There should be a peculiar11 interest in studying the features of the Empresses who occupy the familiar palaces during this hundred years’ grace of the doomed12 civilization. We are so accustomed to finding the character of a period reflected in the character of the Empresses that the last representatives of the imperial line should afford us an instructive insight into the final life-phase of a civilization. The idea has become somewhat318 popular that nations grow old, as individuals do, and die of loss of vitality13; and that in their last years they pass into singular convulsions or eccentricities14. We shall, unfortunately, be impeded15 in this interesting study by the scantiness16 of the records. The ample chronicles of Cantacuzenus and his theological rival close, and two or three confused and ill-proportioned writers alone preserve for us a fragmentary record of the last hundred years. As in all such meagre records, the story of the women suffers most. Still, enough is said to give us an adequate idea of the remaining Empresses and their times; and it may be said in a word that we find no convulsions, or eccentricities, or increasing debility of individuals, but the familiar and unfortunate Byzantine character pursuing its selfish ambitions and passions until the great broom of the Turk sweeps the degenerate17 successors of the Romans for ever out of the East.
John IV., now a young man of twenty-five, occupies the throne for nearly forty years out of the remaining century, but this reign18 is almost barren of interest for us, and must be treated only as an introduction of his children. Helena had brought with her from Tenedos a young boy named Andronicus, and two brothers, Manuel and Theodore, were added in the course of time to the family. That is all that we find recorded of the Empress Helena. She may have died early in her husband’s reign, though the fact that he does not marry again until old age, suggests, in the case of such a man, that she lived to witness his amours and his political ineptitude19. The interest passes to her children.
Andronicus, a pretty and spoiled boy, was betrothed20 in his tenth year to Maria, daughter of Alexander of Trebizond, who was about the same age when she became the Empress-elect. However, the character of Andronicus was to defraud21 her of the promise of the crown. We do not know in what year they were married, but it must have been before 1369, when John went to Italy, leaving Constantinople in charge of Andronicus. The Turks were again advancing, and John could see no escape319 except with the assistance of the Latins. He first visited Venice, and received a most flattering welcome, but no material help. Borrowing a sum of money from Venetian bankers, he went on to Rome and opened negotiations22 with the Vatican. It seemed to the Vatican an excellent opportunity to convince the Greeks that the Holy Ghost did proceed from both the Father and the Son—the chief dogmatical point at issue between the two Churches—and John hurriedly embraced that dogma, and would have embraced any number of dogmas, in the hope of being rewarded with an army. The reward was very meagre, however, and, after trying a few more princes with no more success, he returned to Venice to re-embark for the East. Then the Venetian moneylenders detained his imperial person as a common debtor23, and he appealed to Andronicus to seize sufficient Church treasure to pay the debt.
Andronicus was enjoying his short spell of power over the shrunken treasury24 during his father’s absence, and the demand was irksome. He sent word to Venice that the clergy25 declined to allow him to seize their chalices26 and reliquaries, and that, to his regret, he saw no way of delivering his father from the debtors’ prison. He was a true Paleologus: a selfish voluptuary, eager only to have the sole right to the keys of the treasury. His younger brother Manuel, however, professed27 indignation, zealously28 gathered funds to meet the debt, and hastened to Venice to release his father. He may have been prompted by a sincere piety29; but the natural effect of his action was that, when John returned dolefully to the city, Manuel began to wear purple boots, and the chances of Andronicus and Maria occupying the throne became slender. It appeared that, the less the Empire became, the fiercer was the struggle for it. The Turks had already reached and taken Adrianople, and Thessalonica was now the only large town in the possession of the Empire besides the capital. A few years later Thessalonica went. Manuel, who governed it, and was a youth of spirit and ambition, made a futile31 effort to break loose320 of the Turks. He was pardoned by the Sultan Murad, but he lost Thessalonica.
After the return of John the pressure of the Turks had been evaded32 by a voluntary subjection, and the Emperor of Constantinople was now a vassal33 of the Sultan, holding, under his sovereign lord the Turk, the city itself and a few thousand square miles of poverty-stricken territory to the west of the capital. He was compelled to do homage34, and to supply a hundred soldiers, captained by one of his sons, whenever the Sultan pleased. There was, however, still a fair revenue from such sources as trade and port duties, and John contrived35 to excite the envy of his elder son by the luxurious36 dinners, the choice wines and the pretty dancing-girls, which he could still afford to enjoy. It is enough to say that John IV., in his desolate37 little Empire, contracted a very severe gout, and Andronicus was not unwilling38 to run the same risk.
When, therefore, John was summoned to join the Sultan’s army in Asia, and Andronicus was once more left in charge, the foolish and egoistical youth made another effort to secure his father’s income. Sultan Murad had left his son Saudgi in charge of his European possessions, and the two princes became close friends. In 1376 the news reached the Sultan that they had disowned their fathers and proclaimed themselves independent sovereigns. The unhappy John was at once suspected of collusion, though the Sultan came in time to realize that John was not at all willing to leave the palace to his son until he was compelled to do so. The conspiracy39 was soon settled. As the Sultan’s troops approached, the two youths threw themselves in Didymoteichus, but they were compelled to surrender. Murad put out the eyes of Saudgi, and sent Andronicus to his father with orders to inflict40 the same punishment on him, under pain of war. John directed that his sight should be destroyed by boiling vinegar, and Andronicus was confined in a tower near the Blachern? palace. His son,321 a boy of tender years, was punished in the same way, and Maria sadly joined them in the dreary41 tower.
For two years Andronicus and Maria lamented42 their evil fortune in the tower of Anemas. In the course of time it had appeared that the blinding was not complete; Andronicus recovered the use of one eye, and his son was merely afflicted43 with a squint44. The Sultan Murad, moreover, died, and Constantinople was not at all extravagantly45 devoted46 to the ruling monarch47. Andronicus therefore found a means of communicating with the Genoese at Galata, and, with their aid, the family were stealthily delivered from the tower and taken across the water. During his brief rebellion Andronicus had promised the island of Tenedos to the Genoese in return for their help, and they had, of course, no hope of getting it from John. From Galata Andronicus made his way to the camp of the new Sultan, and promised him several hundred pounds of gold a year if he would lend him an army with which to attack his father. The Turk had, as we may see presently, a large and expensive establishment to maintain, and he accepted the bargain. Of moral or decent feeling there seemed to be a complete absence at the time in all parties. The troops were put under the command of the one-eyed fugitive48, and he drew cautiously near the city.
He had the good fortune to find John and Manuel, quite unsuspicious of his approach, in a suburban49 palace, and the two, together with the younger brother Theodore, were promptly50 lodged51 in the tower of Anemas, from which Andronicus had escaped. The more thoroughgoing Sultan urged Andronicus to put them to death, but such conduct did not become a Christian52 monarch. They were entrusted53 to the care of a corps54 of Bulgarian guards, and Andronicus and Maria mounted the gilded55 thrones. But their tenure56 did not last more than two or three years, and we may close the series of petty revolutions in a few words.
John and Manuel communicated with the Venetians322 and offered them the island of Tenedos—one of the few fragments of Empire that a Byzantine ruler might still sell for a tawdry crown—if they would displace Andronicus. The plot was detected in time, and the Venetians were repulsed57; though they consoled themselves with taking Tenedos. In the third year of imprisonment58, however, the Bulgarian guards were duped by a half-witted servant named Angel, and nicknamed Devil or Devilangel, and John and his sons escaped to Scutari and opened in their turn a deal with the Sultan. They offered him twice the sum offered by Andronicus. He genially59 sent an officer to learn which monarch the people really did prefer, and would defend, and was informed that Manuel was the favourite. Lest one should be disposed to think Manuel much better than the rest of the family, I may emphasize that Manuel had offered a vast sum of money out of the poor revenue of the city, and had promised to lead out two thousand troops every spring in the service of the Turk, if the crown were conferred on him. It was a sordid60 squabble for the last coppers61 of the beggared city, and it ended in a compromise. John was to occupy the throne; Andronicus and his son to be his heirs. A more or less royal residence was found for Andronicus and Maria at Selymbria, and on the revenues of that and a few other towns they contrived to maintain a tolerable state.
As soon as Andronicus had gone John crowned Manuel, in defiance62 of the treaty, and sought a fitting wife for him; and his search had the effect of bringing one more pathetic young Empress upon the scene. John was now in his sixth decade of life, a prematurely63 aged64 and very gouty man, hardly able to stand erect65, but his sensuous66 nature was not extinct. He sent to Trebizond to ask Manuel for the daughter of the Emperor Alexis, and Eudocia Comnena, the young widow of a Turkish noble, proved to be so beautiful that the veteran libertine67 decided68 to marry her himself. He was not an old man; Du Cange puts the marriage, with some reason, about the323 year 1380, when John would be fifty-one years old. But he is described by the indignant chronicler as worn with debauch69 and tottering70 with gout, and we must think lightly of the lady who could accept his hand in order to share his crown—the crown of imitation diamonds. We have, however, no direct knowledge of Eudocia. She shared John’s imperial poverty for ten years, and disappeared at his death. We are disposed to suspect her influence when we find John, in his old age, beginning to restore the fortifications of the city in order to prepare for the last conflict with the Turk. Sultan Bayezid suddenly called on Manuel to appear at his Court, and then ordered John to destroy the two marble towers he had built beside the Golden Gate, or he would put out the eyes of Manuel. The old Emperor obeyed, and wearily lay down to die (1391).
Andronicus had died before his father, and, by the treaty of 1381, the crown should pass to his son John. But Manuel had been crowned in 1384, and he determined71 to seize the purple. He was still in the Court of Bayezid when the news of his father’s death came. The Turkish monarchs72 now had their capital at Brusa (originally Prusa), a town about sixty miles from Constantinople across the Sea of Marmora, which had been famed for some centuries as a pleasure and health resort on account of its warm springs. Here the later sultans had gathered all the luxury which would in an earlier age have passed to Constantinople. No imitation stones flashed from the turban or the scimitar of the Sultan and his nobles, for he had great stores of emeralds, rubies73 and diamonds; a large park sheltered curious beasts and birds from all parts of the known world; and the quiet gardens and gorgeous halls were enlivened by the forced song of the most beautiful boys and women that Greece, Servia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and even more distant Christian countries could supply. On this sybaritic paradise the dreaded74 Timour was to fall in a few years, but in 1391 the Tartars still lingered in the wilds, and324 the Turk dreamed of world-dominion75. Manuel was one mean vassal among a crowd, the captain of a hundred feudal76 soldiers, in this glittering Court, and he decided to fly to Constantinople and shut himself behind its still formidable walls. They proved worthy77 of his trust, and for several years, though to the great suffering of the inhabitants, Manuel defied the Sultan.
During the siege, apparently78, Manuel married, so that an Empress shared the straits of the long and terrible siege. She was Irene (or Helene), the daughter of Constantine Dragases, who governed a part of Macedonia. Irene is rarely mentioned in the scrappy and contradictory79 chronicles of the time, but she is one of the few of whom we have a pictorial80 representation. The miniature—found in a manuscript of the works of Denis, the so-called Areopagite—is a very quaint81, though not very instructive, picture of Irene and Manuel and their two sons, but he would be a bold physiognomist who would venture to make a text of the flat and conventional features of a Byzantine portrait. Her experience of Byzantine life was dreary. During nearly seven or eight years (including the brief respite) the Turks swarmed82 round the walls of Constantinople, and were only prevented by their lack of powerful rams83 and slings84—to say nothing of that new implement85 called a cannon86, which was just entering European warfare—from penetrating87. The great areas of desolation within the walls became more desolate, and the scanty88 supplies of food sold at appalling89 prices. With the Sultan outside could be seen John, the son of Andronicus, whom Bayezid affected90 to consider the lawful91 Emperor, and, although Manuel was a brave and humane92 ruler, the weary citizens were ready to acclaim93 John. But Manuel received the aid of Marshal de Boucicault and two thousand men, as well as a fleet of Venetians and Genoese, and held out stoutly95 until, at the close of 1399, the appearance of Timour the Tartar in the rear of the Sultan persuaded him to make peace. John was admitted as co-Emperor,325 and an effort was made to restore the stricken city.35
Manuel was the finest of the later Paleologi, and, although we cannot admire many of the steps he took to attain9 power, he made an excellent effort to use it for the restoration of the Empire. It seemed to him that his hope lay in enlisting96 the interest of the West against the infidel, and he set out at once with Irene and her two children. He left Irene in Greece, however, with his brother Theodore and Bartholom?a, and thus no Byzantine Empress was ever seen farther west than Greece. Manuel took ship to Italy, where very little was to be obtained, went to Paris, where he found Charles VI. insane, and even crossed the sea to the little island which had once sent so many Varangians to Constantinople. This visit to England induces one of the later Byzantine chroniclers (Chalcocondylas) to tell his readers something of that country, and we are interested to learn that, in the days of Henry IV., Englishmen shared their wives in common when they travelled, and held it their first duty to offer their wives to visitors; but he adds that London is already the greatest city of the West, though the strange island produces no wine and its inhabitants speak a most peculiar language.
Manuel obtained little money and few volunteers, and was returning in dejection when he heard that Timour had routed the Turks. Only a few years before Bayezid had received legates from Timour in his palace at Brusa. He had disdainfully shaved them and sent them back to their barbaric master. Then the Tartars had swept over Asia Minor98, scattered99 all the pretty boys and ladies of the Brusa pleasance, and compelled John of Constantinople to transfer his alliance from Bayezid to himself. Manuel confirmed the vassalage100 on his return, but he326 sent John into exile and set about restoring his Empire while the giants wore down each other’s strength. But I pass over the next decade, during which the internal troubles of the Turks gave Manuel an opportunity to reform and reconstruct. Our historian, Finlay, speaks somewhat contemptuously of his work, and, able and well-intentioned as Manuel was, it may be admitted that the work was too vast for him. In any case we lose sight of Irene for several decades, after the return of Manuel in 1405, and will pass at once to the next and, as far as we know, last Empress of Constantinople.
The introduction of Maria of Trebizond is preceded by some romantic adventures in the private life of the Court, of which the chroniclers give us a fairly ample account. Irene had six sons, of whom the eldest101, John, married the daughter of the Grand Duke of Moscow in the year 1414. He was already twenty-four years old, and of irregular life, but the hands of the princesses and princes of Byzantium were no longer sought in the Courts of the world. Anna was a child of eleven years, and we may assume that John remained with his mistresses until, three years later, Anna was carried off by the plague. Again there seems to have been some difficulty in finding a wife for the heir to the throne, but in or about the year 1420 legates were sent to Italy, and they returned with two eligible102 young ladies. Cleope, the beautiful and gifted daughter of Count Malatesta of Rimini, was married to Irene’s second son, Theodore, and went to spend an unhappy life with that restless prince in Laced?monia. For John the legates had brought Sophia, daughter of the Marquis of Montferrat, and she and her husband at once received the imperial title.
The appearance of Sophia of Montferrat on the imperial stage was brief and eventful. She was a tall and very graceful103 young woman, with golden hair that fell to her feet, a beautiful neck and broad round shoulders, fine arms, and hands and fingers “like crystal,” says327 the chronicler. But nature had spoiled these many perfections by misshaping her nose and giving a very careless finish to her eyes and eyebrows104. John disliked her, kept himself coldly aloof105 from her, and pressed his father to send her back to Montferrat. A more chatty chronicler, however, gives a more serious reason for John’s dislike. Sophia had been as virtuous106 as she was beautiful until she came to Constantinople, but, whether it was the taint107 in the atmosphere of the Court (most of the Paleologi have natural children) or the example of her husband, she quickly lapsed108. There was a natural son of her husband about the Court, and this youth she incited109 into a most unnatural110 relation. A maid of the Court caught them in flagrante delicto and told her lover; and the lover informed John. By making a hole in the wall of the bedroom John convinced himself of the truth of the story and was very indignant. It may be stated on behalf of Sophia that, when John spoke111 of the indignity112 to one of the Court jesters, he was reminded that he had himself some time before stolen his son’s mistress; it is therefore not impossible that the seduction was on the side of the youth and had a vindictive113 character.
Such was the kind of life witnessed in the last ruins of the Eastern Empire. John insisted that Sophia must go home; Manuel, possibly conscious of the difficulty of finding alliances, was reluctant to send her. Sophia found her position intolerable, however, and decided to run away, with the aid of the Genoese of Galata. They moored114 a galley115 at the foot of the imperial gardens, and Sophia, pretending to go for a stroll in the garden with her Italian maids and young courtiers, walked to the quay116 and was shipped over the water to Pera before her flight became known. It was published in the city the next day, and there was much buckling117 of arms and preparing of boats to avenge118 this last outrage119 of the hated Genoese. Manuel was, however, now overshadowed by his son, and Sophia was permitted to depart quietly for her home. The chronicler adds that she was received with great328 honour and rejoicing at Montferrat, and ended her days in a nunnery.
The date of Sophia’s flight and of John’s third marriage is difficult to determine. The plainest reading of the contradictory chronicles is that the trouble occurred in the last year of Manuel’s reign and the flight took place a month after his death, but this is inconsistent with the express declaration that the old Emperor intervened in the dispute. Manuel died on 25th July 1425. For some years the ambition of the Turk, who had quickly recovered from the heavy blows dealt by Timour, had fully30 revived and had given him great anxiety. A young Sultan, Murad II., had succeeded to the throne, and Manuel had imprudently recognized a pretender to the succession. When the young Sultan vigorously took the field, hanged the pretender, and drew up under the walls of Constantinople, Manuel, now a feeble old man of seventy-five, left the direction of affairs to John, and retired121 to pursue that ardent122 study of the Scriptures123 which absorbed him in his later years.
John abjectly124 apologized, but the angry Sultan ranged his machines against the walls and proceeded to batter125 them. He was drawn126 off for a time by the strategy of John, who had the Sultan’s brother conveyed to Brusa and set up as Sultan, but Murad returned more angry than ever, and one of the last earthly sounds to catch the ear of the aged Manuel was the roar of the first cannons127 that seem to have appeared at Constantinople. The diffusion128 of knowledge at the time may be gathered from the fact that one of the most learned of the chroniclers, in discussing these “bombards,” observes that he does not think they are of very ancient origin. Before the end of the siege Manuel was warned by an attack of apoplexy that his death was near. He donned the black robe, became plain Brother Matthew, and died two days—not two years, as Finlay says—afterwards, at the age of seventy-seven. Irene also then retired from the world and became the nun120 Hypomene, whom we329 shall later find endeavouring to settle the quarrels of her selfish children. She remained “mistress” (despoine) of the Empire and watched its slow decay with concern.
John was able, after the death of his father, to obtain peace from the Sultan at the price of a heavy annual subsidy129, and the Empire entered upon its last quarter of a century of melancholy130 decay. Long years of effort had taught the sultans that their siege engines were not powerful enough to crack the heavy shell in which earlier Emperors had enclosed the city, and they were content to hold it in vassalage and draw a large tribute from its sinking revenue. The time had gone by for the last serious effort to save the Empire. Its trade had passed to the Italians, and of the provinces from which it had so long extorted131 its rich supply of gold there now remained only a few towns to the west of Constantinople, a part of the Peloponnesus, and Thessalonica (which would soon be sold to Venice for fifty thousand gold coins). The metropolis132, therefore, continued to shrink within its eighteen-mile enclosure, and, as a severe pestilence133 fell on the inhabitants for the last time in 1431, they were reduced to something like one hundred thousand, instead of the million they had once been.
It was over this dismal134 little Empire that the last Empress, Maria of Trebizond, was called to preside. Whether the flight of Sophia came before or after the death of Manuel, John V., who succeeded his father, soon found it necessary to seek a bride. He married, in 1427, the daughter of Alexis of Trebizond, a handsome woman of excellent character, and we are fortunate enough to have a short description, from the pen of a French knight135, of Maria and her desolate surroundings. Bertrandon de la Brocquière made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and returned through Constantinople in the year 1432. The plague had ravaged136 it in the previous year, and Bertrandon sympathetically refers to the broad spaces of ruin that half filled the enclosure within the walls. He notes that the Greeks are still busy with their330 processions, religious and imperial, and that they still cherish in their churches such important relics137 as the pillar at which Christ was scourged138, the board on which his body was laid out, the gridiron on which St Lawrence had been martyred, and the stone on which Abraham had offered food to his angel visitors. Apparently the credentials139 of these relics had not been imposing140 enough to convince Western purchasers, indulgent as they were.36
When the knight heard that the Empress was about to proceed to St Sophia, and on to the Blachern? palace, he went to the square to see the procession. We know what the spectacle would have been at an earlier date. First would come a corps of Excubitors or Varangians, with shining axes and gold accoutrements, clearing a way through the crowd. Then a regiment141 of pale-faced eunuchs, their leaders dressed in white silk and glittering with jewels, would precede a large body of maids and dames142, from foreign slaves to the greatest ladies of the Empire, more superbly dressed than most of the queens of Europe. And lastly would come the gold-plated, gem-encrusted litter, drawn by four white horses, possibly with one of the highest nobles in Europe at the rein143 of each, the Empress sitting stiffly in her gold-cloth tunic144, over which spread the mantle145 of purple silk with deep embroidered146 edges, and, if it were a solemn occasion, a massive domed147 crown on her head, from which large diamonds and pearls fell in long chains to her shoulders. Very different was the spectacle witnessed by Bertrandon de la Brocquière. Maria’s suite148 consisted of two ladies, three eunuchs, and three aged ministers. With this poor escort she was to drive the several miles of road to the Blachern? palace. She wore a high hat (probably a silk-covered mitre) with three golden plumes149, and she had broad flat rings, set with a few jewels, in her ears. She was young and fair; “I should not,” says the pilgrim, “have had a fault to find with her had she not been331 painted, and assuredly she had not any need of it.” The paint seems to have been the one surviving portion of the luxurious inheritance of the Empresses of Constantinople.
Maria was a woman of tame and mediocre150, if faultless, character, and, as her husband was weak and incompetent151, the miserable152 Empire lay helplessly awaiting the end. Patriotism was an extinct virtue153. “The absence of truth, honour and patriotism,” says Finlay, “among the Greek aristocracy during the last century of the Eastern Empire is almost without a parallel in history.” The Western Empire had, even in its last years, had its Symmachus, its Pr?textatus and its Flavianus. Irene’s sons could do no more than quarrel for their selfish interests in the ruins. Andronicus, who had charge of Thessalonica, which was restored to the Greeks for a time, sold it to Venice, and went to enjoy his fortune in the Peloponnesus. In that last fragment of the Empire Theodore and Constantine were on the verge154 of civil war owing to the clash of their petty ambitions. There seemed to be no resource in the East, and John, leaving the city in charge of his wife and mother, went to make a last appeal to his fellow-Christians of the West to stem the Mohammedan tide. It was now clear that the Greek Church would, as the price of assistance, have to surrender its independence to the papacy, and John took with him the patriarch and his bishops155.
It may be read in history how, at the Councils of Ferrara (1438) and Florence (1439), the Greek bishops abandoned the positions they had fiercely maintained for so many centuries against the Western Church and, with one exception, signed the Roman claims. I will add from the Byzantine writers only that, whatever arguments were discussed in open Council, and however pressing the need of the Empire, it was a secret and generous payment of gold to the Byzantine bishops which finally convinced them. They bargained, like Syrian pedlars, for their signature. It may also be read332 in history how John returned in deep dejection to his mother. Instead of the promised fleet, the Pope had given him only two galleys156 and three hundred men and a very moderate sum of money. His wife, Maria, had died during his absence; the Sultan was pressing for an explanation of this visit to Italy; and the people and lower clergy of Constantinople were infuriated at the surrender of their spiritual independence, and were now treacherously157 joined by the corrupt158 bishops, who had signed the decrees. John wearily sustained the attack, assuring the Sultan that he had visited Italy only in order to discuss certain details of the Christian faith, and secretly pressing the Pope and the Western monarchs to fulfil their promises.
Hypomene, now an aged and venerable lady, sadly watched the struggle of her sons, and endeavoured to curb159 their selfish tempers. Demetrius, her youngest son, recollected160 that he, unlike John, had been “born in the Porphyra,” and disputed the shaking throne of his brother. He gathered about him a ragged161 army of Turks and looted whatever was left of the suburbs beyond the walls, until his force melted away on account of the poverty of the plunder162, and he consented to be reconciled. Theodore, the second son, complained that he had not enough income to maintain his state in the town of Selymbria, which he governed, and he demanded a share of John’s. It was refused, and he in turn was about to lead troops against the capital when John, in his fifty-eighth year, was removed by a greater power (31st October 1448) from the scene of his troubles.
No one even now suspected that the next Emperor would be the last—that in five years the crescent would glitter over the imperial palaces—and the struggle for the throne broke out afresh. Demetrius alone was in the city when John died, and he noisily renewed his claim to the purple, but his character was too well known for him to find serious adherents163. His mother united with the citizens in preventing him from succeeding, and they333 sent legates to ask the Sultan to allow Constantine, the ablest of the brothers, to be crowned. He had lately been opposed to the Sultan, but permission was given, and to his “despotate” at Sparta the legates were sent with the imperial ensigns. Constantinople did not even enjoy a last coronation, as the new Emperor was crowned at Sparta (6th January 1449) and would not have the ceremony repeated. He favoured the union of the Churches. He reached Constantinople in March, and the royal brothers gathered in the presence of Hypomene and such nobles as Constantinople could still boast to swear resonant164 oaths of peace and loyalty165.
Constantine had been twice married and widowed when, in his early forties, he ascended166 the throne. His first wife, Theodora, daughter of the Count of Tocco, had died in 1429; his second wife, Catharine, daughter of Notaras Paleologus, had died in 1443, two years after her marriage. There were no children of either marriage, and Constantine made it one of his first duties to provide a third wife and an heir to the throne. The historian Phrantzes was entrusted with this delicate mission, and he set out from Constantinople with an escort which, it was thought, would impress the King of Iberia and the Emperor of Trebizond, to whom he was sent. It was, as he describes it, a weird167 mixture of monks168, musicians and medical men; their baggage consisted mainly of musical instruments, instead of the superb robes and plate that an earlier escort might have taken, and Phrantzes says that they did impress and astonish the foreign Courts. But they were unfortunately wrecked169 on the way to Iberia, a country between the Black Sea and the Caspian, and seem to have been detained for nearly two years by lack of funds; and they then discovered that the King of Iberia expected a gift for his daughter, instead of presenting one with her, and returned unsuccessful to Constantinople.
In the meantime—apparently on 23rd March 1450—Hypomene had brought to a close her long and troubled334 life. With her death the series of Empresses of Constantinople comes to an end, but their story cannot be intelligibly170 concluded without a glance at the great catastrophe171 which, three years later, swept away the tottering thrones and made an end of Christian Byzantium.
The Sultan Murad II., who had so long looked with indulgent eye on the remnant of the Byzantine Empire, died in 1451. His son and successor, Mohammed II., was a young man of twenty-one years: a very able, highly cultivated and extremely ambitious young prince. To him the existence of this Christian island, the city of Constantinople, in the ocean of Mohammedan conquest was an intolerable anomaly. The Turks had long since carried the crescent over what we now call Turkey in Europe, and it was only by sea that Constantinople could communicate directly with the other Christian powers. To put an end to this Christian avenue into the heart of his dominion and make the great city the capital of the Mohammedan world was the early ambition of Mohammed II. Probably every sultan for a hundred years or more had desired this, but their siege machinery172 had hitherto proved incapable173 of shattering the stout94 old walls of that city.
Constantine XI. underrated the young Sultan, and very soon gave him a pretext174 for an attack. Mohammed had signed a truce175 with the Hungarians, and gone to settle certain disturbances176 in his Asiatic dominions177, when he received a most insolent178 and offensive message from Constantinople. He must at once increase the pension of Prince Orkhan (the nephew of Suleiman, then living in retirement179 at Constantinople), or else the Greeks will consider Orkhan’s claim to the Turkish throne. It was the last blunder of the Paleologi. Mohammed courteously180 heard and dismissed the legates, and proceeded to pacify181 his Asiatic province. Constantine had grossly failed to appreciate the young Sultan’s character. After his coronation at Adrianople his Christian vassals—the Emperors of Trebizond and Constantinople, the Duke of335 Athens, etc.—had hastened to do homage, and had seen only an accomplished182, amiable183 and, in private life, vicious young man, from whom they had little to fear.
Shortly afterwards the Court at Constantinople was alarmed to hear that a large army of Turkish workmen had arrived at a spot on the Asiatic coast only five miles from the city, and were, with great rapidity, building a powerful fort which would command the entrance to the Black Sea. Constantine sent a protest; Mohammed disdainfully replied that he would do as he liked in his own dominions. In time the Turkish soldiers of the district fell to quarrels with Constantine’s subjects, and the Emperor, ordering the gates of the city to be closed, demanded some recompense. Mohammed at once declared war, and went to Adrianople to concentrate his forces and gather a more powerful armament than his predecessors184 had used. The value of powder was now realized, and, although they were crude objects of only moderate effectiveness, immense cannons, which could throw stone balls weighing more than a hundred pounds, were associated with the old rams and slings and towers.
Constantine quickly realized the gravity of his position, and made every effort to patch the fortifications, enlist97 troops and provision the town. An urgent appeal was sent to Italy, and hundreds of volunteers and adventurers were attracted; though the Pope was still mainly concerned about the recognition of his supremacy185, and sent a cardinal186 who distracted the doomed city with fierce religious controversy187. When the hour came, Constantine found that barely six thousand Greeks could be induced to enlist in the last defence of their city, and these, with other two or three thousand Italians, had to hold fifteen miles of wall, with many gates, against seventy thousand Turks and three hundred vessels188.
On 12th December 1452 the church of St Sophia rang with its last great Christian celebration, the solemn union of the Latin and Greek Churches, the price of that secular189 aid which was destined190 never to arrive. Four months336 later the vanguard of the Turks was descried191 from the walls, and day by day the endless regiments192 and engines of attack and the monstrous193 cannons came from the line of the horizon and took up their stations. For a time the spirits of the besieged194 were maintained by those little successes which so often precede a great catastrophe. Four large Italian ships had fought their way through the Turkish fleet and brought provisions: Mohammed’s biggest gun had burst: a general attack of the enemy had been repulsed. But the incessant195 rain of projectiles196 made at last a ghastly breach197 in the stout wall, and on 29th May, before dawn, the dreaded Janissaries flung themselves at the defenders198. The last of the Paleologi died like a man. Later in the day the victorious199 Turks swept over his body and the bodies of some thousands of his people, and the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire was swallowed up in the Mohammedan tide. And the relics of its culture passed westward200 and, meeting and blending with the humanism of the later Middle Ages, begot201 the new man and new woman of the Renaissance202, the heralds203 of modern times.
The End
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1
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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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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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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11
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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eccentricities
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| n.古怪行为( eccentricity的名词复数 )；反常；怪癖 | |
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impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scantiness
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| n.缺乏 | |
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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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18
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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ineptitude
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| n.不适当；愚笨，愚昧的言行 | |
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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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defraud
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| vt.欺骗，欺诈 | |
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negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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debtor
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| n.借方，债务人 | |
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treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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chalices
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| n.高脚酒杯( chalice的名词复数 )；圣餐杯；金杯毒酒；看似诱人实则令人讨厌的事物 | |
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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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zealously
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| adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地 | |
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29
piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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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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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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32
evaded
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| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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33
vassal
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| n.附庸的；属下；adj.奴仆的 | |
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homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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38
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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40
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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41
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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42
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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43
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
squint
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| v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的 | |
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45
extravagantly
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| adv.挥霍无度地 | |
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46
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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47
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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48
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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49
suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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50
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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51
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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52
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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53
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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55
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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56
tenure
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| n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期 | |
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57
repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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58
imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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59
genially
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| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
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60
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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61
coppers
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| 铜( copper的名词复数 )； 铜币 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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63
prematurely
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| adv.过早地，贸然地 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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65
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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66
sensuous
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| adj.激发美感的；感官的，感觉上的 | |
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67
libertine
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| n.淫荡者；adj.放荡的，自由思想的 | |
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68
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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69
debauch
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| v.使堕落，放纵 | |
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70
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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71
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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72
monarchs
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| 君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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73
rubies
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| 红宝石( ruby的名词复数 )； 红宝石色，深红色 | |
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74
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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75
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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77
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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78
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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pictorial
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| adj.绘画的；图片的；n．画报 | |
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81
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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82
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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83
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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84
slings
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| 抛( sling的第三人称单数 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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85
implement
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| n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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87
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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88
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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appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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acclaim
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| v.向…欢呼，公认；n.欢呼，喝彩，称赞 | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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enlisting
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| v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的现在分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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enlist
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| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
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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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99
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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100
vassalage
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| n.家臣身份，隶属 | |
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101
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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102
eligible
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| adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
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103
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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105
aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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106
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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107
taint
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| n.污点；感染；腐坏；v.使感染；污染 | |
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108
lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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109
incited
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| 刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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110
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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111
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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112
indignity
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| n.侮辱，伤害尊严，轻蔑 | |
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113
vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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114
moored
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| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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115
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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116
quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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117
buckling
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| 扣住 | |
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118
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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119
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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120
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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121
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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122
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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123
scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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124
abjectly
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| 凄惨地； 绝望地； 糟透地； 悲惨地 | |
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125
batter
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| v.接连重击；磨损；n.牛奶面糊；击球员 | |
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126
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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127
cannons
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| n.加农炮，大炮，火炮( cannon的名词复数 ) | |
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128
diffusion
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| n.流布；普及；散漫 | |
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129
subsidy
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| n.补助金，津贴 | |
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130
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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131
extorted
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| v.敲诈( extort的过去式和过去分词 )；曲解 | |
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132
metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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133
pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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134
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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135
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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136
ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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137
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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138
scourged
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| 鞭打( scourge的过去式和过去分词 )； 惩罚，压迫 | |
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139
credentials
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| n.证明，资格，证明书，证件 | |
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140
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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141
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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142
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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143
rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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144
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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145
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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146
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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147
domed
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| adj. 圆屋顶的, 半球形的, 拱曲的 动词dome的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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148
suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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149
plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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150
mediocre
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| adj.平常的，普通的 | |
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151
incompetent
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| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
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152
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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153
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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154
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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155
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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156
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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157
treacherously
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| 背信弃义地； 背叛地； 靠不住地； 危险地 | |
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158
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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159
curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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160
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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161
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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162
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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163
adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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164
resonant
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| adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的 | |
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165
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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166
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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167
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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168
monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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169
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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170
intelligibly
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| adv.可理解地，明了地，清晰地 | |
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171
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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172
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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173
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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174
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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175
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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176
disturbances
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| n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍 | |
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177
dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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178
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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179
retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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180
courteously
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| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
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181
pacify
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| vt.使(某人)平静(或息怒)；抚慰 | |
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182
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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183
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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184
predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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185
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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186
cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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187
controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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188
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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189
secular
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| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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190
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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191
descried
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| adj.被注意到的，被发现的，被看到的 | |
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192
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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193
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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194
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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195
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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196
projectiles
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| n.抛射体( projectile的名词复数 )；（炮弹、子弹等）射弹，（火箭等）自动推进的武器 | |
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197
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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198
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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199
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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200
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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201
begot
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| v.为…之生父( beget的过去式 )；产生，引起 | |
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202
renaissance
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| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
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203
heralds
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| n.使者( herald的名词复数 )；预报者；预兆；传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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