not been taken, and, on the pretext that he had left his gauntlet
behind, a companion regained admittance to the church, while the
knight again kept the monk in charge in conversation at the door.
Dalmatius went to the chest behind the altar where the relic had been
kept, stole the remainder, went out, mounted his horse and rode away.
The head was placed with pious joy in the chapel of his house. He
returned, disguised, some days after to the church, in order, as he
pretended, to do reverence to the relic--in order really to ascertain
that he had taken the right head, for there had been two in the chest.
He was informed that the head of St. Clement had been stolen. Then,
being satisfied as to its authenticity, he took a vow that he would
give the relic to the Church of Cluny in case he should arrive safely.
He embarked. The devil, from jealousy, sent a hurricane, but the tears
and prayers before the relic defeated him, and the knight arrived
safely home. The monks of Cluny received the precious treasure with
every demonstration of reverent joy, and in the fullest confidence
that they had secured the perpetual intercession of St. Clement on
behalf of themselves and those who did honor to his head. The relics
most sought after were those which related to the events mentioned in
the New Testament, especially to the infancy, life, and passion of
Christ, and to the saints popular in the West.
In the years which followed the conquest Latin priests were sent to
Constantinople from France, Flanders, and Italy, to take charge of the
churches in the city. These priests appear to have been great hunters
after relics. Thus it came to pass that there was scarcely an
important church or monastery in most Western countries which did not
possess some share of the spoil which came from Constantinople.
For some years the demand for relics seemed to be insatiable, and
caused fresh supplies to be forthcoming to an almost unlimited extent.
The new relics, equally with the old, were certified in due form to be
what they professed to be. Documents, duly attested and full of
detailed evidence--sometimes, doubtless, manufactured for the
occasion--easily satisfied those to whom it was of importance to
possess certified relics, and throughout the West the demand for
relics which might bring profit to their possessors continued to
increase. At length the Church deemed it necessary to put a stop to
the supply, and especially to that of the apocryphal and legendary
acts which testified to their authenticity, and in 1215 the fourth
Lateran council judged it necessary to make a decree enjoining the
bishops to take means to prevent pilgrims from being deceived.
LATIN EMPIRE OF THE EAST
ITS FOUNDATION AND FALL
A.D. 1204-1261
W.J. BRODRIBB AND SIR WALTER BESANT
As a result of the intrigues connected with the Fifth
Crusade, in which crusaders and Venetians--the latter for
their own commercial advantage--jointly participated, it was
decided to capture Constantinople, the seat of the Byzantine
empire, and to partition the empire itself among the
captors. The combined forces of the Latins accordingly made
two assaults upon the capital of their Eastern
fellow-Christians, who had from the first made passive
opposition to the crusades, fearing for the integrity of
their empire. The city succumbed to the second attack and
was thoroughly plundered. The division of the empire was
especially insisted upon by Dandolo, the aged doge, who led
the Venetians in the expedition.
The Venetians well knew that whoever held the city of
Constantinople held the key of the East. It proved in the
end that they had an imperfect knowledge of the strength and
resources, as well as of the peculiar weakness, of the
Byzantine possessions, which at best were but loosely held
together, and required ceaseless vigilance on the part of
the central government to guard them against outward attack
and hold in check the spirit of internal revolt.
It was nevertheless the cautious policy of the Venetians not
to hold the key of the East, Constantinople, since to hold
it would entail the necessity of defending its possessions.
They preferred to be on such terms of friendship, not
necessarily alliance, with those who should hold the key, as
would give them all the advantages they desired, without
involving them in irksome obligations if there came a change
of masters. "Venice fought for her own hand," let other
nations as they might be led astray by illusory hopes of
allies and friends bound by ties of gratitude. She well knew
how to guard herself against the spirit of perfidy so active
in the Middle Ages, as well as how to exercise that spirit
in her own interest.
Once in possession and control of Constantinople, the Latins
found it necessary to proceed directly to the partition of
the empire. It had been agreed between old Dandolo and
Baldwin, Boniface and others of the crusaders that one full
quarter of the whole dominion was to be assigned to the
Latin emperor, who was to be elected by Venetians and
crusaders together. This left three-quarters remaining, of
which Venice was to take half, the rest to be in some manner
divided among the crusaders. First of all, however, came the
election of an emperor for the new state.
Venice wanted no imperial dignity, nor could any dignity be bestowed
upon the nonagenarian Dandolo greater than that which he actually
enjoyed as doge of his native republic. He accepted, however, the
title of Despot of Romania.[50] The emperor must therefore be chosen
from among the French or Flemings. Two of the chiefs might show strong
claims for the choice. Of these two, the Marquis of Montferrat, who at
first seemed the most likely to be chosen, was already connected by
means of his brother's marriage with the late reigning dynasty of
Constantinople. He was, besides, proved to be a valorous soldier and a
prudent general. On the other hand, Baldwin, the count of Flanders, a
younger man, had displayed all the prowess of his rival, and was
personally more popular. Besides, the larger part of the army
consisted of his own people, Flemings.
There was, therefore, no surprise when the council of election
announced that the choice had fallen upon Baldwin, and his rival was
among the first to acknowledge the validity of the election. The
Marquis of Montferrat obtained for his prize Crete and the Asiatic
part of the empire. As, however, he discovered that the latter part of
the Byzantine realm would require to be conquered, he exchanged it for
the kingdom of Thessalonica. The Greek empire had at one blow fallen
to pieces. What the crusaders had conquered was that part of the
country now called Roumelia. Across the Dardanelles, Theodore Lascaris
established himself as emperor at Nicæa; and Alexius, a son of Manuel
Comnenus, created an empire for himself at Trebizond; another
established himself as despot of Epirus; and the other two wandering
emperors, Alexius III and Alexius V, joined their forces, in the hope
of keeping the Latins out of the northwest provinces.
But these two passed masters in duplicity could not, even in
misfortune, trust one another, and Alexius III, the craftier if not
the stronger of the two vagabond usurpers, seized his ally, put out
his eyes, and handed him over to the Latins. They went through the
formality of a trial, and found him guilty of the murder of Alexius
IV. He was sentenced to death, and after a good deal of discussion it
was decided that the manner of his death should be by being hurled
from the top of a lofty column, and this was accordingly done.
As for Alexius III, after a great variety of adventures he finally
fell into the hands of his son-in-law, Theodore Lascaris, who shut him
up in a monastery, where his troubled life came to an end.
Baldwin began his reign by sending a conciliatory letter to the
Pope.[51] He had not, it is true, attempted to carry out the vows
which he and his brother-crusaders had taken upon themselves.
Palestine still groaned under the yoke of the infidel. At the same
time the Pope could not but feel gratified at the extinction of the
Greek schism and the restoration of the unity of Christendom, That
event was undoubtedly due to him, and the Pope acknowledged it in a
careful letter, which left him free at any time to express his
disapprobation of the course pursued by the crusaders. To the King of
France Baldwin wrote, inviting the French knights to find their way to
this new scene of conquest and glory. To Palestine he sent promises of
assistance, with, as tokens of his power, the gates of Constantinople
and the chain which barred the port.
And then, the empire being fairly parcelled out, the Marquis of
Montferrat took his knights and men-at-arms to establish his own
kingdom of Thessalonica. Other chiefs, who had obtained each his own
part of the Byzantine territories, went off to conquer them for
themselves; and the Greeks began to perceive that they were ruled by a
mere handful of Latin adventurers, only to be dreaded when they were
together, and now scattered in small garrisons and feeble bands all
about the country. When this knowledge was thoroughly acquired,
troubles began to befall the new empire.
These troubles were originated, however, not by the Greeks, but by the
Bulgarians, and were due to the arrogance and pride of Baldwin. John,
King of this savage people, was of the Latin Church. Being as orthodox
as he was barbarous, he rejoiced mightily at the fall of the Greeks,
and sent an embassy of congratulation to the new Latin Emperor. Weak
as he was upon his unstable throne, Baldwin actually had the folly and
impudence to assault these ambassadors, to treat them as rebels, and
to send a message to their master that, before his servants could be
received at the Byzantine court, he must first deserve pardon by
touching with his forehead the footstool of the imperial throne. It
was not likely that a high-spirited and independent sovereign would
brook such a message.
He instantly threw the whole weight of his influence and strength into
the cause of the Greeks, and with their leaders concerted a scheme of
general and simultaneous massacre worthy of his barbarism and their
treachery. The secret was well kept; the conspirators were in no hurry
to strike the blow. They waited patiently till a time when it seemed
as if the force of the Latins was at the lowest; that is, when Prince
Henry, brother of the Emperor, had crossed the Hellespont with the
flower of the troops. The empire in Europe was covered with thin and
sparse garrisons; there were no forces in Constantinople to come to
their succor should they try to hold out; they might be taken in
detail and at once. And then those Byzantine Vespers began. It was a
revolt of thousands against tens; there was a great slaughter, a rush
of the little bands who escaped upon Adrianople, where there was a
fresh slaughter; and while the Greeks were up in successful revolt,
the Bulgarians, accompanied by a savage band of fourteen thousand
Comans, invaded the country, mad for pillage and revenge.
The position was one of extreme peril. Baldwin sent messengers to his
brother, ordering him to return in all haste, and then made such hasty
preparations as were possible, and sallied forth to the siege of
Adrianople. Had he waited for Henry's return, all might have gone well
with him, but he would not wait. It was the rule of the crusaders
never to refuse battle, whatever the odds, a rule to which their
greatest victories as well as their greatest disasters were chiefly
due. What Godfrey did before Ascalon, Baldwin was ready to do before
Adrianople. He had with him no more than a hundred and forty knights,
with three trains of archers and men-at-arms--say two thousand men in
all. The gallant Villehardouin, Marshal of Romania, who was destined
to survive this day and write its story, led the vanguard.
The main body, with whom was Baldwin, was commanded by the Count of
Blois; the rear was brought up by old Dandolo. The slender ranks of
the little army were continually being recruited by the accession of
the fugitive remains of the garrisons. On the way to Adrianople they
met the light cavalry of the Comans. Orders were given not to pursue
these light horsemen, who fought after the manner of the Parthians. In
a solid phalanx the western knights were able to face any odds, but
scattered and dispersed they would fall beneath the weight of numbers.
The order insisted on by Dandolo, who knew this kind of enemy, was
broken by no others than the Emperor himself and the Count of Blois.
The Comans, as usual, fled at the first charge of the heavily armed
knights, who spurred after them, regardless of the order, and led by
the Emperor. When they had ridden a mile or so, when their horses were
breathed, then the Comans closed in upon the little band of knights,
and the unequal contest began of a hundred and forty against fourteen
thousand. Some few struggled out of the _mêlée_ and found their way
back to the rest of the army. Most fell upon the field. Among these
was the Count of Blois. A few were taken prisoners, among whom was the
Emperor. No one ever knew his fate. The wildest stories were told of
this unfortunate Prince. His hands and feet, it was said, were cut
off, and he was exposed, mutilated, to the wild animals; he was
beheaded; he enacted the part of Joseph--Potiphar's wife being King
John's queen. Nothing was too wild to be believed about him. Twenty
years later a hermit of the Netherlands thought it would be possible
to pass himself off as the real Baldwin, who had escaped from
captivity and was thus expiating his early sins.
He obtained the fate from justice and the sympathy from the vulgar
which have commonly been the lot of pretenders. Whatever the real end
of this Emperor, King John wrote a year later to the Pope, calmly
informing him that his intercession for Baldwin was no longer of any
use, because he was no longer living. Then it was, and not till then,
that his brother, Henry of Flanders, consented to assume the title of
Emperor. Already the leaders of the crusade, who only three years
before had set sail so proudly from Venice, were dead or on the point
of death: Baldwin murdered in captivity; the Count of Blois killed on
the field of battle; Dandolo dead, at the age, say some writers, of a
hundred, in the year 1205; the Marquis of Montferrat about to be slain
in an obscure skirmish with the barbarous Bulgarians.
Henry stood alone, save for the faithful Geoffrey de Villehardouin,
Marshal of Champagne and Romania, who, though his narrative ceases at
this point, is believed to have remained with the new Emperor. His
reign lasted for ten years only. It was a reign of successful, brave,
and prudent administration in things military, civil, and
ecclesiastical Its success was greatly assisted by the fact that very
early in his reign the Greeks discovered the mistake they had made in
changing the rule of the Latins for the rule of the Bulgarians.
The first were hard masters, with rough, rude ways, and little
sympathy with the culture of the Byzantines; but the latter proposed,
as soon as the Latins were driven south, to exterminate the population
of Thrace, or at least to transplant the Greeks beyond the Balkans.
They called upon the Emperor to forgive them and to help them. Henry,
with a little army of eight hundred knights, with archers and
men-at-arms, perhaps five thousand in all, made no scruple of going
out to attack this disorderly mob of forty thousand Bulgarians. As no
mention is made of the Comans, it is presumable that these had gone
home again with their booty. At the siege of Thessalonica King John
was murdered--slain by no less a person than St. Demetrius himself,
said the Greeks--and a peace was concluded between his successor and
Henry.
The last years of this exemplary monarch's life were spent in wise
administration. He checked the zeal of the Pope's legate, and would
not countenance persecution about the double procession and other
controverted dogmas. He checked the pretensions of the clergy, by
placing his throne on the same level with that of the Patriarch,
whereas it had formerly been lower; and he prohibited the alienation
of fiefs, which would have handed over the patrimony of the knights to
the Church, and turned, as Gibbon says, a colony of soldiers into a
college of priests. When he died, childless, the next heir to the
empire was his sister Yolande, who had married Peter of Courtenay,
Count of Auxerre, a member of that princely house which still survives
in the line of the English earls of Devon.
It was an unfortunate day for that prince when he accepted the crown
which had already in ten years carried off two of his brothers. Yet
the chance was splendid. What count or duke or knight of these days
but would seize a crown thus offered, however great the peril? He
accepted the crown, then, and, to make a worthy appearance on entering
into possession, he either mortgaged or sold the best part of ten
estates, and raised, with the help of Philip Augustus, an army of one
hundred and forty knights and five thousand five hundred men-at-arms
and archers. He persuaded the pope Honorius III to crown him, it being
understood that, as Emperor of the East, he had no claim to
jurisdiction or right over Rome, and, following the example of
Baldwin, engaged the Venetians to convey him and his army to
Constantinople. They would do so on similar terms and for a
consideration--let him first recover for them the port of Durazzo from
the Despot of Epirus; this was no longer Michael, the founder of the
kingdom, but his brother Theodore. The Emperor delivered his assault
on Durazzo, and was unsuccessful. Then the Venetians refused the
transport. Peter thereupon made an agreement with the despot Theodore,
by which the latter undertook to convey him and his army safely to his
dominion overland. It is another story of Greek treachery. The
Emperor, with his troops, while in the mountains, was attacked by
Greeks of Theodore's army. Such of his men as did not surrender were
cut to pieces. He himself was taken prisoner, detained for two years,
and then put to death in some mysterious way.
Yolande, the Empress, while yet she was uncertain of the fate of her
lord, gave birth to a son, the most unfortunate Baldwin. The eldest of
Yolande's sons, Philip de Courtenay, had the singular good-sense and
good-fortune to decline the offered crown. He found plenty of fighting
in Europe of an equally adventurous kind, and less treacherous than
that among the Greeks. The second son, Robert, accepted the
responsibilities and dangers of the position. For seven years he held
the sceptre with a trembling hand amid all kinds of disasters. The
Despot of Epirus, the treacherous Theodore, swept across the country
as far as Adrianople, where he raised his standard and called himself
emperor. Vatatces, the successor of Theodore Lascaris, seized upon the
last relics of the Asiatic possessions, intercepted western succor,
actually persuaded a large body of French mercenaries to serve under
him, constructed a fleet, and obtained the command of the Dardanelles.
A personal and private outrage of the grossest kind, offered to the
unfortunate Emperor by an obscure knight, drove him in rage and
despair from the city. He sought refuge in Italy, but was recalled by
his barons, and was on his way back to Constantinople when he was
seized with some malady which killed him. It is a miserable record of
a weak and miserable life. On his death, his brother Baldwin being
still a boy, the barons looked about them for a stronger hand to rule
the tottering State. They found the man they wanted in gallant old
John de Brienne, the last of those who raised themselves from simple
knightly rank to a royal palace.
Gauthier de Brienne was King of Sicily and Duke of Apulia. John
himself, one of the last specimens of the great crusading heroes, was
titular King of Jerusalem, having married Constance, daughter of
Isabelle and granddaughter of Amaury.
Philip Augustus himself selected John de Brienne as the most worthy
knight to become the husband of Constance and the King of Jerusalem.
He was now an old man of more than seventy years. His daughter,
Yolande, was married to Frederick II, who had assumed the title of
King of Jerusalem, but old as he was he was still of commanding
stature and martial bearing. His arm had lost none of its strength,
nor his brain any of its vigor. He accepted the crown on the
understanding that the young Baldwin, then eleven years of age, should
join him as emperor on coming of age. Great things were expected from
so stout a soldier. Yet for two years nothing was done. Then the
Emperor was roused into action.
It was understood at Constantinople that Vatatces, the successor of
Theodore Lascaris, was on the point of concluding an alliance,
offensive and defensive, with Agan, King of the Bulgarians and
successor of John. The alliance could have but one meaning, the
destruction of the Latin empire.
It must be remembered that the vast Roman Empire of the East was
shrunken in its dimensions to the city of Constantinople and that
narrow strip of territory commanded by her walls, her scanty armies,
and her diminished fleets. Of territory, indeed, the Latin empire had
none in the sense of land producing revenue. What it held was held
with the drawn sword in the hand ready for use. The kingdom of
Thessalonica was gone; and though the dukedoms, marquisates, and
countships of Achaia, Athens, Sparta, and other independent petty
states were still held by the emperors or their sons, they were like
the outlying provinces of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem--Edessa,
Tripoli, and the rest--a source of weakness rather than of strength.
Little help, if any, could be looked for from them.
The alliance, however, was concluded, and the allies, with an immense
army, estimated at a hundred thousand, besides three hundred
ships-of-war, sat down before the city and besieged it by sea and
land. The incident that follows reads like a story from the history of
Amadis de Gaul. Gibbon says that he "trembles" to relate it. While
this immense host lay outside his walls; while thirty ships armed with
their engines of war menaced his long line of seaward defences in the
narrow strait, brave old John de Brienne, who had but one hundred and
sixty knights with their following of men-at-arms and archers---say
two thousand in all--led forth his little band, and at one furious
onset routed the besieging army. Probably it was mainly composed of
the Bulgarian hordes, undisciplined, badly armed, and, like all such
hosts, liable to panic. Perhaps, too, the number of the enemy was by
no means so great as is reported, nor were the forces of John de
Brienne so small.
Nor was his success limited to the rout of the army, for the citizens,
encouraged by their flight, attacked the ships, and succeeded in
dragging five-and-twenty of them within the port. It would appear that
the Bulgarians renewed their attempt in the following year, and were
again defeated by the old Emperor. It would have been well for the
Latins had his age been less. He died in the year 1237, and young
Baldwin, who was married to his daughter Martha, became sole emperor.
John de Brienne made so great a name that he was compared with Ajax,
Odin the Dane, Hector, Roland, and Judas Maccabæus. Baldwin, who came
after him, might have been compared with any of those kinglings who
succeeded Charlemagne, and sat in their palaces while the empire fell
to pieces.