Baldwin himself was captured a few years later by the Bulgarians, and died in prison. His brother Henry, who succeeded him, married the daughter of Boniface, the King of Saloniki, whose adventures we have described. Agnes was, of course, not the daughter of the ex-Empress Maria, but of an earlier wife. She was summoned from Lombardy, married to Henry on 4th February 1207 in St Sophia, and the marriage day ended with a great banquet in the Bucoleon palace, in the older Byzantine fashion. But that is all we know of the Empress Agnes. Henry died in 1216, and his sister258 Yolande became Empress. Even of Yolande, however, the very scanty8 chronicles furnish a very poor portrait. Her husband, Peter of Courtenay, was, after being crowned at Rome by the Pope, arrested in Epirus, through which he had foolishly endeavoured to cut his way, and died in prison. As regent for her children Yolande remains9 almost imperceptible, and an anecdote10 of the reign11 of her son Robert is all that need be given to illustrate12 the character of the new dynasty. Robert, who had a light idea of chivalry13, brought into his palace, as mistress, the daughter of one of the Crusaders, and her mother. She had been betrothed14 to a Burgundian knight3, and the embittered15 lover, supported by a few friends, forced his way into the palace, cut off the nose and lips of the faithless lady, and bore off her mother to be drowned in the Sea of Marmora.
As Robert’s brother was a mere16 boy, the King of Jerusalem, a worthy17 old man of eighty, was summoned to fill the throne for nine years, and then Baldwin II. entered upon his long and inglorious reign; of which we need only say that, in spite of his extreme liberality in selling, especially to St Louis of France, the valuable relics18 (the crown of thorns, the rod of Moses, etc.) which had accumulated in Constantinople, and in spite of all the efforts of the Pope to maintain the worthless monarch19 on his throne, and that throne subservient20 to the Vatican, the feeble and incompetent21 rule of the Latins sank lower and lower, until, in 1261, a regiment22 of Greeks put an end to it.
This slight account of the Latin rule at Constantinople will suffice to enable us to follow intelligently the fortunes of the descendants of the Byzantine monarchs23 who had set up a throne at Nic?a. Theodore Lascaris had married Alexis’s daughter Anna, who died early in the reign of her husband, and her two successors in his affection are even less known to us than she. The first was Philippa, daughter of the King of Armenia; but, after giving birth to a boy, Philippa was, for some259 unstated but imaginable reason, sent back to the ruder Court of her father, and Maria, daughter of Yolande of Constantinople, occupied her place. Maria died, childless, after a few years, and, when Theodore himself departed in 1222, his only son (the child of Philippa) was a boy of eight years. The Empire was, therefore, wisely entrusted24 to a powerful and distinguished25 noble, John Ducas Vatatzes, and we at length reach an Empress of distinct and admirable personality.
The Empress Irene, who, in the year 1222, ascended26 the throne with Vatatzes, was the eldest27 of the three daughters of Theodore Lascaris and Anna, and therefore a granddaughter of the Emperor Alexis and Euphrosyne. While the Princess Eudocia had inherited the character, or lack of character, of Alexis, her elder sister Anna had, as far as we can judge, shared the comparative sobriety of Euphrosyne, and Irene united in her person all the best features of the family, without its ancestral defects. She was prudent28, equable, pious29 and virtuous30. Her first husband, Andronicus Paleologus, died prematurely31, and her father then united her to the able commander to whom he designed to confide32 the Empire.32 When Irene received her share of the imperial responsibility, she proved to be, says Ephrem, “a new Deborah,” and the few anecdotes33 preserved in regard to her suggest a sober and high-minded woman, associated in perfect harmony with (as long as she lived) a sober and high-minded and valiant34 husband. Unfortunately, Irene led so well-regulated a life during the twenty years in which she shared the rule of Vatatzes that there is little to record of her, and, however much we may resent it, we are dragged onward35 by the misguided chroniclers until we reach John’s later and less virtuous companions. But the contrast of this later period will be the more piquant,260 and the more honourable36 to Irene, if we dwell for a moment on the exemplary years that preceded it.
The greater part of John’s days were spent in warfare37, but in the intervals39 of his wars he was attentive40 to the development of his little Empire, and in this he was finely supported by Irene. It is true that they adulterated the coinage, but that device had become a Byzantine tradition and we must set against it a large number of reforms. John was a just and simple-minded monarch. He developed his estates so industriously42, in the periods of peace, that he at length relieved his subjects of the financial burden of royalty43, and enabled them to prosper44. The character of the Court is, perhaps, best seen, and attracts a lively admiration45, in the following anecdote. One day John presented his consort46 with a modest jewelled coronet, and informed her, with pride, that it had been purchased by the profit on the eggs alone which his poultry47 farms yielded. He forbade his courtiers to wear Persian, or Syrian, or Italian silks, though they might wear the product of the silkworms of his own dominions49, and he one day severely50 rebuked51 his son for going out to hunt in a tunic52 of cloth of gold.
Irene admired and encouraged this care for their subjects. Acropolites, our chief authority for the period, was a student attached to the Court at the time, and he gives high praise to the Empress. One day there was an eclipse of the sun, and Irene turned to the learned young man for an explanation. The work of the earlier Greeks was not yet entirely54 forgotten, and Acropolites was able to tell the Empress, with due modesty55, that the body of the moon had passed before the face of the sun and momentarily cut off its light. But superstition56 was spreading its unhappy growth over the ruins of Greek culture, and other courtiers, especially the Empress’s physician, ridiculed57 the youth’s explanation. Irene laughingly told Acropolites that he was “a young fool”; but she regretted afterwards, in telling the matter to John, that she had used so arrogant58 an expression.261 Acropolites almost spoils the story by going on to tell us that, in his own conviction, the eclipse foreboded the death of the Empress, which occurred soon afterwards.
One other story confirms this excellent impression of the life of the Court in the palace at Nic?a, or in the country palaces at Nymph?um and Smyrna. Irene had one child, her son Theodore; an accident, as she rode to hunt and was thrown from her horse, prevented her from enlarging her family. When Theodore reached his twelfth year, the Emperor, who was himself over fifty, decided59 to marry him, and, as he was allied60 with the Bulgarians against the Latins, he sought the hand of a Bulgarian princess. The only available daughter of John Asan, the Bulgarian king, was a girl of tender years named Helen, and, though the marriage ceremony was performed, the two children lived together only as children under the watchful61 eye of Irene. The Bulgarian king at length repented62 of his alliance, and begged that the little Helen, now ten years old, might return for a visit to her parents. Vatatzes and Irene concluded at once that this was only a preliminary to breaking the alliance, but they scorned to detain the child. We read that she wept bitterly at being separated from Irene. During the journey to her father’s capital she was so inconsolable, even when Asan took her on his own saddle, that the monarch lost his temper and slapped her face. Helen did in time return to her spouse63, but she will have little interest for us.
After nineteen years of this placid64 and useful co-operation with the Emperor, Irene passed away, and, after a decent interval38 of mourning, John Vatatzes, though now advanced in years, sought another Empress. He succeeded, in spite of the opposition65 of the papacy, in obtaining the hand of Anna, daughter of Frederick II., and sister of Manfred of Sicily. Anna was a pretty maiden66 of tender years, a mere symbol of alliance with the two powerful and independent monarchs I have named. John may have reflected that, as he had now262 entered his sixth decade of life, the immaturity67 of his bride would matter little. In the train of the young Empress, however, was an Italian marchioness33 whose eyes were, the chronicler says, “unescapable nets,” and John soon fell into them. Nicephorus says that the lady employed philtres and her fine Italian eyes in the conquest of the Emperor’s heart. We will be content to think that the eyes sufficed.
For the remaining decade of John’s reign the favoured marchioness was the most prominent figure at the Court. She did not, apparently68, desire to interfere69 in politics. It was enough that she was permitted to wear purple slippers71 and other ensigns of royalty, and that courtiers should gather about her rather than attend the young Empress. It is related that she on one occasion went, decked in her imperial robes and accompanied by her glittering suite72, to visit the famous chapel73 attached to one of the chief monasteries74 of Nic?a. The abbot of this monastery75, Nicephorus Blemmydas, was tutor to Irene’s son Theodore, and, though we shall find his royal pupil affording little proof of the excellence76 of his education, the Abbot Nicephorus was a rare type among the degenerate77 clergy78 of the time. He shut the doors of the chapel and refused to admit the marchioness. Infuriated at the humiliation79, and stimulated80 by her followers81, she begged John to punish the abbot. John refused, and tearfully admitted that his own weakness was the proper occasion of the trouble.
In 1254 the valiant Vatatzes bequeathed the crown to his son, and Anna and the marchioness made way for the Bulgarian princess, Helen. Anna seems to have remained attached to the Court, or in some mansion83 at Nic?a, and we shall meet her again. But Helen died in a year or two; her husband followed after a short and licentious84 reign of four years, and the relinquishment85 of263 the throne to a boy of tender years, their son John, opened the gates of the palace to a shrewd and unscrupulous adventurer and his wife.
One of the commanders of the troops under Vatatzes and Theodore was Michael Paleologus, a grandson of the Emperor Alexis’s daughter Irene. Bold and crafty86, passionate87, yet ever ready to stoop to lies and oaths to cover his ambition, sensible that he was one of the most capable men to undertake the government and that his grandfather had at one time been destined88 for the throne, Michael directed his steps toward the palace from early youth. In later years his favourite sister, Eulogia, who reared him, used to tell how, when nothing else would soothe89 the restless infant, she used to put him to sleep with the strange lullaby: “Hush, Emperor of the city. You will go in at the golden gate, and do such-and-such things.” She may have mentioned to him this almost miraculous90 inspiration when he came to years of discretion91. By sobriety of life—apart from love affairs—and liberality to his friends and dependants92, he won great popularity and early incurred93 suspicion. John Vatatzes, in his later years, summoned him to reply to a charge of treason, and said that he must purge94 himself by the ordeal95: one of the enlightened practices which the Crusaders had introduced into the East. Michael glanced at the iron balls glowing in the fire, and protested that, although he was innocent of treason, he feared that so sinful a man as he could hardly hope to carry the red-hot globes with impunity96. When a bishop97, who stood by, rebuked his lack of faith in Providence98, he shrewdly suggested that the bishop, being innocent, might take the balls from the fire with his hands and deliver them to him.
His wit and boldness disturbed the solemn Court, and, instead of losing his head or his eyes, he won the favour of John and married the Empress’s great-niece, Theodora. She was a daughter of John Ducas, a nephew of the Emperor, and had been left to his guardianship99. Michael264 was then twenty-seven years old, and we cannot say if the young Theodora accompanied him in his new command of the troops. However that may be, he was again denounced, to the new Emperor Theodore, and compelled to take a particularly sonorous100 oath of fidelity101 to Theodore and his infant son. In two or three years he was recalled to Court to repeat his oath. His eldest sister Martha—sometimes also called Maria—had a charming daughter, whom the Emperor ordered to marry one of his servants. The young people had just succeeded in falling in love with each other when Theodore, who was now diseased and capricious, changed his mind, and ordered the girl to marry a noble of her own rank. It was reported to the Emperor after a time that this marriage was not consummated102, and could not be, because Martha had vindictively103 laid on it a form of incantation known as “Venus’s knot.” Martha was put, naked, in a sack with a number of cats; the cats were pricked104 with pins in order to make them lacerate her; and the abominable105 Emperor sat by to interrogate106 her about her incantations. After this it was thought prudent to compel Michael to repeat his oath, which he did fluently, and the impenetrable geniality107 of his manner quite disarmed108 Theodore.
Theodore died soon afterwards, and his boy (variously described as six, eight and nine years old) was left to rule the Empire under the tutorship of the first minister, George Muzalon, and the patriarch. Not only Michael, but all the other commanders and nobles, had sworn heavily to respect this arrangement. But the body of Theodore had scarcely been interred110 before Michael began secretly to agitate111 and to bribe112 his colleagues. Muzalon was an upstart, not a noble by birth, and it was not difficult to cast on him the blame of the brutalities of Theodore’s later years. Three days after the burial of the Emperor, Muzalon and his brothers and a large company of nobles and noble ladies gathered in the royal monastery at Sosander, without the city, for a memorial265 service, when, in the midst of the chanting, the heavy and regular tread of soldiers was heard. A band of officers and men burst into the chapel, and, before the eyes of the shrieking113 dames115 and the horrified116 priests, cut Muzalon and his friends to pieces beside the altars. National catastrophe117, it will be seen, had not chastened the Byzantine character.
From Constable118 of the Empire, Michael was now raised to the dignity of Despot, and became tutor of the young Emperor. Then a convenient coalition119 of Western powers against the Empire gave Michael’s friends the opportunity to suggest that the strong man ought to be associated with the boy in the supreme120 power. On New Year’s Day (1259) he was openly proclaimed Emperor. The patriarch almost alone professed121 some concern about the terrible oath they had all taken only four months before; Michael met his concern by giving him a written affidavit122, sealed with ponderous123 oaths, that he would restore the full sovereignty to John VI. when he came of age, and would recognize no claim of his own heirs to power. It was therefore agreed that Michael and John should be crowned together. When, however, the hour of coronation arrived, John was not present to respond to the call of the patriarch, and Michael and Theodora alone received crowns. Michael had made a little arrangement with the bishops124 beforehand, and only one of the lords spiritual protested. The crowd may have murmured when, after the ceremony, they saw the boy, crownless, walking after the new Emperor and Empress, but a liberal shower of gold coin put an end to their scruples125.
Such was the initiation126 to power and dignity of the Empress Theodora. Two other women, who will engage our attention, shared the elevation127. These were Michael’s two sisters, Martha and Eulogia, who began to have an even more important voice than Theodora in the administration. Both of them were widows, and had, after the death of their husbands, assumed the monastic266 habit. Probably Martha took the name of Maria when she adopted the black robe, and Eulogia was the monastic name of the younger sister, Irene. Finlay remarks that at least in this decaying period of the Empire the women showed no less ability than the men, and assuredly there was not in the Greek world of that time the least effort to confine women within the gyn?ceum. During the remaining two centuries the chronicles are full of references to active and ambitious women, and we shall see that Maria and Eulogia were not prevented by their religious vows128 from taking their share in the political life.
From the first year of his reign Michael gave his thoughts to the recapture of Constantinople, and in 1260 he led his troops against the city, but he had not the rams129 and catapults necessary to shake its stout130 walls. He retired131 to the palace at Nymph?um, to arrange for the strengthening of his forces, and one of his generals, hearing that the bulk of the Latin defenders132 had sailed on an expedition to the Black Sea, and that the Greeks in the city were prepared to aid him, boldly entered Constantinople during the night, burned out the Venetians from their quarters, and, when the Latin galleys133 hastily returned, laughed at them from the impregnable ramparts. Their monarch had fled at the first shock, and the whole of the Latins now (in the summer of 1261) returned to the West.
On the day following the entry of the city Michael was awakened135 by his sister Eulogia. The chronicler praises the prudence136 with which she broke the good news to her brother. One of her servants had heard it in the early morning, and she entered the bedroom of Michael to tell him. She thoughtfully tickled137 his feet to awaken134 him in a natural manner, and stood smiling by the bed until he had full possession of his faculties138 and she could tell him without risk. Michael at once moved his forces and his family to the Asiatic suburbs in view of Constantinople, where the crown and the royal boots were267 brought to him. Not until a becoming ceremony could be arranged, however, would Michael enter his capital, and then only with the most conspicuous139 piety140. After spending the night of 14th August in a monastery outside the walls, near the Blachern? palace, he entered, in the dress of a plain citizen, preceded by the picture of the Virgin141 which was believed to have come from the brush of St Luke.
The brilliant August sun lit up for them a melancholy142 spectacle, as the Emperor—John had been left to amuse himself in Asia—and his wife and sisters rode or drove down the Mese to the cathedral. The Blachern? palace itself was uninhabitable. Its mosaic143 walls were blackened with the smoke of the fires by which Latin soldiers had roasted their game, and its tessellated floors were in a sordid144 condition. Filthy145, too, were the colonnaded146 streets and squares that had once been the pride of Constantinople. I will presume that the reader knows something of the indescribable ways of our Latin and Teutonic fathers at that time, and for centuries afterwards. Not a statue or ornament147 of value remained in the public squares; the vast piles of stone still lay where once had been the graceful148 mansions149 of the Byzantine nobility; and great areas of the city were now but scorched150 skeletons of once gay and populous151 districts. The Bucoleon palace alone had been preserved with any care, and to it, cleansed152 for their reception, the royal party proceeded, after a thanksgiving service in St Sophia.
Before long the Court stealthily discussed the fate of the young Emperor who had been left at Nymph?um. Michael was said to have reflected that he had now obtained an Empire of his own, and that the obligation of his oath did not extend to this new dominion48. Eulogia, a fanatically religious woman, as we shall see, supported her brother; indeed, it is said that the two nun153 sisters, whom Michael consulted daily, urged him to depose154 John and bury him in a monastery. Sinister268 rumours155 circulated in Constantinople, especially when Michael proceeded to marry John’s sisters to obscure Western nobles, who happened to be in the city, and gave them money enough to take their brides away to their distant countries. But this topic was presently displaced for a time by one of greater interest. It was said that Michael proposed to divorce the plain and quiet Theodora, and marry the Italian widow of John Vatatzes.
Anna had remained in the East after the death of her husband in 1254, and would be about twenty years old, or in the ripest development of her beauty, at the time we have reached. She came to Constantinople with the Court, and, from his slender resources, the Emperor supplied her with a revenue which enabled her to live and dress luxuriously157. It was, no doubt, politic70 for Michael to invite the favour of the Italian monarch by this generous treatment of his sister, but Anna soon learned that the policy was strongly supported by inclination158. Directly, or by means of his servants, Michael made violent love to her, and begged a fitting return for his liberality. Anna refused to be his mistress. It is characteristic that the chroniclers do not represent her as spurning159 his advances on the ground of virtue160; she was, they say, too conscious of her superior origin to enter into such a relation with Michael, and, instead of rejecting his gifts and returning to her father’s Court, she let Michael know that, though she disdained162 the position of mistress, she would not refuse that of wife. The kindly163 and patriotic164 chronicler would have us believe that this was merely a ruse165 to protect her dignity, and we may or may not believe this. The immediate effect was that Michael began openly to speak of divorcing Theodora. She was, he gracefully166 acknowledged, a faithful wife and excellent woman, but considerations of State made it advisable for him to marry Anna. There was a fear that the Latins would make an effort to retake the city, and it was prudent to form an alliance with some of their strongest princes. Theodora, who269 had given birth to her fourth son since they had reached Constantinople, vehemently167 protested against the proposal and enlisted168 the interest of the patriarch, so that Michael was forced to send back Anna, with a splendid escort and equipment, to plead his cause in Italy.
THEODORA, WIFE OF MICHAEL VIII
FROM DU CANGE’S HISTORIA BYZANTINA
Michael now returned to the problem of John, and, when he remarked to his courtiers that it was absurd to have “two heads under one hat,” they knew that the youth was doomed169. We have no reason to doubt the statement of the chronicler that Eulogia supported him in this design, but we may at least assume that the manner of executing it was due to Michael alone. He ordered that the harmless and helpless young man should be blinded. A long experience had made the Greeks ingenious in this operation, and, instead of removing the eyes with knives, or using hot irons, they now sometimes blinded a man by an elaborate concentration of intense light on the retina or by the use of boiling vinegar. The more humane170 method of blinding by an intense light was used in the case of John, and the unfortunate youth was then incarcerated171 for life in a fortress172 on the coast of Bithynia. This ghastly operation was performed on the day on which the churches and monasteries of the Byzantine Empire offered their clouds of incense173 in honour of the birth of Christ. It is at least gratifying to find that it did not pass without protest. A warm-hearted youth attached to the Court lost his nose and lips for speaking too freely about it, and many others had to be punished.
Theodora seems to have been a silent, perhaps disgusted, witness of her husband’s course, and there is some faint evidence that Michael’s elder sister dissented175 from it. In fact, the patriarch Arsenius himself openly resented this flagrant violation176 of a thrice-repeated oath, and thus led to a long and fierce ecclesiastical struggle in which the two royal nuns177 were actively178 engaged. The patriarch’s procedure was not as emphatic179 and thorough as it ought to have been, but he at least distinguished270 himself among the crowd of corrupt180 and servile bishops and abbots by more or less excommunicating Michael. A council of bishops then obliged the Emperor by deposing181 Arsenius and putting a more courtly prelate in his place, but the hostility182 and derision of the people soon induced Germanus to retire, and a clerical diplomatist named Joseph occupied the see. As the furious schism183 of the Arsenians and the Josephites, which followed, will cross the lines of our story for some time to come, it is necessary to introduce this fragment of ecclesiastical history. For the moment it is enough to say that in 1268 the patriarch Joseph absolved184 from his sin the ostentatiously penitent185 Emperor, before a crowd of weeping Senators and priests.
The twenty years that followed the return to Constantinople were absorbed in the work of restoring the Empire and adjusting the quarrels of the partisans186 of the rival patriarchs. Of the restoration it is enough to say that, as in all similar efforts during the last three centuries of the Empire, it consisted in recovering the revenue of the Court and enriching the Emperor’s supporters, not in any serious attempt to revive the industries and commerce of the Empire.34 Nor were Michael’s attempts to make foreign alliances much more successful. Foiled in his efforts to secure the interest of Latin rulers, he turned to the Servians and Bulgarians. In 1272 he decided that his second daughter, Anna, should marry the King of Servia. Theodora had some misgiving187 that the barbaric Servians were unfit to receive her daughter, and she directed the ministers who took Anna to the frontier to send on in advance a party to explore the Servian Court, and to linger sufficiently188 on the journey to receive their report. It proved a wise precaution. The Servians had gathered round the advance party like—as271 described in the Byzantine chronicles—a group of savages189. Anna’s eunuchs excited their intense curiosity, though not their admiration, and the superb equipment of the princess was heatedly criticized. They brought out Anna’s prospective190 mother-in-law, a dirty and coarsely dressed woman, to show the Greeks a model queen. They also stole the imperial horses. So the advance party hastily sent a report to the ministers who lingered on the way with Anna and she was conducted back to her mother.
In the same year Eulogia’s daughter Maria was married to the King of Bulgaria, but the marriage brought little profit to the Emperor. Eulogia had now quarrelled with Michael. She took the part of the ex-patriarch Germanus, and she and her daughters and her favourite monks193 threw themselves so ardently194 into the religious quarrel, which the Emperor vainly endeavoured to settle, that Michael was very angry with them. Monks now travelled constantly between the young Queen of Bulgaria and the Empress-nun, her mother, and gravely disturbed Michael’s work. After a time Maria sent some of the monks to Palestine to induce the Sultan to harass195 her uncle’s territory, and she even persuaded her husband to declare war on him. Michael hated the monks as heartily196 as Eulogia loved them, and he at length expelled his sister from the capital. When he went on to propose a union of the Latin and Greek Churches, and induced a synod at Constantinople to acknowledge the supremacy197 of the Pope, Eulogia’s love was turned into violent hatred198 of the Emperor.
Martha seems to have died during the struggle, and Theodora was too weak, or too indifferent to clerical matters, to take any part in it. She must have watched with disdain161 the last vain efforts of her unscrupulous husband to escape the dangers which threatened him. In the early winter of that year (1282) he set out to crush a rebellious199 noble of the Ducas family. Theodora tried272 in vain to dissuade200 him from leading an expedition to Thrace in such a bad season, and a month later she received the news of his death.
Her son Andronicus now took the purple, and, as Andronicus was orthodox and his royal aunt Eulogia at once returned to the scene, Theodora had a more dreary201 time than ever. Her brother was damned, Eulogia insisted, and his remains and memory were not to be honoured by the pompous202 ceremonies of the Greek Church. The young monarch—he was in his twenty-fifth year—bent to her commands, and the body of Michael was buried, almost without a prayer, in the military camp where he had died. Theodora feebly protested, and was assured by the fanatical Eulogia that her own soul was in danger, and her name could not be included in the list of those who were commended to the prayers of the faithful in St Sophia until she had purged203 herself of her guilt204. She was compelled to sign a repudiation205 of the authority of the Pope, which would cost her little, and to promise that she would not ask the prayers of the Church for her husband.
Into the appalling206 struggle of the Church factions207 which followed we need not enter. One of the best historians of the time, who saw the Empire slowly perishing while its whole soul was absorbed in this quarrel, bitterly observes that “for the sake of a single coin both sides were prepared to take oaths so horrible that the pen cannot describe them.” One day they appealed to miracle; each side wrote out a statement of its case, and a vast crowd gathered to see the two rolls of parchment cast into the flames and howl for the intervention208 of God in favour of the just cause. But both documents were burned to ashes, and the ferocious209 struggle continued for decades, while the Turks spread over the Asiatic provinces, pirates swarmed210 in all the seas, and the Venetians and Genoese captured all the trade of the Empire. Eulogia disappears in the midst of this struggle, fighting to the last in the cause of the273 monks, a pathetic example of the way in which the age perverted211 its ablest and most spirited women.
Theodora lived on for twenty-two years, and saw two new Empresses enter the palace, but the chroniclers of the time are too much occupied with the ecclesiastical controversy212 to tell us much of the personal life of the Court. George Pachymeres has left us a large volume on the history of his times, but fully82 one-half of it is taken up with the patriarchal struggle. I will therefore be content to tell the later sufferings of Theodora, and then return to the Empresses whom her son Andronicus put on the throne.
The family of the Emperor Michael had consisted of four sons, three daughters and two illegitimate daughters. The daughters were bestowed213 upon various nobles or petty monarchs, and of the four sons three survived to intrigue214, or suspect each other of intriguing215, for the throne. Andronicus was the eldest, and he succeeded his father without opposition. The second son, Constantine, had, however, been the favourite of his parents; he had received great wealth from Michael, and it was known that Michael intended, when death closed his career, to set up Constantine as an independent Emperor in Greek territory. From the first, therefore, Andronicus regarded his younger brother with a jealous eye. Constantine was a good-looking and very popular youth, very liberal with his money and surrounded by friends. Unfortunately he had, like most of the Greeks of the time, little or no self-control, and in 1291 he gave his brother an opportunity to destroy him.
Some short time before 1291 Constantine had married the daughter of Raul, one of the chief officials of the Court. She was a beautiful and somewhat vain young woman, very conscious of her new dignity. On the Feast of the Apostles, one of the many days on which the ladies of Constantinople were wont216 to pay ceremonious visits to the ruling Empress, Constantine’s wife—we do not know her name—repaired in great274 splendour to the palace of Irene. In the hall sat an aged53 and noble dame114 named Strategopulina: in other words, a lady of the distinguished Strategopulos family, and herself a niece of a former Emperor. She had arrived too early for the reception, and sat on a couch without the Empress’s chamber217. On account of her age and rank Strategopulina did not rise, as she ought to have done, when Constantine’s wife passed, and the offended princess returned to her husband in such rage that she fell ill. Most probably the old lady knew that Andronicus and his wife would not be very displeased218 with her action. But Constantine, egged on by his wife, took the matter in his own hands. Acquainted as we are with the morals of Constantinople, we are hardly surprised to learn that Strategopulina was believed, in spite of her age, to be intimate with one of her servants. Constantine sent some of his servants to flog this man in public, and drag him naked round the Forum219.
The scandal, the storm of chatter220, and the gross injury to one of his wife’s friends, angered Andronicus, and for some time he looked darkly on his brother. Constantine was alarmed, and took pains to conciliate him, but he was displaced from his position at Court and sent on some mission to Nymph?um.
With his sixty thousand gold pieces a year and his pretty wife Constantine would still find life desirable in Asia Minor221. Presently, however, Andronicus came to Nymph?um, and took up his residence in the old palace of the Nicene Emperors. To this palace Constantine was summoned one morning in March (1291). He found it full of soldiers, learned that his brother had found him guilty of treason, and was given into custody222. His luxurious156 belongings223 and his great income were confiscated224 by Andronicus, and he was destined to spend the remaining fifteen years of his life in a new and particularly ignominious225 prison. Andronicus was afraid to lodge226 him in a fixed227 jail, lest his supporters should free him and start a revolt, and he therefore had a portable275 prison—a litter converted into a strong-barred cage—made for him.
In this plight228 Theodora found her handsome son when, a month of two later, Andronicus brought him to Constantinople. The Emperor had now taken a decisive step, and he disregarded his mother’s prayers and tears. When she pleaded that her son had been convicted, without trial, on the secret denunciation of a monk192, Andronicus merely summoned a council in the palace and compelled his obsequious229 courtiers to ratify174 his sentence. Theodora continued to assail230 him, but she had never had much influence in the administration, and under Andronicus she was completely powerless. Andronicus gave her no opportunity to thwart231 his policy by intrigue or violence. When he was compelled to go into the provinces, he took Constantine with him in his portable prison, and the miserable232 young prince, dressed and shaven as a monk, dragged out year after year without the least prospect191 of escape. The third and youngest brother, Theodore, took warning by Constantine’s fate, put off all signs of royal estate, and, living as a private citizen, endeavoured to disarm109 the jealousy233 of the Emperor. These misfortunes, and the thick gathering234 of clouds about the Empire, saddened the last years of Theodora’s long life. The regaining235 of Constantinople had put no new spirit, no healthier blood, into either people or Court. The Byzantine power was doomed, and the last sad glances of the aged Empress fell on a capital fiercely rent with ecclesiastical quarrels, a shrunken Empire trodden under the feet of the Turk, and a sea swept by innumerable pirates. She died in 1304, respected and superbly lamented236 by the citizens of Constantinople. Without strength of character to make her mark on the life of the Empire during nearly fifty years of imperial authority, she had at least kept her slender record unstained by crime or vice41 in a criminal and vicious world. At the most we can regret only that she clung so faithfully to Michael Paleologus through all the crimes and deceits of his tortuous237 career.
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1
metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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2
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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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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4
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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5
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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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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illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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13
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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14
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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15
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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16
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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17
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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18
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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19
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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20
subservient
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| adj.卑屈的，阿谀的 | |
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21
incompetent
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| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
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22
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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23
monarchs
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| 君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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28
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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29
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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30
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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31
prematurely
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| adv.过早地，贸然地 | |
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32
confide
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| v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
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33
anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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34
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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35
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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36
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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37
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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38
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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39
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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40
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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41
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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42
industriously
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43
royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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44
prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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45
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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46
consort
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| v.相伴；结交 | |
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47
poultry
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| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
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48
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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49
dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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50
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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51
rebuked
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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53
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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54
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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55
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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56
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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57
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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58
arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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59
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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60
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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61
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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62
repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
spouse
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| n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
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64
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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65
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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66
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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67
immaturity
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| n.不成熟；未充分成长；未成熟；粗糙 | |
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68
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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69
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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70
politic
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| adj.有智虑的；精明的；v.从政 | |
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71
slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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72
suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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73
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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74
monasteries
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| 修道院( monastery的名词复数 ) | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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76
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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77
degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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78
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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79
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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80
stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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81
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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82
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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83
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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84
licentious
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| adj.放纵的，淫乱的 | |
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85
relinquishment
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| n.放弃；撤回；停止 | |
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86
crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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87
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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88
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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89
soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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90
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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91
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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92
dependants
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| 受赡养者，受扶养的家属( dependant的名词复数 ) | |
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93
incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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94
purge
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| n.整肃，清除，泻药，净化；vt.净化，清除，摆脱；vi.清除，通便，腹泻，变得清洁 | |
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95
ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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96
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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97
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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98
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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99
guardianship
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| n. 监护, 保护, 守护 | |
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100
sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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101
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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102
consummated
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| v.使结束( consummate的过去式和过去分词 )；使完美；完婚；（婚礼后的）圆房 | |
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103
vindictively
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| adv.恶毒地；报复地 | |
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104
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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105
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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106
interrogate
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| vt.讯问，审问，盘问 | |
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107
geniality
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| n.和蔼，诚恳；愉快 | |
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108
disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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109
disarm
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| v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和 | |
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110
interred
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| v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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111
agitate
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| vi.(for,against)煽动，鼓动；vt.搅动 | |
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112
bribe
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| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
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113
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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114
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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115
dames
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| n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人 | |
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116
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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118
constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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119
coalition
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| n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合 | |
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120
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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121
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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122
affidavit
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| n.宣誓书 | |
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123
ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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124
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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125
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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126
initiation
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| n.开始 | |
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127
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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128
vows
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| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
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129
rams
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| n.公羊( ram的名词复数 )；(R-)白羊（星）座；夯；攻城槌v.夯实（土等）( ram的第三人称单数 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
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131
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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132
defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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133
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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134
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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135
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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136
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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137
tickled
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| （使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐 | |
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138
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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139
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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140
piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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141
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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142
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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143
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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144
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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145
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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146
colonnaded
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| adj.有列柱的，有柱廊的 | |
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147
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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148
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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149
mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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150
scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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151
populous
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| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
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152
cleansed
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| 弄干净，清洗( cleanse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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153
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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154
depose
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| vt.免职；宣誓作证 | |
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155
rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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156
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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157
luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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158
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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159
spurning
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的现在分词 ) | |
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160
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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161
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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162
disdained
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| 鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
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163
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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164
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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165
ruse
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| n.诡计，计策；诡计 | |
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166
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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167
vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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168
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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169
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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170
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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171
incarcerated
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| 钳闭的 | |
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172
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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173
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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174
ratify
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| v.批准，认可，追认 | |
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175
dissented
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| 不同意，持异议( dissent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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176
violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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177
nuns
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| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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178
actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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179
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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180
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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181
deposing
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| v.罢免( depose的现在分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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182
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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183
schism
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| n.分派，派系，分裂 | |
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184
absolved
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| 宣告…无罪，赦免…的罪行，宽恕…的罪行( absolve的过去式和过去分词 )； 不受责难，免除责任 [义务] ,开脱（罪责） | |
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185
penitent
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| adj.后悔的；n.后悔者；忏悔者 | |
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186
partisans
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| 游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙 | |
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187
misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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188
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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189
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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190
prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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191
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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192
monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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193
monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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194
ardently
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| adv.热心地，热烈地 | |
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195
harass
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| vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰 | |
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196
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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197
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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198
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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199
rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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200
dissuade
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| v.劝阻，阻止 | |
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201
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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202
pompous
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
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203
purged
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| 清除（政敌等）( purge的过去式和过去分词 )； 涤除（罪恶等）； 净化（心灵、风气等）； 消除（错事等）的不良影响 | |
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204
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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205
repudiation
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| n.拒绝；否认；断绝关系；抛弃 | |
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206
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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207
factions
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| 组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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208
intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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209
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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210
swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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211
perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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212
controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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213
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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214
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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215
intriguing
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| adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心 | |
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216
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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217
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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218
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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219
forum
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| n.论坛，讨论会 | |
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220
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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221
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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222
custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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223
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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224
confiscated
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| 没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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225
ignominious
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| adj.可鄙的，不光彩的，耻辱的 | |
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226
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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227
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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228
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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229
obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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230
assail
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| v.猛烈攻击，抨击，痛斥 | |
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231
thwart
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| v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的) | |
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232
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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233
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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234
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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235
regaining
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| 复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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236
lamented
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| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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237
tortuous
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| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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