territories; and his example and authority were at length prevalent in
France, (Esprit des Loix, l. xxviii. c. 29.)]
[Footnote 16: In civil cases Henry II. gave an option to the defendant:
Glanville prefers the proof by evidence; and that by judicial combat
is reprobated in the Fleta. Yet the trial by battle has never been
abrogated in the English law, and it was ordered by the judges as late
as the beginning of the last century. * Note : And even demanded in
the present.--M.]
[Footnote 17: Yet an ingenious friend has urged to me in mitigation
of this practice, 1. _That_ in nations emerging from barbarism, it
moderates the license of private war and arbitrary revenge. 2. _That_ it
is less absurd than the trials by the ordeal, or boiling water, or the
cross, which it has contributed to abolish. 3. _That_ it served at least
as a test of personal courage; a quality so seldom united with a
base disposition, that the danger of a trial might be some check to a
malicious prosecutor, and a useful barrier against injustice supported
by power. The gallant and unfortunate earl of Surrey might probably have
escaped his unmerited fate, had not his demand of the combat against his
accuser been overruled.]
It was in the second year of his reign, while he resided in the palace
and gardens of NymphÊum, [18] near Smyrna, that the first messenger
arrived at the dead of night; and the stupendous intelligence was
imparted to Michael, after he had been gently waked by the tender
precaution of his sister Eulogia. The man was unknown or obscure; he
produced no letters from the victorious CÊsar; nor could it easily
be credited, after the defeat of Vataces and the recent failure of
PalÊologus himself, that the capital had been surprised by a detachment
of eight hundred soldiers. As a hostage, the doubtful author was
confined, with the assurance of death or an ample recompense; and the
court was left some hours in the anxiety of hope and fear, till the
messengers of Alexius arrived with the authentic intelligence, and
displayed the trophies of the conquest, the sword and sceptre, [19] the
buskins and bonnet, [20] of the usurper Baldwin, which he had dropped in
his precipitate flight. A general assembly of the bishops, senators,
and nobles, was immediately convened, and never perhaps was an event
received with more heartfelt and universal joy. In a studied oration,
the new sovereign of Constantinople congratulated his own and the public
fortune. "There was a time," said he, "a far distant time, when the
Roman empire extended to the Adriatic, the Tigris, and the confines of
∆thiopia. After the loss of the provinces, our capital itself, in
these last and calamitous days, has been wrested from our hands by the
Barbarians of the West. From the lowest ebb, the tide of prosperity has
again returned in our favor; but our prosperity was that of fugitives
and exiles: and when we were asked, which was the country of the Romans,
we indicated with a blush the climate of the globe, and the quarter of
the heavens. The divine Providence has now restored to our arms the
city of Constantine, the sacred seat of religion and empire; and it will
depend on our valor and conduct to render this important acquisition the
pledge and omen of future victories." So eager was the impatience of
the prince and people, that Michael made his triumphal entry into
Constantinople only twenty days after the expulsion of the Latins.
The golden gate was thrown open at his approach; the devout conqueror
dismounted from his horse; and a miraculous image of Mary the
Conductress was borne before him, that the divine Virgin in person might
appear to conduct him to the temple of her Son, the cathedral of St.
Sophia. But after the first transport of devotion and pride, he sighed
at the dreary prospect of solitude and ruin. The palace was defiled with
smoke and dirt, and the gross intemperance of the Franks; whole streets
had been consumed by fire, or were decayed by the injuries of time; the
sacred and profane edifices were stripped of their ornaments: and, as
if they were conscious of their approaching exile, the industry of the
Latins had been confined to the work of pillage and destruction. Trade
had expired under the pressure of anarchy and distress, and the numbers
of inhabitants had decreased with the opulence of the city. It was the
first care of the Greek monarch to reinstate the nobles in the palaces
of their fathers; and the houses or the ground which they occupied
were restored to the families that could exhibit a legal right of
inheritance. But the far greater part was extinct or lost; the vacant
property had devolved to the lord; he repeopled Constantinople by a
liberal invitation to the provinces; and the brave _volunteers_ were
seated in the capital which had been recovered by their arms. The French
barons and the principal families had retired with their emperor; but
the patient and humble crowd of Latins was attached to the country, and
indifferent to the change of masters. Instead of banishing the factories
of the Pisans, Venetians, and Genoese, the prudent conqueror accepted
their oaths of allegiance, encouraged their industry, confirmed their
privileges, and allowed them to live under the jurisdiction of their
proper magistrates. Of these nations, the Pisans and Venetians preserved
their respective quarters in the city; but the services and power of the
Genoese deserved at the same time the gratitude and the jealousy of the
Greeks. Their independent colony was first planted at the seaport town
of Heraclea in Thrace. They were speedily recalled, and settled in the
exclusive possession of the suburb of Galata, an advantageous post,
in which they revived the commerce, and insulted the majesty, of the
Byzantine empire. [21]
[Footnote 18: The site of NymphÊum is not clearly defined in ancient or
modern geography. But from the last hours of Vataces, (Acropolita, c.
52,) it is evident the palace and gardens of his favorite residence
were in the neighborhood of Smyrna. NymphÊum might be loosely placed in
Lydia, (Gregoras, l. vi. 6.)]
[Footnote 19: This sceptre, the emblem of justice and power, was a long
staff, such as was used by the heroes in Homer. By the latter Greeks
it was named _Dicanice_, and the Imperial sceptre was distinguished as
usual by the red or purple color.]
[Footnote 20: Acropolita affirms (c. 87,) that this "Onnet" was after the
French fashion; but from the ruby at the point or summit, Ducange (Hist.
de C. P. l. v. c. 28, 29) believes that it was the high-crowned hat of
the Greeks. Could Acropolita mistake the dress of his own court?]
[Footnote 21: See Pachymer, (l. ii. c. 28--33,) Acropolita, (c. 88,)
Nicephorus Gregoras, (l. iv. 7,) and for the treatment of the subject
Latins, Ducange, (l. v. c. 30, 31.)]
The recovery of Constantinople was celebrated as the Êra of a new
empire: the conqueror, alone, and by the right of the sword, renewed his
coronation in the church of St. Sophia; and the name and honors of John
Lascaris, his pupil and lawful sovereign, were insensibly abolished. But
his claims still lived in the minds of the people; and the royal youth
must speedily attain the years of manhood and ambition. By fear or
conscience, PalÊologus was restrained from dipping his hands in innocent
and royal blood; but the anxiety of a usurper and a parent urged him to
secure his throne by one of those imperfect crimes so familiar to the
modern Greeks. The loss of sight incapacitated the young prince for the
active business of the world; instead of the brutal violence of tearing
out his eyes, the visual nerve was destroyed by the intense glare of a
red-hot basin, [22] and John Lascaris was removed to a distant castle,
where he spent many years in privacy and oblivion. Such cool and
deliberate guilt may seem incompatible with remorse; but if Michael
could trust the mercy of Heaven, he was not inaccessible to the
reproaches and vengeance of mankind, which he had provoked by cruelty
and treason. His cruelty imposed on a servile court the duties of
applause or silence; but the clergy had a right to speak in the name of
their invisible Master; and their holy legions were led by a prelate,
whose character was above the temptations of hope or fear. After a short
abdication of his dignity, Arsenius [23] had consented to ascend
the ecclesiastical throne of Constantinople, and to preside in the
restoration of the church. His pious simplicity was long deceived by
the arts of PalÊologus; and his patience and submission might soothe the
usurper, and protect the safety of the young prince. On the news of his
inhuman treatment, the patriarch unsheathed the spiritual sword; and
superstition, on this occasion, was enlisted in the cause of humanity
and justice. In a synod of bishops, who were stimulated by the example
of his zeal, the patriarch pronounced a sentence of excommunication;
though his prudence still repeated the name of Michael in the public
prayers. The Eastern prelates had not adopted the dangerous maxims
of ancient Rome; nor did they presume to enforce their censures, by
deposing princes, or absolving nations from their oaths of allegiance.
But the Christian, who had been separated from God and the church,
became an object of horror; and, in a turbulent and fanatic capital,
that horror might arm the hand of an assassin, or inflame a sedition
of the people. PalÊologus felt his danger, confessed his guilt, and
deprecated his judge: the act was irretrievable; the prize was obtained;
and the most rigorous penance, which he solicited, would have raised the
sinner to the reputation of a saint. The unrelenting patriarch
refused to announce any means of atonement or any hopes of mercy; and
condescended only to pronounce, that for so great a crime, great indeed
must be the satisfaction. "Do you require," said Michael, "that I should
abdicate the empire?" and at these words, he offered, or seemed to
offer, the sword of state. Arsenius eagerly grasped this pledge of
sovereignty; but when he perceived that the emperor was unwilling to
purchase absolution at so dear a rate, he indignantly escaped to his
cell, and left the royal sinner kneeling and weeping before the door.
[24]
[Footnote 22: This milder invention for extinguishing the sight was
tried by the philosopher Democritus on himself, when he sought to
withdraw his mind from the visible world: a foolish story! The word
_abacinare_, in Latin and Italian, has furnished Ducange (Gloss. Lat.)
with an opportunity to review the various modes of blinding: the more
violent were scooping, burning with an iron, or hot vinegar, and binding
the head with a strong cord till the eyes burst from their sockets.
Ingenious tyrants!]
[Footnote 23: See the first retreat and restoration of Arsenius, in
Pachymer (l. ii. c. 15, l. iii. c. 1, 2) and Nicephorus Gregoras,
(l. iii. c. 1, l. iv. c. 1.) Posterity justly accused the ajeleia and
raqumia of Arsenius the virtues of a hermit, the vices of a minister,
(l. xii. c. 2.)]
[Footnote 24: The crime and excommunication of Michael are fairly told
by Pachymer (l. iii. c. 10, 14, 19, &c.) and Gregoras, (l. iv. c. 4.)
His confession and penance restored their freedom.]
Chapter LXII: Greek Emperors Of Nice And Constantinople.--Part II.
The danger and scandal of this excommunication subsisted above three
years, till the popular clamor was assuaged by time and repentance; till
the brethren of Arsenius condemned his inflexible spirit, so repugnant
to the unbounded forgiveness of the gospel. The emperor had artfully
insinuated, that, if he were still rejected at home, he might seek, in
the Roman pontiff, a more indulgent judge; but it was far more easy and
effectual to find or to place that judge at the head of the Byzantine
church. Arsenius was involved in a vague rumor of conspiracy and
disaffection; [248] some irregular steps in his ordination and government
were liable to censure; a synod deposed him from the episcopal office;
and he was transported under a guard of soldiers to a small island of
the Propontis. Before his exile, he sullenly requested that a strict
account might be taken of the treasures of the church; boasted, that his
sole riches, three pieces of gold, had been earned by transcribing the
psalms; continued to assert the freedom of his mind; and denied, with
his last breath, the pardon which was implored by the royal sinner. [25]
After some delay, Gregory, [259 bishop of Adrianople, was translated
to the Byzantine throne; but his authority was found insufficient to
support the absolution of the emperor; and Joseph, a reverend monk,
was substituted to that important function. This edifying scene was
represented in the presence of the senate and the people; at the end
of six years the humble penitent was restored to the communion of the
faithful; and humanity will rejoice, that a milder treatment of the
captive Lascaris was stipulated as a proof of his remorse. But the
spirit of Arsenius still survived in a powerful faction of the monks and
clergy, who persevered about forty-eight years in an obstinate schism.
Their scruples were treated with tenderness and respect by Michael and
his son; and the reconciliation of the Arsenites was the serious labor
of the church and state. In the confidence of fanaticism, they had
proposed to try their cause by a miracle; and when the two papers,
that contained their own and the adverse cause, were cast into a fiery
brazier, they expected that the Catholic verity would be respected by
the flames. Alas! the two papers were indiscriminately consumed, and
this unforeseen accident produced the union of a day, and renewed the
quarrel of an age. [26] The final treaty displayed the victory of
the Arsenites: the clergy abstained during forty days from all
ecclesiastical functions; a slight penance was imposed on the laity; the
body of Arsenius was deposited in the sanctuary; and, in the name of
the departed saint, the prince and people were released from the sins of
their fathers. [27]
[Footnote 248: Except the omission of a prayer for the emperor, the
charges against Arsenius were of different nature: he was accused of
having allowed the sultan of Iconium to bathe in vessels signed with the
cross, and to have admitted him to the church, though unbaptized, during
the service. It was pleaded, in favor of Arsenius, among other proofs of
the sultan's Christianity, that he had offered to eat ham. Pachymer,
l. iv. c. 4, p. 265. It was after his exile that he was involved in a
charge of conspiracy.--M.]
[Footnote 25: Pachymer relates the exile of Arsenius, (l. iv. c. 1--16:)
he was one of the commissaries who visited him in the desert island.
The last testament of the unforgiving patriarch is still extant, (Dupin,
BibliothËque EcclÈsiastique, tom. x. p. 95.)]
[Footnote 259: Pachymer calls him Germanus.--M.]
[Footnote 26: Pachymer (l. vii. c. 22) relates this miraculous trial
like a philosopher, and treats with similar contempt a plot of the
Arsenites, to hide a revelation in the coffin of some old saint, (l.
vii. c. 13.) He compensates this incredulity by an image that weeps,
another that bleeds, (l. vii. c. 30,) and the miraculous cures of a deaf
and a mute patient, (l. xi. c. 32.)]
[Footnote 27: The story of the Arsenites is spread through the thirteen
books of Pachymer. Their union and triumph are reserved for Nicephorus
Gregoras, (l. vii. c. 9,) who neither loves nor esteems these
sectaries.]
The establishment of his family was the motive, or at least the
pretence, of the crime of PalÊologus; and he was impatient to confirm
the succession, by sharing with his eldest son the honors of the purple.
Andronicus, afterwards surnamed the Elder, was proclaimed and crowned
emperor of the Romans, in the fifteenth year of his age; and, from the
first Êra of a prolix and inglorious reign, he held that august title
nine years as the colleague, and fifty as the successor, of his father.
Michael himself, had he died in a private station, would have been
thought more worthy of the empire; and the assaults of his temporal and
spiritual enemies left him few moments to labor for his own fame or the
happiness of his subjects. He wrested from the Franks several of the
noblest islands of the Archipelago, Lesbos, Chios, and Rhodes: his
brother Constantine was sent to command in Malvasia and Sparta; and the
eastern side of the Morea, from Argos and Napoli to Cape Thinners, was
repossessed by the Greeks. This effusion of Christian blood was
loudly condemned by the patriarch; and the insolent priest presumed to
interpose his fears and scruples between the arms of princes. But in
the prosecution of these western conquests, the countries beyond the
Hellespont were left naked to the Turks; and their depredations verified
the prophecy of a dying senator, that the recovery of Constantinople
would be the ruin of Asia. The victories of Michael were achieved by his
lieutenants; his sword rusted in the palace; and, in the transactions
of the emperor with the popes and the king of Naples, his political acts
were stained with cruelty and fraud. [28]
[Footnote 28: Of the xiii books of Pachymer, the first six (as the ivth
and vth of Nicephorus Gregoras) contain the reign of Michael, at the
time of whose death he was forty years of age. Instead of breaking,
like his editor the PËre Poussin, his history into two parts, I follow
Ducange and Cousin, who number the xiii. books in one series.]
I. The Vatican was the most natural refuge of a Latin emperor, who had
been driven from his throne; and Pope Urban the Fourth appeared to pity
the misfortunes, and vindicate the cause, of the fugitive Baldwin. A
crusade, with plenary indulgence, was preached by his command against
the schismatic Greeks: he excommunicated their allies and adherents;
solicited Louis the Ninth in favor of his kinsman; and demanded a tenth
of the ecclesiastical revenues of France and England for the service of
the holy war. [29] The subtle Greek, who watched the rising tempest of
the West, attempted to suspend or soothe the hostility of the pope, by
suppliant embassies and respectful letters; but he insinuated that the
establishment of peace must prepare the reconciliation and obedience of
the Eastern church. The Roman court could not be deceived by so gross
an artifice; and Michael was admonished, that the repentance of the
son should precede the forgiveness of the father; and that _faith_ (an
ambiguous word) was the only basis of friendship and alliance. After a
long and affected delay, the approach of danger, and the importunity of
Gregory the Tenth, compelled him to enter on a more serious negotiation:
he alleged the example of the great Vataces; and the Greek clergy, who
understood the intentions of their prince, were not alarmed by the first
steps of reconciliation and respect. But when he pressed the conclusion
of the treaty, they strenuously declared, that the Latins, though not in
name, were heretics in fact, and that they despised those strangers as
the vilest and most despicable portion of the human race. [30] It was
the task of the emperor to persuade, to corrupt, to intimidate the
most popular ecclesiastics, to gain the vote of each individual, and
alternately to urge the arguments of Christian charity and the public
welfare. The texts of the fathers and the arms of the Franks were
balanced in the theological and political scale; and without approving
the addition to the Nicene creed, the most moderate were taught to
confess, that the two hostile propositions of proceeding from the Father
by the Son, and of proceeding from the Father and the Son, might be
reduced to a safe and Catholic sense. [31] The supremacy of the pope was
a doctrine more easy to conceive, but more painful to acknowledge: yet
Michael represented to his monks and prelates, that they might submit
to name the Roman bishop as the first of the patriarchs; and that their
distance and discretion would guard the liberties of the Eastern church
from the mischievous consequences of the right of appeal. He protested
that he would sacrifice his life and empire rather than yield the
smallest point of orthodox faith or national independence; and this
declaration was sealed and ratified by a golden bull. The patriarch
Joseph withdrew to a monastery, to resign or resume his throne,
according to the event of the treaty: the letters of union and obedience
were subscribed by the emperor, his son Andronicus, and thirty-five
archbishops and metropolitans, with their respective synods; and the
episcopal list was multiplied by many dioceses which were annihilated
under the yoke of the infidels. An embassy was composed of some trusty
ministers and prelates: they embarked for Italy, with rich ornaments
and rare perfumes for the altar of St. Peter; and their secret orders
authorized and recommended a boundless compliance. They were received in
the general council of Lyons, by Pope Gregory the Tenth, at the head
of five hundred bishops. [32] He embraced with tears his long-lost and
repentant children; accepted the oath of the ambassadors, who abjured
the schism in the name of the two emperors; adorned the prelates with
the ring and mitre; chanted in Greek and Latin the Nicene creed with the
addition of _filioque_; and rejoiced in the union of the East and West,
which had been reserved for his reign. To consummate this pious work,
the Byzantine deputies were speedily followed by the pope's nuncios; and
their instruction discloses the policy of the Vatican, which could not
be satisfied with the vain title of supremacy. After viewing the temper
of the prince and people, they were enjoined to absolve the schismatic
clergy, who should subscribe and swear their abjuration and obedience;
to establish in all the churches the use of the perfect creed; to
prepare the entrance of a cardinal legate, with the full powers and
dignity of his office; and to instruct the emperor in the advantages
which he might derive from the temporal protection of the Roman pontiff.
[33]
[Footnote 29: Ducange, Hist. de C. P. l. v. c. 33, &c., from the
Epistles of Urban IV.]
[Footnote 30: From their mercantile intercourse with the Venetians and
Genoese, they branded the Latins as kaphloi and banausoi, (Pachymer,
l. v. c. 10.) "Some are heretics in name; others, like the Latins,
in fact," said the learned Veccus, (l. v. c. 12,) who soon afterwards
became a convert (c. 15, 16) and a patriarch, (c. 24.)]
[Footnote 31: In this class we may place Pachymer himself, whose copious
and candid narrative occupies the vth and vith books of his history. Yet
the Greek is silent on the council of Lyons, and seems to believe that
the popes always resided in Rome and Italy, (l. v. c. 17, 21.)]
[Footnote 32: See the acts of the council of Lyons in the year 1274.
Fleury, Hist. EcclÈsiastique, tom. xviii. p. 181--199. Dupin, Bibliot.
EcclÈs. tom. x. p. 135.]
[Footnote 33: This curious instruction, which has been drawn with more
or less honesty by Wading and Leo Allatius from the archives of the
Vatican, is given in an abstract or version by Fleury, (tom. xviii. p.
252--258.)]