reigned alone but one year. She was expelled from the palace,
and lingered in obscurity till the time of Anna Comnena, who
saw her alive in 1096.
ROMANUS IV., (Diogenes,) was crowned in 1068, and was killed
in 1071. He had married Eudocia, and was nominated to the
crown in prejudice of her sons. He was taken prisoner by the
Turks, who scooped out his eyes; of which he died, covered
with worms, and in extreme misery.
MICHAEL VII.,(Parapinace,) crowned in 1071, and resigned in
1078, and retired to a monastery. He was called Parapinace
because he had suffered the bushel of corn to be reduced to
the size of a quart. He associated his two brothers with
him in the empire, under the names of Andronicus I. and
Constantine XII.
NICEPHORUS III., (Botoniates,) was crowned 1078: he resigned
in 1081, and entered a monastery. In his reign, Doomsday Book
began to be compiled in England, to ascertain the tenure of
estates.
_Restoration of the Family of Comnenus._
ALEXIUS I., (Comnenus,) was crowned in 1081, and died in 1118.
He lived to the age of seventy-one, and reigned thirty-seven.
His daughter, Anna Comnena, illustrated this era by her
writings. The history of her father’s eventful reign is yet
extant. In England, William Rufus and Henry I. were his
contemporaries, and the first crusade commenced. JOHANNES II.,
(Comnenus,) Kalojohannes, began his reign in 1118, and died in
1143, of the wound of a poisoned arrow, accidentally inflicted
by himself. He obtained the name of Kalojohannes for his
personal beauty. His contemporary in England was Stephen.
MANUEL I., (Comnenus,) was crowned in 1143, and died in 1180.
In his reign the canon law was drawn up, and the second
crusade commenced.
ALEXIUS II., (Comnenus,) was crowned in 1180, and died in
1183. He was murdered by his successor Andronicus.
ANDRONICUS I., (Comnenus,) was crowned in 1183, and died in
1185. He was cruelly put to death, also, by his successor, who
caused his eyes to be put out, and his hands cut off, and then
led him through the city, seated on a camel, when he was torn
in pieces by the multitude.
ISAAK II., (Angelus,) was crowned in 1185, and in 1195 his
eyes were put out. In his reign the third crusade commenced.
His contemporary in England was Richard I.
ALEXIUS III., (Angelus) was crowned in 1195, and died in 1204.
The deposition of his brother Isaak was the pretext to the
Crusaders for the sack of Constantinople.
ISAAK III., ALEXIUS IV., ALEXIUS V., (Ducas Mourzoufle,) 1203.
In six months, five emperors were crowned at Constantinople;
three were murdered, and two fled. Mourzoufle (so called from
his dark eyebrows) was cast from the monument of Theodosius.
The Crusaders took and sacked the city, and the empire was
partitioned: Lascaris obtained Nicæa and Bythinia; Alexius,
Trebisond; and Michael, Epirus.
_Frank Family._
BALDWIN I., (Robert,) crowned in 1204. He was drawn into an
ambush by the Greeks and Bulgarians, by whom some say he was
cut to pieces. He never afterwards appeared. Aristotle’s works
were now first brought from Constantinople, Ghengis Khan
reigned in Tartary, and Magna Charta was extorted from king
John in England.
HENRY was called to the throne on the supposed death of his
brother in 1206, and reigned 10 years.
BALDWIN II. was crowned in 1228; deposed in 1261. He fled
to Italy. The Latin dynasty was extinguished, and the Greek
restored. The Inquisition was established in the Latin church.
Henry III. reigned in England.
_Family of the Palæologi._
MICHAEL VIII., (Palæologus) crowned in 1262; died in 1283. He
was regent during the minority of John Lascaris, whom he put
to death. He endeavoured to effect an union between the Greek
and Latin churches without success. The Mamelukes now seized
on Egypt. Edward I. reigned in England.
Andronicus II., (Palæologus,) was crowned in 1283, and
abdicated in 1328. He retired to a monastery, where he lived
to the age of seventy-four. The Turks seized on Bythinia, and
Othman established his capital at Brusa. From him they are
since called Ottomans, or Osmanli. Edward II. reigned in
England.
ANDRONICUS III., (Palæologus,) crowned in 1328, having deposed
his grandfather, with whom he had been associated. He died of
an irregular life in 1341. Edward III. reigned in England.
JOHANNES III., (Cantacuzene,) was crowned in 1342, and
abdicated in 1355. He retired, with his wife, to a monastery,
where he lived till 1411. He there composed the “History of
his own Time,” which is still extant. In his reign the Turks
first entered Europe.
JOHANNES IV., (Palæologus,) was crowned on his father
Andronicus’s death, in 1341, and died in 1391. In his reign
Amurath took Adrianople, and established a capital in Europe.
Richard II. reigned in England.
MANUEL II., (Palæologus,) was crowned sole emperor in 1391,
and died in 1425. In his reign, Bajazet laid siege to
Constantinople, which was raised by Tamerlane. Henry IV. and
Henry V. reigned in England.
JOHANNES V., (Palæologus,) crowned sole emperor in 1425, and
died of the gout in 1448. In his reign the art of printing was
first discovered in Europe. Henry VI. was his contemporary of
England.
CONSTANTINUS XIII., by some XI., (Palæologus,) was crowned
in 1448, and killed in 1453. Mohammed took the city of
Constantinople, and put an end to the Greek empire.
Constantine had two brothers−-Demetrius, who basely submitted
to slavery, and permitted his daughter to be received into
the conqueror’s harem; and Thonas, who made vigorous efforts
to rescue Greece from the Ottoman power. He finally retired
to Italy. His children proceeded to England, where he died:
and the ashes of the last of the family of the Greek dynasty
repose among the free in Britain, where their monument is
still to be seen in Llanulph Church in Cornwall. It is
remarkable, that the first Christian emperor of the East was
born, and the descendants of the last, repose in England.
TURKISH DYNASTY
MAHOMET II., (Fatih,) He was proclaimed sultan in 1451, and
took possession of Constantinople on the memorable 29th of
May, 1453. He died of a colic in 1481. The title of Fatih, or
“the Conqueror” was given to him on the occasion, as opening
a way into the Christian capital. He prepared an epitaph to
be placed on his tomb, containing the names of all the kings,
countries, and cities he had conquered. His contemporary in
England was Edward IV.
BAJAZET II. He was proclaimed in 1481, and ceased to reign in
1512. His son Selim had appointed for him a place of retreat
such as he wished, but in the meantime had corrupted his
physician, who poisoned him at Tzurallo. His contemporaries in
England were Edward V., Richard III., Henry VII., and Henry
VIII.
SELIM I. (Yavuz) began his reign in 1512, and died of a fever
in 1520. His contemporary in England was Henry VIII.
SOLIMAN I. (by some II.) (Kanuni) began his reign in 1520;
and terminated it in 1566. He is generally called in Europe
the “Magnificent,” but by Turks, Kanuni, or the “Institutor,”
as he drew up a list of institutes by which the kingdom was
afterwards to be governed, instead of those traditions which
had before been their unwritten law. His contemporaries in
England were, Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth.
SELIM II. succeeded his father Soliman in 1566; he died
in 1574. Contrary to the usual temperament of a Turkish
sovereign, he was fond of peace, and sighed for repose,
particularly after the loss of the terrible battle of Lepanto,
in which Cervantes lost an arm. His contemporary in England
was Elizabeth.
AMURATH III. succeeded his father Selim in 1574; and died
in 1595; a victim to melancholy and a morbid imagination.
The discharge of a cannon broke the windows of his kiosk,
as he reclined on his divan. Supposing that this portended
his death, he died in a fever under that impression. His
contemporary in England was Elizabeth, who wrote him a Latin
letter.
MOHAMMED III. succeeded to the throne on the death of his
father Mohammed in 1595; he died in 1603. He drowned all the
odalisks, or female slaves, of the seraglio, suspected of
pregnancy, and put to death nineteen of his brothers on the
first day of his elevation. He, from policy, was advised by
his mother to affect a dissipated life, and contracted a habit
which he could not afterwards get rid of. He died prematurely
of excess. His only contemporary in England was Elizabeth.
ACHMET I. came to the throne in 1603; and died in 1607. He
escaped the fate usually attendant on a younger brother in
Turkey, by the premature death of his elder. His life was
attempted by a Dervish, who hurled a large stone on him from
the roof of a house, which bruised his shoulder. He supposed
that dogs communicated the plague, and he ordered them all to
be killed; but the mufti saved them, by affirming that every
dog had a soul. His contemporary in England was James I.
OSMAN, or OTHMAN II. succeeded his father Achmet in 1617; he
was strangled by the janissaries in 1621, at the early age
of nineteen years. A meteoric phenomenon, which assumed the
appearance of a huge cymeter, was seen in the sky in his reign
for a month, which the Turks were persuaded portended to them
the conquest of the world. Charles I. was his contemporary in
England.
_Mustapha I._ was dragged from prison, and set on the throne
by the janissaries in 1621, on the death of his nephew
Osman. In 1623 he was compelled to resign by the turbulent
janissaries, and re-entered the prison from which they had
taken him. James I. reigned in England.
AMURATH IV. began his reign in 1624; and ended it in 1640;
having hastened his death by an intemperate use of wine and
ardent spirits, so as to break down a strong constitution at
the age of thirty-one. He had conceived the extraordinary
projects of extinguishing the Ottoman race, by putting his
brother Ibrahim to death; but his own death anticipated
his intention. He annexed Bagdad to the empire. In his
reign, Cyril Lascaris, the Greek patriarch, published, at
the patriarchal press, a confession of eighteen articles,
declaring the faith of the Greeks on these points, similar to
that of the reformed church in Europe. The contemporary reign
in England was that of Charles I.
IBRAHIM, succeeded his brother in 1640, and was strangled by
the janissaries in 1668. He was a miserable-looking man, had
a pale visage, scanty beard, seamed with the small-pox, mean
appearance, spare person, hypochondriac, and subject to the
falling sickness. His contemporary in England was Charles I.
MOHAMMED IV. the son of Ibrahim, ascended the throne in 1648,
at the age of seven years. He was deposed in 1687, and shut
up in the seraglio, where he lingered in solitude four years.
In the year 1666, in this reign, Sabathi Levi, or Sevi,
appeared in Palestine as the expected Messiah, and was invited
to Constantinople by the sultan, who promised to restore
Jerusalem. Multitudes of people, both Turks and Jews, believed
on him. Among other miracles, he professed to be invulnerable;
but when he was set up as a mark to be shot at, his courage
failed, and he confessed the imposture. Contemporary
governments in England, “the Commonwealth,” Charles II.
SOLIMAN II. (III.) brother to the former, succeeded in 1687;
and died in 1691, of a dropsy. He was austere and indisposed
to accept the throne. He passed his whole time in studying
the koran. In his reign Lewin Warner, the Dutch ambassador at
the Port, caused the Bible to be translated at Constantinople
into the Turkish language. The MS. remained from that time
shut up in the University of Leyden, till it was discovered,
and lately published by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Some copies were circulated among the Turks of Constantinople
in the year 1824, which caused a firman to be issued for their
suppression. English sovereigns, Charles II., James II.
ACHMET II. the younger brother of Mohammed, succeeded to
the throne in 1691; he died in 1695. His mind was mean and
powerless, and his person bloated: he had large staring eyes,
and a very long nose. Contemporaries in England, William and
Mary.
MUSTAPHA II. brother to Achmet, succeeded him in 1695; he
abdicated the throne in 1703. His contemporaries in England
were William III. and Anne.
ACHMET III. the brother of Mustapha, succeeded in 1703;
after a reign of twenty-seven years of prosperity, he too
was compelled by the turbulent janissaries, to abdicate the
throne in 1730; the third whom the caprice of the people had
dethroned in fifty years. His contemporaries in England were
Anne, George I., and George II.
MAHMOUD I., or MOHAMMED V., the nephew of Achmet, succeeded
in 1730; he died in 1754, after a mild reign of twenty-four
years. He was condescending and humble, and much regretted. It
is a precept of Islamism, that every man should be prepared
for his destiny, and able to support it by some useful
employment. Many sultans were mechanics, and so was Mahmoud;
he was a cunning worker in ivory, which he wrought with a
dexterity far exceeding that of a Turk. His contemporary in
England was George II.
OTHMAN III. the brother of Mahmoud, succeeded him in 1754; he
died in 1757. His reign was distinguished by the persevering
and sanguinary efforts of the Russians to effect their great
object of advancing to Constantinople, by urging the Greeks to
insurrection. His contemporary in England was George II.
MUSTAPHA III. (Gazi,) nephew of Othman, and son of Achmet
III., began his reign in 1757; and died in 1776. His uncle
had administered poison to himself and two brothers; they
perished, but he survived, and ever after retained the
traces of it. The approximation of Turks to European habits
and improvements, began with him. He ordered Boerhaave and
Machiavel to be translated into Turkish, and commanded his son
to be inoculated; and he founded a library and an academy.
He made vigorous efforts against the Russians, and was thus
called Gazi, “The Victorious.” George III. reigned in England.
ABDUL HAMED, the last of the sons of Achmet III. succeeded in
1776; he died in 1789. His reign, like his predecessors, was
marked by the advance of the Russians to their great object.
Sovereign in England, George III.
SELIM III. the only son of Mustapha, succeeded in 1789, to
the exclusion of the children of Abdul Hamed. He was deposed
by the janissaries in 1807, and afterwards strangled for
attempting to alter their discipline, and establish a nizam
dgeddite, or new corps. He was an amiable and enlightened
prince. Contemporary in England George III.
MUSTAPHA IV. was the eldest son of Abdul Hamed, and succeeded
in 1807; after a brief reign of one year, he too was deposed
in 1808, and afterwards strangled. Sovereign in England George
III.
MAHMOUD II. or MOHAMMED VI. succeeded his brother in 1808.
He extirpated the turbulent janissaries, remodelled the
empire, and, amid more perils, perhaps, than ever sovereign
encountered, he still reigns. He is the thirtieth monarch
of the Ottoman dynasty, and the twenty-fourth on the throne
of Constantinople, and has seen four fill the throne of
England−-George III., George IV., William IV., Victoria.
END OF HISTORICAL SKETCH.
CONSTANTINOPLE AND ITS ENVIRONS.
[Illustration: T. Allom. J. Cousen.
Mosque of Bajazet, Seraskier’s Tower, Yeni Jami, Solimanie, Mahomet,
Selim, Tower of Galata.
CONSTANTINOPLE FROM THE ENTRANCE TO THE GOLDEN HORN.]
THE situations of Oriental cities, in general, possess
advantages, in point of view, of which those in the west are deprived:
London, Paris, Vienna, and St. Petersburg present only flat levels; and
it is necessary to climb some impending height, to obtain a bird’s-eye
view, so as to take in any portion except the first line of houses, and
the tops of a few of the more lofty edifices which rise behind them.
But in the East, every city has its Acropolis: some lofty eminence is
chosen to build on, the summit of which is crowned with a fortress, and
the sloping sides covered with streets and houses. In this way ancient
towns are described by writers, who compare them to amphitheatres,
with their streets, like the seats, rising one above the other.
Constantinople participates in this advantage in an eminent degree.
The approach to this magnificent city, from the Sea of Marmora, is more
beautiful, perhaps, than that of any other city in the world. Before
the spectator lies a romantic archipelago of islands covered with
pine, arbutus, and oak woods, from whence emerges, on every summit,
some monastery of the Greek church. These lovely islets seem to float
upon a sea generally calm and unruffled, and are beautifully reflected
from a surface singularly pure and lucid. Beside them is the coast of
Asia Minor, from which rises, at a distance, the vast contour of Mount
Olympus, not, as the poet describes it, with “cloudy tops,” but usually
unveiled and distinct; its flanks clothed with forests, and its summits
crowned with eternal snows, glittering in sunlight, imparting to the
heated atmosphere below an imagined feeling of refreshing coolness. In
some states of the air, the effect of refraction is so deceptive, that
the mountain seems almost to impend over the spectator.
From hence the coast sweeps round to the mouth of the Bosphorus, in a
recess of which lies the town of Chalcedon. Beside it stretches, for
more than three miles, the great cemetery of the Moslems, the most
extensive, perhaps, in the world; and rising from the plain, and
ascending the side of a hill, is the fine city of Scutari, associated
with early historical recollections. It is of considerable extent,
covering the inclined plain of the hill on which it is built, till the
ascent is terminated by the lofty mountain of Bourgourloo, a detached
portion of the great Bythinian chain. From thence a splendid view is
commanded, including the romantic windings of the Bosphorus, almost for
the whole extent of the strait, from the Euxine to the Propontis.
Below the promontory of Scutari, the Bosphorus rushes out with its
rapid current, and, no longer confined within its narrow shores,
expands itself into the open sea. The limpid torrent, like that of some
great river tumbling down from its source, now wheels and boils, and
creates such commotion that boats are oftentimes dangerously entangled.
On the European shore, and opposite to Scutari, two promontories
project into the Bosphorus. The first is the peninsula of Pera,
its lower part terminated by the ancient city of Galata, where the
enterprising Genoese established one of their commercial marts
under the Greek emperors, and where their language still attests
their origin. The walls, with their ramparts and towers, are still
entire; and the gates are nightly shut by the Turks with the same
vigilant precaution as they were by their former masters. This is the
crowded mart, where merchants of all nations have their stores and
counting-houses, and which the active and busy genius of the Genoese
still seems to animate.
The town of Pera occupies the elevated ridge of a high promontory
between the harbour and the Bosphorus. On the spine of this eminence
the European natives have established their residence. The merchants,
whose stores and offices are below, have their dwelling-houses on
this lofty and healthful elevation, to which they are seen climbing
in groups every evening, when the business of the day is over. Their
habitations form a strong contrast to those of the Turks. They
are lofty, solid, and convenient, and from their height command a
magnificent view of the circumjacent seas, with all their bays and
islands. Here also the ambassadors of the different powers of Europe
have their palaces, among which the British, before its destruction by
fire, was the most beautiful and conspicuous.
Below the promontory of Pera, the noble harbour of “The Golden Horn”
opens to the view, its entrance formed by the points of Galata and
that of the seraglio. Here it is that ships of all nations are seen
floating side by side, and indicating, by the peculiarity of their
structure, the people to which they belong. But the most remarkable and
characteristic are those which are sent from the different parts of the
vast Turkish empire, in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
The enormous vessels that compose the Turkish fleet are the most
conspicuous objects. Some of them rise out of the water with a length
and breadth so imposing, as to excite wonder how a nation, so ignorant
of maritime affairs, and limited in their commercial intercourse,
could have built such stupendous specimens of naval architecture.
Many of them carry 140 brass cannon, of a calibre so enormous on the
lower deck, as to throw balls of 100 lbs. weight. They are navigated
by crews of 2000 men, and seem capable of opening a cannonade that
could instantly sink the largest opponent. The brightness of their
guns of burnished brass, the freshness of their cordage, the snowy
whiteness of their sails, the gaiety and richness of their painting,
always fresh and bright, give an impression that the nation to which
they belong must have brought the art of ship-building to the highest
perfection. On the bow of each is a colossal lion, highly carved and
naturally coloured, which presents the emblem of the Turkish empire
in its most formidable attitude. The first impression made by these
great engines of naval warfare, is the vast superiority they possess,
and the hopelessness of any opposition to them. Yet they are utterly
powerless in the unskilful hands that guide them. The Turks, like their
predecessors the Persians, are impotent by sea; and as the ancient
Greeks with ease destroyed the fleets of the one, so did the modern
Greeks those of the other with their tiny ships. Their small craft,
like fishing-boats, with decayed timbers, ragged sails, and rotten
cordage, which are now sometimes seen in the harbour lying peaceably
beside the Turkish men-of-war, were more than a match for those
gorgeous but unmanageable masses; and their rusty iron guns, whose
explosion sounded like the shot of a pistol in comparison, silenced the
immense batteries of ordnance, that seemed capable of blowing a Greek
island out of the water.
The galleys of Africa next attract attention; these are always
summoned, and ready to join the naval armaments of their sovereign,
like the military vassals of some feudal lord. Their habits of
ferocity, though restrained, still continue; when attached to the
Turkish fleet, they carry ruin and desolation wherever they sail. These
allies destroyed, in Greece, whatever the less merciless Turks had
spared, and would have utterly exterminated the remnant of that people,
had not Christian Europe interfered.
Beside these pirate galleys of the Mediterranean, are to be seen
moored the lofty merchantmen of the Euxine. The singular structure
of these vessels is peculiar to the eastern coasts of the Black Sea,
and has been preserved from the earliest times. These immense and
unwieldy ships rise to a considerable height out of the water, both
at the bow and the stern, and seem altogether incapable of resisting
a gale of wind. They have seldom more than one mast and one immense
mainsail, and seem to move with so infirm a balance, that they totter
along through the water as if about to upset every moment. Approaching
Constantinople, they are overtaken, late in the year, by the violent
north-easter of the Melktem, or the misty weather that then prevails;
and unable to make the narrow entrance of the Bosphorus, or bear up
from a lee-shore, less skilful or less fortunate than the Argonauts,
they are either dashed on the Cyanean rocks, or driven on the sands.
Against this misfortune they adopt many superstitious precautions.
Every vessel has a wreath of blue beads suspended from the prow, as
a protection against the glance of an evil eye, which is supposed to
expend itself on this amulet.