THE PALACE OF THE PORPHYROGENITUS.
The ruined Byzantine palace, commonly styled Tekfour Serai, beside the
Porta Xylokerkou was the Imperial residence, known as the Palace of the
Porphyrogenitus (τὰ βασίλεια τοῦ Πορφυρογεννήτου: οἱ τοῦ Πορφυρογεννήτου
οἶκοι),[428] and formed an annex to the great Palace of Blachernæ, which
stood lower down the hill.
It is true, Gyllius supposed it to be the Palace of the Hebdomon, and
his opinion, though contrary to all the evidence on the subject, has
been generally accepted as correct. But the proof that the suburb of the
Hebdomon was situated at Makrikeui, upon the Sea of Marmora, is
overwhelming, and consequently the Palace of the Hebdomon must be sought
in that neighbourhood.[429]
The evidence for the proper Byzantine name of Tekfour Serai[430] occurs
in the passage in which Critobolus describes the positions occupied by
the various divisions of the Turkish army, during the siege of 1453.
According to that authority, the Turkish left wing extended from the
Xylo Porta (beside the Golden Horn)[431] to the Palace of the
Porphyrogenitus, which was situated upon a slope, and thence to the Gate
of Charisius (Edirnè Kapoussi).[432] The site thus assigned to the
Palace of the Porphyrogenitus corresponds exactly to that of Tekfour
Serai, which stands on the steep ascent leading from Egri Kapou to the
Gate of Adrianople.
[Illustration: The Palace of the Porphyrogenitus (Southern Façade).]
All other references to the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus are in accord
with this conclusion, so far, at least, as they imply the proximity of
that residence to the Palace of Blachernæ. When, for instance,
Andronicus III., in 1328, entered Constantinople by the Gate of St.
Romanus to wrest the government from the feeble hands of his grandfather
Andronicus II., he took up his quarters, we are told, in the Palace of
the Porphyrogenitus, to be near the palace occupied by the elder
sovereign.[433] That Andronicus II. was at the Palace of Blachernæ is
manifest from the fact that the peasants who witnessed the entrance of
the rebel grandson into the city ran and reported the event to the
guards stationed at the Gate Gyrolimnè,[434] a gate leading directly to
the Palace of Blachernæ.[435]
[Illustration: The Palace of the Porphyrogenitus (Northern Façade).]
Again, the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus was occupied by John
Cantacuzene, in 1347, while negotiating with the Dowager-Empress Anna of
Savoy to be acknowledged the colleague of her son, John Palæologus.[436]
Upon taking possession of that residence he issued strict injunctions
that no attack should be made upon the palace in which the empress and
her son were then living. But the followers of Cantacuzene, hearing that
Anna hesitated to come to terms, disobeyed his orders and seized the
fort at Blachernæ, named the Castelion, which guarded that palace.[437]
Evidently the Palace of Blachernæ and the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus
stood near each other. Seven years later, John Palæologus himself, upon
his capture of the city, made the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus his
headquarters while arranging for the abdication of Cantacuzene.[438] And
from the narrative of the events on that occasion it is, again, manifest
that the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus was in the neighbourhood of the
Castelion and the Palace of Blachernæ.
By this identification, a flood of light is shed upon the incidents of
Byzantine history to which allusion has just been made.
The palace, an oblong building in three stories, stands between the two
parallel walls which descend from the Porta Xylokerkou for a short
distance, towards the Golden Horn. Its long sides, facing respectively
north and south, are transverse to the walls, while its short western
and eastern sides rest, at the level of the second story, upon the
summit of the walls.
Its roof and two upper floors have disappeared, and nothing remains but
an empty shell. The northern façade was supported by pillars and piers,
and its whole surface was decorated with beautiful and varied patterns
in mosaic, formed of small pieces of brick and stone. The numerous
windows of the building were framed in marble, and, with the graceful
balconies on the east and south, looked out upon the superb views which
the lofty position of the palace commanded. The western façade, being
the most exposed to hostile missiles, was screened by a large tower
built on the west side of the Porta Xylokerkou, to the injury, however,
of the gate, which was thus partially blocked up.
A transverse wall erected at some distance to the north made the area
between the two walls, upon which the palace rests, a spacious court,
communicating by a gate at its north-eastern corner with the city, while
a gate in the western wall led to the parateichion.[439] The latter
entrance is, probably, the one known as the Postern of the
Porphyrogenitus, by which forty-two partisans of John Cantacuzene made
good their escape from the city in 1341.[440]
[Illustration: Monogram Of The Palæologi.]
According to Salzenberg, the palace belongs to the earlier half of the
ninth century, and was the work of the Emperor Theophilus.[441] But the
name of the building is in favour of the view that we have here an
erection of the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, and consequently a
monument of the Art of the tenth century. Constantine Porphyrogenitus
was noted for the number of palaces he erected.[442]
[Illustration: The Palace of the Porphyrogenitus (View of Interior).]
At the north-western end of the court stood another residence, the
western façade of which, pierced by spacious windows, still surmounts
the outer wall of the court. Over the second window (from the south) was
inscribed the monogram of the legend on the arms of the Palæologi;[443]
Βασιλεὺς Βασιλέων Βασιλεύων Βασιλεύουσι.
Dr. Paspates[444] regarded this building as the Monastery of the Seven
Orders of the Angels, mentioned by Cantacuzene;[445] but that monastery,
and the gate named after it, were at Thessalonica, and not at
Constantinople. The building formed part of the Palace of the
Porphyrogenitus.
Bullialdus, the annotator of Ducas,[446] speaking of the palace, says
that the double-headed eagle of the Palæologi was to be seen on the
lintel of one of the doors; that the capitals of the pillars in the
building bore the lilies of France; and that several armorial shields
were found there with the monogram—
[Illustration: Monogram.]
These ornaments may be indications of repairs made by different
occupants of the palace.[447]
Footnote 428:
Critobolus, i. c. 27; Cantacuzene, i. p. 305.
Footnote 429:
See below, Chap. XIX.
Footnote 430:
Tekfour Serai means Palace of the Sovereign, from a Persian word
signifying Wearer of the Crown, Crowned Head. Leunclavius (_Pandectes
Historiæ Turcicæ_, s. 56, Migne, vol. clix.) says that the Turks, in
his day, styled the emperor, Tegguires. The derivation of Tekfour from
the Greek τοῦ κυρίου is untenable.
Footnote 431:
See below, p. 173.
Footnote 432:
I. c. 27. Ἀπὸ τῆς Ξυλίνης πύλης ἀνιόντι μέχρι τῶν βασιλείων τοῦ
Πορφυρογεννήτου, καὶ φθάνοντι μέχρι τῆς λεγομένης πύλης τοῦ Χαρισοῦ.
Footnote 433:
Cantacuzene, i. p. 305.
Footnote 434:
Nicephorus Greg., ix. p. 420.
Footnote 435:
See below, p. 127.
Footnote 436:
Cantacuzene, iii. p. 607.
Footnote 437:
Cantacuzene, iii. pp. 611, 612; Nicephorus Greg., xv. pp. 774-779.
Footnote 438:
Cantacuzene, iv. pp. 290, 291.
Footnote 439:
Tafferner (see below, p. 113, reference 5) speaks of a propylæum
supported by ten fine columns as the entrance to the court of the
palace from the city.
Footnote 440:
Cantacuzene, iii. p. 138, Τὴν τοῦ Πορφυρογεννήτου προσαγορευομένην
πυλίδα.
Footnote 441:
From _Broken Bits of Byzantium_. (By kind permission of Mrs. Walker.)
Footnote 442:
Salzenberg, _Altchristliche Bandenkmäler von Constantinopel_, p. 125.
Footnote 443:
Theophanes Cont., p. 450. The date of the building is by no means
settled. Dr. Paspates (p. 65) thinks it older than the time of
Theodosius II.; Dr. Mordtmann (p. 33) assigns it to the reign of that
emperor. It is a question for experts in Art to determine.
Footnote 444:
Paspates, p. 42.
Footnote 445:
Pages 62, 63.
Footnote 446:
Lib. i. p. 268.
Footnote 447:
Page 612.
Footnote 448:
Tafferner, chaplain to the Embassy sent by the Emperor Leopold I. to
the Ottoman Court (_Cæsarea Legatio quam, mandante Augustissimo Rom.
Imperatore Leopoldi I. ad Portam Ottomanicam, suscepit, perficitque
Excellentissimus Dominus Walterus Comes de Leslie_, 1688), gives in
his account of the mission (pp. 92, 93) the following description of
the palace in his day:—“Præteriri non potuit quin inviseretur aula
magni Constantini: Regia hæc ad Occidentem mœnibus adhæret; nobilia
sublimibus operibus instructissimo olim colle locata: tribus
substructionibus moles assurrexerat; altius nullum in tota urbe
domicilium. Palatij coronis superstes marmore inciso elaborata tectum
fulcit, ventis et imbribus pervium. Vastæ et eminentes præter sacræ
antiquitatis ædilitatem è pario lapide fenestræ liquidò demonstrant,
cujus palatij ornamenta fuerint, cujus aulæ etiamnum ruinæ sint.
Propylæum decem columnæ magnitudinis et artificij dignitate conspicuæ
sustinent: ejus in angulo desolatus, et ruderibus scatens puteus
mœret. Pergula è centro prominens universæ urbis conspectum explicat.
Columnis constat auro passim illitis, cujus radios color viridis
extiamnum animat. Grandiora lapidum fragmenta, cum primis fabricæ
ornamentis, ac fulcris cæteris in Moschèas translata sunt: sola tantæ
molis vestigia, atque ex ungue cadaver nunc restat. Muro extimo
meridiem versùs insertum parieti visitur Oratoriolum hominibus
recipiendis sex opportunum: Angustia loci persuadet privatæ illud
pietati Constantini sacrum fuisse. Squallet turpiter hæc Imperatorij
operis majestas nunc inter arbusta, atque hederas et sive cœli
injurias, sive immanitatem barbarorum, sive Christianorum incuriam
accuses, non absimilem cum tempore rebus cæteris, utcunque floreant,
internecionem minatur.”
[Illustration: Plan of the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus, And Adjoining
walls.]