequately described her in the -preceding volume, and the present story opens at her death in the year -453. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I. VERINA AND HER DAUGHTERS 1 - - II. THE EARLY LIFE OF THEODORA 21 - - III. THE EMPRESS THEODORA 36 - - IV. SOPHIA 52 - - V. MARTINA 67 - - VI. THE MOST PIOUS IRENE 81 - - VII. SAINT THEODORA 101 - - VIII. THE WIVES OF LEO THE PHILOSOPHER 120 - - IX. THE TAVERN-KEEPER’S DAUGHTER 136 - - X. TWO IMPERIAL SISTERS 158 - - XI. EUDOCIA 181 - - XII. IRENE AND ANNA COMNENA 197 - - XIII. A BREATH OF CHIVALRY 218 - - XIV. EUPHROSYNE DUCÆENA 238 - - XV. THE NEW CONSTANTINOPLE 257 - - XVI. IRENE OF MONTFERRAT 276 - - XVII. MARIA OF ARMENIA 287 - - XVIII. ANNA OF SAVOY 298 - - XIX. THE LAST BYZANTINE EMPRESSES 317 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - ANCIENT CONSTANTINOPLE, SHOWING THE HIPPODROME, THE IMPERIAL - PALACE, AND THE MOSQUE OF ST SOPHIA _Frontispiece_ - - From the reconstruction by Djelal Essad after the Plan by - Labarte - From “Les Imperatrices Byzantines de Constantinople.” By - permission of H. Laurens, Paris - - FACING PAGE - THE EMPRESS THEODORA AND HER ATTENDANTS 40 - - Mosaic of the sixth century in St Vitale, Ravenna - From a photograph by Alinari - - THE EMPRESS IRENE 88 - - From an Ivory Plaque in the National Museum, Florence - From a photograph by Alinari - - EUDOCIA INGERINA, WIFE OF BASIL I 116 - - From Du Cange’s “Historia Byzantina” - - THE EMPRESS HELENA 138 - - From Du Cange’s “Historia Byzantina” - - THE EMPRESS ZOE 166 - - From “Constantinople,” by E. A. Grosvenor - By permission of Little, Brown & Co., Boston, U.S.A. - - EUDOCIA AND ROMANUS IV 186 - - From an Ivory in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris - From a photograph by A. Giraudon, Paris - - THEODORA, WIFE OF MICHAEL VIII 268 - - From Du Cange’s “Historia Byzantina” - - - - -THE EMPRESSES OF CONSTANTINOPLE - - - - -CHAPTER I - -VERINA AND HER DAUGHTERS - - -The Empress’s apartments in the sacred palace remained empty for -four years after the virtuous Pulcheria had been laid in her marble -sarcophagus. The Emperor Marcian was aged and feeble, and, as Pulcheria -had guarded even in marriage the sanctity of her vow of chastity, -there was none who might plausibly be regarded as heir to the throne. -It was such a situation as Constantinople loved; and the thousands of -soldiers, eunuchs, nobles and ladies who dwelt in the vast palace, and -the tens of thousands of idlers who lounged under the arcades of the -great square or chattered on the benches of the Hippodrome, had a large -field for speculation. - -Their fate, they knew, was in the hands of one man, the commander of -the imperial guards, Asper. He was an Arian (or Unitarian), and could -not hope to occupy the throne which would soon be at his disposal. The -citizens of Constantinople were at least as wanton and passionate as -those of Rome had been, but they were fiercely devoted to the sound -doctrine of the Trinity, and they would have flung themselves against -the bronze gates and marble walls of the palace if an Arian had -ventured to don the purple. So Senators and Senators’ wives indulged -their conflicting hopes and paid their servile reverence to the dying -monarch and the vigorous barbarian commander. - -Marcian died in the year 457, not without a superfluous rumour of -poison, and expectation rose to the height of fever when the worn -frame was entombed with all the rich ceremony of the Eastern Court. -Then there came the first of the long series of surprises and dramatic -successions which were to enliven Byzantine history for many a century. -Asper announced that his steward Leo, a tribune, or subordinate -officer, of the troops, was to receive the imperial crown. A barbaric -soldier and his wife were to occupy the golden throne, and all the -nobility of Constantinople hastened to kiss their purple slippers. - -Leo the Isaurian is one of those quite unromantic figures which the -restless waves of Roman life often washed into the world of romance: -one of the many raw highlanders who had set out from Asia Minor to make -their fortune in the glittering metropolis of the East. A few years of -useful military service had won for him the rank of tribune and the -confidence of the commander, and Asper thought that he could rely on -the docility and gratitude of the big simple-featured soldier. Wholly -illiterate, with no larger experience than the control of Asper’s -servants, a man of rough, hairy face, powerful frame and blunt ways, -he suddenly found himself transferred to a throne that gleamed, as few -thrones did, with “the sands of Indus and the adamant of Golconda.” - -His wife, the Empress Verina, shares alike the earlier obscurity and -the sudden elevation to the extraordinary splendour of the Byzantine -Court. We know nothing of her nationality or extraction; and, as the -only relatives who gather about her when her hand dispenses the gold -and the favours of a great empire are just as obscure as herself, we -may be sure that her origin was humble enough. A soldier like Leo would -select his mate in a lowly world, and we shall see later that Verina -permitted no scruple to restrain either her passion or her ambition. -But there was personality in the new Empress: an able and vigorous -intelligence, a masterful ambition, a virile tenacity of purpose, and -an equally virile disdain of scruples and of priests in the pursuit of -her ambition. She must have been much younger than her husband, who -was nearly sixty years old. She not only survived him for more than a -decade, but she filled that decade with the most spirited adventures, -and she admitted, or attracted, a lover after the death of her husband -in his seventy-fourth year. - -It is one of the most singular features of Verina’s story that she -remains almost as obscure and insignificant during the seventeen years -in which she reigned with her husband as she had been before her -elevation, yet in her later years reveals a character of remarkable -vigour and great interest. We have, therefore, little concern with -the reign of Leo, and will rather make ourselves acquainted with the -imperial world in which the Byzantine Empresses will move. - -New Rome, or Constantinople, had been founded by Constantine on the -site of the more ancient city of Byzantium, and is so faithfully -replaced by the modern city that its situation needs little -description. It spread over the triangular point of Europe which runs -to a tongue between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmora, and was -protected by a double wall from invasion on the land side; in fact, it -was in time enclosed entirely within thirteen miles of stout wall. - -The lower portion of this triangular area, a vast domain of more than -half-a-million square yards, sloping gradually to the silver shores -of the Sea of Marmora, was reserved for the imperial palaces and -gardens. Running parallel with the imperial palace, to the north, was -the Hippodrome, into which the story of the Empresses will repeatedly -take us. Like the Great Circus at Rome, on the model of which it was -built, it was the most commanding and venerated institution of the -frivolous people. Its spacious long-drawn arena was flanked by tiers -of seats which could accommodate tens of thousands of people--some -authorities say a hundred thousand people. A lofty imperial gallery, -the _kathisma_, surveyed the races and the spectators from the -north-eastern end, and a great purple awning gave protection from the -burning sun. Beyond the Hippodrome and the palace was the chief square -of the city, the Augusteum, which corresponded to the old Forum at Rome -or the Agora at Athens. Under the shelter of the double colonnade which -surrounded it the idlers of Constantinople held their endless fiery -discussions of the last chariot race, the last heresy, or the last -revolution: the studious bargained for books: the amorous made traffic -in love. It was the heart of the city. On the south side of it was the -great gate of the palace: on the north side the church, or cathedral, -of St Sophia: the Senate House faced it on the east: and from its -western side ran the main street of Constantinople, the Mese (or Middle -Street), lined with colonnades, which passed more or less continuously -along the central ridge of the triangular area which the city occupied. -A city was, in those days, and for many a century afterwards, a palace -and a cathedral: we can only say of the million citizens that they were -packed into the spaces not occupied by Church or State, especially -in the region between the Mese and the Golden Horn, where fire and -pestilence periodically fed on their crowded tenements. - -With the palace we need a closer acquaintance. Verina would be familiar -with the massive iron gate on the south side of the square through -which, as the Emperor rode in, one might catch a glimpse of the great -bronze door of the palace. Through this gate the obscure woman of the -people was now borne on her litter, to be crowned mistress of the -world. The front part of the palace was burned by the people in 532, -but we may assume that it had the general plan of the later structure -which experts have reconstructed for us.[2] The door led into a -spacious hall--known as the Chalke on account of its bronze roof--which -was richly adorned with statues, marbles and mosaics. Constantine had -despoiled the world to enrich his palace and city, and this entrance -hall had a great store of treasures. Crossing the hall one entered the -apartments of the troops who guarded the palace and whose spacious -quarters formed an immense and formidable approach to the imperial -palace. More than three thousand selected troops, divided into three -classes, formed this imperial bodyguard, and we shall more than once -find their halls swimming with blood as some frantic mob or adventurous -usurper seeks to penetrate to the palace. The palace grounds were, of -course, surrounded by lofty and unscaleable walls. - -Verina would pass first through the lines of the Scholarians, whose -golden shields and lances, and gold helmets surmounted with red -aigrettes, would form a glittering corridor. Ascending the marble steps -at the far end of their hall, the purple curtains being drawn aside, -she would pass between the Excubitors, a regiment of powerful warriors -with two-edged axes, and the Candidates, or white-robed troops, -gleaming with gold; the second and third lines of defence. At the end -of these palatial barracks three ivory-plated doors, hung with curtains -of purple silk, opened into the Consistorium, a large hall lined with -marble and mosaic, in the floor of which were set porphyry slabs to -indicate the successive spots where even kings must thrice prostrate -themselves before approaching to kiss the feet of--Leo the Isaurian. A -throne, covered with purple and heavily laden with gold and jewels, was -raised under a golden dome at the upper end of the room. - -Three pairs of steps and three bronze doors--for this wondrously -elevated peasant and his obscure wife must not pass through the same -door as ordinary mortals--then led to an unroofed terrace, lined with -columns and precious statues, on one side of which was the chapel of -the Saviour, and on the other the ancient gold-roofed banquet-room. -Then at length Verina would find herself, probably for the first time, -before the door of the palace proper, or the main palace, Daphne. -Passing between the crowds of stewards, secretaries, domestic officers -and great ladies, with masses of subordinate servants behind, all -bent in profound reverence, she would enter by the bronze doors into -the Augusteus, or vestibule of the palace: a hall crowded with choice -bronze and marble statues and mosaics. Fresh legions of servants--the -population of the palace must have been more than five thousand even at -this early date--and groups of pale eunuchs now crowded to do homage, -and the fortunate woman surrendered herself to her tire-women, to don -the gold-cloth tunic, the purple mantle and the heavy jewellery of an -empress. - -The coronation would probably take place in the church of St Stephen, -within the palace, and it seems that Verina and Leo then crossed the -gardens and terraces to receive the homage of the Senators and nobles -in the outlying palace of Magnaura. We know it at a later date as a -vast hall lined with coloured marbles from the most famous quarries -of the world, its floors strewn thick with roses, its wonders lit by -fourteen massive silver lamps which hung from heavy chains of silvered -bronze between its marble columns. But the wonderful golden sparrows -which piped their mechanical notes on golden trees, and the golden -lions which lashed their tails and roared before the throne, and the -organs of silver and gold, belong to a later date in Byzantine history. -From Magnaura the royal procession returned to Daphne, and mounted the -spiral stair which led to the royal lodge, with a small palace in its -rear, overlooking the Hippodrome. There the men of Constantinople rang -out their Greek cry of “Many years!” to the rustic tribune and his -wife who had so suddenly been lifted to this giddy height, and were, -no doubt, rewarded with chariot races. The coronation day would end, -as was usual, with a banquet in the Triclinon, a dining-hall in the -space between the apartments of the guards and the palace proper. Its -lofty roof was of gold, and on its nineteen purple-draped tables only -golden vessels were set; some of them--at least, at a later date--were -so heavy that they had to be lifted from their purple chariots to the -table by machinery. And after such a banquet as only the palace could -command, amidst some two hundred of the highest nobles of the greatest -empire in the world, Verina would retire to her ivory or silver couch -to brood over this prodigious turn of the wheel of her fortune. We -shall find numbers of equally romantic elevations, and just as many -tragic falls from splendour to obscurity, in the long story of the -Byzantine Empresses. - -Unfortunately, the coronation does not yet bring Verina plainly before -us, and we must pass the seventeen years of her husband’s reign almost -in silence. To explain this obscurity it is not enough to say that it -was the custom of the Byzantine Court to keep its women in seclusion. -As long as the stream of imperial life flowed evenly they were, -generally, content to idle the sunny hours behind the thick hedge of -eunuchs and maids, in some sequestered palace or other in the vast -gardens, where many fountains and the soft breath of the sea and leafy -groves cooled the air. They did not even feel the exclusion of women -from the tense sensations of the Hippodrome, for one could witness the -thrilling races from the windows in the upper gallery of the church -of St Stephen. But we shall see speedily enough that this ceremonious -seclusion no more intimidated the imperial women, when they _were_ -imperial, from playing their part in public life than the pomp and -display of the palace intimidated the people of Constantinople from -talking to their monarch, when occasion arose, as if he were a village -chief. Verina remained quiet and obscure because life flowed evenly -and she had no cause to interfere with its course. The promptness with -which she sought, or accepted, consolation after the death of her -husband does not suggest that she was very deeply devoted to Leo. He -was, however, a shrewd and strong man, though rough and uncultivated, -and he seems to have left little room for his wife’s interference. - -The Empress’s quarters in the palace, or assemblage of palaces, are -very imperfectly known to us. Daphne itself, the original palace, to -which later Emperors would raise stupendous rivals, cannot have had -very numerous apartments. It would assuredly not be possible to hide -a bishop there for years, as the Empress Theodora afterwards hid a -bishop in her apartments; to say nothing of the subterraneous dungeons -which Theodora is said to have filled with her prisoners. But there -were several detached palaces in the grounds, and no doubt the Empress -had the use of one of these, standing in its own gardens and groves, -and protected by its army of eunuchs. Verina had had one daughter, -Ariadne, before her elevation to the throne. A few years afterwards she -again gave promise of motherhood, and adjourned for delivery, as custom -demanded, to the Porphyra Palace by the sea, a small square mansion -whose walls were lined with red, white-spotted porphyry. But it was -another girl, Leontia, that she brought into the world, and who lay -beside her under the sheets of gold-cloth to receive the homage of the -notabilities.[3] - -Many years of this placid existence pass before we catch another -glimpse of Verina. The legendary life of St Daniel Stylites, the -emulator or successor of the famous Simeon of the Pillar, says that -the prayers of the holy dweller on a column procured for the Empress -a boy in 462, but the effectiveness of his prayers seems to have been -limited, as no such child has found its way into serious history. Leo -was now ageing, and the question of the succession must have been -keenly discussed. It is at this point that Verina, who seemed doomed to -pass again into obscurity, begins to reveal her personality. Asper and -his son still seemed to dominate Constantinople, but their power was -being silently undermined. Leo was filling the palace and the army with -his own compatriots, and a conflict impended between the Isaurians and -Goths, between Leo and Asper. - -Amongst these Isaurians a young man named Trascallisseus--or -something approaching it, for the Greeks make sad work of the Asiatic -names--won the favour of Leo, and approached nearer to the throne. -The orthodox chroniclers are severe on Trascallisseus, and depict him -as “a veritable Pan”--dark, ugly, hairy, ungainly, heavy-footed and -ignorant. The Isaurians were not a handsome race, nor had they the -least ambition to adopt the culture of the Greeks, yet the portrait is -probably overdrawn. Trascallisseus seems to have been a robust, sullen, -illiterate, intriguing young man, with no apparent grace of body or -character, but Leo was minded to marry him to Ariadne, and thus mark -him for the throne. - -Verina apparently desired the succession of her brother Basiliscus, -and, as a vast fleet of more than a thousand vessels was about to be -sent to wrest Roman Africa from the Vandals, she obtained the command -of it for him. Verina could watch from the palace gardens the sailing -of the great armada which was to win the purple for her brother. And -in a few weeks a fugitive vessel returned with the terrible news that -the expedition had failed, the navy had been burned, and the great army -of a hundred thousand men sunk or scattered by Genseric. Basiliscus -had fled shamefully at the first shock, and had retired to hide his -disgrace in private life at Heraclea in Thrace. - -It was the turn of Trascallisseus. His name was changed to Zeno, and -he was married to Ariadne and promoted to the highest honours.[4] -Verina had now to resign herself to a hope that she would share the -power with Zeno and her daughter, but the struggle of Isaurians and -Goths had first to be settled, and the settlement interests us. In less -than two years the struggle ended with a victory of the Isaurians--a -victory that has inscribed the name of the Emperor in the chronicles -as “Leo the Butcher.” We do not know the course of the quarrel, but -one day in the year 471 the marble and bronze palace rang with the -clash of swords. Asper and his elder son were cut to pieces by the -eunuchs within the palace. No doubt Verina and her family had their -boats moored at the foot of the garden, as we shall find others doing, -but the terrible axes of the Excubitors and the long swords of the -Candidates held back the tide of Goths and covered the marble floors -with their corpses. The Isaurians were masters of the Roman Empire. - -Leo died three years afterwards. It is said that he wished to crown -Zeno before he died, but that the people were bitterly opposed to it. -He had, therefore, in order to secure the succession, associated his -infant (or boyish) grandson Leo with his imperial power, and had died -shortly afterwards. The mother and grandmother now came to an agreement -with Zeno, and, when the father came to do humble homage to his -imperial child, the boy, prompted by Ariadne and Verina, put the crown -on the father’s head, and the Court applauded the succession of the -Emperor Zeno. The sickly child died nine months afterwards (November -474), leaving Zeno in sole possession of the throne. - -Here begin the adventures of Verina, and at length her virile character -is revealed to us. Her second daughter Leontia was married to a son of -the Western Emperor Anthemius--it was the period of ephemeral Emperors -that preceded the extinction of the Western Empire--and a niece of -hers was wedded to the Western Emperor Julius Nepos; though the -latter connexion soon proved its tragic futility, the Emperor fleeing -from Ravenna and falling by the hand of a bishop a few months after -coronation. While promoting this apparent scheme for the reunion of the -Roman Empire, Verina began to assert her personality more vigorously -at Constantinople. She still lived in the palace, and seems gradually -to have won its officers: as venal and corrupt a body as ever adorned -a court. The works of contemporary Greek historians survive only in -tantalizing fragments, or summaries, or they would undoubtedly furnish -a remarkable picture of Byzantine life in the next ten years, when -three Empresses occupied the stage. We can but piece together with -caution the fragments we find in the chronicles, and endeavour to -deduce the character of the Empresses from their actions. - -Verina now had a notorious lover named Patricius, and was eager to set -him on the throne instead of Zeno. Her daughter Ariadne, a commonplace, -docile woman, clung to her husband, and the palace divided into two -hostile parties and awaited the result. It is piquant to remember -that Constantinople was at the time an intensely religious city. Its -patriarch overshadowed those of Alexandria and Rome; its populace -divided its interest almost equally between chariot-racing, vice and -the suppression of heresy; and to its great church of St Sophia, or to -the numerous chapels within the area of the palace, were conducted with -splendour the important relics which were constantly being “found” in -Palestine. But the frivolous citizens ignored the practical enjoinments -of their religion until the periodical fire, or plague, or earthquake -threw them into a spasm of repentance, and the population of the palace -seemed to hold themselves entirely dispensed from such common laws. -Verina, at least, knew neither weakness nor scruple in the pursuit of -her ambition. - -In November 475 Zeno fled across the water to Chalcedon. Ships were -kept for such emergencies at the foot of the gardens, so that an -imperial family might be well on the way to the Asiatic shore before an -enemy could break through the hedge of guards. Zeno, protesting that -his life was threatened by Verina’s servants, fled precipitately, since -he left Ariadne under the power of her mother. It seems that Verina -virtually imprisoned her daughter, but Ariadne escaped and joined -her husband. From the coast they travelled, in a common cart, to the -wild fastnesses of Isauria, from which another turn of the wheel will -presently recall them to the glittering palace. - -Zeno had been morose and unpopular, and it had not been difficult for -Verina to detach the Senators and troops from him. They had, however, -no mind to accept the virtual rule of Verina herself by putting her -paramour on the throne, and, to her great mortification, they summoned -her discredited brother Basiliscus from his exile in Thrace, and -clothed him with the purple. The change brings on the scene a third -Empress, Zenonis, who was made “Augusta” by her husband as soon as he -was crowned. - -We have hardly time to make much acquaintance with Zenonis during the -brief splendour of her husband’s reign, but her momentary appearance -is not without romance. Passionately devoted to the more philosophical -religious sect, which maintained that there was but one nature in -Christ, she pressed her husband to espouse its cause and restore its -persecuted members. Constantinople was soon aflame with religious -controversy. Zenonis secured the return from exile, and appointment -as patriarch of Alexandria, of Timotheus Ælurus. Timotheus gathered -“all the scum of Alexandria”--the orthodox historian says--that could -be found in Constantinople, and conducted them in procession to the -church of St Sophia. But how Timotheus fell off his ass, to the delight -of Constantinople, and how Peter the Fuller was summoned to fill the -see of Antioch, and how Basiliscus wrung money out of the wealthy -orthodox churches, must be read in the pages of ecclesiastical history. -Zenonis was impelling her husband to his doom. - -A much less serious defect in Zenonis, from the Constantinopolitan -point of view, was that she united with her zeal for the Monophysite -faith a genial disregard of its moral implications. A nephew of her -husband named Harmatius rapidly became one of the most luxurious fops -of the city. His lavishly spent wealth, his lovely hair and pink cheeks -and handsome person, and his reputation for gallantry, made him the -idol of the frequenters of the Hippodrome. Basiliscus made him prefect -of the city, and he delighted its lower populace by moving amongst them -in the shining armour of Achilles. Duty frequently called him to Court, -and his charms conquered the susceptible Empress. For some time they -sighed and crossed fiery glances as they met in the open chambers or -corridors, but at length the eunuch Daniel and the midwife Maria were -bribed to facilitate their desire. Such, at least, was the belief of -Constantinople, and the power of Basiliscus was further shaken. - -His next fatal mishap was to quarrel with Verina. He had her lover -Patricius assassinated, and the enraged Empress began at once to pay -further gold to buy back the allegiance of Senators and officers -to Zeno. The zeal of Basiliscus for his heresy had now completely -alienated the people and embittered the clergy. He had ventured to send -officers into the churches to proscribe the great Council of Chalcedon, -which had condemned the heresy, and the city was profoundly agitated. -Vast crowds of men, women and children shouted their orthodox hymns -in the streets and filled the black-draped churches. When Basiliscus -angrily left the city for a distant palace, the saintly Daniel -descended from his pillar, followed him, and spoke to him in very -plain language. - -In these circumstances Verina was encouraged to further her plan, and -the news soon reached Constantinople that Zeno had left the mountains -of Isauria and was in command of an army. Two generals, Illus and -Trocundus, were sent against him, and were bought by him. The very -meagre chronicles now indicate a desperate struggle between Basiliscus -and his sister. The Emperor began to trace the plot and execute the -plotters, and Verina fled for her life to the sanctuary of St Sophia. -We shall see often enough how frail a protection the law of sanctuary -afforded against the anger of an Emperor, but Harmatius, who seems -to have despised his lover’s husband, helped her to escape, and she -seems either to have crossed to Asia or concealed herself. Harmatius -himself was now sent against the rebels. Swearing the most solemn oath -of fidelity to Basiliscus that the clergy could devise, he straightway -sold his services to Zeno for the promise of a cæsarship for his son -and the perpetual command of the armies for himself. - -The career of the romantic Zenonis then came to a rapid and tragic -close. As the troops of Zeno marched into the city Basiliscus and -his Empress fled to the church of St Sophia, and endeavoured, by -promises of undoing their heretical work, to induce the clergy to make -Zeno respect the sanctuary. After a time an imperial officer came to -the trembling wretches by the altar, and stripped them of all their -imperial ensigns, to be taken to Zeno and Ariadne. Zeno scrupled to -drag them from the altar, and they were at last induced to come forth -on the solemn assurance that their lives would be spared. It was now -their turn to sail for Asia. They were sent to an obscure village in -Cappadocia, and imprisoned in a tower. One tradition reports that they -were killed on the journey, but the more persistent and convincing -report is that the door of the tower was sealed with masonry, and the -brother of Verina and his Empress were doomed to a slow and horrible -death by starvation. It was the second revolution in three years, and -Verina had been an active element in both. - -Exile had not improved the temper of Zeno, and the restoration of his -rule was at once stained with murder. He reflected gloomily on the -prestige of the handsome Harmatius, and easily persuaded himself that -he who had been faithless to one master might be faithless to another. -Soon afterwards the luxurious officer was cut to pieces as he ascended -the spiral stair from the palace to the Hippodrome; his son was -stripped of the robes and ensigns of Cæsar and was sent to take a minor -order of the Church at Blachernæ. But for the intervention of the more -humane Ariadne the youth would, like his father, have exchanged his -high dignity for death. - -Constantinople seems to have regarded the murder with indifference, -but an avenger arose in the provinces and the two Empresses had soon -grave cause for anxiety. For a time Constantinople trembled under the -menace of the formidable barbarians, but they at length returned to -Italy without having penetrated into the city. A more serious danger -fell upon the palace in the following year, however, when the younger -daughter of Verina joined for a moment in the conflict of ambitions. -Leontia, it will be remembered, had married Marcian, son of the -Western Emperor Anthemius. On the ground that she had been “born in -the Porphyry,” while her elder sister Ariadne had been born before -the crowning of Leo, her husband demanded that the Empire should be -assigned to him, and marched on Constantinople at the head of an army. -He broke through the defences of the city, and some of the chroniclers -actually assure us that he surprised the guard of the palace in their -midday siesta. It is at least certain that Zeno and the Empresses -fled in alarm, and a vigorous action would have put Verina’s younger -daughter on the throne. Marcian seems, however, to have postponed the -occupation of the palace until the following day, and the commander -Illus, secretly transporting fresh troops from Asia, restored the -balance in favour of Zeno and Verina. Marcian was visited with the more -refined punishment of the Byzantine world--he was forced to enter the -priesthood--and Leontia retired into obscurity. - -But the romance of Verina and her daughters had already entered upon -a fresh chapter. Verina had welcomed her returning son-in-law at the -palace, and her earlier expulsion of him and Ariadne was overlooked in -view of the important share she had had in securing their return. We -can, however, well understand that Zeno regarded her with suspicion -and distrust, and would welcome the first opportunity to remove her -from the palace. The argument which he had applied so remorselessly to -Harmatius plainly extended to his imperial mother-in-law. The writers -of the time represent him as not taking a prominent part in the events -that followed, but it is difficult to doubt that his secret commands -directed the whole intrigue. - -In the year 478 a soldier attempted to assassinate the commander Illus, -and he confessed--under torture or bribery--that he had been instructed -by Verina’s steward Epinicius. The steward was given into the custody -of Illus by the Emperor, and was sent under guard to a castle in -Isauria. Illus followed, and easily induced the steward to impeach his -mistress. Illus then returned to the city, and arranged with Zeno a -plot for the capture of Verina. It is clear that the Empress-Mother -had great power in Constantinople, and that they dare not openly touch -her. Illus was to go to Isauria, and pretend that he feared danger from -Zeno. The Emperor was then to ask Verina to take to Illus with her own -hand a letter of indemnity, and, when she reached Isauria, she was to -be imprisoned there. We should find it difficult to believe that so -naïve a plot could entrap the virile and experienced Empress were we -not expressly assured of it by the highest authorities. In a few weeks -Verina was enraged to find herself imprisoned in a Papirian fortress, -one of the strongly fortified castles of remote Isauria. One authority -observes that they first compelled her to take the vows of a nun, but -we may decline to believe that they troubled to place so frail and so -superfluous a chain on such a woman. - -From the lonely hills of Isauria Verina at length found a means of -communicating with Ariadne and securing her interest. Zeno, to whom -Ariadne appealed, referred her to Illus, and, when that general was -summoned to the Empress’s apartments, and implored with tears to -release her mother, he bluntly asked: “Do you want to be rid of your -husband and wed another?” Ariadne returned stormily to her husband, -and declared that either Illus or she must leave the palace. “If you -can do anything, I’m with you,” said the distracted Emperor, who -was overshadowed by the vigorous commander. Presently, as Illus was -mounting the spiral stair to the Hippodrome, a soldier in the pay -of Ariadne’s chamberlain fell upon him. Illus was saved, except for -the loss of an ear, by his guards, but he prudently decided that -Constantinople was injurious to his health and requested the Emperor -for a change of air. He was appointed commander of the eastern troops, -took with him the patrician Leontius and a distinguished company, and -reached Antioch only to declare himself in rebellion and Leontius -Emperor. - -In the extraordinary confusion of events which the meagre chronicles -transmit to us Verina had obtained her wish in an unexpected manner. -A messenger came to her in her solitary prison to say that she was -to crown Leontius at the city of Tarsus and join forces with him and -Illus against Zeno. Verina was not the woman to hesitate. She crowned -Leontius, a cultivated Syrian noble and excellent soldier, at Tarsus, -and issued a characteristic letter to the officials and commanders of -the Empire: - - “Verina Augusta, greeting to our prefects and Christian - peoples. You know that the Empire is ours, and that after the - death of our husband Leo we, trusting to improve the condition - of the commonwealth, raised to the throne Trascallisseus, who - was afterwards called Zeno; now, however, since we perceive - that he is deteriorating, and on account of his insatiable - avarice, we have thought it needful to give you a Christian - Emperor, adorned with piety and justice, that he may save the - commonwealth and administer war with moderation and prudence. - We have therefore bestowed the imperial crown on Leontius, most - pious of Romans, who will guard us all with care and prudence.” - -The throne of Leontius was set up at Antioch, and the aged Empress -turned with her confederates to face Zeno’s troops. It was to be -the last act of the stirring drama of her life. Zeno acted with -unaccustomed vigour, and in a few days Verina and her companions were -flying to Isauria. They shut themselves in the Papirian fortress and -prepared to sustain a long siege. In the middle of the siege Verina -died, and was spared the humiliation of the final defeat. Four years -afterwards the heads of Illus and Leontius were exhibited on poles at -Constantinople, but the body of Verina was decently interred there by -her daughter. - -The loss of contemporary historians prevents us from obtaining the -closer acquaintance with Verina which her romantic story leads us to -desire. Of her personal appearance and nationality we know nothing. One -is tempted to conceive her as a Syrian woman of the type of Zenobia -or Julia Domna: a virile and masterful personality, ambitious and -unscrupulous, subtle and astute rather than cultivated, paying no more -than a merely external and superficial regard to the teaching of the -new religion of the Roman world. It remains to say a few words about -the Empress Ariadne before we consider the next great Empress of the -Byzantine world. - -In the few peaceful years which followed the death of Verina life at -the palace became sombre and painful. Zeno was morose, suspicious and -unpopular, and increased the gloom by the usual device of executing, -or murdering, suspects. Their only son came to a lamentable end. -The officials in charge of his education felt that it would be more -profitable to themselves to teach him vice and luxury rather than -the manly arts which his parents required, and he was profoundly -corrupted. His ostentatious vanity invited ridicule, and his indulgence -in unnatural vice and intemperance ruined his constitution. He fell -an early victim to dysentery, and his father plunged into deeper -bitterness amid the splendours and pleasures of his palace. Ariadne -must have awaited the end with impatience, and it is not improbable -that she already chose a partner to share her throne. Popular rumour -afterwards said that she buried Zeno alive. It was said that he used to -fall into a kind of trance after his gluttonous meals, and that Ariadne -in disgust bade the servants seal him in a tomb; the legend even -represents him as recovering and crying in vain to be relieved, and -one version pretends that, when the tomb was eventually opened, he was -found to have eaten his boots and belt. The truth seems to be that he -was subject to epileptic fits, one of which ended his life in April 491. - -Ariadne at once nominated for the Empire a peasant of northern Greece -who had a very subordinate position in the military service of the -palace. A tall, handsome man--though one of his eyes was grey and -the other almost black--of strong, quiet character, he seems to have -been chosen by Ariadne as her future husband before Zeno died. He was -unmarried, though past middle age. One of Ariadne’s eunuchs secured -the consent of the Senators to the strange nomination, and Anastasius -obtained the applause of the people by remitting their debts to the -treasury. The only opposition came from the patriarch, or archbishop, -who had in earlier years been compelled to prevent Anastasius from -setting up an unofficial pulpit in the streets of the city and -teaching his favourite heresy. Anastasius genially forswore his heresy -for so high a price, was at once crowned Emperor, and married Ariadne -on the fortieth day after the burial of Zeno. Docile and clinging as -Ariadne had been in her earlier years, she fully reveals herself as -the daughter of Verina in her middle life. But the twenty-five years -of life which remained for her are years of obscurity, as far as the -Empress is concerned, and we will not linger over them. Storm after -storm broke over the palace, where she lived, but she seems to have -taken no part in public events. The Isaurians marched on the city to -demand the throne for the brother of Zeno, and a long struggle ended in -the complete destruction of the power of the Isaurians. Then Anastasius -returned to his Monophysite heresy, and the streets of the city and -towns of the Empire rang with defiance and anathema. On one occasion, -in 512, the mob burned the monasteries which Anastasius favoured, and -so angrily assailed the palace that the ships were made ready at the -quays to conduct Ariadne and her husband to Asia. Anastasius had been -guilty of the additional indiscretion of attempting to reform the -morals of Constantinople and forbidding contests with wild beasts in -the arena.[5] Ariadne lived until the year 515 or 516, when she must -have been about seventy years old. So completely was she overshadowed -by her second husband that the only reference we find to her in the -chronicles is that on one occasion she begged Anastasius to make a -certain appointment, and he refused. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE EARLY LIFE OF THEODORA - - -The next Empress to occupy the superb apartments in the palace, with -their couches of ivory and silver and their regiments of fawning -eunuchs and silk-clad ladies, was assuredly one of the most remarkable -figures that ever sat on a throne. The Empress Euphemia hardly ever -issues into the pages of history from the becoming seclusion of the -women’s quarters in the palace, but the few details which we have -concerning her suggest the most incongruous figure that imagination -could place in such a world, and a brief account of her romantic -elevation is a necessary introduction to the equally remarkable -and better-known story of the famous Empress Theodora. The Roman -Empire seemed to be deterred by some faint recollection of its early -democratic spirit from admitting the hereditary principle; but the -absence of this arrangement for securing the succession, together with -the complete lack of any really democratic arrangement, often threw -it into a chaotic confusion when a ruler died, and made its internal -history a thrilling succession of romances and tragedies, with an -occasional page of comedy. In this case it is comedy. - -Anastasius, after playing his successive parts as peasant, lay -preacher, soldier and ruler of the world, had passed away, amid the -derision and rejoicing of his people, in the year 518. His nephews had -feeble pretensions to succeed him, but the most powerful man in the -city, the Prefect Amantius, decided that the purple should pass to his -friend Theocritus. He therefore sought the commander, or Count, of the -Excubitors--the more formidable guards of the palace--and placed in his -hands a large sum of money for distribution among the troops. Justin, -the said commander, was an Illyrian peasant who had won promotion in -the wars. He was in his later sixties, though still a powerful man, -with handsome rosy face and curly white hair; but under this disarming -exterior he concealed an ambition and astuteness which the prefect -failed to suspect. He distributed the money in his own interest, and -passed unopposed from the modest quarters of the guard to the more -luxurious chambers of the palace. - -Euphemia was the wife of Justin, and it may safely be said that no -woman ever experienced a more romantic elevation. In his military days -Justin had bought a barbaric slave named Lupicina, and raised her -to the rank of his concubine; though no doubt he married her in the -course of time. She retained the uncouth and illiterate manners of her -class, and Constantinople must have smiled to see her in the richly -embroidered robes of purple silk, with cascades of diamonds and pearls -falling from her gorgeous diadem. The acclamation of the crowd changed -her name to Euphemia, and she retired to the congenial privacy of her -palace. Justin brought his equally illiterate mother Bigleniza to the -palace from her rustic home, and the two women no doubt contracted a -fitting friendship in their wonderful new home. Of public action on -their part there is no question, and the events of the next few years -do not concern us. I will say only that, after securing his throne by -cutting off the head of Amantius and crushing Theocritus under heavy -stones in his dungeon, for venturing to resent the trick he had played -them, Justin ruled with moderation, if not prudence, for nine years. -Euphemia died three or four years before him, living just long enough -to see, and emphatically resent, her successor, the notorious Theodora. - -In approaching the story of Theodora it is necessary to premise a -few words on the authority which has provided most of the sensational -statements about her, and to pay respectful attention to the efforts -of some recent historical writers to discredit those statements. The -general outline of her story has been made familiar by Gibbon, who -has genially dilated on the elevation of one of the lewdest actresses -and most notorious prostitutes of Constantinople to the position, not -merely of mistress of the greatest empire of the time, but also of -patroness of an important branch of the Church and the daily companion -of saintly monks and bishops. Since Theodora is very commonly described -by the chroniclers as at least equal in power to her husband, the great -Justinian, and since the next most powerful woman in the Byzantine -Empire at the time is assigned a similar origin to that of Theodora, -the world has long reflected with amazement on this spectacle of the -Roman Empire at the feet of two imperfectly converted prostitutes. -Such a situation could not pass unchallenged before the more critical -tribunal of modern history, and there are scholars who have rejected -entirely the romantic story of the youth of Theodora.[6] The majority -of historians, including the two chief living authorities, Professor -Bury and M. Diehl, regard the story as true in substance though -unreliable in detail. - -The more romantic statements concerning Theodora are taken from a -work that purports to have been written by the greatest contemporary -historical writer, Procopius, but there are writers (such as Ranke and -Bury) who regard the work as, at the most, a later compilation of notes -left by Procopius, and in any case it is so envenomed in temper, and -occasionally so reckless in statement, that it should be regarded with -suspicion. The problem cannot be discussed at length here, but it is -necessary to justify the large use I am about to make of the work (the -“Anecdotes”) which bears the name of Procopius. - -If it were true, as is sometimes said, that we had no authority for -the impeachment of the character of Theodora beyond the “Anecdotes,” -we should have to hesitate very seriously, but this is by no means -true. Procopius (“On the Persian War”) represents her as playing a -most unscrupulous part in the ruin of John of Cappadocia. Liberatus -(a contemporary cleric) and Anastasius exhibit the Empress to us -corrupting the papacy itself and deposing a venerable pontiff by the -most cruel and flagrantly dishonest charges. Zonaras and other writers -accuse her, not merely of avarice, as Mr Mallett says, but of the most -heartless and unblushing corruption in feeding her avarice. There is -every reason to regard Theodora, after her elevation to the throne, as -a woman devoid of moral scruple. But we now have ample confirmation -also of the story of her origin. The statement of an eleventh-century -writer, Aimoinus, that Justinian took his wife from a brothel, shows, -in spite of its wild inaccuracies, that some such tradition was found -in European literature quite apart from the “Anecdotes.” But the -publication in the nineteenth century of the writings of John, Bishop -of Ephesus, has furnished a decisive proof. This Monophysite bishop and -cultivated writer, who lived for years beside the palace of Theodora, -and whose sect received the most imperial and incalculable benefits -from her, speaks of her as “Theodora of the brothel”; and he uses the -phrase in such a way as to intimate plainly that this was the name -by which she was known in Constantinople before her elevation to the -throne.[7] Indeed, the fact that the author of the “Anecdotes” does -not assail the chastity of Theodora after her marriage increases our -confidence in his account of her earlier life; as he did not intend -to publish his work--it was not published until 1623--it would have -been just as easy to invent or collect legends about her after as -before her marriage. On the other hand, the temper of the writer is -so bitter and malignant that we must reserve our judgment in regard -to the details of his strange narrative. He has gathered together -every defaming rumour about Theodora and Justinian that circulated -in Constantinople, even admitting nonsense obviously unworthy of a -serious writer, and we cannot sift the true from the legendary. The -source of his animosity cannot be determined. From the tone of his -remarks on religion I gather that he was one of the many surviving -pagans who were forced into outward conformity with the new religion, -and, after giving formal praise in his historical works to Justinian -and Theodora for the splendour of their reign, he relieved his soul, -in this secret collection of notes, of the deep disgust he felt at the -contrast between their characters and their professions and between -the glamour and the misery of their empire. It must be remembered that -the thoroughly Christian and very weighty authority, Evagrius, is just -as severe on Justinian; there was in Justinian, he says, “something -surpassing the cruelty of beasts,” and any prostitute could despoil -a wealthy man by a false charge (say, of unnatural vice--a trick of -Theodora’s) “provided she let Justinian share her vile gain.” It is the -common teaching of the authorities that the Empress was worse than the -Emperor. - -In point of fact, there is nothing implausible or improbable in -the details of Procopius’s story of Theodora’s early life, and the -judicious reader will merely make allowance for the rhetorical strength -of its superlatives. Her father Acacius had been a keeper of the bears -which were baited in the Hippodrome in the reign of Anastasius. The -Hippodrome at Constantinople united the functions which at Rome had -been divided between the circus, the theatre and the amphitheatre. -Its chief attraction was the chariot-racing which provided the central -and most thrilling sensation of Roman life.[8] Between the races, -however, there were contests with wild beasts in the arena, and there -were the numerous nondescript performances which occupied the theatre -at Rome--mimes (actors by gesture), clowns, acrobats, conjurers, etc. -Acacius was bear-keeper to the “greens,” and, when he died, his widow -promptly secured another partner and claimed the office for him. But -the superintendent Asterius had sold the office to another man, and the -shrewd widow appealed to the sympathy of the crowd by parading in the -Hippodrome, the heads and hands of her three daughters crowned with -the emblems of virginity. The “greens” jeered--possibly at the sight -of the eldest daughter, Comitona, a loose girl of seventeen, dressed -as a Vestal Virgin--but the “blues” received them with sympathy; a -distinction which the pale and slender little Theodora would never -forget. - -The mother, who is said to have come from Cyprus, either before -or after the birth of Theodora, then pressed the fortunes of her -daughters in the theatrical world. Comitona was already a mime (or -actress without words) and, as was usual, a prostitute. The young -Theodora presently began to attend her elder sister, and is said to -have begun her career of infamy as she waited among the slaves and -lackeys on the fringe of the Hippodrome. When she in turn became an -actress, her pretty pale face, lithe figure and unrestrained gaiety and -dissoluteness made her a great favourite. She stripped to the narrowest -limit of decency which the very liberal law permitted, performed the -most nearly obscene ribaldries which the Roman theatre allowed, and -was pre-eminent for the abandonment of her gestures and movements; and -in the hours of the night, when the wealthier patrons of the Hippodrome -entertained themselves in perfumed chambers with the actresses and -courtesans, Theodora was in the greatest favour. - -It is absurd to say that this is to impute to Theodora “a moral -turpitude unparalleled in any age.” It was the common turpitude of -that age, of our age, and of every intervening age. The theatre, -indeed, no longer admits the very broad licence which was admitted at -Constantinople, but the performances which are ascribed by Procopius -to Theodora are innocent in comparison with certain performances which -may be witnessed, in semi-publicity, in very many cities of Europe -to-day. Of Theodora’s private behaviour--that she practised both forms -of unnatural, as well as natural, vice--one need only say that it is, -and always has been, common to her class. An actress at that time meant -a woman of loose conduct. The imperial decrees and the Church fully -recognised this, and it is significant that one of the theatres--if not -the one theatre--of Constantinople was called “The Harlots,” and is so -named in an imperial document. Procopius is merely imputing to Theodora -the common practices of loose women of her time and our own. And when, -in later pages, we come to realise the fiery and unrestrained temper of -the beautiful Greek, we can well believe that she was at that time one -of the worst of her class. - -Not less plausible is the next chapter in the life of Theodora. A -wealthy official, Hecebolus, induced her to accompany him to the -African province which he was to administer, and her very brief -career at Constantinople came to a close. M. Diehl conjectures that -this occurred in 517, in her eighteenth year, and that she remained -a few years with Hecebolus. However that may be, she was, about -the year 521, ejected from the governor’s house, and she passed to -Alexandria, and thence to Antioch and the other cities of Syria and -Asia Minor. It is most probable that this was the time when, either at -Alexandria or Antioch, she became a convert to the Monophysite faith. -The question of the true character of Christ had racked and rent the -Eastern world, amidst all its ribaldry and vice, for two hundred years, -and the burning issue at this time was whether the nature of Christ -should be described as single or twofold; the Monophysites held that -there was but one nature in Christ, and were bitterly opposed to the -“Synodists,” or supporters of the orthodox Council of Chalcedon. It may -seem incongruous to drag in so solemn an issue on so defiled a page -of biography, but it is essential for the understanding of Theodora’s -career. - -According to Procopius, Theodora still practised her evil profession -in the cities of Asia. For the next few years, however, there is much -obscurity about her movements, and the biographer cannot proceed with -great confidence. One eleventh-century writer represents that Justinian -and the commander Belisarius chose their wives in a loose house in -Constantinople; another equally remote and unreliable chronicler says -that Justinian found Theodora living a modest life, supporting herself -by spinning wool, in a small house under the portico--a very strange -residence for a virtuous woman. I prefer still to follow the very -plausible story (in substance) of the “Anecdotes.” At Antioch Theodora -went in great distress to visit Macedonia, an actress who had influence -with Justinian. It is hardly strained to conjecture that this was the -real occasion of her introduction to Justinian; that she went on to -Constantinople with a recommendation to him and was at once taken into -his house. Beyond question she was his mistress for some years before -he married her. - -Justin had brought from Upper Macedonia, and educated in the schools -of Constantinople, the favourite nephew who was to become the Emperor -Justinian. At the time when Theodora came back to Constantinople, -about the year 522, he approached his fortieth year: a handsome, -wealthy and free-living bachelor, of fresh and florid complexion and -the curly hair of a Greek. His reputation was somewhat sinister: his -influence unbounded. In entertaining the populace on his elevation to -the consulship in the previous year he had spent about £160,000, and -had turned twenty lions and thirty leopards together into the arena. He -was plainly marked for the throne. The pretty pale face and bright eyes -and graceful figure of Theodora captivated him, and her experienced art -enabled her to profit by the infatuation. Justinian lived in the palace -of Hormisdas on the shore of the Sea of Marmora, and Constantinople -would take little scandal at his connexion with Theodora. Four or five -years’ absence would have enfeebled the memory of her earlier career, -and the zeal for the true religion--the Monophysite heresy, which she -paraded from the moment of her connexion with Justinian--would ensure -the genial indulgence of the frivolous population. Justinian had her -made a “patrician” (or noble), lodged her in his beautiful palace, and -showered his favours upon her. It is at this point that Bishop John -begins to describe his co-religionists appealing to the protection of -“Theodora of the brothel” from all parts of the Empire. - -There were two obstacles to marriage. Justin was feeble and senile, -and little able or disposed to resist his nephew’s whims, but Euphemia -strongly opposed the marriage until her death in 523 or 524. The more -serious impediment was the standing law of the Roman Empire, that a -noble could not wed a woman of ill-fame (an actress, tavern-girl or -courtesan). Justinian afterwards removed this restriction, but it -must have been in some way overruled by Justin, and many authorities -believe that the first law in the Justinian Code on the point was -really promulgated by Justin. A daughter seems to have been born before -the marriage, possibly before the connexion with Justinian, as John -of Ephesus confirms the statement of Procopius that Theodora had a -marriageable grandson before she died (in 548). - -The next step for the enterprising young Greek was the attainment of -the throne. Justin was pressed, as he aged, to associate his nephew -in the government, and, although he nervously refused for some time, -he at length (April 527) conferred the supreme dignity of Augustus on -his nephew and of Augusta on Theodora. She now entered upon the full -splendour of imperial life, and no parvenue ever bore it with more -exaggerated dignity than the ex-actress, as we shall see. There must -have been many who smiled when Theodora first witnessed the old sights -of the Hippodrome from the imperial chapel of St Stephen, or sat for -the homage of the Senators in the long gold-embroidered mantle, with -the screen of heavy jewels falling in chains from her diadem upon -her neck and breast, as we find her depicted in a mosaic at Ravenna; -but her formidable power and her unscrupulous use of it would soon -extinguish the last echo of her opprobrious nickname. - -The early years of Theodora’s power were spent in enlarging the -prestige of her position and in recompensing her friends. The existent -palaces could not meet the requirements of the woman who, a few years -before, had begged money of an Antioch courtesan. Justin had to annex -his palace of Hormisdas to the imperial domain and build fresh palaces. -The favourite residence of Theodora was the cool and superb palace of -Hieria across the water, and in spite of the lack of accommodation -for her enormous suite and the terrors of a whale, popularly named -Porphirio, which infested the waters of Constantinople at the time, she -frequently crossed to it. - -At home, in the sacred palace, she led a life strangely opposed to that -of the temperate, accessible and hard-working Justinian. Rising at an -early hour she devoted a considerable time to the bath and toilet, by -which she trusted to sustain her charm, in spite of delicate health. -After breaking her fast, she again retired to rest before she would -consent to receive courtiers and suitors. In view of her paramount -influence with the Emperor many sought her patronage, or dreaded to -incur her terrible resentment, by seeming indifferent to it. Numbers -of nobles waited, sometimes for days, in the hot ante-room to her -apartments, standing on tiptoe to catch the eye of the pampered eunuchs -who passed to and fro. After a long delay they might be admitted to -kiss the golden sandals of Theodora, and listen to her august wishes. -No man was permitted to speak except in reply to a question. In the -course of time, as we shall see, the highest nobles eagerly submitted -to this humiliating treatment, in order to preserve their wealth -from the extortioner. Dinner and supper, at which, though Theodora -ate little, the most opulent banquets had to be served, occupied the -further hours of the day, together with Theodora’s abundant devotions -and converse with holy men. - -Her friends were generously admitted to share her advantages. The -“Anecdotes” tell a story of an illegitimate son of hers who discovered -his birth, came to the Empress for recognition or money, and was -at once despatched to another world. That seems to be one of the -calumnious fables which the writer too eagerly admitted into his -indictment. The “Anecdotes” themselves rather show that Theodora did -not make every effort to conceal the past, however strongly she might -resent discussion of it. Her sister Comitona was certainly married -in the first year of her reign to a wealthy and powerful noble. -It is not so certain, but probable enough, that she cherished her -earlier theatrical friends, Chrysomallo and Indara, and found wealthy -husbands for their daughters. The woman whose name we shall find most -closely connected with hers, Antonina, the wife of the great general -Belisarius, is said to have been her tirewoman before she married -Belisarius. This would account for Theodora’s coolness until Antonina -won her by securing her revenge on John of Cappadocia, when Theodora -is said not merely to have overlooked, but promoted, the vices of her -friend. There is, at least, no room for doubt about the character of -Antonina. - -But while Theodora admitted these mute reminders of her earlier life, -she turned with extraordinary severity upon her earlier colleagues -as a body and undertook the purification of the city. The decrees of -Justinian for regulating the morals of Constantinople--decrees which -go so far as to define the penalties for people who made assignations -in churches, and on the strength of which bishops were castrated and -exhibited in public for unnatural vice--are generally ascribed to her -influence. She had the imperial net dragged through the loose houses -of Constantinople, and five hundred of the occupants were imprisoned -in an ancient palace on the Asiatic shore: a form of enforced piety -which, the carping Procopius says, drove many of them to suicide. Many -writers think this zeal for purity inconsistent with the story of her -earlier life. It has rather the appearance of a feverish affectation -of repentance, and must be balanced by the many proofs we have of -Theodora’s really corrupt and unscrupulous character. One may recall -that Domitian drastically punished the vices of others. Procopius would -have us believe that Theodora compelled unmarried women to marry, -and that when two delicate widows fled to the Church to escape her -pressure, she had them dragged from the altar and married to men of -infamous life. Yet, he says, vice was rampant in Constantinople, and -protected by the Empress, when money was paid into her greedy coffers. -Such details we cannot control, and must reproduce with reserve; we -know only from other sources that she extorted money by corrupt means. - -And the most singular and piquant feature of Theodora’s life at this -period was her zealous patronage of the Monophysites. Long before her -coronation, from the time when she became the mistress of Justinian, -the joyous news of her elevation flew throughout the Empire among -the persecuted heretics. They had had their hours of triumph under -Basiliscus and Anastasius, but with the accession of Justin the -orthodox had returned to power, and the twofold nature of the gentle -Christ had been urged with bloody arguments. From the monasteries and -towns of the provinces pilgrims now began to arrive at the Hormisdas -palace in great numbers, and through Justinian she obtained relief and -money for them. When she entered the imperial palace the procession -increased, and, while the nobles of Constantinople were detained -for hours before being permitted to kiss her feet, ragged monks and -unlettered deacons strode into the imperial apartments without a -moment’s delay. - -So zealous, indeed, was Theodora for their edifying conversation that -she kept them as long as possible about her. St Simeon of Persia came -to plead the cause of his persecuted brethren, and was induced to -live for a year in the luxurious palace. Arsenius of Palestine, one -of the chief firebrands of his province, was cherished by her; though -Procopius affirms that he at length lost her favour and was crucified. -Orthodox monks were even permitted with impunity to rebuke the terrible -Empress. A holy hermit came one day to chide Theodora for her heresy. -Ragged and dirty, with garment so patched that hardly three inches -of cloth of one colour appeared in it, he admonished her in fiery -language. Theodora was so charmed with his piety that she sought to add -him to her domestic collection of sanctities. When persuasion failed, -she resorted to corruption; we read the story, not in the “Anecdotes,” -but in John. She had a large sum of gold concealed in linen and imposed -on him, but the fiery monk hurled it across the palace, crying: “Thy -money perish with thee.” St Sabas, also, the unlettered and unadorned -abbot of an orthodox monastery at Jerusalem, came to ask her patronage. -His piety excused his heresy in her eyes, and she kept him for days -at the palace, and humbly asked his prayers that she might have a son. -The grim monk refused, and, when companions asked how he could scorn -the request of so generous a patroness, he replied: “We do not want any -fruit from that womb, lest it be suckled on the heretical doctrines of -Severus.” - -So great at length became the number of pious pilgrims from the -provinces, and so eager was Theodora to retain them near her person, -that the Hormisdas palace, which Justinian had richly decorated for -her and enclosed within the area of the imperial palace, was converted -into a monastery. Then were witnessed the quaintest scenes that ever -enlivened the passion-throbbing palace of the Eastern Emperors. Five -hundred monks, of all ages and nationalities, of every degree of -sanctity and raggedness, were crowded in or about its marbled walls. -Every form that monastic fervour had assumed in the fiery provinces of -Syria or Egypt was exemplified in it. The orderly community sang its -endless psalms and macerated its flesh in the rooms where Justinian had -dallied with his mistress: little huts were scattered about the grounds -for those who were called to the life of the hermit: and even columns -were set up here and there for those who would imitate the more novel -and arduous piety of St Simeon Stylites, and pass, at the open summit -of the column, a kind of existence which the polite pen must refrain -from describing. All the beggars of Constantinople gathered for the -crumbs of this remarkable colony, and crowds of citizens pressed to -witness this singular oasis of virtue in the most corrupt city of the -world. Theodora rarely let a day pass without crossing the gardens to -receive the blessing and enjoy the pious conversation of such of the -saints as would deign to converse with a woman. - -How she went on to put a courtly heretic upon the archiepiscopal -throne of Constantinople, and, by an extraordinary piece of intrigue -and corruption, depose a pope and replace him by one who pretended to -favour her designs, we shall see presently. We must now set forth the -imperial career of Theodora in chronological order, and learn what -kind of character this remarkable woman maintained amid the chants and -prayers of her deeply venerated monks. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE EMPRESS THEODORA - - -We have seen how Theodora rewarded the friends, and must now see -how she punished the enemies, of her earlier career. It will be -remembered that her father had been a servant of the “greens” of the -Hippodrome, but that this party had greeted her mother with derision -when she appealed for sympathy with her three children, while the -“blues” received them compassionately. Twenty years afterwards the -young circus-girl had become the most powerful woman in the world, -and the blues began to tyrannize with impunity over their rivals. In -the earliest years of the reign of Theodora and Justinian we find -them swollen with conceit and encouraged in the perpetration of every -kind of disorder. The livelier “sparks” of that faction advertised -their formidable character by adopting the trousers and sandals of the -fierce Huns and trimming their hair after the fashion of those terrible -invaders; they wore long moustaches and beards, shaved the front part -of the head, and cultivated long hair at the back. - -A few outrages soon taught them that the laws would not be enforced -against them, and before long the city of Constantinople became, -during the night, a land of terror. The citizen who dared to pass -along the streets with a gold clasp to his belt or his cloak or money -in his purse was robbed, and women could not move after nightfall. -The continued silence of the authorities encouraged the blues, and -drew all the dissolute elements of the city into their ranks. They now -began to force the doors of the houses, plunder the coffers, rape the -wives and daughters, and carry off the more handsome slaves and boys. -At the least resistance their deadly poniards were drawn, and murder -became frequent. When the authorities intervened, none but the greens -were punished. The evil rapidly spread from night to day, and from the -metropolis to other cities. It would be futile in this case to quarrel -with the details given in the “Anecdotes.” The great riot into which -the greens were stung by this reign of terror is an historical fact; -and nothing but the vindictive memory of Theodora can explain how -Justinian, the great legislator, permitted so appalling a disorder. - -Theodora meantime enjoyed the conversation of her monks and hermits, -and even Justinian seems to have been unconscious that he was slipping -the leash of beasts whom he might be powerless to control. At length, -on 14th January 532, the greens stirred. The Emperor appeared in -his _kathisma_ at the Hippodrome, and an appeal was made to him for -justice. His officer replied disdainfully, and a long and curious -conversation took place.[9] The Emperor still refused to grant the -impartial administration of justice or to punish the murderers, and -the greens left the Hippodrome. They gathered in strength in the -streets, and, although Justinian prudently sent to learn and partly -to remove their grievances, they remained in arms. Belisarius was now -sent against them with a troop of Goths, and the rioting and burning -began. Unfortunately for the Court an accident then happened which had -the singular effect of uniting the two factions against the troops. -Seven criminals were to be executed, and Procopius cannot conceal -the fact--in spite of his insistence that the blues were never -punished--that some of the seven were blues and some greens. After -five of the seven had been despatched, the rope broke, and the crowd -demanded the acquittal of the remaining two. The authorities refused, -and, as one criminal was a blue and the other a green, the factions -turned in common anger upon the prefect and the troops. - -The terrible riot that followed during four days must be read in -history. The first part of the palace, the great church of St Sophia, -and many other churches, mansions and public buildings were destroyed. -Priests who rushed into the fray holding aloft the disarming emblems -of their faith were cut down. On the fourth day, a Sunday, Justinian -entered the Hippodrome with a Bible in his hand, and took a solemn oath -to spare the offenders if they would disarm. “Ass, thou art perjuring -thyself,” was the infuriated answer; and he retired to contemplate with -Theodora the impending ruin of their reign. On the following day the -crowd forced Hypatius, nephew of the Emperor Anastasius, to accept such -purple robes as they could obtain, marched with him in triumph to the -Hippodrome, and exulted in the downfall of Justinian and Theodora, who -were believed to have fled to Asia. - -The “great” Justinian makes a lamentable appearance throughout the -whole riot, which he had guiltily occasioned, but Theodora and the -abler ministers were not minded to yield. As they gathered in the hall -of the palace, to which the cries in the Hippodrome must almost have -penetrated, the chief eunuch Narses came to report that by a judicious -distribution of money he had distracted the factions and weakened the -cause of Hypatius. It is probably this news that turned the scale -in the wavering counsels of Justinian and his ministers, but it was -Theodora who pressed it home. The speech which Procopius assigns to -her is worth reproducing, though we cannot regard it as more than a -rhetorical paraphrase of the words she used: - - “In my opinion this is no time to admit the maxim that a woman - must not act as a man among men; nor, if she fires the courage - of the halting, are we to consider whether she does right or - no. When matters come to a crisis, we must agree as to the - best course to take. My opinion is that, although we may save - ourselves by flight, it is not to our interest. Every man that - sees the light must die, but the man who has once been raised - to the height of empire cannot suffer himself to go into exile - and survive his dignity. God forbid that I should ever be seen - stripped of this purple, or live a single day on which I am not - to be saluted as Mistress. If thou desirest to go, Emperor, - nothing prevents thee. There is the sea; there are the steps to - the boats. But have a care that when thou leavest here, thou - dost not exchange this sweet light for an ignoble death. For my - part I like the old saying: empire is a fine winding-sheet.” - -Some such sentiments, we may believe, were urged by Theodora, and -affected the decision. The populace was penned in the Hippodrome, and -Justinian’s officers and troops stealthily surrounded it. Rushing in at -the various entrances, they fell with such fury upon the people that -the sun went down on the corpses of between thirty and forty thousand -citizens heaped in its arena or on the terraced seats. - -The health of Theodora suffered from the strain of this terrible week, -and she went to take the waters at the Pythian baths in Bithynia: a -crowd of nobles and four thousand soldiers and eunuchs forming her -retinue. Meantime Justinian set about the congenial task of re-erecting -the Chalke (or front part of the palace), the church of St Sophia and -the other ruined buildings, on a more splendid scale than before. -We shall see later by what means he and his Empress obtained the -prodigious sums of money they needed for their enormous expenditure. -We will also postpone for a moment the early relations of Theodora to -the general Belisarius and his romantic spouse, and consider the next -important episode in which her character is seen. - -In spite of the orthodoxy and religious zeal of Justinian, his wife -had such influence over him and apart from him that in the year 535 -she secured the see of Constantinople for the Monophysite Anthimus, to -the unbounded delight of her sect and amidst the furious maledictions -of the orthodox throughout the Empire. Rome was at that time regarded -only as a sister Church of great authority and antiquity, but its -venerable Bishop Agapetus was summoned to the Eastern metropolis and -he succeeded in ousting Theodora’s favourite. Agapetus, however, died -soon afterwards at Constantinople, and Theodora now conceived the bold -design of putting a Monophysite pope upon the throne at Rome itself. -For the remarkable events which follow I am not using the “Anecdotes” -at all. The story is told in substance by a contemporary ecclesiastical -writer, Liberatus the Deacon, of Carthage, and the chronicler Victor, -and is repeated, with large and legendary additions, by Anastasius, the -Roman librarian, of the ninth century. - -In the suite of Agapetus at Constantinople was an ambitious and courtly -deacon named Vigilius, who contrived to let his accommodating temper -become known to the Empress. He was taken to her apartments, and he -promised, if the Roman see and a large sum of money were bestowed on -him, to reinstate Anthimus and the other Monophysite bishops. In the -meantime the Gothic ruler of Italy had appointed a certain Silverius to -the Roman see. Theodora tested him with a request that he would restore -Anthimus, but he refused; murmuring, it is said, as he wrote the -letter: “This will cost me my life,” as it did. The Byzantine general -Belisarius had meantime taken and occupied Rome, and a few words must -be said to introduce him, and his wife Antonina, into the story of -Theodora. - -[Illustration: THE EMPRESS THEODORA AND HER ATTENDANTS - -MOSAIC OF THE 6TH CENTURY IN S. VITALE, RAVENNA] - -I have previously mentioned an eleventh-century legend concerning -Belisarius and Justinian and their wives. It was said that the two men -had one day entered a house of ill-fame, found there two captive and -fascinating Amazons named Antonia [Theodora] and Antonina, and married -them. The myth seems to have crystallized about a belief that Antonina -had risen from the same depths as Theodora, as the “Anecdotes” say, -and the fact that Antonina was a woman of abandoned character and a -leading lady in the service of the Empress seems to confirm this. In -any case, she is openly assailed by Procopius (her husband’s secretary) -in his historical works as “capable of anything,” and is described in -the Lexicon of Suidas as “an infamous adulteress.” She had married -Belisarius, and accompanied him in 533 on his brilliant campaign for -the recovery of Africa from the Vandals. With them went a handsome -and foppish Thracian youth named Theodosius. He was fresh from the -baptismal font, in which the patriarch had washed away his Monophysite -heresy, and it was believed that the presence of so sacred a youth -would bring luck to the fleet. Before they reached Carthage Antonina -enjoyed the secret love of the youth, but a servant betrayed them, and -Theodosius fled to Ephesus, where we must leave him for a time. It is -said that Antonina had the servant’s tongue cut out. - -Belisarius passed from the subjugation of North Africa to a victorious -war in Italy, and he and Antonina were staying at a palace on the -Pincian Hill at Rome when the deacon Vigilius--now, no doubt, a -priest--came with the commands of Theodora. “Trump up a charge against -Silverius, and send him to Constantinople,” the order ran, according to -the Roman librarian, and as the more authoritative Liberatus affirms -that the charge was false, and was supported by mendacious witnesses -and forged letters, there is no possibility of freeing Theodora from -this grave imputation. The Pope was summoned to the palace, where -Antonina lay on a couch with Belisarius at her feet. Antonina at once -charged him with treasonable correspondence with the Goths. We may -or may not believe the picturesque version of Anastasius: that the -servants at once stripped the Pope of his robes, dressed him as a monk, -and interred him in a distant monastery. It is certain, at least, that -Silverius was, at Theodora’s command, deposed on a false charge and -thrust out of sight. Vigilius became Pope, and the fate of Silverius is -unknown to history. - -I cannot entirely omit a later sequel to this sacrilegious and -unscrupulous deed, though it rests only on the feebler authority of -Anastasius. For a few years Theodora demanded in vain that Vigilius -should fulfil his promise. He had, he said, come to see the heinousness -of such a promise, and could not discharge it. In 544, therefore, -Theodora sent an officer to Rome with a command which Anastasius gives -in these words: “If you find him in the church of St Peter spare -him, but if in the Lateran or the palace, or in any other church, -put him on ship at once, and bring him to us. If you fail, I will, -by Him that liveth for ever, have your skin torn from your body.” It -is known, at least, that Vigilius was shipped away from Rome at the -end of 544; but that he was at once taken to Constantinople, and that -Theodora had him dragged through the streets like a bear, is untrue. He -reached Constantinople after her death. We cannot therefore follow the -deposition of Vigilius as confidently as we follow the sordid story of -his elevation, but we can have little doubt that Theodora punished him. - -Another authentic episode of the time reveals the same unscrupulous -disdain of principles in the patroness of the Monophysite sect. The -story is told by Procopius, not in the “Anecdotes,” but in his open and -authoritative work “On the Persian War,” in spite of his usual extreme -care to suppress offensive details. The Prefect of Constantinople, -John of Cappadocia, had incurred the bitter hostility of the Empress. -The very unattractive portrait which Procopius supplies, and Gibbon -reproduces, of John prevents us from thinking that in this case an -innocent man was persecuted. While he freely promoted all the schemes -of Justinian and his notorious steward to wring money out of the -citizens--“by fair means and foul,” as Zonaras says--he levied his -private tithe on all their gains, and was popularly believed to indulge -in secret the most sensual tastes and the even worse abominations of -some pagan cult. He seems to have been the one man to regard Theodora -with open disdain, and she retorted with venomous hate. Although -guards surrounded his bedroom, he started every hour from his feverish -slumbers to look for the expected assassin. - -His value to Justinian enabled him to keep his position until the -year 540, when Belisarius and Antonina returned from Italy to -Constantinople.[10] Antonina remained in the city while her husband -went against the Persians. She feverishly summoned her Thracian lover -from the monastery in which he hypocritically lingered at Ephesus, but -the wrath of Belisarius held him aloof. Whether or no Antonina then -deliberately sought the intervention of the Empress, we cannot say, but -she proceeded to merit it. She learned of Theodora’s hatred of John, -and conceived a plot for his destruction. - -John had an ingenuous and amiable daughter who seems to have been not -unacquainted with the political situation. Twice had the brilliant -Belisarius been withdrawn to the city in a fit of jealousy, and there -were rumours that the strong man was wearying of serving an Emperor -who could do nothing but employ others and reap their glory. Antonina -won her way to the heart and confidence of the girl, and betrayed to -her that her husband was secretly disaffected. The artless Euphemia -hastened to tell her father that there was a prospect of overthrowing -Theodora, whom they both hated. Even John was deceived by the astute -adventuress. It was arranged that Antonina should go to her suburban -palace and meet John there during the night. We do not know that -Theodora had a share in framing this diabolical plot, but it was now -communicated to her by Antonina, and she at once pressed it and used -her resources for carrying it out with safety. In the dead of the -following night John entered the palace of the unscrupulous adventuress -and listened to her whispers of treachery. Procopius says that Theodora -had initiated the Emperor to the plot, and he had consented, but at the -last moment sent a messenger to John not to see Antonina. This seems -to be a piece of polite fiction in the interest of the Emperor; it is -incredible that an astute and experienced minister would risk his neck -after such a message. John went, and, in the apparently lonely palace, -spoke his secret sympathy with the supposed design of Belisarius. No -sooner had he uttered the words than a troop of imperial guards entered -the room to arrest or assassinate him, but John also had brought -soldiers and they enabled him to escape. - -Had John gone straight to the palace of Justinian, he might still have -saved his position. Instead, he fled nervously to the sanctuary, and -Theodora hardened the mind of her husband. The wealthy and powerful -noble was stripped of his estates and forced to enter the ranks of the -clergy--one of the quaintest penalties of the time--in the suburb of -Cyzicus. There the people whom he had oppressed might behold their once -powerful enemy, the secret pagan and Sybarite, shaven and humiliated. -It appears that Theodora was not yet satisfied, though she is not -directly implicated by Procopius in the last act of the tragedy. The -Bishop of Cyzicus was murdered, and as John was one of his many bitter -enemies, he was arrested, scourged, and driven into exile and poverty. -The fate of the unhappy Euphemia is unknown; she was probably compelled -to enter a nunnery and weep there over the memory of the imperial -tigress and her friend. - -This story of perfidy, corruption and vindictiveness, which Procopius -tells openly in his historical work, disposes us to believe the sequel, -as it is narrated in the “Anecdotes,” even if we must regard certain -details of the narrative with reserve. There was with Belisarius in -Persia a son of Antonina by a former husband (or lover) of the name of -Photius. Bitterly ashamed of his mother’s conduct, he accepted from -Belisarius the charge of watching her lover Theodosius. At Ephesus he -learned that Theodosius was in Constantinople, and soon caused him to -fly back to Ephesus and cling to the altars which had sheltered so -much vice and crime since the law of sanctuary had been established. -The prelate, however, delivered Theodosius to the youth, and he was -imprisoned in Cilicia. - -Theodora was now eager to reward her friend and she had Photius -arrested and scourged. He refused to reveal the prison in which he had -placed Theodosius, but an officer was bribed to betray the secret, -and the Thracian was brought to Theodora’s apartments. Theodora then -sent for Antonina and said: “Dear patrician, yesterday there fell -into my hands a gem finer than any that mortal eye has ever seen; if -you would like to see it, I will show it to you.” Procopius concludes -this astounding story by saying that Photius was kept for four years -in the Empress’s underground dungeons. Twice he escaped to the church -of St Sophia, and twice he was dragged back; at length he got away -from Constantinople and hid from the vindictiveness of Theodora in -the robes of a monk. There are writers who flatly refuse to believe -this statement, though the authentic actions of Theodora which we have -described lend it some plausibility. Once more, however, the recently -published works of the contemporary Bishop of Ephesus supply some -confirmation. We read in them that Photius, son of Antonina, “became -a monk for some cause or other”; but the pathos of Gibbon’s picture of -his fate is somewhat lessened when we read that he still enlivened the -monastic life with his genial soldierly vices and led the troops to the -plunder of the southern provinces. - -I have mentioned the underground prisons of Theodora. Since it is from -the “Anecdotes” alone that we learn of these dungeons, we should regard -the statements with some reserve, and in this case there is additional -reason for reserve. As Gibbon says: “Darkness is propitious to cruelty, -but it is likewise favourable to calumny and fiction.” Procopius seems -to know too much of what passed in these carefully guarded places. -Theodora doubtless had spies everywhere, and it would be easy enough -for her to have her enemies conveyed into the palace during the night, -or to some prison in remote provinces. Somewhere about this time (541), -we learn from John of Ephesus, her episcopal friend Anthimus incurred -the anger of the Emperor and disappeared. John assures us that Anthimus -was hidden in the Empress’s apartments _for seven years_. The two -chamberlains who waited on him alone knew the secret, besides Theodora, -until the day of her death. A woman with such resources could easily -maintain private dungeons if she willed, and we can hardly say that it -would be inconsistent with her character. But when Procopius minutely -describes the fetid condition of these prisons, and tells how fiercely -the prisoners were scourged, or how cords were tightened round their -heads until the eyes started from their sockets, we are disposed to -think that he has hastily admitted popular rumours which the judicious -historian must set aside as unauthoritative. - -On the other hand, a set of grave charges which Procopius combines -with these statements are not without very serious confirmation. -His most persistent charge against Justinian and Theodora is that -they extorted money by cruel and flagrantly dishonest means. The -superb buildings--the new palace, the new St Sophia, etc.--with which -Justinian adorned the city absorbed stupendous sums of money; and the -personal luxury and religious munificence of Theodora were such that -a vast fortune would be needed to sustain them. It is equally certain -that the money was largely raised by corrupt means. I have quoted the -monastic writer Zonaras saying that Justinian raised money “by fair -means and foul” and by “dishonest practices”; and the weighty testimony -of Evagrius that the Emperor was of such “insatiable avarice” that -he would share the “vile gain” of loose women impeaching wealthy men -on false charges. The most that we can say for Justinian is that the -money was not spent in personal luxury, and that it was extorted by -subordinate officers. Agathias, another good authority, tells us how -the steward Anatolius used to forge or suppress wills, and practise -other dishonest arts, so that he might affix to houses and estates the -strip of purple which betokened that they had become the property of -the Emperor. - -It is indisputable that the metropolis and the provinces suffered a -most unjust and corrupt spoliation in order to sustain the splendour -of the reign of Justinian and Theodora. Now Zonaras declares that the -Empress was “worse than Justinian in extorting money, both by unlawful -and lawful means,” and that she was “especially ingenious in finding -ways” to enrich herself. Wealthy men had charges of secret heresy or -unnatural vice brought against them, and their fortunes passed into -the coffers of Theodora. This must mean that her servants, as the -informers, claimed for her the legal share of the confiscated property -which went to an informer. - -Here again, therefore, the charges in the “Anecdotes” are substantially -confirmed. Not content with securing testaments in her favour, she -had them forged or altered. She suborned witnesses to support charges -of vice or heresy. The only difference from Zonaras is in the added -allegation of physical cruelty, and on this point Procopius is at times -explicit. A member of the blue party, Bassus, a refined and delicate -youth, issued some squib upon the Empress, possibly referring to her -early career. He was dragged from the church in which he had taken -refuge, charged with and convicted of vice, and subjected, before an -indignant crowd, to the barbaric mutilation with which such vice was -then punished. His property went to Theodora--in part, I assume, for -laying information. Usually it was the greens who suffered. So angry -were the people that they accused Theodora of a secret (but “impotent”) -love of the sinister Syrian financier, Peter Barsymes, who had -succeeded John of Cappadocia in the duty of governing and exploiting -Constantinople. The restraint with which Procopius represents her love -as “impotent” lends credit to his other charges. An accusation of an -actual liaison would have been more credible than some of the stories -he reproduces. - -A few episodes remain in the career of Theodora from which we may -confirm our impression of her remarkable personality. Unfortunately, -they rest entirely on the authority of the “Anecdotes,” and cannot -be pressed; we know only from another, and a sound, authority that -Belisarius was maliciously attacked and disgraced after his many -brilliant campaigns on behalf of the Empire. - -To the evils of oppression, spoliation, corruption of justice, and -persecution which afflicted the Eastern Empire under Justinian and -Theodora there was added in the year 542 the deadly scourge of the -plague, and for several years in succession it scattered the seeds -of death over the broad provinces. Justinian at length contracted -it, and became dangerously ill. As he had no son, the question of -the succession to the throne was very naturally discussed, and -the generals Belisarius and Buza in the Persian camp incautiously -expressed themselves on the rumour that Justinian was dying, or were -represented to the Empress by her spies as having done so. She at -once ordered them to Constantinople. Buza is said to have been lodged -in her underground prisons, and Belisarius was stripped of his rank, -his guard and his immense wealth. A eunuch was sent by Theodora to -secure the large sums he had deposited in the east, and the chosen -soldiers who formed his personal guard, and were maintained at his -expense, were distributed among the army. The greatest soldier that -the Eastern Empire ever possessed, the most brilliant contributor to -the success of Justinian’s reign, a man who had preserved his loyalty -in a decade of supreme military power, he was received at the palace -with cold haughtiness, and retired in deep distress to his mansion. -When at length he observed the approach of a servant of the Empress, -he prepared for death. Instead of death, however, Theodora’s officer -brought this extraordinary message: “You know what you have done to me, -Belisarius, but I forgive your crimes on account of what your wife has -done for me. Hope for the future through her, but know that we shall -hear how you bear yourself to Antonina.” And the episode closes with -the great soldier kissing the feet of his perfidious wife, vowing that -he will be her slave, and accepting the office of master of the stables -in the imperial service which he had so gloriously illumined. Theodora -had secured an enormous sum of money and intimidated an enemy. - -Up to the last year of Theodora’s life (548) the implacable writer of -the “Anecdotes” pursues his record of her misdeeds. Ever attentive -to the men who might some day dislodge her and her relatives from -the palace, Theodora watched with especial jealousy the grave -and distinguished nephew of the Emperor, Germanus, and his three -children. His eldest daughter Justina was in her nineteenth year, yet -none had dared, out of fear of Theodora, to offer marriage to her. -Theodora then decided to unite the fortunes of the two houses, and -secure the succession, by commanding Justina to wed her grandson -Anastasius--obviously the son of an illegitimate daughter of the -Empress, since it was little over twenty years since her marriage -to Justinian. Justina refused, and was vindictively married by the -Empress to a common officer. She then commanded the daughter of -Belisarius, Joannina, to wed Anastasius. Procopius, forgetting that he -has stripped Belisarius of almost all his wealth (an exaggeration), -says that Theodora wanted in this way to secure the general’s fortune, -but we may assume that Theodora was mainly endeavouring to secure the -succession to the throne for her grandson. Her own health was delicate, -and Justinian was well over sixty. Belisarius shrank from the union, -and even Antonina seems to have refused to further it. All knew that -a struggle impended between the families of Justinian and Theodora, -and it must have been the general feeling that the former would win. -Theodora is said to have angrily united Joannina to her grandson in the -loose popular form of marriage; indeed later rumour said that she had -the young woman violated first. - -Another matrimonial interference of the Empress in her later years -exhibits the better features of her character. An ambitious general, -Artabanes, sought and obtained the hand of Justinian’s niece, whom he -had delivered from peril in Africa. Soon afterwards, however, a woman -appeared who claimed that she was the legitimate wife of Artabanes. She -appealed to the Empress, and Theodora forced Artabanes to take back -his humbler wife. Procopius tells this story in one of the historical -works in which he was careful not to offend the ruling powers, and -he courteously adds that “it was the nature of Theodora to befriend -afflicted women.” It is the only instance of her doing so that has -reached us, and, ungracious as it may seem to cast a doubt upon the -pure humanity of that one recorded good deed, one is compelled to -suggest that it was not to her interest to see a niece of Justinian -married to a successful commander. - -On the 29th of June 548, after a reign of twenty-one years, Theodora -died of cancer. Her body was embalmed and exposed for public veneration -in the golden-roofed Triclinon of the palace. There, still dressed in -the imperial purple, still bearing the magnificent diadem for a few -days, she lay on a golden bed for friends and enemies to gaze upon the -last state of one of the most remarkable personalities of the time. - -The character of Theodora must be interpreted in so purely oriental -a sense that it is difficult for the modern European to understand -it. Whether Greek or Syrian in origin, she was an incarnation of the -spirit of the great metropolis in whose life Syria and Greece were -so singularly blended. It is useless any longer to cast doubt upon -her earlier career. She was reared in that old theatrical world in -which moral restraint was wholly unknown; and her beauty, vivacity and -nervous strength make it probable enough that she was distinguished -in it for dissoluteness. That in her later life she spent vast sums -of money on the Church and philanthropy is unquestionable; nor would -I doubt for a moment that she was perfectly sincere in her endless -conversations with holy men. But her passionate nature, difficult -position and supple intelligence gave her a genius for casuistry, and -she fell into vices far worse than the vices of her youth. Quite apart -from the attacks of her bitter, anonymous enemy, we have ample evidence -that she was vindictive, cruel, unscrupulous, dishonest and callous. -To send a bejewelled cross to the holy church at Jerusalem, or build -a monastery, she would ruin and despoil an innocent man or wreck the -happiness of a woman: to secure the preaching of the true faith in -Christ she would depose an upright Pope on forged evidence and put a -scoundrel in the most sacred chair in Christendom. It was the temper of -Constantinople--to rise from vice and folly to defend the doctrines of -the Church and enforce them with the dagger or the torch. The further -things that are said of her in the famous “Anecdotes” must, for the -serious historian, remain unproved but not improbable. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -SOPHIA - - -The Emperor Justinian continued for seventeen years after the death of -Theodora to occupy the golden throne and keep the throne of his consort -vacant. As he approached the term of his life the palace throbbed with -the impassioned struggle which always disturbed the last year of a -childless Emperor, and the courtiers took sides with the relatives of -Theodora or of Justinian, according to their forecast of the future. -On the one side was Sophia, the niece and heiress of Theodora: on the -other the Emperor’s nephew, Justin. Sophia, however, was diplomatic in -the pursuit of her ambition. She discarded the heresy which it had been -expedient to cherish while her aunt lived, accepted the hand of Justin, -and settled with him in his palace by the shore, near Theodora’s -palace-monastery, to await impatiently the retirement of the aged -Emperor. - -Justinian, says the contemporary lawyer Evagrius, passed in the year -565 to “those tortures which are provided in the nether world” for -rulers who despoil their subjects. The “greatness” of Justinian seems -to have been discovered by his mediæval admirers; contemporary writers -usually, and justly, attribute to his great general Belisarius the -military triumphs which partially restored the outline of the Empire -during his reign, and to the (probably) pagan lawyer Tribonian the -compilation of the famous Justinian Code, leaving to the Emperor -himself the odium of those unprincipled and unjustifiable extortions -which weakened and distressed his subjects. However that may be, -the Emperor’s last years were framed in a decaying world, and the -citizens of Constantinople regarded with hesitating admiration the -superb edifices which he had raised. His nephew Justin was “lord of -the palace” (_Curopalates_), and had ample opportunity to ensure the -succession. - -A profoundly courtly and accommodating poet of the time, Corippus, has -left us a touching account of the accession of Justin and Sophia. The -noble Callinicus comes one night to rouse them in their suburban palace -with the distressing news that Justinian is no more. The spouses arise, -and sit discussing the situation in a room looking over the moonlit Sea -of Marmora, when a group of Senators enter, and urge Justin to accept -the purple. He shrinks from the terrible dignity until their tears and -prayers override his modesty, and, as the first faint flush of dawn -outlines the houses, they walk sadly through the streets to the sacred -palace. The guards and Candidates and servants line the long avenue -from the iron gate to the bronze door of Daphne, and many tears are -shed over the body of the late Emperor, which lies on a lofty golden -catafalque. Sophia produces a piece of embroidery on which all the -illustrious victories of the great Emperor are depicted. By this time -the report has spread in the town, and the citizens fly to the palace. -The blues and greens in festive dress, with their respective standards, -line the path to St Sophia, whither they go to ask grace, and they -return to the palace to put on the robes of state. Then four strong -soldiers raise Justin aloft, standing on a shield, and the patriarch -crowns him and Sophia, and the Emperor passes to the Hippodrome to -receive the loyal greeting of his people. - -When we turn from this moving description to the prosy pages of the -lawyer Evagrius we find--without surprise--that Corippus has very -generously drawn upon the poet’s licence. Evagrius bluntly observes -that Justin “took” the purple the moment his uncle was dead, and -suggests that the officers of the palace were already in his service. -The death of Justinian was kept secret until Justin and Sophia had -been crowned and were suddenly presented to the populace in their sheen -of gold and jewels. Another contemporary writer from whom we learn -much, Bishop John of Ephesus, adds a very credible and instructive -detail. Sophia had been a Monophysite, like her aunt Theodora, until, -in the year 562, an astute bishop had pointed out to her that Justinian -was reluctant to set on the throne another woman who believed that -there was only one nature in Christ. By this powerful argument Sophia -was happily convinced that there were two natures in Christ, and -accepted the orthodox baptism. It is our first glimpse of the character -of the new Empress, and is quite in harmony with all that we know of -her. She was the niece of Theodora. - -The new reign opened auspiciously. As the Emperor stood in the royal -gallery, or _kathisma_, overlooking the Hippodrome, to receive the -plaudits of his people, the cry was raised, and soon ran through the -crowded benches, that he should undo at once the dishonesty of his -predecessor. If we may believe the poet, the citizens had, with great -forethought, brought with them the bills of the treasury’s debts to -them, and waved their tablets before the _kathisma_. One is tempted to -believe that it was part of Justin’s plan to outstrip his cousins and -other rivals. The gold also was produced with theatrical promptness, -and from the glittering pile heaped at his feet the Emperor discharged -all the debts in full. Sophia sustained her husband’s policy. We read -that a few years after her accession she gathered the moneylenders of -the city at her palace, paid all the debts due to them by the people, -and ensured a large measure of popularity. - -In virtue of the genial feeling engendered by this generous conduct -the new Emperor and Empress were enabled to strengthen their throne at -the expense of their rivals. The chief rival to the hopes of Justin -had been another nephew of the late Emperor, Germanus, and his sons: -a noble and gifted figure in comparison with the mean and petty -intrigues of Justin. We saw how instinctively Theodora had hated -this family. Germanus had ended his brilliant and stainless career -in war, but his son Justin seems to have inherited his character and -popularity, and certainly inherited his misfortunes. Obscure references -to revolt in the chronicles of the time close with the curt statement -that Justin and other nobles were put to death. Justin had been -banished to Alexandria, and _may_ have expressed resentment. Sophia -joined with her husband in what we are tempted to regard as murder. -“Justin and Sophia,” says the sardonic Evagrius, “did not abate their -fury against the son of Germanus” until his severed and grisly head -was exhibited to them. The metaphors of the time are so true to life -that the historian is often puzzled as to the exact details of such -episodes. The truth is, as we shall soon realize, that the Byzantine -Empire, in spite of its opulence, its art and its religious ardour, was -sinking toward barbarism. - -For a few years Justin and Sophia ruled with moderation and success in -their decaying dominion. The administration of justice was reformed -and the decoration of churches and public buildings proceeded. Another -palace--the Sophian palace--was added to the growing cluster of -mansions which made up the imperial town. Justin cleared a vast site -in the quarter where he and Sophia had lived, built for her a palace -and hippodrome, and raised two large brass statues of himself and the -Empress. In this marble-lined palace, in the imperial quarters, or -in the Hieria palace across the water, or the new suburban palace at -Blachernæ in the north, Sophia passed the first nine years of her reign -without taking any apparent part in public affairs. Then her husband -lost his mind, and she began to reveal her true character. - -From his early tolerance Justin had passed to the temper of the -persecutor, and the groans of the Monophysites were heard throughout -the Empire. Whether this new phase of activity contributed to, or -resulted from, his growing insanity, and how far Sophia was implicated -in it, we do not know; but by the year 574 Justin had become a -dangerous maniac. Bars had to be placed at his windows, and his -servants had carefully to avoid the imperial teeth; while, in his less -dangerous hours, he would shriek with delight, or bark like a dog, as -the servants pulled him along the corridors in a small cart fitted with -a throne. The commander of the Excubitors who guarded or amused him -was a tall and very handsome Thracian officer named Tiberius, whose -fine bluish eyes, light hair and beard, fresh florid complexion and -manly form, pleased the eye of the Empress, and she induced Justin, in -a lucid hour toward the end of the year 574, to raise him to the rank -of Cæsar. Writers of the time describe with great feeling this last -sane act of Justin II. The Empress, the patriarch and his clergy, and -the nobles and Senators, were summoned to the palace, and Justin held -to them a long and deeply penitent discourse, lamenting his sins and -cruelty, and recommending his wife and his Empire to the fortunate -Tiberius. The scepticism of the historian is apparently silenced by the -weighty assurance of Bishop John that this remarkable speech of the -insane ruler was taken down in shorthand,[11] but the publication of -such a statement would be by no means inconsistent with the character -of Sophia, and we must interpret the narrative with some liberality. - -In most of the historians we read that, when Justin died and Tiberius -ascended the throne, a romantic scene was witnessed in the Hippodrome -and the astute Sophia was outwitted by her handsome favourite. Sophia, -it is said, proposed to marry him, but when the crowd in the Hippodrome -cried, “Let us see a Roman Empress,” he replied, through the herald, -that an Empress already existed, and that her name was similar to -that of a church in the city, the position of which he indicated. -The citizens at once solved the conundrum, acclaimed his secret wife -Anastasia, and laughed at the discomfiture of Sophia, who retired to -her palace in anger and mortification. - -The entire inaccuracy of this legend, which has found its way into -Gibbon and all the earlier historians, must confirm our feeling of -reserve in reading the Byzantine chroniclers. It is true that Sophia -designed to marry Tiberius, and we may confidently assume that his -marriage was a secret at the time when she raised him to the cæsarship. -But we now know from John of Ephesus that Sophia learned of the -marriage of Tiberius long before the death of her husband, and the -citizens of Constantinople cannot have been unaware of it. Bishop John -observes that she looked with dry eyes on the burly figure of her -husband as he shrieked and laughed in his toy chariot; he was, she -said, deservedly punished for his sins, and the Empire would now fall -into her more capable hands. She induced the Senate to consent to the -elevation of the imposing officer, put an edifying discourse into the -mouth of Justin--unless one prefers the singular story of his hour -of lucidity and eloquence--and bade the patriarch clothe him in the -glittering insignia of a Cæsar. We can imagine her mortification when -she discovered that he was already married. - -The entry of Ino, wife of Tiberius, into the roll of the Byzantine -Empresses is romantic enough without this discredited story of the -concealment of her existence until her husband was on the throne. -Tiberius was a simple provincial soldier who had won his way to -the captainship of the guards and to the purple by his fascinating -appearance. Gibbon represents beauty as one of his many virtues; it -was certainly much more conspicuous than any other virtue he may -have possessed. He came from Daphnudium, which commentators place in -the province of Thrace, and it seems to have been while he was on -military service in that town that he met Ino. She was then married -to a soldier, and must have been older than Tiberius, since we read -that he was betrothed to her daughter. The daughter died, however, -and, as the husband also presently died, Tiberius gave his hand to the -widow, a rustic and undistinguished matron of a frontier province. When -Tiberius was promoted to the captainship of the imperial guards, Ino -came to Constantinople, and lived there in obscurity with her surviving -daughters, Charito and Constantina. Here the simple provincial family -learned that Tiberius had been raised to the dazzling height of the -cæsarship. - -But it soon became apparent that Ino had, by her elevation, incurred -the resentment of the all-powerful Empress. It is said that Justin, -in one of his lucid hours, urged that Tiberius should take up his -residence in the sacred palace, and that, since the flesh of young -men was weak, Ino should reside with him. Sophia bluntly refused her -consent. “Fool,” Bishop John represents her as saying, “do you who have -invested yourself with the insignia of royalty wish to make me as great -a simpleton as yourself? As long as I live I will never give my kingdom -and crown to another, nor shall another enter here.” Tiberius, knowing -that she might still arrest his progress toward the throne, submitted, -and Ino and her daughters were installed in the splendid Hormisdas -palace--now purified of Theodora’s monks and hermits--which Justinian -had decorated for his mistress. Such quarters as Tiberius was permitted -to have in the main palace were poor and inadequate; he preferred to -retire each night to the mansion by the shore. - -During the four years that followed Sophia ruled with the power and -rigour of an autocrat. When Tiberius, seeing the vast sums of money -which she and Justin had amassed, and affecting to regard it as -unjustly extorted, began to squander it on the people, she deprived -him of the key of the treasury. It is not unlikely that he was trying -to win popularity independently of her. When nobles, mindful of her -attitude, asked if they might visit the wife of the Cæsar, she angrily -told them to “be quiet,” as it was “no business of theirs.” It was, in -fact, rumoured in the city that, as two contemporary writers assure us, -she urged Tiberius to divorce his wife and prepare to marry her. We -shall see later that, in spite of the rigorous teaching of the Church, -a Byzantine Emperor, with the tacit connivance of the archbishop, more -than once divorced his wife. As Justin lingered, and no one dared -visit the trembling ladies in the Hormisdas palace, the courage of the -provincial matron failed and she fled back to her native town. - -In September 578, however, Justin passed the imperial crown to -Tiberius, and died nine days afterwards. Sophia had more than the -strength, but less than the penetration, of her aunt Theodora, and she -very quickly discovered that she had misjudged the submissive Cæsar. I -have already rejected the fable that he now revealed to the citizens -for the first time the existence of his wife. It is more plausible -to assume that his servants were at work among the citizens ensuring -that, the moment he appeared in the _kathisma_ in his stiff gold tunic, -the cry should ring out: “Let us see the Roman Empress.” He submitted -with alacrity to the voice of the people. Officers of distinction were -at once despatched to Thrace, to bring Ino to the palace, and Sophia -retired in great chagrin to her quarters. - -Ino, like so many of the Roman Empresses, remains a mere name to which -are attached a number of singular and romantic adventures, but a -little consideration of her behaviour in these adventures affords an -occasional glimpse of her personality. A simple and, no doubt, quite -uncultivated provincial matron, she had gladly exchanged the troubled -splendours of a palace for the tranquil plainness of her former home -in Daphnudium. The faithful Tiberius had occasionally visited her in -her retirement, and it was doubtless understood that when the death of -Justin made him free to defy Sophia she should return to the Court. The -day had arrived, and her humble home in the provinces was now besieged -by nobles and officers who were eager to escort her across the sea -to the bronze-roofed palace. “Come in the morning, and we will start -immediately,” Ino told them. In the morning, however, they found that -Ino and her daughters, disliking the pomp of an escort and the scenes -which their passage would cause, had quietly departed during the night, -and they followed in very evil temper to Constantinople. - -Tiberius and the Senators and nobles met Ino at the city quay, and -she was presently clothed in the gold tunic and purple mantle of the -Empress. In a covered litter, accompanied by a crowd of eunuchs and -chamberlains, she proceeded from the palace to the great church of St -Sophia between the living hedges of the populace. It was here that her -name was changed to Anastasia. Since the introduction of Empresses with -provincial or pagan names a custom had arisen of changing the name at -coronation, and the right to do so had been genially accorded to the -people. On this occasion the ceremony was more animated than usual. -The greens, standing under their banner at their appointed station, -raised the cry of “Helena”; from the next station the blues raised the -counter-cry of “Anastasia,” and “so fiercely did they contend,” says -the bishop, “with rival shouts for the honour of naming her that a -great and terrible riot ensued and all the people were in confusion.” -The blues seem to have been in the majority, and from her baptism of -blood Ino emerged with the royal name of Anastasia; from the cathedral -she presently returned to the sacred palace as Empress or “Queen” -Antastasia. - -From that moment we lose sight of the new Empress, and must imagine her -peacefully vegetating in the marble-lined halls and the superb gardens -of her palaces. The interest passes once more to Sophia. As soon as she -realized that Tiberius had shaken off her control she removed large -sums of money and much treasure from the main palace, and went to live -in her Sophian palace by the Julian Port. Tiberius, knowing her temper -and the vicissitudes of imperial life at Constantinople, regarded this -action with distrust, and tried to disarm her. “Dwell here, and be -content, as my mother,” he urged, pressing her to remain in Daphne. -She refused to do so, and he was content to assign her an imperial -Court and make it known by decree that she was to be honoured as his -“mother.” He then married Charito, the daughter of Anastasia, to a -distinguished officer, raised him to the rank of Cæsar, and prepared to -meet the intrigues of his adopted mother. - -The strong and ambitious woman chafed in the small world to which she -found herself reduced and soon began to quarrel with the Emperor. -Justin had begun the building of a lighthouse at the Julian Port, -near the great brass statues of himself and Sophia, and Tiberius -pressed Sophia to complete it. She pointed out that it was a work -of public usefulness, and therefore the Emperor must undertake it. -Tiberius refused, and the relations between them were strained. Here, -unfortunately, our informant becomes less generous with the interesting -historical matter which he mingles with his narrative of Church -affairs. He tells us only that the “proud and malignant” old Empress -“set on foot plots without number against Tiberius,” and was at length -deprived of her imperial status and retinue. Sophia was probably still -in the prime of life--Byzantine women usually married about the age of -fifteen--and this drastic step would merely dispose her to more violent -action, but it soon became apparent that a greater power than that of -kings and queens was about to intervene. Tiberius was consumptive. -In the summer of 582, after less than four years’ enjoyment of his -easily won honours, he felt that the end was approaching and sought a -successor. - -A contemporary ecclesiastical writer seems to suggest Sophia when he -tells us that Tiberius died of poison, administered to him in a dish -of mulberries, but we may accept the kindlier view that he was delicate -and consumptive, and brought about a crisis by some indiscretion at -table. A popular officer from the Persian wars named Maurice was in the -city at the time, and Tiberius--passing over, for some unknown reason, -the elder daughter of Anastasia and her husband--offered him the hand -of the younger daughter, Constantina, and the crown. Maurice, an -undistinguished provincial like Tiberius--he came from Cappadocia--was -crowned on 5th August, and married Constantina a few days afterwards. -It is expressly recorded that the marriage was celebrated with great -magnificence. Maurice was a robust, clean-shaven, ruddy-featured young -man: a man whose goodwill was as obvious as his incapacity to restore -a stricken Empire. The personal features of the Empresses are never -described by the Byzantine writers, but we are told that Constantina -made a brave show in her bridal tunic of cloth of gold, edged with -purple and sprinkled with diamonds, amongst the crowd of richly -dressed nobles. The citizens honoured the new dynasty with banquets -and illuminations, little dreaming of the horrible tragedy which would -extinguish it in blood. - -Tiberius died a week later, and Anastasia seems to have survived her -husband only a few years. Sophia returned to the palace after the death -of Tiberius, and spent her last years in tranquillity. But the twenty -years’ reign of Maurice is barren of interest for the biographer of the -Empresses, and we must pass quickly over its mediocre annals to its -tragic termination. Twelve months after the coronation Constantinople -was again seething with joyous excitement. Constantina had a son, and -it was the first time in two hundred years that a boy had been “born -in the Porphyra”: an appalling comment on Byzantine court life. Very -costly gifts were brought to the little Theodosius, as he lay with his -mother, a week or two later, under sheets of cloth of gold to receive -the ladies of the city. Four years later the boy was made Cæsar, and -brothers and sisters followed him into the world with great regularity, -until Maurice saw a family of nine children about him, giving promise -of an endless dynasty. Anastasia died a few years afterwards. Sophia is -mentioned only once more in the chronicles. Fourteen or fifteen years -after the coronation of Maurice we read that Sophia and Constantina -presented the Emperor with a magnificent crown, and that he offended -them by piously suspending it over the altar in one of the churches. -We do not know in what year she died, but it is clear that she did not -live to witness the horrible fate of Maurice and Constantina. No grave -blunder was committed by Maurice as long as she remained in the palace, -but it must have been soon after her death that he began to incur the -disdain of the people and the army, and to prepare the tragedy which -closed his life and that of his Empress. - -The causes of that tragedy belong to history; it is enough to note -here that Maurice converted the disdain of the troops into fierce -anger by refusing to redeem a number of them who had fallen into the -merciless hands of the barbarians. From that moment even the rabble of -Constantinople could insult him with impunity. One day when he and his -eldest son Theodosius were walking barefoot at the head of a religious -procession, they were stoned and compelled to run for their lives. On -another day the crowd found a man with some resemblance to Maurice, -clothed him in black, crowned him with garlic, and drove him on an -ass through the city amidst a chorus of jeering and execration. Then -some troops which he had ordered to winter in the hard lands beyond -the Danube revolted and marched upon Constantinople under their leader -Phocas. Maurice nervously ordered games in the Hippodrome, and bade the -people not be alarmed. They were not alarmed, as they had little idea -of loyalty to the despised Emperor, and there was as yet no question of -raising to the purple the brutal officer in command of the insurgent -troops. - -Phocas and his troops had now reached the outskirts of the city. One -day Theodosius and his father-in-law, Germanus, were hunting in that -region when a messenger of Phocas accosted them and proposed that -Theodosius should replace his father on the throne, or else Germanus -should take the crown. Although they refused, Maurice heard of the -invitation, and accused them of conspiracy. Germanus fled to the altar, -and Maurice, scourging his son for warning Germanus, sent guards to -drag him from the church. This provoked a rising of the people, and -Maurice fled across the water with his family. Maurice, now an old man -of sixty-three, was nearly wrecked in crossing during the night, and -was racked with gout. He had some years before befriended the King of -Persia, and he now sent Theodosius to ask help from that monarch. The -young man was, however, presently recalled by a messenger who said that -his father intended to meet his fate with religious resignation. He -returned to find that his father and five brothers had been butchered, -and his mother and three sisters confined in a private house, at the -command of the Emperor Phocas. - -Phocas, a little, deformed, red-haired man of repulsive appearance and -character, had at the last moment taken the purple, and won the people -by showering gold among them as he drove in the imperial litter, drawn -by four white horses, from the church to the palace. On the following -day his wife Leontia was crowned. As she went from the palace to -St Sophia another riot occurred between the blues and greens, and, -when Phocas sent an officer to quell the disturbance, some of them -threateningly retorted: “Maurice is still alive.”[12] Soldiers were -at once sent to the village on the Bay of Nicomedia which Maurice had -reached with his family. The five young boys were beheaded before -their father’s eyes, and he was then despatched. When Theodosius -returned a few days later, he fled to the church, but he in turn was -dragged out by the soldiers and put to death. - -Constantina and her daughters were confined “in the house of Leo,” the -chronicler says, and we may assume that this was a private house in -the district. Unfortunately for the unhappy Empress, the new reign at -once gave rise to intense disgust, and she became involved in plots -to overthrow Phocas. The new Emperor was a vulgar and brutal soldier, -plunging at once into an orgy of blood and licence. The Empress -Leontia--probably a Syrian, as Phocas had a Syrian treasurer named -Leontius--is said to have been “as bad as Phocas,” but we have no -detailed information about her. She was probably one of the strangest -in the strange gallery of the Byzantine Empresses. Within a couple -of years a plot was formed to drive this incongruous pair from the -throne they had usurped, and the patrician Germanus, who was the chief -conspirator, sent a eunuch to deliver Constantina and her daughters and -bring them in secrecy to the cathedral. It was felt that Constantina, -feeble and passive as she seems to have been throughout her stirring -experiences, would be the best figure to attract the sympathies of the -people. It is one of the many proofs of the appalling degradation to -which the Roman Empire had sunk that the plot failed. The issue turned, -not on honour and manliness, but on greed. Phocas had been liberal with -money and sports, and the greens, rejecting the smaller offers of the -agents of Germanus, assembled in the Hippodrome to acclaim the tyrant -and revile the helpless widow of their Emperor. - -Phocas turned ferociously upon the conspirators. Several nobles were -put to death; Germanus and Philippicus, the brother-in-law of Maurice, -were condemned to shave their heads and enlist in the ranks of the -clergy. The more terrible fate seemed to be in store for Constantina -and her daughters when a troop of soldiers burst into the cathedral -and threatened to drag them from the altars, but the archbishop -Cyriacus manfully protested, and Phocas had to swear to spare their -lives before the patriarch would suffer them to leave the sanctuary. -They were confined in a nunnery, apparently in or near the city. - -In this confinement Constantina presently heard that the bloody reign -of Phocas was becoming intolerable, and she was encouraged to enter -into communication once more with Germanus. Whether or no the plot -was inspired by Phocas himself, the female servant who carried the -secret messages from the priestly home of Germanus to the nunnery of -Constantina betrayed them to the tyrant, and he hastened to rid the -Empire of the last reminders of Maurice. Constantina was tortured and -compelled to name one of the patricians. By the same fearful means a -number of the nobility were accused, and the city was once more driven -into mourning. The hands and feet of the accused were cut off, and -their mangled bodies were then burned alive in the public places. Even -the daughter of Germanus, the young widow of Theodosius, was put to -death. For Constantina and her daughters the brutal tyrant devised an -exquisite punishment. They were taken across the water to the spot, on -the Bay of Nicomedia, where Maurice and his sons had been put to death, -and there the heads were struck from the bodies of Constantina and her -three innocent daughters. The Empire of Rome had touched a deeper depth -than it had ever done in its pagan days. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -MARTINA - - -Over the eight years’ reign of Phocas and his consort we have little -disposition, and not much occasion, to linger. The Empress Leontia -is characterized for us only by the one contemptuous phrase that she -was “as bad as Phocas.” We may trust that she equalled him neither -in brutality nor licentiousness, but the slender indications suggest -that she was some such low type of Syrian woman as a coarse and -vicious soldier would be likely to choose for his companion. A few -words must suffice to explain her exit from the imperial stage and the -introduction of a fairer woman to the throne. - -As the discontent increased in Constantinople, Phocas, his brutality -fostered by indulgence and vice, turned upon his subjects with -increasing savagery. Plots were discovered or suspected, and hands and -feet and heads fell under the axes of the guards. At length Priscus -heard that an upright and distinguished commander, who governed the -African province, had cast off his allegiance to Phocas, and he invited -Heraclius to come and seize the throne. Heraclius was too old to embark -on so adventurous an enterprise, but in the spring of 609 he sent a -fleet under the command of his son Heraclius and at the same time -entrusted his nephew Nicetas with an army which was to range the coast -of Africa and occupy Egypt. The curious statement, repeated in most -historians, that whichever of the young men reached Constantinople -first was to have the crown, is shown by a recently translated -manuscript to be inaccurate, as we might suspect.[13] Heraclius -dallied in the Mediterranean until his cousin had made progress, and -it was not until 3rd October 610 that the liberating fleet, exhibiting -at the prow of its commander’s vessel a picture of the Virgin which -angels had brought from heaven, came in sight of Constantinople. At -once Phocas found a tide of desertions, and, after a feeble naval -engagement on the following day, a Sunday, he fled in despair to the -palace. So far was he abandoned that a citizen, whose wife he had -violated, penetrated the palace during the night, dragged him to the -quay, and took him on a boat to the fleet early on the Monday morning. -Nicephorus, a later patriarch of Constantinople, gives us an appalling -picture of his fate--and of Constantinople. He was at once cut to -pieces, the member by which he had notoriously sinned was carried on -a pole through the city, and his bleeding trunk was dragged through -the streets and burned. Of the Empress Leontia and her fate we have no -information. - -The young Heraclius--he was in his thirty-sixth year, a robust, -broad-chested man with fine grey eyes and light curly hair--must not -be held responsible for the excesses of the Byzantine mob, though we -shall not find him a man of delicate feeling. He proceeded at once, -not only to assume the purple, but to provide Constantinople with -an Empress. Fabia, daughter of an African noble named Rogatus, was -in Constantinople with the wife of the elder Heraclius when it was -announced that the African fleet lay in the Grecian waters. Phocas -heard that the mother and the betrothed of his opponent were in the -city, and they must have had a narrow escape from death. He was -content, however, to confine them in a nunnery or penitentiary, and -from this hazardous position Fabia was released to find her lover -master of Constantinople. She was a beautiful and delicate girl, and -the biographer must feel some impatience that the few Empresses -of this more attractive character are so slenderly noticed by the -chroniclers, while they dilate, as far as their prejudice against -mere women will allow them, on the sins or audacities of the bolder -Empresses. - -Heraclius does not seem to have been eager to assume the purple, and, -knowing as we do the accidents of imperial life and the degradation of -the Empire, we can believe that he was sincere in offering the crown -to Priscus, the son-in-law of Phocas. Priscus refused, and the long -ceremonies of coronation at once proceeded. After the coronation in -St Sophia he was married to Fabia, and, under the name of the Empress -Eudocia, she entered the sacred palace which Leontia had vacated. But -the story of Eudocia is brief and uninteresting, and we hardly make her -acquaintance before a premature death removes her from the scene. - -Indeed, the only details recorded of Eudocia are that she bore her -husband two children in the first two years of her marriage and died -of the strain. With the birth of her first child, Epiphania Eudocia, -is connected one of those lively incidents which so well illustrate -the character of the later Roman Empire, even under its better rulers. -The patrician Priscus had refused the purple, but it came to the ears -of Heraclius that he was secretly disaffected and abusive, and the -Emperor chose a dramatic moment for disarming him. He invited Priscus -to be godfather to the little Epiphania, and, in the midst of the -ceremony, in view of the crowd of nobles and priests, charged him with -his treachery. Striking Priscus on the face with a book which lay at -hand--probably a Prayer Book--he directed that his head be shaven on -the spot, and the great noble passed from the life of camp and Court -to one of those monasteries of the Empire which harboured many such -strange inmates. - -In the following May (612) Eudocia bore a son, Heraclius Constantinas, -and her frail constitution never recovered from the strain. She had -gone during the summer to the healthier palace at Blachernæ, to the -north of Constantinople, and there an attack of epilepsy carried her -off in the month of August. It is painful to read that the funeral -of this fine and delicate Empress was disgraced by one of the most -repulsive exhibitions of Byzantine coarseness. The body was conveyed by -water to the city, and borne solemnly through the streets to the great -church between the mourning citizens. Just as the body was passing -a certain window, a maid-servant, who was watching the procession, -carelessly spat and the wind carried the spittle to the robes of -the dead queen. The girl was burned alive on Eudocia’s tomb for the -involuntary insult, and even her mistress escaped only by concealing -herself. - -Two years afterwards Heraclius married again. The new Byzantine -Empress, whose name stands at the head of this chapter, was one of -those strong and ambitious women who generally contrive, either by -their vices or their crimes, to break through the anti-feminist reserve -of the later Greek writers, but in this case the prejudice is increased -and we follow Martina with difficulty through her long and adventurous -career. She was the niece of Heraclius, and, in spite of the support -she gave to her husband in his brilliant defence of eastern Christendom -against the Persians, she remains under the shadow of the sin of incest. - -Historians have devised many reasons for the audacity of Heraclius in -marrying his niece, but we need hardly assume more than that she had a -beauty and charm which the ecclesiastical writers disdain to confess. -Her father was dead, and she lived in Constantinople with her mother -Maria, sister of Heraclius, who had married a second time. Young, -spirited and ambitious, she welcomed the passion of the Emperor, and -was prepared with him to override every ecclesiastical scruple. The -archbishop Sergius, a friendly and very able counsellor of the Emperor, -tried in vain to dissuade them. Heraclius coolly observed that his -objections were quite natural from his episcopal point of view, but it -was useless to urge them, and the patriarch discreetly stood aside and -allowed another priest to marry them. According to a reliable historian -the patriarch himself afterwards crowned her in the great hall of the -palace, and no doubt his bold and politic action silenced the angry -murmurs which arose in the Hippodrome. It was only when, in the course -of time, defective children were born of the marriage--the first -son was wry-necked, the second deaf--when Heraclius himself ended a -brilliant career in pain and humiliation, and when Martina passed from -public life under a suspicion of murder, that Constantinople discovered -the action of a divine curse and darkened the memory of Martina. - -So prejudiced are later historians against Martina that even Gibbon has -contracted something of their feeling, and suggested that a surrender -to the charms, if not the arts, of Martina explains that remarkable -indolence which Heraclius betrayed during the next few years, when the -advancing Persians were rending his Empire and threatening to sweep -Christianity out of Asia. We need not discuss here the problem of -the Emperor’s alleged supineness during those years of disaster. The -most recent biographer of Heraclius, Signor Pernice (“L’Imperatore -Eraclio”), emphatically denies that Heraclius was indolent, and more -authoritative historians, like Professor Bury, observe that the lack of -funds and troops, and other internal difficulties, placed a formidable -restraint on the very capable Emperor. When the war-drums beat at -length, we shall find Martina, in spite of pregnancy, accompanying the -Emperor in his long and arduous campaigns, and this gives us a right -to assume that she supported him in the long years of preparation and -organization. - -At one time, three or four years after their marriage, it seemed that -they would desert the sinking vessel of the Byzantine Empire and return -to the tranquillity of Africa. Two devastating waves--the Persians -to the south and the Avars to the north--were advancing across the -impotent provinces, and it looked as though the little that was left -of the Eastern Empire must soon be swallowed up in the mighty clash -of their conflict. Egypt, Syria and Palestine were in the hands of -the Persians, who looted and desecrated the most sacred shrines of -Christendom. Famine resulted from the loss of the grain-bearing -provinces, and plague followed closely upon famine. Heraclius and -Martina put their treasures on a fleet of ships and resolved to -transfer the throne to Africa. Then, when news came that the fleet had -been destroyed in a storm, and the patriarch Sergius made the Emperor -swear not to desert the city, Heraclius turned again to face his -mountainous difficulties. - -Raising the cry that the holy cross was in the hands of the pagans, -and that the very existence of Christianity was in jeopardy, Heraclius -succeeded in concentrating on a great national issue all the religious -passion which had so long been expended on distracting controversies. A -bargain was struck with the Church; its sacred vessels and incalculable -treasures were to be put at the disposal of the Empire, and the value -returned at the close of the war. By the beginning of the year 622 -the preparations were completed, the young Heraclius Constantine was -appointed nominal regent of the Empire, and the real administration -was entrusted to the capable hands of the archbishop and one of the -patricians. On Easter Day the last stirring services were held; and on -the following day the gilded imperial galley, bearing the miraculous -picture of the Virgin, the brightly painted war-galleys and the -hundreds of ships which bore the last part of an army of more than a -hundred thousand men, sailed bravely toward the coast of Asia. - -The Persian campaigns, which have put the name of Heraclius high in the -list of imperial commanders, interest us because Martina set sail with -her husband and accompanied him throughout the war. Unfortunately, the -literary deacon of St Sophia, George of Pisidia, who tells the story -of the war, shares the ecclesiastical prejudice against Martina, and -never mentions her name. Congenial as the task would be, therefore, -to follow the Emperor through his brilliant campaigns and imagine the -spirited Martina sharing his perils and his triumphs, it is hardly a -fitting task for a biographer. George of Pisidia, addressing Heraclius -in the name of the clergy at St Sophia, had trusted that he would -redden his black military boots in the blood of the heathen. He and -Martina returned to Constantinople six months later, leaving the army -in safe winter quarters, with a great victory and a brilliant march -across Asia Minor to report. Martina sailed with her husband, in the -following year, on his second and more dangerous campaign, and it -was in the course of this campaign that she gave birth to the son -Heraclius--usually called Heraclonas, to distinguish him from the -father, apparently--whom we shall find tragically associated with her -in her later years. She seems, indeed, to have accompanied Heraclius on -all his journeys; but to what extent she kept pace with the advance of -the troops--whether she reached the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris, -and beheld the oriental luxury of the fallen camps and towns of the -Persians--the prejudice of the deacon of St Sophia prevents us from -ascertaining. She had at least the glory of accompanying her husband -on one of the most brilliant, the most daring and the most profitable -campaigns that ever illumined the Eastern Empire. Nor must her -biographer forget to add that she bore several children during her six -years’ wandering over the mountains and deserts of Asia Minor, Syria, -Persia and Mesopotamia. Nine children, four of whom died young, were -the issue of the marriage. - -Martina shared, too, the splendid triumph which crowned the victories -of Heraclius. In the spring of 628 the Emperor and Empress rejoined -their family at the Hieria palace, on the Asiatic coast opposite -Constantinople, whither, with torches by night and olive-branches by -day, the citizens sailed to greet them. Heraclius would not return to -his capital until the cross was restored to his hands, and the summer -was spent by the united family in the Hieria palace. Early in September -the cross arrived, and they went to Constantinople for the triumph. -Preceded by the cross, Heraclius rode in a chariot drawn by four -elephants through the Golden Gate and along the main street of the city -(the Mese) to St Sophia, amidst scenes of such rejoicing as the Empire -had not witnessed since the days of Belisarius. A superb entertainment -in the Hippodrome followed, and then Heraclius joined his wife in the -palace. - -And here ends the glory of the Emperor Heraclius; the flame that -had burst forth so splendidly in a time of dejection fell just as -swiftly, and Heraclius exhibited a lamentable spectacle in face of an -even greater peril than the Persians. The problem of the character -of Heraclius might concern us if we had any satisfactory information -about the behaviour of Martina during the next few years, but as -the chroniclers almost refuse to notice her until they come to what -they regard as her misdeeds, we have no occasion to linger over it. -Her character induces us to believe that she attempted to awaken her -husband from his lethargy until she saw that this was impossible, and -that she then devoted her thoughts to securing the succession for her -son and the virtual rule of the Empire for herself. This, in point of -fact, is suggested by the meagre indications in the chronicles. - -In the spring of 629 Heraclius took the cross back to its original -shrine at Jerusalem, and from that time spent nine years in the -provinces of Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor. During those years the -Mohammedan power became a formidable menace to the Roman Empire, and -the inaction of Heraclius is a scandal to historians. His nervous -system was strained to the verge of insanity, and he retreated like one -paralysed with terror before the advance of the Mohammedans. Martina -foresaw the end, and began to prepare for the succession. There can -be no doubt that in these later years Heraclius, whose religious -fervour was now greatly increased, was troubled by the cry that his -“incestuous” marriage had brought these troubles on the Empire. When -his nephew Theodore retreated before the invincible Arabs, and came to -reproach Heraclius for his “sin,” the Emperor sent him under guard to -Constantinople and ordered that he should be disgraced. Some writers -see in this the action of Martina, but it may quite well have been due -to the broody nervousness of Heraclius himself. - -It was plain that Heraclius would not stem the Mohammedan tide, and -everywhere men talked of the succession. By the year 638 he and -Martina were back in the Hieria palace, and the struggle deepened. -Heraclius had now two children by his first wife Eudocia, and five -(living) children by Martina. His eldest child, Epiphania Eudocia, had -narrowly missed a romantic career. During the Persian war Heraclius -had struck an alliance with the King of the Khazars, a wild people -akin to the Huns, and, after gorgeously entertaining and rewarding -him, had shown him a miniature of his beautiful daughter, then fifteen -years old, and offered him her hand. It was only the death of the -King in the next year that saved the delicate young girl from being -added to the rude harem of the Hunnic prince. She was still unmarried. -Her brother, Heraclius Constantinus, now twenty-six years old, was -already associated in the Empire, and was the obvious heir to supreme -power. But both Heraclius and Martina knew that the Emperor’s death -would at once set her religious enemies to work to eject her and her -children from the palace, and they were anxious to secure her position -by associating her eldest son, Heraclonas, in the Empire. There were, -besides, a natural son of Heraclius by an early concubine, named -Athalaric, and the sons of his cousin Nicetas, who had helped him to -win the Empire. - -Two of these possible candidates for the purple were summarily -dismissed. Athalaric and the nephew Theodore were charged with -conspiracy at Constantinople, their hands and feet were struck off, and -they were sent into exile. It is conjectured by some writers on Martina -that she dictated this heavy punishment, and that her hand is seen in -the events which follow. Of this there is no proof; but there can be no -doubt that she was eager to secure the succession of Heraclonas, and -that Heraclius was now an almost feeble-minded patient under her care. -He persistently refused to cross the strip of water from Hieria to -the city, and they were compelled at length to make a bridge of boats -across the narrower part of the strait, and place artificial hedges of -trees along its sides, so that he could ride to Constantinople without -catching sight of the sea. The young Constantine, his eldest son, had -inherited the delicacy of his mother, and it was necessary to provide -for the event of his death. Should his sons inherit the purple, or -should it pass to “the children of incest”? The city seethed with -discussion. - -In the final decision we may confidently recognize the voice of -Martina. On 4th July 638 Heraclonas, then a boy of fifteen years,[14] -was crowned in the palace by the patriarch Sergius; a younger son, -David, was raised to the same dignity shortly afterwards, and the young -daughters of Martina, Augustina and Martina, were entitled Augustæ. -On the 1st of January 639 three Emperors rode in the procession: -Heraclius, Constantine and Heraclonas. Martina had, apparently, -triumphed; but more prudent citizens must have shaken their heads in -reflecting on the struggle which would inevitably follow the death of -Heraclius. - -The Emperor lingered for more than two years in his impotent condition, -and Martina meantime found a fresh and most powerful ally. The -patriarch Sergius had died soon after crowning Heraclonas, leaving -his metropolitan see to a monk, Pyrrhus, whom he had raised to the -higher rank of the clergy. Pyrrhus became an ally of the Empress, -who may possibly have assisted in his elevation, and the alliance -was the stronger because Pyrrhus secretly favoured the sect of the -Monophysites. From Constantine he would receive little encouragement, -whereas Martina, as events proved, was ready to allow him to impose -his metaphysical distinction on the Church in return for his political -support. It is even said that Martina urged her husband to send the -weakly Constantine against the Mohammedans, in the hope that he would -not return. Such things are easily said, and easily believed, but -incapable of proof. - -In February 641 Heraclius died. He suffered in his last years from -dropsy, and those who are curious to know by what appalling means -the medical men of the time relieved such an affliction, and how the -theologians of the time placidly traced the operation of a divine curse -for marrying one’s niece, may read the details of his sufferings in -the patriarch Nicephorus. To the last Heraclius was faithful to his -beloved wife. He divided the government of the Empire equally between -Constantine and Heraclonas, and he entrusted to the patriarch Pyrrhus a -large sum of money to be given to Martina in the event of her enemies -succeeding in driving her from power. The struggle began at once. - -Martina convoked a meeting of the citizens--presumably in the -Hippodrome--and had the will of Heraclius read to them. When the herald -had concluded, the sullen silence was broken by a cry for the Emperors. -Martina, who was evidently minded to keep the youths in the background -and govern in their name, summoned the Emperors, but continued to act -as mistress of the Empire. But Constantinople--a compound of inferior -Greek and Roman with Syrian blood--always disliked feminine rule, -and in face of the advancing Mohammedans regarded it with additional -concern. “Honour to you as mother of the Emperors,” the citizens cried, -“but to them as Emperors and lords. You, mistress, would not be able -to resist and reply to barbarians and foreigners coming against the -city. God forbid that the Roman commonwealth should fall so low.” -We may take it that the chronicler has gathered into a speech the -various murmurs which arose from the crowded benches of the Hippodrome. -Plausible as the cry was, it was a grave blunder. The ailing, probably -consumptive, Constantine had not the manliness of a ruler, and the -palace became the theatre of the struggles of rival courtiers. - -On the side of Constantine was the imperial treasurer Philagrius, and -this man embittered the situation by informing the young Emperor of the -money which Heraclius had left in charge of the archbishop and forcing -him to pay it into the treasury. In order further to strengthen his -position Philagrius represented to Constantine that his children would -be in danger from Martina if he died. It is important to notice that -the death of Constantine was plainly expected by all parties. Nothing -is clearer than that he had inherited the delicacy of his mother, -and was either epileptic or consumptive--more probably consumptive. -The patriarch Nicephorus tells us that he was “chronically ill” and -lived in a palace he had built at Chalcedon for the sake of his -health. His Empress, Gregoria Anastasia, was a daughter of Nicetas, -the young cousin who had set out from Africa with Heraclius, but we -have no further information about her. For her sake and that of the -children Constantine was persuaded by his intriguing courtiers to send -an officer, Valentine, to the troops when he felt that his end was -near. Valentine had not only a letter urging the troops to protect -Constantine’s children from Martina, but a large sum of money to -distribute amongst them. It is strange that historians have overlooked -this very obvious intrigue and so easily accepted the clerical -prejudice against Martina. If Martina were unable to meet “barbarians -and foreigners”--a point which might be disputed--assuredly infants -could not be trusted to do so. - -Constantine died about three months after the death of his father. -There is no serious ground whatever for the charge that he was poisoned -by agents of Martina and Pyrrhus. The patriarch Nicephorus, the best -authority, knows nothing of the rumour, and the very chroniclers, of a -later date, who attach importance to it admit that Constantine suffered -from a chronic malady. Indeed, when we find a contemporary (and -recently published) ecclesiastical writer, the Bishop of Nikin, saying -that Constantine after three months’ illness “vomited blood, and when -he had lost all his blood he died,” we may confidently acquit Martina, -and conclude that the young Emperor died of consumption. The statement -of Constantine’s son, a boy of eleven, when he came to the throne, that -Pyrrhus and Martina had been justly punished, is a mere echo of the -pretext of those who deposed her. The poisoning of a consumptive youth -would be a new and superfluous crime, and we have no reason to think -that Martina was even normally criminal. - -Martina at once assumed the government in the name of her son and -expelled the hostile faction from the Court. Philagrius was visited -with the most humane punishment of the time--he was forced to become a -priest--and his friends were dispersed. But his emissary Valentine was -in a strong position and he determined to put it to account. The large -sum of money entrusted to him enabled him to purchase the devotion of -an army, and he settled at Chalcedon with the ostentatious design of -seeing that no evil was done to the young son of the late Emperor. -Martina cleverly foiled his first move. She directed Heraclonas to -become godfather to the boy, who was carefully kept in the palace at -Constantinople, and to swear, with his hand on the cross, that no harm -should be done to the child. Valentine then brought his troops nearer -and began to ravage the suburbs and neighbourhood of the city, while -his friends in Constantinople lit the flame of religious antagonism -to Pyrrhus, who was unfortunately pressing his Monophysite tenets on -the Church. Exasperated at the inconveniences of the siege and the -heresy of the patriarch, the citizens now became restive. A mob invaded -and pillaged the great church of St Sophia, and Pyrrhus was forced to -abdicate. The power of Martina was now dangerously enfeebled, and she -came to terms with Valentine. The ambitious officer was to be appointed -“Count of the Excubitors,” or commander of the heavier guards, and to -be excused from rendering an account of the money entrusted to him. - -The further course of the intrigue is scantily known to us, as there is -here a mysterious gap of thirty years in the narrative of Nicephorus. -From later chronicles we learn that, before the end of 642, the Senate -deposed Martina and Heraclonas. In spite of the notorious malady of -Constantine, they were found guilty of having poisoned him, with the -connivance of the archbishop, and were barbarously punished. The -tongue of Martina and the nose of Heraclonas were slit--the text -does not imply that they were cut off--and they were expelled from -Constantinople. Valentine also is said to have been expelled, so -that he must have changed sides. The further course of the spirited -and unfortunate Empress and her son is told in the bare phrase that -they “lived a private life and were buried together in the monastery -of the Lord.” We do not know the place of exile, or the year of -Martina’s death. That her punishment was unjust and barbaric seems -now to be beyond question, and there is no excuse, beyond the amiable -indiscretion of her marriage, for the evil repute which chroniclers -have attached to the name of the Empress Martina. She seems to have -been one of the best of the Byzantine Empresses. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE MOST PIOUS IRENE - - -The revolution which drove Martina from the palace set upon the throne -a boy of eleven, Constans II. The wife whom he afterwards brought to -share his splendour, and by whom he had three children, is not known -to us even by name. We know only that when his crimes, or violent -indiscretions, had rendered him so unpopular that he passed to Sicily, -he sent for his wife and children. The Senators, however, had no mind -to see the Court transferred to Italy. They detained the Empress and -her children, and, as the life of Constans was shortly afterwards ended -by his bath-attendant felling him with a soap-dish, the unknown Empress -sank into complete obscurity. - -His son and successor, Constantine IV., had so clear a title to the -charge of brutality that no historian has ventured to dispute it, and -we will trust that the Empress Anastasia, whose features and character -are unknown to us, did not greatly lament the loss of a consort who -could slit the noses of his royal brothers and castrate a noble youth -for deploring the execution of his father. Nor can we think that she -was happier under the reign of his son, Justinian II., since the only -reference to her in the chronicle of his reign is that his favourite -minister, a Persian eunuch, had her flogged in the sacred palace on -one occasion. Her third and last appearance in history is even more -tragic; but a new and quaint type of Empress meantime enters the scene, -and in order to explain her arrival we must glance for a moment at the -adventures of Justinian II. - -Attaining the purple at the age of sixteen, Justinian seems at first -to have sinned chiefly by the very natural blunder, in a young man, -of admitting corrupt and extortionate ministers. A usurper then took -advantage of his unpopularity to dislodge him from the throne, and sent -him, with diminished nose, into exile at Cherson, on the Black Sea. -Within a year Justinian had the satisfaction of hearing that his enemy -had been forced by a new usurper to retire, also with diminished nose, -into the tranquil shade of a monastery, and he proposed to regain his -throne. The authorities of Cherson, however, decided to conciliate the -new Emperor, Tiberius III., by sending Justinian to him in chains, -and he fled to the land of the Khazars, who dwelt on the other side -of the Black Sea. The Khazars were a wild Asiatic people, akin to the -Huns, whose manners had been somewhat softened by contact with the -Byzantine civilization, and their king, or _chagan_, not only received -the fugitive with cordiality, but bestowed on him the hand of his royal -daughter. - -Theodora--a name conferred on her, no doubt, by Justinian in memory -of the consort of his great predecessor Justinian I.--can hardly -have boasted much beauty, being a Khazar, but she was not without -spirit and character. She presently learned that her father had been -bribed by Tiberius to surrender Justinian, and she warned him of his -danger. Sending, in succession, for the two high officials who had -been charged to arrest him, Justinian strangled them with his own -hands and fled to Bulgaria, leaving his wife and infant daughter in -the care of her father, who very amiably sheltered them. Within a year -the faithful Theodora learned that she was mistress of the mighty city -of the Greeks. Justinian had offered the hand of his daughter, then -one year old, and some more solid advantages to the King of Bulgaria -in exchange for an army, had laid siege to Constantinople, and had, -with a few soldiers, crept through the water-conduit into the town -and taken it. The appalling vengeance he wrought on his enemies and -on the inhabitants, even to the babies, of Cherson may be read in -history. It is, comparatively, an amiable trait in his character that -he did not forget the yellow-skinned princess who had lightened the -dark hours of his exile. She was brought with great pomp to the city, -bringing two children to their truculent father, was crowned Empress, -and enjoyed for a few years the undreamt-of splendour of the imperial -palaces. Happily, she did not live to see the end of her husband’s -savage vengeance. When a storm had threatened the life of Justinian on -the Black Sea, his companions had urged him to disarm the divine wrath -by forgiving his enemies. “If I spare them, may God drown me here,” he -had replied, with more vigour than elegance. His orgy was closed by the -inevitable assassination. - -We catch a third and last glimpse of the Empress Anastasia at this -point. The brood of Justinian was to be exterminated, and soldiers went -to the palace of Blachernæ in search of Theodora’s boy. When they burst -into the chapel they found the aged grandmother sitting, on guard, -before the sanctuary. The six-year-old boy clung to the altar with one -hand, and held a fragment of the “true cross” in the other, while his -neck was loaded with the most sacred relics. But Byzantine piety was of -a peculiar nature. The soldiers brushed aside the old lady, stripped -the boy of his relics, took him out to the gate, and “cut his throat -like a sheep.” - -Three Emperors followed in six years, and came to violent ends. Then -Leo the Isaurian (717–740) came upon the throne, and inaugurated the -famous crusade of the Iconoclasts, or breakers of images. His wife -Maria is known to us only as having received the title of Empress in -718, as a reward for bringing Constantine Copronymus into the world, -and having scattered gold from her litter among the people as she -was borne to St Sophia for the baptism of that ill-regulated infant. -Another Asiatic princess then comes faintly into view, when, in his -fourteenth or fifteenth year, Constantine marries a Khazar king’s -daughter. The religious chroniclers would have us believe that she -was endowed with much learning and piety, but the only ground of this -remarkable claim is that she did not agree with her husband, as few -women did, about the propriety of breaking the Virgin’s statues. After -eighteen years of patient expectation she ushered a feeble infant, -Leo IV., into the distracted Empire, and quitted it herself shortly -afterwards. The Empress Maria succeeded to her place in the arms of -Constantine in 750, and in 757 she left that very doubtful felicity -to the Empress Eudocia. Eudocia was pious and fertile: it is all that -we know of her. Nearing her first delivery she summoned the holy nun, -Anthusa--whom her husband had had publicly stripped and whipped a short -time before--and, in virtue of her prayers, presented Constantine with -a son and daughter, simultaneously, shortly afterwards. Four other -boys followed, and Eudocia, having behaved as a good Empress ought and -furnished no material to the biographer, followed her two predecessors. - -Meantime the famous Irene had entered the story of Byzantine life, -and once more we are in a position to make a satisfactory study of -Byzantine feminism. In the year 768, seven years before the death of -Constantine V., Constantinople was delighted with a succession of -festivities. On 1st April Eudocia was, after ten years of industrious -maternal activity, crowned Empress, or Augusta, in the “banquet-room -of nineteen tables,” with its golden roof and golden vessels, in the -palace. On the following day, which was Easter Sunday, her eldest -sons, Christopher and Nicephorus, were made Cæsars, and her third son, -Nicetas, received the heavy title of _nobilissimus_ (“most noble”), -which gave the six-year-old boy a gold-embroidered mantle and a slender -jewelled crown; so that the procession to church was headed by two -Emperors, Constantine and young Leo, two Cæsars, and a “most noble,” -all flinging gold and silver among the enchanted mob. But Leo was now -approaching his twentieth year and must marry. The idea was mooted -first of asking the hand of the daughter of Pepin the Frank, but it is -said that the Western Christians frowned on the Kensitite heresy of -the Eastern Court. So Constantine then resolved to seek a beautiful -and eligible lady within his own dominions, and it was announced in -the late summer that the prize had been awarded to Irene, the pride of -Athens. - -Irene was then a beautiful, talented and spirited girl of seventeen -summers. As she had, apparently, no ancestors, and as Athens had become -at that time a drowsy and almost obscure provincial town, we must -suppose that--as she herself afterwards acted--imperial commissioners -had been sent far and wide to examine candidates for the vacancy. -Irene’s radiant Greek beauty, robust health, and lively intelligence -pleased the officials; an imperial galley brought her to the palace -of Hieria, on the Asiatic side; her qualifications were found to be -adequate. There was one difficulty, and Irene gave early proof of her -skill in casuistry in surmounting it. Not only was Irene a woman--and -all women were on the side of the Virgin--but Athens was conservative -in religion. Constantine demanded an oath, and Irene, with a large -“mental reservation,” to use the elegant phrase of the experts in such -matters, swore on the holy cross that she would not favour the worship -of images. - -Her story will turn largely on the question of Iconoclasm, and a -few words on the subject may be useful. The real origin of Leo the -Isaurian’s zeal against statues is obscure. Historians suggest the -influence of the purer religion of Mohammed, but there was no cultural -contact of Mohammedanism and Christianity, and an Isaurian soldier -would hardly be the man to experience it if there were. When we find -that the Iconoclasts went on to reject relics and monasticism and treat -the Virgin in very cavalier fashion, I suggest that it was a Protestant -or Rationalist movement, a spontaneous protest against the excessive -superstition, clerical wealth and monastic parasitism of the time. It -took strong root in the army; and we may assume that the permission -to rifle wealthy churches, rather than any leaning to metaphysics, -explains this zeal for advanced theology among the troops. Constantine, -like his father, pressed the reform ferociously; and as monks and -women were the chief recalcitrants, he fell upon the monks with grim -determination. Their beards were oiled and fired: they were gathered in -masses with nuns, and told to marry each other--as many did: they were -forced to walk round the Hippodrome, to the delight of the mob, arm in -arm with prostitutes. Even the reluctant patriarch of Constantinople -was indelicately mutilated, driven on an ass round the Hippodrome, -under a fire of spittle, and replaced by an obedient eunuch. - -This was the Iconoclastic world into which the Athenian girl entered, -armed with a mental reservation. From the palace of Hieria she went, at -the beginning of September, to Constantinople, and her betrothal to Leo -was celebrated in “the church of the Lighthouse.” - -Three months later her probation was complete; on 13th December she -received the wonderful crown of the Empresses, with its cascades of -pearls and diamonds, in the gold-roofed banquet-room, and was married -in the chapel of St Stephen within the palace. - -Constantine remained on the throne for seven years, and Irene behaved, -and avoided images, with the most exemplary propriety, until, in 775, -the old Emperor joined his father in the eternal home to which the -religious chroniclers luridly consign him. Still for some years Irene -gave no sign of strong personality, unless we may see, as is probable, -her influence in the events of the following year. She had borne a -son in 770, and in 776 Leo was urged to admit this boy to a share of -the Empire. The Emperor was delicate, possibly consumptive, and it -will be remembered that he had five half-brothers, who offered rich -material for intriguing eunuchs and discontented nobles. Irene was -now a young woman of twenty-five, of strong and subtle intellect, and -well acquainted with Byzantine history. Her obvious interest was to -secure the succession for her son and exclude the children of Eudocia. -Leo at first demurred to the crowning of the boy. He submitted that, -if he died, the ways of Byzantium made it not unlikely that the child -would be murdered. He was answered with an assurance that the whole -Court and city were prepared to swear the most solemn allegiance to -his son, and in the spring of 776 he prepared to associate the younger -Constantine in his imperial power. It was becoming difficult in pious -Constantinople to devise an oath sufficiently sacred to be taken -seriously, and Leo exacted that all orders of the citizens should swear -by the cross on its most solemn festival and then place a written -record of their oath on the altar of the great church. On Good Friday, -therefore, the officers, Senators, courtiers and various corporations -of workers and idlers in the city, swore their mighty oath by the cross -to know no sovereign but Constantine VI., and on the following day, -when the last son of Eudocia, Eudocimus, was made a “most noble,” the -written oaths were laid on the altar, to be carefully guarded by the -patriarch--for a few years. On Easter Sunday Constantine was crowned in -the Hippodrome in the early morning, and the glittering procession of -Emperors, Cæsars, and “most nobles,” moved to the church, followed at a -modest distance by Irene and her eunuchs and women. - -Twelve months later the imperial family and the higher orders met in -the gorgeous hall of the Magnaura palace for a different ceremony. It -had been “discovered” that the Cæsar Nicephorus had conspired with the -eunuchs and officers, and, when Leo announced the details--there was no -trial--to the audience, it was at once decided that he be degraded to -the rank of the clergy and banished to Cherson. One rival was put out -of the way, and Leo continued to play with his caskets of jewels--his -favourite occupation--and Irene to cultivate her policy of waiting. -In her service was the eunuch Stauracius, a genius of intrigue and -counter-intrigue, whose watchful servants could at any time detect or -manufacture a conspiracy. On one occasion only, towards the end of her -husband’s short reign, does Irene seem to have been indiscreet, though -the indications are rather obscure. - -Historians put it to the account of Leo that under him the fierce -persecution of image-worshippers relaxed, but the question might be -raised whether there was much occasion for persecuting. It is said that -Irene secretly venerated images in her apartments and had about her a -group of confidential devotees, waiting for the death of Leo; and the -story runs that Leo, hearing of the conspiracy, forced his way into -Irene’s apartments, and discovered two sacred statues hidden under -a cushion. Whether or no it is true that Irene calmly lied--or made -another mental reservation--and disowned the figures of Christ and His -mother, it is certain that in the last year of his life Leo had a fit -of Iconoclastic wrath, and numbers of palace officials and nobles were -shaved into priests, dragged ignominiously round the Hippodrome, and -forced to exchange the gilded service of the Empress for the austere -service of the altar. - -In view of this it is not surprising that, when Leo died a few months -later, there was a faint rumour that Irene had poisoned him; though the -more religious chroniclers tell us that, in his infatuation for jewels, -he had taken from the church the rich crown which Maurice had suspended -over the altars, put it on his sacrilegious head, which at once broke -into fiery carbuncles, and perished miserably. We may take it that the -delicate constitution of Leo IV. came to an end after a reign of four -and a half years (in 780) and the Empress Irene entered upon her long, -prosperous and blood-stained reign. - -[Illustration: THE EMPRESS IRENE - -FROM AN IVORY PLAQUE IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, FLORENCE] - -Constantine VI. was ten years old at the death of his father, and the -administration naturally fell to Irene and her able, if unscrupulous, -ministers. When all allowance has been made for the ability of her -ministers, especially the eunuch-patrician Stauracius, it must be -admitted that the Empress showed conspicuous talent and vigour, and -brought about a wonderful restoration of the stricken Empire. Her -abjuration of the Iconoclastic tenets not only brought comparative -religious peace, in the course of time, but enabled her to strengthen -her rule by friendly relations with the Papacy and with Charlemagne, -whose star was rising in the West. The long and exhausting war in the -East was brought to a close by diplomacy, and the military victories of -Stauracius restored the rule of Constantinople in Greece and Thessaly. -Prosperity brightened the Empire, and it almost returned to the happy -position it had enjoyed under Justinian I. But from this brighter -aspect of the reign of Irene, in which it is difficult to disentangle -her action from that of her ministers, we must turn to events in which -her character is more clearly, if less favourably, seen. - -Six weeks had not elapsed since the death of Leo when it was announced -that a dangerous conspiracy had been discovered, the object of which -was to put the royal half-brothers of Leo on the throne. We can well -believe that there was some discontent at the rule of a woman and a -child, and that the feeble sons of Eudocia were ever disposed to listen -to ambitious courtiers, but the discovery was opportune. It removed at -one sweep all who seemed to be in a position to dispute Irene’s rule. -The three Cæsars and the two “most nobles,” and a crowd of nobles and -officers who were suspected of favouring them, were scourged, tonsured -or exiled. Indeed, lest there should be any later error as to the -clerical status of the children of Eudocia, Irene forced them publicly -to administer the sacraments to the people in the great church. It was -Christmas Day, and a vast crowd assembled to see the royal uncles -dispensing the consecrated bread under the eyes of the vigorous Empress -and her son. - -The cruel spectacle was resented by many, and Elpidius, whom Irene had -made Governor of Sicily, rebelled. Irene ordered the local officers -to send him in chains to Constantinople, and, when they refused, she -sent a fleet which quickly dislodged him and punished the rebels. -Unfortunately, we read that the “most pious” Empress, as the admiring -chroniclers call her, so far lost her temper as to flog the wife and -children of Elpidius, and drive the innocent woman, with shorn hair, -into a nunnery. A more amiable way of strengthening her throne was -about the same time discovered by some courtier. A marvellous ancient -tombstone was brought to Constantinople, and citizens gazed with awe -on the inscription: “Christ will be born of the Virgin Mary, and I -believe in him. Sun, thou shalt see me again one day under the reign of -Constantine and Irene.” As this stone was certified to have been taken -by a Thracian peasant from the tomb of some prehistoric “giant,” it did -much to discredit the more rationalistic Iconoclasts, who scouted the -virginity of Mary, and the opposition to the divine mission of Irene. - -The time was not yet ripe, however, for an open disavowal of the -Iconoclasts; the heresy was too deeply rooted in the army and the -more cultivated circles of the city. Irene thought for a moment of an -alliance with Charlemagne, and begged the hand of his daughter Rotrud -for her son. The offer was cordially received, and Byzantine eunuchs -were sent to initiate the Frankish maiden into the mysteries of the -Greek tongue and Greek etiquette. The fame of Charlemagne now filled -the world, and the young Constantine eagerly looked for the alliance -with his daughter. It would be interesting to speculate what influence -such an alliance would have had on the fortunes of Europe, and there -can be no doubt that Irene committed a criminal blunder in withdrawing -the proposal on what we must regard as selfish grounds. The only -plausible reason that can be suggested is that she feared that her son -might become a monarch in reality as well as name under the influence -of Charlemagne, and she was determined to be at least co-ruler. The -victories which Stauracius had meantime won in Greece and Thessaly -must have given her greater confidence in her own resources. In 783 -she proceeded herself with a large army--not forgetting the organs and -other musical instruments of the Court, the chronicler says--to pacify -and restore the province of Thrace. - -She now felt strong enough to restore the worship of images. At the -end of the year 783 the Iconoclastic archbishop Paul mysteriously -retired from his see. Irene called a meeting of the notables in the -Magnaura palace, and from the marvellous golden throne she announced -that Paul had been stricken with deep penitence for his opposition -to images and had retired to expiate his sin. She suggested that her -secretary Tarasius should be made archbishop, and the nobles and clergy -faithfully echoed the name of Tarasius. The secretary then protested -that he too had misgivings on the image question, and would take office -only on condition that a Church council was called to decide upon it. -Within a month or two Irene had brought to Constantinople a crowd of -bishops and heads of monasteries, and a fiery discussion proceeded -in the church of the Apostles. The Iconoclasts were, of course, in -a minority. Suddenly the doors were forced, and a troop of soldiers -entered, with drawn swords, and threatened to make an end to Tarasius -and his monks. “We have won; thank God, those fools and brutes have -done no harm,” was the exultant cry of the Iconoclastic bishops--I -translate literally from Theophanes[15]--and the meeting hurriedly -dispersed. - -Irene once more resorted to the kind of diplomacy of which she was a -mistress. The rumour was spread that the Saracens were advancing, and -the guards were shipped to the Asiatic side and marched toward the -south. When they had reached some distance from the city, a message -came from Constantinople that the war had been averted, and they -might send their arms or equipment to the capital before returning -themselves. They were then scattered over the provinces and the -metropolitan guards were recruited from the orthodox ranks. The bishops -and monks were convoked again, in the Council of Chalcedon, and in the -last sitting of the Council, which was held in the Magnaura palace, the -cult of images was formally restored. - -In the meantime Irene had resumed the work of finding a wife for her -son. If we are right in assuming that she rejected the daughter of -Charlemagne in order that Constantine should not have any strength -independently of her, we can understand her next procedure. One of -those innumerable “lives of the saints” which have transmitted to us -a few precarious fragments of genuine and interesting information -gives us a very romantic version of the rise of the next Empress. In a -remote Cappadocian village dwelt a very pious man who had won a local -reputation for sanctity, and impoverished his family, by his generous -almsgiving. He had three daughters, whose lives and prospects must -have been prosy enough in their rude village until romance entered it -one day in the person of an imperial commissioner. He was one of many -sent all over the Empire by Irene in search of a mate for her son, -and it seemed to him that the daughters of Philaretus corresponded -to the standard given to him--a standard which specified the height -and the size of the feet of the candidates as well as more material -features.[16] They were taken to Constantinople, with numbers of other -candidates for the glass slipper, and Maria, a beautiful maiden of -eighteen, was chosen for the lofty honour. It sounds like a modified -version of the story of Cinderella, but it was not the first time that -obscure maidens had been chosen for imperial dignity on their looks, -and the most reliable authority, Theophanes, tells us that Irene sent -one of her officers into distant Armenia--Maria is variously described -as Cappadocian, Paphlagonian and Armenian--for the obscure girl. She -was married to the Emperor in November 788, but we cannot end, as -story-tellers do, by saying that she was happy ever afterwards. - -Constantine was now a youth of eighteen, and had courtiers of his own. -With their aid he perceived that, although rescripts went out in the -names of “Constantine and Irene,” the government was entirely in the -hands of Irene and her ministers. He had keenly desired the daughter of -Charlemagne, and he resented the forcing upon him of a village maiden. -The year following his marriage was one of bitter discontent and secret -whispering. Stauracius, however, or Irene, watched the conspirators -closely, and in January 790 the net was drawn round them. They had -intended to banish Irene to Sicily, and they now found themselves on -the way to Sicily, their backs sore from the scourge and their heads -marked with the odious sign of clerical office. Constantine himself -was flogged, and confined for some time to the palace; it was decreed -that henceforth the name of Irene should precede that of her son; and -a formidable oath was imposed on the troops that they would not suffer -Constantine to rule while she lived. - -But the counsels of eunuchs and women, however vigorous they be in -their class, are apt either to fall short of, or pass beyond, the -golden mean in the game of politics. Regiment after regiment took the -oath, until at last the troops in Armenia refused to submit to feminine -rule. Irene sent the eunuch Alexius to persuade or coerce them. They -made him their commander, spread the rebellion among other troops, and -at length an army besieged the palace and dictated terms. Stauracius -was scourged, tonsured and deported to Armenia; Irene was deposed -and had to retire to a new palace--the Eleutherian palace--which she -had built and stored with treasure for emergencies. The lament of -Theophanes at this turn of the wheel, in which he sees the personal -action of the devil, is equal to his naïve praise of all the tricks of -Irene to secure and hold power in the cause of true religion. - -In spite of that zeal for true religion, the modern reader will not -have followed the career of Irene up to this point with unalloyed -admiration. She was essentially a casuist, the very embodiment of the -Byzantine religious spirit. Chaste she undoubtedly was, though we shall -presently find her acting in that regard in drastic contradiction to -the teaching of the Church; she was generous, even extravagant, with -money, and she showed a sincere concern for the welfare of her subjects -within the limits of her own ambition; but she betrays from the start -that lack of moral scrupulousness which too often accompanies fervent -piety in Byzantine women, and the bitter disappointment which closes -the first part of her reign will now make her more unscrupulous than -ever. - -It was in October 790 that Irene was deposed. Fourteen months -afterwards we find her returning to imperial power and making a fearful -use of it. Constantine had yielded to her pressure and that of the -nobles devoted to her, and again proclaimed that she was Empress and -co-ruler of the Empire. The Armenian troops at once protested against -the change, and, as their commander, Alexius, was in Constantinople -at the time, he was scourged and converted into an _abbé malgré lui_. -An expedition against the Bulgarians failed shortly afterwards, and, -whether the failure did really lead to a conspiracy, or the plot was -invented to serve the purpose of Irene and Constantine, a terrible -clearance was made of their possible opponents. Alexius and Nicephorus -(the uncle of the Emperor who had been made a cleric) had their eyes -cut out; and three other sons of Eudocia were brought from their -clerical homes and had their tongues cut. We must not too readily -implicate Irene in these barbarities. She had not returned to her -former influence and activity, and it was Constantine himself who led -an army against the insurgents in Armenia and made a terrible end of -their rebellion. In view, however, of Irene’s later behaviour, it is -probable that she agreed to, if she did not inspire, these proceedings, -and the authorities assure us that she now began to make selfish profit -of the unpopularity of her son and encourage him in licence. - -We have as yet said nothing of the imperial life of the young woman who -had passed from her village home to the palace. The reason is that she -seems to have been one of those admirable Empresses who impress the -chroniclers only when they bear children or suffer misfortune. Maria -had borne two daughters to Constantine, and the year of her misfortune -was at hand. Constantine had never loved his wife and had freely sought -consolation elsewhere; and in the year 794 his eye fell on a charming -lady of his mother’s suite. Whether this lady was too chaste or too -ambitious to admit his passion irregularly, we cannot say, but we have -the emphatic assurance of the authorities that Irene encouraged the -passion, and supported her son in his proposal to divorce Maria, in -order still further to weaken his position. If such an act seem beyond -the range of a mother’s ambition, I can only say that far worse is to -follow. - -On 3rd January 795, the unfortunate Maria was deposed from her dignity, -exchanged her imperial robes for the rough black dress of a nun, and, -with shorn hair, passed to a convent; and before the end of the same -year the more fortunate Theodote was transferred from the service -of Irene’s chamber (_cubicularia_) to the imperial dignity. It need -hardly be said that this procedure was violently opposed to the solemn -teaching of the Church, which now regarded marriage as absolutely -indissoluble. The courtly patriarch Tarasius, who had been converted -from a very secular secretary into an archbishop, proved accommodating -enough; he declined to perform the marriage, but he permitted some -enterprising priest named Joseph to do so, and he sanctioned the -transfer of Maria to a nunnery. But the monks of the Empire raised -once more their formidable chant of execration, and showered epithets -on the Emperor and the archbishop. The great monastery of Saccudion, -in Bithynia, was the centre of the agitation, under its vigorous abbot -Plato.[17] - -The next move of Irene was to espouse the cause of the monks who -fulminated against her adulterous son and his “Jezebel,” and were -punished for doing so. If we feel a scruple about admitting so -malignant a course in a Christian mother, we must remember that these -things are ascribed to her by chroniclers who are full of admiration -for her piety, and that the tragic end of the story is quite beyond -doubt. Constantine lost ground, and Irene watched her opportunity. It -came in the month of September 796, when mother and son went, with -a large and distinguished company, to take the hot baths at Prusia. -Theodote had remained behind, so as to be near the Porphyra palace, and -she presently sent a message that a son was born. Constantine galloped -in delight to the city, and Irene set to work. By amiable conversation -and secret gifts she won a number of the officers, and the conspiracy -quietly proceeded when they returned to Constantinople. The following -summer Constantine set out against the Saracens, and Irene, fearing -that he might return with glory and renewed popularity, for he was a -skilful and vigorous soldier, determined to strike. - -Constantine was recalled to the city by some false intelligence, and as -he went one day (17th June) from the Hippodrome to join his wife (whose -baby had recently died) in the palace of Blachernæ, he was attacked. -He escaped, and fled by boat to the Asiatic side, where Theodote -joined him. The position was now critical, as a number of nobles and -officers were with Constantine, and Irene heard that others were daily -crossing the water. For a moment she trembled and thought of sending -bishops to ask her son to allow her to retire into private life, but -there remained one device. Among the courtiers with Constantine were -some whom she had already compromised, and she sent a secret message -to these men to the effect that she would reveal their perfidy to the -Emperor if they remained with him. The stratagem succeeded. In the -early morning of 15th August the Emperor was brought, bound, to his -palace and lodged in the Porphyra; and there, in the very palace in -which he had been born, his eyes were brutally cut out by the knives -of the soldiers at the ninth hour of the day. Some of the chroniclers -observe that the work was done in such a way that the men really -intended to kill Constantine. That is misleading, since it would have -been perfectly easy to kill him, whereas we know that he lingered in -confinement in the Therapia palace for some years. The truth probably -is that Irene’s casuistry permitted the horrible mutilation, but -forbade the murder, of her son; but her agents probably concluded that -if they accidentally and unintentionally killed Constantine there would -be few tears shed. - -It would be difficult to find a parallel to this horrible deed in the -long story of the pagan Empresses, and we press on to the conclusion -of Irene’s reign. For several years she continued to rule the Empire -in peace and prosperity. One or two feeble revolts were made, and more -eyes were cut from their sockets, but the year 799 opened with little -sign of trouble. Decrees went forth in the name of “Irene, the great -king and autocrat of the Romans.” She built convents and established -charitable foundations. She gladdened the hearts of the poor by -remitting taxes and import duties, and scattering money amongst them -as she rode to church in a golden chariot drawn by four white horses, -the reins of each held by one of the highest dignitaries of the Empire. -The Pope blessed her--he had put out the eyes of his predecessor--and -the great Charlemagne sent legates to ask her hand in marriage. And the -blind Emperor lingered in his palace-prison with his faithful Theodote, -waiting for the thunder of Jupiter. - -In the year 800 the shadow of the avenger seemed to come over the -palace. Irene had two powerful ministers, Stauracius (who had, of -course, returned from the service of the altar) and Aetius, and their -quarrels filled the palace and the heart of Irene with bitterness. In -799 she had been dangerously ill, and their intrigues had doubled. She -recovered, and Stauracius determined to make a bold attempt to secure -the purple. His conspiracy was discovered, and Irene, holding a council -in the gold-roofed dining-hall, decreed that no military officer was to -approach Stauracius. The sentence seems mild, but the truth was that, -in spite of doctors and priests who lied to him even as he spat blood, -Stauracius was dying. He passed away in June, and Aetius commanded the -palace. - -The end came in 802. Aetius had frustrated the proposal of a marriage -of Charlemagne and Irene, who seems to have favoured it (she was still -only in her fiftieth year), because he designed to secure the purple -for his brother and thus maintain his position. But the legates of -Charlemagne lingered in Constantinople, and witnessed the fall of -the great Empress. On the evening of 31st October 802, when Irene -lay ill in her Eleutherian palace, a group of nobles and officers -knocked at the door of the Chalke and summoned the guard. They had, -they said, been sent by Irene to put Nicephorus, the “chancellor of -the exchequer,” on the throne; she wished to forestall Aetius. In the -darkness and confusion they were admitted, and they took possession of -the palace and set guards round the Eleutherian palace. Almost before -dawn the next morning they conveyed Nicephorus to the great church to -be crowned, and, although Irene’s liberality had won the people and -they gathered in the square to damn Nicephorus and the archbishop and -raise cheers for Irene, they were powerless. The nobles and officers -were resolved to tolerate the insolence of Aetius no longer. - -Irene, sick and dispirited, was incapable of making one of those -spurts of energy or astute stratagems which had so often saved her. -When the hypocritical Nicephorus came to visit her in her apartments, -she quietly begged that she might be permitted to end her days in her -Eleutherian palace. He had often been a guest at her table and grossly -deceived her; even the nobles were yet to learn what a brute they had -put on the throne. He promised that if she would swear on the cross -to give up the whole of the imperial treasure, she should retire to -her palace. It was believed that treasure was hidden in various places -in that labyrinth of palaces; even the blind Constantine was brought -forth to say in which wall a certain treasure was hidden. Irene swore -her last oath, gave a list of the hiding-places--and was promptly -imprisoned in a monastery she had built on the Princes’ Islands, a -group of small islands, in view of the palace, on the Sea of Marmora. - -Constantinople seems to have been deeply moved, and a month later she -was removed to a dismal prison on the island of Lesbos. There, under -a strong guard, rigorously isolated from her friends, she spent nine -miserable months reflecting on the strange career she had run since she -had left Athens in the pride of her youth and beauty. She died on 9th -August 803, and was buried in her monastery on the Princes’ Islands. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -SAINT THEODORA - - -From the most pious Irene we proceed, after a passing glance at the -half-dozen Empresses of less fame who come between them, to a notable -Empress whose memory has actually been enshrined in the list of the -canonized. Byzantine piety has at times assumed such peculiar features -in the course of our story that we will not leap to the conclusion that -at length we reach a woman in whom modern taste will find a realization -of its standards. The restoration of the images of the Virgin and the -founding of monasteries were in those days arguments powerful enough -to silence the importunities of the devil’s advocate. Theodora will be -found to have ways that the modern woman may or may not admire, but -will assuredly not be encouraged to imitate. Yet it will be something -to meet a powerful Byzantine Empress whose hands are not stained with -blood, and, from her romantic elevation to her tragic fall, the story -of Saint Theodora will prove of no little interest. - -We have left Irene dying of a broken heart in her island prison while -the perfidious Nicephorus wantons on her wealth in the sacred palace. -Since no wife is associated with him in the chronicles, it is not ours -to determine whether he really was “the sink of all the vices,” as the -ecclesiastical writers say, or whether his anti-clerical spirit and his -refusal to persecute heretics have not loaded the scales against him. -The example of Charlemagne, who maintained an imperial harem in the -heart of Christendom, seems to have affected him. When he had commanded -(for his son Stauracius) one of those “beauty shows” by which the -Byzantine Court often selected a royal bride, and three blushing and -beautiful maidens were presented for his final decision, he is said to -have appropriated two of them and imposed the third on his son. The -new Empress, Theophano, was an Athenian girl, a relative of Irene, -but, though she was not devoid of ambition, Fate did not afford her -the opportunity enjoyed by Irene. Nicephorus fell in war after a reign -of nine years, and his skull, tastefully mounted in silver, became a -favourite drinking-cup of the King of Bulgaria. But his son Stauracius -was gravely wounded in the same battle, and was borne back to the city -in a litter in a dangerous condition. - -Theophano, who was childless, saw the crown slipping from her hands -as soon as she had obtained it. The Emperor’s sister Procopia was -married to the chief governor of the palace, a very handsome, amiable, -black-haired youth, not wanting in popularity, and the soldiers and -Senators whispered too loudly that he was fit to wear the purple. -Stauracius, from his sickbed, petulantly ordered that the bright eyes -of Michael should be cut out, and that the imperial power should pass -to Theophano. Within a few weeks the army turned upon its helpless -sovereign, and lodged him in a monastery. Theophano passed from the -palace to a nunnery and lost the beautiful hair which had so recently -helped to win her a throne; but it should be added, for the credit of -Michael, that he enabled her to soften the disappointment with all the -comfort that a large fortune could afford a woman with sacred vows. - -Even more romance is packed into the brief story of the Empress -Procopia. Rising with her father, Nicephorus, from the level of -court officials to the imperial rank, she had married the handsome -superintendent of the palace and had, after a fortunate escape from the -vindictiveness of her brother (or of Theophano), been crowned mistress -of the Roman world, in the gold-roofed _triclinon_ on 2nd October -811. To her the Fates seemed to open a long and glorious career. Her -husband had neither grit nor judgment, and she virtually undertook the -administration of the Empire. Unhappily, she illustrated in a fatal -degree the proverbial subservience of women to priests and monks. The -policy of Nicephorus was reversed; the Church smiled under a shower -of gold, while the heretics were lashed into sullen defiance in the -provinces. Officers and nobles looked with disdain and irritation -on this revival of clericalism, and even concerted a plot to bring -the eyeless sons of Constantine VI. to the throne from their distant -priestly homes. When, in the year 812, Procopia drove out at the head -of the troops, who were marching against the Bulgarians, the soldiers -murmured and the “simple-minded” Michael, as a contemporary calls him, -was insulted. And when, in the following spring, Michael, relying on -his spiritual advisers for carnal warfare, was ignominiously beaten by -the Bulgarians, the soldiers offered the crown to a vigorous Armenian -officer and marched on the city. - -Thus in less than two years Procopia forfeited the power which, she -believed, she had used so admirably. Her mild and timid husband -returned to the capital to tell her that he proposed to resign and -avoid a civil war. She raged in vain at his pusillanimity; the -chroniclers tell us, in particular, that she dwelt with strong -invective on the notion of this unlettered officer’s wife appearing -in the purple. While they discussed, the army reached Constantinople, -and they fled, with their children, to a chapel in the palace grounds -near the sea. The end was ruthless and inevitable. Michael, who was -little feared, was clothed with the monastic habit which befitted him, -and placed on one of the Princes’ Islands, in the Sea of Marmora, from -which so many kings and princes were to gaze upon the palace they had -lost. His elder son was castrated. Procopia was shorn and clothed with -the hated black dress of a nun, and, deprived of all her property, she -lived for a few miserable years with her daughters in a convent on the -fringe of the city. - -The Empress Theodosia, wife of Leo the Armenian, who now ascended -the throne, hardly merited all the disdain with which Procopia had -depicted her in the imperial robes. She was the daughter of Arsaberes, -an officer and patrician of such rank and culture that there had been -an attempt to put him on the throne in the reign of Nicephorus. One -of the chroniclers, however, speaks incidentally of Leo’s “incestuous -marriage,” and we may assume that there was something wrong in the -connexion. It matters little, as Theodosia remains in complete -obscurity during her husband’s seven years’ reign. Only in the last -week does she make her first, and last, appearance in history. - -In spite of a sincere desire to reform the Empire, and the most -energetic measures to purify and strengthen it, Leo became unpopular. -Reformers were rarely popular at Constantinople, and Leo had the -additional disadvantage of favouring the Iconoclasts. When fiery monks -denounced his maxim of universal toleration, he resorted to violence, -and hands and feet began to fall under the axes of his soldiers. At -last he discovered that the Count of his guards, Michael, was at the -head of a conspiracy, and he is said--many historians refuse to believe -the statement--to have ordered that Michael be cast forthwith into the -furnace which heated the baths of the palace. It was Christmas Eve, and -the Empress was horrified to learn that the feast was to be desecrated -in this way. As the soldiers conducted Michael through the palace, -she rushed from her bed, with flying locks and disordered dress, and -fell upon Leo “like a bacchante.” He sullenly postponed the execution, -muttering: “You and the children will see what comes of keeping me from -sin.” Michael was fettered and confined, and Leo retired with the key -of the fetters in his breast. - -The unknown story of Theodosia, daughter of Arsaberes, ends in a -thrilling page of romance. Leo slept little, the fear that he had -blundered tormenting him, and at last he went in the dead of night to -the chamber in which Michael was confined. To his surprise he found -Michael sleeping on the jailer’s bed, instead of being chained to the -wall. He retired to consider the matter, but it seems that he took -no steps, and, in the early morning, he went to the chapel to chant -matins with the clergy. Now a page, who had been lying in a corner -of Michael’s cell, had noticed the purple slippers of the man who -had entered; he at once wakened Michael and his friendly jailer, and -a message was hastily sent to friends in the city, threatening to -betray them to Leo if they did not deliver Michael at once. It was, -as I said, the depth of winter--it was now Christmas morning--and a -group of singers were to enter the palace in the early hours to join -with Leo in singing the service. Leo had a resonant voice, of which -he was very proud. With these singers, hooded and cloaked with fur, -the conspirators mingled, and made their way to the chapel, concealing -their swords. They stood perplexed in the dim and cold chapel, as Leo -had drawn his fur hood over his head and was unrecognizable, until at -last his sonorous voice rang out, and their swords gleamed in the light -of the lamp. Leo, a very powerful man, seized the cross, and defended -himself for a time, but soon fell dead to the ground. Theodosia was -turned adrift in the desolate Empire, her four boys were castrated--one -dying under the brutal mutilation--and Michael the Stammerer, instead -of passing to the furnace, sat on the golden throne, even before the -fetters could be struck from his feet. - -The reign of Michael introduces us at length to the woman whose name -stands at the head of this chapter. Michael was the son of a Phrygian -peasant, knowing more about pigs and mules than about Greek letters, -says the indignant chronicler, and had risen from the lowest rank of -the army. He had in early years married the daughter of an officer; -though we may smile at the legend that Thecla was bestowed upon him -because some soothsayer had foretold his fortune. Thecla had enjoyed a -year or two of splendour and passed away, leaving a son and daughter. -Second marriages were not favoured by the clergy and monks, and it is -said that Michael secretly arranged with the Senators that they should -press him to marry again; but when we find that he married a nun, -we can hardly suppose that he was disposed to fear the clergy. His -second Empress, Euphrosyne, has made no mark in history, yet she is -interesting. It will be remembered that twenty years earlier the son of -Irene had divorced his wife Maria, and sent her and her young daughters -into a convent. It was one of these daughters who, after spending -twenty years’ placid existence in a religious house during all the -storms that had swept through the palace, was recalled to the world, -relieved of her vows by the patriarch, and married to the boorish -Michael. After four or five years’ further enjoyment of the palace, -Michael was carried off by dysentery, and left the Empire to Euphrosyne -and her stepson Theophilus. Here begins the story of the sainted -Theodora, and ends the brief visit of Euphrosyne to the brighter world. - -When Theophilus ascended the throne in 829 he is said to have been a -widower, though still young. The chroniclers persistently state that -the youngest of his five daughters married one of his officers a few -years after his accession, and the only solution of this singular -puzzle is said to be that an earlier wife had died and left him with -several girls. He was not, at all events, married when he was crowned -in 829, and, with the aid of Euphrosyne, he sought a consort. Once more -matrimonial commissioners searched the city and the provinces, and -every father of a beautiful girl hastened to display her charms to the -imperial examiners. Some writers would confine the scrutiny to the city -of Constantinople, but the fact that Theodora came from the distant -province of Paphlagonia confirms the statement of George the Monk that -the imperial commissioners travelled through “all regions” (of the -Empire) in search of a perfect bride. The utmost that panegyric has -been able to say of Theodora’s parents, Marinus and Theoclista, is that -they were “not ignoble.” We may assume that, like the Empress Maria, -the mother of Euphrosyne, she was discovered in some obscure village of -Asia Minor and conducted, with fluttering heart, to the Court of the -great king. - -Euphrosyne added a picturesque feature to the “competition.” She -arranged the _élite_ of the candidates in a line in the hall of one -of the palaces, gave Theophilus a golden apple, and bade him give the -apple to the lady of his choice. He first approached a maiden named -Casia, or Cassia, who was not only the most beautiful of them all, but -had some repute for poetical talent. “How much evil has come through -woman,” said the imperial prig, improvising a Greek verse. “Yet how -many better things have come from woman,” the young poetess modestly -retorted, in verse. To her great mortification he passed on, apparently -displeased with her ready tongue, and gave the apple to Theodora. Casia -retired to a nunnery and to the composition of hymns, and Theodora was, -on Whitsunday 830, married and crowned by the patriarch Antony in the -historic chapel of St Stephen. - -Euphrosyne returned to her convent immediately after the coronation. -Some authorities say that she was dismissed by Theophilus, others that -she retired voluntarily. It is not improbable that twenty years of -religious life had made her a real nun at heart, and she retired the -moment she was relieved of those reasons of State which had interrupted -her solitude. - -During the thirteen years of the reign of Theophilus the Empress bore -her children and confined herself to the gynæceum, as a good Empress -should. Two sons and five daughters are assigned to her, but, as I -said, some, if not all, of these daughters of Theophilus seem to have -had an earlier mother. Maria is described as the youngest, yet about -the year 832, two or three years after the marriage of Theodora, she -married the commander Alexis. She died shortly afterwards. - -Theodora had been piously educated in the orthodox faith, and it is -piquant to read the approving language of the religious writers when -they describe her duping her husband and breaking her oath to him. -Cardinal Baronius, who is endorsed by the Bollandists, calls her -“the glory and ornament of holy womanhood ... the unique example of -exalted holiness in the east.” We shall follow these distinguished -authorities on sanctity with some hesitation when we afterwards find -Theodora encouraging her son in vice, in order that he may leave the -administration to her and the clergy, and permitting him to hold -drunken suppers with his mistress in her palace; but the worldly minded -biographer must be less enthusiastic than they even about her earlier -actions. - -The first anecdote told of her is that the Emperor one day noticed a -heavily laden ship making for the port of Constantinople and learned -that it belonged to Theodora. He went down in great anger to the quay, -and ordered the ship and its cargo to be burned. “God made me an -Emperor,” he cried, “and my wife and Augusta has made me a shipowner.” -The Bollandists merely enlarge at this point on the naughtiness of -princes who wish to monopolize trade for their own profit, but I think -that a better defence of Theodora can be imagined. The young Empress -was probably blameless. It was a custom of courtiers to evade the -duties on imports by trading in the name of the Empress, and Theodora -would hardly understand the matter sufficiently to refuse her name at -once. - -The genial critic will also regard with some indulgence her petty -mendacities in regard to the beloved images which she cherished in -secret. One day her jester, or half-witted page, came suddenly into her -room and found her embracing the forbidden statues. She told him that -they were dolls, and Denderis went at once to tell Theophilus of the -pretty dolls with which his wife played in secret. Theophilus angrily -started from the table and went to her room. The fool was mistaken, -she cried; she and her maids had been looking in a mirror, and the boy -had taken their images in the mirror to be dolls.[18] Theophilus was -not convinced. Little more could be learned from the page, who had -been flogged by Theodora and told to hold his tongue about dolls, so -that whenever Theophilus asked him, he said: “Hush, Emperor; nothing -about dolls.” But his young daughters also now began to speak of dolls, -especially when they returned from visits to Theodora’s mother, who had -a palace at Gastria across the water. He learned from them that the -old lady kept a chest full of pretty dolls, which they were encouraged -to kiss and embrace when they visited her. The visits were immediately -stopped, and Theodora was compelled to take the most sacred oaths that -she would never favour the worship of images. Like Irene, she did so -with mental reservation. - -The long and vigorous reign of Theophilus ended sadly. Unsuccessful -in war, indiscreet at home, and at war with the clergy, he wasted his -talent in adding to the luxury of the Court. He found a wonderful -mechanic and engaged him to fill the palace with expensive toys that -seemed to enhance the imperial dignity. Before “Solomon’s Throne” in -the Magnaura palace were set lions of gilded bronze which would rise -and roar at the approach of foreign ambassadors. Golden trees, with -golden singing birds, invisible organs, and all kinds of mechanical -barbarities were added to the rare furniture of the palace. New palaces -also were built in the grounds: a semicircular hall with roof of gold -and doors of bronze and silver, fountains which gave aromatic wine -from their silver pipes on feast-days, summer palaces and chapels -completely lined with the choicest marbles and mosaics. A superb palace -was raised on the Asiatic shore in imitation of the Caliph’s palace -at Bagdad, and the palace at Blachernæ, in the cool northern suburb, -now spread over a vast domain. But with all this facile splendour -Theophilus was conscious that he failed to hold the ever-pressing -enemies of the Empire, and he became morose and diseased. Theodora -seems to have kept his affection to the end. In an earlier year she had -detected him in criminal intimacy with one of her maids, and he had -asked her forgiveness with great humility. His last act was a brutal -murder in her interest. The noble Theophobos, who was married to the -Emperor’s sister Helena, was in jail on some suspicion. Theophilus -feared that he might aspire to the throne, and ordered the head of the -unfortunate noble to be brought to him. He died in January 842, leaving -the Empire to Theodora and her infant son Michael.[19] - -Theodora now had supreme power, and her first care was to restore the -worship of images, in spite of her heavy oaths to Theophilus. In this -she needed diplomacy, as well as casuistry, since the learned patriarch -John, as well as the majority of the Senators, were opposed to images. -There was, moreover, a Council of Regency, consisting of three of the -abler officials of the Court. The first of them, Theoclistos, the -eunuch “keeper of the purple ink,” was an official of some ability, -and so devoted to Theodora that, in spite of his condition, the gossip -of the city associated the saint and the eunuch in a most unedifying -manner. The second member was Manuel, an uncle of Theodora and an -Iconoclast; the third her brother Bardas, a man of equal ability and -unscrupulousness, who could be relied upon either to worship or to -break an image according to his interest. It was to this man, in spite -of notoriously immoral life, that Theodora entrusted the tutorship of -the young prince; and there cannot be the slightest doubt that Michael -was deliberately educated in vice and sensuality, in order to divert -his attention from political power. St Theodora was to be the mother of -the Nero of the Eastern Empire. - -The first step was taken in the restoration of images shortly after the -beginning of the Regency. Michael fell dangerously ill and at one time -he was believed to be dead. The monks came from the great monastery -of Studion, the most fiery centre of orthodoxy, to pray over the -remains of the Iconoclast--a singular procedure--and it was presently -announced that he had miraculously recovered his life and was converted -to the worship of images. In this new zeal he pressed the Empress to -remove the impious restriction on piety, and for a time she resisted, -pleading the sanctity of her oath. Knowing Constantinople as we do, we -have little difficulty in regarding the whole procedure as a comedy. -At length a council was summoned in the house of Theoclistus, and the -reform was sanctioned. The patriarch John was now ordered to convoke a -synod; he refused, and the way in which that obstacle was removed so -well illustrates the character of Constantinople, if not of Theodora, -that it is worth describing. - -John was one of the most learned men of his time, a genius in physical -science and mechanical art. His rationalistic opposition to the -popular cult of relics and statues, however, gave a dark aspect to his -learning, and he was commonly regarded as a magician and a secret -libertine. Men told each other of the subterraneous chamber which he -had in his brother’s house for entertaining nuns and other pretty -women. In reality, he seems to have been a learned and conscientious -man, and, even when Bardas cruelly flogged him, he refused to submit -to the Empress’s wish and relieve her from her oath. The report was -given out from the palace that he had inflicted the marks of the -scourge on himself, and had even attempted to commit suicide. He was -at once deposed and confined in a monastery; and, when it was reported -to Theodora, no doubt falsely, that he had there pricked the eyes out -of a picture of Christ, she angrily sentenced him to lose his own eyes -and to receive two hundred strokes of the loaded scourge. He had been -one of the chief pillars of her husband’s reign. His friends, I may -add, retorted by accusing the new patriarch Methodius of rape, but -decency prevents me from describing how the archbishop happily escaped -the charge by proving, in open court, that St Peter had miraculously -relieved him from temptations of the flesh many years before. - -The new patriarch convoked a synod, and crowds of monks flocked to -Constantinople from all parts to encourage the good work, and marched -through the streets of Constantinople under their sacred ensigns. -Theodora surprised the bishops and abbots, as they sat in conclave, -by demanding that they should issue a guarantee that her husband -was absolved from his sins. It was a dangerous precedent, and they -protested that they had no power to give such an assurance. Theodora -then explained that she had presented a sacred image to Theophilus in -his last hour, and that he had embraced it fervently. Modern historians -are ungallant enough to disbelieve her story, and no doubt there were -many at the time who distrusted Theodora’s casuistic ability, but -when she proceeded to hint that image-worship would not be restored -unless they satisfied her, they decreed that the sins of Theophilus had -been undone by repentance. At the conclusion of the synod Theodora -entertained the holy men in her Carian palace, or palace built entirely -of the famous Carian marble, at Blachernæ. Near the end of the banquet, -when the cakes and sweets were being served, her eye fell on the grim, -disfigured face of the religious poet Theophanes. He had come from -Palestine to Constantinople, during her husband’s reign, to fight for -the images, and Theophilus had sent him into exile with no less than -twelve lines of bad verse tattooed on his face, announcing that he was -a “wretched vessel of superstition.” Theophanes marked the tearful gaze -of the Empress, and impetuously cried that he would not forget to ask -the judgment of God on Theophilus for the outrage. “Is this the way you -keep your promise?” she exclaimed excitedly; and the bishops had to -intervene and appease her and the martyr. - -This restoration of image-worship seems to be the one virtue which -ensured for Theodora a place in the Greek canon of the saints (on 11th -February). That she led a chaste life we need not doubt for a moment. -The rumour of amorous relations with Theoclistus is foolish gossip, -and a man named Gebo, who afterwards claimed to be her natural son, -was either an impostor or a lunatic. But the shallowness of her piety -and weakness of her moral character are too plainly revealed in the -debauching of her son by her own brother, into whose care she gave -the young Emperor. The historian Finlay observes that “in the series -of Byzantine Emperors from Leo III. to Michael III., only two proved -utterly unfit for the duties of their station, and both appear to have -been corrupted by the education they received from their mothers.” -When we reflect on the strange types of men whom the disordered life -of the Empire brought to the throne, this is a terrible impeachment -of Irene and Theodora; and it is a just impeachment. No man was less -fit than her brother Bardas to train a youth, and the only conceivable -palliation of Theodora’s guilt is that she wished to retain power in -the interest of the Church. How even that hope was mocked, and the -rule of her son ended in debauchery and murder in her own house, we -have next to consider. - -For some ten years the Empire enjoyed comparative peace and prosperity. -The Bulgarians, learning that a woman and a child ruled the Empire, -made inflated demands, but Theodora met them with admirable firmness, -and averted war. Her only grave blunder was the ruthless persecution -of heresy. She sent officers to convert the masses of Paulicians in -the eastern provinces, and, whether with her consent or no, they -perpetrated horrible butcheries in the name of religion and engendered -a civil war. Then, as Michael approached his sixteenth year, a series -of terrible internal troubles and disorders set in. - -Gladly following the example of his tutor Bardas, the young Emperor -fell in love with the beautiful daughter of a high official of the -Court named Inger. Eudocia Ingerina is described by one of the writers -of the Court of Constantine VII.--her grandson--as “one of the most -beautiful and most modest women of her time.” The course of this -narrative will show that she was, as most of the chroniclers say, one -of the most dissolute women of the time, second only to Theodora’s -daughter Thecla. Whether she betrayed her laxity even at this early -age, or whether Theodora merely dreaded an alliance of her son with -a distinguished officer, we cannot confidently say. The chroniclers -suggest that she was already the lover of Michael, and that Theodora -and Theoclistus interfered. They compelled Michael to marry another -Eudocia, daughter of the patrician Decapolita. We do not know the fate -of this lady and may trust that she did not live to see the more sordid -phases of her husband’s life. It seems that very shortly after the -marriage he resumed his relations with the daughter of Inger. - -Bardas now began to force his ambition more openly and get rid -of the members of the Council of Regency. He first, by means of -Theoclistus, drove his uncle Manuel into private life, and then -turned upon Theoclistus, who ventured to remonstrate with him about -his notorious liaison with his own daughter-in-law. Fearing for his -life Theoclistus built a house close to the palace, communicating -with it by an iron door, which was carefully guarded, and continued -to administer the Empire in conjunction with Theodora. There is some -indication that Theodora’s three sisters--Sophia, Maria and Irene--also -had some share in the administration. Bardas pointed out to his pupil -that he was improperly excluded by them, and suggested that Theodora -intended to marry Theoclistus and have Michael’s eyes put out. When, -therefore, Theoclistus next went to read his report to Theodora, he -was intercepted by a group of the servants of Bardas, who, in the -name of the Emperor, demanded his papers. A scuffle took place, and -Theoclistus was imprisoned, and presently murdered in his cell. One of -the chroniclers would have us believe that one of Theodora’s daughters -actually witnessed the murder on behalf of her brother. - -Theodora was beside herself when the news reached her that her -favourite minister had been murdered. She is described as roaming about -the palace with dishevelled hair, weeping and upbraiding her son and -brother. The natural result was that they decided to remove her, and -she saw that her rule had come to an end. She summoned the Senators and -laid before them a financial statement of the affairs of the Empire. -She had so well husbanded the funds left by Theophilus that a store -of gold and silver amounting to many million pounds of our coinage, -besides chests of jewels and other treasure, were at the disposal of -the State. “I tell you this,” she shrewdly added, “in order that you -may not readily believe my son the Emperor if, when I have quitted the -palace, he tells you that I left it empty.” She saluted the Senators, -laid down her power, and quitted the imperial palace. But Michael and -Bardas were not content. As Theodora and her daughters went to the -palace at Blachernæ they were arrested by her elder brother Petronas, -shorn of their hair, and confined, in the dress of nuns, in the -Carian palace at Blachernæ. They continued, however, to regard the -proceedings at Court with close interest, and were transferred to the -palace-monastery of Gastria across the water. - -[Illustration: - - ΕΥΔΟΚΙΑ ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΑ - ΛΕΩΝ ΔΕΣΠΟΤΗΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ - -EUDOCIA INGERINA, WIFE OF BASIL I - -FROM DU CANGE’S ‘HISTORIA BYZANTINA’] - -From her near exile Theodora watched the next dramatic phase of the -quarrel. It was in the year 856, apparently, that Theoclistus was -murdered and she forced to resign, and the next ten years witnessed a -repellent development of Michael’s vices. He has passed into history -under the name of Michael the Drunkard, but drunkenness was not -the worst of his vices. He lived in open association with Eudocia -Ingerina and filled the palace with scenes that had been banished from -Roman life with the death of Nero. The only point that can be urged -in favour of Byzantine morals is that the drastic legislation and -action of earlier Emperors had checked the spread of unnatural vice. -Apart from this, Michael the Drunkard ranks with Nero and Caligula, -and, in respect of some kinds of grossness, surpasses them. Only the -more repellent pages of Zola’s “La Terre” offer an analogy to the -coarse practices which Michael rewarded in the abominable circle he -gathered about him. It is enough to say that the filthiest of his -friends dressed in the vestments of the archbishop, and had eleven -followers dressed as metropolitan bishops; that they used the sacred -vessels, with a mixture of mustard and vinegar, for their parody of -the Mass; and that they paraded the streets on asses in this guise, -and hailed the patriarch himself with obscene cries and gestures. The -treasures left by Theodora were soon dissipated on these ruffians and -on Michael’s favourite charioteers, and the golden curiosities made by -Theophilus were melted down to eke out the failing exchequer. And when -Michael was told that the enemies of the Empire were once more pressing -on its narrowed frontiers, he callously ordered that the line of -signal fires, which were wont to announce the inroad of the enemy from -the distant provinces, should be abandoned, so that his chariot races -might not be interrupted. - -Such was the spectacle which Theodora had to contemplate for ten weary -years, nor can she have been unconscious how deeply she was responsible -for it. At length, in 866, the infamous career of her brother came to -a close, and she was free to return to the Court. A new favourite had -arisen and displaced Bardas. A handsome groom in the imperial service, -Basil the Macedonian, had caught the fancy of Michael. When Bardas one -day denounced a noble for not saluting him in the street, as he passed -in the gorgeous robe of a Cæsar--a dignity to which Michael raised him -in 865--the noble was deposed from office and Basil put in his place. -Basil was married, but the besotted Emperor forced him to divorce his -wife and marry Eudocia Ingerina; and, as Michael retained Eudocia -as his own mistress, he brought his willing sister Thecla from her -nunnery and made her the mistress of Basil. Bardas was now alarmed and -perceived that either he or Basil must die. I need not enter into the -sordid details. Enough to say that Basil and Michael decoyed the Cæsar -from the city, after a solemn oath on the cross and the sacrament, -which were held before them by the patriarch, that they had no design -on his life, and murdered him. This occurred on Whit-Monday 866; on the -following Saturday Basil was crowned and anointed co-Emperor of the -Romans. - -To this blood-stained and sordid Court Theodora did not hesitate to -return as soon as Bardas was slain. One of the chroniclers tells an -anecdote which would, if one dare reproduce it in full, give some -idea of the atmosphere which she breathed. Michael one day summoned -her to come and receive the blessing of the patriarch, who was with -him. She entered and bent in inobservant reverence before the vested -figure beside her son, and she was, to the loud delight of Michael, -startled by an outrage that the rudest peasant would hardly suffer to -be offered to his mother. It was the infamous mock-patriarch Gryllus, -perpetrating his coarsest joke. - -This, however, seems to have occurred before her abdication, and -she seems, after the murder of Bardas, to have lived chiefly in the -Anthemian palace across the water. Unfortunately, the last scene in the -squalid reign of her son shows that she still tolerated his excesses. -Basil, in turn, had seen a new favourite arise and threaten his hope -of inheriting the Empire. In a drunken fit Michael had put his purple -slippers on a vulgar servant--a man who had formerly rowed in the -galleys--for praising his chariot-driving, and brutally observed to -the tearful Eudocia, who sat beside him, that the man was more fit for -the purple than her husband. Basil, if not Eudocia, concluded that the -Emperor must be assassinated, and before long Theodora provided them -with an opportunity. I am not for a moment suggesting that Theodora was -aware of their intention, but this last appearance of hers on the stage -of history is a painful close of her career. - -She invited Michael to sup and stay at her palace after he had spent a -day hunting on the Asiatic side of the water. Such an invitation might -be innocent, even virtuous, if there were a design to separate the -young Emperor from his associates and, perhaps, endeavour to counsel -him. But we find that his usual Court accompanied him, and the evening -was spent in drunken debauch. The new favourite, Basilicius, and -Michael were put to bed in a drunken condition. Basil, with whom was -Eudocia, had slipped from the room and tampered with the fastenings of -their doors, and in the middle of the night Theodora awoke to hear the -clash of swords and cries of hurrying men; Michael and Basilicius had -been murdered, and Basil and Eudocia were hastening to Constantinople -to secure the palace. - -The last glimpse we have of St Theodora is when she and her daughters -convey the remains of the wretched Emperor to the city for interment -in the great marble tombs of the kings. It was the autumn of 866, and, -as the Greek Church celebrates her festival on 11th February, we may -assume that she lived a few months afterwards in sad, if not penitent, -obscurity. Few in modern times, even of those who share her creed, -would venture to describe her as “the glory and ornament of her sex.” -No woman of high character could have been betrayed into the criminal -blunders which Theodora committed, however exalted she may have -considered her ultimate aim to be. Yet we may grant that she was rather -tainted by the pitiful casuistry of her time than evil in disposition, -and the historical memorial of her life-work is a sufficiently terrible -punishment of her errors. - -It remains briefly to dismiss the Empresses Eudocia and Thecla. On the -morning after the murder Eudocia Ingerina sat proudly by the side of -her husband, in the glorious robes and jewels of a reigning Empress, -as he went to the great church to consecrate his Empire to Christ. She -enjoyed her dignity for about fifteen years, but the only incident -recorded of her is that she was detected by her husband in a liaison -with a steward of the table. Thecla was discarded at the death of -her brother and passed to less exalted lovers. Some years after his -accession she sent a servant with a petition to Basil. “Who lives with -your mistress at present?” the Emperor cynically asked. “Neatocomites,” -the man promptly replied. Neatocomites was flogged and put in a -monastery, and Thecla was flogged and robbed of the greater part of her -fortune. It is the last glimpse we have of the family of St Theodora. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE WIVES OF LEO THE PHILOSOPHER - - -Basil the Macedonian, or Basil the groom, son of a Macedonian peasant -of Armenian extraction, enjoyed his imperial wealth, and made excellent -use of his imperial power, during nearly twenty years. His story is not -one to encourage the venerable adage that honesty is the best policy. -But we have dismissed his Empress, Eudocia Ingerina, whose only known -features are great beauty and equally great licence in love, and we -pass on to review the remarkable series of Empresses whom his son -successively married. I say his son, but no historian doubts that Leo -VI. was really the son of Michael the Drunkard. The temper of Eudocia -Ingerina had been so accommodating that royal genealogists have to -indulge largely in arithmetical calculation in order to determine -the paternity of her children, or the maternity of Basil’s children. -Briefly, Basil’s eldest son, Constantine, was probably a child of the -poor Maria who had been sent back to Macedonia with her pockets full -of gold, but he died before his father and will not interest us; the -second son, Leo, was almost certainly the son of Michael and Eudocia, -who had been transferred in a state of pregnancy from the embraces of -the Emperor to the embraces of his groom; the third and fourth sons, -Alexander and Stephen, were presumably born of Basil and Eudocia; and -the four daughters must, in despair, be distributed over the group of -parents. - -When Leo had reached the age of fifteen or sixteen, his elder brother -having died two years before, Basil and Eudocia sought him a wife, and -we are at last so fortunate as to meet a really blameless Empress, -and one whose title to her place in the calendar of the saints will -not be disputed by the most irreverent historians of modern times. St -Theophano has, moreover, been revealed to us more fully in recent years -by the publication of ancient Greek manuscripts that were unknown in -the days of Gibbon.[20] That they enlarge her virtues and attenuate the -vices of her husband is only what we should expect in Byzantine writers -of the time, but they enable us to give a satisfactory portrait of an -imperial saint and to set it in pleasant contrast to the figures of her -contemporaries and successors. Theophano is a stray lily in a garden of -roses. - -The first wife of Leo was the very pretty and pious daughter of a -distinguished noble of the city, Constantinus Martinacius. Her mother -had died in her early years, but her education had proceeded on lines -of the most orthodox piety, and she had a genius for assimilating -its ascetic prescriptions. The piety of her father, however, did not -prevent him from putting forward his fifteen-year-old daughter when, -in the winter of 881–882, Basil and Eudocia sought a mate for Leo. The -city and provinces were, as usual, scoured by the special matrimonial -commissioners, and Theophano was one of the dozen maids introduced -into the great palace for inspection. Eudocia, a good judge, reviewed -them in the Magnaura palace, and selected Theophano and two others. -Eudocia’s high birth probably gave her some advantage over the obscure -Athenian girl and another rival who ran her close in the competition. -She was exhibited to Basil, and he at once placed a ring on her young -finger and ordered Leo to marry her. Much subsequent evil might have -been avoided if the youth had been consulted. Either the excessive -piety of Theophano was distasteful to him, or he had already set his -mind on another lady. But Basil was never indulgent to Leo, whom he -must have regarded as Michael’s son, and the children were married with -all the splendid ceremony which the Emperor Constantine describes for -us, and entered upon their duty of sustaining the dynasty. - -The pious Theophano soon found that life in a court was not a mere -monotonous round of ceremonies. The chief friend and adviser of Basil -was a compatriot--that is to say, a Macedonian of Armenian origin -(Armenian colonies having been transferred, on account of the Saracens, -to Macedonia)--named Stylianus Zautzes, and Zautzes had a pretty and -lively daughter named Zoe. It is probable that Leo had contracted a -boyish love of Zoe before he was forced to marry the young saint, -and he was not of a nature to sacrifice the rose to the lily. Not -very long after the marriage Theophano complained to Basil, we learn -from the life of Euthymius, that her husband was making love to Zoe. -Leo naturally protests to the patriarch, and no doubt protested to -Basil, that his admiration was Platonic, but we shall see that he did -not usually confine himself to that academic emotion. Basil believed -the charge, caught Leo by the hair and flung him to the ground, and -compelled Zoe to marry, out of hand, a man to whom she was more than -indifferent. He was sowing a crop of tragedies. - -Eudocia died about this time, and the young Theophano took her place in -the rich ceremonial of the Court, walking in the endless processions -and being borne in the golden litter, drawn by white horses, to the -great church and the lesser shrines and palaces. Her new dignity cannot -have lasted many months when a fresh and more furious storm broke upon -her virtue, and she bore herself admirably. The second most intimate -friend and counsellor of Basil was the abbot Theodore, of Santabaris -in Phrygia, a very enterprising and peculiar monk. He was a master -of magic and was regarded with the greatest awe by the Emperor. Leo -ventured to urge on Basil that the man was an impostor and humbug, and -the chroniclers say that the abbot turned vindictively on Leo. No one -was allowed to have weapons in the company of the Emperor, but Theodore -persuaded Leo that, if he kept a knife concealed in his boot when he -was hunting with Basil, he might be able in an emergency to render a -service and disarm Basil’s anger. Leo hid a knife in his boot, and -the monk promptly advised Basil to search the prince, as he feared -conspiracy. - -So from the palace Leo passed to prison, or confinement in the Pearl -palace, and Theophano went with her little daughter Eudocia to keep him -company and impress on him the duty of resignation to the divine will. -The chroniclers differ as to the length of the imprisonment; some make -it three months and others three years. As Zautzes and the Senators -intervened and begged Basil to reconsider his verdict, I prefer to -accept the shorter term. One of the chroniclers tells us that the most -effective pleader for Leo was a parrot, kept in the palace, which -someone taught to cry: “Poor Leo, poor Leo.” At all events, Zautzes, -and the patriarch Photius, and numbers of the Senators, insisted that -Leo was innocent; and he was set at liberty. He was now the obvious -heir to the throne. Basil could not put him aside in favour of a -younger son without admitting his irregular parentage, and it is not -unlikely that the old Emperor had a regard for Theophano. For a few -years, therefore, the young Empress continued to rule the great palace, -to which Basil had made superb additions, and to practise the high -virtues which her husband so little appreciated. Then (in March 886) -Basil left his purple robes to Leo, and Leo and his wife and child to -the care of Zautzes. - -The first concern of Leo the Philosopher--who was no philosopher at -all, though he was well read in the letters of the time--was to seek -Abbot Theodore of Santabaris. The monk had prudently retired to a -bishopric in remote Pontus before Leo came to the throne, but he was -brought to Constantinople, deposed, scourged, and exiled to Athens, -where his eyes were afterwards cut out. It was the punishment he had -recommended Basil to inflict on Leo. As the patriarch Photius was -believed to have been in league with the monk-magician, he also was -deposed, and Leo’s younger brother, Stephen, was made archbishop. Leo’s -four sisters had already been turned into nuns by the prudent Basil, -and there remained only the second brother Alexander, who was content -to await the hour for his own imperial debauch. - -Leo’s next care was to renew his pleasant relations with the -fascinating Zoe, “the most beautiful woman of her age.” A few added -years would have merely ripened her charms, and her father regarded -with complacency her promotion to the place of imperial concubine, and -continued to discharge his functions as commander of the foreign guards -(_hetæriarch_). To Theophano only was it a grave affliction to find the -palace enlivened by the fiery and beautiful oriental. She endured the -outrage for some years, patiently working at her embroidery for the -altars and spending long hours in prayer, until her one child died, -in the winter of 892–893, and she begged Leo to allow her to retire -to a convent, leaving him free to marry. Leo was not unwilling, but -the patriarch Euthymius foolishly refused to consecrate her, and she -languished for a few months longer in her uncongenial world. - -The situation is illuminated by a passage in the chronicles which leads -up to the first plot on Leo’s life. Some time in 891, apparently, Leo -and Zoe and Zautzes, with other members of their family, went to stay -at the Damian palace in the suburbs, probably for a hunt. Theophano, -the chronicler says, was not with them; she was “busy praying” in the -Blachernæ palace, to which she seems to have generally retired from -the dissolute Court. For some entirely obscure reason Zoe’s brother -and his friends concerted a plot against the life of Leo; we can -hardly suppose that it was a case of outraged brothers wiping out the -dishonour of their sister, seeing that Zautzes himself was a member of -the house-party. Whatever the cause was, Zoe, who was sleeping with -Leo, heard whispering in the garden without, and, creeping to the -window, learned that her brother Tzantzes and others were about to -murder Leo. These are the sober details given in the chronicles, but -Byzantine history is so full of melodrama that we need not hesitate to -accept them. She roused her lover, and they stole from the house and -reached Constantinople. Leo suspected that Zautzes himself had been -privy to the plot and was estranged from him for some months. - -This seems to have been the position during the early years of Leo’s -reign: his wife “busy praying,” or mortifying her frail body, in the -quieter palace at Blachernæ, while Leo floated over the Sea of Marmora -with Zoe in the great pleasure-galleys he had constructed, or wantoned -in his various palaces. Theophano died in the seventh year of his -reign--on 10th November 893 according to de Boor’s calculations, though -her festival is celebrated by the Greek Church on 16th December. The -modern mind would be little impressed by an account of the miracles -which her remains are said to have wrought after death, nor can one -read without a certain amusement that, in the words of a later Emperor -and most of the chroniclers, she deserved the aureole of sanctity by -“her freedom from jealousy and her patient endurance of the contempt of -Zoe.” The nobles of Constantinople would not be unwilling to see such -virtues consecrated by the Church. There is, however, no doubt that the -daughter of Constantinus Martinacius merited her place in the calendar -of the Church, and she is one of the few blameless women to gratify the -biographer of the Empresses. - -From the saint we pass to the sinner; from “the lilies and languors of -virtue” to the “roses and raptures of vice.” In the following year -Leo violated all decency by taking Zoe into the sacred palace. Her -husband, the patrician Theodore Guniazitza, died so opportunely that -it was inevitably believed that he had been poisoned; and, although -the statement is no more than a rumour, and one may hesitate to-day to -admit that “an adulteress may easily become a poisoner,” it cannot be -said to be improbable. Leo now approached the patriarch Euthymius on -the question of marrying Zoe, and the prelate again blundered, in too -narrow a zeal for his ideals, and sternly resisted. He was removed to -a monastery, and before the end of 894 Zoe was the legitimate Empress -of the Roman world. It was, however, only to enjoy a few more hours -of pleasure in the gilded palace. Her father died in the spring of -896, and Zoe followed him in the autumn or winter of the same year, -having worn the crown for one year and eight months. For her the -ecclesiastical chroniclers have no praise; they affirm that, when men -came to lay her remains in her marble sarcophagus, the words “Miserable -daughter of Babylon” were found to have been mysteriously carved on the -stone. Beautiful, careless and sensual as she was, one may doubt if a -single stone could be flung at her if Leo had been allowed to consult -his own heart at the time of his first marriage. - -Leo was now, in his thirtieth year, a widower for the second time, -and he was little reconciled to that condition. Not only was his -dissipated brother Alexander greedily waiting to occupy his throne, -but an astrologer had assured Leo that he would yet have a son, and -the message of the stars must be fulfilled. Third marriages, on the -other hand, were subjected to grave ecclesiastical censure, and for -several years the Emperor did not venture to take the forbidden step. -Indeed, when he did begin to speak of marriage, Zoe’s relatives and -other disappointed courtiers took alarm and plotted against his life. -Her nephew Basil had his hair oiled and fired, and all the survivors -of the Zautzes family were driven from the city. The clearance made -room for fresh courtiers, one of whom, a Saracen named Samonas, became -the master of intrigue which we almost invariably find in the palace -in each generation. One instance of his wit will suffice to make him -known and to illustrate life at the Court. The commander Andronicus had -taken alarm and fled to the Saracens. Leo had no wish to injure him, -and he entrusted a message to that effect to a captive Saracen and bade -him deliver it to Andronicus. In order to outwit Samonas, who did not -wish the able officer to return and dispute his power, the message was -ingeniously enclosed in a wax candle. Before he left Constantinople, -however, Samonas told the Saracen that the candle contained a plot -against his country, and it was never delivered to Andronicus. - -At the beginning of 899 Leo braved the censures of the clergy -and, apparently, sent out his commissioners in search of a bride. -As a result he married, probably at Easter, a beautiful maiden -from the Opsikian district--the region of Asia Minor nearest to -Constantinople--named Eudocia. To his great mortification, Eudocia -gave birth to a boy, but both mother and child died immediately. -The majority of Christian Emperors would have resigned themselves -to this third disappointment, but it seems to have increased Leo’s -determination. Most historians admit that it was not so much -sensuality, which such a man as Leo could easily gratify, as the -determination to have a son, which inspired Leo’s defiance of the -Church; not impossibly he also had regard to the complaisance of the -Western clergy in face of the conduct of the great Frankish monarchs. - -It is conjectured by de Boor that Eudocia died about Easter of the year -900, and before the end of that, or in the following, year Leo began -to look for another spouse. In place of the patriarch Euthymius, who -had resisted his marriage to Zoe, he had appointed a certain Nicholas, -an intimate friend of his in earlier years, and he expected the new -prelate to be accommodating. Nicholas, however, violently opposed -the idea of a fourth marriage, and a long and stormy struggle with -the Church party followed. On one occasion a man attempted the life -of the Emperor in a church, and Alexander and Nicholas were strongly -suspected of treachery, but no torture could wring a confession from -the assailant. - -Leo took a first defiant step by again admitting a lady to the palace. -Zoe Carbonopsina, as she was named, seems to have had a humble origin, -since her son, the imperial historian, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, -cannot devise any genealogy for her. Diligent research, however, finds -that she was related to the famous abbot St Epiphanius, the admiral -Himerius, and the patrician Nicholas, so that we must not imagine her -as a flower transplanted by imperial commissioners from some rural -garden. Her later career will confirm the impression she makes on her -first entry into the pages of history as mistress of the Emperor. She -was a woman of great vigour and faint scruples: a less pleasant type of -sinner than the Zoe who had preceded her in the halls of Daphne. - -We do not know how long Zoe lived in the palace as Leo’s mistress, nor -is it material to seek to determine. It is enough that in the course -of the year 905 she promised to become a mother, and Leo renewed his -effort to provide a _legitimate_ heir to his throne. The confused and -poorly written records of the time merely tantalize us with fragmentary -or conflicting statements, and one must present a connected version of -the accession to the throne of Zoe Carbonopsina with some hesitation. -Apparently (“Life of Euthymius”) the patriarch Nicholas was at first -not unfriendly. He blessed the womb which gave promise of an heir, -ordered prayers in the churches, and met Zoe without a blush in the -palace. These candid details need a short explanation. A bitter feud -had set in between the followers of the deposed patriarch Euthymius -and the followers of Nicholas, so that an admirer of the former may be -trusted to say even more than the truth in regard to Nicholas. Leo -seems to have promised the clergy that he would put away Zoe as soon -as she gave him an heir to the throne. But the biographer of Euthymius -professes to throw another light on the situation. A rising took place -in the provinces, and Leo secured a letter which proved that Nicholas -was involved in it. It was in order to avoid the consequences of this -treachery that he submitted to Leo. - -A boy, the future Emperor and writer Constantine Porphyrogenitus, saw -the light in the course of the year 905--a comet appearing in the -heavens, in ominous conjunction, at the time--and in the beginning -of 906 he was solemnly baptized by the patriarch, and had his uncle -Alexander and some of the highest Senators as godfathers. The modern -reader is amazed at the spirit which will permit the heads of Church -and State to gather thus in their grandest robes about the cradle of an -illegitimate child, yet resist, even to death, a fourth marriage which -might supply a legitimate heir to the imperial house; but Byzantine -life will exhibit singular features to the end of its history. The -child was baptized, and the clergy trusted to hear no more of marriage. -To their great anger Leo recalled Zoe to the palace, from which she had -been temporarily removed, and found a priest to marry them. At the same -time Zoe was made Augusta and Basilissa (Queen) of the Empire. - -The clergy now assailed Leo with every invective, and the patriarch -forbade him to enter the church. One almost despairs of following the -Constantinopolitans through their tangle of scruples and licences, -but we find that Leo met the prelate by entering the church at a side -door and sitting in a part, apparently, where the singers used to -take refreshments. He also sent a request that the Roman bishop and -the three patriarchs of the East would pronounce upon the validity of -his marriage. When they declared in his favour, and Nicholas still -resisted, Samonas consulted his large faculty for intrigue; indeed, -we may confidently trace the counsel of that wily courtier, a great -friend of Zoe, in the whole procedure. Nicholas was invited to dine at -the Bucoleon palace, on the shore of the Sea of Marmora. In the middle -of the banquet he was again pressed to withdraw, and again refused; and -the chamberlain’s servants dragged him down the stairs which led to -the palace quay and shipped him to Asia. Euthymius now returned to the -see, and, after a decent show of reluctance, recognized the marriage -of Zoe. Some of his admirers recount that he was directed in a vision -to overrule the law of the Church; others tell us that Leo compelled -him by threatening to enact a law that every citizen might have, if -he pleased, three or four simultaneous wives. If we change the word -“simultaneous” into “successive” we shall not be far from the truth. - -The adventurous career of Zoe Carbonopsina now ran quietly for a few -years. Her boy flourished, and was, about four years later, associated -in the purple with his father. The only event to ruffle the even flow -of her pleasant life in the palace was one of those deadly feuds of -rival courtiers which were of constant occurrence in the great palace. -Samonas had introduced into her service a handsome Paphlagonian named -Constantine, and, about the year 911, was alarmed to perceive that this -man was supplanting him in the royal favour. He denounced Constantine -to Leo for improper conduct with the Empress. In another passage the -chronicler has already described Constantine as a eunuch, and it is -not the only occasion on which we find this strange charge against an -Empress in the chronicles; it may be added that another writer marries -Constantine to a cousin of Zoe. Leo, at all events, was convinced, and -ordered that Constantine be shaved and put in a monastery. He repented, -however, and brought the eunuch back to the palace. In revenge Samonas -drew up a libellous writing on the Emperor, and secretly put it in -the church. There was great agitation in the palace, especially as -an eclipse of the moon occurred at the height of the quarrel. Leo -the Philosopher trembled and sent for a bishop who was better versed -than he in astrology. On this occasion the reader of the stars proved -correct. When Samonas intercepted him, and asked whether the darkening -of the moon portended evil for him or for Leo, the bishop answered: -“You.” In a few days he was betrayed, and he exchanged his hope of the -throne for the obscurity of a monastery. - -Leo died in the next year, commending his wife and child to the -Senators, who swore tearful oaths to protect her and the boy from any -misconduct on the part of his successor and younger brother Alexander. -But Alexander met no opposition when, as soon as he had ascended the -throne, he bade Zoe leave her child and quit the palace. Even the boy -had a narrow escape, as Alexander ordered that he should be castrated, -but his guardians happily lied to the Emperor and represented that -Constantine was too delicate to live. All knew that the reign of -Constantine would be short. Although only in his twenty-first year, he -had ruined his constitution by vicious indulgence, and the life he led -after mounting the throne was killing him. He perished miserably from -intemperance within a year, leaving his young colleague to a Council of -Regents, from which he had carefully excluded Zoe. - -The imperial career of Zoe was, however, by no means closed. A regency -was the opportunity of a Byzantine Empress, and Zoe had, no doubt, -faithful servants about her boy in the palace. He was now seven years -old, and he insisted that his mother must return to the palace. She at -once took the lead in the administration, and, having the support of a -group of experienced statesmen and several able commanders, she must -have looked forward to a long and prosperous rule. At one moment it was -gravely threatened with premature extinction. One of the commanders in -Asia Minor was invited by some of the disaffected nobles to seize the -throne, and it seemed to the vigorous Constantine Ducas that the hour -long ago promised to him by astrologers had come. He crossed the sea in -the night, and had seized the anterior part of the palace before the -guards were thoroughly roused. Then one of the regents flung himself -upon the intruders with a troop of armed servants and sailors--there -seems to have been treason among the guards--and Zoe presently learned -that Ducas and, it is said, three thousand of the combatants lay in a -lake of blood on the marble floor of the palace. A terrible vengeance -purified Constantinople of those who were opposed to the rule of Zoe -and her son. Women were shorn, boys castrated, and men hung on gallows -along the Asiatic shore for all Constantinople to see. - -During several years Zoe seems to have governed with vigour and -judgment, but since it is impossible to disentangle her share from that -of her servants and counsellors, it would be inexpedient to enter into -the prosy details of the administration. A personal note is sounded -when we find, in a later page of one of the chronicles, that she was -intimate with the admiral, and later Emperor, Romanus. Neither of the -two can be regarded as very scrupulous, but it is probable that Bishop -Luidprand, who accuses her, is in this hastily retailing the gossip he -picked up in Constantinople. A disappointed ambassador is apt to be a -libeller. - -The behaviour of Romanus in the crisis which, in the year 919, put -an end to her reign does not encourage the idea of a liaison. By -dexterous diplomacy Zoe had obtained peace with the Saracens and then -withdrawn all her forces from Asia, to make a concentrated attack -upon the Bulgarians. It was admirable, if not very subtle, policy, -since at that time the Saracens and Bulgarians were the upper and -nether stones that threatened to grind the Eastern capital between -them. Unhappily the jealousy of her two chief commanders betrayed and -ruined her. A vast army was assembled at Constantinople, new arms and -equipment were supplied, and advance pay was liberally given to the -soldiers. The cross was borne at their head by the clergy, and, with -a last entreaty that all would be faithful to their country, Zoe sent -forth the great army which was to begin the restoration of the Empire. -And in a few weeks the fleet returned with the news of complete and -irreparable disaster. The admiral Romanus had, out of jealousy of the -land commander, failed to transfer their northern allies across the -Danube; the general of the troops, Leo Phocas, too eager for glory, had -attacked without his allies and been utterly routed. - -Zoe at once summoned a council and proposed that her alleged lover -should lose his eyes for his failure to co-operate. Romanus had, -however, a firm hold on the affection of the sailors, and it was -judged inexpedient to attempt to displace him. But the position of -Zoe was, through no fault of hers, terribly weakened, and a change of -government was openly expected. Zoe’s chief hope lay in the fact that -the two commanders, Leo Phocas and Romanus, could not share the power, -yet neither was likely to suffer the other to occupy it, and for some -time matters remained in suspense. Then the experienced intriguers -of the palace began to act, and the quarrel hastened to its climax. -Constantine, the favourite chamberlain, urged Zoe to build on Leo -Phocas (who had married his sister) and take him into the Regency. A -rival courtier, the young Emperor’s tutor, Theodore, then espoused -the cause of Romanus, and secretly urged him to declare himself the -protector of the boy. Zoe ordered Romanus to sail with the fleet to -the Black Sea, and, when Romanus pleaded that the pay was in arrears -and the sailors disaffected, the chamberlain himself rowed out to the -commander’s vessel with the money. He did not return, and Zoe was soon -alarmed to hear that the admiral had imprisoned him on the fleet. - -The patriarch and Senators were summoned to the palace, and it was -decided that their leaders should row out to the fleet and demand -an explanation of Romanus. By this time the citizens were keenly -interested in the quarrel. The fleet lay in sight of all on the Sea of -Marmora, and the detention of the chief eunuch of the palace became -known and seems to have pleased the people. When the patriarch and the -heads of the Senate went down to the quay, they were stoned and forced -to retire. Early the next morning Zoe went to the Bucoleon palace, -where Constantine and his tutor lived, and demanded an explanation. -Strong in the support of the admiral, whom he now induced to draw up -the fleet in battle array opposite the Bucoleon palace, the tutor -replied insolently that the time had come for Constantine to take the -reins; the eunuch Constantine, he said, had ruined the palace and Leo -Phocas had wasted the army. Zoe saw that she had lost the battle. She -submitted very quietly, except that when the aggressive tutor ordered -her to quit the palace she appealed to her son, and was allowed to -remain. - -Little remains to be told of the fourth wife of Leo the Philosopher. -She was for a time an idle spectator, in the palace, of the course of -events. The patriarch Nicholas sternly challenged the admiral, and, -when he disavowed the charge of treason, invited him ashore to clear -himself. In the historic church by the lighthouse a number of the -higher officials gathered to hear Romanus swear the “direst oaths” -on the true cross that he would be loyal to the young Emperor, and -the reconciliation was sealed by Constantine wedding the admiral’s -daughter Helena in April (919), a month later. Leo Phocas had meantime -retired to the provinces and raised an army. By the characteristically -Byzantine device of sending a prostitute with a secret message among -his troops, his force was weakened and his rebellion soon trodden out. -Zoe now played her last and most desperate card, and attempted the -life of Romanus. Some of the chroniclers give the charge as a rumour, -but when her son observes that she was “detected” in an attempt to -poison the food of Romanus, by means of one of his servants, we cannot -hesitate to believe it. She was at once removed from the palace, forced -to take the vows of religion, and ended her romantic life, at some -unknown date, in the monastery of St Euphemia at Petrion. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE TAVERN-KEEPER’S DAUGHTER - - -It may not be inexpedient to pause for a moment to consider the -general character of the period through which the romantic story -of the Empresses is hurrying us. The reader may learn with some -astonishment that we are now, in the tenth century, in the golden -age of Byzantine history; or that, at least, the Roman Empire in the -East has nearly returned to the altitude it had reached in the days -of Justinian and Theodora. It is not a part of a biographer’s duty to -enlarge on historical themes, and the somewhat slender thread which he -pursues through the web of history may lead to erroneous conclusions. -Precisely on that account, however, it seems advisable to say a word in -correction of the prejudice which the restricted study of one set of -characters may create. It shall be brief. - -The truth in regard to the Byzantine Empire seems to lie between the -disdain of older historians like Gibbon and Finlay and the exaggerated -claims made for it by some recent writers. I speak of character only, -not of art or industry or military success. In some respects--in -regard to unnatural vice, for instance--it is superior to the older -Empire of the West; in ordinary licentiousness it has no superiority -whatever, and the ascetic code it so pompously boasts only makes its -guilt the greater; while there are persistent strains of coarseness -in its character which tempt one to characterize it as barbaric. -Castration and the excision of eyes continue for many centuries, under -almost every Emperor and Empress, ordinary punishments of political -offence; and the constant violation of the most terrible oaths that the -clergy can devise, the abominable device of filling the priesthood -and the monastic world with reputed criminals, the unceasing intrigues -of eunuchs and officers, the sanguinary coercion of heretics, the -persistent financial and administrative corruption, and the lamentable -casuistry of priests and religious women, betray a new and general -type of character which no amount of appreciation of Byzantine art can -restore to honour. The four hundred years of Byzantine history that we -have traversed, compared with the four hundred years which preceded -them in Roman history, show no elevation of the type of womanhood, nor -will the four centuries that remain compel us to alter this conclusion. - -The young Empress Helena, daughter of Romanus, whom we introduced at -the close of the last chapter is imperfectly, but not favourably, known -to us. Beautiful and intelligent, she found no occasion to assert -herself as long as her father lived. That unscrupulous commander had -very quickly found a way to gratify his personal ambition without -violating the letter of his solemn oaths. He had in March sworn on -the wood of the true cross to be loyal to Constantine; in September -of the same year he received, or obtained, the dignity of Cæsar, and -three months later he was co-Emperor. In the following January he made -his wife Theodora Empress, and in May he conferred imperial rank on -his son Christopher and his wife Sophia. Later he gave the purple to -his two remaining sons, and destined his fourth son, Theophylactus, -for the patriarchate. Further, “in order to prevent plots,” which -were frequent, he put his own name before that of Constantine, and -arrogated the whole work of administration. He lived in the largest, -latest and most superb palace of the imperial town--the golden-roofed -Chrysotriclinon--and, plebeian as he was by birth, carried the -pageantry and ceremonial of the Court to its highest point. His wife -Theodora did not long survive her elevation, and Helena seems to have -taken the chief place as Empress in the glittering crowd, but she -escapes our scrutiny altogether until the close of the twenty-five -years’ reign of her father. - -Romanus seems in his later years to have shown symptoms of remorse and -made edifying preparations for death. His philanthropy and religious -fervour alarmed his sons, who concluded, apparently, that if his -repentance were carried too far they might lose their purple robes. The -eldest son, Christopher, had died, and the youngest, Theophylactus, was -quite happy in possession of the patriarchate; he had, it seemed to -the pious, turned the cathedral into a theatre and the bishop’s house -into a place of debauch, and his religious duties were so far postponed -to the cares of his stable of two thousand horses that he would cut -a ceremony short when a groom came to the altar to whisper that a -favourite mare had foaled. There remained Stephen and Constantine, -whose royal position seemed to be threatened. Stephen, with the consent -of his brother, deposed his father at the end of 944, and sent him into -a monastery on the Princes’ Islands. - -Helena was the chief inspirer of the next intrigue. Constantine -Porphyrogenitus had sought consolation in art and letters for the -imperial power of which he had been defrauded. He was now a tall, -straight, well-made man of thirty-nine, with mild blue eyes and -fresh, ruddy countenance, but he had little faculty or disposition -for politics, and was more interested in the pleasures of the table -and the library. His attainments in art and science would have been -respectable in any other than a king. Helena, however, supplied the -resolution he lacked, and watched the procedure of her brothers. She -concluded that they intended to displace or ignore her husband, and -she stimulated him to action, or, more probably, acted herself with -the aid of her head chamberlain Basil, an illegitimate son of Romanus. -On the evening of 27th January the royal brothers were invited to -sup with their mild-mannered and long-suffering colleague, and they -found themselves dragged from their purple couches by his servants, -bound, and put aboard a waiting vessel at the palace quay. Some of -the authorities improbably state that they asked permission to visit -their father, Romanus, in his monastery, so that Gibbon’s genial -picture of the father cynically greeting his sons at the shore is not -without foundation. The story is unlikely, however, and they were soon -despatched to remote parts. - -[Illustration: THE EMPRESS HELENA - -FROM DU CANGE’S ‘HISTORIA BYZANTINA’] - -During the fifteen years’ reign of her husband Helena is known to us -only for the unscrupulousness with which, in collusion with the head -chamberlain Basil, she sold offices of state to the highest bidders. -The interest passes to the new and singular types of Empresses who now -enter the chronicles. The first is the most pathetic and remarkable -figure in the whole strange gallery of the Byzantine Empresses. Helena -and Constantine had a son named Romanus, and the elder Romanus, who was -most assiduous at making royal matches for his descendants, had decided -to marry the boy in good time. It seems not unlikely that, in his -last year of life, he realized the unscrupulousness of his sons, and -entertained a tardy concern about his oath. At that time the kingdom -of Italy was ruled by Hugh, a violent and half-barbaric monarch, whose -conjugal arrangements were calculated to furnish a rich supply of royal -alliances. Romanus sent an envoy to ask the hand of one of his natural -daughters, and the little Bertha, a beautiful child of tender years, -was conducted to Constantinople by the Bishop of Parma and married -to the boy Emperor. Romanus was five years old, and it is not likely -that Bertha, or Eudocia, as she was now named, was older than he. What -type of woman the little princess, offspring of a wild Teuton and his -concubine, would have made, we shall never know, for she died five -years afterwards. The chroniclers are careful to add that she died a -virgin. - -The young prince was allowed to grow, and develop his vices, for a few -years, before contracting a second marriage. It seems to have been -in his eighteenth year that he took a second wife, and his choice -illustrates at once the supineness of his father, the selfishness -of his mother, and the unrestrained passion of the son. He married -Anastaso, the daughter of a tavern-keeper named Crateros. We have seen -so many types of Empresses ascend the throne that it might cause us -little surprise to find a woman passing from the counter of a wine-shop -to the palace, but there is grave suspicion that Theophano--the name -substituted for Anastaso--was base in more than the genealogical sense -of the word. She is accused of poisoning her father-in-law and her -first husband, and she certainly led the assassins to the chamber -of her second husband. Whatever allowance we make for the prejudice -against her humble birth, authentic facts in her story show that she -was licentious and criminal. - -We do not know how the son of a highly cultivated Emperor made the -acquaintance of a tavern-girl. It is clear that she was a young woman -of singular beauty--“a kind of miracle of nature,” Zonaras says--and -most graceful figure, and I would conjecture that some courtier among -the disreputable followers of the young prince brought her to his -notice. There may have been a “beauty show,” and the publican may have -boldly pressed the merits of his daughter, but some attention was -generally paid to birth in these matrimonial contests. A tavern-woman -was still held to be equivalent to a prostitute or an actress. It is -useless to speculate. Constantine idly acquiesced, and the beautiful -Theophano passed from the sordid scenes of a little wine-shop to -the wonderful splendours of the palace. Courtly writers afterwards -discovered that there was royal blood in her veins. The only serious -clue we have to her origin is that she came from Laconia, and we may -regard her as a common type of Greek. - -It is calculated that the marriage took place about the end of the -year 956. For three years no events occur that enable us to penetrate -the secluded life of the palace, though the subsequent events suggest -that Helena and her daughters were disdainful of the vulgar beauty and -were met with a virulent hatred. At the end of three years (August -or September 959) Constantine died, and the ampler chronicles tell -a circumstantial story of his being poisoned by his son Romanus and -Theophano. A poison was, it is said, put in his physic. Either by -accident or from suspicion he spilled most of the contents of the cup -and escaped death. But his health was gravely impaired; he went to -visit the monasteries of Mount Olympus, fell dangerously ill there--the -chronicler says that _perhaps_ more poison was administered--and was -brought back to the palace to die. - -We must regard this charge of poisoning as probably a construction -put on his illness by the officials or people of Constantinople. It -may or may not be true. We have no right to conclude at once that it -is an historical fact, but it seems to me that some recent historians -have just as little right to reject it as “improbable.” Romanus was a -licentious and unscrupulous man, carrying his father’s amiable weakness -for wine to the pitch of debauch and ruining his constitution by vice. -Theophano, we shall see, was capable of murder, and her ambition would -most certainly lead her to wish the older imperial family out of the -way. On the other hand, there would be a prejudice against her in -Constantinople, and in the mind of later writers, and we must leave -this first charge against her what it is in the chronicles--a suspicion. - -Her next step was to get rid of the sisters of Romanus. Helena and her -five daughters still lived in the palace, or in one out of the great -cluster of palaces. There were now at least eight palaces, connected -by superb colonnades or separated by choice gardens and terraces, in -the vast imperial domain between the Hippodrome and the Sea of Marmora; -there were, in addition, several palaces on the Asiatic coast; and the -palace at Blachernæ, in the cool, hilly district to the north, had -in turn become a vast cluster of palaces, chapels, colonnades and -terraced gardens. The mother and sisters of Romanus could therefore -find ample hospitality without being compelled to witness the daily -dissipation of the Emperor, his drunken banquets and his troops of -lascivious actors and women, but they frowned on the kind of Court over -which Theophano presided, and she persuaded her husband to remove them. -He bade his five sisters adopt the monastic life. Theophano now had two -sons and a daughter, and would feel safer if their royal aunts were -prevented from making aristocratic marriages. The young women were, -however, not at all disposed to embrace a religious life and there -were furious scenes in the palace. They were removed to the monastery -into which the palace of Theodora’s minister, Theoclistus, had been -converted, near the Hippodrome, but they seem still to have intrigued, -and were separated and transferred to other monasteries.[21] - -Romanus was not cruel or malignant. His temper was to live and let -live, provided that no check was placed on his imperial pleasures. He -merely smiled, therefore, when he heard that, in their convents, his -sisters refused to exchange their silks for the hated black robe, or -abstain from the delicate meats to which they had been accustomed. We -shall later find one of them coming out, in spite of her vows, to marry -an Emperor, to the intense mortification of Theophano, who had murdered -her husband to marry him herself. Helena was the chief sufferer. She -sank into melancholy and illness after the departure of her daughters, -and died in September 961. - -The Emperor continued for two years to enjoy his pleasures and hasten -his death, leaving the care of the Empire to his very capable -ministers and officers. Amongst these officers was a very singular -commander named Nicephorus Phocas, whose romantic career still puzzles -historians. Whether he was a profound hypocrite, or a deeply religious -man fascinated and seduced by Theophano, it is difficult to determine. -“God only knows,” says Leo the Deacon, a chronicler of the time to -whom we owe most of our knowledge. Nicephorus was a very able general -of about fifty years: a dark, robust little man, with black hair and -small dark eyes under thick eyebrows, a very stern look, and the chest -and arms of a Hercules. He was not at all handsome, but he was one of -the greatest soldiers of his time. The singular feature about his life -was that, in consequence of a tragic accident of earlier years, he had -adopted a very religious and ascetic life. He wore a hair shirt under -his armour and linen, abstained from flesh and women as rigidly as a -monk, and was understood to have vowed chastity. - -It appears that, as her husband sickened, Theophano set out to seduce -this remarkable soldier-monk and succeeded. The other great power in -the State was Joseph Bringas, the leading civilian and statesman; -but Joseph was a eunuch, and of no use to Theophano. She would marry -Nicephorus. Leo the Deacon says that she admitted, or drew, the ascetic -to her arms before the death of her husband, and it is not impossible, -as the chief biographer of Nicephorus admits.[22] However that may be, -Romanus died in 963, after a giddy reign of four years, at the age of -twenty-four. Once more Theophano is charged with poisoning, and once -more we must refrain from pressing the charge. The nearest authority, -Leo the Deacon, leaves it an open question whether Romanus died of -poison or had closed his own life prematurely by debauch; and we may -do the same. Historians are too apt to conclude that because Romanus -_did_ wear himself out by his excesses, we may dismiss the charge -against Theophano. Disease, on the contrary, would furnish a cloak to -an artful poisoner, and Theophano certainly wished to get rid of the -despotic eunuch Bringas, whom Nicephorus would quickly displace. The -chief reason why we must hesitate is because Theophano was prostrate at -the time and unable to master the new situation. She had given birth to -a second daughter two days before the death of Romanus, and there is -reason to think that Bringas and others were anxious to remove her from -power. The circumstance is not decisive, as her servants might carry -out a plan made at an earlier date. - -As soon as Theophano recovered she entered upon the struggle with -Bringas. It seems, from the movements of Nicephorus, that the Empress -was in communication with him before the death of Romanus, and that at -least she sent him a secret and flattering message when Romanus died. -Nicephorus had disbanded the army with which he had conducted two -brilliant campaigns against the Saracens, and was little equipped to -contest the power of Bringas, but he went at once to the city in order -to be near Theophano. Bringas had made desperate efforts to keep him -away, even going so far as to propose in the council that the general’s -eyes should be put out for his treasonable ambition. His great -victory over the Saracens and his repute for sanctity had, however, -won a large body of admirers for Nicephorus, and when he entered the -city in triumph, driving before his car groups of Saracen prisoners, -and exhibiting the holy relics he had rescued from the hands of the -heathen, citizens and soldiers and priests united in acclaiming him. -A private conversation with the new patriarch Polyeuctes, a fanatical -monk and eunuch, secured the favour of that prelate and his clergy, and -it is even said that he ventured into the house of Bringas and revealed -to that cautious statesman the hair shirt which he wore below his fine -robes and the monastic heart that beat beneath it. But for his intense -devotion to the young princes, he said, he would at once retire into a -monastery. - -If we can believe this last statement, the situation was not without -humour, because Bringas presently discovered that his pious rival was -being surreptitiously admitted to the Empress’s apartments. Whether it -is true or no that Nicephorus had previously been intimate with her, it -is certain that he now became infatuated with Theophano, and received -an assurance that she would marry him, if not more intimate pledges of -her love. We may be confident that Theophano did not love him; he was -not physically attractive to her sensual taste, and his incongruous -mixture of piety and passion and deceit must have excited her disdain. -He was merely the best instrument at hand for the achievement of her -ambition. Then, as I said, Bringas discovered the secret meetings and -renewed his attack. He invited Nicephorus to the palace. The gallant, -but prudent, soldier preferred to fly to the altar of St Sophia and -secure the protection of the patriarch. The Senate was convoked, the -prelate warmly espoused the cause of Nicephorus, and he departed in -honour to take supreme command of the army in Asia and await the orders -of Theophano. - -The next move of Bringas was a blunder and the beginning of his -downfall. One of Nicephorus’s chief officers was his nephew, John -Zimiskes, the later Emperor. When we find Zimiskes murdering his uncle -with the aid of Theophano, and then callously repudiating her, we -shall not suppose him to be a man of tender conscience, and Bringas, -no doubt, regarded him as venal. He sent a secret messenger to offer -Zimiskes the supreme command if he would send his uncle in bonds to -Constantinople. Zimiskes calculated that he would have the command, -in any case, if his uncle became Emperor, and he showed the letter to -Nicephorus, and urged him to assume the purple. They were in Cæsarea at -the time, and from that city Bringas soon learned that Nicephorus had -accepted the title of Emperor and would march on Constantinople. - -The spirited events which followed must here be told briefly. On Sunday -morning, 9th August, the advance-guard of Nicephorus’s army appeared on -the Asiatic shore in sight of the city, at the point where Scutari now -is, and the people began to make their choice in the usual sanguinary -way. The services in the great church were desecrated with riot, the -battle against the guards who were faithful to Bringas was conducted -in the streets, and by midnight the houses of his supporters were in -flames. Theophano remained with her children behind the barrier of -palace guards, listening, not unwillingly, to the increasing cries -for Nicephorus. We may very well assume that she had had her share in -the riot. One of the most formidable leaders of those who called for -Nicephorus was the bold and ambitious Basil, the natural son of the -elder Romanus. Castrated by his father, that he might never aspire -to the purple, yet promoted to wealth and high office, he seems to -have come to an agreement with Theophano. As soon as the battle began -he led three thousand of his servants and followers, armed, into the -Augusteum, and they continued all Sunday and throughout the night to -hunt the soldiers of Bringas and loot the mansions of his friends. - -Nicephorus had meantime reached the Hieria palace on the Asiatic side, -and on the following Sunday he made his triumphant entry by the Golden -Gate, and along the Mese, to St Sophia, the citizens draping their -houses with the scarlet of rejoicing and adorning the way with laurel -and myrtle. The patriarch Polyeuctes met him at the cathedral, and -Theophano would be present on her golden throne, in her violet mourning -robes, when the crown was put on his head. - -His next step must have caused a sensation in the city and entirely -deceived the clergy. He sent a monk to conduct Theophano from the -palace to the fortress, or higher prison, of Petrion on the Golden -Horn, and maintained for a few weeks his austere aversion from wine -and women. We hardly need the assurance of the chroniclers that -this was done by arrangement between the two, and we may regard it -as a device of Theophano. Nicephorus was now aflame like a youth. -In the middle of September he “threw off the mask,” in the words of -the ecclesiastical chronicler, and announced that he was to marry -Theophano on 20th September. His monastic advisers, he explained, had -concluded that his new position demanded that he should marry. The -marriage service was performed by the patriarch himself in a chapel -in the grounds of the palace, and, while the Emperor went to kiss the -altars at St Sophia, Theophano retired to her familiar apartments, to -congratulate herself on the fortunate issue of her difficult manœuvres. - -And presently the Emperor returned in terrible rage to tell her that a -formidable obstacle had revealed itself. When he had reached the door -of the sanctuary, the patriarch Polyeuctes had barred his way and said -that he would be excluded from the church for a year for contracting -a second marriage. His angry protest had availed nothing; before a -vast crowd of his subjects he had had to submit to the austere priest, -and he was to remain in the ignominious position of a penitent for -a year. Concealing their anger, they concluded the day, as usual, -with a banquet to the leading officers and nobles in the gold-roofed -_triclinon_, now restored and magnificently decorated by Constantine, -and retired to discuss Polyeuctes. - -The patriarch was undoubtedly a stern and conscientious priest, -insisting upon a plain law of his Church. We may, however, assume that -another feeling mingled with his sense of discipline. Nicephorus had, -in the literal meaning, tasted blood at his matrimonial banquet, and -he passionately refused to forgo the embraces of Theophano. His pious -practices were wholly discarded in a day, and the clergy must have been -bitterly disappointed to see him passing from their allegiance to that -of the beautiful adventuress. So Polyeuctes had made a bold bid for -power; and he had made a serious mistake. From that moment Nicephorus -conceived, not merely a personal hatred of the patriarch, but an -anti-clerical spirit, and began to restrict the wealth and power of the -priests and monks. He clung to his enchanting young bride and sternly -faced the clergy. In the discussion that at once filled the palace and -the city some careless noble, named Stylianus, had recalled the fact -that Nicephorus was godfather to one of the Empress’s children, and -the patriarch learned this. He at once pronounced that the marriage -was invalid, as the Church regarded this spiritual relationship as -an insuperable impediment to marriage, and bade the Emperor dismiss -Theophano. - -The feelings of Theophano during these days of disappointment and -anxiety are left to our imagination. It is enough that her charms held -Nicephorus to her in spite of the terrible threats of the patriarch, -and it may be that it was she who approached the unfortunate Stylianus -and persuaded him to commit perjury. Nicephorus gathered a council -of pliant bishops and Senators, and they decided that, as the law -invoked by the patriarch had been passed by the heretic Constantine -Copronymus, it was not binding. Polyeuctes scorned their decision. -Then Stylianus came forward to swear that Nicephorus had _not_ been -godfather to any child of Theophano, and the Emperor’s father, Bardas, -came forward to swear that _he_ was the godfather. The patriarch -knew that they were lying, but his clergy were anxious to escape a -formidable struggle and he was forced to yield. To Theophano it was, -no doubt, immaterial whether or no she was married to Nicephorus; she -had a strong and devoted soldier to protect her and her children. How -the pious Nicephorus reconciled himself to the situation is one of the -things that “God only knows.” All that we know is that the possession -of Theophano dissipated his asceticism as the summer sun disperses the -mists, and he eagerly embraced a woman to whom, under the creed of his -Church, he was not married. - -During the six years’ reign of Nicephorus the Empress had little -occasion to assert her wayward personality, but it is significant that -the one statement made of her is an accusation of crime. One of the -sons of the older Romanus still languished in captivity, and it seemed -possible, in view of the growing discontent at Constantinople, that an -intrigue would be formed to put him on the throne. “Theophano,” we are -curtly informed, “made an end of him.” There is no reason to doubt that -messengers were sent to his distant prison with an order that he should -be put to death, and it is more probable that the order came from -Theophano than from Nicephorus. For the first year or two, however, -Nicephorus prudently removed his fiery young bride from the seditious -and immoral atmosphere of Constantinople, and she passed her days in -unwonted innocence amid the lonely mountains of Cilicia. - -The Emperor had spent a few months in an effort, by lavish -entertainment, to dispel the suspicion of parsimony and meanness under -which he had ascended the throne. The Hippodrome rang daily with the -applause and contests of the citizens, and the winter was enlivened -with great gaiety. Meantime Nicephorus was gathering an immense army -for the more substantial work of driving back the Saracens, and when, -in the early spring, the cosmopolitan regiments were assembled along -the Asiatic shore, he announced that the Empress would accompany him -to the field. He knew Theophano too well to leave her in that world -of intriguing eunuchs and ambitious courtiers. A little pot-bellied -man, with dark skin and little dark eyes, with short greyish beard -betraying his age, and with disproportionately long arms and short legs -to his stumpy figure, he felt that he was not likely to grow fonder -to the heart of the fascinating Theophano during two or three years’ -absence. On the other hand, one must not imagine the sensual young -Empress as being inconvenienced by the rough ways of a camp. The -rulers of Constantinople carried their luxury even into the camp, on -the occasions on which they condescended to take the field in person. -Eighty horses were needed for the transport of the kitchen equipment -and table silver alone, and thirty were required to convey the imperial -wardrobe from town to town; while the whole countryside was laid under -contribution to supply delicacies for the table. No doubt these normal -glories of an imperial march would be at least doubled in view of the -presence of Theophano. - -They sailed from the Bucoleon port in the great gold and purple galley -of the imperial family, and joined the army at Cæsarea. From that city -Theophano accompanied her husband across the hills and plains of Asia -Minor until they came to the beginning of the Taurus range. Here the -Emperor left Theophano and her sons, in safe charge, while he led his -troops into the more dangerous country beyond. At the entrance of the -narrow defile which the ancients knew as the “Cilician Gates” was the -massive fortress of Drizibion, a solitary and rugged castle in a wild -mountainous district. It was in this quiet and cool home, removed from -communication with the metropolis, that Theophano and her children -spent the summer of the year 964. She would, of course, have an ample -retinue of eunuchs and women, and every provision would be made for -her comfort, but, whether it was the jealousy or the amorousness of -Nicephorus that detained her in this healthy solitude, she would be -sure to resent it. At the beginning of the winter he returned to her, -with modest laurels, and may have conducted her to Cæsarea, or some -other city of the plains, for the enjoyment of the winter. But the -early spring called him once more to the field, and it seems that -Theophano had to spend another summer in the wilds of Cilicia. It -was only in the autumn of 965 that she re-entered Constantinople, to -witness the splendid triumph of her husband. - -In the following year Nicephorus made another campaign, and from the -time of his return in the autumn of 966 the shadow of tragedy began -to creep over his life. His vast armies and laborious victories had -laid a heavy burden of taxation on the Empire, and, passionately as -Constantinople loved to see a herd of captives driven before the royal -chariot in the hour of triumph, it was little disposed to pay for -remote victories. The clergy also were embittered. Nicephorus, soured -by the action of the patriarch, and thus made sensible of the revolting -spread of luxurious idleness under the name of monasticism, curtailed -the revenues of the clergy, forbade the further conversion of mansions -and palaces into monasteries, and claimed the right to appoint bishops. -The people became sullen and hostile. When, on Easter Sunday, 967, -Nicephorus crossed the Augusteum to go to church, they pelted him with -mud and stones so violently that a group of the more sober citizens had -to rescue him. It was expected that he would inflict some punishment, -and when, a few weeks later, he ordered his guards to descend to the -arena in the Hippodrome and begin their military evolutions, either to -impress or to entertain the spectators, there was a frantic rush for -the gates and many were trodden underfoot. - -By the summer of 969 life in the sacred palace had become very -sombre and unpleasant, and Theophano began to seek a new companion. -The ardour of her husband’s passion had been chilled by the terrors -which now surrounded him, and, in preparation for the death which was -foretold to him, he returned zealously to his monastic habits. Even the -soldiers were now hostile to him, except his immediate corps of foreign -mercenaries. Nicephorus relied on their formidable axes, converted -the old and decaying Bucoleon palace into a massive fortress, girt -the whole enclosure with a lofty castellated wall, and retired within -this heavily guarded circle to spend his days and nights in prayer and -penitence. - -It is one of the most curious features of the story that, while he -moodily punished his bravest officers for their very victories, the -lithe and insidious Theophano retained his confidence. She had no -longer the comparative solace of his sensual fire, and she must have -looked on with deep disdain when he refused to share the imperial bed -at night and, after long hours of prayer and psalm-reading, flung -himself for a brief and feverish sleep on a panther-skin spread -upon the ground in the corner of his chamber. But Theophano was not -excluded from the Bucoleon palace, and she laid her plans to defeat his -desperate entrenchments. The new partner whom she chose to encourage -was the general Zimiskes, the Emperor’s nephew, whom we have seen on an -earlier page revealing the perfidy of Bringas to his uncle. He had been -dismissed from office by Nicephorus “on account of certain suspicions”; -and we have little trouble in inferring that he was suspected of -liaison with Theophano and eagerness for the throne. He was, like -his uncle, a very little and robust man, but much more handsome than -Nicephorus; his broad chest and great brawny arms were redeemed by a -fair countenance, a pair of keen and friendly blue eyes and a crown of -almost golden hair. I must be pardoned for inserting such portraits -of the Emperors as we have, while seeming to omit the more desirable -portraits of their consorts. The Byzantine chroniclers rarely give -us more than the very vaguest assurances that Empresses were “very -beautiful,” and so on, and the few surviving representations of them in -ivory or bronze or mosaic are not portraits on which one would dare to -found a physiognomical study. - -In the autumn of 969 Zimiskes was living impatiently on his private -estate in Armenia, when he received an assurance that Theophano had -persuaded his uncle to allow him to return to Court. Whether or no it -is true that he had previously enjoyed the favours of Theophano, he now -certainly became her ally and accomplice. She seems to have deluded -Nicephorus with diabolical duplicity. A rumour, which most historians -plausibly ascribe to her, was circulated in Constantinople, to the -effect that Nicephorus intended to castrate her sons and leave the -crown to his brother Leo, who, on account of his extortions, was no -less hated than he. On the other hand, Theophano persuaded Nicephorus -that the interest of herself and her children would be best consulted -if Zimiskes were recalled to the capital and compelled to marry some -noble lady of the city. Nicephorus assented, and his nephew came to -Constantinople. Then it seems to have been betrayed to the Emperor, -probably by his brother, that Zimiskes was being secretly admitted to -the Empress’s apartments, and he placed restrictions on him. Zimiskes -retired to his mansion at Chalcedon, on the Asiatic side, and continued -to communicate with Theophano. - -The culmination of the plot is a thrilling, if sordid, page of -romance. On the night of 10th December Theophano visited her husband -and persuaded him to leave his chamber door unfastened, as she would -see him later. He still failed to suspect her, although some watchful -priest had warned him of the plot. Some time before a group of tall, -veiled women had presented themselves at the palace door and been -admitted; and, when they had reached the secret chambers assigned to -them by Theophano, it was a group of bronzed soldiers who emerged from -the mantles and veils. Someone betrayed them, and Nicephorus sent an -officer to explore the palace, but he, probably being in the pay of -Theophano, reported that all was well, and Nicephorus turned to his -long psalms. Theophano and her servants were in the upper part of the -palace looking out anxiously over the Sea of Marmora. It was a dark -wintry night, and the snow was falling heavily. At length a faint -whistle from below told them that a boat had arrived from Chalcedon -and lay under the walls. A basket (some say a ladder) was tied to a -rope and lowered into the depths, and presently Zimiskes and several -companions were within the palace. An Arab historian would have us -believe that Theophano herself led them, with drawn swords, to her -husband’s room; it is more probable that, as the Greek writers say, she -left this to one of her eunuchs. - -For a moment the conspirators started back in alarm; the imperial bed -was empty, and they fancied that the plot was known, and Nicephorus -would fall on them. But the eunuch showed them the sleeping form of the -Emperor on his panther-rug, and, with a cry for help to the Virgin, -the strange soldier-monk passed out of the imperial world he had -invaded. Basil, the astute head chamberlain, had an opportune illness -at the moment, and only recovered in time to do reverence to his new -sovereign. The guards alone rushed from their quarters and attacked the -conspirators, but the sight of the grisly head of the late Emperor, -which was exhibited at the window, induced them to sheathe their swords -and accept a new paymaster. So Zimiskes proceeded gaily to the golden -palace (Chrysotriclinon) to put on the purple slippers, and Theophano -retired to her room to reflect on the next phase of her career: perhaps -to glance now and again at the ghastly trunk of her late husband, which -lay, all night and all the following day, in the snow without. This, -surely, was the last crime she need commit. She was still young, and -might look forward to many years of power with the robust soldier she -had invited to share her throne. - -Six days later Zimiskes went in state to St Sophia to receive his -diadem, and found the stern patriarch Polyeuctes again boldly barring -the way. He refused to crown Zimiskes except on three conditions: he -must undo the anti-clerical work of his predecessor, he must deliver to -justice the actual murderer of Nicephorus, and he must drive the guilty -Theophano from the palace. Theophano now discovered the full brutality -of her accomplice. He bowed at once to the commands of the patriarch, -and the beautiful young Empress--she must still have been in her -twenties, unless she was much older than her husband at the time of her -first marriage--was dragged from her apartments to the Bucoleon quay -and shipped to one of the dreary island prisons in the Sea of Marmora. -She was furious with rage and disappointment. After a time she escaped -and contrived to reach the altar in St Sophia; but even the mob of -Constantinople shrank from the murderess, and her former confederate, -Basil, was allowed to tear her from the altar. In her frenzy she beat -the grand chamberlain with her own white hands and, reverting to -the language of the tavern, poured her invectives on the “Scythian -bastard.”[23] Her career had been so darkened with suspicion, and had -so plainly ended in murder, that her appeals fell on a cold, if not -jeering, audience, and she was conveyed to distant Armenia and confined -in a monastery. - -The rest of the story of Theophano, as far as it is known to us, is -told in the curt statement that she was recalled to Court in the reign -of her eldest son, Basil, and again enjoyed the imperial position -for half-a-century. John Zimiskes retained only for a few years the -power for which he had paid so base a price. The marriage which he -presently contracted was not much less sordid than the marriage he -had intended to contract; if, indeed, he ever had a serious desire to -make so dangerous a woman as Theophano the partner of his throne. He -took a nun from her monastery, bade the patriarch--whose scruples had -their limits--relieve her of her vows, and married her. The Empress -Theodora is not clearly outlined in the chronicles, but she is not -without interest. She was one of those daughters of Constantine whom -her brother Romanus had forced to take the veil. Zimiskes had felt that -an alliance with the late dynasty would strengthen his position, and -it may be remembered that the daughters of Constantine were not at all -scrupulous. They had refused to wear the black robe or eat the bread -and beans of the monastery. Constantinople is said to have indulged -in the most boisterous rejoicing over the marriage, and even the -heavens seemed to express their satisfaction, when one of the Senators -discovered in his orchard an ancient stone on which was miraculously -inscribed: “Long Life to John and Theodora.” There were, however, -sceptics in the city, as it was recalled that a similar “discovery” -had been made in the interest of Irene and her son, yet the blessing -had proved illusory. The Senator was richly rewarded, but he may have -lived to see the futility of his miracle. After a few years (976) the -handsome chamberlain Basil bribed John’s cook to put less innocent -things than condiments in his dishes, and he went the beaten way of -Byzantine Emperors. Theodora disappears after his death, though we can -hardly suppose that she returned to her monastery. - -Theophano’s sons, Basil and Constantine, now became joint Emperors, -and they recalled their mother from Armenia to the palace. One would -be inclined to suspect that the poisoning did not come to her as a -surprise, but the chroniclers do not impeach her, and we need not -strive to lengthen the list of her misdeeds. She makes no further mark, -for good or evil, in the chronicles. Possibly the terrible experiences -of her early womanhood and seven years of sober reflection in her -monastic prison had destroyed her passion for intrigue. In any case, -the very vigorous administration of her elder son left her little -room to interfere, and she seems to have been content with the quiet -enjoyment of the position of a dowager Empress. According to George -the Monk (or his continuer) she lived for fifty years after the death -of her first husband--that is to say, after 963--and so she must have -passed her seventieth year at the time of her death. There seems to -have been no rival Empress during that time. We may trust that the -character of Theophano sobered and matured, and that the forty years’ -silence means that she led a regular and unambitious life. However that -may be, the personality she shows when she is under the full limelight -on the imperial stage is one of unrestrained passion and greed. She was -a tavern-keeper’s daughter in the purple, an appalling instance of the -lowest type of Greek beauty. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -TWO IMPERIAL SISTERS - - -The long and prosperous reign of Basil II. (976–1025) has no further -interest for us, since we find in the chronicles no reference to a wife -of that hardy and brilliant soldier. His younger brother, Constantine, -was more like their mother: a man of passion and greed, though with -no higher ambition than that of an imperial enjoyment of wine and -women, and in that enjoyment he was quite willing to await the natural -death of his more sober and more distinguished brother. Although he -approached his seventieth year when the undivided rule fell to him, -his ways were still those of an aged and jaded, and not very refined, -Sybarite, and the three years of his reign interest us only because -they show us the earlier environment of his two daughters, Zoe and -Theodora, who are the next to occupy--alternately or simultaneously, -according to the course of the romance--the gynæceum, or women’s -quarters, of the palace. - -Constantine’s wife, Helena, daughter of the patrician Alypius, is -a mere cipher in the imperial records, and seems to have died much -earlier, leaving three daughters--Eudocia, Zoe and Theodora--to grow -up as they might in the palace of her voluptuous husband. Eudocia, the -eldest, lost during an attack of smallpox whatever comeliness she may -have had, and retired to hide her disfigured countenance under the veil -of a nun. There remained Zoe and Theodora, and Constantine determined -to marry one of the two to some important noble and leave the crown -to him. The elder of the two was nearly fifty years old, and Theodora -cannot have been much younger. It is not very clear why they had not -married earlier. Their father, who could hardly be induced to take the -least interest in his Empire, had wholly neglected his daughters until -he held the sceptre in his hands, and felt that the time was at hand -when he must relinquish it to another. He was a very large and robust -man, absorbed in hunting, gambling and other less reputable pleasures, -and, even when he was sole Emperor, he left the cares of state to -his eunuchs and retained his imperial attention for the theatre, -the banquet and the dance. In his home the sisters had, says the -chronicler, “lived as they listed,” and the further course of the story -will make it probable that Zoe had not failed to enjoy her liberty. -Theodora was less sensual, but we shall have to include both sisters in -the list of Empresses who were little embarrassed by moral scruples. - -In approaching their careers we have the rare advantage of an excellent -guide. Michael Psellus, one of the leading philosophers and literary -men of Byzantine history, not only lived at their Court, and knew them -intimately, but he had a genial taste for the tattle and scandal of a -court and not the least reluctance to entrust it to his graceful pen. -He has been called the Voltaire of Byzantine letters on account of his -brilliant, caustic and very candid way of writing the story of his -times. We shall find his “Chronography” of inestimable value, provided -we make due allowance for the prejudices of the politician and the -amiable unscrupulousness of the anecdotist. - -Zoe and Theodora were very different types of women. Zoe, who will -interest us most, was a woman of fine complexion, very graceful figure -and ardent passions. She had large sensuous eyes under heavy eyebrows, -a mass of blonde hair, and a skin of remarkable whiteness. She was of -middle height, and preferred to dress in simple robes, which exhibited -her figure, rather than in the heavy and gorgeous draperies and massive -jewellery of an Empress; though this simplicity of taste was limited, -on one side, by a passion for perfumes and cosmetics, of which she -gathered the material from all parts of the world and compounded, -either with her own hands or by her maids, so industriously that her -room “looked like a workshop.” She took such care of her smooth and -clear skin and blonde hair that even in her seventieth year she had no -wrinkle or other mark of age. She retained youth also in her blood, and -we shall find her remarkably amorous in her sixth decade of life. Such -a woman we shall hardly expect to find richly endowed with intellect -or greatly restrained by moral sentiments, yet I think that M. Diehl -follows too literally the facile witticism of Psellus when he speaks of -Zoe as “childish” and “silly,” and I will prefer to let the story of -her life tell us the limitations of her intelligence and character. - -Theodora will interest us much less than Zoe, and it will suffice to -say that she was in all respects different from her sister. Her tall -and graceless figure and her very plain features were compensated by -a stronger intelligence and greater force of character. She could be -coldly stern, even cruel, on occasions, while cruelty only came to Zoe -in the impulsive anger of her thwarted passions. We shall see that, -when the occasion came to her, she cherished a very high ideal of -public duty and used her power with an intelligence and beneficence -that Psellus greatly underrates. - -Such were the two daughters who, in middle age, were warned by their -father that one of them must marry and inherit the Empire. The choice -of Constantine first fell upon a distinguished noble named Constantine -Delassenus, and a eunuch was sent to bring him from Armenia, where duty -had taken him, to the Court. Much tragedy might have been prevented if -that eunuch had reached his destination in time, but he was recalled -by a second courier and told that the Emperor had changed his mind. It -appears that the commander of the palace guards had felt that he would -not have much influence on a noble like Delassenus, and he had brought -to the notice of the Emperor a less young and less vigorous candidate, -Romanus Argyrus, who was related to Constantine. Romanus was sixty -years old, and had little to recommend him except his incompetency, -which would suit the designs of the officers of the Court. He had, -however, a wife living in Constantinople at the time, and it seems to -have been supposed that he might not be willing to abandon her. The -petty schemers of the Court were accordingly directed to bring about -a separation, and, as Polyeuctes was dead, and a more accommodating -patriarch held the see, no opposition was expected from the Church. - -A file of soldiers entered the mansion of Romanus and told him that -he had incurred the anger of the Emperor. They were, they said, to -lead him to the palace for execution, and his wife was to enter a -monastery. Many eyes had been put out, on slight grounds, during the -three years’ licentious reign of Constantine, and the threat was -serious. The wife fled at once to a monastery, and Romanus was brought, -in some trepidation, to the royal presence--to learn that, since his -wife was now a nun, he was free to marry the Emperor’s daughter and -thus secure the purple. Instead of retiring to thrust a dagger in his -heart, as an older Roman would probably have done, the sixty-year-old -noble graciously submitted his person to the princesses. Theodora, the -favourite of her father, had the first choice, but she turned away in -disgust. Possibly Romanus did not regret that this gave him the hand of -the more charming Zoe, who, in her forty-ninth year, fully preserved -the fresh and brilliant complexion and the warm passions of a young -woman. He had set out from home prepared for death, and must have been -bewildered by his fortune. The clergy obligingly disentangled the -somewhat complicated relation in which they stood to each other, in the -eyes of the Church; they were married and crowned on 19th November -1028; and, as Constantine died three or four days afterwards, the duty, -or pleasure, of governing the Empire fell on them during the first week -of their singular honeymoon. - -After this inauspicious beginning we shall hardly expect the reign -of Romanus III. and Zoe to be one of brilliant and inspiring deeds; -indeed, we may say briefly that it was merely an inglorious effort to -retain the crowns they had obtained. They adopted the easy device of -emptying the treasury on the common folk, the clergy and the monks. The -private debts of citizens were paid by them, more churches were built -or richly decorated, the clergy were relieved from taxation, and the -monks--it was the very culmination of their golden age--were lodged in -luxurious mansions which made their calling one of the most attractive -in the Empire. The graver nobles frowned, plotted and were savagely -punished, but we are interested in these conspiracies only in so far as -they involve the imperial sisters. - -Theodora, a spirited and intelligent woman, naturally despised the -marriage which she had refused, and was regarded with suspicion and -hatred by her sister. By some means Zoe put at the head of Theodora’s -household a Paphlagonian eunuch in her own pay, a very crafty and -unscrupulous man named John, who was enjoined to watch Theodora’s -conduct. This very interesting person will be better known to us -presently, as he was destined to be the most powerful man in Zoe’s -Court. For the moment it is enough to say that, about a year after the -coronation, Theodora was discovered to have some share in a conspiracy -which was set afoot by Constantine, a relative of the Emperor. It -is curious that John also was found guilty, though whether this was -merely a trick to conceal his spying, or he had really been gained -by Theodora, it would be difficult to say. Theodora was expelled -from the palace and confined in a building at Petrion, on the Golden -Horn, which seems to have had the mixed characters of a monastery, a -state prison and a fort. It was the building to which Nicephorus had -consigned Theophano for a few weeks before their marriage, and would -have comfortable apartments. A year later Romanus was ignominiously -beaten by the Saracens and the conspiracy revived. There is no proof -that Theodora took part in it, but its aim would be, no doubt, to place -her on the throne. In one of those moments of energy which passion -occasionally gave her, Zoe went to Petrion, and forced her royal sister -to take the vows and adopt the dress of a nun. - -As a number of other malcontents lost their eyes or their liberty -at the same time, the throne of Zoe and Romanus seemed to be firmly -established. Unfortunately, a very grave breach now took place between -the imperial pair, and, as a handsome official entered the service -of the palace, there happened what so commonly happens in Byzantine -history under the circumstances: Zoe fell in love with the handsome -servant, and Romanus died, of a mysterious complaint. - -Delicacy compels me to refer the inquisitive reader to the Greek -text of Psellus, or to the chronicle of the monk Zonaras, for a full -explanation of the rift in the sacred palace. Briefly, Romanus had been -assured by one of those soothsayers who were in such high repute at -Constantinople that he would have a son, and he zealously studied and -employed the whole known range of aphrodisiacs and other contrivances -that might help to ensure the fulfilment of the prophecy. After two -or three years of this peculiar activity he retired in despair from -the struggle, leaving Zoe untouched and indignant. As she had now -certainly entered her sixth decade of life, the modern reader will -have but a slender sympathy with her, and will recognize a very low -quality of character in her conduct. Her husband became ill, and his -favourite chamberlain, Michael, was often summoned to attend him, -even when Zoe shared his bed. This chamberlain was a tall, handsome, -fresh-faced young man, whose form pleased the Empress, but there was a -deeper intrigue in the affair; the chamberlain was a brother of the -Paphlagonian eunuch John, whom we saw in charge of Theodora’s mansion, -and it is now necessary to present him more intelligibly. - -John was a very shrewd, ambitious, vulpine provincial of mean family; -he had been converted into a eunuch in early years, had held office -in the employment of the Emperor Basil, and had then retired to a -monastery. His character is so far removed from religious ideals that -one is disposed to imagine him as having been compelled to take the -black robe for some indiscretion, but it is quite possible that he -adopted it voluntarily, as at this time many of the monasteries were -merely luxurious colonies of bachelors living on a swollen stream of -legacies. Romanus, who knew his ability, brought him from his monastery -to supervise Theodora and her affairs. In spite of the curious -statement that he was himself involved in the conspiracy, he was soon -back at Court, and in great favour. He had five brothers and a sister, -and the general character of the family may be deduced from the fact -that three of the six brothers were moneylenders, two (John and Simeon) -were monks, while the sister, Maria, had married a ship-caulker at the -quays. John used his influence to introduce these brothers into the -very lucrative service of the State. Within a few years the beau of the -family became Emperor, the son of the ship-caulker also became Emperor, -the ship-caulker himself became High Admiral of the Fleet, two other -brothers had the rank of generals, and John became the virtual ruler of -the Empire. - -It was chiefly through his young and attractive-looking brother that -John pushed their fortunes. Michael was a young man of large and -well-proportioned figure, with that freshness of complexion which -we often find in nerve-diseased or epileptic subjects. He became a -favourite chamberlain of Romanus, and John presently noticed that Zoe -was interested in him. Romanus was visibly failing, and Michael was at -times called in to chafe his feet as he lay in bed with Zoe. “Who will -believe,” the monk Zonaras asks, “that he did not take the opportunity -to rub Zoe’s feet also?” Zoe expressed to John a lively interest in his -brother, and John took care that their movements should not be hampered -by any of the restrictions that normally curtailed the liberty of a -Byzantine Empress. The pale Paphlagonian, in the black dress of a monk, -was already the supreme master of the palace, but the most piquant -feature of his position is to find him chiding the nervous hesitation -of his brother and feeding the improper admiration of the Empress. - -Psellus dilates, almost gloats, for pages over the development of this -singular love story, in a way that hardly becomes a great exponent of -Plato and Aristotle. Before long the relation of the two was known to -the whole Court. Michael was loaded with jewels and other presents, -and not infrequently courtiers would find him sitting, still rather -nervously, on the same couch with the infatuated Empress. One day a -servant entered the throne-room for some purpose, and almost fell to -the ground in astonishment. Zoe had made Michael sit on the throne, -had put the crown on his head and the sceptre in his hand, and was -admiringly murmuring: “My darling, my flower of beauty, joy of my eyes, -consoler of my soul,” etc. Instead of bursting into passion at the -entrance of the official, she bade him do homage to the man who would -one day be his Emperor. So says, at least, the philosophic Psellus, -whom many believe. It is quite certain that Zoe made flagrant love to -the chamberlain, and that the Emperor knew it. His sister, Pulcheria, -angrily spoke to him of the notorious scandal, but he professed to be -ignorant of it and was content to exact from Michael an oath that there -was no truth in the rumour. Other writers say that he overlooked the -liaison because it preserved his middle-aged spouse from promiscuous -irregularity. - -Romanus forgot that such love affairs were apt to entail tragic -consequences for the superfluous man. As Zoe’s passion increased, he -found himself suffering from an alarming and mysterious illness. His -hair fell out in patches, his breathing was laboured, his face--a more -significant symptom in an old man like Romanus--became livid and puffy. -Whether this illness was really due to a slow poison, and whether the -poison was administered by John or Zoe, are points which we must leave -as we find them in the chronicles--uncertain. Since there is very -little doubt that Romanus was murdered in the end, the theory of poison -is not reckless; but Romanus was aged and worn, and the illness may -have been natural. However that may be, Romanus lingered in a frightful -condition until Holy Thursday of the year 1041. On that sacred day -Romanus distributed to the Senators the ceremonious gifts prescribed -in the ritual, and retired to the bath. From the bath he was presently -removed in a dying condition to his bed. However possible it may be -that he had had a serious attack of his illness in the bath, we cannot -easily ignore the persistent statement that men entered the bathroom, -and either strangled the Emperor or held his head under the water. -Psellus gives this as a rumour, but even he seems to believe it. Both -Michael and John are accused of the murder, and it is left uncertain -whether Zoe was privy to the plot. Her immediate conduct will not -dispose us to be eager to clear her memory of the suspicion, but we may -be sure that the monk John was the soul of the plot. - -Zoe came, with ostentatious (the chronicler says feigned) tears, to see -that her husband was really dead or dying, though she did not await the -end, which occurred soon afterwards. When we learn that she announced -her intention of marrying Michael _the same evening_ we are disposed to -see in her an element of cold-blooded calculation which does not very -well assort with the character we have given her. It would probably be -much more correct to conceive her as nervous and confused, and simply -yielding to the dictation of the monk John. Her father’s eunuchs, -who had remained in her service, begged her to wait some time, -but John bullied and threatened, and Michael was forthwith decked in -the dead man’s robes and placed beside Zoe in the gold-roofed hall. -The patriarch was summoned to the palace and curtly ordered to crown -Michael and marry him at once to the very recent widow, in the presence -of the assembled Senators. The whole scene is so repulsive that we need -not hesitate to accept the last touch given to it in the chronicles. -The archbishop hesitated, but a present of a hundred pounds in gold -from John removed his scruples, and he invoked the blessing of God on -the new imperial marriage. - -[Illustration: THE EMPRESS ZÖE - -FROM ‘CONSTANTINOPLE’ BY E. A. GROSVENOR] - -After this authentic episode it is superfluous to seek to determine -the share of Zoe in the illness and death of her first husband. The -monk-eunuch was capable of any crime, and it is, perhaps, not likely -that he would take others into his confidence in perpetrating them. -His brother Michael was a feeble-minded man, of no criminal instincts, -whom we shall presently find smitten with the deepest remorse for the -part he had played. Zoe also was little more than a tool in the hands -of John. Had he communicated his criminal design to them, they would -probably have consented, but there is no evidence that he did so. The -marriage, however, is a sordid fact that no casuistry can excuse. -It would, no doubt, be represented to Zoe that delay would give an -opportunity for a revolution, and there were always at Constantinople -nobles who were ready to aspire to the throne when so excellent a -pretext was afforded. These considerations may explain, but cannot -excuse, Zoe’s action. She was almost, if not quite, devoid of moral -feeling. The utmost we can say for her is that it was not merely her -passion for Michael that gave such indecent precipitancy to a woman -of fifty-four years. But she had no children to protect, and she lent -herself to this disgraceful procedure merely in order to retain her -royal position. - -We read, therefore, without the least sympathy that, while the change -made the fortune of the astute John and his brethren, it brought great -disappointment and chagrin to Zoe. She had, the chronicler says, -imagined that the lowly chamberlain, grateful for his elevation to -the throne, would be her slave, and she at once gathered about her -the former servants of her father and began to rule. But the monk -had no intention of handing to her the power he had purchased so -heavily. His official position was merely that of “orphanotrophos,” -or director of charitable institutions; his real position was that of -Emperor. Most of the brothers were able men, but Michael was, as John -probably took into account from the first, epileptic and incapable of -self-assertion. John, therefore, took the reins in his own hands. He -summarily dismissed Zoe’s eunuchs and maids and put about her an army -of servants in his own employment, so that she could not even go to -the bath without the permission and knowledge of the eunuch. To the -Empire and its affairs, it may be said, he devoted the most careful and -intelligent attention. Even in the midst of a solitary carouse--for -the monk was fond of wine--he would turn with alacrity to any pressing -business. It was only in the dishonest enrichment of himself and his -brothers, whom he at once promoted to the highest commands, that he -overreached himself. - -One noble only, the Constantine Delassenus who had so narrowly missed -the Empire and the hand of Zoe, rebelled against this division of the -Empire among a family of low-born eunuchs and money-changers, and -the punishment of Delassenus so well illustrates the world in which -Zoe now found herself that it may be briefly recounted. John secured -the loyalty of the Senators by a generous distribution of money, and -then sent a eunuch to assure Delassenus, who was in Armenia, that -his conduct would be overlooked if he disarmed at once. Delassenus -required some tremendous security of such a promise on the part of -John, and it was left to the clergy to devise a new and particularly -ponderous oath. The evolution of the oath in Byzantine life is one of -the many ways in which we may trace the degradation of its character; -no one had any longer the faintest confidence in oaths on the true -cross or the Sacrament. A group of clerics were therefore sent with -the most sacred objects in the reliquaries of Constantinople, and they -marshalled before the eyes of Delassenus the cross, the napkin bearing -a miraculous image of Christ, the original letter of Christ to King -Abgar, and the portrait of Mary painted by St Luke. On these portentous -relics an oath was taken that no punishment would be inflicted on him. -He submitted; and a few months later, when the people of Antioch rose -against their oppressive tax-gatherers, the revolt was subtly traced to -the distant noble, and he was exiled and ruined. - -Zoe tolerated the domination of the odious monk for a few years -impatiently, and at length made an attempt on his life. She won one of -the eunuchs whom John had placed about her, and directed him to offer -John’s medical attendant a vast sum of money if he would poison his -master. But, by one of those convenient accidents which commonly happen -in novels and in Byzantine history, the doctor’s boy discovered the -plot and denounced it to John. Her eunuch was drastically punished, and -Zoe was treated worse than ever. - -At the same time her condition became more unpleasant, because -Michael’s illness became worse. The popular belief in Constantinople -was that a devil had invaded the Emperor, to punish him for his -mendacious denial, to Romanus, of intimacy with Zoe. Men told of the -suddenness with which the quiet, rosy-cheeked Emperor would be, at any -moment, converted into a frothing maniac, and it was noticed that, on -the rare occasions on which he appeared on the throne, purple curtains -were looped in readiness about it, and servants stood to draw them -round the throne if the devil should choose that moment to indulge his -frolics. Even the Byzantine writers take this theory seriously; though -some of them offer the alternative theory of insanity. We recognize the -symptoms of epilepsy, and see that Zoe’s choice had failed. Between -the attacks Michael, who seems to have believed in the devil, was -gloomy and penitent. He and his brothers walked barefoot through the -city, at the head of processions, bearing the swaddling-clothes of the -infant Christ and all the other priceless relics I have mentioned; but -the only answer of the heavens was a storm of such hail that the stones -crashed through the tiled roofs. He visited shrines, built churches and -monasteries, showered gold on the clergy, and even gave a baptism-fee -to every new-born babe; and famine, pestilence and earthquake vexed the -over-burdened Empire, and men cursed Michael and his brothers. - -At length dropsy was added to epilepsy, and Michael determined to -resign and enter a monastery. Zoe seems by this time to have been -completely cowed by the arrogant monk, and she made little opposition -when he went on to provide a new and strange aspirant to the throne. -His sister Maria was, as I said, married to a ship-caulker named -Stephen, who had been put in command of the fleet. They had a boy -named Michael, a vicious youth, but young enough to submit to his -uncle’s rule if he obtained the crown, and the Emperor and Zoe were -persuaded or coerced to adopt this child and clothe him with the -dignity of Cæsar. One of the chroniclers tells that they deceived Zoe -by representing the boy as the son of a noble matron. Some such fiction -may have been served to the populace, but Zoe could hardly be deceived -on the point; and even the people were not long deceived, if at all, -since he has passed into history as Michael the Caulker. In the chapel -at Blachernæ the boy was accepted into the imperial family, after -swearing the customary ponderous oaths to respect Zoe as his mother and -mistress. It is not impossible that Zoe felt that this adoption of a -son who was to wear the crown made her own position more secure. - -Some time afterwards Michael IV. retired to a monastery, and Michael -V. began to look forward to his imperial opportunities of indulgence. -The next course of events is not quite clear, but it seems that the -retiring Emperor felt some scruple about his action and had relegated -the boy to a house without the walls. He died, refusing to see Zoe, -soon afterwards (10th December 1041), and John forged a letter in his -name, bidding the guards deliver the young Cæsar, and brought him to -the palace. We are then told that Zoe asserted her power, bestowed the -crown on the youth only on the strictest promise of obedience to her, -and expelled the three brothers--John, George and Constantine--from the -palace. It seems more likely that the brothers quarrelled with each -other. John, promising the most absolute power to Zoe, had his younger -brothers exiled, and then Constantine intrigued with the young Emperor -and displaced his brother. - -These details are of little moment for our purpose. By the spring of -1042, three months after the death of her husband, we find Zoe sharing -the power with her adopted son and his uncle Constantine, and a fresh -chapter of romance opens in her story. - -Constantine, apparently, urged the youth to get rid of Zoe and rule -alone. A vicious and conceited youth, he was little troubled by the -oaths he had taken a few months before, but he felt it necessary to -proceed cautiously. He began to slight Zoe, then to treat her with -disdain and harshness. He confined her to her palace, and refused -to let her control the treasury. One day he announced one of those -imperial processions through the city which the people regarded as -opportunities to express their feelings, and rode out alone. To his -delight he was received with the liveliest rejoicing. The citizens -hung their choicest silks and tapestries before their houses, and -displayed their silver and other treasures on their balconies, as -they were wont to do on the most festive occasions. Elated with his -apparent popularity, Michael consulted his unofficial council of -fast-living young sportsmen, as soon as he returned to the palace, -and they decided to dismiss Zoe at once. It is said that Michael -himself brutally told her of his decision, and even slapped the fair -face of his adopted mother. The charge he put forward was that she was -preparing a poison for him. It would not be difficult to believe, if -there were any serious evidence, but it was probably only a pretext to -get rid of her. That night she was put on ship at the quay, rowed to -the islands and consecrated a nun. - -On the following day, however, the laments of Zoe were cut short in -a very unexpected manner. A boat came at its highest speed from the -palace, and a royal official bade her at once return to her dignity. -The people had resented the flagrant conduct of her adopted son, and he -had hastily summoned her to her palace. A herald had been sent into the -public square to announce that the most pious Emperor had deposed his -mother and the patriarch for conspiring against his throne and would -himself care for their interests in the future. From the sullen crowd -a voice protested angrily that they “wanted their mother Zoe, not the -son of the caulker”; it was repeated fervently on every side, and the -prefect had to fly under a shower of stones. Then the crowd poured into -the cathedral, from which the patriarch had not yet departed, and a -noisy debate took place. A council of the clergy and Senators was then -held in the church, the singular resolution was taken to bring Theodora -from her convent and clothe her with the purple. - -The younger sister of Zoe had, it will be recalled, been compelled by -her to take the monastic vows at Petrion eleven years before, and this -sudden recall to life--a recall without precedent, since she was not -summoned for the purpose of marrying--gave a remarkable turn to her -career. She had passed from the luxury and dissipation of her father’s -palace, with a brief interval of independent life, to the shade of the -monastery, and now she was to spend the last fifteen years of her life -on the imperial throne. She was of sterner stuff than Zoe, and the -Senators must have concluded that she alone could check the audacity -of the low-born Paphlagonians. This does not in itself argue any great -strength of character in Theodora. We must remember that there was -always a party of ambitious eunuchs or statesmen behind each of the -names that is put forward by the historian. - -When the news of this decision reached Michael, and the crowd stormed -angrily at the gates of the palace, he sent an officer on a swift -vessel to the Princes’ Islands for Zoe. In the palace she was quickly -stripped of her nun’s robe, and clothed in her former garments. It is -clear that Michael’s uncle, Constantine, who was not without ability, -directed the campaign in the palace. Michael was advised to take Zoe -with him into the imperial lodge overlooking the Hippodrome and show -the citizens, who had gathered in the enclosure, that all was well. The -only reply he got was a shower of stones, arrows and epithets, and, as -the chroniclers remark, the young lion became at once a timid hare, and -proposed to run for shelter to the monastery at Studion, on the Asiatic -side. His uncle prevented him, however, and marshalled the guards in -the fore part of the palace. The battle which followed ended in a -complete victory for the people. Constantine and Michael fled across -the water to Studion, in the early morning of Wednesday in Holy Week, -and the new Empress Theodora was conducted into the palace over the -corpses of some three thousand of the combatants. - -The royal sisters, it will be understood, did not fly into each other’s -arms. Theodora had to thank Zoe for eleven years’ confinement, and Zoe -herself was very reluctant to share her power with her younger sister. -However, a formal reconciliation was arranged by the Senators, and the -two Empresses sat side by side to receive the homage of the leading -citizens and decide what was to be done with the late Emperor and his -uncle. If there were any who wondered in what spirit Theodora would -wield her power after a decade of religious life, they were not left -long in doubt. Zoe asked what the will of her advisers was in regard to -the fugitives, and such cries as “Out with their eyes!” and “Crucify -them!” rang furiously through the chamber. Zoe recoiled and pleaded for -leniency, but Theodora, a much better speaker than her sister, sternly -ordered the prefect to see that their eyes were put out. A great crowd -crossed the sea with the officers, and saw Michael, who had hidden -under the altar, and his more stoical uncle dragged from the chapel. -The same crowd had applauded Michael in his procession hardly a week -before; now they stood by with wild delight to see the brutal sentence -carried out. It was 21st April: Michael the Caulker had reigned for -four months. - -For a few weeks the imperial sisters ruled their kingdom in complete -harmony and with exemplary zeal. M. Diehl, too lightly following the -censorious Psellus, rates the intelligence and character of both at a -very low level, but that estimate is hardly supported by the facts. -Few Emperors had dared to attack the administrative corruption of the -Empire as Zoe and Theodora attacked it in the first freshness of their -power, and as we have every reason to believe that they would have -continued to attack it. For centuries the State had been the easy prey -of ambitious eunuchs at Court and corrupt officials in the provinces. -Zoe and Theodora issued decrees to the effect that all injustice -must cease and that the law must be administered with equity. They -themselves sat on the highest tribunal of the city to hear cases, and -the sale of offices was strictly prohibited. The accounts of the late -chief minister were examined, and Constantine, eyeless and shaven, -was brought from his monastery to explain the enormous deficiency. -The power of his family was broken for ever, and the miserable man -disclosed that 5300 pounds of gold (nearly a quarter of a million -sterling) was hidden in a cistern in his house. Legates and petitions -were heard with dignity by the royal sisters, and it must have seemed -to many that the Empire had, by this singular adventure, obtained -juster and finer rulers than it had known for many a century. We cannot -discriminate in the joint public action of the sisters, but it is -clear that the strong will and intelligence of Theodora were the chief -power of the administration. How drastically the Empire needed such a -purification may be gathered from the fact that, when the patriarch -Alexis died in the following year, a secret and dishonest hoard of -gold, amounting to more than £100,000, was discovered in his palace. - -This brilliant example of feminine rule might have been expected to -disarm the old Byzantine prejudice against women, but prejudices of -that nature are too deeply rooted to be displaced by facts. The cry -was raised that an Emperor was needed, and Zoe once more expressed her -willingness to marry. The careful chronicler tells us that her conduct -was not necessarily inspired by a carnal feeling--she was now sixty-two -years old--but that she may have feared that Theodora and her ministers -wished to dislodge her. Her age, no less than the remarkable conditions -of her third and last marriage, will easily persuade us that the motive -was political. There were those who said that, as Theodora had been the -chief agent in expelling Michael, the throne belonged to her alone, -and Zoe sought an ally. The first noble chosen by her was Constantine -Delassenus, who had almost obtained her hand and the throne fourteen -years before. But Constantine, when he was invited to the Court for -inspection, proved so brusque and independent that he was again -dismissed. Her next choice was Constantine Catepano, a handsome officer -of the palace, with whom, in spite of her age, the gossips of the Court -already connected Zoe somewhat too intimately. Constantine, however, -had a wife living, and this lady is said to have poisoned him as soon -as she heard of the proposal to divorce her. - -If we may believe the gossipy chronicles, Zoe met the disappointment -with tranquillity, as she had another lover among the officials of the -palace. Constantine Monomachos, a very handsome and distinguished and -dissolute noble, had been exiled from Court to Mitylene by Michael -IV. on the suspicion of intimacy with Zoe, and had for some years -gilded the hours of his distant exile with the enjoyment of letters, -the pleasures of the table and the affection of a pretty and devoted -cousin. When his second wife had died, he had obeyed the injunction -of the Church to refrain from a third marriage and had been content -with the free companionship of the beautiful Sclerena, a sister of -the distinguished noble Romanus Sclerus--a member, that is to say, of -one of the proudest Byzantine families. She had followed her lover -to Lesbos, used her fortune to mitigate the harshness of his exile, -and was living with him at the time when Zoe recalled him to Court. -“Handsome as Achilles,” uniting a prodigious strength with a singular -delicacy and elegance of appearance, equally devoted to the robust -pleasures of the chase and the enervating delights of love, Constantine -Monomachos at once returned to his place in the heart of the ageing -Empress, and was invited to wed her. He is said to have stipulated -beforehand that the fair Sclerena should be allowed to come to -Constantinople, and Zoe genially consented. They were married, and Zoe -entered upon the last and strangest part of her strange career. - -While the sexless Theodora continued to rule the Empire and put out the -eyes of her enemies, while Constantine revelled in the new and more -exquisite luxuries of his position, Zoe seems quietly to have enjoyed -the secure and restful days which her marriage obtained for her. She -still, with her maids, compounded and distilled the perfumes which were -almost her one luxury, but she now paid a scrupulous attention to her -devotions and burned much incense before the icons. Sclerena at first -dwelt apart, and Constantine set about building a magnificent palace -for her, thinly veiling his liaison with the pretence of going daily to -see the progress of the works. As the citizens smiled at the connexion, -and Zoe seemed to be piously indifferent to it, he became bolder and -asked Zoe to allow him to bring Sclerena to live in the palace. Again -Zoe consented, and the _ménage à trois_ was maintained in the most -pleasant harmony. She gave Sclerena the title of Empress, embraced her, -when they met, with entire goodwill, and showed her such consideration -that she never visited her husband without first ascertaining if he was -disengaged. Constantine occupied the central part of the palace, and -his wife and mistress had apartments on each side. - -Although Zoe now approached her seventieth year, she still retained -the freshness of her complexion and had no wrinkles. Psellus says that -a stranger would have been sure that she was still a young woman. She -shared the pleasures of the gay Court, and made no protest against the -frivolous Constantine emptying the treasury on his mistress. If we may -believe implicitly all the details given by Psellus, there was little -delicacy in the fun which enlivened the gardens or halls--for Zoe -disliked the open air--of the sacred domain. Music and skilful dancing -were too fine for his appreciation. He liked the broader merriment of -mimes, and took especial pleasure in imitations of stammering. His -chief entertainers would go so far as to represent, pantomimically, the -chaste Theodora lying abed in child-birth, and Theodora herself joined -in the loud laughter of Constantine as the man imitated the shrieks -which befitted such an occasion. The months passed very merrily, and -the treasury emptied. - -And as the treasury emptied, and the citizens saw their funds passing -into the marvellous palace which Constantine was building for Sclerena, -clouds began to gather over the life of the epicure. One day, in the -year 1044, as he rode with his guards at the head of a religious -procession, a cry broke from the crowd: “We don’t want Sclerena as -Empress, nor to see our lawful mistresses, Zoe and Theodora, perish on -her account.” The cry was a spark to the spreading discontent, and the -small troop of guards were surrounded by a threatening mob. Fortunately -for the Emperor, the Empresses were watching the procession from the -balcony, and they sent troops to rescue him. Later, a discontented -noble led some Macedonian troops against the city, and encamped -opposite the Blachernæ gate. Constantine disdainfully ordered a chair -to be placed for him outside the gate, in order that he might see, and -be seen by, the rebels. For a time they were content to sing comic -songs about him--of which there must have been a good supply in the -city--then they made a dash and scattered his guards, and could have -penetrated into the city, possibly taken it, if they had not foolishly -retired. On such slender threads did crowns hang in that singular -Empire. - -Sclerena relieved the growing discontent by a premature death, -apparently about the year 1045, and the superb palace which had been -intended for Constantine’s mistress was turned into a monastery. Five -years later Zoe closed her long and romantic career, at the age of -seventy. Constantine mourned for her as if she had been a beloved -child, and even pressed the Church to put her on the list of the -canonized; he may have read how St Theodora had won the aureole largely -by her freedom from jealousy. When it was found, after a time, that -some curious fungi had grown about her monument, he insisted that they -were heaven-sent assurances that Zoe had been admitted at once into the -company of the saints. The Greek Church, however, was not persuaded to -add Zoe to its quaint list of the blessed, and few will reflect on the -many events which reveal her personality to us without admitting that, -whether or no she was guilty of the positive crimes attributed to her, -she had little or no moral feeling. - -Constantine found consolation in the charms of a young Alan princess -who was detained as a hostage at Constantinople. The milk-white skin -and fine eyes of the unknown so fascinated him that he gave her the -imperial title and emptied the remainder of the treasury upon her and -the relatives who flocked to share her fortune. He was by this time -a miserable wreck of his former magnificent person, and could not -sit unaided on a horse, but the Court still rang with laughter and -buffoonery. His favourite, a man who had been raised from the position -of street buffoon to that of Court jester, became so infatuated with -his wealth and privileges that he dreamed of possessing the pretty Alan -princess and the purple. He was caught in Constantine’s bedroom with a -drawn sword. The Emperor asked why he had attempted assassination, and, -when the man said that he had an irresistible passion to see himself -in the crown and imperial robes, burst into laughter and ordered the -attendants to put them on him. He returned to his position, and, to the -amusement of Constantine, made more open love than before to the fair -Circassian mistress. But the Emperor died in 1054, and his mistress -returned to her previous obscurity. - -When it was seen that Constantine was failing, a number of the nobles -and officials conspired to put on the throne Nicephorus Bryennius, but -Theodora’s supporters forestalled the plot. They sent a swift vessel -for her and lodged her in the sacred palace before their opponents -could bring Bryennius from Bulgaria, which he governed. She seems to -have been forced out of affairs during the later years of Constantine, -and the sending of a boat implies, apparently, that she had retired -to the suburbs. She was still, in her seventh decade of life, erect -of form and clear in mind, and drastic punishment was inflicted on -the conspirators. She then began again to control the affairs of the -Empire as she had done in conjunction with Zoe. She personally received -ambassadors and heard trials, and resumed her war on corrupt officials. -Psellus is disdainful of her rule, and unjust to her. The only grave -defect we can recognize is that she put the higher offices and commands -at the disposal of men who were less distinguished for ability than -for devotion to her. A very strong provincial aristocracy had by this -time arisen in the Empire, and from their vast estates a number of able -nobles and officers kept a discontented eye on the hierarchy of eunuchs -at Constantinople. - -Theodora, conscious of her vigour, and sustained by the prophetical -assurance of a monk that she would wear the crown for a long time, -maintained her power for three further years, and then became seriously -ill. It is said that she chose an aged and feeble noble of the city, -Michael Stratioticus, to don the purple, but one is rather disposed -to see in the choice of Stratioticus the action of the Court party, -whose influence was threatened by the provincial nobles. Theodora still -confided in the monk’s prophecy; she had the aged soldier brought to -her sickbed and bound him by the direst oaths to promise obedience -to herself. She died a few days later, however, on 30th August 1057, -leaving the crown to the frail charge of Michael VI. The historian must -regret that Theodora had not a larger opportunity to prove her value as -a ruler and exhibit her personality. She was a woman of great vigour -and generally high political ideals, and she incurs the reproach only -of stooping at times to the common Byzantine level in securing her -power. It was not she, but the contemptible Constantine, who emptied -the treasury for frivolous purposes, and, in spite of the light disdain -of Psellus, her rule compares most favourably with that of most of the -Emperors. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -EUDOCIA - - -The struggle which Theodora had foreseen was not long deferred after -her death, and Michael Stratioticus was compelled, after a few months -of feeble imperial experiment, to retire to the private life from which -he had been unwisely drawn. The great territorial nobles--one might -almost say, the feudal nobles--concentrated upon the capital and put -one of their number, Isaac Comnenus, upon the throne. Isaac had in -earlier years married a Bulgarian princess, and her career as mistress -of a large provincial domain, and then as Empress of Constantinople, -suggests a very interesting study. Unfortunately, her husband’s reign -lasted only two years, and the events yield us only few and fleeting -glimpses of the new Empress. - -Æcatherina, as the best contemporary authority, Nicephorus Bryennius, -calls her (though later writers often say Catherina), descended from -the Bulgarian royal family, which had fallen from its high estate -when “Basil the Bulgarian-slayer” had won a definitive victory over -the nation. Bryennius makes her a daughter of the King Samuel, and -we have in a later chronicle a picture of Samuel’s daughters which -would dispose us to imagine Æcatherina as a very fiery and interesting -personality. When, in the presence of Basil, they were brought face to -face with the woman whose husband had killed their brother, the Emperor -and his officers had great difficulty in preventing a very violent -and undignified scene. The dates, however, make it improbable that -Æcatherina was one of the daughters of Samuel--others more probably -suggest that she was his niece, or grand-niece--and in character -she seems rather to have been gentle and religious. She was brought -from her remote provincial home and made Augusta, but she proved to -be one of the quiet and retiring Empresses who leave no mark in the -chronicles. The only reference to her is that, in 1059, she encouraged -her husband, who had met with a serious accident or illness, to -resign, and she herself took the veil of the nun. One suspects that -her husband’s policy of curtailing the funds of the luxurious and -innumerable monks alarmed her, and she was ready to believe that, as -rumour maintained, the wild boar which led him into grave peril in -1059 was no ordinary animal. He resigned, and Æcatherina, changing her -name to Helena, retired with her daughter Maria to a quiet mansion, -where they practised monastic discipline and were esteemed so holy -that Æcatherina was eventually buried in the cemetery of the monks of -Studion. - -With the next Empress, Eudocia, we return to the more familiar and -more piquant type of Byzantine princess: the woman who unites with -her subservience to the Church a skill in casuistry which protects -her human inclinations from the harsher control of the Church’s -ascetic standards. Eudocia Macrembolitissa, or Eudocia the daughter -of Macrembolites, a distinguished noble of Constantinople, had some -beauty and no little wit, as well as good birth and breeding. In the -reign of Michael IV. and Zoe she had been wooed and won by a handsome -and learned, if not very warlike, commander named Constantine Ducas, -and had in the subsequent twenty years of changing rulers borne three -sons and three daughters to her elderly husband. Constantine was at -least ten years older than she, and had no higher ambition than to -be regarded as a prince of letters and rhetoric. It must, therefore, -have been an agreeable surprise to Eudocia to learn, in 1059, that the -retiring Emperor had transferred his crown to her husband, and she was -henceforth to be the mistress of the sacred palace. She was then, -probably, in her later thirties. She was entitled Augusta, and the -imperial dignity was conferred also on her six children, of whom the -youngest was born after her coronation. - -During the eight years of her husband’s reign Eudocia remained a silent -witness of his futility and unpopularity. He retained his pedantry, and -sought the laurels of learning and eloquence, while formidable enemies -threatened the Empire on every side. In 1067 he perceived that his -inglorious reign was about to end, and summoned Eudocia, the nobles -and the patriarch to his couch. The nobles were commanded to swear to -maintain the throne of Eudocia and her sons, and Eudocia was compelled -to swear a portentous oath that she would not marry again. Possibly -Constantine felt that he was not imposing a very heavy sacrifice on -a woman who approached her fiftieth year, and it was plainly to the -interest of his sons that she should not marry. Eudocia signed the -written oath, and it was entrusted to the patriarch Xiphilin to keep in -the great church. - -The regency of Eudocia lasted about seven months, during which she -emulated the conduct of Zoe and Theodora. She received ambassadors, -heard trials and paid more direct and closer attention to the -affairs of the Empire than her late husband had done. Two things, -however, concerned her and illustrated the weakness of woman-rule at -Constantinople. The Turks and other hostile neighbours were raiding -the provinces with greater vigour, and the nobles were making this a -pretext for intrigue to replace Eudocia with an Emperor. Before the -year was out Eudocia decided to marry again and sought a means of -evading the oath which the patriarch grimly guarded. - -The story of her outwitting the patriarch is, as we find it in the -later chronicles, in the finest vein of Byzantine melodrama. She took -into her confidence one of the wiliest eunuchs of her Court, who -assured her that it was quite easy to induce the patriarch to release -her. This Xiphilin, the patriarch at the time, was himself as casuistic -as he was religious. Originally a noble, he had voluntarily embraced -the black robe of the monk, and had been withdrawn from the monastery -to rule the Eastern Church. He had in Constantinople a brother named -Bardas, whose gallantries and sybaritic ways were notorious. When the -eunuch proposed the subject of marriage, Xiphilin sternly maintained -that the oath was binding and that Eudocia must remain a widow, but -when the astute eunuch regretted that such was his view, since it was -his brother Bardas whom Eudocia wished to marry, Xiphilin reconsidered -the matter. It is not for us to analyse his reasoning. It is enough -that in a short time he declared to the assembled Senators that the -oath was unjust and invalid, a mere wanton outrage on the part of a -jealous man, and he handed the precious document back to Eudocia to -destroy. His feelings may be imagined when, a few hours later, he -heard that the Empress was married, not to his brother, but to Romanus -Diogenes. - -The contemporary writer Psellus gives a more sober version, but, -although Psellus was one of Eudocia’s chief ministers at the time, -there can be little doubt that his vanity and policy have somewhat -tempered the veracity of his narrative. Eudocia, he says, came to him -in tears to complain that the cares of Empire were an intolerable -burden for a single woman’s shoulders, and she wished to marry. The -story is, perhaps, not inconsistent with the story of her outwitting -the patriarch. In any case, the second marriage of Eudocia had an -element of romance. - -In the state prison of Constantinople at the time was a handsome young -noble and commander named Romanus Diogenes, who ran some risk of losing -his head for high treason. Distinguished by birth and in person, and a -man of great spirit, he reflected that the throne of the Eastern Empire -had been reached by less able men than he, and cherished a daydream of -wearing the purple. At the death of Constantine in 1067, when there -was much discussion of the empty throne and the imperial widow, he -imprudently confessed his ambition to those about him in the remote -province of Thrace, which he governed; he was denounced in the capital; -and he was brought in bonds to Constantinople and put on trial. He had -then completed his thirtieth year: a tall, comely, broad-shouldered -man, with the dark skin of a Cappadocian and very winning eyes. -Constantinople looked with sympathy on the manly, but impetuous, young -noble. He was connected by birth with the greatest families of the -Asiatic provinces, and he pleaded that it was only his concern for -the safety of the menaced Empire that had wrung from him words of -dissatisfaction. His treason was, however, apparent, and he was found -guilty and restored to jail. - -Eudocia was probably present at the trial of Romanus, and noted the -handsome form and flashing eye. She professed afterwards that the -trial was unsatisfactory and must be revised, and the young commander -found himself acquitted and free to return to his native province. The -time was not yet ripe for the marriage project; in fact, one of the -historians states that Romanus was already married, and went to join -his wife and family in Cappadocia. About Christmas (1067), however, he -received an order from Eudocia to return to Constantinople, and may -or may not have been surprised to hear that she proposed to marry and -crown him. His wife and family seem to have been deserted with great -cheerfulness--unless we prefer to regard the statement in the chronicle -as an error[24]--and Eudocia secretly prepared for the marriage. -Senators were bribed to support the proposal, and, on 31st December, -the patriarch was won by the stratagem which I have already described. -That very night Romanus was introduced, fully armed, into the palace -and secretly wedded to the Empress, and on the first day of the new -year the young Emperor and his middle-aged Empress were ceremoniously -presented to the people. For a moment it seemed as if the fierce -Varangian guards were about to avenge what they regarded as a violation -of the oath to the dead Constantine, but Eudocia prevailed on her elder -sons to assure the guards that they had consented to the marriage, and -the trouble was averted for the time. - -It was, however, in face of considerable hostility that Eudocia and -Romanus entered upon their task of governing the Empire. The clergy -were naturally hostile, since their leader had been tricked into -an ignominious concession; more distinguished nobles than Romanus -envied his elevation; and courtiers who were attached to the fortunes -of Eudocia’s elder sons regarded the new Emperor, and the possible -issue of the new marriage, with sullen distrust. Michael Psellus, the -historian who boasts that he guided Eudocia’s counsels in regard to -the marriage, is transparently hostile to Romanus, and his historical -work is largely responsible for the traditional prejudice against that -brave and spirited, but injudicious and unfortunate, monarch. Psellus -was not merely the chief student of philosophy in Constantinople, but -an ambitious and successful courtier. His great repute in letters and -philosophy gave him a commanding position in the Court of Eudocia, who -had herself some literary ambition,[25] and his secret and sinuous -counsels must have deeply influenced the later course of the careers -of Romanus and Eudocia. A philosopher-statesman was the great ideal -which Plato, whose works he revived, had urged upon the Greeks, but the -fortunes of Psellus remain so even throughout the various revolutions -he outlived that one is tempted to compare him rather with -Talleyrand than with Plato’s ideal. - -[Illustration: EUDOCIA AND ROMANUS IV - -FROM AN IVORY IN THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE, PARIS] - -Into this atmosphere of culture the robust Romanus was little fitted to -enter, and some disdain must have been felt of his uncultivated ways. -On the other hand, the brother of the late Constantine, John Ducas, -who bore the dignity of Cæsar and jealously guarded the position of -his nephews, was not less hostile to Romanus. The boys had received -the purple before the death of their father, and the time was rapidly -approaching when, with the assistance of their uncle and Psellus, -they might begin to exercise their power. To this plan Romanus was a -considerable obstacle. When we further learn that Romanus was gravely -conscious of his duty to restore the strength and discipline of the -army, and diverted funds from the entertainment of idle citizens to the -pay and equipment of his troops, we realize that the life of the palace -was preparing for one more of those tragic revolutions which punctuate -the history of the Byzantine Empire. - -From this Court atmosphere of pedantry and intrigue Romanus turned -to the field of battle; he would strengthen his position by winning -such laurels as his vigorous and warlike character seemed to promise -him. Two months after his coronation a fresh invasion of the Turks was -announced, and he led a large army out to meet them. After nearly a -year’s absence he returned with some report of victories, but there had -in the same year been heavy losses, and his success was not decisive -enough to override the intrigues of his opponents. Already, we are -told, he found Eudocia colder. Her attitude is attributed to his -arrogance and boastfulness; we may suppose that it was just as much -due to an instinctive irritation when her robust husband strode into -the philosophic atmosphere of the palace with the smell of the camp -clinging to him and the language of war on his lips. In two or three -months he was off once more to the field, leaving Eudocia to her master -of philosophy and her brother-in-law. Into their hands she placed the -more virile cares of State, while she enlarged libraries, cultivated -men of letters and fostered the higher ambition of making verses. Her -eldest son, Michael, was associated with her in her cultural work. - -When Romanus returned in the following winter, still without decisive -success, he seems to have concluded that it would be better to remain -in Constantinople, and the campaign of the third year was entrusted to -his generals, but in the spring of 1071 he again prepared to take the -field. Nothing but a crushing victory over the enemies of the Empire -would enable him to silence his enemies in the Court and capital. -Eudocia seems by this time to have wavered between admiration of her -young and manly spouse and repugnance to his more robust standards of -life. She was now certainly over fifty, and had never been particularly -sensuous, but we cannot doubt that she had married Romanus for love and -that that love was not yet extinct. As he set out from port for his -last crossing to Asia a singular dark-plumaged pigeon circled his royal -galley. He directed that it should be caught and sent to the Empress; -and it was said in later years that Eudocia nervously recognized in -the rare bird an omen of the evil fortune that was about to befall her -husband. - -And in the course of the summer stragglers made their way hastily to -Constantinople with the news that Romanus had been heavily defeated -and his large army shattered. The Emperor himself had been slain, -some said, but at length there came men who had seen him captured and -borne away, a prisoner, by the Turks. The hour of the malcontents had -come, and a council was summoned to discuss the situation. It was at -once decided that no effort would be made to save Romanus--some of -the authorities declare that it was the treachery of the Cæsar’s son, -acting on the instructions of his father, which led to the reverse--but -the eldest son, Michael, should be appointed ruling Emperor, together -with his mother. - -That Eudocia at once surrendered her husband becomes quite clear from -the subsequent course of events. The new administration had hardly -settled to its work when Eudocia received a joyful letter from her -husband announcing that he was free, and on his way to Constantinople. -How the Turk had entirely falsified his repute for barbarity, treated -Romanus as a brother king in misfortune, and eventually released him -on promise of a ransom, is a familiar and attractive picture in the -history of the time. Romanus was hastening to the arms of his beloved -wife. Eudocia is described by contemporary writers as “distracted” and -eager to consult those about her as to her conduct. Of wifely feeling -she did not exhibit one sincere particle, and, however we may remind -ourselves of the inevitable coldness of a woman in her sixth decade of -life, her conduct is somewhat repellent. Had she known that the Cæsar -was bent on bringing her to a common ruin with her husband, she might -at least have purchased some loyalty to him, in the usual Byzantine -fashion; but she was either ignorant or powerless, and she accepted the -counsel that Romanus should be disowned and repelled by force from his -Empire. - -John Ducas, however, concluded that the opportunity was convenient -for the removal of both Emperor and Empress. A decree was issued to -the provinces to arrest the advance of Romanus, and the guards were -marshalled. At this date the mercenary troops in charge of the palace -were the famous and formidable Varangian guards, in whom modern -authorities recognize the blue-eyed giants of distant Scandinavia and -even of Britain. Romanus had favoured the native troops of the Empire -rather than these foreign mercenaries, and they at once accepted the -command of the Cæsar. One half of them went to the apartments of -Michael, and declared him sole Emperor of the Romans; the other body -went in search of Eudocia, with orders to transfer her to a monastery. - -Eudocia at once concluded that the end of her rule had come when she -heard the jubilant clash of axe on shield, the deep guttural voices, -raised in song, of the northern soldiers, and their heavy tread across -the gardens and terraces. Fearing for her life, she hid herself in some -sort of hut in the grounds of her palace, but the door was presently -flung open and she looked on the fierce hairy faces and shining -weapons of the Varangians. She was prostrate with terror when the -Cæsar arrived, to give her the comparative consolation that her life -would be spared, but her empire was over. From the palace, spoiled of -all the ensigns of royalty, we follow her along the short and painful -route that we have seen so many proud rulers of the sacred palace -take. At the Bucoleon quays a swift galley waited to take her to the -Asiatic shore, where she was lodged in a monastery which she herself -had founded. A further message soon came, ordering her to take the -black veil, and the frail and unfortunate woman bade farewell to all -the glories of imperial life. It was only four years since she had been -left in control of the Empire by her first husband. - -Shortly afterwards she was summoned to bury Romanus, and with him the -last flickering hope of a return to power. He had collected an army and -resolved to fight for his throne, and the troops of Ducas at length -pinned him in a town of Cilicia. In order to end the civil war John -now sent an assurance that the life of Romanus would be spared if he -would resign his claim and enter a monastery; nay, three archbishops -were sent to give him a solemn testimony that John had sworn and would -fulfil his oath. Frail as the most formidable oaths had become in -Eastern Christendom, Romanus opened the gates and yielded to the sons -of the Cæsar. The rest of the story is a chapter of nauseous horror, -and concerns us, fortunately, only in outline. Romanus was conveyed -across Asia Minor, in the robe of a monk, with studied insult. Most -of the chroniclers affirm that poison was administered to him, but -that his powerful constitution prevented it from doing more than add -to his misery. At length his eyes were cut out with more than ordinary -brutality, the roughest and most elementary attention to his bleeding -sockets was refused, and he was borne once more on a mule, dying by -inches in the most ghastly conceivable fashion, across Asia Minor. -He reached the island of Prote in time to die on the soil that was -already watered by so many imperial tears, and the chroniclers add that -Eudocia gave a splendid funeral to the remains of the man whom she had -transferred from the jail to the palace, less than four years before, -in the full pride of a magnificent manhood. - -I have said that with the remains of Romanus she buried her last hope -of returning to power, yet some seven years afterwards a strange -message reached her in her cloister, recalling the memory, if not the -hope, of imperial power. Her son Michael proved an ineffective ruler. -The tradition of culture which had lingered in the palace since the -days of Psellus absorbed all his energy, and he could not be diverted -from the dialogues of Plato or the iridescent dreams of Plotinus by -mere conspiracies against his throne or invasions of his Empire. -Indeed, it was with difficulty, sometimes, that they could drag him -to table or persuade him to refrain from spending the night over his -books. The irony of the situation was that, while the Greek writings -over which he lingered urged that a profound study of philosophy was -the fittest education of monarchs, Michael remained as helpless and -heedless as a boy, precisely on account of his studies. Fortunately, -he had the casual inspiration to call to the palace a wily eunuch, -named Nicephorus, who become the virtual ruler. Nicephoritzes--as the -people, using the diminutive form of his name, called the pale and -shrunken little eunuch--soon displaced the Cæsar John, and, as was the -invariable custom of his kind, enriched himself at the expense of the -impoverished and decaying provinces. - -Under Nicephoritzes Eudocia had no chance of a return to power. He had -endeavoured to persuade her first husband, the Emperor Constantine, -that she was unfaithful to him, and had been driven from office during -her regency. But the Empress’s quarters in the palace were not vacant; -a new type of Empress was added to the long and varied gallery. -Shortly before his accession to the supreme throne Michael had married -a princess of one of the tribes that had settled in Asia Minor. The -father of the Empress Maria is conflictingly described as a king of the -Iberians and the Alans, and is said to have been a ruler of great fame -and power; but he is not named, and it seems that he was not powerful -enough to avert or temper the tragedy of his daughter’s career. Her -dowry had been her beauty. I have complained at times of the lamentable -indifference of the male historians of Constantinople to the physical -features of the Empresses, and the lack of portraits which might bring -the living figure with any fulness or accuracy before the imagination. -We now, however, approach a period, the history of which has been -written for us by a woman, the famous Anna Comnena, and her pen happily -wanders at times back to the age of Eudocia, of which her husband, -Nicephorus Bryennius, was the chief historian. - -Unhappily, the art of which Anna Comnena was so patently proud did not -include skill in portraiture. Maria was the most beautiful woman of her -time, and, although her interests become opposed to those of Anna and -her family, and the learned princess was capable of malignant hatred, -Anna Comnena rises to the height of superlative when her pen delineates -the figure of Maria. Her grace of form and beauty of face were beyond -the artist’s power to convey; though one must add that Anna not -infrequently uses that formula, in order to enhance the artistic wonder -of her own descriptions. Maria, she says, was tall and graceful as a -cypress; her body was white as snow, save for the roses that bloomed -in her cheeks, and the luminous blue eyes which shone beneath the -perfect and lofty arch of her auburn eyebrows. To this vague poetical -description we may add at once that the beautiful young princess was -not wholly devoid of the spirit of her tribe, and was prepared for -romantic adventure in support of the imperial dignity. - -The seven years of Michael’s reign do not interest us. The Emperor -lived in the remote solitude of his exalted studies; Maria enjoyed the -superb luxury of her position, and brought a prince into the world for -the greater security of her throne; Eudocia languished in the royal -monastery of the Virgin across the straits. Usurpers rose and fell, and -the defrauded people spoke with bitterness of the young pedant who let -his ministers rob them while he studied the divine maxims of Plato. -Another princess, daughter of Robert of Lombardy, was introduced from -the West, but she was, like Maria’s son, to whom she was betrothed, -a child of tender years, looking with strange blue eyes on the vast -palaces she would one day govern--they said--and the boy who shyly -shrank from her companionship. - -At last, in 1078, a more fortunate rebel advanced on Constantinople, -the clergy and nobles were bribed to espouse his cause, and Michael -fled to the Blachernæ palace in the suburbs. Maria accompanied him, -and what we know of her character emboldens us to fancy her urging -the distracted scholar to draw a sword on behalf of his throne. His -friends, however, found it impossible to move him, and, yielding to -the usurper, he was conducted on an ass to the monastery at Studion, -where he might prosecute his studies with even greater leisure. The new -Emperor had so genial a disdain for him that he made him titular Bishop -of Ephesus, and allowed him to return and live in the capital. - -Maria, in accordance with custom, entered the suburban monastery at -Petrion. She did not, however, take the vows of the religious life, -and it was not long before the interesting news came that the new -Emperor designed to marry her. Nicephorus Botaneiates was an elderly -voluptuary, who had seized the throne only because so little energy was -needed for the task. For the administration of public business he had -two slaves of his own household, of Slavonian extraction, who at once -put an end to the life of Nicephoritzes and diverted the stream of gold -to their own pockets. For their master the pleasures of the table and -the couch sufficed. He had brought to the throne an obscure Empress -named Berdena, but she died shortly afterwards, and the aged Sybarite -consulted his ministers. To their cold and impartial judgment it seemed -that political considerations must rule the choice and they were -divided between the claims of Maria and those of Eudocia. It is true -that Nicephorus had been twice married, that Eudocia was a nun, and -that Maria was not yet a widow; but such difficulties were never beyond -the casuistic resources of the Constantinopolitan clergy. The Emperor -must marry, since the sacred ritual of the Court demanded the presence -of an Empress. - -The politicians favoured the suit of Eudocia, and she was actually -informed that Nicephorus wished to marry her, and expressed her cordial -willingness to sacrifice her monastic estate in view of such august -considerations. Nicephorus, however, was, as I said, a Sybarite, and -even advanced age did not blur his experienced eye to the charms of -Maria. We may, therefore, suppose that Nicephorus was neither surprised -nor pained when a certain very holy monk appeared at the monastery of -the Virgin and sternly forbade Eudocia to quit her black robe. It may -be that the monk was one of the chaplains of the monastery; it is at -least clear that his zeal did not take him to the monastery at Petrion, -where Maria resided. The beautiful young Empress was recalled from -her prayers and fasts and conducted to the side of the Emperor in the -palace chapel. The patriarch, who seems to have had some scruples, was -not summoned to perform the ceremony, and Nicephorus noticed with -irritation that the priest who was called hesitated to come to the -sanctuary; Nicephorus had no dispensation for a third marriage, and -Maria’s husband still lived. A courtier, however, had foreseen the -difficulty and had a more accommodating priest at hand. The irregular -knot was tied, or regarded as tied, and Maria returned to enjoy, with -her son, the pleasures of the Emperor’s luxurious Court. - -It is, perhaps, no alleviation of the conduct of Maria, in purchasing -her crown by an invalid marriage to an elderly sensualist, to say -that--the chroniclers assure us--quite a number of noble ladies -at Constantinople were eager to be chosen. Eudocia, her youngest -daughter, Zoe, and many other ladies had been pressed upon the notice -of Nicephorus. It is merely one more indication of the inferiority of -character, both in men and women, in the Byzantine Empire. But Maria -was not destined to enjoy long the throne which she had purchased. -Contemptible as the reign of Michael had been, it was succeeded by -one far more contemptible, and sullen murmurs filled the palace and -the city. Men told each other how the aged Emperor, who ought to be -thinking of eternity, changed his splendid robes ten times a day, -anointed his jaded frame with the most costly unguents, and sat down, -day after day, to the most superb banquets that the Empire could -afford; while the two barbaric slaves whom he had made his chief -ministers ground the despairing provinces and disgusted the nobles. -Within a year or two of Maria’s return to power, the customary, -inevitable revolt arose, and she was driven back to her monastery. - -This revolution, however, introduces us to the strong women of the -Comnenian house and must commence a fresh chapter. Of Eudocia we hear -no more. If we accept the statement of one of the chroniclers, that -she had married in the reign of Michael IV. (1034–1041), she must now -have reached her seventh decade of life, and would probably not long -survive her last disappointment. Her readiness, in her later sixties, -and after seven years of monastic life, to accept the embraces of -a _roué_ like Nicephorus, in return for the crown, is a sufficient -measure of her character; her violation of her oath to her first -husband, and her desertion of her second husband, point to the same -feebly vicious and unattractive type of personality. Through the favour -of Nicephorus she was permitted to leave the suburban monastery, and -spend her last years in considerable comfort in the city. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -IRENE AND ANNA COMNENA - - -The distinguished family of the Comneni has already made its appearance -in our narrative. It may be recalled that the last chapter opened -with a march of the great provincial nobles upon the capital, and -the placing of one of their ablest representatives, Isaac Comnenus, -upon the throne. Isaac’s brave life had ended in heroic foolishness. -Terrified by an apparition, he embraced the monastic life, ignored the -natural desire of his brother John to succeed him, and handed the crown -to the Ducas family. During the reign of Eudocia the widow of John -Comnenus, Anna, remained in Constantinople to guard the fortunes of her -children and eventually to help them to secure the throne. She was a -woman of the old Roman build, rather than Byzantine; strong, ambitious, -able and despotic. The Cæsar John Ducas looked on her with just -suspicion, and accused her of treasonable correspondence with Romanus, -when he was struggling to regain his throne. She boldly asserted that -the letters were forged, and brandished an image of Christ in the eyes -of her judges; but it was expedient to condemn her, and she passed to -the melancholy Princes’ Islands. - -Michael the Scholar released her as soon as Diogenes was dead, and -she returned to Constantinople, to watch and work. She had something -of the spirit of her father, who had sent so many of the enemy to -the land of shades that he had won the name of Alexius _Charon_: her -mother had been of the great family of the Delasseni. The feebleness of -Michael and the insipidity of Nicephorus gave promise of a successful -revolution, and Anna and her two sons were shrewd enough not to force -the opportunity. The youth had first to learn the mastery of legions -and to marry. There were, in fact, four women in Constantinople, all -able and ambitious, who sought the throne for their children, and -a stupendous amount of intrigue must have been expended. The four -were: Anna Comnena, the Empresses Eudocia and Maria, and the wife of -Andronicus, son of the Cæsar John Ducas. Andronicus had been fatally -wounded in war, and condemned to a lingering death, and his wife -pressed the Cæsar to find good alliances for her three daughters. She -was one of those virile and beautiful Bulgarian princesses who had -found the way to Constantinople, and her eldest daughter, Irene, was -now just marriageable. - -The wife of Andronicus--we do not know her name--shrewdly concluded -that an alliance with the Comneni would best serve her ambition, and -she pressed her father-in-law to bring about a marriage between Irene -and Alexis, the elder of Anna’s two sons. Alexis was a very promising -and successful commander who had recently lost his first wife, and he -was not unwilling to wed the fair Irene. Anna Comnena (the younger) -describes the pair for us, with her usual verbosity and inexactness, -premising that it is beyond the power of art to reproduce their -comeliness. Alexis was, it seems, a man of medium height, with very -broad shoulders and massive chest, eyes of “terrible splendour,” and a -look that was “at once both truculent and bland.” He seems, in fact, -to have been a very ordinary young man, with an extraordinary capacity -for ruse and intrigue. Irene (Anna’s mother) was, of course, a paragon. -Her face was “like the moon,” though not quite so round, and her rosy -cheeks and fine blue eyes make the simile somewhat weak; her look, like -that of her husband, was “at once sweet and terrible”--the look of -“a Minerva of heavenly splendour”--and calm and storm succeeded each -other, as on the sea, in her expressive blue eyes; her arms and hands -were like carven ivory, and her constant gestures extremely graceful. -In other words, Irene was a very pretty maiden of thirteen summers at -the time, with a large share of the spirit and temper of her Bulgarian -mother. These fragments of Anna Comnena’s art may serve to illustrate -Gibbon’s indulgent complaint that it is more feminine than the artist -herself. - -The prospect of so significant a marriage released a fresh flood of -intrigue. Anna, the mother of Alexis, remembered that it was John Ducas -who had driven her into exile, and would not hear of a match with -his daughter-in-law. The Emperor Michael regarded the marriage with -distrust; his brother Constantine wanted to marry Alexis to his sister -Zoe, Eudocia’s youngest daughter. Through this thicket of obstacles -and intrigues the wife of Andronicus fought her way with spirit, and -not a little bribery, and the marriage took place. We may assume that -this was in the second or third year of Nicephorus, when Irene, who was -only fifteen at her coronation, cannot have been more than thirteen or -fourteen years old. - -The Empress Eudocia had now played her last card, and resigned herself -to the life of the monastery; it remained to secure the favour of the -lovely Empress Maria. Isaac Comnenus had married her cousin Irene, and -had therefore the _entrée_ of her palace. The Slavonian ministers of -Nicephorus watched him and his brother with concern, but he won the -affection of Maria and, by generous distribution of money, the service -of her eunuchs. It was presently announced that the Empress Maria -proposed to adopt the successful young commander of the troops, Alexis -Comnenus, and when this ceremony had been performed both brothers were -at liberty to make lengthy visits to the Empress. It is not difficult -to accept the rumour that the relation of Alexis to his “mother” was -not entirely filial. Alexis was no ascetic, and he notoriously strayed -from his girl-wife. On the other hand, Maria had not shown much -delicacy in marrying the white-haired sensualist, and the privilege -of intimacy with a handsome young general of thirty-seven, her eunuchs -being bribed in his and her favour, would be appreciated by her. Her -mind was not strong and penetrating enough to see through the trickery -of Alexis. He posed as an unambitious general, loyally devoted to her -reign and that of her son. - -The Emperor Nicephorus probably felt that the young men would await the -natural termination of his imperial orgies before seizing the throne, -and seems to have regarded them with a certain genial indifference. His -ministers, however, knew that their fortunes were ruined if Alexis came -to the throne, and they insisted that Nicephorus must name a successor. -He chose his nephew, a handsome young noble named Synadenus. Maria was -now seriously alarmed, since the accession of Synadenus would mean the -monastery for her and, possibly, death for her son, and she allowed -the Comneni to witness her tears. They were, they said, devoted to her -cause. Nay, they swore on the holy cross that they would acknowledge no -rulers but Maria and her son, and she promised, in return, that they -should be informed of any step that might be contemplated against them -in the palace. I am following, almost entirely, the narrative of Anna -Comnena, who enlarges with the most candid pleasure on the deceit of -her father, and assures us that her grandmother, Anna, was the soul of -the plot. In the palace of the Comneni councils were held daily, and -the virile mother directed the movements of her sons. It was a time of -great anxiety. One night Nicephorus invited Alexis and Isaac to his -banquet, and Anna depicts them nervously glancing round them during -the meal for the guards or assassins who might have been summoned to -despatch them. But Alexis, a master of ruse and insinuation, won the -Emperor, and, when a charge of treason was afterwards brought against -him, he easily cleared himself. - -At last a message came to the mansion of the Comneni from Maria that -Barilas (one of the Slav ministers) intended to seize the throne and -put out the eyes of Alexis; and it was decided that the time had come -for action. Alexis hastily made a tour of the city, persuading some, -bribing others, until he had a large number of officers and Senators -bound by secret oath to support him. Anna meantime made preparations -for the flight of the family during the night. The chief weakness of -their position was that a young relative of the Emperor had recently -married a young girl of their family, and lived, with a tutor, in an -outlying part of their mansion. Anna, regarding the tutor as a spy, -locked them in their rooms when they were asleep, and before dawn -the whole Comneni family set out on foot to cross the city. At that -hour of the night there was little watch in Constantinople, and the -nervous band--the mother, the two brothers with their wives, children, -and sisters, and a few servants--passed safely and silently down the -colonnaded main street as far as the Forum of Constantine, where horses -awaited the men. They bade each other farewell in the darkness of -the early spring morning, and the brothers galloped to the Blachernæ -palace, where they broke into the stables, chose the swiftest horses, -hamstrung the rest of the horses, and fled to the army which awaited -them in Thrace. - -The women and children made their way noiselessly back along the Mese -to the cathedral. As they went along the street, the glare of a torch -appeared in the distance and they found themselves inconveniently -accosted by the tutor spy. Anna kept her presence of mind, however. -They had heard, she said, that they were accused of some crime and they -were going at once to St Sophia, but as soon as the day broke they -would go to the palace to demand justice, and she begged the tutor to -go on to the palace to announce their intention. As soon as he had -gone, they made for the house of Bishop Nicholas, an annexe of the -cathedral into which fugitives were admitted during the night. Rousing -the doorkeeper, they announced themselves--they were all heavily -veiled--as a party of women who had just landed at the quays from the -east, and who would render thanks to the Almighty before repairing to -their homes. They were admitted to the church, and, when the officers -of the infuriated Emperor arrived, in the early morning, they found -that nothing less than a violation of the sanctuary would put the women -in the power of Nicephorus. Anna, in fact, clung to the gates of the -sanctuary, and exclaimed that the soldiers would have to cut off her -hands to remove her from the church, as the Slav ministers threatened. -Isaac’s wife Irene, an Iberian princess like her cousin Maria, followed -the example of her mother-in-law, and we must imagine the younger Irene -and the children standing by, with large and tearful blue eyes, taking -their first lesson in Byzantine politics. Nicephorus temporized, and -swore to spare their lives. Anna shrewdly stipulated that his oath -should be taken on the large cross which the Sybarite Emperor always -wore, and, when this had been brought and the oath guaranteed to them, -the women passed from the church to the palace-fortress-monastery at -Petrion, on the Golden Horn. There they were soon joined by the wife -and mother-in-law of George Paleologus, a dashing young commander who -had fled with the Comneni, and, by sharing their delicate meats and -wines liberally with their jailers, they secured a constant account of -the progress of the insurgent brothers. - -They heard presently that Alexis and Isaac had safely reached the camp -in Thrace, and that it had needed only a little further intrigue on the -part of Alexis for the troops to proclaim him Emperor. The next news of -importance was that the brothers were encamped with their troops on the -higher ground without the city walls, and Nicephorus was distracted and -terrified. But we may tell in few words the success of the Comneni. The -formidable walls of Constantinople were held by the Varangian guards -and Immortals, on whose blind fidelity a ruling (and paying) Emperor -could always rely. But the extravagance of Nicephorus had in three -years exhausted the treasury--its doors stood open for any man to enter -the empty building--the troops were few, and uncertain mercenaries had -to be enlisted in the defence. Alexis bribed the German soldiers who -held the tower overlooking the Blachernæ gate, and at dawn of Maundy -Thursday (1081) his troops poured into the city. - -It is one of the few points in favour of Alexis that he here made a -very human blunder which might have cost him his life and his ambition. -Instead of holding his troops to scatter the guards, who had retreated -upon the palace, he rode at once to Petrion to see that the women were -safe, and his soldiers--a motley and savage crowd of Thracian and -Macedonian mercenaries--spread with fiendish delight over the city, -violating nuns in the monasteries and burdening themselves with wine -and loot. Paleologus saved them by a bold and crafty seizure of the -fleet, cutting off the Emperor’s retreat to Asia. Nicephorus wavered -between the vigorous counsels of his ministers and the command of -the patriarch that he should abdicate and prevent civil war, but his -hesitation enabled the troops to rally, and, with a melancholy farewell -to his perfumed baths and opulent banquets, he suffered himself to be -shipped to the opposite shore and shaved into a monk. - -The Empress Maria is described as trembling in her palace during these -critical days of the Holy Week, clinging to her boy Constantine, a -pretty seven-year-old lad with curly golden hair and pink and white -complexion. Alexis had apparently deceived her, and the Comnenian -women would have little consideration for her. For some days, however, -she remained in quiet possession of her apartments, and a very keen -discussion took place in Constantinople as to the intentions of Alexis. -He had put Irene, with her mother and sisters, in the lower and older -palace, while he, his mother, brother, and other relations had taken -residence in the more important Bucoleon palace, by the water. Did he -propose to put away his doll-wife and wed the riper beauty? Such things -had happened before, and the careful reader of Anna Comnena’s discreet -narrative will easily believe that that was the intention, or the -disposition, of Alexis. He had treated Irene with coldness and disdain -(other chroniclers tell us), and been unfaithful to her. But the little -Irene had her party, or Maria had her enemies, and the indecision of -Alexis was forced. Paleologus drew up the fleet before Bucoleon. When -Alexis sent orders to him that the sailors must not acclaim Irene, -he boldly replied that he had “not done all this for Alexis, but for -Irene,” and her name rolled from galley to galley. Next the Cæsar John -Ducas intervened, and urged Maria to retire; probably he sought favour -with Anna. Alexis still hesitated, and Irene was not crowned with him. - -Speculation in the city was now seething, but a curious circumstance -soon ended the hesitation of Alexis. His mother was devoted to monks -generally, and one in particular she so esteemed that she insisted on -his being appointed at once patriarch of Constantinople. The actual -patriarch, Cosmas, swore that he would not resign in favour of the monk -until he had crowned Irene, and Anna had now an additional incentive -to press her son. Within a week of the coronation of Alexis the second -coronation took place, and Irene began to share the bed and the throne -of her husband. The last hope of Maria had gone down before her more -virile and older antagonist, and she prepared to retire. Her son -Constantine was clothed with the imperial dignity, and an imperial -rescript, written in the red or purple ink and signed with the golden -seal of the Emperor, guaranteed their safety. With this precious -document Maria retired, accompanied by her son, to a somewhat remote -palace in the imperial domain, and we may briefly dismiss her from the -story. Some years later a pretext was found to remove her from her -semi-imperial state and lodge her in a monastery. Her last recorded act -is that she bethought herself of her first and real husband, who still -lived in Constantinople as titular Bishop of Ephesus, and asked and -obtained forgiveness. - -Alexis now hastened to form about his throne a bulwark of loyal, and -richly rewarded, friends, and the Court resounded with sonorous new -titles and glittered with new insignia. Another noble, Nicephorus -Melissenus, had sought the throne at the same time as Alexis; he -was disarmed with the dignity of Cæsar and the remote governorship -of Thessalonica. Isaac received the newly created dignity of -Sebastocrator; Michael Taroneita, who had married a sister of Alexis, -rejoiced in the opulent name of Panhypersebastos; and younger brothers -were created Protosebastos and Sebastos.[26] When we recollect that the -wife of each had a corresponding title and state, we appreciate the -splendour of the processions which now constantly fed the enthusiasm of -Constantinople. - -For a time, however, life in the palace wore a humorously mournful -complexion. The appalling outrages of Alexis’s troops had sown -bitterness in the minds of the people, and the memory of them had -to be obliterated. Any other Emperor would have at once provided a -glorious series of chariot races and flung gold in showers from his -chariot. Alexis Comnenus found a less expensive device; unless we -care to attribute the scheme to his mother, whom he consulted. The -new patriarch was humbly begged to impose a penance on all the royal -inmates of the palace, and he decided that forty days of fasting and -prayer would efface the stain. Alexis himself generously went beyond -the letter of the penance; he slept nightly on the ground and wore a -hair shirt--and took care that all the citizens knew it. His brothers, -his mother and the other women of the family embraced their share of -the imposition, and for five or six weeks the Bucoleon palace resembled -a monastery. - -When the period of mourning came to an end Alexis turned to face the -numerous and pressing enemies of his Empire, and his mother became the -active ruler. Her granddaughter would have us believe that the elder -Anna had no ambition to wield power; she was disposed to retire at once -into a monastery, and it was only in obedience to a solemn decree of -Alexis that she consented to remain in the palace and use the powers -of her absent son. But Anna Comnena, the royal historian, possessed -in a considerable degree the faculty for ruse and duplicity which -distinguished her family,[27] and we have little difficulty in seeing -that the older Anna claimed and clung to power. Irene was, of course, -still a negligible child. Anna at once set about the restoration of -discipline in the palace, which had been so grossly neglected under -Nicephorus and Maria. Hours were fixed for meals and prayers and the -chanting of hymns, and her table was rarely without the blessing of -some priest or monk who would discuss with her the sacred books and -theological issues in which she was interested. Sober in diet, liberal -to the poor and the Church, awake beyond the hours of most mortals -with her long prayers, yet up early in the morning for those imperial -duties which the golden bull of her son had laid on her, Anna was at -least not unworthy of the power she had intrigued to secure. We must, -however, not exaggerate her political influence. A few years later we -find Alexis, when he sets out for the field, entrusting the reins of -government to his brother, and no doubt Isaac generally controlled the -administration. - -Of Irene we hear little until the latter part of her husband’s reign, -when her services as nurse make him appreciate her value. In spite of -the glowing assurances of their daughter, we perceive confidently -that Irene was slighted, both by the mother and the son, and we shall -ultimately find her dismissing him from the world with an assurance of -her profound disdain. For two years the chronicles are silent about -her, and the one reference to her in twenty years is that she bore -children to her spouse. As Christmas approached in 1083 she began -to feel the first pangs of travail. Alexis was expected home from -his campaign against Robert Guiscard in two days, and Anna Comnena, -who is not hypersensitive in her narrative, relates that the young -mother signed her body with a cross and said: “Stay where you are, my -boy, until your father arrives.” It was not a boy, but the historian -herself, who saw the light two days later, and Anna--a fierce and -murderous rebel against her brother--asks us to applaud her very early -practice of the virtue of obedience. - -In view of this silence concerning the Empresses we will hold ourselves -dispensed from following Alexis through the campaigns, plots and -counter-plots of the next twenty years. Five years were spent in -struggle with Robert Guiscard of Italy: five in repelling the wild -Patzinaks of Scythia: five more in suppressing conspiracies, or alleged -conspiracies, against the throne. It may seem ungenerous to suspect -that the hard-working Alexis invented these conspiracies in order to -rid his camp and Court of suspected relatives or nobles, but Byzantine -historians not obscurely hint such a suspicion. One conspiracy only -need be related, since Irene appears on the stage at the time. - -Some years after his accession to the throne--the date is -uncertain--Alexis consented to the retirement of his mother into the -monastery to which, her granddaughter says, her heart had always -turned. Very probably Irene, as she grew to womanhood, resented the -older woman’s restraint and piety, and insisted on her removal. She -died, a nun, a few years afterwards. From that time Alexis drew nearer -to Irene, and used to take her with him on his campaigns. In 1092 or -1093 there was trouble in Dalmatia, and Irene accompanied her husband -and shared his tent in the camp. It was noticed with some alarm by the -officers that Nicephorus Diogenes, son of Eudocia, who had received -imperial dignity in his infancy and might aspire to regain it, pitched -his tent nearer to that of the Emperor than courtesy permitted. Alexis -scouted their suspicions, and retired to rest with Irene; but in the -middle of the night the maid who was engaged in keeping the flies, or -other insects, off the royal sleepers, aroused them with the news that -Nicephorus had entered the tent with a drawn sword. One hesitates to -say which is the more remarkable: that there should be no guard to the -imperial tent, or that Alexis should take no notice of this attempt on -his life. A few days later, Anna assures us, Nicephorus renewed the -attempt, and was detected with drawn sword near the Emperor’s bath. -He was now put to the torture and provided a list of nobles who were -obnoxious to the Emperor and were duly punished. It is interesting to -find that the ex-Empress Maria was included among the conspirators, and -it was possibly on this occasion that she was sent to a nunnery. But -the narrated details of the conspiracy are so clumsy, and the issue -proved so profitable to Alexis, that historians regard it with grave -suspicion. - -We come next to the page of Byzantine history which is least unfamiliar -to English readers, the page restored to life by Sir Walter Scott in -his “Count Robert of Paris.”[28] But, profoundly important as the -passage of the first Crusaders is in Byzantine history and in the -biography of Alexis, we have no decent pretext to enlarge on that -fascinating episode in a biography of the Empresses. We need say only -that Irene trembled with her husband, or more than her husband, at the -formidable tide of the invasion. Thinking to secure a few thousand -spears to assist him in his warfare with the Turks, Alexis had added -a pathetic, if not hypocritical, plea to the eloquence of Peter the -Hermit. The response was, in 1096, a devouring and destructive army of -locusts: a flood of 300,000 men, women and children, who, before they -could be persuaded to cross the straits and leave their bones on the -plains of Asia Minor, gravely embarrassed the Byzantine Court. In their -train came a more formidable menace: Godfrey of Bouillon, Robert of -Flanders, the princes of Western chivalry, with their hawks and hounds -and ladies, and their vast hordes of hungry and blustering men-at-arms. -Their suspicions, ferocious outbursts, disdain, and greed of wealth, -called out every diplomatic resource at the command of Alexis, and few -will do more than smile at his duplicity in such circumstances. At -one moment, when it was rumoured in their camp without the walls that -Alexis had imprisoned some of their leaders, they flung themselves -against the city, and a howl of terror was heard from Blachernæ to the -Sea of Marmora. How Alexis astutely drew them from the fascinations -of his capital, and hovered in their rear, jackal-like, to recover -the towns from which they expelled the Turk, and at last brought on a -conflict of Latin and Greek, must be read in history. Seven further -years of the reign of Alexis and Irene passed in these adventures. - -The next decade was full of war against Bohemund, son of his former -antagonist Robert Guiscard, and other Crusaders. In the course of the -war, in 1105, we again catch a glimpse of Irene, who accompanied Alexis -to the camp of Thessalonica. Apropos of the journey her daughter, who -was now a mature eyewitness of events, depicts Irene’s character in -phrases which we read with some discretion. She was, it seems, so -devoted to the reading of sacred books, the conversation of holy men -and the discharge of her domestic duties, that she was reluctant to -make these journeys; indeed, she could never appear in public without -a nervous blush. It is not like the Irene whom we shall know more -fully anon. But her husband needed her, and she obeyed. Plotters and -conspirators surrounded him, and he suffered acutely from gout in the -feet. Of the constant plots Anna offers no explanation; it is not from -her that we learn how Alexis so far debased the coinage that his “gold” -pieces (almost entirely bronze) were a thing of contempt throughout -Europe, how he further oppressed his subjects with monopolies, and how -savagely he could at times treat malcontents and heretics. His gout, -however, she is eager to explain. It was due, not to any generosity of -diet, but to an injury to his knee in early years, aggravated by the -stupid “barbarians of the West” (the Crusaders), who kept the sacred -Emperor _standing_ for hours to listen to their unceasing torrents of -talk. So Irene had to accompany her husband, to chafe his poignant -limbs when the gout racked him and to scare away conspirators. She -travelled with great modesty, in a litter borne by two mules and so -enwrapped with purple that “her divine body was not visible.” - -In the following year a conspiracy was “detected” at Constantinople. -A wealthy Senator named Solomon and four brothers of Saracenic origin -were the chief plotters, and the treasury was enriched by their -fortunes. Solomon’s mansion was given to Irene, who is said to have -restored it to the wife of the Senator. For once Anna admits that -her father could be truculent. Anna was at a window of the palace -overlooking the Forum, or the streets near it, when the soldiers and -mob passed with the four brother conspirators. They were mounted on -oxen, and were derisively adorned with the horns and entrails of oxen -by the theatrical folk to whom they had been entrusted before their -eyes were put out; from another historian we learn that the hair had -already been torn, by means of pitch, from their heads and chins. Anna -called her mother, and the two women forced Alexis to put an end to the -horrible display and spare the prisoners’ eyes. - -A year or two later Irene is said to have saved her husband’s life from -fresh conspirators. She had again set out with him for Thessalonica, -and, as they camped at Psyllus on the way, a plot was formed to murder -Alexis as soon as Irene should return to the city. Alexis would not -part with her, and the impatient conspirators threw a parchment in his -tent, deriding him for his reluctance to take the field and urging -the dismissal of Irene. Shortly afterwards a more violent diatribe -was placed under their bed while they slept, but one of Irene’s -eunuchs was on guard and arrested the man, who betrayed the plotters. -Then the death of Bohemund put an end to the war in the West, and -the indefatigable Emperor turned to face the Turks and the Crusaders -who had settled in the East. Irene became seriously ill when she -accompanied Alexis to the Chersonesus in 1112, yet we find her with him -at Philippopolis in the following year. - -Irene was little more than nurse to the gouty monarch during these -campaigns, yet we must, in order to understand her last fierce word to -him, glance for a moment at the conduct she observed in him. She had -for years seen how he conducted wars and diplomacy chiefly by guile and -deceit, and she now saw how he converted heretics. A few years before -he had set out to refute the tenets of the “Bogomilians,” one of the -many sects, mingling Eastern and Western ideas, in which age after age -the protestant feeling against the superstitions and corruption of the -Greek Church found expression. By the use of torture Alexis discovered -that the leader of the sect was a staid and venerable monk named -Basil, invited the monk to visit him in the palace, and, by a grossly -hypocritical pretence that he himself leaned to the sect, induced him -to talk freely of their doctrines. When he had “vomited his heresy,” -Alexis drew aside a curtain, and showed the man that a shorthand-writer -had secretly taken down his words. Basil was imprisoned, and Alexis -spent hours in argumentation with him; and a few years later the -“archsatrap of Satan” and large numbers of his followers were burned -alive for refusing to see the force of the imperial logic. Similar -tactics were now adopted at Philippopolis, where Alexis and Irene spent -the greater part of 1113. It was an important seat of the Paulicians -(a modified Manichæan sect), and Alexis spent days in disputation with -their leaders; when persuasion failed, he resorted to bribery and -coercion. - -These few instances will suffice to illustrate the relations of Irene -and Alexis, and we may hasten to the final scene. The last years -were occupied with a campaign against the Turks, but Alexis was now -seriously ill and the enemy advanced and reviled him for his cowardice. -In their camp they bore about a bed with an effigy of Alexis pretending -that gouty feet prevented him from taking the field. Irene was awakened -one night with the news that the Turks were upon them, and Alexis was -forced to let her return to the capital. There is no doubt that she -accompanied Alexis on these later campaigns only because he compelled -her, and one wonders whether he was not afraid to leave her in the -palace. He retreated, and recalled her at once to Nicomedia. Here she -found that his own subjects were singing, on the streets, comic songs -about the gout of the great Emperor and his flight before the Turks. He -was undoubtedly very ill, and in the spring of 1118 he was brought back -to the palace to die. Then arose a fierce struggle for the throne. - -Anna Comnena, the princess born in 1083, had been betrothed, in her -tender years, to the Empress Maria’s pretty boy Constantine. The -boy died, however, and in time she was married to the distinguished -and ambitious noble, Nicephorus Bryennius, who received the title -of Cæsar and then that of Panhypersebastos (“the august above all -others”). Bryennius was a scholar: Anna a prodigy of female learning, a -cyclopædia of arts and philosophy, a most imposing writer, and--strange -to say--a spirited and ambitious princess. The brilliance of this -imperial pair dazzled the Court and the capital, and it was very -naturally suggested that the crowns could not be placed on wiser and -more fitting heads than theirs. Such was the opinion of Irene. But -Alexis and Irene had three sons (John, Andronicus and Isaac) and three -daughters (Maria, Eudocia and Theodora) besides the gifted Anna, and -the crown belonged, by such right as was recognized in Byzantium, -to the eldest son. John was a plain, quiet youth of--as events -proved--sterling character and no ostentation. His father appreciated -him, though few others knew him. He observed with sullen eyes the -efforts of his mother to displace him, and secretly engaged officers -and nobles to support him against her; and Irene retorted by forbidding -them to have any intercourse with John. This struggle was now to reach -the height of passion round the deathbed of the Emperor. - -The last ten pages of Anna’s narrative give a vivid account of the -progress of her father’s illness. She was appointed to a kind of -presidency over the skilled medical men who were summoned from all -parts of the Empire to check the “mysterious” illness--of a gouty -old man of seventy. I will quote only that, when relics failed to -improve his condition, they applied a red-hot iron to his stomach--to -counterpoise the pain at the extremities, perhaps--and, when this -brought about no relief, removed him to the Mangana palace, near what -is now known as the Seraglio Point. Irene watched her husband night and -day (carefully excluding John), and, although the monks assured her -that he would live to visit the Holy Sepulchre, she shed “more tears -than the waters of the Nile,” Anna says. - -In the afternoon of 15th August 1118, Alexis lay dying on his purple -couch. The description of the scene, which closes Anna’s narrative, -has reached us only in a torn and fragmentary condition, but the -chronicle of the monk Zonaras, who lived about this date, is full -and authoritative, and it is supported by the chronicle of Nicetas. -Their account of that last scene in the life of Alexis shows that Anna -Comnena crowns her work with a masterpiece of deliberate lying. She -depicts her mother overwhelmed with sorrow at the impending loss of -her husband, crying that thrones and crowns are vanity, and calling -for the black robe of a nun, if not actually shearing her golden -tresses, before the last breath has left her husband’s body. Of the -real features of the scene there is merely a faint and vague report -that John is hurrying to the main palace and the city is disturbed. The -truth is less touching, more dramatic. - -Availing himself of a temporary absence of his mother--probably bribing -the guards--John entered the room and approached the bed of the dying -and speechless monarch. Alexis was still conscious; but whether he -gave his ring to John, or the son detached it from his finger, the -chroniclers are not agreed. No doubt Alexis was too feeble to detach -and give it, and merely looked assent when John detached it; Alexis had -always favoured John. By the time Irene returned John was galloping -across the imperial domain to the chief palace (either Daphne or, -more probably, Bucoleon), and the Empress was furious. She angrily -observed to Alexis that his son was seizing the throne while he yet -lived. Alexis feebly, and equivocally--though some writers say that -he smiled--lifted his hands and eyes toward heaven, as if to intimate -that there was the only throne about which he was now concerned. -Nicephorus Bryennius was summoned, and Irene urged him to unite with -her in claiming the throne. He refused, and she returned to her -husband. The last words, loudly and harshly spoken, which she gave the -dying man were: “Husband, while you lived, you were full of guile, -saying one thing and thinking another; you are no better now that you -are dying.”[29] We may assume that Alexis had deceived her about the -succession. He died that evening, so completely deserted that there -were no ministers to perform the ceremonial services over his remains. -The interest had passed to the main palace. - -John had found before the door a regiment of the Varangians, who, even -when he showed his father’s ring, refused to allow him to enter. But -they grounded their formidable two-edged axes, and stood aside, when -he swore (a false oath) that his father was already dead, and had -appointed him successor. He at once secured the palace and the crown, -and the reign of Irene Comnena was over, the hope of Anna Comnena -shattered. John would not even issue to attend the funeral of Alexis, -so determined he was to hold the palace. The women were beaten by the -quiet, ugly little youth they had despised, and a few words of the -chroniclers dismiss them from the stage of history. - -Irene, changing her name to that of Xene, retired to a monastery which -she had built in the city. Curiously enough, a manuscript copy of -the rules of this monastery has survived, and been published,[30] so -that we have an interesting glimpse of Irene’s later years and of the -monastic life of the time. The inmates were to number between thirty -and forty, were to sleep in a common dormitory, and were to elect a -prefect. Besides the steward, who was to be a eunuch, and the two -chaplains, who must be monks and eunuchs, no man was ever to enter the -monastery, and the reception of visitors was strictly controlled. There -was midnight office to be chanted, and the remaining offices and meals -and other details were planned much as in a modern “convent” (a Latin -word unknown in the East). Each nun was permitted to have a bath once a -month. Irene little dreamed, when she sanctioned this ascetic scheme, -that she would one day be forced to adopt it. But the last glimpse we -catch of her in the chronicles suggests that she did not embrace it -in all its rigour. Fifteen years later, when another Irene came from -the West to wed the Emperor Manuel, she noticed, among the crowd of -notabilities who welcomed her to the city, an aged lady whose dark -monastic robe was relieved by strips of purple and edges of gold. When -she asked the name of this royal nun, she learned that it was the widow -of the great Alexis. Probably Irene tempered the diet and prayers, as -well as the robe, of the monastery. She was then seventy-seven years -old, and cannot have lived much longer. - -Anna Comnena seems to have retained her liberty and rank at the -accession of her brother. He soon proved his worthiness of the crown, -and the corrupt nobles and ministers, shrinking from his inflexible -justice, gathered darkly about Anna and Bryennius. Anna was the -most active spirit in the plot, and it would have succeeded but for -the irresolution, or humanity, of Bryennius. The doorkeeper of the -palace was bribed, and John might have been murdered in his bed. When -Bryennius failed to use the advantage, Anna turned upon him with fury. -Nicetas tells us that she complained, “in somewhat obscene language,” -that Nature had made her a woman and him a man. John was content to -confiscate their property; though, when he gave Anna’s luxurious palace -and all it contained to his Turkish minister, that strange type of -Byzantine official begged his master to lay aside his anger and permit -him to restore the palace to Anna. Some years later she entered her -mother’s monastery--probably when her husband died in 1128--and lived -there at least twenty years, writing her famous work, the “Alexiad,” a -chronicle of her father’s deeds. That work--affected, insincere and -ambitious--reflects the character of its author, nor can its lavish use -of the art of suppressing some facts and enlarging others efface from -our memory the ignoble attitude of Irene and Anna by the bedside of the -dying Alexis and toward his legitimate heir. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -A BREATH OF CHIVALRY - - -Our last chapter introduced the chivalry of the West into the -East, and, as numbers of the princes of the West remained and set -up principalities in the East, and mingled with it in matrimonial -alliance, the hope may be entertained that at last we shall witness -some signal alteration of the Greek character. The more informed -reader, who knows how the severe historians of recent times have washed -much of the colour from “the days of chivalry,” whose acquaintance with -that epoch extends beyond the “Idylls of the King,” will, perhaps, -not expect any transformation of the character of the East. I will -not anticipate the verdict. We have reached a time when the ideas and -sentiments of the Western knights make a marked impression on the minds -and ways of the East, and it will be interesting to see what types of -women now arise. I shall therefore not confine myself rigidly, in this -chapter, to those women who are fortunate enough to attain the supreme -title, but include in the survey a number of princesses who, in various -ways, approach the throne. - -John the Handsome, as the citizens of Constantinople came to call the -dark and by no means handsome young Emperor they had now obtained, does -not provide us with an Empress of distinct or interesting character. -His wife Irene, a daughter of Wratislav, King of Hungary, was too -virtuous to leave a mark in the Byzantine chronicles. While her able -and upright husband flung back the invaders from his territory, and -essayed such improvement in its condition as his poor political faculty -enabled him to achieve, she spent her days in prayer and the rearing -of her family. Pearls and diamonds had no dangerous fascination for -her; she maintained a modest demeanour in the pomp of the palace and -gave the superfluous wealth to the poor and the monks. After bringing -five children into the world, she died about six years after her -coronation, and John remained a widower for the twenty further years -of his arduous and exemplary reign. In the winter of 1142–1143, as -he spent the truce from campaigning in hunting in Asia Minor, he -accidentally poisoned himself with an arrow, nominated his youngest son -Manuel for the succession, and died a few days afterwards. - -Of his four sons: two--Alexis and Andronicus--had died before their -father: two--Isaac and Manuel--survived. Manuel was in the field with -his father, and he at once sent to Constantinople his father’s able -Turkish minister to secure the throne for him, while he remained to -care for and convey the royal remains. The Turk was vigorous, and not -unfamiliar with Byzantine history. Before a soul in Constantinople had -heard of the Emperor’s death he lodged the elder son, Isaac, in a safe -monastery, promised an enormous sum of money to the clergy, and had -the path to the throne lined with subservient courtiers when Manuel -arrived. A shower of gold upon the city completed the preparation, and -Manuel I., a tall, handsome, vigorous and fairly cultivated youth, took -in hand the reins of the Empire. The spirit of Western chivalry had -found an apt pupil in Manuel, and his robust frame, reckless daring, -and fiery passions made him at once a brother of the Crusaders and -their Eastern descendants. For generations men told of his feats of -strength and boldness. - -His first Empress was the daughter of the Count of Sulzbach, an -important Bavarian noble, and sister to the wife of Conrad, the -ruling Emperor of Germany. Bertha had been betrothed to Manuel before -the death of his father, and some time after his coronation she was -conducted from the humble castle of her father to the world-famed -splendour of Constantinople. Her name was to be changed to Irene, and -she must have had a momentary shudder when an aged lady, whose dark -nun’s robe was faintly edged with royal purple and gold, was introduced -to her, among the welcoming crowd, as the great Irene who had once -occupied the throne. But the impression was effaced by the brilliance -of the marriage ceremonies and the manly beauty of her imperial -husband. He returned at once to the field and spent a considerable time -in expelling the Persian invaders. After that he remained a few years -in his capital, attempting to reform the Court and the administration, -and the royal spouses came to know, and probably dislike, each other. - -Manuel had the vices, as well as the virtues, of a Western knight; -Irene had no vices, and her virtues were old-fashioned. The emergence -of these modest and tender young women, such as the last two Irenes, -from the Courts of central Europe warns us to refrain from thinking -that chivalry everywhere meant gaiety and licence of conduct. Irene had -no love of luxury or of the breaking of lances. Such comeliness as she -had she declined to adorn with perfumes and fine silks, placing her -ideal in the practice of Church virtues and the quiet performance of a -mother’s duties. But Manuel had the eye and the blood of unrestrained -youth, and he soon wandered from his cold and passive spouse to other -women of the Court. His elder brother, Andronicus, had left three -fascinating daughters, and two of these were of a temper to welcome the -freer and livelier spirit which Manuel encouraged. The eldest of the -three, Maria, confined herself to a sober marriage, but Theodora became -the acknowledged lover of the Emperor (her uncle), and the youngest, -Eudocia, was even more flagrantly connected with the Emperor’s cousin, -Andronicus, one of the most handsome, most daring and most unscrupulous -nobles of the time. Andronicus, who in time ascended the throne, will -engage us, with his lady-loves, presently. For the moment we have only -to note that the Comneni princesses lived at Court without a pretence -of restraint. Manuel frowned when he heard that his cousin met what -little expostulation was made with the cheerful assurance that he felt -it his duty to imitate the example and copy the taste of his sovereign; -but Manuel had himself too little self-control to dismiss Theodora. - -The clergy were at the time too corrupt and subservient to interfere, -and the courtiers are contemptuously dismissed by the historian Finlay -as “a herd of knaves.” The chief minister, a keen financier and most -successful extortioner, was known to sell in the market, even two or -three times over, the choice fish or game which suitors presented to -him. The favourite minister, John Camateros, was a handsome man of -gigantic stature, who enjoyed the repute of drinking more wine, and -retaining a clearer head, than any man of his time. He won a bet off -the Emperor by emptying at two draughts an immense porphyry vase full -of water. - -Such were the character and pursuits of the Court into which the -virtuous Irene had entered, and in which she remained a silent and -despised figure for fourteen years. The second Crusade, led by her -brother-in-law, Conrad, passed through Constantinople, on its way -to destruction, without altering her condition. Manuel was not less -unwilling than his people to cheat the despised Westerners, and further -seeds of bitterness were sown in the soil of the time. Irene lingered -on for some years, while Manuel waged his endless campaigns against -Sicilians, Servians, Scythians and Turks, or flung himself into hunts -and tournaments for the entertainment of his mistress and her friends. -Then, about the year 1158, Irene died, leaving a young daughter (a -second daughter having died in infancy) to the care of her boisterous -spouse. - -For his second wife Manuel turned to the Latin nobility who had settled -in Syria. During a recent campaign in the east he had joined with -the Latins in a tournament at Antioch, and made a deep impression on -them by his personal bravery, the golden trappings of his charger, -and the embroidered silk tunics and mantles of his suite. He begged -Baldwin III., King of Jerusalem, to choose for him a bride among -the Latin nobility, and professed that he would abide by Baldwin’s -choice. Baldwin selected Melisend, sister of Raymond, Count of Tripoli -(on the Phœnician coast), and legates were sent to obtain the ready -consent of her father and inquire carefully into the lady’s morals and -physical condition. The sad story of Melisend’s disappointment is very -differently told by the Greek and the Latin historians. According to -the Eastern writers Melisend passed the tests of Manuel’s legates, and -for some months the city of Tripoli was enlivened by the preparations -for her exalted marriage. The most splendid clothing, plate and -jewels that the family and principality of Raymond could provide were -contributed to her trousseau, and no less than twelve large galleys, -laden with her treasures, lay beside the imperial trireme at the -quays. The day of departure came, and the princess bade farewell to -her proud relatives; but the ships had not advanced far from port when -Melisend became so ill that they were forced to return. She recovered, -and they set sail again, but the mysterious illness returned, and as -often as they attempted to convey her across the seas she became livid -with sickness or burning with fever. The legates then made a closer -inquiry--of a local soothsayer--found that there was a grave flaw in -the genealogical tree of the princess, and departed without her. - -There is no doubt that this story is a malignant untruth published -by the Greeks in order to cover the heartless vacillation of their -Emperor. The Latin historian of the time in the East, William of -Tyre, tells a simpler story. Manuel’s legates lingered at Tripoli, -month after month, until Raymond angrily asked them either to convey -his daughter or refund the cost of the preparations. They then fled -secretly, offering no reason whatever for the desertion, and the only -consolation afforded to the wounded Melisend was that her father handed -over her twelve bridal galleys to a band of pirates, and sent them to -spread their terrible ravages along the Greek coasts and islands. We -know little of Melisend; she may have been a woman of mature years, -and one of the most lamentable signs of the abandonment of the times -was the eagerness of monarchs and nobles for child brides. Manuel had -discovered a child of ravishing beauty in the Court of Antioch. - -Maria, daughter of Raymond of Poitou, the prince of Antioch, must -have been in her early teens when Manuel’s legates reported her -beauty to him. Her mother, Constance, and stepfather, Reginald of -Chatillon, a French adventurer, eagerly welcomed the alliance with the -powerful Manuel, and the young girl was conveyed on a gilded galley to -Constantinople and married to Manuel, in or about 1161, with the utmost -splendour. She received the imperial title, but she naturally escapes -the notice of chroniclers during the next ten years, and we may assume -that Manuel continued to entertain his more mature niece, who bore him -a son and was rewarded with one of the most luxurious palaces in the -city. Corrupt as Constantinople was, an illegitimate son could not hope -to wear the purple, and Manuel was concerned about the succession. -He betrothed his daughter Maria (daughter of Irene) to the younger -brother of the King of Hungary, but six years later Maria retired to -the Porphyra palace, and Manuel, a keen student of astrology, consulted -the heavens with feverish anxiety. The conjunction of the planets was -auspicious at the hour of delivery, the child proved to be a son and -heir, and the wildest rejoicing filled the Court and city. From that -time Maria became “mistress” in reality as well as name, and Theodora -passes from the chronicles. The Hungarian prince, who awaited his -marriage and elevation at the Court, was wedded to Philippa of Antioch, -and the nobles were summoned to swear allegiance to Maria and the -infant Alexis. The princess Maria, Manuel’s daughter, was now thrust -aside as of no political importance, and was suffered to continue, -“celibate and sad,” at the Court until the leisure of old age permitted -her father to reflect on his neglect of her. - -Ten further years of warfare occupy the chronicles, and leave no room -for the mention of princesses and Empresses. Then the tireless and -restless monarch begins to show signs of age, and we prepare for the -crisis which so frequently brings the imperial women more prominently -before us. Manuel’s last campaign had been overcast by grave disasters; -he had lost the vigour of youth and had never possessed any large -and orderly power of controlling events. Weary and saddened, he -concluded an indecisive peace with the Turk, and returned to ensure -the succession to the throne. His legitimate son Alexis was now, in -the year 1180,[31] turned twelve years old, and therefore, in view -of the political circumstances and the lax feeling of the time, fit -for marriage. Some years before Manuel had learned from one of the -Crusaders that Louis of France had a beautiful young daughter, and -legates were sent to ask her hand for Alexis. One reads with strange -feelings that the child was only seven years old when, in the spring -of 1180, she was wedded to Alexis in the ancient palace of Daphne. We -shall see to what a sordid fate this premature marriage to a helpless -boy exposed her. From the Latin writers we learn that her name was -Agnes, but it seems to have been changed to Anna (as the Greeks always -call her) at her marriage. She at once received the imperial title, -and must have seemed a strange young figure in the stiff gold-cloth -garments and rich jewels of a Byzantine Empress. - -It is interesting to notice that the thought of matrimony reminded -Manuel of his “celibate and sad” daughter Maria. She was now in -her thirty-first year. A spouse was found for her in a handsome -seventeen-year-old Western youth, Reyner, son of the Marquis of -Montferrat, and they were married with pomp at the Blachernæ palace. -But the character of Maria will presently become clearer to us, and we -shall see that it does not call for sympathy. - -Weary and ill as Manuel was, he had by no means the idea that he was -preparing for death in making these arrangements. The astrologers, in -whom he put supreme confidence, assured him that he would yet live -fourteen years, and he looked forward to rising from his bed and once -more dashing with lance and sword against the Turks or Persians. A -few months spent in his capital must have shaken his confidence. -Thirty-five years of strenuous war had added no material security to -his Empire and had alienated his subjects. Vast sums had been wrung -from them, but they had passed into the purses of soldiers, foreigners, -monks and astrologers, and the civil framework of the vast Empire -was in a state of decay. Men spoke with bitterness of the superb -palaces, their ceilings plated with gold, their walls lined with mosaic -representations of the Emperor’s victories, which Manuel had added to -the imperial town. He grew sombre, his illness increased, and, one day -in September, he felt his own pulse and concluded that he was sinking. -Impetuous to the last, he slapped his thigh and called for the robe -of a monk. He at once exchanged his purple for the rough cloth, gave -his signature to a condemnation of astrology, and bade farewell to -the world. He died a few days later; and the shadow of tragedy began -to creep over the gold-roofed halls in which his young widow, and the -child-bride of his son, played with the imperial toys while men looked -on with dark and selfish designs. - -The character of the Empress Maria is obscured for us by the somewhat -conflicting reports or suggestions of the authorities. Finlay says -that she at once retired to a monastery, and, although I can find no -direct authority for this, she is so frequently named “Xene” in later -passages that one may conclude that she took the veil and changed her -name. The next statement about her, however, is little in accord with -this. The central and most powerful person at the Court after the death -of Manuel was Alexis, brother of the sisters Theodora and Eudocia whose -amours had enlivened the Court. Now advanced in years, but ambitious, -covetous and luxurious, he became the virtual ruler of the Empire. A -somewhat repulsive picture is drawn of his efforts to maintain himself -in sufficient health to enjoy the sensual rewards of his position, and -it is added that he contracted a liaison with Manuel’s young widow. -We are quite free to reject this sordid suggestion, as a calumny of -those who sought to displace her or of those who afterwards murdered -her, but it must be recollected that we have arrived at a period of -grosser immorality than ever. It is essential only to observe that she -was closely allied to Alexis (the minister) and was accused of intimacy -with him. - -The Emperor Alexis, who was only thirteen years old at his coronation, -was a flippant and heedless boy. The base and astute intriguers -about him encouraged him to spend his time in hunting or drinking or -dressing in imperial finery. On the other hand, his sister Maria (the -daughter of Manuel) now began to display a dangerous ambition and -an unscrupulous character. The supposed intimacy of the Empress and -Alexis alarmed her; she feared, or affected to fear, that Alexis would -marry Maria and seize the throne. She therefore conspired with her -relatives, and sent assassins to make an end of Alexis, as he hunted -in the country. Presently, however, a messenger returned, not with the -head of the minister, but with the news that he had discovered the plot -and was returning to wreak his vengeance. Maria and her young husband -fled to St Sophia, and, as the crowd gathered in the church at the -news, she loudly and bitterly harangued them on the scandalous vices -of the Empress and the licentious dotage of her uncle. A judicious -distribution of money opened the ears of the clergy and the mob to -her charges, and she grew bolder. When the Emperor, or his minister, -threatened to drag her from the church, she enlisted a troop of Italian -gladiators and Iberian soldiers, and, before the clergy could follow -her furious proceedings, turned the cathedral into a fortified citadel, -and egged on the mob to loot the mansions of Alexis and his friends. -On 7th May the troops issued from the palace, and a bloody battle was -fought at the entrance to St Sophia, but the horrified clergy now -intervened, and Maria and her husband were allowed to return in safety -to the palace. - -On this squabble of hawks there now descended a veritable eagle of -intrigue, and a brief account of his story will greatly add to our -knowledge of the noble women of the time. I have previously mentioned -that, while Manuel made love to his niece Theodora, her sister Eudocia -was the mistress of Manuel’s cousin Andronicus, one of the most -romantic figures in history. Andronicus Comnenus, in whom the great -line of the Comneni comes to an appalling end, was one of the most -handsome, most robust, most fascinating and most unscrupulous men of -his age. Tall and massive of build, tender and engaging in countenance, -endowed with a voice of singular strength and sweetness and an easy -flow of language, he could enslave any woman on whom his heart was set; -and it was set on many. Sober in diet and drink, he would avoid the -revels and carouses of his brother officers, and spend hours of delight -in reading the rugged epistles of St Paul. But in the enjoyment of love -or the pursuit of ambition he recognized no moral principle whatever, -and few men ever crowded more adventure into a single career. - -His father was the elder brother of the Emperor John, Manuel’s -father, and, on the accession of Manuel, he was called to Court. He -was married, but he admitted with equal freedom the devotion of his -pretty cousin Eudocia and that of other ladies of less distinction. -His wife seems to have cheerfully recognized that large need of his -nature, and the lips of Manuel were sealed by his own love affair; but -there were men and women of the family who cherished the older ideas, -and Andronicus nearly lost his life at an early date. After failing -in Armenia--for he was a lax and unskilful general--he was appointed -governor of some of the chief towns on the Hungarian frontier. -Hither the devoted Eudocia accompanied him, and she lay in his arms, -one night, in the tent when it was announced that her brother and -brother-in-law were approaching with drawn swords. She pressed him to -disguise himself in some of her garments, but he buckled on his immense -sword, slit the canvas of the tent, and was deep in the neighbouring -forest when the young men arrived. - -He was next detected in treasonable correspondence with the Hungarians. -Manuel overlooked his crime, but Andronicus went on to make two -attempts on the life of his cousin, and wore so brazen a face when he -was charged, that he was sent in chains to Constantinople and lodged in -a strong tower connected with the palace. Here he one day discovered an -old and forgotten passage, almost filled with rubbish, which branched -from his prison. He scooped out a hiding-place in it with his hands, -entered it, and concealed the entrance. When the furious search of the -guards had ended, and messengers had been despatched over the Empire -with orders to arrest the fugitive, the Emperor, suspecting that his -cousin’s wife had aided him to escape, ordered her to be lodged in -the tower. No sooner had the jailers left her than the poor woman was -terrified, and then delighted, to see the burly form of her missing -husband emerge from a heap of rubbish, and they fell into each other’s -arms. For a long time husband and wife lived together in the prison, -but at length Andronicus escaped. His splendid frame betrayed him, and -he was recaptured and enclosed in a more formidable prison. Once more -he escaped and was caught, and for nine years he remained in prison. - -At length he induced the boy who brought his meals to take an -impression in wax of the key of his prison while the jailers enjoyed -their midday siesta, the impression was sent to his faithful wife and -son (the fruit of his earlier confinement in the tower), and a key and -a rope were stealthily conveyed to him. He escaped at sundown, lay -in the long grass in the garden for two days, until the search was -abandoned, and then took a boat at the quay by night and reached his -wife’s house, where his fetters were struck off. He returned to his -boat, rowed to a district beyond the walls where a horse awaited him, -and set out in the direction of Russia. Once again he was captured, -but, as the soldiers conducted him through a forest during the night, -he feigned illness and retired a few yards. After repeating the trick -a few times, so that they watched him less closely, he put his mantle -and hat on his stick, so that the soldiers seemed to perceive his -figure crouching in the dark, and plunged into the forest. He reached -Scythia in safety, and was after a time recalled by Manuel, pardoned, -and, after striking a few heavy blows in the wars, was made Governor of -Cilicia. Here a fresh chapter of his love stories opened. Eudocia had -married after the vigorous intervention of her brother, and his wife -seems to have entered a monastery. - -Endowed by Manuel with the rich revenues of the island of Cyprus, as -well as the poorer proceeds of his province, he entered with alacrity -the gay circle of the Latin nobles at Antioch, clothed himself in the -finest embroidered silks, and kept about him a handsome suite of young -courtiers. It was not long before his fascinating manner and brilliant -appearance won the heart of the Princess Philippa of Antioch, a sister -of the Empress Maria, and she proved to be no more scrupulous than the -Greek ladies had been. William of Tyre says that he married her, but -the Greek writers speak of the relation as a scandal, and the sequel -favours their view. Manuel was enraged at this outrage, and because -Andronicus dallied in Antioch instead of taking the field against the -Armenians, and he sent a noble to replace Andronicus in his office and -in the affections of Philippa. The young princess scorned the meaner -figure of the new governor, but Andronicus was alarmed and, quitting -his new love with a light heart and taking with him all the imperial -funds he could secure, he fled to Palestine. - -In the town of Acre, to which he soon repaired, he found a pretty -and wealthy widow with whom he could claim a cousinship, and we are -introduced to another branch of the Comneni family. Eudocia and -Theodora, the frail ladies who have previously engaged our attention, -were the daughters of Manuel’s brother Andronicus. A third brother, -Isaac, had left six daughters, of whom the eldest, Theodora, had been -married in her fourteenth year to Baldwin III., King of Jerusalem. -Baldwin had died four years afterwards, and the young widow had -received the town of Acre as her estate. She was still in her early -twenties, in the ripest development of her charms and her passions, -when the handsome Andronicus came to tell the story of his misfortunes. -From mutual consolation they quickly passed to love, and Manuel was -once more infuriated to hear that his scapegrace cousin was openly -fouling the honour of the family in the friendly kingdom of the Latins. -He sent to Acre a secret and pressing request that the _beaux yeux_ of -his cousin should be cut out, and his dangerous person forwarded to -Constantinople. But the letter fell into the hands of Theodora, she -showed it to her lover, and the devoted pair packed their treasures and -fled to Damascus and on to Mesopotamia. - -A few years, in which several children were born, were spent in this -extraordinary exile by the rivers of Babylon, where the passionate love -of the young ex-queen endured without regret the rude accommodation -of a camp in what was almost a desert. Andronicus turned brigand when -their money and jewels failed, and, at the head of his little band of -Arabs, raided the territory of his imperial cousin and even carried -off the Christian inhabitants to be sold as slaves. His queen and he -laughed at the anathema which the Greek Church laid on them. At last -the Governor of Trebizond, at the request of Manuel, enticed Theodora -from the camp and captured her, and Andronicus sought pardon once -more. We may honour the reluctance of Manuel to shed the blood of his -subjects, but in the case of Andronicus it was an almost criminal -weakness. That astute adventurer put a heavy iron chain round his neck, -covered it with his mantle, and sank on his knees at a respectful -distance from his cousin’s throne. When he was pressed to come forward -to receive a cousinly embrace, he opened his cloak and protested that -he must be dragged by the chain to the feet of the Emperor. The comedy -ended in his receiving a wealthy appointment, but he was separated from -Theodora and sent into a comfortable exile on the southern shores of -the Black Sea. - -Such was the man who, after the death of Manuel, came forward as the -champion of the moral principle and Byzantine honour. Manuel’s daughter -Maria, “the virago,” as Nicetas calls her, appealed to him to end the -scandalous rule of the Empress Maria and her reputed lover. Age had -made him cautious, however, and he allowed the conflicting parties -to exhaust themselves, and the young Emperor fully to reveal his -incapacity and unworthiness. Then he began to write indignant letters -on the state of the Court to the patriarch and to the provincial -authorities. In his great anxiety for the welfare of the Empire he -left his exile and moved nearer to Constantinople, winning many to -his side by his tears and his venerable appearance. He was now a -white-haired old man, approaching his seventieth year, his still robust -and magnificent frame made more attractive by the apparent sobering -of his character. At length he reached Chalcedon, and the citizens of -Constantinople went across the straits in crowds to hail the deliverer -of the Empire, or of the Emperor, as he was careful to say. The sins -of Andronicus had faded in the memories of their fathers, and they -returned to the city to praise his loyalty and his demeanour. Before -long they arrested the minister Alexis and put out his eyes. It -remained to disarm the clergy, who had been forced to excommunicate him -for enslaving Christians. When the patriarch came over to visit him, -the wily hypocrite fell at his feet and kissed them, protesting that -the archbishop had saved the Emperor, to whose cause he was devoted. - -In brief, Andronicus was presently installed in the palace, and a -ruthless suppression of his opponents began. Eyes were cut from their -sockets, the jails were filled with nobles, and confiscated property -swelled his treasury. The Princess Maria, who had appealed to him, -and must now have seen her error, perished with her vigorous husband; -one of their eunuchs was bribed by Andronicus to poison their food. -The clergy next discovered his hypocrisy. He ordered the patriarch to -marry his illegitimate daughter Irene to Manuel’s illegitimate son -Alexis--the natural children of two sisters--and, when he refused, -deposed him and found some other bishop complaisant enough to perform -the ceremony. The nobles hastily plotted to displace him, but it was -too late. Another batch of condemnations routed his opponents and -enriched his purse. The people, it is lamentable to find, supported his -every deed with enthusiasm, and were not slow to take up the cry of -“Andronicus Emperor” which his creatures soon whispered in their ears. - -It was the late summer of 1183, only three years after the death -of Manuel. The foolish young Alexis still caroused and hunted in -frivolous unconcern, but his mother now saw that the end of her reign -approached, and might come in dreadful form. She was transferred to -a suburban palace, and her life was embittered by calumny and petty -persecution. It is in view of these circumstances that we must hesitate -to accept the charge of misconduct with the minister Alexis; she seems -to have been one of the best of the princesses of the time, though -her personality never comes clearly before us. Presently Andronicus -charged her with treachery. Her sister, Philippa, was, after being -detached from Andronicus, married to the King of Hungary, and it is -not impossible that some letters were exchanged between them in regard -to the monster who now aimed at the throne. Philippa would retain -little tenderness for him since he had fled straight from her arms to -those of Theodora. Maria was, of course, found guilty, and lodged in a -dungeon. Her son, little dreaming how soon he would follow her, signed -the death-warrant, and in the month of August 1183 her sufferings came -to an end. A high commander of the army and a eunuch of the Court -strangled her with a bowtring. - -Alexis lightheartedly pursued his pleasures for a few weeks, until he -heard about him the cry of “Andronicus Emperor.” He nervously applauded -it, and offered a share of his throne; and, with feigned reluctance, -Andronicus yielded to the general demand and was crowned by the clergy -in St Sophia. When, in the course of the coronation Mass, the chalice -was brought to him containing the consecrated wine, he took it in his -hands and swore on the living body of Christ that he accepted the -crown only in order to assist Alexis. A few days later the youth was -strangled by his orders, and, when the lifeless body was placed at his -feet, he kicked it and observed that it was the child of a perjurer -and a whore. One further detail will complete the picture of the -degradation of the Eastern Empire. Two high officials of the Court took -the body out in a boat, flung it in the sea, and sang gay songs as -they returned to the Bucoleon quay. One of them became Archbishop of -Bulgaria. - -The two years’ reign of the Emperor Andronicus was an orgy of -bloodshed, spoliation and vice. Perhaps the most abominable detail of -it is that he at once married the child-widow of Alexis, Anna, the -beautiful daughter of Louis VII. She had not yet completed her twelfth -year, yet she now became the daily and--one fears--nightly companion of -an erotic old man of seventy, whose devices to maintain his virility -are hardly less repulsive than his murders. It is in one sense a -relief to know that little Anna was only one member of a veritable -harem of singing and dancing girls, and some nobler women, who filled -the palaces, especially the pleasure-palaces on the Asiatic coast, of -the repulsive monarch. Powerful in frame and fresh in countenance to -the end, Andronicus maintained even in the palace his sobriety and -moderation at table in order to preserve his youthful vigour. He was, -if ever a man was, an erotomaniac, one of the strangest personalities -in the whole of Byzantine history. He brought about several excellent -reforms in the administration of the failing Empire, and had, almost to -the end, the enthusiastic attachment of his people; but his brutality -in the punishment of rebels, who were numerous, was too appalling to be -described, and his conduct in many ways approached insanity. He raised -a statue in the city to his first wife; she was represented as a nun -accompanied by a handsome youth. - -We hasten through this welter of brutality and licence to the natural -termination. Deliverers of the Empire arose in various places, and -were either savagely crushed or showed a savagery equal to that of -Andronicus. The natural son of Manuel, whom he had married to his -daughter Irene, rebelled; his secretary was burned alive in the -Hippodrome, his eyes were removed, and Irene was banished for shedding -tears over his fate. A nephew of his mistress Theodora (of Acre) -rebelled, and captured the island of Cyprus, and Andronicus impotently -ordered the two innocent nobles who were Isaac’s sureties to be stoned -to death by their fellow-nobles in the palace; but Isaac proved as -savage and licentious as Andronicus. Then another Alexis Comnenus, -a grand-nephew of Manuel, fled to the West for assistance, and the -Sicilian army set sail for Constantinople; but the soldiers merely -fell like a fresh flood of savagery on the miserable Greeks. At last a -deliverer arose, almost by accident, in the city. - -Sorcery and astrology were at that time as rife in the Eastern Empire -as they had been in the worst days of ancient Rome; the clergy were -deeply corrupted and were almost idle (and wealthy) spectators of the -vices and superstitions of Court and people. One of the more astute -of these diviners was consulted as to the successor of Andronicus, -and, by a device which was a thousand years old in the Roman world, -he caused the letters I.S. to appear in answer to the inquiry. When -Andronicus heard the result of the consultation, he concluded that -Isaac of Cyprus, his rival in power and licentiousness, was the fated -individual, and felt confident as long as that tyrant was unable to -leave his island. But the prediction also assigned a very near date for -the succession, and the chief minister of Andronicus was concerned. -There was in the city a timid and unambitious noble, of a provincial -family, named Isaac Angelus, and the minister insisted that this was -the man designated by the diviner. Andronicus cheerfully ridiculed the -idea, placed his little wife upon the royal galley, and went with her -to join his gay ladies in one of the palaces across the water. It was -the early autumn of the second year of his reign (1185). - -Within a few days a messenger from the palace broke into their pleasant -dalliance with the news that Constantinople was aflame with revolt, -and Andronicus, taking with him his wife and a favourite courtesan, -made with all speed for Bucoleon. It appeared that after his departure -his minister had gone in person to arrest Isaac Angelus, and, in a -surprising fit of boldness, the noble had drawn his sword and buried -it in the body of the minister. He fled at once to St Sophia, and the -people, flocking to see the man who had slain the hated minister, made -him a hero in spite of himself, and burst open the prisons that all the -victims of Andronicus might come and support him. He still shrank, even -when they offered him the crown, and his elderly uncle, John Ducas, -cheerfully presented his own bald head to receive it. “No more bald -heads, especially with forked beards,” cried the people--as those were -features of Andronicus--and the trembling Isaac was crowned. - -At this point Andronicus and his companions reached the palace, only -to discover that there were no royal troops to defend the throne. In -impotent rage Andronicus snatched a bow, and, from one of the towers or -balconies of the palace which overlooked the square, sent a few arrows -into the crowd, but they burst into the palace, and he returned in -haste to his galley. With his twelve-year-old wife and his favourite, -Maraptica, he made with all speed for the Black Sea, but his popularity -had turned to hatred throughout the Empire, and he was dragged from the -ship at the first port and sent in chains to Isaac. His right hand and -eye were removed, and he was delivered to the vengeance of the mob, -whose savage torture and execution of the adventurous prince must be -read in the dead language in which they are described. - -The young daughter of Louis of France will come again upon the -imperial stage at a later date. Already, in her thirteenth year, the -widow of two murdered Emperors, she was destined to wed and lose an -ambitious soldier, Branas, and for the third time, almost before -she reached womanhood, weep over the bloody corpse of a husband. -Nor were her sufferings to end here. We shall see that she remained -in Constantinople, and it was reserved for her to witness the final -tragedy which the chivalry of the West was to bring upon her adopted -country. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -EUPHROSYNE DUCÆNA - - -The new Emperor, whom so extraordinary a chance had raised to the -throne, was a worthless and entirely incompetent man of thirty summers, -with the courage of a mouse, the vanity of a peacock, and the small -cunning of a Byzantine mediocrity. Finlay contemptuously observes that -he was “a fair specimen of the Byzantine nobility of his age.” He had -accepted the control of an Empire which only a Hercules could save from -ruin; and he proceeded to extort money from its distracted citizens for -the building of palaces and decoration of churches, to surround himself -with a hedge of actors and actresses which shut out the misery of his -provinces, to cast the cares of government upon a crowd of praying and -feasting monks, and to place his ideal of monarchy in the possession of -endless wardrobes and the enjoyment of stupendous banquets. - -He was an upstart in epicureanism, and it is therefore not strange -that he followed the recent and abominable practice of taking a child -to wife. An earlier wife, of whom he had a son named Alexis and two -daughters, had died, and, when he came to the throne, there was the -customary scanning of the lists of royal families in order to secure an -Empress. His choice fell on the nine-year-old daughter of Bela, King -of Hungary, and the wondering maiden was brought to Constantinople by -his resplendent officers and eunuchs and prepared for the impressive -ceremonies of an imperial marriage. The tender little Margaret became -the Empress Maria, and was entrusted to the care of the troop of -strange beings whom she would learn to call her eunuchs. She would not -be old enough to know that Isaac provoked a dangerous revolt at once -by imposing the cost of his marriage on the overburdened provinces: or -to perceive that the vast aggregation of palaces had, for the first -time in Byzantine history, been looted by the mob. Isaac had ignobly -lingered in the Blachernæ palace while the people of Constantinople, -after despatching Andronicus, had wandered through the imperial -apartments and stolen all the money and portable treasures they -contained. One pious looter had even carried off the autograph letter -of Christ to King Abgar. But Isaac, as soon as his throne was secure, -repented of his liberality, and, by means of extortion and spoliation -and adulteration of the coinage, contrived even to surpass the luxury -and parade of his predecessor. - -Maria will not interest us until, in her womanhood, she begins to -encounter the adventures of a fallen Empress, and one or two anecdotes -will serve to describe the kind of life she endured during the ten -years’ reign (1185–1195) of her husband. Isaac was a florid-faced, -red-haired young man with imperial appetites. His banquets consisted, -Nicetas says, of “a mountain of bread, a forest of game, a sea of -fishes and an ocean of wine,” at which he sat, richly perfumed and -clothed with the conscious gorgeousness of a peacock, amidst a crowd of -female relatives, and other females who were not relatives. When the -dishes were removed, the choicest mimes and conjurers and musicians -of the Empire were summoned to entertain him and his guests. It is -narrated that one famous comedian, when he was for the first time -admitted into the presence of this cohort of wine-flushed ladies, bowed -to the Emperor and said: “Let us make the acquaintance of these first, -and then you may bring the rest.” - -Nearly his whole reign was filled by a great revolt of the Wallachians -and Bulgarians, and in 1195 he set out to take the field in person -against them. One day he rode out from the camp to hunt, and had not -proceeded far when he heard an alarming tumult in his rear. He found -that his brother Alexis, who had astutely awaited his opportunity, was -being acclaimed Emperor, and, without a struggle, he galloped across -the country. He was captured, blinded and imprisoned; and his young -wife now gives place to a more interesting type of Empress. Maria -remained in Constantinople, and will re-enter the story presently. - -Euphrosyne Ducæna--that is to say, Euphrosyne of the famous Ducas -family, into which some ancestor of hers had married--was an energetic -and ambitious woman of middle age at the time of her accession. Her -father, Gregory Camaterus, had been an imperial secretary, and had -taken advantage of his favoured position to marry into the nobility. -Euphrosyne must have been born some time before 1150, in the reign -of Manuel, and have witnessed the later series of revolutions and -assassinations. In time she married the elder brother of Isaac Angelus, -a provincial noble of no distinction or wealth, and, during the bloody -reign of Andronicus, Alexis had taken refuge among the Turks. Even -whole populations gladly put themselves under the Turks or Saracens to -escape the vices of their Christian rulers. We cannot, however, say if -Euphrosyne accompanied her husband or remained in Constantinople. At -last Alexis heard the strange news that his brother was on the throne, -and he hastened to Constantinople. He was arrested on the way by the -Prince of Antioch, ransomed by Isaac, and promoted to high office -and wealth. He was a more energetic, more handsome and superficially -more attractive man than his younger brother, but his slender list of -virtues did not include gratitude. - -He had communicated to Euphrosyne, if not received from her, his design -of seizing the crown, and she threw herself ardently into the work of -preparing the city. She was a woman of great ability, of persuasive -tongue, and still not without beauty; and it was not difficult to -persuade Senators and priests that Isaac was a disgrace to the purple. -Her own husband was little, if at all, better, but he had the advantage -of an imposing exterior and of concealing his real character. When -a messenger reached her with the news that Alexis was declared, she -bribed a priest to proclaim him from the pulpit of the cathedral, and -promised heavy rewards to the nobles who would support him. Alexis -himself was following the same line of lavishing offices (even if they -had to be created) and money on his supporters. As a result Euphrosyne -was able to occupy the palace almost without opposition, and the -Senators hastened to kiss her slippers and lie at her feet, while she -“stroked the bellies of the pigs,” in the scornful language of Nicetas, -who was a Court official of the time--on the wrong side. She announced -that the new Emperor would adopt the name of Comnenus, instead of -Angelus. It was an indiscretion, as the artisans of the city said that -they had had enough of the Comneni, and met in the Forum to place a -crown on the head of a popular astrologer of the hour. But Euphrosyne -sent a troop of her obedient nobles to scatter the rabble and their -king, and in a few days welcomed Alexis to his golden throne. People -shook their heads, however, when, as Alexis came out of St Sophia -wearing the crown, his fiery Arab at first refused to let him mount, -and then plunged so violently that the crown fell off and was broken. - -The people of Constantinople soon discovered that they had exchanged -brother for brother. Alexis emptied the war-chest, which Isaac had -at length filled, into the pockets of his supporters, leaving the -Bulgarians and other foes to raid the provinces. He hastened to don -the gorgeous golden robes, and to restore the opulent banquets and -merry parties of his predecessor, and soon “knew no more about the -cares of his Empire than the inhabitants of Thule.” Euphrosyne is said -to have equalled him in luxury and display, but she had some idea of -statesmanship. She promptly undertook to rule the Empire, and we can -well believe that, even when she incurs the censure of Nicetas for -going about in a golden litter borne on the shoulders of distinguished -nobles, she was acting from policy. She ignored her husband, overruled -his decrees, placed her own relatives in office, and had her own -lovers. When important ambassadors were to be received, she had her -throne placed beside that of the Emperor, and Senators had to visit and -pay homage at her palace as well as at that of Alexis. Her husband was -happy in his imperial lake of luxury, and for a time took no notice. If -a noble offered him a sum of money for the office of ploughing the sand -he accepted it cheerfully. Euphrosyne, however, forbade the selling of -offices, and made a sincere effort to arrest that diversion of funds -from public purposes which had been wasting the blood of the Empire for -centuries. - -Her integrity as a ruler soon excited the hostility of the vicious -nobles, and a struggle began which makes it difficult for us to -judge certain aspects of the character of Euphrosyne. The rule at -Constantinople was to impeach the morals of an Empress when her public -virtue was beyond question, and this the angry nobles proceeded to do. -She had ventured to appoint a first minister on the mere ground of -ability, and her brother Basil, her son-in-law and other nobles plotted -to restrict her power. They approached Alexis and whispered that -Euphrosyne was criminally intimate with a handsome young officer named -Vatatzes, and that he might before long find his throne occupied by her -paramour. - -Nicetas, who was at the Court, has clearly no doubt about the liaison, -and we must admit that Euphrosyne’s family is not distinguished for -asceticism. Her youngest daughter, Eudocia, had been married in 1185 -to the King of Servia, and had, after a few years, been driven from -the Court, naked, for her misconduct, and brought back in shame to -Constantinople. Euphrosyne’s brother Basil, who owed his office to her, -was her chief accuser. Alexis, at all events, was convinced. He sent -for the head of Vatatzes, who was in Bithynia at the time, and, when -it was brought, addressed it, says Nicetas, “in words which cannot be -included in this history.” Euphrosyne trembled, and appealed to her -courtiers to intercede. Alexis had gone to Thrace for a time, and he -returned to find the Court divided into two parties over the affair. -Some said that she was guilty; some were for punishing the libellers. - -He went with Euphrosyne to the Blachernæ palace, and his dark demeanour -and refusal to sleep with her made her fear that her head would be the -next to fall. She therefore demanded a trial of the charge, but Alexis -merely handed her maids and eunuchs to the official torturer, and they -could only obtain release from their horrible sufferings by declaring -her guilty. Alexis was not normally a cruel man; very little blood was -shed in his reign. But the suggestion that Euphrosyne meditated taking -from him his throne and his splendid pleasures alarmed him. He stripped -her of her gold and purple, dressed her in the rough tunic of a common -prostitute, and handed her to two barbaric slaves to be conveyed to the -Nematorea monastery, near the entrance to the Black Sea. There, guarded -by two uncivilized slaves who could hardly speak Greek, she looked back -with bitterness on the two or three years of power and the ingratitude -of her brother and son-in-law. But Constantinople pitied her, or at -least despised her opponents. Basil and Andronicus were assailed in the -street with jeers and popular songs, and began to repent. They had not, -they pleaded, imagined that the luxurious Emperor had energy enough -to take such a step; they had wished only to restrict the power of -Euphrosyne. They and others now pleaded with the Emperor to reconsider -his decision, and, after a solitary confinement of six months, -Euphrosyne returned in triumph to the palace and wielded more power -than ever. It is pleasant to read that Alexis found himself incapable -of ruling without her judicious aid; and that she took no vengeance -whatever on her accusers. - -In the following year Alexis fell seriously ill, and the question -of successor was opened. He suffered much from gout and despised -physicians. Unfortunately his own ideas of medical treatment were -much more crude than those of the doctors of the time. He ordered his -servants to cauterize his gouty limbs with red-hot irons, and passed -into a dangerous condition. As he had no sons, a wide field was opened -for competitors, owing to the abominable Byzantine system, which knew -neither the hereditary principle nor serious election, and the palace -was enlivened by the intrigues of a score of aspirants. None of them -seemed to have the faintest suspicion that the Byzantine Empire was -within five years of its first destruction. However, to Euphrosyne’s -relief, Alexis recovered, and, as the earlier husbands of his elder -daughters died (Eudocia was still in Servia), they were wedded to -distinguished nobles, and the year ended with prolonged gaieties at the -Blachernæ palace. - -A long absence of the Emperor in Thrace left the supreme power in the -hands of Euphrosyne, and, as so many Byzantine women had done, she held -the reins with a firmer and more skilful hand than her husband. The -only defect noted by the censorious Nicetas is that she was lenient -to members of her own family. Fraudulent officials she punished with -a severity that was rarely witnessed in the East, but the admiral -Michael Stryphnus, who had married her sister, was permitted to indulge -criminal malpractices, for which the Empire would soon pay a heavy -price. He sold even the stores and equipment of the existing galleys, -and they rotted in the harbours, while pirates spread terror throughout -the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. These were not crimes at which -the short-sighted Emperor could cavil. Not only did he cheat his -people by creating and selling sinecures, but he resorted to practices -which amounted to piracy. He once sent six galleys of the fleet into -the Black Sea for the ostensible purpose of salving a wreck, but with -secret orders to board and loot every vessel they met. Large numbers -of mercantile galleys were returning with cargoes from the Black Sea -ports, often in charge of the merchants themselves, some of whom were -flung overboard for resisting. The others returned to Constantinople -in great anger, and, although they stood at the door of St Sophia, -candle in hand, when the Emperor came to pray, he merely laughed at -their complaints. From the clergy such sufferers received little -sympathy; the patriarch was a brother of Euphrosyne. The city was full -of violence and knavery: the seas were scoured by pirates: the remoter -provinces were ground between the imperial tax-gatherers and the -foreign raiders. - -Yet in this melancholy putrescence of the once mighty Empire Alexis and -Euphrosyne maintained all the glamour of the imperial Court. Euphrosyne -is the only Empress whom we find engaging in the chase as the Emperors -did. Nicetas describes her setting out amid large companies of nobles, -a falcon resting on her gold-embroidered glove, or a kennel of dogs -rushing at her virile call. It is even said that she believed in, and -practised, the incantations and divinations which had become generally -popular among the decaying people. Her magic seems to have taken some -unfamiliar form, since she had the snout cut off a famous bronze -boar in the Hippodrome, had a beautiful marble statue of Hercules -flogged, and ordered mutilations of other works of art that reminded -Constantinople of better days. She seems to have been an able and -well-disposed woman tainted by the perversity of her age. - -The Empire was sinking rapidly, living on its capital, yet suffering -the roads and bridges and forts to fall to ruin, the helpless provinces -to writhe under the heel of every invader, and the funds that should -have been spent on defence to be wasted in courtly luxury and the -maintenance of a crowd of ignoble parasites. An anecdote of the time -(about the year 1200) shows to what an extraordinary degree the funds -had been diverted from the army. There was in Constantinople a -descendant of the Comneni who, from his barrel-like shape, went by the -name of John the Fat. This paltry and contemptible conspirator won a -few followers among the nobility, went with them into the cathedral, -and put upon his own head one of the imperial crowns that hung over the -altar. The report ran through the city and a great crowd assembled and -conducted the waddling and perspiring John to the palace. Alexis and -Euphrosyne seem to have been at Blachernæ, or in one of the Asiatic -palaces, but the strange thing is that there seem to have been no -guards whatever, where former Emperors had kept whole regiments of -Scholarians and Excubitors or, at the later date, Varangians. We know -that there were still Varangians in the imperial service, but they seem -to have been too few to defend the numerous palaces. However, John -the Fat had not wit or grit enough to secure the palace when he had -entered, and, as darkness came on, a few imperial soldiers penetrated -to his apartments and killed him. - -At length, in the year 1202, the Empire passed into the penumbra of its -great tragedy. Isaac II., the younger brother whom Alexis had displaced -and blinded, had lived in Constantinople, in a humble mansion near -the shore, during the seven years that followed his deposition, and -was regarded with so little concern that no watch was kept upon his -movements. It was not noticed that the Latin soldiers who lived in, or -constantly passed through, Constantinople were frequent visitors at his -house, and it was not known that the letters he wrote to his daughter -Irene, who had married Philip of Germany, were treasonable in their -import. But the blind and neglected brother was dreaming of a return to -his imperial debauches. It is probable that Maria, who would now be a -comely young woman of sixteen, lived with him, but of that we are not -assured; she was somewhere in Constantinople. At length the time seemed -ripe for his effort, and he sent his son Alexis, a youth as ardently -and unscrupulously bent on returning to power as he, to the Court of -Philip and Irene in Sicily. - -It was the eve of the fourth Crusade, and the knights of the West were -gathering for a fresh effort to break the power of the Turk, and to -gather loot by the way. To these noble buccaneers the Emperor Philip -introduced the young Alexis and proposed that they should restore him -and his father to their throne. Neither East nor West attracts our -sympathy for a moment. The Angeli brothers were squabbling for the -right to indulge their sordid tastes on an imperial scale, and the -younger Alexis had no more serious ideal. The Venetians, who had an -important voice in the matter, sought their own profit and a discharge -of their debts, and there can be little doubt that the Western knights, -as a body, were allured by the vague hope of plundering, in one way -or another, the richest and most splendid city in Europe. An infamous -bargain was struck. The princes of Western chivalry did not hesitate -to accept from the frivolous and irresponsible youth a promise of the -payment of 200,000 silver marks, a year’s supply of provisions to their -troops and other preposterous rewards for dethroning Alexis. Even the -papacy had its share in the sordid bargain; the Greek Church was to be -forced to submit to the Vatican. - -In the month of April (1203) the fourth Crusade set sail in one hundred -and seventy large vessels, and some smaller ships, for Constantinople. -Alexis awoke from his dreams to find that a score of worn triremes was -all the navy he possessed, and he must resign himself to meet a siege -of his capital. The vivid story of the fall of Constantinople cannot be -told here. Toward the end of June the Crusaders landed near Chalcedon -and gazed with covetous eyes, most of them for the first time, at the -innumerable spires of churches--schismatical churches, and therefore -fair prey--that rose above the clustered houses, the princely villas -that shone between the cypresses in the wealthier suburbs, and the -bronze roofs and marble walls of the superb palaces which glittered -in the sun among the vast imperial gardens on either side of the Sea -of Marmora. When the news of their sailing had reached Alexis he had -made it a table joke; now he and his trembled within the walls of their -capital. By the middle of July the Crusaders were encamped outside the -land walls; the Venetians lay beneath the walls which girt the shores; -and the great assault began. Alexis, from a tower of the Blachernæ -palace, saw the double-edged axes of the brave English Varangians -scatter the Germans and Italians, but he learned that the Venetians had -broken in. Packing his treasures and his money, he took ship at dawn of -the following day, with his daughter Irene, and fled to Thrace, where -a retreat had been prudently prepared for such an emergency. George -Acropolites, whose chronicle now opens, says that he took Euphrosyne, -but Nicetas, an eyewitness, more correctly observes that the imperial -egoist deserted his wife, his city and his Empire. - -In their anger at the flight of Alexis the people now swept aside -Euphrosyne and her relatives, and turned to Isaac, for whom the -eunuch-treasurer secured the Varangians. He was brought to the palace -and proclaimed, and Euphrosyne, her discredited daughter, Eudocia, and -other relatives, were put in confinement. The Latins were informed -that the object of their expedition had been attained, and when Isaac -had ratified the preposterous contract signed by his son, the young -Alexis rode proudly into the city between Baldwin of Flanders, almost -the one _noble_ of the crusading party, and the blind, but astute and -formidable, Doge of Venice. One of the Latin knights, Villehardouin, -has left us a vivid narrative of the conquest, and enlightened us as -to the fate of some of the imperial women we have encountered. When -the Latins entered the Blachernæ palace they found the eyeless monarch -sitting on his golden throne in robes “the like of which you would seek -in vain throughout the world.” By his side sat the “most fair lady,” -Maria, who, we may therefore conclude, had faithfully clung to her -husband in his blindness and humiliation. And amongst the crowd of fine -ladies, superbly dressed and glittering with jewels, who stood about -the throne, was Agnes, or Anna, the beautiful and pathetic widow of -the Emperor Alexis, the Emperor Andronicus, and the would-be Emperor -Branas. She was still only thirty years old. Her presence in the palace -suggests that she had accepted some office in it under Isaac and Maria. - -But the joy and confidence of the returning throng were doomed to be -speedily overcast. The end was merely postponed for a month or two. -The Empire had, in its most solemn crisis, received a worthless and -despicable pair of rulers, and the Latins pressed for their pound of -flesh. Isaac, blind, gouty and weak-minded, spent his days among monks -and astrologers, who, while they devoured the choicest dishes that -the palace could afford, assured him that he had entered upon a long -and glorious reign, that his gout would quickly disappear, and that -his eyes would be miraculously restored to their arid sockets. The -younger Alexis drank and gambled with the experienced knights of the -fourth Crusade. When the leaders of the Crusade pressed for the payment -of their reward, all the wealth of Euphrosyne and her relatives was -confiscated--Alexis had left little to seize--the jewels and plate -of the palaces were pledged, even the precious reliquaries of the -churches and monasteries and the great silver lamps of St Sophia were -appropriated; yet the jaws of the West still stood wide open, and the -Latin troops lingered and demanded food and drink. The fugitive Alexis -had, in the meantime, raised an army in Thrace, and the citizens of -Constantinople were embittered and disaffected. In August a quarrel -with some of Baldwin’s soldiers had led to a conflagration which, it -being the height of summer, had burned for two days and destroyed -nearly half the city. The clergy and people met in the cathedral to -appoint a new Emperor, but, though some undistinguished officer -afterwards accepted the title from the mob, no serious aspirant dare -take the crown in face of the hostile Latins. - -Isaac died in the midst of the turmoil, and the young Empress Maria -lost her crown almost as soon as she had received it. We shall see -presently that she found consolation among the Crusaders, but it is -necessary first to follow the adventurous fortune of Euphrosyne and her -daughter. The young Alexis, distracted and feeble as ever, proposed to -leave the city and join the Westerners in their camp without the walls. -As he prepared for flight there came to him a fiery and ambitious -young officer who felt that the time was opportune for laying his own -hand on the sacred crown. Alexis Ducas Murtzuphlus--his last name, or -nickname, was due to the fact that he had a peculiar connexion of the -bushy eyebrows which stood out over his crafty eyes--was one of the -party in the city who, to the applause of the crowd, urged direct war -upon the Latins, and his popularity emboldened him to remove Alexis and -ally himself with Euphrosyne. By a liberal outlay of money he secured -the Varangian guards, and he then approached Alexis and whispered -to him that his leaning to the Latins had exasperated the citizens. -When Alexis trembled, the adventurer offered to lodge him in a secure -retreat until the rage of the people should have calmed. It is hardly -necessary to add that the young Emperor was conducted to one of the -dungeons of the palace, where his egregious folly was presently ended -with a bowstring. - -Euphrosyne and her daughter were now delivered from their confinement -and restored to the palace, and, as Murtzuphlus had the characteristic -looseness of his age in regard to conjugal matters--he had already -discarded two wives--he soon sought and obtained the affection of -Eudocia. The contemporary courtier and writer Nicetas says that Eudocia -was merely his mistress, but others say that he married Eudocia and it -is difficult, as the sequel will show, to determine the point. Probably -he did, after a time, marry Euphrosyne’s daughter, and he then set to -work to defend the city against the Crusaders. The issue is one of the -great pages of history, but its details do not concern us. On 9th April -the Latins moved their formidable rams and catapults and towers against -the walls, and the Venetians drew up their vessels along the Golden -Horn. Three days later, after a furious assault, amid showers of mighty -stones and the blaze of burning houses, the heroes of the cross burst -into the city and began that historic ravage which puts them for all -time far below the moral level of the Turks they had set out to combat. - -Murtzuphlus, finding his troops discouraged, had retired to the -Bucoleon palace, where Euphrosyne and Eudocia awaited the issue. He -had lost, he said; and from the palace quay, where the stone lion and -bull, which gave the place its name, had witnessed so many flights, -they took ship and sped in the direction of Thrace. The ex-Emperor -Alexis would surely welcome his wife and daughter, and he would feel -little tenderness in regard to the murder of his perfidious nephew. -Murtzuphlus arrived in confidence at the ex-Emperor’s new home, and -was received in apparent friendliness. For some reason, however, which -is not very clear, Alexis concealed under his friendly appearance a -deadly and murderous hatred of the adventurer. It seems to me that, -if a marriage had really taken place between Eudocia and Murtzuphlus, -Alexis regarded it as invalid. He ordered a bath to be prepared for -his daughter and Murtzuphlus, and, when the young officer had entered -it, sent in his servants to put out his eyes. Eudocia, we are told, -stood at the door angrily upbraiding her father, and he turned upon her -with language which leaves little doubt as to her character. I may add -that the blind adventurer was captured by the Latins, as he wandered -miserably about the provinces. He was taken to Constantinople and -flung from the top of one of the loftiest columns in one of the public -squares of the city. - -In order to follow the further fortunes of our ex-Empresses we must -turn back for a moment to Constantinople. After they had allowed their -soldiers to loot and rape with impunity--to perpetrate, with the aid of -their camp-followers and prostitutes, a veritable orgy of desecration -in the most sacred shrine of the Greeks--for several days, the leaders -of the Crusade met to divide the spoil. Twelve electors, chosen from -amongst themselves, were in future to appoint the Latin Emperor of -Constantinople, and its territories were to be distributed among his -feudal supporters and the Venetians. Baldwin of Flanders was chosen to -be the first Emperor of the new series. His most serious competitor -was the commander of the army, Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat, who -had occupied the Bucoleon palace, but the shrewd Doge of Venice had -preferred to set on the throne a prince whose native seat was at a -safer distance from Venice and Greece. Boniface had to be content with -the title of King of Saloniki and such territory in Macedonia and -Greece as he could wrest from, and hold against, the Greeks. - -Among the noble dames whom Boniface found in the Bucoleon palace were -Agnes, the widow of Andronicus and daughter of Louis of France, and -Maria, the widow of Isaac. It is the last appearance in the chronicles -of the unfortunate daughter of King Louis; we must assume that she -spent the rest of her life in quiet attachment to the Latin Court. The -Hungarian princess Maria was destined to enter once more the field -of royal ambitions. She had not yet reached her thirtieth year, and -her beauty won the heart, possibly an alliance with her supported the -policy, of the ambitious Marquis. He married Maria in Constantinople, -and started with his queen for Thessalonica, the seat of the new -kingdom. How at the outset he nearly forfeited it by a civil war -with Baldwin must be read elsewhere. The quarrel was adjusted and -they settled in Thessalonica. And at their Court in that city there -presently appeared the ex-Emperor Alexis, with his wife and daughter, -soliciting peace and friendship. - -Alexis had now concluded that the recovery of the Byzantine Empire -was impossible and he was prepared to submit. He was compelled to -lay aside such ensigns of royalty as he still wore, and a pleasant -residence was afforded him and his family in Thessalonica. Nicetas -makes the singular statement (followed at a later date by Ephraem) -that Boniface sent Alexis and Euphrosyne “across the sea to the Prince -of Germany.” It is clear that this is incorrect. They lived for some -months at Thessalonica, and it is one of the few traits we have of -Maria’s character that she received with kindly hospitality the man -who had deposed and blinded her husband. But the tranquil life of a -retired monarch did not suit Alexis, and we have already seen that his -base character was devoid of gratitude. He was detected in an intrigue -with the citizens of Thessalonica, and Euphrosyne and Eudocia had to -accompany him once more in his wandering. - -The next page in their career is singularly adventurous, but scantily -preserved. As they wandered over the Greek province they met Leo -Sgurus, a Peloponnesian noble who had been governor, under the -Byzantine Empire, of part of Greece. He clung to his little power -in the chaos which followed the fall of Constantinople, and Alexis -decided to join him. The troops of Boniface were steadily restricting -his range, and, shortly after the alliance with him of the imperial -family, his life was little better than that of a brigand. He lived -in the decaying old citadel of Corinth, and marched out periodically -at the head of his men to forage and to harass the Latin troops. In -this quaint home the imperial family found shelter for a few further -months, and Eudocia married Sgurus. It was the fourth romantic marriage -of that adventurous princess, and was destined to be as unfortunate as -its predecessors. In her early girlhood she had been sent, while still -immature, to wed the King of Servia. He had adopted the robe of the -monk soon afterwards, and his son and successor, a fiery, brutal youth, -had claimed the pretty young bride of his father and married her. After -some years she had, on a charge of misconduct, been thrust out of the -Servian capital, her sole garment a narrow strip of cloth round her -loins, and had had to await, in the castle of a sympathetic noble, the -arrival of clothes and a litter from her father. Then, as we saw, she -married the already married Murtzuphlus, and shared his adventures -for a few months. Now she found herself the wife of an outlaw, living -in the rude and dilapidated chambers of the old Acropolis. But Sgurus -was shortly afterwards captured by the troops of Boniface, and we lose -sight of the unfortunate Eudocia. She was probably still in her early -twenties, yet the widow of two kings, an Emperor, and an adventurer. -Such was life in mediæval Byzantium. - -Alexis and Euphrosyne took to ship when Sgurus was defeated, and sailed -for Ætolia and Epirus (on the eastern coast of the Adriatic), where -a certain Michael, a natural son of the Emperor’s uncle Constantine, -had set up a sovereignty over the rude mountaineers and few towns of -that isolated region. On the voyage the ship was captured by Lombard -pirates, but Alexis and Euphrosyne were ransomed by their nephew, and -at length reached Arta, the chief town of his dominion. The Byzantine -world was at the time full of small rulers, and would-be rulers. The -leading Crusaders had received their various slices of the dismembered -Empire, and here and there some fugitive Byzantine noble, especially -if he were connected with the imperial house, had set up a small -throne and defended it against the Latins. In this way Michael, the -illegitimate son of Constantine Angelus, had fled from the captured -city to Epirus, married a native lady of wealth, and constituted -himself “despot” of the whole region. In his chief town, Arta, -Euphrosyne tranquilly passed her last year or two of life. Her restless -husband still thirsted for power, and, when he found that his nephew -was not at all disposed to put on his head once more the crown which he -demanded, he took to ship again and sailed for the lands of the Turk in -Asia Minor. Euphrosyne did not accompany him. She died at Arta, either -just before or soon after his departure. Ten years’ experience of -imperial life had sated her ambition. - -The ex-Empress Maria, now Queen of Saloniki, continued for many years -to enjoy the restricted power and state which she had won by her -marriage, but they were years of anxiety and care. Two years after her -settlement in Thessalonica, the Greeks rebelled and, in alliance with -the Bulgarians, spread fire and sword over the province, and pinned -Maria in the citadel of her capital. In that rebellion the Latin -Emperor Baldwin was captured, and his brother and successor, Henry of -Flanders, occupied the throne. Some years later Boniface was killed in -his struggle against the Bulgarians, and Maria became regent for her -infant son, Demetrius. It is the last glance we have in the chronicles -of the beautiful Margaret of Hungary, who, as the Empress Maria, had -come to spend so extraordinary a youth in the Byzantine capital. - -There remained one other imperial daughter of Euphrosyne, Anna, who -had married the able and ambitious noble Theodore Lascaris. When -Murtzuphlus had abandoned Constantinople, Theodore had a momentary -ambition to collect the scattered troops and make a struggle for the -throne. He found that the attempt would be futile, and, with his wife -and three daughters, joined the throng of noble families at the quays -who were flying from the doomed city and the barbarous troops of the -West. They reached Nicæa, but the city, concerned about its future, -refused to admit him. He persuaded the citizens, however, to receive -his wife and daughters, and departed to seek allies among the Persians. -In a short time he had an army powerful enough to take Nicæa, and he -established himself as governor in the name of Alexis. When, in the -year 1206, the Latins were diverted for a moment by the trouble in -Greece, Theodore was crowned by the citizens, and Euphrosyne’s second -daughter, Anna, attained the dignity of Empress. - -Disappointed in Epirus, her father, Alexis, had now, as we saw, -deserted the little kingdom of his nephew and sailed for Asia Minor. In -earlier years he had befriended the Turkish Sultan of Iconium, and he -now proposed to ask the hospitality of the Sultan and intrigue for the -crown of his son-in-law. The Turk received him with great cordiality, -and wrote to inform the Emperor Theodore that his father-in-law, in -whose name he was presumed to hold power, had arrived in Asia. We must -not too hastily admire the gratitude of the Turk; he had regarded with -some concern the establishment of Theodore’s empire at Nicæa, and -welcomed a pretext to dispute it. But in the war which followed, the -Sultan was defeated, and the active career of Alexis came to a close. -He was treated with respect, but his son-in-law prudently confined him -in a monastery under his own eyes at Nicæa, and the arch-intriguer -ended his days in the monotonous chant of psalms and prayers. His -daughter Anna died soon afterwards, the last of the group of imperial -women who had struggled for power and wealth while the great Empire -tottered to its fall. We shall find that that terrible catastrophe made -no deep impression on the men and women who filled the less opulent -Court at Nicæa, or on those who, half-a-century later, returned to -the lamentable ruin from which they at length dislodged the Western -knights. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE NEW CONSTANTINOPLE - - -For fifty-seven years the metropolis of the East remained in the -power of the Western knights, but our Empresses have already come so -frequently from the West that we shall not be tempted to expect a -new or higher type of woman on the throne at Constantinople during -the Latin occupation. That half-century may, indeed, be dismissed in -a few lines as far as the purpose of this work is concerned. We saw -that Baldwin, Count of Flanders, was selected by the Venetians and -Crusaders to fill the throne. The Blachernæ and Bucoleon palaces were -placed at his disposal, and one-fourth of the old Empire was assigned -for his immediate rule. But Baldwin’s wife, Mary, daughter of the Count -of Champagne, did not live to adorn herself with such remnants of the -imperial finery as were still to be found in the palaces. Baldwin -had left her in Flanders, and, when she at length attempted to join -her high-minded husband in his new dignity, she died at Acre, on the -journey. - -Baldwin himself was captured a few years later by the Bulgarians, and -died in prison. His brother Henry, who succeeded him, married the -daughter of Boniface, the King of Saloniki, whose adventures we have -described. Agnes was, of course, not the daughter of the ex-Empress -Maria, but of an earlier wife. She was summoned from Lombardy, married -to Henry on 4th February 1207 in St Sophia, and the marriage day ended -with a great banquet in the Bucoleon palace, in the older Byzantine -fashion. But that is all we know of the Empress Agnes. Henry died in -1216, and his sister Yolande became Empress. Even of Yolande, however, -the very scanty chronicles furnish a very poor portrait. Her husband, -Peter of Courtenay, was, after being crowned at Rome by the Pope, -arrested in Epirus, through which he had foolishly endeavoured to cut -his way, and died in prison. As regent for her children Yolande remains -almost imperceptible, and an anecdote of the reign of her son Robert is -all that need be given to illustrate the character of the new dynasty. -Robert, who had a light idea of chivalry, brought into his palace, as -mistress, the daughter of one of the Crusaders, and her mother. She -had been betrothed to a Burgundian knight, and the embittered lover, -supported by a few friends, forced his way into the palace, cut off -the nose and lips of the faithless lady, and bore off her mother to be -drowned in the Sea of Marmora. - -As Robert’s brother was a mere boy, the King of Jerusalem, a worthy -old man of eighty, was summoned to fill the throne for nine years, -and then Baldwin II. entered upon his long and inglorious reign; of -which we need only say that, in spite of his extreme liberality in -selling, especially to St Louis of France, the valuable relics (the -crown of thorns, the rod of Moses, etc.) which had accumulated in -Constantinople, and in spite of all the efforts of the Pope to maintain -the worthless monarch on his throne, and that throne subservient to the -Vatican, the feeble and incompetent rule of the Latins sank lower and -lower, until, in 1261, a regiment of Greeks put an end to it. - -This slight account of the Latin rule at Constantinople will suffice -to enable us to follow intelligently the fortunes of the descendants -of the Byzantine monarchs who had set up a throne at Nicæa. Theodore -Lascaris had married Alexis’s daughter Anna, who died early in the -reign of her husband, and her two successors in his affection are even -less known to us than she. The first was Philippa, daughter of the King -of Armenia; but, after giving birth to a boy, Philippa was, for some -unstated but imaginable reason, sent back to the ruder Court of her -father, and Maria, daughter of Yolande of Constantinople, occupied her -place. Maria died, childless, after a few years, and, when Theodore -himself departed in 1222, his only son (the child of Philippa) was a -boy of eight years. The Empire was, therefore, wisely entrusted to a -powerful and distinguished noble, John Ducas Vatatzes, and we at length -reach an Empress of distinct and admirable personality. - -The Empress Irene, who, in the year 1222, ascended the throne with -Vatatzes, was the eldest of the three daughters of Theodore Lascaris -and Anna, and therefore a granddaughter of the Emperor Alexis and -Euphrosyne. While the Princess Eudocia had inherited the character, or -lack of character, of Alexis, her elder sister Anna had, as far as we -can judge, shared the comparative sobriety of Euphrosyne, and Irene -united in her person all the best features of the family, without -its ancestral defects. She was prudent, equable, pious and virtuous. -Her first husband, Andronicus Paleologus, died prematurely, and her -father then united her to the able commander to whom he designed to -confide the Empire.[32] When Irene received her share of the imperial -responsibility, she proved to be, says Ephrem, “a new Deborah,” and -the few anecdotes preserved in regard to her suggest a sober and -high-minded woman, associated in perfect harmony with (as long as she -lived) a sober and high-minded and valiant husband. Unfortunately, -Irene led so well-regulated a life during the twenty years in which she -shared the rule of Vatatzes that there is little to record of her, and, -however much we may resent it, we are dragged onward by the misguided -chroniclers until we reach John’s later and less virtuous companions. -But the contrast of this later period will be the more piquant, and -the more honourable to Irene, if we dwell for a moment on the exemplary -years that preceded it. - -The greater part of John’s days were spent in warfare, but in the -intervals of his wars he was attentive to the development of his -little Empire, and in this he was finely supported by Irene. It is -true that they adulterated the coinage, but that device had become -a Byzantine tradition and we must set against it a large number of -reforms. John was a just and simple-minded monarch. He developed his -estates so industriously, in the periods of peace, that he at length -relieved his subjects of the financial burden of royalty, and enabled -them to prosper. The character of the Court is, perhaps, best seen, -and attracts a lively admiration, in the following anecdote. One day -John presented his consort with a modest jewelled coronet, and informed -her, with pride, that it had been purchased by the profit on the eggs -alone which his poultry farms yielded. He forbade his courtiers to -wear Persian, or Syrian, or Italian silks, though they might wear the -product of the silkworms of his own dominions, and he one day severely -rebuked his son for going out to hunt in a tunic of cloth of gold. - -Irene admired and encouraged this care for their subjects. Acropolites, -our chief authority for the period, was a student attached to the -Court at the time, and he gives high praise to the Empress. One day -there was an eclipse of the sun, and Irene turned to the learned young -man for an explanation. The work of the earlier Greeks was not yet -entirely forgotten, and Acropolites was able to tell the Empress, -with due modesty, that the body of the moon had passed before the -face of the sun and momentarily cut off its light. But superstition -was spreading its unhappy growth over the ruins of Greek culture, and -other courtiers, especially the Empress’s physician, ridiculed the -youth’s explanation. Irene laughingly told Acropolites that he was “a -young fool”; but she regretted afterwards, in telling the matter to -John, that she had used so arrogant an expression. Acropolites almost -spoils the story by going on to tell us that, in his own conviction, -the eclipse foreboded the death of the Empress, which occurred soon -afterwards. - -One other story confirms this excellent impression of the life of the -Court in the palace at Nicæa, or in the country palaces at Nymphæum -and Smyrna. Irene had one child, her son Theodore; an accident, as -she rode to hunt and was thrown from her horse, prevented her from -enlarging her family. When Theodore reached his twelfth year, the -Emperor, who was himself over fifty, decided to marry him, and, as he -was allied with the Bulgarians against the Latins, he sought the hand -of a Bulgarian princess. The only available daughter of John Asan, the -Bulgarian king, was a girl of tender years named Helen, and, though -the marriage ceremony was performed, the two children lived together -only as children under the watchful eye of Irene. The Bulgarian king at -length repented of his alliance, and begged that the little Helen, now -ten years old, might return for a visit to her parents. Vatatzes and -Irene concluded at once that this was only a preliminary to breaking -the alliance, but they scorned to detain the child. We read that she -wept bitterly at being separated from Irene. During the journey to -her father’s capital she was so inconsolable, even when Asan took her -on his own saddle, that the monarch lost his temper and slapped her -face. Helen did in time return to her spouse, but she will have little -interest for us. - -After nineteen years of this placid and useful co-operation with the -Emperor, Irene passed away, and, after a decent interval of mourning, -John Vatatzes, though now advanced in years, sought another Empress. -He succeeded, in spite of the opposition of the papacy, in obtaining -the hand of Anna, daughter of Frederick II., and sister of Manfred of -Sicily. Anna was a pretty maiden of tender years, a mere symbol of -alliance with the two powerful and independent monarchs I have named. -John may have reflected that, as he had now entered his sixth decade -of life, the immaturity of his bride would matter little. In the train -of the young Empress, however, was an Italian marchioness[33] whose -eyes were, the chronicler says, “unescapable nets,” and John soon fell -into them. Nicephorus says that the lady employed philtres and her fine -Italian eyes in the conquest of the Emperor’s heart. We will be content -to think that the eyes sufficed. - -For the remaining decade of John’s reign the favoured marchioness was -the most prominent figure at the Court. She did not, apparently, desire -to interfere in politics. It was enough that she was permitted to -wear purple slippers and other ensigns of royalty, and that courtiers -should gather about her rather than attend the young Empress. It is -related that she on one occasion went, decked in her imperial robes -and accompanied by her glittering suite, to visit the famous chapel -attached to one of the chief monasteries of Nicæa. The abbot of this -monastery, Nicephorus Blemmydas, was tutor to Irene’s son Theodore, -and, though we shall find his royal pupil affording little proof of the -excellence of his education, the Abbot Nicephorus was a rare type among -the degenerate clergy of the time. He shut the doors of the chapel and -refused to admit the marchioness. Infuriated at the humiliation, and -stimulated by her followers, she begged John to punish the abbot. John -refused, and tearfully admitted that his own weakness was the proper -occasion of the trouble. - -In 1254 the valiant Vatatzes bequeathed the crown to his son, and Anna -and the marchioness made way for the Bulgarian princess, Helen. Anna -seems to have remained attached to the Court, or in some mansion at -Nicæa, and we shall meet her again. But Helen died in a year or two; -her husband followed after a short and licentious reign of four years, -and the relinquishment of the throne to a boy of tender years, their -son John, opened the gates of the palace to a shrewd and unscrupulous -adventurer and his wife. - -One of the commanders of the troops under Vatatzes and Theodore was -Michael Paleologus, a grandson of the Emperor Alexis’s daughter Irene. -Bold and crafty, passionate, yet ever ready to stoop to lies and oaths -to cover his ambition, sensible that he was one of the most capable men -to undertake the government and that his grandfather had at one time -been destined for the throne, Michael directed his steps toward the -palace from early youth. In later years his favourite sister, Eulogia, -who reared him, used to tell how, when nothing else would soothe the -restless infant, she used to put him to sleep with the strange lullaby: -“Hush, Emperor of the city. You will go in at the golden gate, and do -such-and-such things.” She _may_ have mentioned to him this almost -miraculous inspiration when he came to years of discretion. By sobriety -of life--apart from love affairs--and liberality to his friends and -dependants, he won great popularity and early incurred suspicion. John -Vatatzes, in his later years, summoned him to reply to a charge of -treason, and said that he must purge himself by the ordeal: one of the -enlightened practices which the Crusaders had introduced into the East. -Michael glanced at the iron balls glowing in the fire, and protested -that, although he was innocent of treason, he feared that so sinful a -man as he could hardly hope to carry the red-hot globes with impunity. -When a bishop, who stood by, rebuked his lack of faith in Providence, -he shrewdly suggested that the bishop, being innocent, might take the -balls from the fire with his hands and deliver them to him. - -His wit and boldness disturbed the solemn Court, and, instead of -losing his head or his eyes, he won the favour of John and married the -Empress’s great-niece, Theodora. She was a daughter of John Ducas, a -nephew of the Emperor, and had been left to his guardianship. Michael -was then twenty-seven years old, and we cannot say if the young -Theodora accompanied him in his new command of the troops. However -that may be, he was again denounced, to the new Emperor Theodore, and -compelled to take a particularly sonorous oath of fidelity to Theodore -and his infant son. In two or three years he was recalled to Court -to repeat his oath. His eldest sister Martha--sometimes also called -Maria--had a charming daughter, whom the Emperor ordered to marry one -of his servants. The young people had just succeeded in falling in love -with each other when Theodore, who was now diseased and capricious, -changed his mind, and ordered the girl to marry a noble of her own -rank. It was reported to the Emperor after a time that this marriage -was not consummated, and could not be, because Martha had vindictively -laid on it a form of incantation known as “Venus’s knot.” Martha was -put, naked, in a sack with a number of cats; the cats were pricked with -pins in order to make them lacerate her; and the abominable Emperor sat -by to interrogate her about her incantations. After this it was thought -prudent to compel Michael to repeat his oath, which he did fluently, -and the impenetrable geniality of his manner quite disarmed Theodore. - -Theodore died soon afterwards, and his boy (variously described as -six, eight and nine years old) was left to rule the Empire under the -tutorship of the first minister, George Muzalon, and the patriarch. -Not only Michael, but all the other commanders and nobles, had sworn -heavily to respect this arrangement. But the body of Theodore had -scarcely been interred before Michael began secretly to agitate and to -bribe his colleagues. Muzalon was an upstart, not a noble by birth, -and it was not difficult to cast on him the blame of the brutalities -of Theodore’s later years. Three days after the burial of the Emperor, -Muzalon and his brothers and a large company of nobles and noble ladies -gathered in the royal monastery at Sosander, without the city, for a -memorial service, when, in the midst of the chanting, the heavy and -regular tread of soldiers was heard. A band of officers and men burst -into the chapel, and, before the eyes of the shrieking dames and the -horrified priests, cut Muzalon and his friends to pieces beside the -altars. National catastrophe, it will be seen, had not chastened the -Byzantine character. - -From Constable of the Empire, Michael was now raised to the dignity -of Despot, and became tutor of the young Emperor. Then a convenient -coalition of Western powers against the Empire gave Michael’s friends -the opportunity to suggest that the strong man ought to be associated -with the boy in the supreme power. On New Year’s Day (1259) he was -openly proclaimed Emperor. The patriarch almost alone professed some -concern about the terrible oath they had all taken only four months -before; Michael met his concern by giving him a written affidavit, -sealed with ponderous oaths, that he would restore the full sovereignty -to John VI. when he came of age, and would recognize no claim of his -own heirs to power. It was therefore agreed that Michael and John -should be crowned together. When, however, the hour of coronation -arrived, John was not present to respond to the call of the patriarch, -and Michael and Theodora alone received crowns. Michael had made a -little arrangement with the bishops beforehand, and only one of the -lords spiritual protested. The crowd may have murmured when, after the -ceremony, they saw the boy, crownless, walking after the new Emperor -and Empress, but a liberal shower of gold coin put an end to their -scruples. - -Such was the initiation to power and dignity of the Empress Theodora. -Two other women, who will engage our attention, shared the elevation. -These were Michael’s two sisters, Martha and Eulogia, who began to -have an even more important voice than Theodora in the administration. -Both of them were widows, and had, after the death of their husbands, -assumed the monastic habit. Probably Martha took the name of Maria -when she adopted the black robe, and Eulogia was the monastic name -of the younger sister, Irene. Finlay remarks that at least in this -decaying period of the Empire the women showed no less ability than -the men, and assuredly there was not in the Greek world of that time -the least effort to confine women within the gynæceum. During the -remaining two centuries the chronicles are full of references to active -and ambitious women, and we shall see that Maria and Eulogia were -not prevented by their religious vows from taking their share in the -political life. - -From the first year of his reign Michael gave his thoughts to the -recapture of Constantinople, and in 1260 he led his troops against the -city, but he had not the rams and catapults necessary to shake its -stout walls. He retired to the palace at Nymphæum, to arrange for the -strengthening of his forces, and one of his generals, hearing that the -bulk of the Latin defenders had sailed on an expedition to the Black -Sea, and that the Greeks in the city were prepared to aid him, boldly -entered Constantinople during the night, burned out the Venetians from -their quarters, and, when the Latin galleys hastily returned, laughed -at them from the impregnable ramparts. Their monarch had fled at the -first shock, and the whole of the Latins now (in the summer of 1261) -returned to the West. - -On the day following the entry of the city Michael was awakened by his -sister Eulogia. The chronicler praises the prudence with which she -broke the good news to her brother. One of her servants had heard it -in the early morning, and she entered the bedroom of Michael to tell -him. She thoughtfully tickled his feet to awaken him in a natural -manner, and stood smiling by the bed until he had full possession of -his faculties and she could tell him without risk. Michael at once -moved his forces and his family to the Asiatic suburbs in view of -Constantinople, where the crown and the royal boots were brought to -him. Not until a becoming ceremony could be arranged, however, would -Michael enter his capital, and then only with the most conspicuous -piety. After spending the night of 14th August in a monastery outside -the walls, near the Blachernæ palace, he entered, in the dress of a -plain citizen, preceded by the picture of the Virgin which was believed -to have come from the brush of St Luke. - -The brilliant August sun lit up for them a melancholy spectacle, as the -Emperor--John had been left to amuse himself in Asia--and his wife and -sisters rode or drove down the Mese to the cathedral. The Blachernæ -palace itself was uninhabitable. Its mosaic walls were blackened with -the smoke of the fires by which Latin soldiers had roasted their game, -and its tessellated floors were in a sordid condition. Filthy, too, -were the colonnaded streets and squares that had once been the pride of -Constantinople. I will presume that the reader knows something of the -indescribable ways of our Latin and Teutonic fathers at that time, and -for centuries afterwards. Not a statue or ornament of value remained in -the public squares; the vast piles of stone still lay where once had -been the graceful mansions of the Byzantine nobility; and great areas -of the city were now but scorched skeletons of once gay and populous -districts. The Bucoleon palace alone had been preserved with any care, -and to it, cleansed for their reception, the royal party proceeded, -after a thanksgiving service in St Sophia. - -Before long the Court stealthily discussed the fate of the young -Emperor who had been left at Nymphæum. Michael was said to have -reflected that he had now obtained an Empire of his own, and that the -obligation of his oath did not extend to this new dominion. Eulogia, a -fanatically religious woman, as we shall see, supported her brother; -indeed, it is said that the two nun sisters, whom Michael consulted -daily, urged him to depose John and bury him in a monastery. Sinister -rumours circulated in Constantinople, especially when Michael proceeded -to marry John’s sisters to obscure Western nobles, who happened to be -in the city, and gave them money enough to take their brides away to -their distant countries. But this topic was presently displaced for a -time by one of greater interest. It was said that Michael proposed to -divorce the plain and quiet Theodora, and marry the Italian widow of -John Vatatzes. - -Anna had remained in the East after the death of her husband in 1254, -and would be about twenty years old, or in the ripest development of -her beauty, at the time we have reached. She came to Constantinople -with the Court, and, from his slender resources, the Emperor supplied -her with a revenue which enabled her to live and dress luxuriously. It -was, no doubt, politic for Michael to invite the favour of the Italian -monarch by this generous treatment of his sister, but Anna soon learned -that the policy was strongly supported by inclination. Directly, or by -means of his servants, Michael made violent love to her, and begged a -fitting return for his liberality. Anna refused to be his mistress. It -is characteristic that the chroniclers do not represent her as spurning -his advances on the ground of virtue; she was, they say, too conscious -of her superior origin to enter into such a relation with Michael, -and, instead of rejecting his gifts and returning to her father’s -Court, she let Michael know that, though she disdained the position of -mistress, she would not refuse that of wife. The kindly and patriotic -chronicler would have us believe that this was merely a ruse to protect -her dignity, and we may or may not believe this. The immediate effect -was that Michael began openly to speak of divorcing Theodora. She was, -he gracefully acknowledged, a faithful wife and excellent woman, but -considerations of State made it advisable for him to marry Anna. There -was a fear that the Latins would make an effort to retake the city, -and it was prudent to form an alliance with some of their strongest -princes. Theodora, who had given birth to her fourth son since they -had reached Constantinople, vehemently protested against the proposal -and enlisted the interest of the patriarch, so that Michael was forced -to send back Anna, with a splendid escort and equipment, to plead his -cause in Italy. - -[Illustration: THEODORA, WIFE OF MICHAEL VIII - -FROM DU CANGE’S HISTORIA BYZANTINA] - -Michael now returned to the problem of John, and, when he remarked -to his courtiers that it was absurd to have “two heads under one -hat,” they knew that the youth was doomed. We have no reason to doubt -the statement of the chronicler that Eulogia supported him in this -design, but we may at least assume that the manner of executing it -was due to Michael alone. He ordered that the harmless and helpless -young man should be blinded. A long experience had made the Greeks -ingenious in this operation, and, instead of removing the eyes with -knives, or using hot irons, they now sometimes blinded a man by an -elaborate concentration of intense light on the retina or by the use -of boiling vinegar. The more humane method of blinding by an intense -light was used in the case of John, and the unfortunate youth was then -incarcerated for life in a fortress on the coast of Bithynia. This -ghastly operation was performed on the day on which the churches and -monasteries of the Byzantine Empire offered their clouds of incense in -honour of the birth of Christ. It is at least gratifying to find that -it did not pass without protest. A warm-hearted youth attached to the -Court lost his nose and lips for speaking too freely about it, and many -others had to be punished. - -Theodora seems to have been a silent, perhaps disgusted, witness of -her husband’s course, and there is some faint evidence that Michael’s -elder sister dissented from it. In fact, the patriarch Arsenius himself -openly resented this flagrant violation of a thrice-repeated oath, -and thus led to a long and fierce ecclesiastical struggle in which -the two royal nuns were actively engaged. The patriarch’s procedure -was not as emphatic and thorough as it ought to have been, but he at -least distinguished himself among the crowd of corrupt and servile -bishops and abbots by more or less excommunicating Michael. A council -of bishops then obliged the Emperor by deposing Arsenius and putting a -more courtly prelate in his place, but the hostility and derision of -the people soon induced Germanus to retire, and a clerical diplomatist -named Joseph occupied the see. As the furious schism of the Arsenians -and the Josephites, which followed, will cross the lines of our story -for some time to come, it is necessary to introduce this fragment of -ecclesiastical history. For the moment it is enough to say that in 1268 -the patriarch Joseph absolved from his sin the ostentatiously penitent -Emperor, before a crowd of weeping Senators and priests. - -The twenty years that followed the return to Constantinople were -absorbed in the work of restoring the Empire and adjusting the quarrels -of the partisans of the rival patriarchs. Of the restoration it is -enough to say that, as in all similar efforts during the last three -centuries of the Empire, it consisted in recovering the revenue of -the Court and enriching the Emperor’s supporters, not in any serious -attempt to revive the industries and commerce of the Empire.[34] Nor -were Michael’s attempts to make foreign alliances much more successful. -Foiled in his efforts to secure the interest of Latin rulers, he -turned to the Servians and Bulgarians. In 1272 he decided that his -second daughter, Anna, should marry the King of Servia. Theodora had -some misgiving that the barbaric Servians were unfit to receive her -daughter, and she directed the ministers who took Anna to the frontier -to send on in advance a party to explore the Servian Court, and to -linger sufficiently on the journey to receive their report. It proved -a wise precaution. The Servians had gathered round the advance party -like--as described in the Byzantine chronicles--a group of savages. -Anna’s eunuchs excited their intense curiosity, though not their -admiration, and the superb equipment of the princess was heatedly -criticized. They brought out Anna’s prospective mother-in-law, a dirty -and coarsely dressed woman, to show the Greeks a model queen. They -also stole the imperial horses. So the advance party hastily sent a -report to the ministers who lingered on the way with Anna and she was -conducted back to her mother. - -In the same year Eulogia’s daughter Maria was married to the King -of Bulgaria, but the marriage brought little profit to the Emperor. -Eulogia had now quarrelled with Michael. She took the part of the -ex-patriarch Germanus, and she and her daughters and her favourite -monks threw themselves so ardently into the religious quarrel, which -the Emperor vainly endeavoured to settle, that Michael was very angry -with them. Monks now travelled constantly between the young Queen -of Bulgaria and the Empress-nun, her mother, and gravely disturbed -Michael’s work. After a time Maria sent some of the monks to Palestine -to induce the Sultan to harass her uncle’s territory, and she even -persuaded her husband to declare war on him. Michael hated the monks as -heartily as Eulogia loved them, and he at length expelled his sister -from the capital. When he went on to propose a union of the Latin and -Greek Churches, and induced a synod at Constantinople to acknowledge -the supremacy of the Pope, Eulogia’s love was turned into violent -hatred of the Emperor. - -Martha seems to have died during the struggle, and Theodora was too -weak, or too indifferent to clerical matters, to take any part in -it. She must have watched with disdain the last vain efforts of her -unscrupulous husband to escape the dangers which threatened him. In -the early winter of that year (1282) he set out to crush a rebellious -noble of the Ducas family. Theodora tried in vain to dissuade him from -leading an expedition to Thrace in such a bad season, and a month later -she received the news of his death. - -Her son Andronicus now took the purple, and, as Andronicus was orthodox -and his royal aunt Eulogia at once returned to the scene, Theodora -had a more dreary time than ever. Her brother was damned, Eulogia -insisted, and his remains and memory were not to be honoured by the -pompous ceremonies of the Greek Church. The young monarch--he was in -his twenty-fifth year--bent to her commands, and the body of Michael -was buried, almost without a prayer, in the military camp where he -had died. Theodora feebly protested, and was assured by the fanatical -Eulogia that her own soul was in danger, and her name could not be -included in the list of those who were commended to the prayers of -the faithful in St Sophia until she had purged herself of her guilt. -She was compelled to sign a repudiation of the authority of the Pope, -which would cost her little, and to promise that she would not ask the -prayers of the Church for her husband. - -Into the appalling struggle of the Church factions which followed we -need not enter. One of the best historians of the time, who saw the -Empire slowly perishing while its whole soul was absorbed in this -quarrel, bitterly observes that “for the sake of a single coin both -sides were prepared to take oaths so horrible that the pen cannot -describe them.” One day they appealed to miracle; each side wrote out a -statement of its case, and a vast crowd gathered to see the two rolls -of parchment cast into the flames and howl for the intervention of God -in favour of the just cause. But both documents were burned to ashes, -and the ferocious struggle continued for decades, while the Turks -spread over the Asiatic provinces, pirates swarmed in all the seas, and -the Venetians and Genoese captured all the trade of the Empire. Eulogia -disappears in the midst of this struggle, fighting to the last in the -cause of the monks, a pathetic example of the way in which the age -perverted its ablest and most spirited women. - -Theodora lived on for twenty-two years, and saw two new Empresses enter -the palace, but the chroniclers of the time are too much occupied with -the ecclesiastical controversy to tell us much of the personal life of -the Court. George Pachymeres has left us a large volume on the history -of his times, but fully one-half of it is taken up with the patriarchal -struggle. I will therefore be content to tell the later sufferings of -Theodora, and then return to the Empresses whom her son Andronicus put -on the throne. - -The family of the Emperor Michael had consisted of four sons, three -daughters and two illegitimate daughters. The daughters were bestowed -upon various nobles or petty monarchs, and of the four sons three -survived to intrigue, or suspect each other of intriguing, for the -throne. Andronicus was the eldest, and he succeeded his father without -opposition. The second son, Constantine, had, however, been the -favourite of his parents; he had received great wealth from Michael, -and it was known that Michael intended, when death closed his career, -to set up Constantine as an independent Emperor in Greek territory. -From the first, therefore, Andronicus regarded his younger brother with -a jealous eye. Constantine was a good-looking and very popular youth, -very liberal with his money and surrounded by friends. Unfortunately he -had, like most of the Greeks of the time, little or no self-control, -and in 1291 he gave his brother an opportunity to destroy him. - -Some short time before 1291 Constantine had married the daughter of -Raul, one of the chief officials of the Court. She was a beautiful -and somewhat vain young woman, very conscious of her new dignity. On -the Feast of the Apostles, one of the many days on which the ladies -of Constantinople were wont to pay ceremonious visits to the ruling -Empress, Constantine’s wife--we do not know her name--repaired in -great splendour to the palace of Irene. In the hall sat an aged -and noble dame named Strategopulina: in other words, a lady of the -distinguished Strategopulos family, and herself a niece of a former -Emperor. She had arrived too early for the reception, and sat on -a couch without the Empress’s chamber. On account of her age and -rank Strategopulina did not rise, as she ought to have done, when -Constantine’s wife passed, and the offended princess returned to her -husband in such rage that she fell ill. Most probably the old lady -knew that Andronicus and his wife would not be very displeased with -her action. But Constantine, egged on by his wife, took the matter in -his own hands. Acquainted as we are with the morals of Constantinople, -we are hardly surprised to learn that Strategopulina was believed, in -spite of her age, to be intimate with one of her servants. Constantine -sent some of his servants to flog this man in public, and drag him -naked round the Forum. - -The scandal, the storm of chatter, and the gross injury to one of his -wife’s friends, angered Andronicus, and for some time he looked darkly -on his brother. Constantine was alarmed, and took pains to conciliate -him, but he was displaced from his position at Court and sent on some -mission to Nymphæum. - -With his sixty thousand gold pieces a year and his pretty wife -Constantine would still find life desirable in Asia Minor. Presently, -however, Andronicus came to Nymphæum, and took up his residence in -the old palace of the Nicene Emperors. To this palace Constantine was -summoned one morning in March (1291). He found it full of soldiers, -learned that his brother had found him guilty of treason, and was -given into custody. His luxurious belongings and his great income were -confiscated by Andronicus, and he was destined to spend the remaining -fifteen years of his life in a new and particularly ignominious prison. -Andronicus was afraid to lodge him in a fixed jail, lest his supporters -should free him and start a revolt, and he therefore had a portable -prison--a litter converted into a strong-barred cage--made for him. - -In this plight Theodora found her handsome son when, a month of two -later, Andronicus brought him to Constantinople. The Emperor had now -taken a decisive step, and he disregarded his mother’s prayers and -tears. When she pleaded that her son had been convicted, without trial, -on the secret denunciation of a monk, Andronicus merely summoned a -council in the palace and compelled his obsequious courtiers to ratify -his sentence. Theodora continued to assail him, but she had never had -much influence in the administration, and under Andronicus she was -completely powerless. Andronicus gave her no opportunity to thwart his -policy by intrigue or violence. When he was compelled to go into the -provinces, he took Constantine with him in his portable prison, and the -miserable young prince, dressed and shaven as a monk, dragged out year -after year without the least prospect of escape. The third and youngest -brother, Theodore, took warning by Constantine’s fate, put off all -signs of royal estate, and, living as a private citizen, endeavoured -to disarm the jealousy of the Emperor. These misfortunes, and the -thick gathering of clouds about the Empire, saddened the last years of -Theodora’s long life. The regaining of Constantinople had put no new -spirit, no healthier blood, into either people or Court. The Byzantine -power was doomed, and the last sad glances of the aged Empress fell on -a capital fiercely rent with ecclesiastical quarrels, a shrunken Empire -trodden under the feet of the Turk, and a sea swept by innumerable -pirates. She died in 1304, respected and superbly lamented by the -citizens of Constantinople. Without strength of character to make her -mark on the life of the Empire during nearly fifty years of imperial -authority, she had at least kept her slender record unstained by crime -or vice in a criminal and vicious world. At the most we can regret only -that she clung so faithfully to Michael Paleologus through all the -crimes and deceits of his tortuous career. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -IRENE OF MONTFERRAT - - -The story of the unfortunate Theodora has led us to make a somewhat -premature excursion into the fourteenth century. We have now to return -a few decades, in order to begin the story of the Empress Irene, who -succeeds her in the gallery of prominent Empresses. Andronicus had in -his sixteenth year married Anna of Hungary, a daughter of Stephen V. -One of the daughters of Theodore Lascaris, the first Nicene Emperor, -had married a King of Hungary, so that the daughter of Stephen V. had -Byzantine blood--the blood of the Angeli family--in her veins. Her -mother, however, was not of royal, or even noble, birth. Stephen had -fallen in love with a pretty Choman captive, and married her, and the -beautiful young girl whose hand Michael asked for his son was the issue -of their marriage. At her baptism according to the Greek rite her name -was changed to Anna, and she, with her husband, received the crown of -a junior Empress. Unfortunately she died the year before Andronicus -attained supreme power, and we have merely to record that she left two -sons, Michael and Constantine, to maintain the valuable dynasty of the -Paleologi. - -As Andronicus intended that one or other of these sons should inherit -the purple, he did not seek his second wife among the more powerful -courts of Europe. Two or three years after his accession to the throne -he married Irene, daughter of the ruling Marquis of Montferrat. At -the time she was a very pretty little maiden of eleven summers, and -Andronicus may be excused for overlooking the possibility that, even -if there were no powerful Court to espouse or create her interests, -there might be a character in the lady herself which would interfere -with his designs. For some years nothing occurred to make him regret -his choice. In the Blachernæ and Bucoleon palaces, or in the old Nicene -mansions, Irene slowly grew up to womanhood, and added three sons and a -daughter to the imperial family. The daughter, Simonides, will interest -us no less than the sons, and an interesting light may be thrown on the -character of the time by telling the origin of her very unusual name. - -Andronicus desired to have a daughter, and was in despair when Irene -had, in succession, three stillborn female children. A daughter, at -Constantinople, meant a useful foreign alliance; though Constantinople -never seems to have given any aid to the Courts from which it drew its -own Empresses. In the year 1292 Irene again approached childbirth, and -the anxious Emperor consulted “a venerable and experienced matron” in -regard to his hope. Acting on her advice he set up, in a room of the -palace, statues of the Twelve Apostles, with candles of exactly equal -weight and size before each. A group of monks were then introduced to -pray energetically for the issue, the candles were lighted, and careful -watch was made to see which of the candles burned the longest. The -apostle Simon won the contest, and it was resolved that the forthcoming -little daughter should be put under his protection and named Simonides. -The superstition must have gained enormous prestige when a daughter -_was_ born, and lived to experience a number of highly interesting, -though not very apostolic, adventures. - -Another incident of the same year illustrates a different aspect of -high life in the Eastern metropolis. Theodore, the younger brother of -Andronicus, had now reached a marriageable age, and was, as I said, -observing a very discreet behaviour in view of the recent fate of -his brother Constantine. He bore the lower dignity of “Despot,” and -was careful not to aspire to anything more than the slender circle -of gold, with few jewels, which marked that dignity. Theodora had -earnestly pressed her son to grant Theodore the title of Augustus, -as it was customary to do, but he gravely replied that he had made -some mysterious vow in earlier years which prevented him from doing -so. He now decided to marry Theodore to the daughter of Muzalo, -one of his chief ministers. They were betrothed, but before the -day of the marriage arrived Muzalo’s daughter was found to be in a -painful condition, as a result of too great a liking for a cousin of -hers. Betrothal was a very solemn ceremony in the eyes of the Greek -Church, and it took a special synod of the bishops to determine that -in this case the bond was invalid. The affections of Theodore were -transferred to the daughter of another official, and, to reward the -faithful services of her father, the soiled hand of Muzalo’s daughter -was bestowed on Constantine, the second son of Andronicus and Anna. -Experience had taught Andronicus that, if his eldest son, Michael, was -to succeed him, all others must be kept away from the throne. - -A third curious incident of the time may be recorded to illustrate the -kind of world in which Irene grew to womanhood. The fierce struggle -of the Arsenians and the Josephites still enlivened the environs of -St Sophia, but the controversy entered upon a new phase after the -imprisonment of Constantine. The young prince had been denounced -to his brother by a monk who was a favourite of the patriarch, -and, as this became known, the opponents of the patriarch assailed -him with a furious tempest of invective. Nearly the whole of his -clergy turned against him, and the charges they made against his -personal character--charges which were loudly echoed in the public -streets--were of the most sordid nature. He was compelled to resign, -but he planned an elaborate revenge. He wrote a letter in which he -invoked eternal punishment on the Emperor and all who had joined in -his humiliation, and, in the characteristic Byzantine vein of ruse -and intrigue, concealed the letter in one of the holes on the roof of -St Sophia where the pigeons nested. He then retired to a monastery -and contemplated with malicious joy the spectacle of the priests and -citizens going about their work with this dire and authentic sentence -of excommunication suspended over their heads. A year later the vase -containing the letter was found by some youths who had sought pigeons’ -eggs, and a panic seized the Court and city. For twelve months they -had all lived, unconscious of their danger, on the very brink of hell. -Athanasius was quickly summoned from his monastery and forced to -withdraw his censure. - -In this atmosphere of intrigue, ambition and hypocritical selfishness -Irene of Montferrat developed her character. The Empire was tumbling -into ruins, yet the one thought of the vast majority of its citizens, -of all orders, was to obtain as much money as possible out of its -shrinking treasury and close their eyes to its future. Even the -Emperor, who looked as far ahead as the next generation, consulted only -the future of his family. His eldest son was, apart from any question -of merit or competency, to succeed him in the tarnished splendour of -the Bucoleon palace. To ensure this Irene saw him stoop to the crime -of barbarously imprisoning his brother, and the spectacle of the young -prince, travelling everywhere among the Emperor’s baggage like a caged -bear, would impress deeply on her young mind the first duty of man, as -it was conceived in Constantinople. For her own part she would take -care to secure her position and that of her children. - -Irene was now a mature and very spirited young woman in her early -twenties. She had great force of character, a keen and strong -intelligence, and an unchallenged virtue. It was an age of general -laxity of morals, as we shall realize, yet Irene is not assailed on -that ground. But ambition for her children became her dominant quality, -and, as it grew stronger and more imperious in face of obstacles, it -warped her character, saddened her life, and made her career inglorious -and futile. Had she been the first wife of Andronicus, she might have -rendered very valuable service to the Empire; as it was, she became -recklessly absorbed in her ambition, and only added to its formidable -burdens. When, in 1296, Andronicus married his eldest son to Maria of -Armenia, she began that sombre brooding on the inferior position of her -own children which was to embitter the latter part of her life. The -policy of Andronicus would be to make poor matches for her children; -her policy was to prevent it. - -We shall be glad to think that Irene had no voice in the first -matrimonial settlement of one of her children--the marriage of -Simonides to the King of Servia--for it was a sordid and abominable -transaction, but she seems at least to have played her part in the -ceremony without resentment. We had, in the last chapter, a glimpse -of the condition of Servia in the thirteenth century. In the year -1298, which we have reached, there was on the throne a particularly -objectionable type of “kral,” as the Servians called their ruler. He -had first married the daughter of a neighbouring king, but he had led -astray his brother’s wife, who was a sister of Anna of Hungary, and, -when a third sister came on a visit to his Court, he conceived so -violent a passion for her that he sent his wife home to her father. -This lady was a nun, yet the Kral persuaded her to discard her black -robe and go through a form of marriage with him. He then tired of the -royal nun in turn, and married the daughter of King Terter of Bulgaria. -By the year 1298 he was ready for a third change. None of his three -queens had given him an heir to the throne, and he was therefore -disposed to listen to the expostulations of his clergy and the advances -of Andronicus. - -At this time the Emperor’s sister Eudocia returned, a young and -attractive widow, to the Court at Constantinople. She had married, -and recently lost, the Emperor of Trebizond, and came home to enjoy -her fortune in her native city. Andronicus pressed her to marry the -Kral of Servia, whose army would be useful to him. When Eudocia -indignantly refused, there was no lady of the imperial house to offer -to the Kral except the little Simonides, who had not yet reached her -seventh birthday. The only serious obstacle which Andronicus saw to -the alliance was the fact that the Kral’s first wife still lived, -and both the Servian and Byzantine clergy would regard the marriage -as invalid. But this obstacle was opportunely, perhaps artificially, -removed by the death of that lady, and the child of six summers was -taken by Andronicus and Irene to the Servian capital--we notice the -caged Constantine still among the Emperor’s luggage--and married to the -middle-aged and hot-blooded barbarian. - -Since we shall find Irene in the following year making a most violent -and effective protest against the marriage of her eldest son, and do -not find her making any protest at all in regard to the marriage of -Simonides, we must conclude that she consented to this abominable -procedure. The patriarch of Constantinople, who had been deceived by -them, felt so strong a repugnance to the marriage that he followed -the Emperor to Servia and vainly endeavoured to secure an audience. -Irene seems to have given him no assistance. The husband proposed for -her child was a king: the wife proposed for her son in the following -year was _not_ of royal birth. We see her ambition already corrupting -her nature. She was content to stipulate that Simonides should be -treated as a sister until she reached the condition of puberty, and -entrusted her to the “honour” of the fiercely sensual and unscrupulous -Kral; though we shall find in the course of time that Irene herself -became largely responsible for the Kral’s breach of his engagement -to respect the age of her daughter. Irene and Andronicus returned -to Constantinople, bringing with them the Bulgarian princess whom -Simonides had replaced. This lady, it is interesting to note, was -married soon afterwards to the Emperor’s brother-in-law, Michael -Cutrules, who had wedded, and recently lost, Andronicus’s youngest -sister. But her career ended in prison before many years, as Michael -was convicted of treason and placed for life, with his wife, in one of -the palace dungeons. - -In the following year, 1299, Andronicus proposed to marry Irene’s -eldest son, John, and the struggle of her life began. The wife chosen -for him was a daughter of one of the chief ministers, Nicephorus -Chumnus, and Irene now fought her husband with such vigour that he was -compelled to desist. Andronicus wished to remove her children from any -possible rivalry with his son Michael; Irene was determined that they -should make royal matches and wear diadems. She had probably by this -time conceived the ambitious idea which wrecked her life, and trusted -to induce Andronicus to detach fragments of his Empire in which her -sons might set up independent Courts. In this she was, no doubt, mainly -inspired by ambition for her children, but the later course of the -quarrel will show that she had secret personal grievances against her -husband, and she may have contemplated retiring to the Court of one of -her sons. For five years Irene resisted the design of her husband and, -with tears at one time and threats at another, urged her own scheme -upon him. Andronicus became weary and irritated. The ecclesiastical -quarrel still distracted his capital, the Turk ravaged his provinces, -the pirate swept his seas, and a new burden was added to his cares. -An army of Spaniards, who had been set free by the termination of the -Twenty Years’ War in Italy, came eastward in search of adventure, and, -being employed by Andronicus to fight the Turk, soon proved a very -fertile source of anxiety and trouble. - -In the midst of these harassing cares Andronicus impatiently resented -the importunity of his wife, and their life became one of incessant -quarrel. Irene threatened that she would not share his bed unless he -either associated her sons in power with Michael or secured them -independent kingdoms at his death; Andronicus retorted by locking his -door against her, and Irene was further embittered. In 1304 her son -John married Irene, the daughter of Chumnus, and the Empress went at -once to live at Thessalonica. The chroniclers relate that Andronicus -had at length persuaded his wife to consent to this marriage, but that -seems to be a half-truth put forward by the Emperor. He gave John the -government of Thessaly, and Irene accompanied him and the younger Irene -to Thessalonica, where, as we saw, there had been a palace since the -days of Boniface. - -In the capital of the Greek province Irene now entered upon an activity -that gave her husband more anxiety than ever. He presently learned -that she was openly telling to the monks and matrons of her Court -certain indelicate details of their conjugal life which “the most -brazen courtesan would blush to tell,” says the chronicler. Through her -daughter these details were forwarded to the Kral of Servia, but such -matters were not of a nature to induce that monarch to declare war on -his erring father-in-law. The Duke of Athens was then assailed by the -ambitious Empress; he was urged to marry his daughter to her second -son, Theodore, and then wrest the province of Thessaly from Andronicus. -Irene’s plan was now clear. The most westerly part of the Empire was to -be detached and converted into a kingdom for her and her children. The -Duke of Athens declined to pit his small force against the Byzantine -mercenaries, and Theodore was sent to Lombardy to wed the daughter of -the Marquis Spinola, who held a small territory in the north of Italy. -The marriage was spiteful, as Andronicus was not consulted, but it did -not bring to Irene an alliance of any material value; and, as John -died, childless, about the same time (1307), she turned again to the -Kral of Servia. - -Andronicus was alarmed. He was at the height of his trouble with -the Catalans and at war with Bulgaria, so that fresh trouble with -Servia would be a serious complication. He made every effort, short of -granting her extreme demand, to conciliate Irene, but the passionate -woman determined to profit by the Empire’s difficulties and carried on -the war with a spirit and ability that deserved a better cause. She had -taken with her to Thessaly a vast quantity of money and treasure, and -she now employed this more persuasive argument on the Kral of Servia. -She sent him a superb crown from the Byzantine treasury and some of -the richly embroidered robes of the Byzantine Court for himself and -her daughter; and she forwarded to him, the chronicler says, money -enough “to equip and maintain a hundred triremes for ever.” It is -unfortunate that we do not know more particulars about her departure -from Constantinople and the way in which she became possessed of all -this treasure. It looks as if she had been collecting resources for -some years, and had left with a quite definite intention of fighting -her husband. Her present policy was to induce the Kral to make war on -Andronicus and take Constantinople. Her ambition had degenerated into a -disease and a crime. - -There is grave reason to blame Irene for another issue of her -ambition which, no doubt, she did not intend. Next to the taking of -Constantinople Irene most desired to see her daughter have a son to -inherit the new Empire, and it is plain that she impressed this on the -Servian monarch. Simonides was now fourteen or fifteen years old, and -would be regarded in the East as a possible mother, but, whatever the -details may be, the fact is recorded by the chroniclers that her womb -was injured in some way and Irene was told that her daughter would -never have children. Her next plan was that the Kral should adopt one -of her sons as his heir, and, as her treasury was ample, the Kral -consented. Demetrius, her youngest son, was sent with a splendid escort -and luxurious outfit to the Servian Court, but its rough ways disgusted -the spoiled youth and he returned to his mother. As a last resource -Irene recalled Theodore from Lombardy and sent him to Servia. - -When Theodore also found the ways of the Servians unbearable, and -returned to Lombardy, Irene’s fiery spirit was quenched. Her four -years’ struggle for a kingdom had entirely failed, and her health -was affected. She confessed her defeat and requested Andronicus to -allow her to return to Constantinople. We are scarcely surprised that -Andronicus refused permission, politely assuring her that, as the Turks -now swarmed in the neighbourhood of Constantinople, she was safer at -Thessalonica. Even when, in the following year, the Catalan troops -returned to the West, and relieved him of one of his burdens, the -Emperor gave her no invitation to return. She lived on for eight years -in complete obscurity at Thessalonica, and died of fever at Drama, in -Thessaly, where she had a country palace, in 1317, leaving, in spite -of her great expenditure, a considerable fortune. The dead body of his -fiery spouse was not feared by Andronicus. He permitted Simonides to -bring it to the metropolis and inter it with imperial ceremonies among -the royal graves. - -The further career of Simonides herself is not without interest, though -we have no very definite portrait of the daughter of Irene and protégée -of the Apostle Simon. Once in Constantinople, she declared that she -would not return to the less luxurious Court and the rough manners of -her husband. Andronicus did not interfere until, after a time, the -Kral sent word that he would attack Constantinople if his wife did not -return. She was forced by the Emperor to join the Servian envoys, and -set out with them for Belgrade. But Simonides had not a little of the -spirit of her mother. When they had proceeded some two or three days’ -journey toward Servia, she cut her hair and donned the black robe of -a nun. The Kral’s servants were stupefied, and, thinking it better -to anticipate the order of their monarch, drew their swords. With -Simonides, however, was her half-brother Constantine, who saw a more -reasonable solution of the difficulty. He stripped her of the monastic -robe with his own hands, compelled her to put on her royal garments, -and sent her to her Court. The Kral died a few years afterwards, and -Simonides returned to live in Constantinople and find more congenial -lovers, as we shall see, amongst its more refined nobility. - -But the adventures of Irene’s daughter continue into the next reign, -and it is time to turn back and consider the new Empress who had been -crowned in Constantinople in 1296. Once more we shall find a story of -a woman of excellent character, though less gifted than Irene, tainted -by the Byzantine atmosphere and driven to assist in rending the dying -Empire. Nothing but a strong infusion of virile moral feeling could -have arrested the decay of the Empire. Unhappily, moral sentiment sinks -lower and lower at Constantinople after the death of Irene, while the -energetic Turk slowly advances to its destruction. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -MARIA OF ARMENIA - - -In the year 1295 Michael, the eldest son of Andronicus II. and Anna, -received the imperial title, and there ensued a remarkable competition -of monarchs, great and little, for the honour of wedding a daughter -to him. Charles of Sicily made an early offer of the hand of his -daughter, but the legates returned disappointed to their master, and -the smaller kings of the East sent in descriptions of the charms of -their marriageable daughters. Amongst them was the King of Armenia, -and the patriarch Alexis was deputed to go and examine the candidate. -Alexis was captured by pirates as he crossed the sea, and, although -the prelate made a skilful and vigorous escape, it was thought that -Armenia was too remote and inaccessible. Legates were therefore sent to -learn the terms of the King of Cyprus, and observe the merits of his -daughter. When these also were unsuccessful, a stronger embassy was -sent to Armenia, and the troop presently returned with two blushing -candidates for the position of Empress. - -The King of Armenia had, it seems, two marriageable daughters, and -they were so equal in grace and beauty that no courtier could decide -which was the more eligible. The Armenians insisted that both Ricta and -Theophano should be conveyed to Constantinople, where noble husbands -were still plentiful, and a message was sent to the capital to notify -their coming. Andronicus gave them a princely welcome at the palace -quay, and decided that the elder of the two should marry Michael. -Their names were changed to Maria and Theodora, and, when the elder -was united to the young Emperor, and received herself the imperial -title, the younger was consoled by an alliance with the “Sebastocrator” -John and a share of his sonorous title and more slender diadem. We do -not know the age of Maria and are, as usual, without a description of -her person; in fact, the quiet, unassuming ways of her very mediocre -husband leave her in considerable obscurity for the first half of her -life. We find her in 1306 setting out with him for the Bulgarian war -and showing a fine spirit of patriotism. Andronicus had no money to pay -the troops, and Maria, who remained in Adrianople, sold the jewels and -melted the plate which had formed part of her dowry, in order to win -success for her husband. They then returned to Constantinople to await, -in exemplary patience, the natural transfer to them of the supreme -power. - -In 1318 their eldest son, Andronicus, was married to Irene, daughter -of the Duke of Brunswick, and Michael and Maria went to Thessaly and -engaged in the peaceful administration of that province. Two years -later came a terrible message from Constantinople which put an end -to the life of Michael and changed and saddened the whole course of -Maria’s career. They had had two sons and two daughters. One daughter, -Theodora, married the King of Bulgaria; the elder, Anna, married -the Prince of Epirus, and, when he was assassinated, married his -murderer. Tragedy seemed to dog the footsteps of the descendants of -Michael Paleologus and Theodora, and a far more terrible experience -was reserved for the sons, Andronicus and Manuel. Their father had -consented to leave them at Court under the eye of the old Emperor, and -that monarch’s idea of training them was unhappily consistent with a -great deal of spoiling and pampering. Manuel, the younger brother, -seems to have had a more sober and industrious character; the elder, -Andronicus, was a vain, handsome and unscrupulous youth, whose light -head was soon turned by the flattery of courtiers. His days were spent -in hunting, his nights in the pleasures of the table, the dice-board, -or the enervating chambers of courtesans. He was the natural heir to -the throne, after his father, and already enjoyed the imperial title, -so that parasites gathered thick about his person. He outran his ample -income, and was forced to borrow large sums of money from the Genoese -bankers of the suburb of Galata in order to maintain his luxuries and -his mistresses. - -The old Emperor did not fail to perceive the debasement of the -character of his favourite grandson, and sharply to reprove him, but -the young man sank more deeply into debt, and began at length to feel -impatient of the long delay that must ensue before the keys of the -imperial treasury would come into his hands. He contemplated a series -of wild intrigues for the purpose of securing an immediate independence -and control of at least a small dominion. At one moment he meditated -seizing the throne of Armenia, on the pretext that it was his mother’s -appanage; at other times he aspired to rule the island of Lesbos, the -Peloponnesus, or any other fragment of the Empire from which he could -wring the price of his pleasures. - -The older Andronicus watched him vigilantly, and his intemperance soon -led to a tragedy which definitely turned his grandfather against him. -He was informed that a rival secretly visited the house of one of his -mistresses, a lady of the Byzantine nobility and of very Byzantine -laxness of morals, and he posted a band of archers and swordsmen near -the house, with orders to fall upon any man who approached. It happened -that on the same evening, about midnight, Manuel had occasion to see -his elder brother at once, and expected to find him at the house of his -mistress. He was not recognized by the assassins, and was murdered. -This was the news which came to Michael and Maria in the autumn of -1320. Michael was in poor health at the time, and the shock ended his -life. Maria seems to have taken the veil, as we generally find her -named Xene in the chronicles after this date, but we shall find that -she neither repudiated her elder son nor retired wholly from the world. - -The elder Andronicus now made it clear that his grandson should not -inherit the purple, but he unfortunately committed a fresh blunder, -which strengthened the hands of the young Emperor. The proper and most -worthy--or least unworthy--heir to the throne was now the younger son -of Anna of Hungary, Constantine, who had for some years been content -with the lower title of “despot” and the government of Thessaly and -Macedonia. He had, as we saw, married the daughter of the minister -Muzalo. Finding a pretty maid among the common servants of his wife’s -household, he had made her his mistress, and, as Muzalo’s daughter -soon died, Cathara was raised to the rank of companion. They had a -remarkably beautiful boy, who went by the name of Michael Cathara. -After a time the roving eye of Constantine was arrested by the charm -of the wife of one of his secretaries, and he proposed to bestow part -of his affection on her. She pleaded the claims of her husband and -the prescriptions of virtue; her husband promptly disappeared, as so -many inconvenient husbands did in the Byzantine Empire; and the “new -Hypatia,” as the chronicler calls her, shared the crown and the couch -of the Despot of Thessaly. Her beauty, wit and culture are said to have -placed her before all other women of her age, though there is a taint -of sacrilege in the comparison with the virtuous, philosophical and -venerable Hypatia of Alexandria. Cathara was dismissed, and Michael -Cathara became a page at the Court of the elder Andronicus. - -The Emperor, now a gouty and feeble old man of sixty-four, was again -seduced by the superficial charm of a handsome boy, and treated Michael -with a favour which clearly marked him for the ultimate possession of -the throne. He gave the boy the imperial title, and kept him by his -side when he received ambassadors. When the elder Michael died, and it -was necessary, according to custom, to frame a new oath of allegiance -to the Emperors, the name of the younger Andronicus was expressly -excluded, and the officers swore only to obey the old Emperor and -whomsoever he might associate with himself. This imprudent choice gave -some of the discontented nobles a pretext to disregard their oaths, -and they entered into secret alliance with the younger Andronicus. In -order, however, to follow intelligibly the further fortunes of the -imperial women, it will be necessary to give a brief account of this -conspiracy and its leaders. - -The most prominent figure among the discontented nobles was John -Cantacuzenus, a very distinguished and cultivated noble, a later -Emperor, and one of the chief historians of the period. The -tortuousness of his career and the cloak of hypocrisy in which he -foolishly imagines that he has concealed his ambition warn us to read -his account of his times with discretion. His history opens with a -deliberate concealment of the murder of Manuel and of the flagrant -vices of his associate, Andronicus, and it remains mendacious and -hypocritical to the last page. Such was the chief character who will -mingle in the story of the Empresses for the next twenty years. He -frowned on the low birth of Michael Cathara, was indifferent to the -vices of Andronicus, and secretly cherished an ambition to occupy the -throne. With him were Theodore Synadenus, a noble of equal distinction -and more substantial character; Sir Janni (probably Sir John), an -unscrupulous Choman adventurer; and Apocaucus, a successful financier, -of low birth, who begged to be allowed to share the risk and profits of -the speculation. Secret vows of fidelity were exchanged, and the more -wealthy members of the group purchased the administration of distant -provinces, in which they might raise and arm troops. - -The old Emperor detected the conspiracy, and made an effort to -check it. In the spring of 1321, on the morning of Passion Sunday, -Andronicus was summoned to the palace of his grandfather and was -forbidden to communicate with any person until he had seen the Emperor. -The message was alarming, but the messenger was probably open to -bribery, and the other conspirators were hastily warned. They decided -to bring a troop of armed men into the hall of the palace, and, if -the old Emperor were heard to speak angrily to his grandson in the -inner chamber, rush in and despatch him. It will be noticed that the -Byzantine Court was now but the shadow of its former greatness. The -thousands of watchful Scholarians and Excubitors had long disappeared, -even the stalwart and faithful English and Scandinavian Varangians -could be hired no longer in any number, and a group of venal Cretan -or Italian guards alone protected the approach to the throne. But the -elder Andronicus, who had gathered the bishops in his chamber to hear -him charge and convict his grandson, learned that a troop waited in the -hall without, and the conference ended in hypocritical embraces and -vows of mutual fidelity. The nobles, however, resented this solution. -In their respective provinces, to which they were ordered, they raised -their troops and concentrated at Adrianople. When Andronicus saw that -they had a serious army he fled to join them, and they soon began to -march over the provinces toward the capital. - -Andronicus the elder was at first content to send a regiments of -priests and monks into the streets of Constantinople with Bibles, -making every citizen swear not to desert their lawful monarch. The oath -was taken with the customary fluency, and the customary reserve; but -the insurgents came nearer and nearer over the roads of Thrace, and a -fresh peace had to be arranged. The grandson was now to have Thrace -for his personal dominion, with Adrianople for capital, and the right -of succession to the whole Empire. The young Empress Irene, who seems -to have been little more than a spectator of the stormy seas into -which her marriage had drawn her, joined her husband at Adrianople, -presented him with a baby, and lived for a few months longer to witness -his debauchery and infidelity. Before very long her reckless husband -attempted to seduce the wife of one of his chief supporters, Sir -Janni, and that commander, already jealous of the greater favour shown -to Cantacuzenus, deserted to Constantinople and persuaded the elder -Andronicus to try the fortune of war once more. - -The Empress Maria, or the nun Xene, as she seems to have become, took -the part of her son in the quarrel with the older Emperor. There is -no evidence that she was a sincerely religious woman; indeed, the -fact that she sided with her worthless son prevents us from supposing -this. She probably trusted to return to Court in his train. She had -remained in Thessalonica since the death of her husband, and she -endeavoured to secure interest for her son in that province. The -older Emperor, however, sent his son Constantine to Thessalonica, and -Xene was arrested and shipped, in a very unceremonious fashion, to -Constantinople. Constantine was now in a fair way to attain the Empire, -and his “new Hypatia” must have enjoyed visions of a very speedy -accession to power. But soon afterwards Constantine was captured by -his nephew’s troops and committed to prison, from which he would never -emerge. The unknown lady of such remarkable beauty and accomplishments, -Constantine’s wife, now disappeared into the obscurity from which she -had come, and Xene returned to hope. - -The old Emperor was checked by the disaster of his son and sued for -peace. He sent Xene to negotiate with him, and Andronicus and his -friends were soon enjoying themselves once more in the capital. Irene -had set out with him from Adrianople, but she died on the journey. Her -life must have been unhappy, but the widower found consolation, and -we find the earlier Irene’s daughter, Simonides, included in the list -of the noble dames who consoled him. Simonides had entered the world -encircled by a halo of miracle, but she was not destined to issue from -it in a corresponding odour of sanctity. Few did in mediæval Byzantium. -She had, as I said, returned from Servia after the death of the Kral, -and was living in the city, a comfortable widow of thirty-three, when -her handsome and profligate nephew came back to Court, more wealthy -and luxurious than ever. There is no room for doubt that she entered -into a liaison with Andronicus, since the old Emperor himself publicly -referred to it as a notorious fact. - -Xene had remained in Thrace, where, after a second marriage, which we -will describe in the next chapter, Andronicus joined her. The town -of Didymoteichus (now Demotica), about twenty miles to the south of -Adrianople, became at this point the seat of a royal residence and -a most important centre of intrigue in Byzantine history. From that -town Xene and her son presently sent a most affectionate message to -Xene’s daughter Theodora, who had married the King of Bulgaria, or -two kings of Bulgaria in succession. The ladies of the Paleologi -family were almost all remarkable for their adaptability to changes of -domestic circumstances. It was twenty-three years since Xene had sent -her daughter to Bulgaria, and she had not seen her since; Andronicus -had never seen his sister. They now felt a sudden and most pressing -desire to meet her, and she and King Michael came to spend a week at -Didymoteichus. The real object was, of course, to arrange an alliance -with Bulgaria, to counterbalance the older Emperor’s alliance, through -Simonides, with Servia. Michael, a man of loose life and coarse and -repulsive manners, was flattered by the liberal attentions of the -imperial nun, and when Andronicus gave him a more substantial proof of -their esteem, in the shape of a large promise of money and territory, -he went home to mobilize his troops. In a short time the news reached -Constantinople that the banners of civil war were to be raised once -more. No one was surprised, as the year had opened with unmistakable -portents. A muddy pig had scattered a procession of bishops, which -accurately foreshadowed trouble in the Church; and there had been two -eclipses of the moon in three months, than which there could be no -surer foreboding of trouble in the State. - -The senior Emperor had recourse at once to his futile diplomacy and -his synods of bishops. He drew up a formidable indictment of his -grandson, and submitted to the Empire that a man who had seduced his -aunt, appropriated imperial funds, and committed many other grave -crimes, was unfit to wear the purple. In his history of the time -Cantacuzenus laboriously meets this indictment, but his answers are -feeble and evasive, and, since he prudently overlooks the charge of a -liaison with Simonides, we have little hope of relieving her character -of that imputation. It does not seem to have made any difference to -Xene’s loyalty to her son, and we must conclude that she was bent on -returning with him to the Court. However, after some months of mutual -incrimination, the troops were set in motion, Constantinople was taken -(23rd May 1328), and the long and lively reign of Andronicus II. came -to a close. Few tears were shed, or ever will be shed, over the fall of -that selfish and incompetent ruler. He was granted a generous income, -and he continued to live, in complete privacy, for four years. - -Xene remained at Didymoteichus, which had now become an important -centre of the shrunken Empire. The success of her son brought her to -realize that he was surrounded by men and women who were bitterly -hostile to her, and she no doubt felt it more prudent or agreeable to -enjoy the tranquillity of the provincial palace. This tranquillity was -rudely disturbed two years later, when Andronicus fell seriously ill at -Didymoteichus, and the members of the Cantacuzenus family and faction -betrayed their ambition. - -The picture of the scene which we have in the pages of Cantacuzenus -himself is just as affecting, and just as mendacious, as Anna Comnena’s -picture of the scene at her father’s death. The dying Andronicus--it -was, at all events, believed by all that he was dying--summoned his -wife and friends to his couch, and, putting the right hand of the -Empress in the right hand of his faithful Cantacuzenus, entrusts to -him her safety and that of the Empire. When the mother of Cantacuzenus -(a quaint type of nun whose acquaintance we shall make presently) asks -him his wishes in regard to his mother, he feebly murmurs that “there -cannot be two rulers.” Cantacuzenus weeps so copiously that he must -retire to wash his face, in order to hide his grief from his beloved -friend. Courtiers press him to seize the purple, and he refuses. -They urge him to put to death, or put out the eyes of, the despot -Constantine, Andronicus’s uncle, who still lingers in his prison. -Again Cantacuzenus shrinks from the suggestion, and, in order to -protect Constantine from their murderous designs, he hides him in an -underground chamber. - -One feels that the whole story is a masterpiece of lying, and it is -not difficult to learn the truth. Round the bed of the unconscious -Andronicus Cantacuzenus and his mother and friends pursued a desperate -intrigue for power. Anna was young and helpless, and might be used -for furthering their plan. Xene, however, watched their intrigue -with furious anger and fear, and pitted her hatred against that of -the mother of Cantacuzenus. Constantine was thrust in a loathsome -and secret dungeon by Cantacuzenus, lest any faction should remember -that he was the real heir to the throne. Even the old ex-Emperor at -Constantinople was approached, and was offered the alternative of -death, exile or the monk’s tonsure. With many tears he embraced the -least painful of the three proposals and adopted the name of Antony. -The triumph of Cantacuzenus seemed to be assured when, to their -astonishment and mortification, Andronicus emerged from his stupor and -returned to health. - -Xene at once appealed to her son to punish the intriguers, but he was -either deceived by the hypocritical professions of Cantacuzenus or -not strong enough to face his hostility. Xene now felt that she had -incurred their mortal vindictiveness and retired to Thessalonica. -There she induced the citizens to swear that they would protect her, -and she even adopted as her son the wily and accommodating Sir Janni, -who governed the province. Sir Janni had not long to wait for his -reward--the fortune of his “mother.” She died four years later (1334), -and was buried at Thessalonica, having run a strange course since she -had nervously quitted her Armenian home thirty-eight years before. - -The older Andronicus had died two years before, at the age of -seventy-two. Nicephorus Gregoras, our best authority for the time, -tells us how he spent a night in pleasant conversation with the old man -in February 1332. Andronicus, or Antony, died the next day, and was -buried in his monkish robe. The same passage of Gregoras gives us our -penultimate reference to the interesting Simonides. She was present -at the conversation, and we seem to be justified in inferring that -she “kept house” for her father. The last glimpse we have of her is a -fitting crown to her strange career. We faintly discern her, some years -later, as a royal nun in the Court of her nephew and former lover. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -ANNA OF SAVOY - - -The first wife of Andronicus III., Irene of Brunswick, had died -prematurely five years after her marriage. Andronicus had quickly -recovered from his grief, and plunged again into his customary -pleasures, but his grandfather insisted that the throne of the Empress -must not remain vacant. Whatever substitute for an “Almanach de Gotha” -the times afforded was scanned once more, and it was discovered -that the young Count of Savoy had an eligible sister named Jeanne. -The little principality, which was destined to have so important an -influence on the fortunes of Europe, had only recently been carved out -of the German Empire, and the name of the ruling house was in high -esteem. It was still, however, a mere patch of the hills and valleys of -Switzerland, and, when legates came from the Byzantine Court for the -hand of Jeanne, she was readily yielded to them. - -Whether Anna, as the Greeks promptly christened her, would find -Constantinople equal to the reputation of its splendour that still -lingered in Europe may be doubted. The majority of the gorgeous palaces -in which our earlier Empresses had moved were now heaps of ruins. -From the roofs of the public and imperial buildings the copper had -been torn to make coin, and the marble from their facades and halls -had gone to deck the palaces of Venice and Genoa. Great stretches -of desolate, ruin-encumbered spaces existed within the crumbling -walls, and the streets no longer glittered with a proud display of -domestic treasure on the balconies as a royal cavalcade passed along. -Some gold and silver may still have lingered in the reduced palaces -before the disastrous civil war, but the display now made in the -imperial households and processions was largely a display of imitation -diamonds and gilded furniture. For the first time, in fact, we find -Constantinople itself impressed by its visitors, even from the small -Court in Savoy. The Count had sent with his sister a large escort of -knights, and, as the marriage was deferred for eight months, they had -ample time to exhibit their skill in tournaments. Why the marriage was -postponed from February (1326) to October must be left more or less -to the imagination. Cantacuzenus observes that Anna was indisposed -after her journey, but one may find more enlightenment in his casual -remark that Andronicus was ill and, after receiving his betrothed, -went for some months into Thrace. It would probably be indelicate and -impertinent to attempt a diagnosis. He returned in the autumn, married -and crowned Anna, and permitted her train of knights to return to Savoy. - -Since Byzantine history is too full of large and tragic matters to -recount the small details of domestic life, and since the Empresses -would in their early years, if they were fortunate, be confined to -these small domestic interests, we pass lightly over the youth of Anna -of Savoy. In the spring after their marriage she accompanied Andronicus -to Didymoteichus, and would be faintly interested in the conferences of -Andronicus and his mother with the King of Bulgaria. In the following -year Andronicus dethroned his grandfather, and Anna found herself -mistress of the Empire. The scene at Didymoteichus during the illness -of her husband two years afterwards would complete her introduction to -Byzantine politics, and make her realize the importance of Cantacuzenus -and his friends. - -Andronicus was, however, still a comparatively young man, and it was -probable that he would outlive the older intriguers about him. He was -only thirty-four years old at the time of his dangerous illness, and -he returned to his boisterous sports and gaieties. In 1332 Anna, who -was at Didymoteichus, gave birth to a son, and Andronicus came on -the scene in a mood of wild rejoicing. His Olympic games and Western -jousts alarmed and scandalized elderly ministers, who shuddered to see -the sacred breast of an Emperor expanded boldly to meet a lance. But -he laughed at etiquette, told his courtiers to put away the kind of -silk-covered mitres that they had hitherto been compelled to wear at -Court, and allowed them to have any dress or headgear they pleased. -Fun and good-fellowship were his ideals. He kept, to the despair of -the imperial treasurer, a vast number of hounds, horses and hawks, and -there was no better way to secure a favour than to present him with a -good dog or horse. - -It is just to add that Andronicus made a sincere attempt to improve -the administration of justice in the Empire, but apart from this one -sincere and fruitless effort at reconstruction he danced down the road -of death like all his frivolous subjects. A little war, the suppression -of a rebellion or two, and mighty hunting and jousting filled the -thirteen years of his single reign. The Turk drew nearer and nearer, -and received no very serious check. The city of Nicæa had now fallen -into the hands of the Turks, and the crescent flashed on the shores of -the Sea of Marmora. Andronicus could do little more than trust the old -Byzantine weapon--intrigue, ruse, diplomacy. His sister Anna, who had -married the Prince of Epirus, assassinated her husband and invited her -brother to annex the territory. His daughter Irene, who had married -the Emperor of Trebizond and found him unfaithful, assassinated her -husband, and sent to Andronicus for a ruler. He was endeavouring to -profit by these assassinations when death overtook him. Earlier in -his reign the veteran Sir Janni had rebelled. Andronicus, knowing the -mettle of his opponent, had fortified and victualled the palace, where -he left Anna and her boy, and gone out to the field; but he removed -the danger in the end by deception and assassination. At length, in the -early summer of 1341, Andronicus became alarmingly ill. He shrewdly put -off his stained purple and retired to a monastery, in preparation for -death, and he passed away on 15th June, leaving Anna with two boys of -nine and four years. Then began the romance of Anna of Savoy. - -The chief personæ of the romance, apart from the Empress, are the -ambitious intriguers we have previously seen about the sickbed of -Andronicus: the courtly and cultivated Cantacuzenus, the meaner though -less hypocritical financier, Apocaucus, and the mother of Cantacuzenus. -Theodora Paleologina was, as her name implies, herself a member of -the Paleologi family. She was a descendant of Martha, the sister and -counsellor of Michael Paleologus, the virile lady who had been put in -a sack with cats by Theodore Lascaris: a strong and able and ambitious -woman, although, since her husband’s death, she had worn the robe of -a nun. There was a complete understanding between her and her less -resolute son. Apocaucus, on the other hand, an active, restless, -unscrupulous little man, who slept little at nights, was prepared -to ally himself with either Anna or the Cantacuzeni, as seemed most -profitable. - -We have no reason to doubt the statement of Cantacuzenus that, when -Andronicus lay dying, Apocaucus urged him, directly and through his -mother, to seize the crown, and that he refused. He was not in the -habit of acting so promptly. He went to the palace in which Anna wept -with her boys, assured her that he would protect them, and placed -five hundred guards about the palace. It may have occurred to Anna -that there was no one, except himself, from whom they needed to be -protected. Andronicus died on the following day, and she went (as -Cantacuzenus would have foreseen) to spend the customary nine days in -mourning by the remains of her husband. What Cantacuzenus might have -done while she kept her dreary vigil in the monastery we cannot say, -for his plans were interrupted. On the fourth day Anna surprised him -by breaking the sacred custom and returning to the palace. It argues -some strength of character in her that she should take this step, -though it was not an original inspiration. Apocaucus had changed sides, -and had gone to warn Anna that his rival aimed at the throne and she -must return to watch him. But Cantacuzenus was even more surprised and -baffled when the patriarch now came forward with the will of the late -Emperor, and read from it that he, the patriarch, was to be guardian of -the young princes and their Empire. - -The maze of intrigue that followed can very well be imagined, and is -fairly described in the chronicles. In fact, Gregoras and Cantacuzenus -profess to give verbatim reports of the very lengthy speeches which, -it seems, took the place of conversation in those days. The three -aspirants to power besieged the chamber of Anna in turns, and each -spent many hours in assuring her of his loyalty, and of the disloyalty -of all the others. Though the strain made the Empress ill, she seems -to have acted almost throughout with good judgment. The patriarch was -her safest supporter, since each of the other two really aimed at the -throne, and to the patriarch she clung, only tempering his advice by a -fear of angering the two nobles and driving them to a coalition, which -would be fatal to her. The patriarch urged her to crown her elder boy -John at once; it would be an effective step, but when Cantacuzenus and -Apocaucus protested that it could not be done in a time of mourning, -she thought it best to refrain. At last some kind of settlement was -reached. Cantacuzenus was to be the Magnus Domesticus (or “major-domo” -on an imperial scale), and to lead out the troops to check the -advancing Bulgarians and Turks in Thrace. - -Apocaucus was dissatisfied, and, as soon as his rival had departed, he -made a bold attempt to seize power. He had on the fringe of the city, -by the seashore, a strongly fortified house, or castle, in which he -could withstand an attack even of troops. It was impregnable, except -to a large force, on the land side, and a galley waited always at its -private wharf on the other side to convey him by sea in case of need. -His plan was to carry off John to this castle and then dictate his -terms to the Empress. Anna, however, was warned in time. The young -prince was actually in the hands of the schemer, when her servants were -sent to the rescue and Apocaucus fled to his fortress and barred the -doors. Cantacuzenus returned in haste to the city, and set a troop of -soldiers to watch the castle, but the Empress, on the advice of the -patriarch, refused to take extreme measures. As long as the two deadly -rivals were poised against each other, her position was more secure. We -must not, of course, attribute this prudent policy entirely, or mainly, -to the inexperienced young Empress. The patriarch was its chief author; -and, though the patriarch was by no means disinterested, he could not -aspire to the throne. There can be no doubt that, ill and weary as she -was, Anna acted with good judgment. - -Thwarted and exasperated, Cantacuzenus in his turn now meditated a -_coup_, and it was only the singular irresolution or hypocrisy of his -nature and the boldness of the patriarch that prevented it from being -successful. One day, while he was discussing the situation with Anna, -they heard a tumultuous rush and angry voices in the hall without. Anna -asked the cause, and Cantacuzenus, professing that he did not know and -going to learn, lightly reported that a crowd of soldiers and young -nobles had penetrated the palace and were hectoring the patriarch. -They insisted, he said, that Cantacuzenus should be allowed to enter -the palace on horseback (an imperial prerogative) when he called, and -the patriarch opposed them. He had, he told the Empress, scolded the -patriarch for even listening to the young fools, and had driven them -from the palace, and he advised the Empress to admonish or punish them. -It seems quite clear that in this case a rather weak, but deliberate, -plot on the part of Cantacuzenus had been foiled by the patriarch. The -Magnus Domesticus then returned to the field, leaving his mother to -watch the Empress, and threatening that he would punish any man who -gave her anxiety in his absence. Gregoras says that he took with him an -enormous sum of money, and we may conclude that he went with a fairly -clear intention to raise the provinces. - -As soon as he had removed his troops to Thrace his rivals set to -work in deadly earnest. Apocaucus was pardoned, at the instance of -the patriarch, and promoted to the dignity of Grand Duke and Prefect -of Constantinople. So far the policy was sound enough, but it was, -no doubt, impossible for the ailing young Empress to maintain the -equilibrium any longer in face of their passion and the perfidy of -their opponent, and they plunged into civil war. Cantacuzenus was -declared to be deposed, and it was even understood in the city that -the patriarch promised the open gate of heaven to any man who would -assassinate him. His friends and relatives were alarmed and fled to -the deserted meadows beyond the walls, where they passed the night; -and, as they learned in the morning that their property had been -confiscated, they hurried to the camp at Didymoteichus with loud -cries of “Cantacuzenus Emperor!” After a becoming parade of real or -feigned reluctance, the commander of the troops consented to accept -the purple and prepared for civil war. An imperial outfit was hastily -made at Didymoteichus--so hastily that, as the vain Cantacuzenus -complains, the tunic was far too short, while the mantle hung about -him like a sack--and the coronation took place. The ceremony gives us -another Empress of a not uninteresting character. Cantacuzenus was -married to Irene, daughter of a Court official of the former royal -family of Bulgaria; her mother had been Irene Paleologina, daughter of -Michael Paleologus and Theodora. She remained, tearful and anxious, -at Didymoteichus while her husband led out his troops, but she would -afterwards take a vigorous part in the struggle. - -Irene’s mother-in-law was the first victim of her own and her son’s -ambition, and of the hatred of his enemies. Cantacuzenus, who always -speaks with respect, if not generosity, of Anna, tells us that the -Empress was not responsible for the barbarous treatment and death of -his mother. She was imprisoned in one of the palace cells as soon as -the trouble began, and from her dreary room she could hear the rabble -of Constantinople shouting their customary obscene abuse of her and -her son, and acclaiming Anna and John V. The young prince had been -crowned at once by the patriarch. It was the early winter, and the aged -Theodora was treated with studied insult and severity by her jailers. -Her health soon broke, and she died in the palace dungeon. Cantacuzenus -relates that a royal nun who had assisted and, consoled his mother -went to reprove Anna for the brutality to which she had been exposed, -but he adds that Anna was ignorant of it and blameless. The close of -the career of Theodora Paleologina is one of the many reminders that -to the end the Byzantine Empire did not lack _strong_ men and women; -what it lacked was sound moral and patriotic feeling. The stock was -not “outworn” and “enfeebled,” as historical writers are apt to say -of decaying civilizations. Its strength was tainted and misdirected. -The royal nun, I may add, who had visited Theodora in her cell was -Theodora, daughter of Andronicus the elder, and widow of Michael of -Bulgaria, who here is seen for the last time. - -The course of the long civil war need not be followed here. It opened -disastrously for Cantacuzenus. Anna, Cantacuzenus tells us, longed for -peace, and proposed that he should hold the chief power in the Empire, -though not wear the purple, and that his daughter Helena should marry -her son, the Emperor John. It would have been the best settlement, but -it did not suit the ambition of Apocaucus and the patriarch. Apocaucus -urged the patriarch to live in the palace and bribed Anna’s servants -to watch her day and night, in order to prevent her from communicating -with Cantacuzenus. Later Cantacuzenus visited the famous monks of Mount -Athos, and induced them to send a few of their community to plead -with Anna to arrest this shedding of Christian blood. But the monks -were intercepted by the patriarch, and converted to his view of the -situation, before they reached the Empress. - -After three years of indecisive warfare Apocaucus was assassinated. -He had at the beginning of the war filled the palace dungeons with -prisoners, and he augmented their number continually with nobles or -officials who ventured to dissent from his plans. In the summer of 1345 -he was building a new and formidable prison in the palace grounds, and -the prisoners looked with concern on the frowning edifice and readily -believed that he was going to inflict all kinds of atrocities on them. -One afternoon he went, without his usual company of guards, to see -how the work progressed, and imprudently entered the yard where the -prisoners were. One of them snatched a heavy piece of wood and felled -him, and the others, seizing the axes and tools that lay about, ended -his life and exhibited his head to the guards on the other side of the -wall. Anna was alarmed and perplexed, and allowed the wife of the dead -minister to take a fearful vengeance. The rowers of the fleet were -armed and discharged upon the prisoners, and it is said that about two -hundred of them were butchered. - -Cantacuzenus now sent fresh proposals of peace, which were approved by -the patriarch, and Anna made the grave and somewhat obscure blunder -of rejecting them. Gregoras says that she was jealous of Irene, but -Gregoras, for theological reasons which will appear presently, is not -generous to the Empress. It is possible that Cantacuzenus insisted on -retaining his crown. However that may be, the war continued for another -year, and began to turn in favour of Cantacuzenus, who now detached a -large body of Turks from the service of the Empress. Anna’s conduct, -in fact, now becomes weak and blundering. She quarrelled with the -patriarch, and allowed herself to be influenced by the meaner monks and -bishops who opposed him. Apocaucus had so completely relieved her of -the work of administration that she paid little attention to it after -his death, and, as a new heresy now entered Constantinople and won her -favour, she became absorbed in a theological quarrel, while her enemy -crept nearer to Constantinople. - -On 2nd February 1347 Anna convoked a large gathering of bishops and -monks at the Blachernæ palace. They met to judge and depose the -patriarch John, who opposed the new heresy. Its tenets do not concern -us, but, as it will complicate the story of the Empresses throughout -the chapter, we may say that Palamism, as it was called, had discovered -a plurality of “divinities” (in the sense of divine energies) in God, -and its opponents retorted that this was a return to Polytheism. -The discovery is said to have been made originally by some of the -contemplative monks on Mount Athos, whose quaint device for raising -themselves to a state of trance cannot with delicacy be described here. -On this second day of February, therefore, Anna listened with delight, -in her Blachernæ palace, to the heated discussion of the light which -was seen on Mount Thabor and other phases of the controversy. None of -the gifted seers were able to tell her that Cantacuzenus and his troops -were only a few miles away, and that he had already bribed some of her -soldiers to open the Golden Gate to him that very night. The patriarch -was deposed, and Anna and her bishops sat down to a festive banquet -and the making of “not very modest jokes,” says Gregoras, about their -late archbishop. They were alarmed for a moment by a messenger who -rushed in to say that Cantacuzenus and his army were approaching, but -Anna concluded that this was a ruse of the patriarch, and the banquet -continued merrily. - -She was awakened in the grey dawn the next morning to hear that -Cantacuzenus was master of the city. He had marched with a thousand -picked men by an unaccustomed route, had been admitted by the Golden -Gate at midnight, and was making for the palace. It was at once closed -and fortified, and such guards as there were took up a position in its -lower approaches. Anna had returned from the light on Mount Thabor to -a very vigorous concern about earthly things. Cantacuzenus sent to -her a proposal that she should share the imperial title with him; her -name would come first in announcements and acclamations, but the real -administration should be entrusted to him. She drove out his messengers -angrily and abusively, and sent her servants to raise the citizens -against him and bring over the Italian soldiers from Galata. There was -still a good deal of loyalty to her, though her conduct during the last -year had alienated many, but the troops routed her supporters and even -began to storm the palace. They were recalled by Cantacuzenus, who -then sent the bishops to persuade her to yield. Cantacuzenus behaved -with restraint and humanity in his hour of triumph. He was, we may -recall, a refined and cultivated noble, though his singular mingling of -ambition and moral pretentiousness invests his conduct, and especially -his words, with a repellent hypocrisy. Anna refused the mediation of -the clergy, but, in the miserable night which followed, she saw the -hopelessness of her position, called a council of her supporters, and -decided to make peace. The prisoners were set free, and the gates of -the palace thrown open. It is said that John, who was now a boy of -fifteen, strongly pleaded for peace and weakened the determination of -his mother. - -When Cantacuzenus entered the palace he found Anna and her sons -standing under a picture of the Virgin which adorned the hall. The -Empress was sullen and defiant, and probably expected some vindictive -action on the part of the victor, but that was never the way of the -silken Cantacuzenus. He venerated the sacred picture, kissed the -hand of the young Emperor, and swore on the Virgin that he had not, -and had never had, any intention of hurting the imperial family. A -general amnesty was granted, and the proposal to wed John and Helena -was renewed. It was agreed between them that Cantacuzenus should have -sole control of the Empire for ten years, and should relinquish it to -John on his twenty-fifth birthday. These conditions were singularly -moderate, and Cantacuzenus assures us that some of the troops could -hardly be persuaded to subscribe to the new oath when it was found -to include the name of John. Anna and John, moreover, were left in -possession of the best palace, that at Blachernæ, and Cantacuzenus -repaired one of the decaying palaces for himself and Irene, who was -summoned from Adrianople and graciously received at the gate by Anna. - -Thus two royal families settled down once more to an unstable peace on -the ruins of the once mighty Empire. The coronation of Cantacuzenus and -Irene, which followed on 13th May, served only to exhibit the poverty -and decay of Constantinople. St Sophia was partly in ruins from the -great earthquake of the previous year, and there was no money to repair -it. The ceremony had to be performed in the chapel at Blachernæ, and in -the banquet dishes of pewter and earthenware had to serve instead of -the opulent gold and silver plate of earlier times. A week later the -royal children--John was fifteen years old and Helena thirteen--were -married, and a glittering group of two Emperors and three Empresses -stood proudly on the balcony of the palace to receive the applause of -the dwindling population; but it was commonly known that the stones -which flashed from crown and mantle were almost all spurious, and that -the apparent golden trappings were merely gilded leather. The treasury -was empty; the nobility consisted, not of great lords of the land, but -salaried officials; and the Empire that had once spread, under the -Roman eagles, to the deserts of Arabia and the waters of the Euphrates -was now restricted, on the Asiatic side, to so narrow a strip of the -neighbouring coast that you could almost see from the ramparts of -Constantinople the victorious crescent gleaming in the sun. On the west -there still remained the greater part of what we now know as Turkey -and Greece, but they were exhausted by the unceasing ravages of Turk, -Servian and Bulgarian, and tens of thousands of Christian slaves passed -yearly into the harems and workshops of the East. - -In the midst of this desolation Cantacuzenus set up a Court of cheap -and showy and incompetent dignitaries. Irene’s two brothers, John and -Manuel, received the title of Sebastocrator, and were added to the -imposing processions and the list of pensionaries. Money was urgently -needed, and Cantacuzenus summoned to his palace all the wealthier -citizens and eloquently appealed to them to fill his treasury. They -refused to make the least donation. Cantacuzenus would have us admire -the restraint with which he declined to extort the money from them, -but we know that, if he shrewdly avoided violence, he did not scruple -to obtain money in other irregular ways. A few years afterwards the -Russian Church sent a large sum of money for the repairing of St -Sophia, and Gregoras tells us that the Emperor appropriated it for -the payment of his Turkish mercenaries. Two years later, again, when -another army of Turks had to be paid to defend his throne, he seized a -great quantity of the gold and silver vessels and jewels that remained -in the churches and monasteries. - -We may assume that Anna watched without concern the troubles that -now rained upon the head of the impolitic Emperor. In the year after -his coronation his son Michael was persuaded to rebel, and set up a -sovereignty over part of Thrace. Irene was sent to discuss the matter -with him--Gregoras gives us a six-page speech which she is supposed -to have made to him--and it ended in the father leaving his son in -possession, though without the imperial title. Anna’s supporters -naturally suggested that there had been collusion between Cantacuzenus -and Michael, though that is not at all certain. When Irene returned -from her mission, she was pained to learn that the plague had carried -off her younger son during her absence. Even greater was her pain, -however, the historian says, that her husband favoured the Palamite -heresy. Gregoras was one of the chief protagonists of orthodoxy against -the heretics, and it will give some idea of the superfluous confusion -that was brought upon the affairs of the distracted Empire if I simply -observe that some five hundred pages of the remainder of his chronicle -are devoted to the controversy. - -To this heretical taint Irene tearfully ascribed all the calamities -which affected her husband’s reign. He had hardly arranged matters in -Thrace, and was still detained by illness at Didymoteichus, when he -learned that the Genoese of Galata had burned the fleet which he had -laboriously collected money to build, and had attacked the capital. -The Genoese had for some time farmed the revenues--in plainer terms, -pocketed about four-fifths of the revenues--of Constantinople, and the -Emperor had endeavoured to lessen their profit. During his absence -they made a raid upon the shipping and the city, and Irene is said to -have shown great energy in directing the defence. For the next year -or two the Bulgarians and Servians ravaged his little Empire, and the -Turks, whom he hired to meet them, could be paid only by permission to -loot in their turn and carry off his subjects into slavery. In these -circumstances Cantacuzenus saw a tide of disaffection rising against -him, and the young Emperor John began to dream of independence. - -Writing years afterwards in his quiet monastic home, Cantacuzenus says -that Irene and he were weary of the unprofitable conflict and were both -disposed to abdicate and take the black robe; that only the recurrence -of trouble in the West and the danger to the Empire kept them “in the -world.” This statement is easily refuted by his conduct. He built, not -a monastery, but a stout citadel or fortress near the Golden Gate, -as if in expectation of the time when John would claim his Empire, -and hired a strong guard of Turkish and Spanish soldiers. Then when -the Servian outbreak in the west, of which he speaks, took place, he -insisted that John should accompany him. Anna vehemently protested. -The youth was too young to be left in Thessaly she said, meaning that -she distrusted the Emperor. Cantacuzenus smoothly replied that it was -necessary for her son’s protection; that the sultan, wrongly thinking -to oblige him, had sent a eunuch to cut the youth’s throat. Anna must -have felt that the eunuch, if he existed, would have an easier task -in Thessaly than in the Blachernæ palace, but Cantacuzenus refused -to yield, and John set out with him. John was now a good-looking and -popular, if a somewhat dissolute and entirely worthless, prince of -eighteen, and it would be dangerous to leave him in Constantinople. The -Genoese across the water were partisans of the Paleologi. - -In the course of the following year, 1351, Cantacuzenus returned -to attack the Genoese, with the aid of their mortal enemies, the -Venetians. As he seems to have intended from the beginning, he left -John in Thessalonica, with the young Empress Helena, but he was alarmed -and surprised in the following year to hear that the young Emperor -was corresponding with the Kral of Servia. Gregoras says that, under -pressure from the Kral, John engaged to divorce Helena and marry the -Kral’s sister. When Cantacuzenus heard this, he went with Anna into -the venerable chapel of the Virgin at Blachernæ, and swore that he -would resign the crown to John if he would abandon the Kral and bring -Helena to Constantinople. The oath was committed to writing, and Anna -herself conveyed it to Thessalonica. It says something for the singular -character of Cantacuzenus that they implicitly trusted his oath, and -the young couple returned to the capital. After a few weeks, however, -John distrusted his colleague and returned to Thrace with Helena. Her -father seems to have tried to detach her from John, but she protested, -Gregoras says, that she would “rather die with John than live with her -parents.” - -In return, apparently, for this fidelity John made a new compact with -the Kral and received an army without abandoning his wife. He at once -attacked Matthew, the Emperor’s son, in Adrianople, and let civil war -loose once more upon the surviving province of the Empire; if, indeed, -one can call “civil war” a contest in which hardly a single Greek -soldier was enlisted. For the sake of rival Byzantine ambitions Turk -fought Servian and Bulgarian on land, and Venetian fought Genoese at -sea, and the decrepit Empire sank into its last stage. - -The Empress Irene once more endeavoured to make peace between the -combatants. She went to Thrace and laid before the young Emperor a -politic and admirable scheme--admirable, at least, on the supposition -that Cantacuzenus is lying when he declares that he and Irene were -minded to enter a monastery, which would have been the best solution. -On the other hand, John does not command our sympathy and respect. In -three years’ time he would be twenty-five, and might have laid claim -to the throne with perfect right and more success. Irene proposed -that John and Matthew should divide the western territory, and that -Cantacuzenus should hold the remainder until his death. John refused -the terms, Irene returned to Court, and the Turks and Servians flew at -each other. - -It is only necessary to say that in a comparatively short time John -and Helena were flying on ships to the island of Tenedos, and Matthew -was declared Emperor. The unceasing pendulum of Byzantine Court life -had now thrust the young Empress Helena into obscurity, and brought a -young rival into prominence and hope of the succession. John and Helena -were declared to have forfeited the imperial title. Matthew and Irene -Paleologina (granddaughter of the elder Andronicus) were crowned in -1354. But we have hardly time to glance at the new Empress before the -pendulum swings back and Helena returns to the light and the throne. -Cantacuzenus was now detested by all in Constantinople. His heresy, -his broken oath, his feud with the Genoese, and the consistent record -of disaster during his reign, united almost every class against him. -Urgent appeals were made to John to come and displace him, and it was -not long before a few ships were placed at his disposal and, during an -absence of the Emperor, he descended on the capital. But Irene again -vigorously defended the cause of her husband, and, after sailing round -the walls, firing a few harmless volleys of abuse at the partisans of -the Emperor who smiled on the walls, and spending a night with the -Italians at Galata, John returned in dejection to his wife and child. -Then a quaint type of wealthy adventurer chanced to touch at the port -of Tenedos and confer with John, and he returned to power by one of the -most singular of adventures. - -One stormy night in December (1354), when the Emperor slept peacefully -in his palace, the soldiers who lived in the tower which guarded one of -the gates by the port were awakened by a heavy crash and loud cries for -help. They flung open the gate and descended the stairs, and faintly -perceived a few large vessels rolling in the heavy sea. The sailors -cried that one of their vessels, which were laden with jars of oil, had -been dashed against the walls, and the soldiers went to the water-edge -to help them to moor the vessels. Scores of armed men then rushed from -the holds, killed the guards, and occupied the tower; and before the -citizens could grasp what was happening, the enterprising Genoese had -lodged John in the tower, and were marching through the streets at -the head of two thousand men, crying “Long live the Emperor John!” -The citizens swarmed to the Hippodrome in the faint morning light, -repeating the cry, and Cantacuzenus was awakened to hear that his enemy -was in the city with an army. - -It is worth while giving the explanation of this remarkable change in -the fortunes of John and Helena. Their vigorous and resourceful ally -was a Genoese noble of some wealth, who, with a small fleet, had sailed -east in the hope of securing some fragments of the dismembered Empire. -John offered him the island of Lesbos and the hand of his sister Maria -if he would help him to gain the throne, and he consented. Two large -triremes (galleys with two banks of oars) and sixteen uniremes (with -one bank of oars) were not the kind of fleet one needed to carry -Constantinople by storm, but Francesco Gattilusio was a strategist. He -emptied the oil from the vessels on one of his boats, crept up to the -wall in the darkness, and bade the sailors fling the great jars against -the wall. This was the noise that awakened the warders of the tower by -the quay, and the stratagem succeeded as happily as in a romance. I may -add that John afterwards carried out his compact, and Gattilusio became -Prince of Lesbos and brother-in-law of the Emperor. - -Cantacuzenus did not venture from his palace. He explains that he -could easily have scattered the intruders, which is probably more true -than he knew at the time, but he conferred with Irene and they decided -that the time had come to enter a monastery. Gregoras says that he was -afraid to leave the palace, and, as he was isolated from his citadel -by the Golden Gate and would hardly know the strength of his opponent, -one prefers this explanation. He was by no means anxious to enter a -monastery. Drawing up his guards at the entrance to the palace, he -entered into negotiations with John and succeeded in getting a promise -that the imperial power would be divided. That solution, however, did -not please the people, and for several days he was assailed with abuse -and threats. He yielded to the “voice of God,” abdicated his dignity, -and, under the name of Joasaph, retired to the monastic world, to -write his flowing and elegant and mendacious chronicle of his times. -Irene was now forced to take the veil, and her robust personality -was converted into the black-robed figure of the royal nun Eugenia. -We do not know when she died, but some years later we find her, in -her monastery, guiding the education of her granddaughter, Theodora. -Theodora’s parents, Matthew and Irene, continued the civil war for two -or three years, but Matthew was then captured and was sent, with his -ex-Empress, to spend the remainder of their lives in the island to -which they had driven John and Helena. - -Helena had followed her victorious husband and, with warm and mutual -embraces, joined him at the palace. We do not know how long she lived -to enjoy her fortune. I find no further reference to her. Anna is not -mentioned further in the Byzantine chronicles, but a little more may be -gleaned about her from Italian writers. Du Cange quotes the Franciscan -historian, Luke Wadding, as saying that she died about the year 1350, -and her body was transferred for burial to the shrine of St Francis of -Assisi, for whom she had had a great veneration. I do not find this in -Wadding--the reference, at least, is wrong--but Wadding does in other -pages (at the years 1343 and 1349) refer to Anna. In 1343 she sent a -Franciscan monk from the convent at Pera to confer with the Pope in -regard to the union of the Latin and Greek Churches. It is clear that -she remained Latin at heart, and no doubt she had brought with her -from the West a veneration for the gentle saint of Assisi. Then the -civil war and the triumph of Cantacuzenus put an end for a time to the -project of union, but the correspondence was renewed in 1349. From a -reference to her in one of the Pope’s letters we may deduce that she -still lived in Constantinople in 1349, and it is the last reference. An -Italian writer says that she died in that year, but I am unable to find -in Wadding’s “Annales” the statement that she was buried at Assisi. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -THE LAST BYZANTINE EMPRESSES - - -A hundred years of life still awaited the Eastern Empire from the time -when John IV. returned to the throne, and half-a-dozen Empresses were -yet to play their varied parts on the imperial stage. Had any impartial -and sagacious observer reflected on the condition of the Empire at -the time, as we have described it, he would hardly have promised it -a new lease of one hundred years’ tenancy of its stricken domain. At -Constantinople, of course, no one foresaw the end. It is usually in -fairly robust, not in really dying, civilizations that we find an -apprehension of impending ruin: as in France and England to-day. But -the Byzantine Empire had shrunk to such proportions, the Turks were -closing round its capital with such steady advance, and there was so -little enlightenment in its mind, or real patriotism in its heart, -that it seemed to be very near the end. No miracle was wrought in its -favour, but it was saved for a time by one of the accidents of human -history. The Tartars or Moguls attained the height of their power under -the famous Timour, and the ambition of the Turk was distracted and -enfeebled. - -There should be a peculiar interest in studying the features of the -Empresses who occupy the familiar palaces during this hundred years’ -grace of the doomed civilization. We are so accustomed to finding the -character of a period reflected in the character of the Empresses that -the last representatives of the imperial line should afford us an -instructive insight into the final life-phase of a civilization. The -idea has become somewhat popular that nations grow old, as individuals -do, and die of loss of vitality; and that in their last years they pass -into singular convulsions or eccentricities. We shall, unfortunately, -be impeded in this interesting study by the scantiness of the records. -The ample chronicles of Cantacuzenus and his theological rival close, -and two or three confused and ill-proportioned writers alone preserve -for us a fragmentary record of the last hundred years. As in all such -meagre records, the story of the women suffers most. Still, enough is -said to give us an adequate idea of the remaining Empresses and their -times; and it may be said in a word that we find no convulsions, or -eccentricities, or increasing debility of individuals, but the familiar -and unfortunate Byzantine character pursuing its selfish ambitions -and passions until the great broom of the Turk sweeps the degenerate -successors of the Romans for ever out of the East. - -John IV., now a young man of twenty-five, occupies the throne for -nearly forty years out of the remaining century, but this reign is -almost barren of interest for us, and must be treated only as an -introduction of his children. Helena had brought with her from Tenedos -a young boy named Andronicus, and two brothers, Manuel and Theodore, -were added in the course of time to the family. That is all that we -find recorded of the Empress Helena. She may have died early in her -husband’s reign, though the fact that he does not marry again until old -age, suggests, in the case of such a man, that she lived to witness -his amours and his political ineptitude. The interest passes to her -children. - -Andronicus, a pretty and spoiled boy, was betrothed in his tenth -year to Maria, daughter of Alexander of Trebizond, who was about the -same age when she became the Empress-elect. However, the character -of Andronicus was to defraud her of the promise of the crown. We do -not know in what year they were married, but it must have been before -1369, when John went to Italy, leaving Constantinople in charge of -Andronicus. The Turks were again advancing, and John could see no -escape except with the assistance of the Latins. He first visited -Venice, and received a most flattering welcome, but no material help. -Borrowing a sum of money from Venetian bankers, he went on to Rome -and opened negotiations with the Vatican. It seemed to the Vatican -an excellent opportunity to convince the Greeks that the Holy Ghost -did proceed from _both_ the Father and the Son--the chief dogmatical -point at issue between the two Churches--and John hurriedly embraced -that dogma, and would have embraced any number of dogmas, in the hope -of being rewarded with an army. The reward was very meagre, however, -and, after trying a few more princes with no more success, he returned -to Venice to re-embark for the East. Then the Venetian moneylenders -detained his imperial person as a common debtor, and he appealed to -Andronicus to seize sufficient Church treasure to pay the debt. - -Andronicus was enjoying his short spell of power over the shrunken -treasury during his father’s absence, and the demand was irksome. He -sent word to Venice that the clergy declined to allow him to seize -their chalices and reliquaries, and that, to his regret, he saw no -way of delivering his father from the debtors’ prison. He was a true -Paleologus: a selfish voluptuary, eager only to have the sole right -to the keys of the treasury. His younger brother Manuel, however, -professed indignation, zealously gathered funds to meet the debt, and -hastened to Venice to release his father. He _may_ have been prompted -by a sincere piety; but the natural effect of his action was that, -when John returned dolefully to the city, Manuel began to wear purple -boots, and the chances of Andronicus and Maria occupying the throne -became slender. It appeared that, the less the Empire became, the -fiercer was the struggle for it. The Turks had already reached and -taken Adrianople, and Thessalonica was now the only large town in -the possession of the Empire besides the capital. A few years later -Thessalonica went. Manuel, who governed it, and was a youth of spirit -and ambition, made a futile effort to break loose of the Turks. He was -pardoned by the Sultan Murad, but he lost Thessalonica. - -After the return of John the pressure of the Turks had been evaded -by a voluntary subjection, and the Emperor of Constantinople was now -a vassal of the Sultan, holding, under his sovereign lord the Turk, -the city itself and a few thousand square miles of poverty-stricken -territory to the west of the capital. He was compelled to do homage, -and to supply a hundred soldiers, captained by one of his sons, -whenever the Sultan pleased. There was, however, still a fair revenue -from such sources as trade and port duties, and John contrived to -excite the envy of his elder son by the luxurious dinners, the choice -wines and the pretty dancing-girls, which he could still afford to -enjoy. It is enough to say that John IV., in his desolate little -Empire, contracted a very severe gout, and Andronicus was not unwilling -to run the same risk. - -When, therefore, John was summoned to join the Sultan’s army in Asia, -and Andronicus was once more left in charge, the foolish and egoistical -youth made another effort to secure his father’s income. Sultan Murad -had left his son Saudgi in charge of his European possessions, and -the two princes became close friends. In 1376 the news reached the -Sultan that they had disowned their fathers and proclaimed themselves -independent sovereigns. The unhappy John was at once suspected of -collusion, though the Sultan came in time to realize that John was not -at all willing to leave the palace to his son until he was compelled -to do so. The conspiracy was soon settled. As the Sultan’s troops -approached, the two youths threw themselves in Didymoteichus, but -they were compelled to surrender. Murad put out the eyes of Saudgi, -and sent Andronicus to his father with orders to inflict the same -punishment on him, under pain of war. John directed that his sight -should be destroyed by boiling vinegar, and Andronicus was confined in -a tower near the Blachernæ palace. His son, a boy of tender years, was -punished in the same way, and Maria sadly joined them in the dreary -tower. - -For two years Andronicus and Maria lamented their evil fortune in -the tower of Anemas. In the course of time it had appeared that the -blinding was not complete; Andronicus recovered the use of one eye, and -his son was merely afflicted with a squint. The Sultan Murad, moreover, -died, and Constantinople was not at all extravagantly devoted to the -ruling monarch. Andronicus therefore found a means of communicating -with the Genoese at Galata, and, with their aid, the family were -stealthily delivered from the tower and taken across the water. During -his brief rebellion Andronicus had promised the island of Tenedos to -the Genoese in return for their help, and they had, of course, no -hope of getting it from John. From Galata Andronicus made his way to -the camp of the new Sultan, and promised him several hundred pounds -of gold a year if he would lend him an army with which to attack his -father. The Turk had, as we may see presently, a large and expensive -establishment to maintain, and he accepted the bargain. Of moral or -decent feeling there seemed to be a complete absence at the time in -all parties. The troops were put under the command of the one-eyed -fugitive, and he drew cautiously near the city. - -He had the good fortune to find John and Manuel, quite unsuspicious -of his approach, in a suburban palace, and the two, together with the -younger brother Theodore, were promptly lodged in the tower of Anemas, -from which Andronicus had escaped. The more thoroughgoing Sultan urged -Andronicus to put them to death, but such conduct did not become a -Christian monarch. They were entrusted to the care of a corps of -Bulgarian guards, and Andronicus and Maria mounted the gilded thrones. -But their tenure did not last more than two or three years, and we may -close the series of petty revolutions in a few words. - -John and Manuel communicated with the Venetians and offered _them_ the -island of Tenedos--one of the few fragments of Empire that a Byzantine -ruler might still sell for a tawdry crown--if they would displace -Andronicus. The plot was detected in time, and the Venetians were -repulsed; though they consoled themselves with taking Tenedos. In the -third year of imprisonment, however, the Bulgarian guards were duped by -a half-witted servant named Angel, and nicknamed Devil or Devilangel, -and John and his sons escaped to Scutari and opened in their turn -a deal with the Sultan. They offered him twice the sum offered by -Andronicus. He genially sent an officer to learn _which_ monarch the -people really did prefer, and would defend, and was informed that -Manuel was the favourite. Lest one should be disposed to think Manuel -much better than the rest of the family, I may emphasize that Manuel -had offered a vast sum of money out of the poor revenue of the city, -and had promised to lead out two thousand troops every spring in the -service of the Turk, if the crown were conferred on him. It was a -sordid squabble for the last coppers of the beggared city, and it -ended in a compromise. John was to occupy the throne; Andronicus and -his son to be his heirs. A more or less royal residence was found for -Andronicus and Maria at Selymbria, and on the revenues of that and a -few other towns they contrived to maintain a tolerable state. - -As soon as Andronicus had gone John crowned Manuel, in defiance of -the treaty, and sought a fitting wife for him; and his search had the -effect of bringing one more pathetic young Empress upon the scene. -John was now in his sixth decade of life, a prematurely aged and very -gouty man, hardly able to stand erect, but his sensuous nature was -not extinct. He sent to Trebizond to ask Manuel for the daughter of -the Emperor Alexis, and Eudocia Comnena, the young widow of a Turkish -noble, proved to be so beautiful that the veteran libertine decided to -marry her himself. He was not an old man; Du Cange puts the marriage, -with some reason, about the year 1380, when John would be fifty-one -years old. But he is described by the indignant chronicler as worn with -debauch and tottering with gout, and we must think lightly of the lady -who could accept his hand in order to share his crown--the crown of -imitation diamonds. We have, however, no direct knowledge of Eudocia. -She shared John’s imperial poverty for ten years, and disappeared at -his death. We are disposed to suspect her influence when we find John, -in his old age, beginning to restore the fortifications of the city in -order to prepare for the last conflict with the Turk. Sultan Bayezid -suddenly called on Manuel to appear at his Court, and then ordered John -to destroy the two marble towers he had built beside the Golden Gate, -or he would put out the eyes of Manuel. The old Emperor obeyed, and -wearily lay down to die (1391). - -Andronicus had died before his father, and, by the treaty of 1381, -the crown should pass to his son John. But Manuel had been crowned -in 1384, and he determined to seize the purple. He was still in the -Court of Bayezid when the news of his father’s death came. The Turkish -monarchs now had their capital at Brusa (originally Prusa), a town -about sixty miles from Constantinople across the Sea of Marmora, which -had been famed for some centuries as a pleasure and health resort on -account of its warm springs. Here the later sultans had gathered all -the luxury which would in an earlier age have passed to Constantinople. -No imitation stones flashed from the turban or the scimitar of the -Sultan and his nobles, for he had great stores of emeralds, rubies and -diamonds; a large park sheltered curious beasts and birds from all -parts of the known world; and the quiet gardens and gorgeous halls were -enlivened by the forced song of the most beautiful boys and women that -Greece, Servia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and even more distant Christian -countries could supply. On this sybaritic paradise the dreaded Timour -was to fall in a few years, but in 1391 the Tartars still lingered in -the wilds, and the Turk dreamed of world-dominion. Manuel was one -mean vassal among a crowd, the captain of a hundred feudal soldiers, -in this glittering Court, and he decided to fly to Constantinople and -shut himself behind its still formidable walls. They proved worthy of -his trust, and for several years, though to the great suffering of the -inhabitants, Manuel defied the Sultan. - -During the siege, apparently, Manuel married, so that an Empress shared -the straits of the long and terrible siege. She was Irene (or Helene), -the daughter of Constantine Dragases, who governed a part of Macedonia. -Irene is rarely mentioned in the scrappy and contradictory chronicles -of the time, but she is one of the few of whom we have a pictorial -representation. The miniature--found in a manuscript of the works of -Denis, the so-called Areopagite--is a very quaint, though not very -instructive, picture of Irene and Manuel and their two sons, but he -would be a bold physiognomist who would venture to make a text of the -flat and conventional features of a Byzantine portrait. Her experience -of Byzantine life was dreary. During nearly seven or eight years -(including the brief respite) the Turks swarmed round the walls of -Constantinople, and were only prevented by their lack of powerful rams -and slings--to say nothing of that new implement called a cannon, which -was just entering European warfare--from penetrating. The great areas -of desolation within the walls became more desolate, and the scanty -supplies of food sold at appalling prices. With the Sultan outside -could be seen John, the son of Andronicus, whom Bayezid affected to -consider the lawful Emperor, and, although Manuel was a brave and -humane ruler, the weary citizens were ready to acclaim John. But Manuel -received the aid of Marshal de Boucicault and two thousand men, as well -as a fleet of Venetians and Genoese, and held out stoutly until, at the -close of 1399, the appearance of Timour the Tartar in the rear of the -Sultan persuaded him to make peace. John was admitted as co-Emperor, -and an effort was made to restore the stricken city.[35] - -Manuel was the finest of the later Paleologi, and, although we cannot -admire many of the steps he took to attain power, he made an excellent -effort to use it for the restoration of the Empire. It seemed to him -that his hope lay in enlisting the interest of the West against the -infidel, and he set out at once with Irene and her two children. -He left Irene in Greece, however, with his brother Theodore and -Bartholomæa, and thus no Byzantine Empress was ever seen farther west -than Greece. Manuel took ship to Italy, where very little was to be -obtained, went to Paris, where he found Charles VI. insane, and even -crossed the sea to the little island which had once sent so many -Varangians to Constantinople. This visit to England induces one of -the later Byzantine chroniclers (Chalcocondylas) to tell his readers -something of that country, and we are interested to learn that, in -the days of Henry IV., Englishmen shared their wives in common when -they travelled, and held it their first duty to offer their wives to -visitors; but he adds that London is already the greatest city of the -West, though the strange island produces no wine and its inhabitants -speak a most peculiar language. - -Manuel obtained little money and few volunteers, and was returning -in dejection when he heard that Timour had routed the Turks. Only -a few years before Bayezid had received legates from Timour in his -palace at Brusa. He had disdainfully shaved them and sent them back -to their barbaric master. Then the Tartars had swept over Asia Minor, -scattered all the pretty boys and ladies of the Brusa pleasance, -and compelled John of Constantinople to transfer his alliance from -Bayezid to himself. Manuel confirmed the vassalage on his return, but -he sent John into exile and set about restoring his Empire while -the giants wore down each other’s strength. But I pass over the next -decade, during which the internal troubles of the Turks gave Manuel an -opportunity to reform and reconstruct. Our historian, Finlay, speaks -somewhat contemptuously of his work, and, able and well-intentioned as -Manuel was, it may be admitted that the work was too vast for him. In -any case we lose sight of Irene for several decades, after the return -of Manuel in 1405, and will pass at once to the next and, as far as we -know, last Empress of Constantinople. - -The introduction of Maria of Trebizond is preceded by some romantic -adventures in the private life of the Court, of which the chroniclers -give us a fairly ample account. Irene had six sons, of whom the eldest, -John, married the daughter of the Grand Duke of Moscow in the year -1414. He was already twenty-four years old, and of irregular life, but -the hands of the princesses and princes of Byzantium were no longer -sought in the Courts of the world. Anna was a child of eleven years, -and we may assume that John remained with his mistresses until, three -years later, Anna was carried off by the plague. Again there seems -to have been some difficulty in finding a wife for the heir to the -throne, but in or about the year 1420 legates were sent to Italy, and -they returned with two eligible young ladies. Cleope, the beautiful -and gifted daughter of Count Malatesta of Rimini, was married to -Irene’s second son, Theodore, and went to spend an unhappy life with -that restless prince in Lacedæmonia. For John the legates had brought -Sophia, daughter of the Marquis of Montferrat, and she and her husband -at once received the imperial title. - -The appearance of Sophia of Montferrat on the imperial stage was brief -and eventful. She was a tall and very graceful young woman, with -golden hair that fell to her feet, a beautiful neck and broad round -shoulders, fine arms, and hands and fingers “like crystal,” says the -chronicler. But nature had spoiled these many perfections by misshaping -her nose and giving a very careless finish to her eyes and eyebrows. -John disliked her, kept himself coldly aloof from her, and pressed -his father to send her back to Montferrat. A more chatty chronicler, -however, gives a more serious reason for John’s dislike. Sophia had -been as virtuous as she was beautiful until she came to Constantinople, -but, whether it was the taint in the atmosphere of the Court (most of -the Paleologi have natural children) or the example of her husband, -she quickly lapsed. There was a natural son of her husband about the -Court, and this youth she incited into a most unnatural relation. A -maid of the Court caught them _in flagrante delicto_ and told her -lover; and the lover informed John. By making a hole in the wall of the -bedroom John convinced himself of the truth of the story and was very -indignant. It may be stated on behalf of Sophia that, when John spoke -of the indignity to one of the Court jesters, he was reminded that he -had himself some time before stolen his son’s mistress; it is therefore -not impossible that the seduction was on the side of the youth and had -a vindictive character. - -Such was the kind of life witnessed in the last ruins of the Eastern -Empire. John insisted that Sophia must go home; Manuel, possibly -conscious of the difficulty of finding alliances, was reluctant to send -her. Sophia found her position intolerable, however, and decided to run -away, with the aid of the Genoese of Galata. They moored a galley at -the foot of the imperial gardens, and Sophia, pretending to go for a -stroll in the garden with her Italian maids and young courtiers, walked -to the quay and was shipped over the water to Pera before her flight -became known. It was published in the city the next day, and there -was much buckling of arms and preparing of boats to avenge this last -outrage of the hated Genoese. Manuel was, however, now overshadowed by -his son, and Sophia was permitted to depart quietly for her home. The -chronicler adds that she was received with great honour and rejoicing -at Montferrat, and ended her days in a nunnery. - -The date of Sophia’s flight and of John’s third marriage is difficult -to determine. The plainest reading of the contradictory chronicles is -that the trouble occurred in the last year of Manuel’s reign and the -flight took place a month after his death, but this is inconsistent -with the express declaration that the old Emperor intervened in the -dispute. Manuel died on 25th July 1425. For some years the ambition -of the Turk, who had quickly recovered from the heavy blows dealt -by Timour, had fully revived and had given him great anxiety. A -young Sultan, Murad II., had succeeded to the throne, and Manuel had -imprudently recognized a pretender to the succession. When the young -Sultan vigorously took the field, hanged the pretender, and drew up -under the walls of Constantinople, Manuel, now a feeble old man of -seventy-five, left the direction of affairs to John, and retired to -pursue that ardent study of the Scriptures which absorbed him in his -later years. - -John abjectly apologized, but the angry Sultan ranged his machines -against the walls and proceeded to batter them. He was drawn off for -a time by the strategy of John, who had the Sultan’s brother conveyed -to Brusa and set up as Sultan, but Murad returned more angry than -ever, and one of the last earthly sounds to catch the ear of the aged -Manuel was the roar of the first cannons that seem to have appeared at -Constantinople. The diffusion of knowledge at the time may be gathered -from the fact that one of the most learned of the chroniclers, in -discussing these “bombards,” observes that he does not think they are -of very ancient origin. Before the end of the siege Manuel was warned -by an attack of apoplexy that his death was near. He donned the black -robe, became plain Brother Matthew, and died two days--not two years, -as Finlay says--afterwards, at the age of seventy-seven. Irene also -then retired from the world and became the nun Hypomene, whom we shall -later find endeavouring to settle the quarrels of her selfish children. -She remained “mistress” (_despoine_) of the Empire and watched its slow -decay with concern. - -John was able, after the death of his father, to obtain peace from the -Sultan at the price of a heavy annual subsidy, and the Empire entered -upon its last quarter of a century of melancholy decay. Long years -of effort had taught the sultans that their siege engines were not -powerful enough to crack the heavy shell in which earlier Emperors had -enclosed the city, and they were content to hold it in vassalage and -draw a large tribute from its sinking revenue. The time had gone by for -the last serious effort to save the Empire. Its trade had passed to -the Italians, and of the provinces from which it had so long extorted -its rich supply of gold there now remained only a few towns to the -west of Constantinople, a part of the Peloponnesus, and Thessalonica -(which would soon be sold to Venice for fifty thousand gold coins). The -metropolis, therefore, continued to shrink within its eighteen-mile -enclosure, and, as a severe pestilence fell on the inhabitants for the -last time in 1431, they were reduced to something like one hundred -thousand, instead of the million they had once been. - -It was over this dismal little Empire that the last Empress, Maria -of Trebizond, was called to preside. Whether the flight of Sophia -came before or after the death of Manuel, John V., who succeeded -his father, soon found it necessary to seek a bride. He married, -in 1427, the daughter of Alexis of Trebizond, a handsome woman of -excellent character, and we are fortunate enough to have a short -description, from the pen of a French knight, of Maria and her desolate -surroundings. Bertrandon de la Brocquière made a pilgrimage to the Holy -Land, and returned through Constantinople in the year 1432. The plague -had ravaged it in the previous year, and Bertrandon sympathetically -refers to the broad spaces of ruin that half filled the enclosure -within the walls. He notes that the Greeks are still busy with their -processions, religious and imperial, and that they still cherish in -their churches such important relics as the pillar at which Christ was -scourged, the board on which his body was laid out, the gridiron on -which St Lawrence had been martyred, and the stone on which Abraham had -offered food to his angel visitors. Apparently the credentials of these -relics had not been imposing enough to convince Western purchasers, -indulgent as they were.[36] - -When the knight heard that the Empress was about to proceed to St -Sophia, and on to the Blachernæ palace, he went to the square to see -the procession. We know what the spectacle would have been at an -earlier date. First would come a corps of Excubitors or Varangians, -with shining axes and gold accoutrements, clearing a way through the -crowd. Then a regiment of pale-faced eunuchs, their leaders dressed -in white silk and glittering with jewels, would precede a large body -of maids and dames, from foreign slaves to the greatest ladies of the -Empire, more superbly dressed than most of the queens of Europe. And -lastly would come the gold-plated, gem-encrusted litter, drawn by four -white horses, possibly with one of the highest nobles in Europe at the -rein of each, the Empress sitting stiffly in her gold-cloth tunic, -over which spread the mantle of purple silk with deep embroidered -edges, and, if it were a solemn occasion, a massive domed crown on her -head, from which large diamonds and pearls fell in long chains to her -shoulders. Very different was the spectacle witnessed by Bertrandon de -la Brocquière. Maria’s suite consisted of two ladies, three eunuchs, -and three aged ministers. With this poor escort she was to drive the -several miles of road to the Blachernæ palace. She wore a high hat -(probably a silk-covered mitre) with three golden plumes, and she had -broad flat rings, set with a few jewels, in her ears. She was young -and fair; “I should not,” says the pilgrim, “have had a fault to find -with her had she not been painted, and assuredly she had not any need -of it.” The paint seems to have been the one surviving portion of the -luxurious inheritance of the Empresses of Constantinople. - -Maria was a woman of tame and mediocre, if faultless, character, and, -as her husband was weak and incompetent, the miserable Empire lay -helplessly awaiting the end. Patriotism was an extinct virtue. “The -absence of truth, honour and patriotism,” says Finlay, “among the -Greek aristocracy during the last century of the Eastern Empire is -almost without a parallel in history.” The Western Empire had, even in -its last years, had its Symmachus, its Prætextatus and its Flavianus. -Irene’s sons could do no more than quarrel for their selfish interests -in the ruins. Andronicus, who had charge of Thessalonica, which was -restored to the Greeks for a time, sold it to Venice, and went to enjoy -his fortune in the Peloponnesus. In that last fragment of the Empire -Theodore and Constantine were on the verge of civil war owing to the -clash of their petty ambitions. There seemed to be no resource in the -East, and John, leaving the city in charge of his wife and mother, went -to make a last appeal to his fellow-Christians of the West to stem the -Mohammedan tide. It was now clear that the Greek Church would, as the -price of assistance, have to surrender its independence to the papacy, -and John took with him the patriarch and his bishops. - -It may be read in history how, at the Councils of Ferrara (1438) and -Florence (1439), the Greek bishops abandoned the positions they had -fiercely maintained for so many centuries against the Western Church -and, with one exception, signed the Roman claims. I will add from -the Byzantine writers only that, whatever arguments were discussed -in open Council, and however pressing the need of the Empire, it was -a secret and generous payment of gold to the Byzantine bishops which -finally convinced them. They bargained, like Syrian pedlars, for their -signature. It may also be read in history how John returned in deep -dejection to his mother. Instead of the promised fleet, the Pope had -given him only two galleys and three hundred men and a very moderate -sum of money. His wife, Maria, had died during his absence; the Sultan -was pressing for an explanation of this visit to Italy; and the people -and lower clergy of Constantinople were infuriated at the surrender of -their spiritual independence, and were now treacherously joined by the -corrupt bishops, who had signed the decrees. John wearily sustained the -attack, assuring the Sultan that he had visited Italy only in order to -discuss certain details of the Christian faith, and secretly pressing -the Pope and the Western monarchs to fulfil their promises. - -Hypomene, now an aged and venerable lady, sadly watched the struggle of -her sons, and endeavoured to curb their selfish tempers. Demetrius, her -youngest son, recollected that he, unlike John, had been “born in the -Porphyra,” and disputed the shaking throne of his brother. He gathered -about him a ragged army of Turks and looted whatever was left of the -suburbs beyond the walls, until his force melted away on account of the -poverty of the plunder, and he consented to be reconciled. Theodore, -the second son, complained that he had not enough income to maintain -his state in the town of Selymbria, which he governed, and he demanded -a share of John’s. It was refused, and he in turn was about to lead -troops against the capital when John, in his fifty-eighth year, was -removed by a greater power (31st October 1448) from the scene of his -troubles. - -No one even now suspected that the next Emperor would be the last--that -in five years the crescent would glitter over the imperial palaces--and -the struggle for the throne broke out afresh. Demetrius alone was -in the city when John died, and he noisily renewed his claim to the -purple, but his character was too well known for him to find serious -adherents. His mother united with the citizens in preventing him -from succeeding, and they sent legates to ask the Sultan to allow -Constantine, the ablest of the brothers, to be crowned. He had -lately been opposed to the Sultan, but permission was given, and to -his “despotate” at Sparta the legates were sent with the imperial -ensigns. Constantinople did not even enjoy a last coronation, as the -new Emperor was crowned at Sparta (6th January 1449) and would not -have the ceremony repeated. He favoured the union of the Churches. He -reached Constantinople in March, and the royal brothers gathered in -the presence of Hypomene and such nobles as Constantinople could still -boast to swear resonant oaths of peace and loyalty. - -Constantine had been twice married and widowed when, in his early -forties, he ascended the throne. His first wife, Theodora, daughter -of the Count of Tocco, had died in 1429; his second wife, Catharine, -daughter of Notaras Paleologus, had died in 1443, two years after her -marriage. There were no children of either marriage, and Constantine -made it one of his first duties to provide a third wife and an heir to -the throne. The historian Phrantzes was entrusted with this delicate -mission, and he set out from Constantinople with an escort which, -it was thought, would impress the King of Iberia and the Emperor of -Trebizond, to whom he was sent. It was, as he describes it, a weird -mixture of monks, musicians and medical men; their baggage consisted -mainly of musical instruments, instead of the superb robes and plate -that an earlier escort might have taken, and Phrantzes says that -they did impress and astonish the foreign Courts. But they were -unfortunately wrecked on the way to Iberia, a country between the -Black Sea and the Caspian, and seem to have been detained for nearly -two years by lack of funds; and they then discovered that the King of -Iberia expected a gift _for_ his daughter, instead of presenting one -_with_ her, and returned unsuccessful to Constantinople. - -In the meantime--apparently on 23rd March 1450--Hypomene had brought -to a close her long and troubled life. With her death the series of -Empresses of Constantinople comes to an end, but their story cannot be -intelligibly concluded without a glance at the great catastrophe which, -three years later, swept away the tottering thrones and made an end of -Christian Byzantium. - -The Sultan Murad II., who had so long looked with indulgent eye on the -remnant of the Byzantine Empire, died in 1451. His son and successor, -Mohammed II., was a young man of twenty-one years: a very able, highly -cultivated and extremely ambitious young prince. To him the existence -of this Christian island, the city of Constantinople, in the ocean of -Mohammedan conquest was an intolerable anomaly. The Turks had long -since carried the crescent over what we now call Turkey in Europe, and -it was only by sea that Constantinople could communicate directly with -the other Christian powers. To put an end to this Christian avenue into -the heart of his dominion and make the great city the capital of the -Mohammedan world was the early ambition of Mohammed II. Probably every -sultan for a hundred years or more had desired this, but their siege -machinery had hitherto proved incapable of shattering the stout old -walls of that city. - -Constantine XI. underrated the young Sultan, and very soon gave him a -pretext for an attack. Mohammed had signed a truce with the Hungarians, -and gone to settle certain disturbances in his Asiatic dominions, when -he received a most insolent and offensive message from Constantinople. -He must at once increase the pension of Prince Orkhan (the nephew of -Suleiman, then living in retirement at Constantinople), or else the -Greeks will consider Orkhan’s claim to the Turkish throne. It was the -last blunder of the Paleologi. Mohammed courteously heard and dismissed -the legates, and proceeded to pacify his Asiatic province. Constantine -had grossly failed to appreciate the young Sultan’s character. After -his coronation at Adrianople his Christian vassals--the Emperors of -Trebizond and Constantinople, the Duke of Athens, etc.--had hastened -to do homage, and had seen only an accomplished, amiable and, in -private life, vicious young man, from whom they had little to fear. - -Shortly afterwards the Court at Constantinople was alarmed to hear that -a large army of Turkish workmen had arrived at a spot on the Asiatic -coast only five miles from the city, and were, with great rapidity, -building a powerful fort which would command the entrance to the Black -Sea. Constantine sent a protest; Mohammed disdainfully replied that he -would do as he liked in his own dominions. In time the Turkish soldiers -of the district fell to quarrels with Constantine’s subjects, and the -Emperor, ordering the gates of the city to be closed, demanded some -recompense. Mohammed at once declared war, and went to Adrianople to -concentrate his forces and gather a more powerful armament than his -predecessors had used. The value of powder was now realized, and, -although they were crude objects of only moderate effectiveness, -immense cannons, which could throw stone balls weighing more than a -hundred pounds, were associated with the old rams and slings and towers. - -Constantine quickly realized the gravity of his position, and -made every effort to patch the fortifications, enlist troops and -provision the town. An urgent appeal was sent to Italy, and hundreds -of volunteers and adventurers were attracted; though the Pope was -still mainly concerned about the recognition of his supremacy, and -sent a cardinal who distracted the doomed city with fierce religious -controversy. When the hour came, Constantine found that barely six -thousand Greeks could be induced to enlist in the last defence of their -city, and these, with other two or three thousand Italians, had to hold -fifteen miles of wall, with many gates, against seventy thousand Turks -and three hundred vessels. - -On 12th December 1452 the church of St Sophia rang with its last -great Christian celebration, the solemn union of the Latin and Greek -Churches, the price of that secular aid which was destined never to -arrive. Four months later the vanguard of the Turks was descried from -the walls, and day by day the endless regiments and engines of attack -and the monstrous cannons came from the line of the horizon and took up -their stations. For a time the spirits of the besieged were maintained -by those little successes which so often precede a great catastrophe. -Four large Italian ships had fought their way through the Turkish -fleet and brought provisions: Mohammed’s biggest gun had burst: a -general attack of the enemy had been repulsed. But the incessant rain -of projectiles made at last a ghastly breach in the stout wall, and -on 29th May, before dawn, the dreaded Janissaries flung themselves at -the defenders. The last of the Paleologi died like a man. Later in the -day the victorious Turks swept over his body and the bodies of some -thousands of his people, and the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire -was swallowed up in the Mohammedan tide. And the relics of its culture -passed westward and, meeting and blending with the humanism of the -later Middle Ages, begot the new man and new woman of the Renaissance, -the heralds of modern times. - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] Readers of Professor Bury’s incomplete “History of the Later -Roman Empire” may wonder that I continue to use the phrase “Byzantine -Empire” after Bury’s protest against that phrase. But it seems to me -that if “Roman Empire” means an Empire centred in Rome, “Byzantine -Empire” is the most congruous name for a dominion that centres in -ancient Byzantium and has, during the far greater part of its story, no -connexion whatever with Rome. Most historians continue to speak of it -as Byzantine. - -[2] See, especially, J. Ebersolt, “Le Grand Palais de Constantinople.” -1910. - -[3] There was no hereditary right to the throne in the Roman Empire, -though a father generally contrived to secure it for his son. “Born in -the purple” is, by the way, an inaccurate description of the imperial -children, though not uncommon. They were “born in the Porphyra,” or -porphyry-lined palace; but, as the Greek word _porphura_ properly means -“purple,” it is mistranslated at times. There are those who maintain -that the imperial colour was rather red than what we know as purple. - -[4] The date of the marriage is much disputed. Chroniclers assign it to -various years, and, when the son of Ariadne and Zeno mounts the throne, -he is variously described as an infant, a boy of seven, and a youth of -seventeen. Professor Bury puts the marriage in 458 or 459. I prefer -the estimate of Tillemont, that it took place in 468, the year of the -disgrace of Basiliscus. - -[5] It is a popular fallacy, as we shall frequently see, that the -Romans had abandoned these bloody spectacles in the days of Honorius. - -[6] See, especially, the work of Débidour, “L’Impératrice Théodora,” -and a summary and approval of Débidour’s arguments in an article by -Mr Mallett in _The English Historical Review_, January 1887. Mr W. G. -Holmes’s learned work, “The Age of Justinian and Theodora” (2 vols., -1907), is much too meagre in its references to Theodora. - -[7] See the Latin translation (“Commentarii de Beatis Orientalibus”) by -Douwen and Land of this Syriac work (Amsterdam, 1889). John also speaks -of her as “a most astute woman,” and, although his work teems with the -immense services done to his Church by Theodora, he never mentions her -with more than stiff and formal respect. - -[8] It is necessary to explain to the unfamiliar the “factions” -of the Hippodrome. In the chariot contests the rival drivers were -distinguished by their colours: white, red, blue and green. The white -and red were of little account, but the blue and green divided the -populace of Constantinople into bitterly hostile parties or “factions.” -These parties were almost in the nature of sporting clubs: they were -publicly recognized, and had their own premises, chariots, beasts, -officers, etc. We shall find the fate of dynasties almost turning at -times on the struggle of the “blues” and “greens.” - -[9] This conversation (preserved in Theophanes) is sometimes described -as a free discharge of invectives against Justinian, and surprise is -expressed that the character of his wife is not included. The dialogue -is not at all a general attack on Justinian. It is, for the most part, -a sober and earnest demand of justice, and contains only one insulting -line--possibly an isolated cry of some more impetuous member of the -party. - -[10] I have passed in silence an earlier charge against Theodora -in the “Anecdotes.” The Gothic queen Amalasuntha had appealed to -Justinian, and Theodora is said to have sent an officer to cause her -to be assassinated, lest her great beauty should seduce the Emperor. -Procopius gives a different version of the murder of Amalasuntha in his -“Gothic War,” and we have no serious reason to involve Theodora. - -[11] Shorthand (_notatio_) was, of course, familiar to the Romans and -daily practised. It may not be superfluous to add that the dignity of -Cæsar was a semi-imperial rank conferred usually on sons or possible -successors of the Emperor, or King (_basileus_), as the eastern Romans -came to call their monarch. - -[12] It should be noted that the organized factions were not nearly -so large as these incidents suggest. When Maurice had wished to arm -them against the usurper, he found that the blues numbered only nine -hundred, and the greens fifteen hundred. The entire population was -about a million. - -[13] See Pernice’s “L’Imperatore Eraclio,” 1905, p. 25. - -[14] Professor Bury gives his age as twenty-three, and assumes that -he was born in 615, but Nicephorus places his birth in the second -Persian campaign (623). The first son of Martina had died. His name (or -nickname) is spelt either Heraclonas or Heracleonas. - -[15] The readers of Gibbon may often notice that words or speeches -quoted here differ materially from corresponding quotations in the -great historian. The reason is that Gibbon invariably paraphrases such -quotations. They are in this work translated literally from the Greek -chroniclers. - -[16] I have not been able to consult this interesting “Life of -St Philaretus,” and am quoting Diehl’s admirable work, “Figures -Byzantines.” - -[17] A monk of this monastery, Theodore of Studium, has left us a -number of letters and works, though they give little satisfaction -to the profane historian. One letter, however, is addressed to the -ex-Empress Maria, and we learn from it that her daughter, or one of her -daughters (Euphrosyne and Irene), pressed her to come and live in her -palace. Theodore sternly forbids her to return to that world of sin. - -[18] Finlay rejects the story on the ground that Theodora could not -possibly have made her husband believe that sacred images were dolls -for her children. But that is not the story; Theodora denied that she -had any dolls at all. - -[19] The mystery of the children of Theophilus is yet unsolved. Michael -was born, of Theodora, about 828, and we know that another boy, named -Constantine, was born. But the five daughters--Thecla, Anna, Anastasia, -Pulcheria and Maria--are a puzzle, to which the wretched Byzantine -chroniclers give us no clue. They make Thecla, the eldest, a gay and -dissolute woman thirty years afterwards, and they marry Maria, the -youngest, about 832; while they speak of the whole of them as young -girls, playing with their grandmother’s dolls, about the time when the -youngest of them marries Alexius. It is frequently suggested that they -were the daughters of an earlier wife of Theophilus, but this is hardly -consistent with the later gaiety of Thecla (down to 868) or the doll -story; nor, although we do not know the exact age of Theophilus, can -we easily admit that he had been married for twenty years--which is -necessary to make Maria fifteen in 832--before he chose Theodora under -the guidance of his stepmother. - -[20] “Zwei Griechische Texte über die H. Theophano,” edited by E. -Kurtz, in the “Mémoires de l’Academie Impériale de St Petersbourg,” -viii. series, vol 3. Unfortunately, the legendary and partisan -character of the essays compels us to use them with discretion. I have -also taken much from the Greek life of the patriarch Euthymius, and -have been much helped by the notes of its editor, de Boor. - -[21] The mixture of palaces and monasteries may cause some perplexity. -The explanation is that for a long time it was a pious and very common -custom of wealthy Constantinopolitans to ensure prayers for their soul -by leaving their palaces to the monks, and even converting them into -monasteries before they died, so as to die in the ranks of the monks. -We shall find the next Emperor checking this practice, to the great -anger of the monks. - -[22] G. Schlumherger. “Un Empereur Byzantin au Dixième Siècle.” (1890); -a very fine and ample study of Byzantine life. - -[23] Basil was a natural son of Romanus I. and a Russian (or else -Bulgarian) slave. It is a curious mistake on the part of Gibbon, and -even of Schlumberger, to confuse the Basil whom she belaboured with her -own son Basil. - -[24] In point of fact, a writer of the time, Michael Atteliates, says -that he had no wife. Flach (“Die Kaiserin Eudokia,” 1876) seems to have -overlooked this authority. - -[25] Until recent years Eudocia was, as one reads in Gibbon, reputed to -have been the authoress of “Ionia,” but later writers have shown that -this was an error. She undoubtedly wandered in the fields of letters -and philosophy under the guidance of Psellus, and seems to have written -a little. - -[26] _Sebastos_ is the Greek equivalent of the Latin _Augustus_. It -must not be forgotten that, while I continue to use the words “Emperor” -and “Empress,” they were now more commonly called “King” and “Queen,” -“Lord” and “Lady,” or “Master” and “Mistress.” - -[27] Since the princess, or Cæsaress, has her apologists, if not -admirers, this may seem a hasty judgment. It is based simply on her -narrative, controlled by the accounts of other chroniclers. The last -pages of her history are superb in their mendacity, and she commonly -suppresses or perverts the facts. For the difficulties of her father’s -position, and the great services he rendered to the Empire, which must -be put in the scale against his duplicity and fraud, I must send the -reader to historians. - -[28] One or two remarks on the novel may not be without interest. It is -far the weakest of Scott’s historical romances. Byzantine antiquities -were little known in England at the time when it was written, and the -great novelist is reduced to a meagreness or inaccuracy of detail which -places the story in unfavourable contrast to his Scottish romances, -and he is forced to admit countless anachronisms. Anna Comnena was -only thirteen years old at the time, and did not begin to write her -“Alexiad” until twenty or thirty years later. The golden birds and -lions, also, which Scott puts beside the imperial throne, had been -melted down by Michael the Drunkard two hundred years before. I mention -these features only because Scott is usually so conscientious, even in -romance. - -[29] It may be well to repeat that the neater phrase in Gibbon is an -artistic paraphrase, not a translation, of the original Greek. - -[30] “Typicum, sive Regula, Irenes Augustæ,” published by the -Benedictines of St Maur in their “Analecta Græca” (1688). - -[31] The marriage of Alexis is placed by Finlay in 1178, but William of -Tyre, who was in Constantinople at the time, says that it took place in -the year of the death of Louis VII. and of Manuel. Nicetas also says -that Anna was “not quite eleven” when she married Andronicus (in 1183) -and “not quite eight” when she married Alexis. - -[32] Finlay, following Nicephorus Gregoras, wrongly says that Theodore -had left “no son” to inherit the purple. George Acropolites, the better -authority, says that he left “no mature son.” The son of Philippa -was eight years old, and seems to have lived under the cloud of his -mother’s disgrace. - -[33] This lady is sometimes named Markesina, but the term is merely a -Greek attempt to speak of her as “the Marchioness.” Her real name is -unknown. - -[34] Finlay declines to regard the dominion which was re-established by -the Greeks in 1261 as “the Byzantine Empire.” But as there had never -been any dynastic continuity, and as “Byzantine Empire” merely means an -empire which has its seat in Constantinople, or ancient Byzantium (the -name still commonly given to the city by its own writers), I see no -reason to discard the phrase. - -[35] Manuel’s younger brother, Theodore, was never crowned and had -been crushed by the Sultan, so that his beautiful wife, Bartholomæa, -daughter of the Duke of Athens, does not enter our list; and as -Bartholomæa had no children (though her husband had several) there was -no complication of the new arrangement to be feared from that side. - -[36] Bertrandon’s interesting narrative may be read in English in T. -Wright’s “Early Travels in Palestine.” - - - - -INDEX - - - A - - Acacius, 25 - - Æcatherina, 181 - - Aetius, 98 - - Agapetus, 40 - - Agnes, wife of Henry of Flanders, 257 - - “Alexiad,” the, 208, 216 - - Alexis II., 226, 233 - - Alexis III., 246, 248, 250 - - Alexis Angelus, 240–249, 251, 253 - - Alexis Comnenus, 198, 199, 200, 202–215 - - Alexius, 93, 94 - - Amalasuntha, 43 - - Amantius, 21, 22 - - Anastasia (Ino), 57, 60, 62, 63 - - Anastasia, wife of Constantine IV., 81, 83 - - Anastasius, 19, 21 - - Andronicus, 220, 227, 228–236 - - Andronicus II., 272–274, 276–295, 297 - - Andronicus III., 290, 292, 295–301 - - Andronicus IV., 318, 319, 320–322 - - Andronicus Paleogogus, 259 - - Anna Comnena, the elder, 197, 198, 199, 200–206 - - Anna Comnena, the younger, 192, 198, 199, 200, 207, 213, 216 - - Anna of Hungary, 276 - - Anna of Moscow, 326 - - Anna of Savoy, 298–316 - - Anna, wife of Alexis II., 224, 234, 236, 249 - - Anna, wife of Theodore Lascaris, 255, 256, 258 - - Anna, wife of Vatatzes, 261, 268 - - Anthemius, 11, 15 - - Anthimus, 40, 46 - - Antonina, 31, 41, 43, 45, 49 - - Apocaucus, 291, 301, 302, 305, 306 - - Ariadne, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18–20 - - Arsenius, 33 - - Arsenius the Patriarch, 269 - - Artabanes, 50 - - Asper, 1, 2, 9 - - Athalaric, 75 - - Augusteum, the, 4 - - - B - - Baldwin of Flanders, 248, 252, 257 - - Bardas, 111, 113, 115, 117 - - Bardas, brother of Xiphilin, 184 - - Basil the Chamberlain, 155, 156 - - Basil the Macedonian, 117, 118, 120–123 - - Basil, son of Romanus I., 115 - - Basil II., 158 - - Basiliscus, 9, 12, 13, 14 - - Bassus, 48 - - Bayezid, Sultan, 323, 324 - - Belisarius, 28, 31, 40, 49 - - Bertha, wife of Romanus II., 139 - - Bertrandon de la Brocquière, 329 - - Bigleniza, 22 - - Blachernæ Palace, the, 110 - - Blues, the, 26, 36 - - Bogomilians, the, 211 - - Bohemund, 209, 211 - - Boniface of Montferrat, 252, 255 - - Bucoleon Palace, the, 150, 151 - - Buza, 49 - - - C - - Candidates, the, 5 - - Casia, 107 - - Cathara, 290 - - Catherine Paleologina, 333 - - Chalcedon, Council of, 92 - - Chalke, the, 5 - - Charito, 58, 61 - - Charlemagne, 90, 92, 98 - - Christopher, 137, 138 - - Cleope of Rimini, 326 - - Comitona, 26, 31 - - Consistorium, the, 5 - - Constans II., 81 - - Constantina, 58, 62, 65, 66 - - Constantine, brother of Andronicus II., 273, 274, 275, 296 - - Constantine Catepano, 175 - - Constantine Copronymus, 83, 85, 86 - - Constantine Delassenus, 160, 168, 175 - - Constantine Ducas, 182, 183 - - Constantine the Paphlagonian, 130, 133 - - Constantine IV., 81 - - Constantine VI., 87, 89, 93, 95, 96, 97 - - Constantine, brother of Michael IV., 171, 173, 174 - - Constantine Monomachos, 176–180 - - Constantine Porphyrogenitus (VII)., 129, 131, 138, 141 - - Constantine XI., 333, 334–336 - - Constantinople, 3 - - Constantinople captured by Latins, 251 - - Constantinople captured by Turks, 336 - - Constantinople recovered by Greeks, 267 - - Corippus, 53 - - Crusaders, the, 208, 210, 218, 221, 247 - - - D - - Daphne, 6, 8 - - Demetrius, 284 - - Demetrius, son of John VI., 332 - - Denderis, 109 - - Drizibion, 150 - - - E - - Eclipses, Greek view of, 260 - - Elpidius, 90 - - Epiphania Eudocia, 75 - - Eudocia Comnena, 322 - - Eudocia, daughter of Constantine VIII., 158 - - Eudocia Decopolitana, 114 - - Eudocia Ingerina, 114, 116, 118, 119, 120 - - Eudocia Macrembolitissa, 182, 183–194, 199 - - Eudocia, mistress of Andronicus, 220, 227, 228 - - Eudocia, sister of Andronicus II., 280 - - Eudocia, wife of Constantine V., 84 - - Eudocia, wife of Heraclius, 69, 70 - - Eudocia, wife of Leo VI., 127 - - Eudocia, wife of Murtzuphlus, 250–251, 253–254 - - Eudocia, wife of Theodosius, viii - - Eudoxia, viii - - Eulogia, 263, 265, 266, 271, 272 - - Euphemia, 21, 22, 29 - - Euphrosyne Ducæna, 240, 244–255 - - Euphrosyne, wife of Michael II., 106, 107 - - Euthymius, 127, 128, 130 - - Evagrius, 47, 53 - - Excubitors, the, 5 - - - F - - Fabia, 68 - - - G - - George Paleologus, 202, 204 - - George of Pisidia, 72 - - Germanus, 49, 55 - - Greens, the, 26, 36 - - Gregoria Anastasia, 78 - - Gryllus, 118 - - - H - - Harmatius, 13, 14, 15 - - Hecebolus, 27 - - Helen of Bulgaria, 261, 262 - - Helen, wife of John V., 305, 309, 312–315, 318 - - Helena, daughter of Constantine VIII., 158 - - Helena, wife of Constantine VII., 134, 137, 138, 141 - - Heraclius, 67, 68, 69, 70–76 - - Heraclius Constantine, 69, 72, 73, 76, 78 - - Heraclonas, 73, 75, 76, 79 - - Hieria Palace, the, 30 - - Hippodrome, the, 3, 25, 26 - - Hormisdas Palace, the, 30, 33, 34 - - Hypatius, 38 - - Hypomene, 328, 332, 333 - - - I - - Iconoclasts, the, 85, 86, 90, 91, 111 - - Illus, 14, 16, 17, 18 - - Ino, 57, 58, 59, 60 - - “Ionia,” the, 186 - - Irene of Brunswick, 288, 297 - - Irene of Montferrat, 276–286 - - Irene Paleologina, 313, 314 - - Irene, wife of Alexis Comnenus, 198, 202, 203, 204, 207–215 - - Irene, wife of Cantacuzenus, 304, 309, 310, 311–316 - - Irene, wife of John, 283 - - Irene, wife of John Comnenus, 216 - - Irene, wife of Leo IV., 84, 85–100 - - Irene, wife of Manuel I., 220, 221 - - Irene, wife of Manuel III., 324, 325, 328 - - Irene, wife of Vatatzes, 259–261 - - Isaac Angelus (II.), 235, 238, 246, 249 - - Isaac Comnenus, 181, 197 - - - J - - Joannina, 50 - - John Camateros, 221 - - John Cantacuzenus, 291, 296, 301–318 - - John Comnenus, 213, 214, 215–219 - - John Ducas, 187, 189, 191, 197 - - John of Cappodocia, 42, 43, 44 - - John of Constantinople, 112, 113 - - John of Ephesus, 24, 29 - - John the Eunuch, 162, 164, 166, 168, 171 - - John the Fat, 246 - - John Vatatzes, 259–262 - - John Zimiskes, 145, 152 - - John V., 305, 309, 310–315, 318–323 - - John VI., 265, 267, 268, 269, 326, 328, 329 - - Joseph Bringas, 143, 144, 145, 146 - - Joseph the Patriarch, 270 - - Julius Nepos, 11 - - Justin, 22, 28, 29 - - Justin II., 52, 54, 56–59 - - Justina, 49 - - Justinian, 23, 24, 25, 28–29, 37, 38, 43, 48, 53 - - Justinian II., 81, 82, 83 - - - K - - Kathisma, the, 4, 54 - - - L - - Leo Phocas, 133, 134 - - Leo the Armenian, 104, 106 - - Leo Sgurus, 253 - - Leo the Deacon, 143 - - Leo the Isaurian, 2, 6, 10 - - Leo IV., 84, 85, 86, 88 - - Leo VI., 120, 121, 123–131 - - Leontia, wife of Marcian, 11, 15, 16 - - Leontia, wife of Phocas, 64, 65, 67, 68 - - Leontius, 17, 18 - - Liberatus, 24, 40 - - - M - - Magnaura Palace, the, 6, 109 - - Manuel I., 219, 220, 222–225 - - Manuel Paleologus, 288, 289 - - Manuel, uncle of St Theodora, 111, 115 - - Manuel III., 319, 321, 322, 323–328 - - Maria, daughter of Eulogia, 271 - - Maria, daughter of Manuel I., 225, 226, 227, 231, 232 - - Maria of Armenia, 280, 287–297 - - Maria of Trebizond, 318, 320, 321, 322, 326, 329–332 - - Maria, wife of Constantine VI., 93, 95, 96 - - Maria, wife of Isaac Angelus, 238, 239, 248, 252, 255 - - Maria, wife of Leo, 83, 84 - - Maria, wife of Manuel I., 223 - - Maria, wife of Michael VI., 192, 193, 194, 199, 200, 203, 204 - - Maria, wife of Theodore Lascaris, 259 - - Maraptica, 236 - - Marcian, 1, 2 - - Martha Paleologina, 264, 265, 271 - - Martina, 70–80 - - Martinacius, 121, 125 - - Mary, wife of Baldwin, 257 - - Maurice, 62, 63, 64 - - Melisend, 222, 223 - - Mese, the, 4 - - Methodius, 112 - - Michael I., 102, 103 - - Michael II., 104, 105 - - Michael III., the Drunkard, 110, 111, 113–118 - - Michael IV., 164, 165, 166–170 - - Michael V., the Caulker, 170, 171, 173, 174 - - Michael VI., 188, 189, 191, 193, 199 - - Michael Angelus, 254 - - Michael Cathara, 290, 291 - - Michael Paleologus, 263–272 - - Michael Psellus, 159, 163, 165, 177, 186 - - Mohammed II., 334 - - Monophysites, the, 13, 20, 32, 40, 79 - - Morality of the Eastern Empire, 136–137 - - Murad, Sultan, 320, 321 - - Murad II., 328, 334 - - Muzalon, 264 - - Murtzuphlus, 250–252 - - - N - - Nicephoritzes, 191, 192, 194 - - Nicephorus Blemmydas, 262 - - Nicephorus Botaneiates, 194, 195, 196, 200 - - Nicephorus Bryennius, 179, 181, 213 - - Nicephorus Diogenes, 208 - - Nicephorus Melissenus, 205 - - Nicephorus Phocas, 143, 144, 145, 146–153 - - Nicephorus, son of Eudocia, 87, 95 - - Nicholas the Patriarch, 127, 128, 130 - - Nikin, Bishop of, 79 - - - O - - Oath, the, at Constantinople, 168, 169 - - - P - - Palace, the Imperial, 4 - - Palamism, 307, 311 - - Patricius, 11, 13 - - Paul, 9 - - Pepin the Frank, 84 - - Peter Barsymes, 48 - - Philagrius, 28, 79 - - Philaretus, St., 92 - - Philippa of Antioch, 230, 233 - - Phocas, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68 - - Photius, son of Antonina, 45 - - Phrantzes, 333 - - Polyeuctes, 144, 146, 147, 148 - - Porphyra, the, 8 - - Porphyrogenitus, 8 - - Priscus, 67, 69 - - Procopia, wife of Michael, 102, 103 - - Procopius, 23, 24, 25 - - Pulcheria, viii, 1 - - Pyrrhus, 77, 79 - - - R - - Raymond of Tripoli, 222 - - Relics at Constantinople, 169, 170, 258 - - Robert Guiscard, 207 - - Romanus I., 132, 133, 134, 137 - - Romanus II., 139, 141, 142, 143 - - Romanus Argyrus (III.), 161, 163, 165, 166 - - Romanus Diogenes, 184–191 - - - S - - Samonas, 127, 129, 130 - - Saudgi, 320 - - Scholarians, the, 5 - - Scott, Sir Walter, 208 - - Sclerena, 176, 177, 178 - - Sergius, 70, 76 - - Shorthand in ancient times, 56 - - Silverius, 40, 41 - - Simonides, 277, 280, 281, 284, 285 - - Sir Janni, 291, 293, 297, 300 - - Solomon’s Throne, 109 - - Sophia, 52–63 - - Sophia of Montferrat, 326–328 - - Stauracius, 88, 89, 91, 94, 98 - - St Daniel Stylites, 8 - - Strategopulina, 274 - - St Simeon, 33 - - St Sophia, church of, 4, 38, 39, 47 - - St Stephen, church of, 6 - - Stylianus Zautzes, 122, 123 - - Synadenus, 200 - - - T - - Tarasius, 91, 96 - - Tartars, the, 324, 325 - - Thecla, daughter of Theophilus, 110, 117, 119 - - Thecla, wife of Michael II., 106 - - Theoclistos, 110, 115 - - Theodora, daughter of Constantine VIII., 158, 199–162, 173–180 - - Theodora, mistress of Manuel I., 220, 223 - - Theodora Paleologina, 301, 305 - - Theodora, St, 101, 106–119 - - Theodora of Tocco, 333 - - Theodora, wife of Baldwin III., 230, 231 - - Theodora, wife of Justinian, 8, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28–51 - - Theodora, wife of Justinian II., 82, 83 - - Theodora, wife of Michael Paleologus, 263, 265, 268, 269–275 - - Theodora, wife of Romanus, 137 - - Theodora, wife of Zimiskes, 155 - - Theodore, Abbot, 122, 123, 124 - - Theodore Guniazitza, 126 - - Theodore Lascaris, 256, 258 - - Theodore Synadenus, 291 - - Theodosia, wife of Leo, 104, 105 - - Theodosius, 41 - - Theodosius, son of Maurice, 62, 63, 64, 65 - - Theodote, 95, 96, 97, 98 - - Theophanes, 113 - - Theophano, St, 121, 122, 123 - - Theophano, wife of Romanus II., 140–157 - - Theophano, wife of Stauracius, 102 - - Theophilus, 106–110 - - Theophobos, 110 - - Tiberius, 56, 58, 61, 62 - - Trascallisseus, 9 - - Tribonian, 52 - - Triclinon, the, 7 - - Tzantzes, 125 - - - V - - Valentine, 28, 79 - - Verina, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12–18 - - Vigilius, 40, 42 - - - X - - Xene, 289, 294 - - Xiphilin, 183, 184 - - - Y - - Yolande, 258 - - - Z - - Zeno, 10, 12, 14, 15, 19 - - Zenonis, 12, 13, 14 - - Zoe Carbonopsina, 128–135 - - Zoe, daughter of Constantine VIII., 158, 159–178 - - Zoe, daughter of Zautzes, 122, 124, 126 - - Zonarus, 24 - - -THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH - - - - - * * * * * * - - - - -Transcriber’s note: - -Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a -predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they -were not changed. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected; unpaired quotation -marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left -unpaired. - -Footnotes, originally at the bottoms of pages, have been collected and -moved to precede the Index. - -The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page -references. - -Page 106: A duplicate image was removed; the correct one remains, -following page 138. - -Page 116: The appearance of the transcription of Greek in the -illustration will vary according to the fonts installed on your reading -device. - -Page 315: “Two large triremes (galleys with two banks of oars)” was -printed that way; should be either “biremes” or “three banks”. - -Footnote 22 (originally on page 143): “G. Schlumherger” should be -“G. Schlumberger”. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMPRESSES OF CONSTANTINOPLE*** - - -******* This file should be named 60938-0.txt or 60938-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/0/9/3/60938 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world 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 www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - |