John the Handsome, as the citizens of Constantinople came to call the dark and by no means handsome young Emperor they had now obtained, does not provide us with an Empress of distinct or interesting character. His wife Irene, a daughter of Wratislav, King of Hungary, was too virtuous11 to leave a mark in the Byzantine chronicles. While her able and upright husband flung back the invaders12 from his territory, and essayed such improvement in its condition as his poor political faculty13 enabled him to achieve, she spent her days in prayer and219 the rearing of her family. Pearls and diamonds had no dangerous fascination14 for her; she maintained a modest demeanour in the pomp of the palace and gave the superfluous15 wealth to the poor and the monks17. After bringing five children into the world, she died about six years after her coronation, and John remained a widower18 for the twenty further years of his arduous19 and exemplary reign20. In the winter of 1142–1143, as he spent the truce21 from campaigning in hunting in Asia Minor22, he accidentally poisoned himself with an arrow, nominated his youngest son Manuel for the succession, and died a few days afterwards.
Of his four sons: two—Alexis and Andronicus—had died before their father: two—Isaac and Manuel—survived. Manuel was in the field with his father, and he at once sent to Constantinople his father’s able Turkish minister to secure the throne for him, while he remained to care for and convey the royal remains23. The Turk was vigorous, and not unfamiliar24 with Byzantine history. Before a soul in Constantinople had heard of the Emperor’s death he lodged25 the elder son, Isaac, in a safe monastery26, promised an enormous sum of money to the clergy27, and had the path to the throne lined with subservient28 courtiers when Manuel arrived. A shower of gold upon the city completed the preparation, and Manuel I., a tall, handsome, vigorous and fairly cultivated youth, took in hand the reins29 of the Empire. The spirit of Western chivalry had found an apt pupil in Manuel, and his robust30 frame, reckless daring, and fiery31 passions made him at once a brother of the Crusaders and their Eastern descendants. For generations men told of his feats32 of strength and boldness.
His first Empress was the daughter of the Count of Sulzbach, an important Bavarian noble, and sister to the wife of Conrad, the ruling Emperor of Germany. Bertha had been betrothed33 to Manuel before the death of his father, and some time after his coronation she was conducted from the humble34 castle of her father to the220 world-famed splendour of Constantinople. Her name was to be changed to Irene, and she must have had a momentary35 shudder36 when an aged37 lady, whose dark nun38’s robe was faintly edged with royal purple and gold, was introduced to her, among the welcoming crowd, as the great Irene who had once occupied the throne. But the impression was effaced39 by the brilliance40 of the marriage ceremonies and the manly41 beauty of her imperial husband. He returned at once to the field and spent a considerable time in expelling the Persian invaders. After that he remained a few years in his capital, attempting to reform the Court and the administration, and the royal spouses42 came to know, and probably dislike, each other.
Manuel had the vices45, as well as the virtues46, of a Western knight6; Irene had no vices, and her virtues were old-fashioned. The emergence47 of these modest and tender young women, such as the last two Irenes, from the Courts of central Europe warns us to refrain from thinking that chivalry everywhere meant gaiety and licence of conduct. Irene had no love of luxury or of the breaking of lances. Such comeliness48 as she had she declined to adorn49 with perfumes and fine silks, placing her ideal in the practice of Church virtues and the quiet performance of a mother’s duties. But Manuel had the eye and the blood of unrestrained youth, and he soon wandered from his cold and passive spouse43 to other women of the Court. His elder brother, Andronicus, had left three fascinating daughters, and two of these were of a temper to welcome the freer and livelier spirit which Manuel encouraged. The eldest50 of the three, Maria, confined herself to a sober marriage, but Theodora became the acknowledged lover of the Emperor (her uncle), and the youngest, Eudocia, was even more flagrantly connected with the Emperor’s cousin, Andronicus, one of the most handsome, most daring and most unscrupulous nobles of the time. Andronicus, who in time ascended52 the throne, will engage us, with221 his lady-loves, presently. For the moment we have only to note that the Comneni princesses lived at Court without a pretence53 of restraint. Manuel frowned when he heard that his cousin met what little expostulation was made with the cheerful assurance that he felt it his duty to imitate the example and copy the taste of his sovereign; but Manuel had himself too little self-control to dismiss Theodora.
The clergy were at the time too corrupt54 and subservient to interfere55, and the courtiers are contemptuously dismissed by the historian Finlay as “a herd56 of knaves57.” The chief minister, a keen financier and most successful extortioner, was known to sell in the market, even two or three times over, the choice fish or game which suitors presented to him. The favourite minister, John Camateros, was a handsome man of gigantic stature58, who enjoyed the repute of drinking more wine, and retaining a clearer head, than any man of his time. He won a bet off the Emperor by emptying at two draughts59 an immense porphyry vase full of water.
Such were the character and pursuits of the Court into which the virtuous Irene had entered, and in which she remained a silent and despised figure for fourteen years. The second Crusade, led by her brother-in-law, Conrad, passed through Constantinople, on its way to destruction, without altering her condition. Manuel was not less unwilling60 than his people to cheat the despised Westerners, and further seeds of bitterness were sown in the soil of the time. Irene lingered on for some years, while Manuel waged his endless campaigns against Sicilians, Servians, Scythians and Turks, or flung himself into hunts and tournaments for the entertainment of his mistress and her friends. Then, about the year 1158, Irene died, leaving a young daughter (a second daughter having died in infancy) to the care of her boisterous61 spouse.
For his second wife Manuel turned to the Latin nobility who had settled in Syria. During a recent222 campaign in the east he had joined with the Latins in a tournament at Antioch, and made a deep impression on them by his personal bravery, the golden trappings of his charger, and the embroidered62 silk tunics63 and mantles65 of his suite66. He begged Baldwin III., King of Jerusalem, to choose for him a bride among the Latin nobility, and professed67 that he would abide68 by Baldwin’s choice. Baldwin selected Melisend, sister of Raymond, Count of Tripoli (on the Ph?nician coast), and legates were sent to obtain the ready consent of her father and inquire carefully into the lady’s morals and physical condition. The sad story of Melisend’s disappointment is very differently told by the Greek and the Latin historians. According to the Eastern writers Melisend passed the tests of Manuel’s legates, and for some months the city of Tripoli was enlivened by the preparations for her exalted70 marriage. The most splendid clothing, plate and jewels that the family and principality of Raymond could provide were contributed to her trousseau, and no less than twelve large galleys72, laden73 with her treasures, lay beside the imperial trireme at the quays75. The day of departure came, and the princess bade farewell to her proud relatives; but the ships had not advanced far from port when Melisend became so ill that they were forced to return. She recovered, and they set sail again, but the mysterious illness returned, and as often as they attempted to convey her across the seas she became livid with sickness or burning with fever. The legates then made a closer inquiry76—of a local soothsayer—found that there was a grave flaw in the genealogical tree of the princess, and departed without her.
There is no doubt that this story is a malignant77 untruth published by the Greeks in order to cover the heartless vacillation78 of their Emperor. The Latin historian of the time in the East, William of Tyre, tells a simpler story. Manuel’s legates lingered at Tripoli, month after month, until Raymond angrily asked them either to223 convey his daughter or refund79 the cost of the preparations. They then fled secretly, offering no reason whatever for the desertion, and the only consolation80 afforded to the wounded Melisend was that her father handed over her twelve bridal galleys to a band of pirates, and sent them to spread their terrible ravages81 along the Greek coasts and islands. We know little of Melisend; she may have been a woman of mature years, and one of the most lamentable82 signs of the abandonment of the times was the eagerness of monarchs84 and nobles for child brides. Manuel had discovered a child of ravishing beauty in the Court of Antioch.
Maria, daughter of Raymond of Poitou, the prince of Antioch, must have been in her early teens when Manuel’s legates reported her beauty to him. Her mother, Constance, and stepfather, Reginald of Chatillon, a French adventurer, eagerly welcomed the alliance with the powerful Manuel, and the young girl was conveyed on a gilded85 galley71 to Constantinople and married to Manuel, in or about 1161, with the utmost splendour. She received the imperial title, but she naturally escapes the notice of chroniclers during the next ten years, and we may assume that Manuel continued to entertain his more mature niece, who bore him a son and was rewarded with one of the most luxurious86 palaces in the city. Corrupt as Constantinople was, an illegitimate son could not hope to wear the purple, and Manuel was concerned about the succession. He betrothed his daughter Maria (daughter of Irene) to the younger brother of the King of Hungary, but six years later Maria retired88 to the Porphyra palace, and Manuel, a keen student of astrology, consulted the heavens with feverish89 anxiety. The conjunction of the planets was auspicious90 at the hour of delivery, the child proved to be a son and heir, and the wildest rejoicing filled the Court and city. From that time Maria became “mistress” in reality as well as name, and Theodora passes from the chronicles. The Hungarian prince, who224 awaited his marriage and elevation91 at the Court, was wedded92 to Philippa of Antioch, and the nobles were summoned to swear allegiance to Maria and the infant Alexis. The princess Maria, Manuel’s daughter, was now thrust aside as of no political importance, and was suffered to continue, “celibate and sad,” at the Court until the leisure of old age permitted her father to reflect on his neglect of her.
Ten further years of warfare94 occupy the chronicles, and leave no room for the mention of princesses and Empresses. Then the tireless and restless monarch83 begins to show signs of age, and we prepare for the crisis which so frequently brings the imperial women more prominently before us. Manuel’s last campaign had been overcast95 by grave disasters; he had lost the vigour96 of youth and had never possessed97 any large and orderly power of controlling events. Weary and saddened, he concluded an indecisive peace with the Turk, and returned to ensure the succession to the throne. His legitimate87 son Alexis was now, in the year 1180,31 turned twelve years old, and therefore, in view of the political circumstances and the lax feeling of the time, fit for marriage. Some years before Manuel had learned from one of the Crusaders that Louis of France had a beautiful young daughter, and legates were sent to ask her hand for Alexis. One reads with strange feelings that the child was only seven years old when, in the spring of 1180, she was wedded to Alexis in the ancient palace of Daphne. We shall see to what a sordid98 fate this premature99 marriage to a helpless boy exposed her. From the Latin writers we learn that her name was Agnes, but it seems to have been changed to Anna (as the Greeks always call her) at her marriage. She at once received the imperial title, and must have seemed225 a strange young figure in the stiff gold-cloth garments and rich jewels of a Byzantine Empress.
It is interesting to notice that the thought of matrimony reminded Manuel of his “celibate and sad” daughter Maria. She was now in her thirty-first year. A spouse was found for her in a handsome seventeen-year-old Western youth, Reyner, son of the Marquis of Montferrat, and they were married with pomp at the Blachern? palace. But the character of Maria will presently become clearer to us, and we shall see that it does not call for sympathy.
Weary and ill as Manuel was, he had by no means the idea that he was preparing for death in making these arrangements. The astrologers, in whom he put supreme confidence, assured him that he would yet live fourteen years, and he looked forward to rising from his bed and once more dashing with lance and sword against the Turks or Persians. A few months spent in his capital must have shaken his confidence. Thirty-five years of strenuous100 war had added no material security to his Empire and had alienated101 his subjects. Vast sums had been wrung102 from them, but they had passed into the purses of soldiers, foreigners, monks and astrologers, and the civil framework of the vast Empire was in a state of decay. Men spoke103 with bitterness of the superb palaces, their ceilings plated with gold, their walls lined with mosaic104 representations of the Emperor’s victories, which Manuel had added to the imperial town. He grew sombre, his illness increased, and, one day in September, he felt his own pulse and concluded that he was sinking. Impetuous to the last, he slapped his thigh105 and called for the robe of a monk16. He at once exchanged his purple for the rough cloth, gave his signature to a condemnation106 of astrology, and bade farewell to the world. He died a few days later; and the shadow of tragedy began to creep over the gold-roofed halls in which his young widow, and the child-bride of his son, played with the imperial toys while men looked on with dark and selfish designs.
226 The character of the Empress Maria is obscured for us by the somewhat conflicting reports or suggestions of the authorities. Finlay says that she at once retired to a monastery, and, although I can find no direct authority for this, she is so frequently named “Xene” in later passages that one may conclude that she took the veil and changed her name. The next statement about her, however, is little in accord with this. The central and most powerful person at the Court after the death of Manuel was Alexis, brother of the sisters Theodora and Eudocia whose amours had enlivened the Court. Now advanced in years, but ambitious, covetous107 and luxurious, he became the virtual ruler of the Empire. A somewhat repulsive108 picture is drawn109 of his efforts to maintain himself in sufficient health to enjoy the sensual rewards of his position, and it is added that he contracted a liaison110 with Manuel’s young widow. We are quite free to reject this sordid suggestion, as a calumny111 of those who sought to displace her or of those who afterwards murdered her, but it must be recollected112 that we have arrived at a period of grosser immorality113 than ever. It is essential only to observe that she was closely allied114 to Alexis (the minister) and was accused of intimacy115 with him.
The Emperor Alexis, who was only thirteen years old at his coronation, was a flippant and heedless boy. The base and astute116 intriguers about him encouraged him to spend his time in hunting or drinking or dressing118 in imperial finery. On the other hand, his sister Maria (the daughter of Manuel) now began to display a dangerous ambition and an unscrupulous character. The supposed intimacy of the Empress and Alexis alarmed her; she feared, or affected119 to fear, that Alexis would marry Maria and seize the throne. She therefore conspired120 with her relatives, and sent assassins to make an end of Alexis, as he hunted in the country. Presently, however, a messenger returned, not with the head of the minister, but with the news that he had discovered the plot and227 was returning to wreak121 his vengeance122. Maria and her young husband fled to St Sophia, and, as the crowd gathered in the church at the news, she loudly and bitterly harangued123 them on the scandalous vices of the Empress and the licentious124 dotage125 of her uncle. A judicious126 distribution of money opened the ears of the clergy and the mob to her charges, and she grew bolder. When the Emperor, or his minister, threatened to drag her from the church, she enlisted127 a troop of Italian gladiators and Iberian soldiers, and, before the clergy could follow her furious proceedings128, turned the cathedral into a fortified129 citadel130, and egged on the mob to loot the mansions131 of Alexis and his friends. On 7th May the troops issued from the palace, and a bloody132 battle was fought at the entrance to St Sophia, but the horrified133 clergy now intervened, and Maria and her husband were allowed to return in safety to the palace.
On this squabble of hawks134 there now descended135 a veritable eagle of intrigue117, and a brief account of his story will greatly add to our knowledge of the noble women of the time. I have previously136 mentioned that, while Manuel made love to his niece Theodora, her sister Eudocia was the mistress of Manuel’s cousin Andronicus, one of the most romantic figures in history. Andronicus Comnenus, in whom the great line of the Comneni comes to an appalling137 end, was one of the most handsome, most robust, most fascinating and most unscrupulous men of his age. Tall and massive of build, tender and engaging in countenance138, endowed with a voice of singular strength and sweetness and an easy flow of language, he could enslave any woman on whom his heart was set; and it was set on many. Sober in diet and drink, he would avoid the revels139 and carouses140 of his brother officers, and spend hours of delight in reading the rugged141 epistles of St Paul. But in the enjoyment142 of love or the pursuit of ambition he recognized no moral principle whatever, and few men ever crowded more adventure into a single career.
228 His father was the elder brother of the Emperor John, Manuel’s father, and, on the accession of Manuel, he was called to Court. He was married, but he admitted with equal freedom the devotion of his pretty cousin Eudocia and that of other ladies of less distinction. His wife seems to have cheerfully recognized that large need of his nature, and the lips of Manuel were sealed by his own love affair; but there were men and women of the family who cherished the older ideas, and Andronicus nearly lost his life at an early date. After failing in Armenia—for he was a lax and unskilful general—he was appointed governor of some of the chief towns on the Hungarian frontier. Hither the devoted143 Eudocia accompanied him, and she lay in his arms, one night, in the tent when it was announced that her brother and brother-in-law were approaching with drawn swords. She pressed him to disguise himself in some of her garments, but he buckled144 on his immense sword, slit145 the canvas of the tent, and was deep in the neighbouring forest when the young men arrived.
He was next detected in treasonable correspondence with the Hungarians. Manuel overlooked his crime, but Andronicus went on to make two attempts on the life of his cousin, and wore so brazen146 a face when he was charged, that he was sent in chains to Constantinople and lodged in a strong tower connected with the palace. Here he one day discovered an old and forgotten passage, almost filled with rubbish, which branched from his prison. He scooped147 out a hiding-place in it with his hands, entered it, and concealed148 the entrance. When the furious search of the guards had ended, and messengers had been despatched over the Empire with orders to arrest the fugitive149, the Emperor, suspecting that his cousin’s wife had aided him to escape, ordered her to be lodged in the tower. No sooner had the jailers left her than the poor woman was terrified, and then delighted, to see the burly form of her missing husband emerge from a heap of rubbish, and they fell into each229 other’s arms. For a long time husband and wife lived together in the prison, but at length Andronicus escaped. His splendid frame betrayed him, and he was recaptured and enclosed in a more formidable prison. Once more he escaped and was caught, and for nine years he remained in prison.
At length he induced the boy who brought his meals to take an impression in wax of the key of his prison while the jailers enjoyed their midday siesta150, the impression was sent to his faithful wife and son (the fruit of his earlier confinement151 in the tower), and a key and a rope were stealthily conveyed to him. He escaped at sundown, lay in the long grass in the garden for two days, until the search was abandoned, and then took a boat at the quay74 by night and reached his wife’s house, where his fetters152 were struck off. He returned to his boat, rowed to a district beyond the walls where a horse awaited him, and set out in the direction of Russia. Once again he was captured, but, as the soldiers conducted him through a forest during the night, he feigned153 illness and retired a few yards. After repeating the trick a few times, so that they watched him less closely, he put his mantle64 and hat on his stick, so that the soldiers seemed to perceive his figure crouching154 in the dark, and plunged155 into the forest. He reached Scythia in safety, and was after a time recalled by Manuel, pardoned, and, after striking a few heavy blows in the wars, was made Governor of Cilicia. Here a fresh chapter of his love stories opened. Eudocia had married after the vigorous intervention156 of her brother, and his wife seems to have entered a monastery.
Endowed by Manuel with the rich revenues of the island of Cyprus, as well as the poorer proceeds of his province, he entered with alacrity157 the gay circle of the Latin nobles at Antioch, clothed himself in the finest embroidered silks, and kept about him a handsome suite of young courtiers. It was not long before his fascinating manner and brilliant appearance won the heart of the230 Princess Philippa of Antioch, a sister of the Empress Maria, and she proved to be no more scrupulous51 than the Greek ladies had been. William of Tyre says that he married her, but the Greek writers speak of the relation as a scandal, and the sequel favours their view. Manuel was enraged158 at this outrage159, and because Andronicus dallied160 in Antioch instead of taking the field against the Armenians, and he sent a noble to replace Andronicus in his office and in the affections of Philippa. The young princess scorned the meaner figure of the new governor, but Andronicus was alarmed and, quitting his new love with a light heart and taking with him all the imperial funds he could secure, he fled to Palestine.
In the town of Acre, to which he soon repaired, he found a pretty and wealthy widow with whom he could claim a cousinship, and we are introduced to another branch of the Comneni family. Eudocia and Theodora, the frail161 ladies who have previously engaged our attention, were the daughters of Manuel’s brother Andronicus. A third brother, Isaac, had left six daughters, of whom the eldest, Theodora, had been married in her fourteenth year to Baldwin III., King of Jerusalem. Baldwin had died four years afterwards, and the young widow had received the town of Acre as her estate. She was still in her early twenties, in the ripest development of her charms and her passions, when the handsome Andronicus came to tell the story of his misfortunes. From mutual162 consolation they quickly passed to love, and Manuel was once more infuriated to hear that his scapegrace cousin was openly fouling163 the honour of the family in the friendly kingdom of the Latins. He sent to Acre a secret and pressing request that the beaux yeux of his cousin should be cut out, and his dangerous person forwarded to Constantinople. But the letter fell into the hands of Theodora, she showed it to her lover, and the devoted pair packed their treasures and fled to Damascus and on to Mesopotamia.
231 A few years, in which several children were born, were spent in this extraordinary exile by the rivers of Babylon, where the passionate164 love of the young ex-queen endured without regret the rude accommodation of a camp in what was almost a desert. Andronicus turned brigand165 when their money and jewels failed, and, at the head of his little band of Arabs, raided the territory of his imperial cousin and even carried off the Christian166 inhabitants to be sold as slaves. His queen and he laughed at the anathema167 which the Greek Church laid on them. At last the Governor of Trebizond, at the request of Manuel, enticed168 Theodora from the camp and captured her, and Andronicus sought pardon once more. We may honour the reluctance169 of Manuel to shed the blood of his subjects, but in the case of Andronicus it was an almost criminal weakness. That astute adventurer put a heavy iron chain round his neck, covered it with his mantle, and sank on his knees at a respectful distance from his cousin’s throne. When he was pressed to come forward to receive a cousinly embrace, he opened his cloak and protested that he must be dragged by the chain to the feet of the Emperor. The comedy ended in his receiving a wealthy appointment, but he was separated from Theodora and sent into a comfortable exile on the southern shores of the Black Sea.
Such was the man who, after the death of Manuel, came forward as the champion of the moral principle and Byzantine honour. Manuel’s daughter Maria, “the virago,” as Nicetas calls her, appealed to him to end the scandalous rule of the Empress Maria and her reputed lover. Age had made him cautious, however, and he allowed the conflicting parties to exhaust themselves, and the young Emperor fully69 to reveal his incapacity and unworthiness. Then he began to write indignant letters on the state of the Court to the patriarch and to the provincial170 authorities. In his great anxiety for the welfare of the Empire he left his exile and moved nearer to Constantinople, winning many to his side by his tears232 and his venerable appearance. He was now a white-haired old man, approaching his seventieth year, his still robust and magnificent frame made more attractive by the apparent sobering of his character. At length he reached Chalcedon, and the citizens of Constantinople went across the straits in crowds to hail the deliverer of the Empire, or of the Emperor, as he was careful to say. The sins of Andronicus had faded in the memories of their fathers, and they returned to the city to praise his loyalty171 and his demeanour. Before long they arrested the minister Alexis and put out his eyes. It remained to disarm172 the clergy, who had been forced to excommunicate him for enslaving Christians173. When the patriarch came over to visit him, the wily hypocrite fell at his feet and kissed them, protesting that the archbishop had saved the Emperor, to whose cause he was devoted.
In brief, Andronicus was presently installed in the palace, and a ruthless suppression of his opponents began. Eyes were cut from their sockets175, the jails were filled with nobles, and confiscated176 property swelled177 his treasury178. The Princess Maria, who had appealed to him, and must now have seen her error, perished with her vigorous husband; one of their eunuchs was bribed179 by Andronicus to poison their food. The clergy next discovered his hypocrisy180. He ordered the patriarch to marry his illegitimate daughter Irene to Manuel’s illegitimate son Alexis—the natural children of two sisters—and, when he refused, deposed181 him and found some other bishop174 complaisant182 enough to perform the ceremony. The nobles hastily plotted to displace him, but it was too late. Another batch183 of condemnations routed his opponents and enriched his purse. The people, it is lamentable to find, supported his every deed with enthusiasm, and were not slow to take up the cry of “Andronicus Emperor” which his creatures soon whispered in their ears.
It was the late summer of 1183, only three years after233 the death of Manuel. The foolish young Alexis still caroused184 and hunted in frivolous185 unconcern, but his mother now saw that the end of her reign approached, and might come in dreadful form. She was transferred to a suburban186 palace, and her life was embittered187 by calumny and petty persecution188. It is in view of these circumstances that we must hesitate to accept the charge of misconduct with the minister Alexis; she seems to have been one of the best of the princesses of the time, though her personality never comes clearly before us. Presently Andronicus charged her with treachery. Her sister, Philippa, was, after being detached from Andronicus, married to the King of Hungary, and it is not impossible that some letters were exchanged between them in regard to the monster who now aimed at the throne. Philippa would retain little tenderness for him since he had fled straight from her arms to those of Theodora. Maria was, of course, found guilty, and lodged in a dungeon189. Her son, little dreaming how soon he would follow her, signed the death-warrant, and in the month of August 1183 her sufferings came to an end. A high commander of the army and a eunuch of the Court strangled her with a bowtring.
Alexis lightheartedly pursued his pleasures for a few weeks, until he heard about him the cry of “Andronicus Emperor.” He nervously190 applauded it, and offered a share of his throne; and, with feigned reluctance, Andronicus yielded to the general demand and was crowned by the clergy in St Sophia. When, in the course of the coronation Mass, the chalice191 was brought to him containing the consecrated192 wine, he took it in his hands and swore on the living body of Christ that he accepted the crown only in order to assist Alexis. A few days later the youth was strangled by his orders, and, when the lifeless body was placed at his feet, he kicked it and observed that it was the child of a perjurer193 and a whore. One further detail will complete the234 picture of the degradation194 of the Eastern Empire. Two high officials of the Court took the body out in a boat, flung it in the sea, and sang gay songs as they returned to the Bucoleon quay. One of them became Archbishop of Bulgaria.
The two years’ reign of the Emperor Andronicus was an orgy of bloodshed, spoliation and vice44. Perhaps the most abominable195 detail of it is that he at once married the child-widow of Alexis, Anna, the beautiful daughter of Louis VII. She had not yet completed her twelfth year, yet she now became the daily and—one fears—nightly companion of an erotic old man of seventy, whose devices to maintain his virility196 are hardly less repulsive than his murders. It is in one sense a relief to know that little Anna was only one member of a veritable harem of singing and dancing girls, and some nobler women, who filled the palaces, especially the pleasure-palaces on the Asiatic coast, of the repulsive monarch. Powerful in frame and fresh in countenance to the end, Andronicus maintained even in the palace his sobriety and moderation at table in order to preserve his youthful vigour. He was, if ever a man was, an erotomaniac, one of the strangest personalities197 in the whole of Byzantine history. He brought about several excellent reforms in the administration of the failing Empire, and had, almost to the end, the enthusiastic attachment198 of his people; but his brutality199 in the punishment of rebels, who were numerous, was too appalling to be described, and his conduct in many ways approached insanity200. He raised a statue in the city to his first wife; she was represented as a nun accompanied by a handsome youth.
We hasten through this welter of brutality and licence to the natural termination. Deliverers of the Empire arose in various places, and were either savagely201 crushed or showed a savagery203 equal to that of Andronicus. The natural son of Manuel, whom he had married to his daughter Irene, rebelled; his secretary was burned alive235 in the Hippodrome, his eyes were removed, and Irene was banished204 for shedding tears over his fate. A nephew of his mistress Theodora (of Acre) rebelled, and captured the island of Cyprus, and Andronicus impotently ordered the two innocent nobles who were Isaac’s sureties to be stoned to death by their fellow-nobles in the palace; but Isaac proved as savage202 and licentious as Andronicus. Then another Alexis Comnenus, a grand-nephew of Manuel, fled to the West for assistance, and the Sicilian army set sail for Constantinople; but the soldiers merely fell like a fresh flood of savagery on the miserable205 Greeks. At last a deliverer arose, almost by accident, in the city.
Sorcery and astrology were at that time as rife206 in the Eastern Empire as they had been in the worst days of ancient Rome; the clergy were deeply corrupted207 and were almost idle (and wealthy) spectators of the vices and superstitions208 of Court and people. One of the more astute of these diviners was consulted as to the successor of Andronicus, and, by a device which was a thousand years old in the Roman world, he caused the letters I.S. to appear in answer to the inquiry. When Andronicus heard the result of the consultation209, he concluded that Isaac of Cyprus, his rival in power and licentiousness210, was the fated individual, and felt confident as long as that tyrant211 was unable to leave his island. But the prediction also assigned a very near date for the succession, and the chief minister of Andronicus was concerned. There was in the city a timid and unambitious noble, of a provincial family, named Isaac Angelus, and the minister insisted that this was the man designated by the diviner. Andronicus cheerfully ridiculed212 the idea, placed his little wife upon the royal galley, and went with her to join his gay ladies in one of the palaces across the water. It was the early autumn of the second year of his reign (1185).
Within a few days a messenger from the palace broke into their pleasant dalliance with the news that Constantinople236 was aflame with revolt, and Andronicus, taking with him his wife and a favourite courtesan, made with all speed for Bucoleon. It appeared that after his departure his minister had gone in person to arrest Isaac Angelus, and, in a surprising fit of boldness, the noble had drawn his sword and buried it in the body of the minister. He fled at once to St Sophia, and the people, flocking to see the man who had slain213 the hated minister, made him a hero in spite of himself, and burst open the prisons that all the victims of Andronicus might come and support him. He still shrank, even when they offered him the crown, and his elderly uncle, John Ducas, cheerfully presented his own bald head to receive it. “No more bald heads, especially with forked beards,” cried the people—as those were features of Andronicus—and the trembling Isaac was crowned.
At this point Andronicus and his companions reached the palace, only to discover that there were no royal troops to defend the throne. In impotent rage Andronicus snatched a bow, and, from one of the towers or balconies of the palace which overlooked the square, sent a few arrows into the crowd, but they burst into the palace, and he returned in haste to his galley. With his twelve-year-old wife and his favourite, Maraptica, he made with all speed for the Black Sea, but his popularity had turned to hatred214 throughout the Empire, and he was dragged from the ship at the first port and sent in chains to Isaac. His right hand and eye were removed, and he was delivered to the vengeance of the mob, whose savage torture and execution of the adventurous215 prince must be read in the dead language in which they are described.
The young daughter of Louis of France will come again upon the imperial stage at a later date. Already, in her thirteenth year, the widow of two murdered Emperors, she was destined216 to wed93 and lose an ambitious soldier, Branas, and for the third time, almost before she reached womanhood, weep over the bloody corpse217 of237 a husband. Nor were her sufferings to end here. We shall see that she remained in Constantinople, and it was reserved for her to witness the final tragedy which the chivalry of the West was to bring upon her adopted country.
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1
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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widower
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| n.鳏夫 | |
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arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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subservient
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| adj.卑屈的，阿谀的 | |
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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spouses
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| n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 ) | |
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43
spouse
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| n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
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44
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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47
emergence
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| n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体 | |
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comeliness
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| n. 清秀, 美丽, 合宜 | |
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49
adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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50
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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51
scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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52
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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56
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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58
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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draughts
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| n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
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unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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63
tunics
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| n.（动植物的）膜皮( tunic的名词复数 )；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍 | |
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64
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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mantles
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| vt.&vi.覆盖（mantle的第三人称单数形式） | |
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suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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galleys
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| n.平底大船，战舰( galley的名词复数 )；（船上或航空器上的）厨房 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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quays
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| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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vacillation
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| n.动摇；忧柔寡断 | |
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refund
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| v.退还，偿还；n.归还，偿还额，退款 | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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81
ravages
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| 劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹 | |
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lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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monarchs
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| 君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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auspicious
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| adj.吉利的；幸运的，吉兆的 | |
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elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wed
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| v.娶，嫁，与…结婚 | |
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warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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overcast
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| adj.阴天的，阴暗的，愁闷的；v.遮盖，（使）变暗，包边缝；n.覆盖，阴天 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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101
alienated
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| adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等） | |
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102
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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103
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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mosaic
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| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
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thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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condemnation
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| n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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covetous
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| adj.贪婪的，贪心的 | |
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repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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liaison
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| n.联系，（未婚男女间的）暖昧关系，私通 | |
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calumny
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| n.诽谤，污蔑，中伤 | |
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112
recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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immorality
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| n. 不道德, 无道义 | |
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114
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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115
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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116
astute
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| adj.机敏的，精明的 | |
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117
intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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118
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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119
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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120
conspired
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| 密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致 | |
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121
wreak
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| v.发泄；报复 | |
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122
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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123
harangued
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| v.高谈阔论( harangue的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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124
licentious
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| adj.放纵的，淫乱的 | |
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125
dotage
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| n.年老体衰；年老昏聩 | |
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126
judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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127
enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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128
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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129
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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130
citadel
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| n.城堡；堡垒；避难所 | |
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131
mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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132
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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133
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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134
hawks
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| 鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物 | |
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135
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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136
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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137
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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138
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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139
revels
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| n.作乐( revel的名词复数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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140
carouses
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| v.痛饮，闹饮欢宴( carouse的第三人称单数 ) | |
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141
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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142
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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143
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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144
buckled
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| a. 有带扣的 | |
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145
slit
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| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
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146
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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147
scooped
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| v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等） | |
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148
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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149
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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150
siesta
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| n.午睡 | |
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151
confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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152
fetters
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| n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 )；束缚v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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153
feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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154
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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155
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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156
intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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157
alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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158
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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159
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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160
dallied
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| v.随随便便地对待( dally的过去式和过去分词 )；不很认真地考虑；浪费时间；调情 | |
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161
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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162
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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163
fouling
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| n.（水管、枪筒等中的）污垢v.使污秽( foul的现在分词 )；弄脏；击球出界；（通常用废物）弄脏 | |
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164
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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165
brigand
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| n.土匪，强盗 | |
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166
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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167
anathema
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| n.诅咒；被诅咒的人(物)，十分讨厌的人(物) | |
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168
enticed
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| 诱惑，怂恿( entice的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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169
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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170
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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171
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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172
disarm
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| v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和 | |
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173
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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174
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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175
sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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176
confiscated
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| 没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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177
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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178
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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179
bribed
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| v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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180
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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181
deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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182
complaisant
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| adj.顺从的，讨好的 | |
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183
batch
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| n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量 | |
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184
caroused
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| v.痛饮，闹饮欢宴( carouse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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185
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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186
suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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187
embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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188
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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189
dungeon
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| n.地牢，土牢 | |
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190
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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191
chalice
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| n.圣餐杯；金杯毒酒 | |
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192
consecrated
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| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
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193
perjurer
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| n.伪誓者，伪证者 | |
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194
degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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195
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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196
virility
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| n.雄劲，丈夫气 | |
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197
personalities
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| n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 ) | |
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198
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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199
brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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200
insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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201
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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202
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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203
savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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204
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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205
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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206
rife
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| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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207
corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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208
superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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209
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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210
licentiousness
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| n.放肆，无法无天 | |
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211
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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212
ridiculed
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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213
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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214
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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215
adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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216
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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217
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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