warrior about whose name have gathered many of the romances of chivalry.
He was twice married, first to the virtuous Bertha of Germany, and,
after her decease, to the beautiful Maria, a French or Latin princess of
Antioch. Bertha had a daughter, who was destined for Bela, a Hungarian
prince educated at Constantinople under the name of Alexius and looked
upon as the heir-apparent. But his rights were set aside when Maria had
a son named Alexius, who was in the direct line of male succession.
Notwithstanding the virtues of his queens, Manuel, who was so valiant in
war, showed himself in peace a licentious voluptuary. "No sooner did he
return to Constantinople than he resigned himself to the arts and
pleasures of a life of luxury: the expense of his dress, his table and
his palace, surpassed the measure of his predecessors, and whole summer
days were idly wasted in the delicious isles of the Propontis in the
incestuous love of his niece, Theodora."
Manuel had a cousin, Andronicus, who was even more of a voluptuary than
he--one whose career as a soldier of fortune and as a heartless roué
marks him as the Byzantine Alcibiades. He indulged his favorite
passions, love and war, without any regard to divine or human law. His
lofty stature, manly strength and beauty, and dare-devil manner were so
seductive that three ladies of royal birth fell victims to his charms.
His mistresses shared his company with his lawful wife, and divided his
affections with a crowd of actresses and dancing girls. He was a
partaker of the pleasures, as well as of the perils, of Manuel; and
while the emperor lived in public incest with his niece Theodora,
Andronicus enjoyed the favors of her sister Eudocia. So enamored was she
of her handsome lover, and so shameless in her conduct, that she gloried
in the title of his mistress, and accompanied him to his military
command in Cilicia. Upon his return, her brothers sought to expiate her
infamy in the blood of Andronicus, but, through Eudocia's aid, he eluded
his enemy. Proving treacherous, however, to the emperor, he was
imprisoned for a long period in a tower of the palace at Constantinople,
where his faithful wife shared his imprisonment and assisted him in
making his escape.
Andronicus was later given a second command on the Cilician frontier.
While here, he made a conquest of the beautiful Philippa, sister of the
Empress Maria, and daughter of Raymond of Poitou, the Latin Prince of
Antioch. For her sake, he deserted his station and wasted his time in
balls and tournaments; and to his love the frail princess sacrificed her
innocence, her reputation, and the offer of an advantageous marriage.
The Emperor Manuel, however, urged on by his consort, resented this
violation of the family honor, and recalled Andronicus from his infamous
liaison. The indiscreet princess was left to weep and repent of her
folly; and Andronicus, deprived of his post, gathered together a band of
adventurers of like spirit and undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. With
bold effrontery, he declared himself a champion of the Cross; and his
beauty, gallantry, and professions of piety captivated both king and
clergy. The Latin King of Jerusalem invested the Byzantine prince with
the lordship of Berytus, on the coast of Phoenicia. In his neighborhood
there dwelt the young and handsome queen, Theodora,--the daughter of his
cousin Isaac, and great-grand-daughter of the Emperor Alexius,--who was
widow of Baldwin III., King of Jerusalem. Because of her beauty, her
talents, and her prudence, Theodora enjoyed the respect and admiration
of all the Latin nobles. Andronicus became deeply enamored of his fair
cousin, and she, returning his passion with equal ardor, became the
third royal victim of his lust. So debased was the state of society
among the Latin Christians--which was the case at Constantinople
also--that the cousins carried on their amours with little affectation
of secrecy. The Emperor Manuel being again enraged by the disgrace to
the family name through the moral fall of another Comneni princess,
Andronicus had to flee for his life, and Theodora accompanied him in his
flight. She and her two illegitimate children were later captured and
sent to Constantinople. Andronicus finally sought forgiveness from the
emperor, and such was his charm that he was pardoned; he returned to
Constantinople, and soon began the career of intrigue which eventually
placed him on the throne.
Upon the death of Manuel, the Empress Maria acted as regent for her son
Alexius II., a lad of thirteen. Her prime minister was Alexius Comnenus,
a grandson of John II. Maria's beauty and charm of manner gave her
considerable power over the young nobility. In the conflicts of the
nobles she warmly espoused the cause of her prime minister, and it was
believed that a criminal attachment existed between them. The young
emperor's sister Maria, with the Cæsar, her husband, attempted to drive
the prime minister from power by a popular uprising. In the turmoil and
chaos that followed, all eyes turned toward Andronicus. The voluptuary
and adventurer responded to the call, and entered the city to be
enthroned, alleging that it was his purpose to deliver the young emperor
from evil counsellors. Cruelty was now added to his other serious
crimes. The Princess Maria and her husband, the Cæsar, were poisoned;
the Empress Maria, on a charge of treason, was condemned to death, and
strangled; and Alexius II., the legitimate heir to the throne, was
deposed and subjected to the same form of death as his unfortunate
mother. The tyrant kicked the body of the innocent youth as it lay
before him, and addressed it with a sneer: "Thy father was a knave, thy
mother a whore, and thyself a fool!"
Owing to debauchery and crime, the family of the Comneni had
degenerated. Through the nobility and greatness of its women in an
earlier period, it had risen to the height of power; and through the
debasement and weakness of its women, it finally fell. Andronicus was
the last of the line--the most heinous monster that ever sat on the
Byzantine throne. But his career in crime was cut short. The people rose
up against the author of so many assassinations. Isaac Angelus, a
nobleman, accused of treason, resisted arrest, and fled to Saint Sophia.
A mob gathered and took his side against the mercenaries of Andronicus.
The tyrant himself was seized and torn to pieces, and the Angeli
succeeded the Comneni on the throne of Constantinople.
Isaac and Alexius Angelus, the two emperors whose reign occupied the
years 1185-1204, between the fall of Andronicus and the conquest of
Constantinople by the Crusaders, were the two most feeble and despicable
creatures who ever occupied the imperial throne. Euphrosyne, the empress
of Alexius, however, was a woman of strong personality, though of
licentious ways, and, as the last of the Byzantine empresses before the
fall of Constantinople, she exhibited the strength as well as the
weakness of that long line of self-asserting princesses whom we have
been considering.
Owing to the idle disposition of her worthless husband, Euphrosyne
assisted in conducting the business of the Empire; and so masterful was
she that no minister dared take any step without her approval. Gibbon
considers that there was no greater indication of the degradation of
society at this time than that the proudest nobles of the Empire,
members of the celebrated families of Comnenus, Ducas, Palæologus, and
Cantacuzenus, contended for the honor of carrying Euphrosyne on her
litter at public ceremonies. Her influence over the nobility was due to
her beauty, her talents and her aptitude for business. But her
inordinate vanity, reckless extravagance, and flagrant licentiousness
brought great scandal upon the Empire even in those vicious times, and
frequently led to violent quarrels with Alexius. Finally, the jealousy
of the emperor at her licentious conduct lost all bounds. Alexius
ordered her paramour to be assassinated, and the female slaves and the
eunuchs of her household were put to the torture. The beautiful and
accomplished Euphrosyne was compelled to leave the palace, and, like so
many imperial dames noted for their devotion or their license, was
immured in a convent.
The court, however, soon missed her talents and energy; Alexius himself
was not equal to the ordinary duties of his office; the courtiers were
unrestrained in their peculations, and nowhere was there a restraining
hand. Euphrosyne was recalled to save the dynasty, and, with even more
than her former insolence, she entered once more upon a career of
extravagance and shame. While her energy and skill in the affairs of
state won admiration, her lavish expenditures of the public funds
excited the dismay of the few thoughtful men of the day. The crowd
enjoyed the splendid spectacle of her hunting parties and applauded
their empress as she rode along on her richly caparisoned steed, with a
falcon perched on her gold-embroidered glove, but such extravagances
were but hastening the end of the doomed city.
The rest of the story is but too quickly told. Alexius
III.,--Angelus,--had, by a clever coup d'état, displaced his brother
Isaac; Alexius IV., son of Isaac, implored outside aid, and gave the
marauders of the fourth Crusade an excuse to attack the city. Alexius
III. fled for his life, and Alexius IV., after a brief reign, was caught
and strangled by the usurper, Alexius Ducas. The Crusaders assaulted and
sacked Constantinople when Alexius V., Ducas, the last of the emperors,
fled in a galley by night, taking with him the Empress Euphrosyne and
her daughter Eudocia whom he had married. He was afterward captured,
tried for the murder of the young Alexius, and suffered death by being
hurled from the top of a lofty pillar.
The end of Euphrosyne and her daughter Eudocia is not known. The latter
had already had a sufficiently tragical history. Eudocia had first been
married to Simeon, King of Servia, who later abdicated the throne and
retired to a monastery. His son Stephen, enamored of the beauty of his
young stepmother, married her. Later, a disgraceful quarrel arose.
Eudocia was divorced by her second husband and, almost naked, was
expelled from the palace.
In her desperate condition, abandoned by all, she would probably have
perished had not Fulk, the king's brother, taken pity on her and sent
her back to Constantinople. Alexius Ducas, who had already divorced two
wives, was willing enough to wed the daughter of Euphrosyne, and after
his execution the hand of the accommodating Eudocia was bestowed on Leo
Sguros, the chief of Argos, Nauplia, and Corinth.
The stories of Euphrosyne and Eudocia are a sufficient confirmation of
the corrupt state of society in the latter days of the Comneni and the
Angeli. Andronicus and his mistresses, and Euphrosyne and her daughter,
are no exaggerated types of the higher classes of the Empire. The clergy
had grown indifferent to the licentiousness of the age, and many bishops
and patriarchs were themselves venal and degraded. The people were too
ready to follow in the footsteps of the higher classes. Therefore,
through the loss of womanly virtue and manly strength, the Empire was on
the verge of ruin.
Thus fell, on April 13, 1204, Constantinople--"The eye of the world, the
ornament of nations, the fairest sight on earth, the mother of churches,
the spring whence flowed the waters of faith, the mistress of orthodox
doctrine, the seat of the sciences, draining the cup mixed for her by
the hand of the Almighty, and consumed by fires as devouring as those
which ruined the five Cities of the Plain."
XV
WOMANHOOD OF THE BYZANTINE DECADENCE
The Byzantine Empire had fallen with its capital Constantinople, and the
Latin Empire of Romania had taken its place. But the rule of the Franks
was too weak to take an abiding hold on the provinces, and, after a
brief and flickering existence, 1204-1261, it passed away, and a Greek
dynasty was once more established in New Rome. While the Ottoman power
was gaining strength, the Greek Empire was suffered to exist; but in the
course of two centuries, through internal corruption and mismanagement,
Byzantine dominion ceased to be an effective force in the world's
affairs, and the city of Constantine easily fell a prey to the
Mohammedan forces.
Though the Crusaders had captured the capital, the provinces refused to
recognize the dominion of the Franks, and three Greek kingdoms were
carved out of the remains of the Byzantine Empire by adventurous spirits
who had left Constantinople rather than fall victims to the Western
conquerors. Theodore Lascaris, the last to strike a blow for the doomed
city, founded across the straits, out of the province of Bithynia, the
empire of Nicæa, though his rights to royal power lay merely in his
strong right arm and in his having married the daughter of the imbecile
Alexius III. Alexius Comnenus, grandson of Andronicus I., had betaken
himself to the eastern frontier of the Empire, and, chiefly through the
glamour of his name, had made for himself, out of the long strip of
coast land at the south-east corner of the Black Sea, a kingdom that was
destined to carry on an independent existence for nearly three hundred
years as the empire of Trebizond. Furthermore, Michael Angelus, a cousin
of Alexius III., became "despot" of Epirus and later conquered the Latin
kingdom of Thessalonica. Finally, after the Greek empire of Nicæa had
enjoyed a steady growth for over half a century, during which it
absorbed the kingdom of Thessalonica, Michael Palæologus, the usurper of
the Nicene throne, succeeded in wresting Constantinople from its Latin
rulers, and established anew the Byzantine Empire, under the dynasty of
the Palæologi.
In the stories of the dynasties of these various kingdoms we have not
many glimpses into the history of woman, but wherever feminine names are
mentioned woman is found to be exerting her customary influence over the
affairs of state and the destinies of empires.
The dynasty of Theodore Lascaris was handed down through his daughter
Irene, whose husband succeeded to the throne as the Emperor John III.
The Empress Irene was much beloved because of her amiable character and
domestic virtues, and there is preserved a beautiful incident of the
affection she inspired in a young maiden. John Asan, the King of
Bulgaria, had formed an alliance with John III. through the betrothal of
his daughter Helena to Theodore, the heir-apparent to the Nicene throne.
Highly esteeming the virtues of the Empress Irene, the Bulgarian king
had sent the young Helena to be educated under her care. Later, when the
alliance between the emperor and the king was broken off, Asan sent for
his daughter, with the request that she return to Bulgaria. John III.
scorned to retain his son's betrothed as a hostage, and suffered the
attendants to arrange her departure. But when the maiden ascertained
that she was not to return to her dear mother the empress, her grief was
inconsolable. Her tears and lamentations over the separation and her
praises of the Nicene queen at length excited the serious displeasure of
her father, and he had to threaten her with severe punishment if she did
not cease to weep and mourn for her Greek mother. But her love for Irene
was greater than the fear of punishment, and, in spite of the censure
and the blandishments of her parent, she could never reconcile herself
to the loss of the happy hours at the side of the virtuous and gifted
empress. During Irene's lifetime John was uniformly successful,
extending the bounds of his dominion and winning the love and devoted
admiration of his subjects. But, after her death, another woman led him
into evil ways.
John married as his second wife, in her twelfth year, the Princess Anna,
natural daughter of the Emperor Frederick II. of Germany. Anna had
brought in her train, as directress of her court, a beautiful Italian
lady, Marchesina by name. The Emperor John fell violently in love with
his child-wife's chief attendant. Marchesina soon received the honors
conferred in courts on the recognized mistress of the sovereign, and was
permitted to wear the dress reserved for members of the imperial family.
Public opinion severely censured the emperor for his conduct, and one of
the prominent bishops of the day, Nicephorus Blemmidas by name, found
occasion to give Marchesina a severe rebuke. Blemmidas had so
beautifully embellished the church of the monastery of which he was
abbot, that it was frequently visited by members of the court. One day,
while the abbot was conducting divine service in the chapel, the
imperial mistress passed by with her attendants, and made up her mind to
enter. But when Blemmidas heard of her approach, he at once ordered the
doors to be closed, declaring that never with his permission should an
adulteress enter the sanctuary. Marchesina, incensed at so severe a
rebuke, so publicly inflicted, hurried back to the palace, threw herself
at the feet of her imperial lover, and implored him to avenge on the
abbot the insult he had put upon her. But John was not regardless of
public opinion, and, recognizing the mistake he had made, merely said in
response to Marchesina's entreaties: "The abbot would have respected me,
had I respected myself."
Woman, too, was in large measure the cause of the overthrow of the
dynasty of Lascaris, and the usurpation of Michael Palæologus, scion of
one of the most influential families of Constantinople. Theodore II.,
who succeeded his father John, grew testy and superstitious in his old
age, and had reason to suspect the cunning and able Michael who was
rapidly winning the popular favor. But Michael was undoubtedly spurred
on to action against the dynasty by Theodore's outrageous conduct toward
his sister Martha. The latter had a beautiful daughter who had been most
tenderly reared as became her rank. To the surprise of all, the emperor
ordered the family to bestow her in marriage on one of his pages,
Valanidiotes. Though beneath the maiden in rank, the page succeeded in
winning the affection of the highborn damsel, and the family were
consenting to the union, when the emperor capriciously changed his mind,
and compelled a betrothal between the maiden and a man of her own rank.
A report that this marriage was not consummated led the superstitious
emperor to suspect that both this event and a malignant attack of his
disease were due to some charm practised by the mother.
In his vexation and rage, he ordered Martha, though connected by birth
with the imperial family, to be enclosed in a sack with a number of
cats, which were from time to time pricked with pins that they might
torture the unfortunate lady. Martha was brought into court with the
sack thus bound about her neck, and was examined concerning her supposed
witchcraft, but the suspicious tyrant could extract nothing from her on
which to base a condemnation.
This unseemly action was an offence Michael could never forgive. From
this time he began assiduously to plot against the throne. The story of
his usurpation and of his cruelty toward the rightful emperor, the young
lad, John IV.,--Ducas,--does not concern us here. Suffice it to say that
he ascended the throne of Nicæa as Michael VIII.,--Palæologus,--and was
fortunate enough to capture the city of Constantinople and revive the
Greek Empire there. Through the Empire of Nicæa the thread of tradition
was unbroken, and from 1261 on we have once more a Byzantine Empire.
The history of this concluding period, 1261-1453, embracing the dynasty
of the Palæologi, is the most degrading portion of the national annals.
Michael is renowned for being the restorer of the Eastern Empire, but
his throne was gained through baseness and cruelty, and he left to his
descendants a heritage of vice and crime of such a nature that the
Empire survived for a century or two not because of its intrinsic worth,
but because the Ottomans were not yet ready to seize it. It is a period
notable for the absence of literary taste, of patriotic feeling, of
political honesty, of civil liberty. The emperors are, as a rule,
immoral and capricious men, utterly selfish in their aims and their
pursuits, and each one leaves the Empire somewhat weaker than he found
it.
The new Empire of Constantinople and that of Trebizond existed side by
side, and frequent intermarriages took place between the royal families.
By studying conjointly the annals of the Palæologi and the Comneni we
become acquainted with a number of the princesses of these royal houses,
and can form some idea of the character of Greek womanhood in this age
of decadence, and of the social life of the times as it affects woman's
position and aspirations.
The women of the two rival houses appear, as a rule, superior in
character, judgment, and virtue to the men, and this difference between
the males and females of the imperial families is so marked, that we
would fain know more of the system of education for women which produced
an effect so singular and so uniform. It must have been due to the fact
that in spite of the general demoralization, the life of the convents in
which the princesses were trained was pure and uplifting, the methods of
instruction thorough, the discipline severe; while the clergy who had in
charge the education of the princes were so bent on their own preferment
and the acquirement of political power, that they aimed rather at
gaining an ascendency over their imperial wards than in imparting the
instruction which would have made them great rulers.
The only empress of the Palæologi, however, to gain supreme power and to
win a place in history, was of foreign birth. Anne of Savoy, by the
nomination of her dying husband, Andronicus III. (1328-1341), and the
custom of the Empire, was made regent of her son, John V., Palæologus, a
lad of nine years. Her reign was made memorable through her struggles
with a powerful courtier, who aroused civil war and ascended the throne
for a time as John VI., Cantacuzenus (1347-1354).
Byzantine etiquette required the widowed empress to weep for nine days
beside the body of her deceased husband, who was laid out in state in
the monastery of the Guiding Virgin, whither he had retired when death
was near and where he assumed the habit and the devotions of a monk. But
John Cantacuzenus, the grand domesticos and first minister of the
Empire, was bent on playing the rôle of earlier usurpers, and during her
absence determined to establish himself in the imperial palace as
guardian of the emperor. The empress, recognizing the danger of
infringement on the rights of her child, deemed it necessary to shorten
the period of mourning to three days, and returned to the palace to
assert her authority as regent. Then began a course of intrigue between
the two parties. Cantacuzenus instituted a rebellion against the regent,
and by his followers was crowned and invested with the imperial robe.
Under the guidance of the patriarch and the grand duke Apocaucus, the
Empress Anne adopted forceful measures to intimidate the partisans of
the rebels. Among the interesting women of this period was Theodora, the
mother of Cantacuzenus, a woman of preeminent virtue and talent, far
superior in ability and moral force to her son. But against her the
vengeance of Anne was chiefly directed. The aged lady was thrown into
prison by order of the regent, and was subjected to great cruelty and
privations until death came to her relief. The young emperor, John V.,
was solemnly crowned. Apocaucus was appointed prime minister, and a
vigorous war was prosecuted against the rebels, who were threatened with
extermination. To save his cause Cantacuzenus treacherously turned to
the common enemy, the Turk, and sacrificing his daughter Theodora on the
altar of his ambition gave her in marriage to Orkhan, and sent her to
dwell at Brusa, as a member of the Sultan's harem. All the religious
people of the day were incensed at this violation of common decency and
lack of paternal feeling, but the tone of morality was too low to cause
serious opposition.