 chapter 61 part 2 of the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire volume 6 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Andrew Coleman the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire volume 6 by Edward Gibbon chapter 61 part 2 proud of his victory and his royal prize the Bulgarian advanced to relieve Adrianople and achieved the destruction of the latins they must inevitably have been destroyed if the Marshall of Romania had not displayed a cool courage and consummate skill uncommon in all ages but most uncommon in those times when war was a passion rather than a science his grief and fears were poured into the firm and faithful bosom of the doge but in the camp he diffused an assurance of safety which could only be realized by the general belief all day he maintained his perilous station between the city and the barbarians Veladuan decamped in silence at the dead of night and his masterly retreat of three days would have deserved the praise of Xenophon and the Ten Thousand in the rear the Marshall supported the weight of the pursuit in the front he moderated the impatience of the fugitives and wherever the comans approached they were repelled by a line of impenetrable spears on the third day the weary troops beheld the sea the solitary town of Redosta and their friends who had landed from the Asiatic shore they embraced they wept but they united their arms and councils and in his brother's absence Count Henry assumed the regency of the empire at once in a state of childhood and caducity if the comans withdrew from the summer heats 7000 latins in the hour of danger deserted Constantinople their brethren and their vows some partial success was overbalanced by the loss of 120 nights in the field of ruseum and of the imperial domain no more was left than the capital with two or three adjacent fortresses on the shores of Europe and Asia the king of Bulgaria was resistless and inexorable and Caleb John respectfully eluded the demands of the pope who conjured his new pros light to restore peace and the emperor to the afflicted latins the deliverance of Baldwin was no longer he said in the power of man that prince had died in prison and the manner of his death is variously related by ignorance and credulity the lovers of a tragic legend will be pleased to hear that the royal captive was tempted by the amorous queen of the Bargarians that his chased refusal exposed him to the falsehood of a woman and the jealousy of a savage that his hands and feet were severed from his body that his bleeding trunk was cast among the carcasses of dogs and horses and that he breathed three days before he was devoured by the birds of prey about 20 years afterwards in a wood of the netherlands a hermit announced himself as the true Baldwin the emperor of Constantinople and lawful sovereign of Flanders he related the wonders of his escape his adventures and his penance among a people prone to believe and to rebel and in the first transport Flanders acknowledged her long lost sovereign a short examination before the french court detected the imposter who was punished with an ignominious death but the Fleming still adhered to the pleasing error and the Countess Jane is accused by the gravest historians of sacrificing to her ambition the life of an unfortunate father in all civilized hostility a treaty is established for the exchange or ransom of prisoners and if their captivity be prolonged their condition is known and they are treated according to their rank with humanity or honor but the savage Bulgarian was a stranger to the laws of war his prisons were involved in darkness and silence and above a year elapsed before the latins could be assured of the death of Baldwin before his brother the regent Henry would consent to assume the title of emperor his moderation was applauded by the Greeks as an act of rare and inimitable virtue their light and perfidious ambition was eager to seize or anticipate the moment of a vacancy while a law of succession the guardian both of the prince and people was gradually defined and confirmed in the hereditary monarchies of Europe in the support of the eastern empire Henry was gradually left without an associate as the heroes of the crusade retired from the world or from the war the doge of Venice the venerable dandolo in the fullness of years and glory sunk into the grave the marquis of Montferrat was slowly recalled from the Peloponnesian war to the revenge of Baldwin and the defense of Thessalonica some nice disputes of feudal homage and service were reconciled in a personal interview between the emperor and the king they were firmly united by mutual esteem and the common danger and their reliance was sealed by the nuptials of Henry with the daughter of the Italian prince he soon deplored the loss of his friend and father at the persuasion of some faithful Greeks Boniface made a bold and successful inroad among the hills of Rodope the Bulgarians fled on his approach they assembled to harass his retreat on the intelligence that his rear was attacked without waiting for any defensive armor he leaped on horseback couched his lance and drove the enemies before him but in the rash pursuit he was pierced with a mortal wound and the head of the king of Thessalonica was presented to Calo John who enjoyed the honors without the merit of victory it is here at this melancholy event that the pen or the voice of Jeffrey of Viladuan seems to drop or to expire and if he still exercised his military office of martial of Romania his subsequent exploits are buried in oblivion the character of Henry was not unequal to his audio situation in the siege of Constantinople and beyond the helispot he had deserved the fame of a valiant knight and a skillful commander and his courage was tempered with a degree of prudence and maleness unknown to his impetuous brother in the double war against the Greeks of Asia and the Bulgarians of Europe he was ever the foremost on shipboard or on horseback and though he cautiously provided for the success of his arms the grouping latins were often roused by his example to save and to second their fearless emperor but such efforts and some supplies of men and money from France were of lesser veil than the errors the cruelty and death of their most formidable adversary when the despair of the Greek subjects invited Calo John as their deliverer they hoped that he would protect their liberty and adopt their laws they were soon taught to compare the degrees of national ferocity and to execute the savage conqueror who no longer dissembled his intention of dispeepling Thrace of demolishing the cities and of transplanting the inhabitants beyond the Danube many towns and villages of Thrace were already evacuated a heap of ruins marked the place of Philippopolis and a similar calamity was expected at Amortica and Adrianople by the first authors of the revolt they raised a cry of grief and repentance to the throne of Henry the emperor alone had the magnanimity to forgive and trust them no more than 400 nights with their sergeants and archers could be assembled under his banner and with this slender force he fought and repulsed the Bulgarian who besides his infantry was at the head of 40 000 horse in this expedition Henry felt the difference between a hostile and a friendly country the remaining cities were preserved by his arms and the savage with shame and loss was compelled to relinquish his prey the siege of Thessalonica was the last of the evils which Calodron inflicted or suffered he was stabbed in the night in his tent and the general perhaps the assassin who found him well-drinking his blood ascribed the blow with general applause to the lance of Saint Demetrius after several victories the prudence of Henry concluded an honourable peace with the successor of the tyrant and with the Greek princes of Nice and Epirus if he ceded some doubtful limits an ample kingdom was reserved for himself and his futur trees and his reign which lasted only 10 years afforded a short interval of prosperity and peace far above the narrow policy of Baldwin and Boniface he freely entrusted to the Greeks the most important offices of the state and army and this liberality of sentiment and practice was the more seasonable as the princes of Nice and Epirus had already learned to seduce and employ the mercenary valor of the latins it was the aim of Henry to unite and reward his deserving subjects of every nation and language but he appeared less solicitous to accomplish the impracticable union of the two churches Pelagius the pope's legate who acted as the sovereign of Constantinople had interdicted the worship of the Greeks and sternly imposed the payment of tithes the double procession of the holy ghost and a blind obedience to the roman pontiff as the weaker party they pleaded the duties of conscience and implored the rites of toleration our bodies they said our seizes but our souls belong only to god the persecution was checked by the firmness of the emperor and if we can believe that the same prince was poisoned by the Greeks themselves we must entertain a contemptible idea of the sense and gratitude of mankind his valor was a vulgar attribute which he shared with 10 000 knights but Henry possessed the superior courage to oppose in a superstitious age the pride and avarice of the clergy in the cathedral of Saint Sophia he presumed to place his throne on the right hand of the patriarch and this presumption excited the sharpest censure of pope innocent the third by a salutary edict one of the first examples of the laws of mortemain he prohibited the alienation of thieves many of the latins desirous of returning to europe resigned their estates to the church for a spiritual or temporal reward these holy lands were immediately discharged from military service and a colony of soldiers would have been gradually transformed into a college of priests the virtuous Henry died at Thessalonica in the defense of that kingdom and of an infant the son of his friend Boniface in the two first emperors of Constantinople the male line of the council flanders was extinct but their sister Yelandi was the wife of a French prince the mother of a numerous progeny and one of her daughters had married Andrew king of Hungary a brave and pious champion of the cross by seating him on the Byzantine throne the barons of Romania would have acquired the forces of a neighboring and warlike kingdom but the prudent Andrew revealed the laws of succession and the princess Yelandi with her husband Peter of Courtney counter Voxer was invited by the latins to assume the empire of the east the royal birth of his father the noble origin of his mother recommended to the barons of France the first cousin of their king his reputation was fair his possessions were ample and in the bloody crusade against the albitra the soldiers and priests had been abundantly satisfied of his zeal and valor vanity might applaud the elevation of a French emperor of Constantinople but prudence must pity rather than envy his treacherous and imaginary greatness to assert and adorn his title he was reduced to sell or mortgage the best of his patrimony by these expedients the liberality of his royal kinsman Philip Augustus and the national spirit of chivalry he was enabled to pass the Alps at the head of 140 knights and 5500 sergeants and archers after some hesitation Poponorius III was persuaded to crown the successor of Constantine but he performed the ceremony in a church without the walls lest he should seem to imply or to bestow any right of sovereignty over the ancient capital of the empire the Venetians had engaged to transport Peter and his forces beyond the Adriatic and the empress with her four children to the Byzantine palace but they required as the price of their service that he should recover Doratso from the despot of her peers Michael Angelus or Comnenus the first of his dynasty had bequeathed the succession of his power and ambition to Theodore his legitimate brother who already threatened and invaded the establishments of the latins after discharging his debt by a fruitless assault the emperor raised the siege to prosecute a long and perilous journey over land from Doratso to Thessalonica he was soon lost in the mountains of herpirus the passes were fortified his provisions exhausted he was delayed and deceived by a treacherous negotiation and after Peter of Courtney and the Roman legate had been arrested in a banquet the French troops without leaders or hopes were eager to exchange their arms for the delusive promise of mercy and bread the Vatican thundered and the impious Theodore was threatened with the vengeance of earth and heaven but the captive emperor and his soldiers were forgotten and the reproaches of the pope are confined to the imprisonment of his legate no sooner was he satisfied by the deliverance of the priest and a promise of spiritual obedience than he pardoned and protected the despot of herpirus his peremptory commands suspended the ardour of the Venetians and the king of Hungary and it was only by a natural or untimely death that Peter of Courtney was released from his hopeless captivity the long ignorance of his fate and the presence of the lawful sovereign of Yelandi his wife or widow delayed the proclamation of a new emperor before her death and in the midst of her grief she was delivered of a son who was named Baldwin the last and most unfortunate of the latin princes of Constantinople his birth endeared him to the barons of Romania but his childhood would have prolonged the troubles of a minority and his claims were superseded by the elder claims of his brethren the first of these Philip of Courtney who derived from his mother the inheritance of Namur had the wisdom to prefer the substance of a marquisate to the shadow of an empire and on his refusal Robert the Robert the second of the sons of Peter and Yelandi was called to the throne of Constantinople warned by his father's mischance he pursued his slow and secure journey through Germany and along the Danube a passage was opened by his sister's marriage with the king of Hungary and the emperor Robert was crowned by the patriarch in the cathedral of Saint Sophia but his reign was an era of calamity and disgrace and the colony as it was styled of new fronts yielded on all sides to the Greeks of Nice and Appyrus after a victory which he owed to his perfidy rather than his courage Theodore Angeles entered the kingdom of Thessalonica expelled the feeble Demetrius the son of the marquis Boniface erected his standard on the walls of Adrianople and added by his vanity a third or a fourth name to the list of rival emperors the relics of the Asiatic province was swept away by John Vatican's the son-in-law and successor of Theodore Lascaris and who in a triumphant reign of 33 years displayed the virtues both of peace and war under his discipline the swords of the French mercenaries were the most effectual instrument of his conquests and their desertion from the surface of their country was at once a symptom at a cause of the rising ascendant of the Greeks by the construction of a fleet he obtained the command of the helispont reduced the islands of Lesbos and Rhodes attacked the Venetians of Candia and intercepted the rare and parsimonious suckers of the west once and once only the latin emperor sent an army against Vatican's and in the defeat of that army the veteran knights the last of the original conquers were left on the field of battle but the success of a foreign enemy was less painful than the insolence of his latin subjects who confounded the weakness of the emperor and of the empire his personal misfortunes will prove the anarchy of the government and the ferociousness of the times the amorous youth had neglected his greek bride the daughter of Vatican's to introduce into the palace a beautiful maid of a private though noble family of atoirs and her mother had been tempted by the luster of the purple to forfeit her engagements with the gentleman of burgundy his love was converted into rage he assembled his friends forced the palace gates through the mother into the sea and inhumanely cut off the nose and lips of the wife or concubine of the emperor instead of punishing the offender the barons avowed and applauded the savage deed which as a prince and as a man it was impossible that Robert should forgive he escaped from the guilty city to implore the justice or compassion of the pope the emperor was coolly exhorted to return to his station before he could obey he sunk under the weight of grief shame and impotent resentment it was only in the age of chivalry that valor could ascend from a private station to the thrones of Jerusalem and Constantinople the titular kingdom of Jerusalem had evolved to Mary the daughter of Isabella and Conrad of Montratt and the granddaughter of Elmeric or Ormory she was given to John of Brienne of a noble family in champagne by the public voice and the judgment of Philip Augustus who named him as the most worthy champion of the holy land in the fifth crusade he led a hundred thousand latins to the conquest of Egypt by him the siege of Damietta was achieved and the subsequent failure was justly ascribed to the pride and avarice of the legate after the marriage of his daughter with Frederick the second he was provoked by the emperor's ingratitude to accept the command of the army of the church and though advanced in life and despoiled of royalty the sword and spirit of John of Brienne were still ready for the service of Christendom in the seven years of his brother's reign Baldwin of Courtney had not emerged from a state of childhood and the barons of Romania felt the strong necessity of placing the scepter in the hands of a man and a hero the veteran king of Jerusalem might have disdained the name and office of regent they agreed to invest him for his life with the title and prerogatives of emperor on the sole condition that Baldwin should marry his second daughter and succeed at a mature age to the throne of Constantinople the expectation both of the Greeks and latins was kindled by the renown the choice and the presence of John of Brienne and they admired his martial aspect his green and vigorous age of more than four score years and his size and stature which surpassed the common measure of mankind but avarice and the love of ease appear to have chilled the ardour of enterprise his troops were disbanded and two years rolled away without action or honor till he was awakened by the dangerous alliance of Vatican's emperor of Nice and of Azan king of Bulgaria they besieged Constantinople by sea and land with an army of 100 000 men and a fleet of 300 ships of war while the entire force of the latin emperor was reduced to 160 knights at a small edition of sergeants and archers i tremble to relate that instead of defending the city the hero made a sally at the head of his cavalry and that of 48 squadrons of the enemy no more than three escaped from the edge of his invincible sword fired by his example the infantry and the citizens boarded the vessels that anchored close to the walls and 25 were dragged in triumph into the harbor of Constantinople at the summons of the emperor the vessels and allies armed in her defense broke through every obstacle that opposed their passage and in the succeeding year obtained a second victory of the same enemies by the rude poets of the age John of Brienne is compared to Hector Rowland and Judas Maccabeus but their credit and his glory received some abatement from the silence of the Greeks the empire was soon deprived of the last of her champions and the dying monarch was ambitious to enter paradise in the habit of a franciscan friar in the double victory of John of Brienne i cannot discover the name or exploits of his pupil Baldwin who had attained the age of military service and who succeeded to the imperial dignity on the decease of his adoptive father the royal youth was employed on a commission more suitable to his temper he was sent to visit the western courts of the pope more especially and of the king of france to excite their pity by the view of his innocence and his dress and to obtain some supplies of men or money for the relief of the sinking empire he twice repeated these mendicant visits in which he seemed to prolong his stay and postpone his return of the five and twenty years of his reign a greater number was spent abroad than at home and in no place did the emperor deem himself less free and secure than in his native country and his capital on some public occasions his vanity might be soothed by the title of augustus and by the honors of the purple and at the general council of leon when Frederick II was excommunicated and deposed his oriental colleague was enthroned on the right hand of the pope but how often was the exile the vagrant the imperial beggar humbled with scorn insulted with pity and degraded in his own eyes and those of the nations in his first visit to england he was stopped at dover by a severe reprimand that he should presume without leave to enter an independent kingdom after some delay Baldwin however was permitted to pursue his journey was entertained with cold civility and thankfully departed with a present of seven hundred marks from the avarice of Rome he could only obtain the proclamation of a crusade and a treasure of indulgences a coin whose currency was depreciated by too frequent and indiscriminate abuse his birth and misfortunes recommended him to the generosity of his cousin Louis the ninth by the marshal zeal of the saint was diverted from Constantinople to Egypt and Palestine and the public and private poverty of Baldwin was alleviated for a moment by the alienation of the marquisate of Namor and the lordship of Courtney the last remains of his inheritance by such shameful or ruinous expedience he wants more return to Romania with an army of 30 000 soldiers whose numbers were doubled in the apprehension of the Greeks his first dispatches to France and england announced his victories and his hopes he had reduced the country around the capital to the distance of three days journey and if he succeeded against an important though nameless city most properly the frontier would be safe and the passage accessible but these expectations if Baldwin was sincere quickly vanished like a dream the troops and treasures of France melted away in his unskillful hands and the throne of the latin emperor was protected by a dishonorable alliance with the Turks and Comans to secure the former he consented to bestow his niece on the unbelieving sultan of Cogni to please the latter he complied with their pagan rights a dog was sacrificed between the two armies and their contracting parties tasted each other's blood as a pledge of their fidelity in the palace or prison of Constantinople the successor of augustus demolished the vacant houses for winter fuel and stripped the lead from the churches for the daily expense of his family some usurious loans were dealt with a scanty hand by the merchants of italy and philip and philip his son and heir was pawned at venice as the security for a debt thirst hunger and nakedness are positive evils but wealth is relative at a prince who would be rich in a private station may be exposed by the increase of his wants to all the anxiety and bitterness of poverty end of chapter 61 part 2 chapter 61 part 3 of the history of the decline and fall of the roman empire volume 6 this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by andrew colman the history of the decline and fall of the roman empire volume 6 by edward gibbon chapter 61 part 3 but in this abject distress the emperor and empire were still possessed of an ideal treasure which drew its fantastic value from the superstition of the christian world the merit of the true cross was somewhat impaired by its frequent division and a long captivity among the infidels might shed some suspicion on the fragments that were produced in the east and west but another relic of the passion was preserved in the imperial chapel of constant noble and the crown of thorns which have been placed on the head of christ was equally precious and authentic it had formally been the practice of the egyptian debtors to deposit as a security the mummies of their parents at both their honor and religion were bound for the redemption of the pledge in the same manner and in the absence of the emperor the barons of romania borrowed the sum of 13 134 pieces of gold on the credit of the holy crown they failed in the performance of their contract at rich venetian nicholas querini undertook to satisfy their impatient creditors on condition that the relic should be lodged at venice to become his absolute property if it were not redeemed within a short and definite term the barons apprised their sovereign of the hard treaty and impending loss and as the empire could not afford a ransom of seven thousand pounds sterling Baldwin was anxious to snatch the prize from the venetians and vest it with more honor and emolument in the hands of the most christian king yet the negotiation was attended with some delicacy in the purchase of relics the saint would have started at the guilt of simony but if the mode of expression were changed he might lawfully repay the debt except the gift and acknowledge the obligation his ambassadors to dominicans were dispatched to venice to redeem and receive the holy crown which had escaped the dangers of the sea and the galleys of vaticies on opening a wooden box they recognized the seals of the doge and barons which were applied on a shrine of silver and within this shrine the monument of the passion was enclosed in a golden vase the reluctant venetians yielded to justice and power the emperor frederick granted a free and honorable passage the court of france advanced as far as troys and champagne to meet with devotion this inescapable relic it was born in triumph through paris by the king himself barefoot and in his shirt and a free gift of ten thousand marks of silver reconciled Baldwin to his loss the success of this transaction tempted the latin emperor to offer with the same generosity the remaining furniture of his chapel a large and authentic portion of the true cross the baby linen of the son of god the lance the sponge and the chain of his passion the rod of moses and part of the skull of saint john the baptist for the reception of the spiritual treasures 20 000 marks were expended by saint louis on a stately foundation the holy chapel of paris on which the muse of wallow has bestowed a comic immortality the truth of such remote and ancient relics which cannot be proved by any human testimony must be admitted by those who believe in the miracles which they have performed about the middle of the last age an inveterate ulcer was touched and cured by a holy prickle of the holy crown the prodigy is attested by the most pious and enlightened christians of france nor will the fact be easily disproved except by those who are armed with the general antidote against religious credulity the latins of constant noble were on all sides encompassed and pressed their sole hope the last delay of their ruin was in the division of their greek and bulgarian enemies and of this hope they were deprived by the superior arms and policy of vaticus emperor of nis from the prepontis to the rocky coast of panfilia asia was peaceful and prosperous under his reign and the events of every campaign extended his influence in europe the strong cities of the hills of macedonia and thrace were rescued from the bulgarians and their kingdom was circumscribed by its present and proper limits along the southern banks of the danube the sole emperor of the romans could no longer brook that a lord of a pieris a comnenian prince of the west should presume to dispute or share the honors of the purple and the humble demetrius changed the color of his buskins and accepted with gratitude the appellation of despot his own subjects were exasperated by his baseness and incapacity they implored the protection of their supreme lord after some resistance the kingdom of thessalonica was united to the emperor of nis and vaticus reigned without a competitor from the turkish borders to the adriatic gulf the princes of europe revered his merit and power and had he subscribed in orthodox creed it should seem that the pope would have abandoned without reluctance the latin throne of constant noble but the death of vaticus the short and busy reign of theodore his son and the helpless infancy of his grandson john suspended the restoration of the greeks in the next chapter i shall explain the domestic revolutions in this place it will be sufficient to observe that the young prince was oppressed by the ambition of his guardian and colleague michael paleologus who displayed the virtues and vices that belong to the founder of a new dynasty the emperor baldwin had flattered himself that he might recover some provinces or cities by an impotent negotiation his ambassadors were dismissed from nis with mockery and contempt at every place which they named paleologus alleged some special reason which rendered it dear and valuable in his eyes in the one he was born in another he had been first promoted to military command and in a third he had enjoyed and hoped long to enjoy the pleasures of the chase and what then do you propose to give us said the astonished deputies nothing replied the greek not a foot of land if you must be desirous of peace let him pay me as an annual tribute the sum which he receives from the trade and customs of constant noble on these terms i may allow him to reign if he refuses it is war i am not ignorant of the art of war and i trust the event of god and my sword an expedition against the despot of apyrus was the first prelude of his arms if a victory was followed by a defeat if the race of the comnene or angeli survived in those mountains his efforts and his reign the captivity of villaduan pinsovacchia deprived the latins of the most active and powerful vassal of their expiring monarchy the republics of venice and genua disputed in the first of their naval wars the command of the sea and the commerce of the east pride and interest attached the venetians to the defense of constant noble the rivals were tempted to promote the designs of their enemies and the alliance of the genuese with the schismatic conqueror provoked the indignation of the latin church intent on his great object the emperor michael visited in person and strengthened the troops and fortifications of thrace the remains of the latins were driven from their last possessions he assaulted without success the suburb of galleta and corresponded with a perfidious baron who proved unwilling or unable to open the gates of the metropolis the next spring his favorite general alexia stratagopolis whom he had decorated with the title of Caesar passed the helispont with 800 horse and some infantry on a secret expedition his instructions enjoyed him to approach to listen to watch but not to risk any doubtful or dangerous enterprise against the city the adjacent territory between the prepontis and the black sea was cultivated by hardy races of peasants and outlaws exercised in arms uncertain in their religions but inclined by language religion and present advantage to the party of the greeks they were styled the volunteers and by their free service the army of alexias with the regulars of thrace and the common auxiliaries was augmented to the number of five and 20 000 men by the ardour of the volunteers and by his own ambition the caesar was stimulated to disobey the precise orders of his master in the just confidence that success would plead his pardon and reward the weakness of constant noble and the distress and terror of the latins were familiar to the observation of the volunteers and they represented the present moment as the most propitious to supplies and conquest a rash youth the new governor of the venetian colony had sailed away with 30 galleys and the best of the french knights on a world expedition to defnusia a town on the black sea at the distance of 40 leagues and the remaining latins were without strength or suspicion they were informed that alexias had passed the helispot but their apprehensions were lulled by the smallness of his original numbers and their imprudence had not watched the subsequent increase of his army if he left his main body to second and support his operations he might advance unperceived in the night with the chosen detachment while some applied scaling ladders to the lowest part of the walls they were secure of an old greek who would introduce their companions through a subterranean passage into his house they could soon on the inside break an entrance through the golden gate which had been long obstructed and the conqueror would be in the heart of the city before the latins were conscious of their danger after some debate the caesar resigned himself to the faith of the volunteers they were trusty bold and successful and in describing the plan i have already related the execution and success but no sooner had alexias passed the threshold of the golden gate than he trembled at his own rashness he paused he deliberated till the desperate volunteers urged him forwards by the assurance that in retreat lay the greatest and most inevitable danger whilst the caesar kept his regulars in firm array the comans dispersed themselves on all sides an alarm was sounded and the threats of fire and pillage compelled the citizens to a decisive resolution the greeks of konstantinople remembered their native sovereigns the genuys merchants their recent alliance and venetian foes every quarter was in arms and the air resounded with the general acclamation of long life and victory to michael and john the august emperors of the romans their rival baldwin was awakened by the sound but the most pressing danger could not prompt him to draw his sword in the defense of a city which he deserted perhaps with more pleasure than regret he fled from the palace to the seashore where he described the welcome sales of the fleet returning from the vain and fruitless attempt on defnusia konstantinople was irrecoverably lost but the latin emperor and the principal families embarked on board the venetian galleys and steered for the isle of uboa and afterwards for italy where the royal fugitive was entertained by the popin sicilian king with a mixture of contempt and pity from the loss of konstantinople to his death he consumed 13 years soliciting the catholic powers to join in his restoration the lesson had been familiar to his youth nor was his last exile more indigent or shameful than his three former pilgrimages to the courts of europe his son philip was the heir of an ideal empire and the pretensions of his daughter kathryn were transported by her marriage to charles valois the brother of philip the fair king of france the house of courtney was represented in the female line by successive alliances till the title of emperor of konstantinople to bulky and sonorous for a private name modesty expired in silence and oblivion after this narrative of the expeditions of the latins to palestine and konstantinople i cannot dismiss the subject without revolving the general consequences on the countries that were the scene and on the nations that were the actors of these memorable crusades as soon as the arms of the francs were withdrawn the impression though not the memory was erased in the mohammedan realms of egypt and syria the faithful disciples of the prophet were never tempted by a profane desire to study the laws and languages of the idolaters nor did the simplicity of their primitive manners receive the slightest alteration from their intercourse in peace and war with the unknown strangers of the west the greeks who thought themselves proud but who were only vain showed a disposition somewhat less inflexible in the efforts for the recovery of their empire they emulated the valour discipline and tactics of their antagonists the modern literature of the west they might justly despise but its free spirit would instruct them in the rites of man and some institutions of public and private life were adopted from the french the correspondence of konstantinople and italy diffused the knowledge of the latin tongue and several of the fathers and classics were at length honoured with the greek version but the national and religious prejudices of the orientals were inflamed by persecution and the reign of the latins confirmed the separation of the two churches if we compare the era of the crusades the latins of europe with the greeks and arabians the respective degrees of knowledge industry and art our rude ancestors must be content with the third rank in the scale of nations their successive improvement and present superiority may be ascribed to a peculiar energy of character to an active and imitative spirit unknown to their more polished rivals who at that time were in a stationary or retrograde state with such a disposition the latins should have derived the most early and essential benefits from a series of events which opened their eyes the prospect of the world and introduced them to a long and frequent intercourse with the more cultivated regions of the east the first and most obvious progress was in trade and manufactures in the arts which are strongly prompted by the thirst of wealth the cause of necessity and the gratification of the sense or vanity among the crowd of unthinking fanatics a captive or a pilgrim might sometimes observe the superior refinements of kyro and constant noble the first importer of windmills was the benefactor of nations and if such blessings are enjoyed without any grateful remembrance history has condescended to notice the more apparent luxuries of silk and sugar which were transported into italy from greece and egypt but the intellectual wants of the latins were more slowly felt and supplied the ardor of studious curiosity was awakened in europe by different causes and more recent events and in the age of the crusaders they viewed with careless indifference the literature of the greeks and arabians some rudiments of mathematical and medicinal knowledge might be imparted in practice and in figures necessity might produce some interpreters for the groups of business of merchants and soldiers but the commerce of the orientals had not diffused the study and knowledge of their languages in the schools of europe if a similar principle of religion repulsed the idiom of the karan it should have excited their patience and curiosity to understand the original text of the gospel and the same grammar would have unfolded the sense of plato and the beauties of homa yet in a reign of 60 years the latins of constant noble disdained the speech and learning of their subjects and the and the manuscripts were the only treasures which the natives might enjoy without rapine or envy Aristotle was indeed the oracle of the western universities but it was a barbarous Aristotle and instead of ascending to the fountainhead his latin votaries humbly accepted a corrupt and remote version from the jews and moors of andelusia the principle of the crusades was a savage fanaticism and the most important effects were analogous to the cause each pilgrim was ambitious to return with his sacred spoils the relics of Greece and Palestine and each relic was preceded and followed by a train of miracles and visions the belief of the catholics was corrupted by new legends their practice by new superstitions and the establishment of the inquisition the mendicant orders of monks and friars the last abuse of indulgences and the final progress of idolatry flowed from the baleful fountain of the holy war the active spirit of the latins preyed on the vitals of their reason and religion and if the 9th and 10th centuries were the times of darkness the 13th and 14th were the age of absurdity and fable end of chapter 61 part 3 chapter 61 part 4 of the history of the decline and fall of the roman empire volume six this is a leber vox recording all leber vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit leber vox.org recording by andrew colman the history of the decline and fall of the roman empire volume six chapter 61 partition of the empire by the prince and venetians part four in the profession of christianity in the cultivation of a fertile land the northern conquerors of the roman empire insensibly mingled with the provincials and rekindled the embers of the arts of antiquity their settlements about the age of charlemagne had acquired some degree of order and stability when they were overwhelmed by new swarms of invaders the normans saracens and hungarians who replunged the western countries of europe into their former state of anarchy and barbarism about the 11th century the second tempest had subsided by the expulsion or conversion of the enemies of christendom the tide of civilization which had so long ebbed began to flow with a steady and accelerated course and a fairer prospect was opened to the hopes and efforts of the rising generations greed was the increase and rapid the progress during the 200 years of the crusades and some philosophers have applauded the propitious influence of these holy wars which appear to me to have checked rather than forwarded the maturity of europe the lives and labors of millions which were buried in the east would have been more profitably employed in the improvement of their native country the accumulated stock of industry and wealth would have overflowed in navigation and trade and the latins would have been enriched and enlightened by a pure and friendly correspondence with the climates of the east in one respect i can indeed perceive the accidental operation of the crusades not so much in producing a benefit as in removing an evil the larger portion of the inhabitants of europe was chained to the soil without freedom or property or knowledge and the two orders of ecclesiastics and nobles whose numbers were comparatively small alone deserved the name of citizens and men this oppressive system was supported by the arts of the clergy and the swords of the barons the authority of the priests operated in the darker ages as a sanitary antidote they prevented the total extinction of letters mitigated the fierceness of the times sheltered the poor and defenseless and preserved or revived the peace and order of civil society but the independence, repine and discord of the feudal lords were unmixed with any semblance of good and every hope of industry and improvement was crushed by the iron weight of the martial aristocracy among the causes that undermined that gothic edifice a conspicuous place must be allowed to the crusades the estates of the barons were dissipated and their race was often extinguished in these costly and perilous expeditions their poverty extorted from their pride those charters of freedom which unlocked the fetters of the slave secured the farm of the peasant and the shop of the artificer and gradually restored a substance and a soul to the most numerous and useful part of the community the conflagration which destroyed the tall and barren trees of the forest gave air and scope to the vegetation of the smaller and nutritive plants of the soil digression on the family of Courtney the purple of three emperors who have reigned at Constantinople will authorize or excuse a digression on the origin and singular fortunes of the house of Courtney in the three principal branches one of Edessa two of France and three of England of which the last only has survived the revolutions of 800 years one before the introduction of trade which scatters riches and of knowledge which dispels prejudice the prerogative of birth is most strongly felt and most humbly acknowledged in every age the laws and manners of the Germans have discriminated the ranks of society the dukes and counts who shared the empire of Charlemagne converted their office to an inheritance and to his children each feudal lord bequeathed his honor and his sword the proudest families are content to lose in the darkness of the middle ages the tree of their pedigree which however deep and lofty must ultimately rise from a plebeian root and their historians must descend 10 centuries below the christian era before they can ascertain any linear succession by the evidence of surnames of arms and of authentic records with the first rays of light we discern the nobility and opulence of Athau a french knight his nobility in the rank and title of a nameless father his opulence in the foundation of the castle of Courtney in the district of Gatineau about 56 miles to the south of Paris from the reign of Robert the son of Hugh Capet the barons of Courtney are conspicuous among the immediate vessels of the crown and Jocelyn the grandson of Athau and a noble dame is enrolled among the heroes of the first crusade a domestic alliance their mothers were sisters attached him to the standard of Baldwin of Bruges the second count of Edessa a princely fife which he was worthy to receive and able to maintain announces the number of his martial followers and after the departure of his cousin Jocelyn himself was invested with the county of Edessa on both sides of the Euphrates by economy in peace his territories were replenished with latin and syrian subjects his magazines with corn wine and oil his castles with gold and silver with arms and horses in a holy warfare of 30 years he was alternately a conqueror and a captive but he died like a soldier in a horse litter at the head of his troops at his last glance beheld the flight of the turkish invaders who had presumed on his age and infirmities his son and successor of the same name was less deficient in valor than in vigilance but he sometimes forgot that dominion is acquired and maintained by the same arms he challenged the hostility of the turks without securing the friendship of the prince of Antioch and amidst the peaceful luxury of turbosal in syria Jocelyn neglected the defense of the christian frontier beyond the Euphrates in his absence Zengi the first of the Atabex besieged and stormed his capital Edessa which was feebly defended by a timorous and disloyal crowd of orientals the francs were oppressed in a bold attempt for its recovery and Courtney entered his days in the prison of Aleppo he still left a fair and ample patrimony but the victorious turks oppressed on all sides the weakness of a widow and orphan and for the equivalent of an annual pension they resigned to the greek emperor the charge of defending and the shame of losing the last relics of the latin conquest the countess dowager of Edessa retired to Jerusalem with her two children the daughter Agnes became the wife and mother of a king the son Jocelyn the third accepted the office of Seneschal the first of the kingdom and held his new estates in Palestine by the surface of 50 knights his name appears with honor in the transactions of peace and war but he finally vanishes in the fall of Jerusalem and the name of Courtney in this branch of Edessa was lost by the marriage of his two daughters with a french and german baron two while Jocelyn reigned beyond the Euphrates his elder brother Milo the son of Jocelyn the son of Athos continued near the Sain to possess the castle of their fathers which was at length inherited by reynald or reginald the youngest of his three sons examples of genius of virtue must be rare in the annals of the oldest families and in a remote age their pride will embrace a deed of rapine and violence such however as could not be perpetrated without some superiority of courage or at least of power a descendant of reginald of Courtney may blush for the public robber who stripped and imprisoned several merchants after they had satisfied the king's duties at sends and or leons he will glory in the offense since the bold offender could not be compelled to obedience and restitution till the regent and the count of champagne prepared to march against him at the head of an army reginald bestowed his estates on his eldest daughter and his daughter on the seventh son of king louis the fact and their marriage was crowned with a numerous offspring we might expect that a private should have merged in a royal name and that the descendants of peter of france and elizabeth of Courtney would have enjoyed the titles and honors of princes of the blood but this legitimate claim was long neglected and finally denied and the causes of their disgrace will represent the story of this second branch one of all the families now extant the most ancient daftless and the most illustrious is the house of france which has occupied the same throne above 800 years and descends in a clear and linear series of males from the middle of the ninth century in the age of the crusades it was already revered both in the east and west but from Hugh cappett to the marriage of peter no more than five reins or generations had elapsed and so precarious was their title that the eldest sons as a necessary precaution were previously crowned during the lifetime of their fathers the peers of france have long maintained their presidency before the younger branches of the royal line nor had the princes of the blood in the 12th century acquired that hereditary luster which is now diffused over the most remote candidates for the succession two the barons of Courtney must have stood high in their own estimation and in that of the world since they could impose on the son of a king the obligation of adopting for himself and all his descendants the name and arms of their daughter and his wife in the marriage of an heiress with her inferior or her equal such exchange often required and allowed but as they continued to diverge from the regal stem the sons of louis the fat were insensibly confounded with their maternal ancestors and the new courtes might deserve to forfeit the honors of their birth which a motive of interest had tempted them to renounce three the shame was far more permanent than the reward at a momentary blaze was followed by a long darkness the eldest son of these nuptials peter of Courtney had married as i have already mentioned the sister of the counts of flanders the two first emperors of constant noble he rashly accepted the invitation of the barons of romania his two sons robert and baldwin successfully held and lost the remains of the latin empire in the east and the granddaughter of baldwin the second again mingled her blood with the blood of france and of valois to support the expenses of a troubled and transitory reign their patrimonial estates were mortgaged or sold and the last emperors of constant noble depended on the annual charity of roam and naples while the elder brothers dissipated their wealth in romantic adventures and the castle of Courtney was profaned by a plebeian owner the younger branches of that adopted name were propagated and multiplied but their splendor was clouded by poverty and time after the decease of robert great butler of france they descended from princes to barons the next generations were confounded with a simple gentry the descendants of Hugh Capet could no longer be visible in the rural lords of tanlay and of champanelle the more adventurous embraced without dishonour the profession of a soldier the least active and opulent might sink like their cousins of the branch of drur into the condition of peasants their royal descent in a dark period of 400 years became each day more obsolete and ambiguous and their pedigree instead of being enrolled in the annals of the kingdom must be painfully searched by the minute diligence of heralds and genealogists it was not till the end of the 16th century on the accession of a family almost as remote as their own that the princely spirit of the courtneys again revived and the question of the nobility provoked them to ascertain the royalty of their blood they appealed to the justice and compassion of henry the fourth obtained a favorable opinion from 20 lawyers of italy and germany and modestly compared themselves to the descendants of king david whose prerogatives were not impaired by the lapse of ages or the trade of a carpenter but every year was deaf and every circumstance was adverse to their lawful claims the bourbon kings were justified by the neglect of the valoir the princes of the blood more recent and lofty disdained the alliance of his humble kindred the parliament without denying their proofs eluded a dangerous precedent by an arbitrary distinction and established saint louis as the first father of the royal line a repetition of complaints and protests was repeatedly disregarded and the hopeless pursuit was terminated in the present century by the death of the last male of the family their painful and anxious situation was alleviated by the pride of conscious virtue they sternly rejected the temptations of fortune and favor and a dying courtney would have sacrificed his son if the youth could have renounced for any temporal interest the right and title of a legitimate prince of the blood of france three according to the old register of ford abbey the courtneys of devonshire are descended from prince floris the second son of peter and the grandson of louis the fat this fable of the grateful or venal monks was too respectfully entertained by our antiquaries camden and dugdell but it is so clearly repugnant to truth and time that the rational pride of the family now refuses to accept this imaginary founder the most faithful historians believe that after giving his daughter to the king's son reginald of courtney abandoned his possessions in france and obtained from the english monarch a second wife and a new inheritance it is certain at least that henry the second distinguished in his camps and councils original of the name and arms and as it may be fairly presumed of the genuine race of the courtneys of france the right of wardship enabled a feudal lord to reward his vassal with the marriage and estate of a noble heiress and reginaled of courtney acquired a fair establishment in devonshire where his posterity has been seated above six hundred years from a norman baron baldwin debrionis who had been invested by the conqueror how is the wife of reginald derived the honor of oakhampton which was held by the service of 93 knights and a female might claim the manly offices of hereditary viscount or sheriff and of captain of the royal castle of exter their son robert married the sister of the earl of devon at the end of a century on the failure of the family of rivers his great grandson hugh the second succeeded to a title which was still considered as a territorial dignity and 12 elves of devonshire of the name of courtney have flourished in a period of 220 years they were ranked among the chief of the barons of the realm nor was it till after a strenuous dispute that they yielded to the thief of arendelle the first place in the parliament of england their alliances were contracted with the noblest families the veers dispensers singins torbots bohans and even the plantagenets themselves and in a contest with john of lancaster a courtney bishop of london and afterwards archbishop of canterbury might be accused of profane confidence in the strength and number of his kindred in peace the elves of devon resided in their numerous castles and manners of the west their ample revenue was appropriated to devotion and hospitality and the epitaph of edward surnamed from his misfortune the blind from his virtues the good earl inculcates with much ingenuity a moral sentence which may however be abused by thoughtless generosity after a grateful commemoration of the 55 years of union and happiness which he enjoyed with maib his wife the good earl thus speaks from the tomb what we gave we have what we spent we had what we left we lost but their losses in this sense were far superior to their gifts and expenses and their heirs not less than the poor were the objects of their paternal care the sums which they paid for livery and saisin attest the greatness of their possessions and several estates have remained in their families since the 13th and 14th centuries in war the courtneys of england fulfilled the duties and deserve the honors of chivalry they're often entrusted to levy and command the militia of devonshire and cornwall they often attended their supreme lord to the borders of scotland and in foreign service for a stipulated price they sometimes maintained four score men at arms and as many archers by sea and land they fought under the standard of the edwards and henry's their names are conspicuous in battles in tournaments and in the original list of the order of the garter three brothers shared the spanish victory of the black prince and in the laps of six generations the english courtneys had learned to despise the nation and country from which they derived their origin in the quarrel of the two roses the elves of devon adhered to the house of lancaster and three brothers successively died either in the field or on the scaffold their honors and estates were restored by henry the seventh a daughter of edward the fourth was not disgraced by the nuptials of a courtney their son who was created marquis of exeter enjoyed the favor of his cousin henry the eighth and in the camp of cloth of gold he broke a lance against the french monarch but the favor of henry was the prelude of disgrace his disgrace was the signal of death and of the victims of the jealous tyrant the marquis of exeter is one of the most noble and guiltless his son edward lived a prisoner in the tower and died in exile at padua and the secret love of queen mary whom he slighted perhaps for the princess elizabeth has shared a romantic color on the story of this beautiful youth the relics of his patrimony were conveyed into strange families by the marriages of his four aunts and his personal honors as if they had been legally extinct were revived by the patents of succeeding princes but they're still survived a linear descendant of hue the first earl of devon a younger branch of the courtneys who have been seated at powderham castle above 400 years from the reign of edward the third to the present hour their estates have been increased by the grant and improvement of lands in ireland and they have been recently restored to the honors of the peerage yet the courtneys still retain the plaintive motto which asserts the innocence and applause the fall of their ancient house while they sigh for past greatness they are doubtless sensible of present blessings in the long series of the courtney annals the most splendid era is likewise the most unfortunate nor can an opulent peer of britain be inclined to envy the empires of constantanople who wandered over europe to solicit alms for the support of their dignity and the defense of their capital end of chapter 61 part 4 recording by andrew colman chapter 62 part 1 of the history of the decline involved the roman empire volume six this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox dot org the history of the decline involved the roman empire volume six by edward gibbon chapter 62 greek empires of niece and constantanople part one the greek empires of niece and constantanople elevation and reign of michael paleologus his false union with the pope in the latin church hostile designs of charles of anju revolt of sicily war of the catalans in asia and greece revolutions and present state of athens the loss of constantanople restored a momentary vigor to the greeks from their palaces princes and nobles were driven into the field and the fragments of the falling monarchy were grasped by the hands of the most vigorous or the most skillful candidates in the long and barren pages of the Byzantine annals it would not be an easy task to equal the two characters of theodore lascaris and john duke's fantasies who were planted and upheld the roman standard at niece in bithnia the difference of their virtues was happily situated to the diversity of their situation in his first efforts the fugitive lascaris commanded only three cities and two thousand soldiers his reign was the season of generous and active despair in every military operation he staked his life and crown and his enemies of the helispond and the meander were surprised by his celerity and subdued by his boldness a victorious reign of eighteen years expanded the principality of niece to the magnitude of an empire the throne of his successor and son-in-law vaticis was founded on a more solid basis a larger scope and more plentiful resources and it was the temper as well as the interest of vaticis to calculate the risk to expect the moment and to ensure the success of his ambitious designs in the decline of the latins i have briefly exposed the progress of the greeks the prudent and gradual advances of a conqueror who in a reign of thirty three years rescued the provinces from natural and foreign usurpers till he pressed on all sides the imperial city a leafless and sapless trunk which must full at the first stroke of the axe but his interior and peaceful administration is still more deserving of notice and praise the calamities of the times had wasted the numbers and the substance of the greeks the motives and the means of agriculture were extirpated and the most fertile lands were left without cultivation or inhabitants a portion of this vacant property was occupied and improved by the command and for the benefit of the emperor a powerful hand and a vigilant eye supplied and surpassed by a skillful management the minute diligence of a private farmer the royal domain became the garden and granary of asia and without impoverishing the people the sovereign acquired a fund of innocent and productive wealth according to the nature of the soil his lands were sown with corn or planted with finds the pastures were filled with horses and oxen with sheep and hogs and when vaticis presented to the empress a crown of diamonds and pearls he informed her with a smile that this precious ornament arose from the sale of the eggs of his innumerable poultry the produce of his domain was applied to the maintenance of his palace and hospitals the calls of dignity and benevolence the lesson was still more useful than the revenue the plow was restored to its ancient security and honor and the nobles were taught to seek assure and independent revenue from their estates instead of adorning their splendid beggary by the oppression of the people or what is almost the same by the favors of the court the superfluous stock of corn and cattle was eagerly purchased by the Turks with whom vaticis preserved a strict and sincere alliance but he discouraged the importation of foreign manufacturers the costly silks of the east and the curious labors of the italian looms the demands of nature and necessity was he accustomed to say are indispensable but the influence of fashion may rise and sink at the breath of a monarch and both his precept and example recommended simplicity of manners and the use of domestic industry the education of youth and the revival of learning were the most serious objects in his care and without deciding the presidency he pronounced with truth that a prince and a philosopher are the two most eminent characters of human society his first wife was irini the daughter of theodore lascaras a woman more illustrious by her personal merit the milder virtues of her sex than by the blood of the angeli and the comany that flowed in her veins and transmitted the inheritance of the empire after her death he was contracted to an or constants a natural daughter of the emperor fredrick the second but as the bride had not attained the years of puberty vaticis placed in his solitary bed an italian damsel of her train and his amorous weakness bestowed on the concubine the honors though not the title of a lawful empress his frailty was censured as a flagitous and damnable sin by the monks and their rude invectives exercised and displayed the patience of the royal lover a philosophic age may excuse a single vice which was redeemed by a crowd of virtues and in the review of his faults and in the more intemperate passions of lascaras the judgment of their contemporaries was softened by gratitude to the second founders of the empire the slaves of the latins without law or peace applauded the happiness of their brethren who had resumed their national freedom and vaticis employed the laudable policy of convincing the greeks of every dominion that it was their interest to be enrolled in the number of his subjects a strong shade of degeneracy is visible between john vaticis and his son theodore between the founder who sustained the weight and the heir who enjoyed the splendor of the imperial crown yet the character of theodore was not devoid of energy he had been educated in the school of his father in the exercise of war and hunting constant noble was yet spared but in the three years of a short reign he thrice led his armies into the heart of bulgaria his virtues were sullied by a choleric and suspicious temper the first of these may be ascribed to the ignorance of control and the second might naturally arise from a dark and imperfect view of the corruption of mankind on a march in bulgaria he consulted on a question of policy his principal ministers and the greek yogotheti george acropolita presumed to offend him by the declaration of a free and honest opinion the emperor half unsheathed his cemetery but his more deliberate rage reserved acropolita for a baser punishment one of the first officers of the empire was ordered to dismount stripped of his robes and extended on the ground in the presence of the prince and army in this posture he was chastised with so many and such heavy blows from the clubs of two guards or executioners that when theodore commanded them to cease the great yogotheti was scarcely able to rise and crawl away to his tent after a seclusion of some days he was recalled by a peremptory mandate to his seat in the council and so dead were the greeks to the sense of honor and shame that it is from the narrative of the sufferer himself that we acquire the knowledge of his disgrace the cruelty of the emperor was exasperated by the pangs of sickness the approach of a premature end and the suspicion of poison and magic the lives and fortunes the eyes and limbs of his kinsmen and nobles were sacrificed to each sally of passion and before he died the son of vaticies might deserve from the people or at least from the court the appellation of tyrant a matron of the family of the paleology had provoked his anger by refusing to bestow her beauty as daughter on the vile plebeian who was recommended by his caprice without regard to her birth or age her body as high as the neck was enclosed in a sack with several cats who were pricked with pins to irritate their fury against their unfortunate fellow captive in his last hours the emperor testified a wish to forgive and be forgiven a just anxiety for the fate of john his son and successor who at the age of eight years was condemned to the dangers of a long minority his last choice entrusted the office of guardian to the sanctity of the patriarch arsonius and to the courage of george muzzalan the great domestic who was equally distinguished by the royal favor and the public hatred since their connection with the latins the names and privileges of hereditary rank had insinuated themselves into the greek monarchy and the noble families were provoked by the elevation of a worthless favorite to whose influence they imputed the errors and calamities of the late reign in the first council after the emperor's death mazzalan from alofty throne pronounced a labored apology of his conduct and intentions his modesty was subdued by a unanimous assurance of esteem and fidelity and his most invenerate enemies were the loudest to salute him as the guardian and savior of the romans eight days were sufficient to prepare the execution of the conspiracy on the ninth the absquequities of the deceased monarch were solemnized in the cathedral of magnesia an asiatic city where he expired on the banks of the hermese and at the foot of mount syphilis the holy rites were interrupted by a sedition of the guards muzzalan his brothers and his inherents were massacred at the foot of the altar and the absent patriarch was associated with a new colleague with michael paleologis the most illustrious in birth and merit of the greek nobles of those who are proud of their ancestors the far greater part must be content with local or domestic renown and few there are who dare trust the memorials of their family to the public annals of their country as early as the middle of the eleventh century the noble race of the paleology stands high and conspicuous in the Byzantine history it was the valiant george paleologis who placed the father of the comanie on the throne and his kinsmen or descendants continue in each generation to lead the armies and councils of the state the purple was not dishonored by their alliance and had the law of succession and female succession been strictly observed the wife of theodore lascaras must have yielded to her elder sister the mother of michael paleologis who afterwards raised his family to the throne in his person the splendor of birth was dignified by the merit of the soldier and statesman in his early youth he was promoted to the office of constable or commander of the french mercenaries the private expense of a day never exceeded three pieces of gold but his ambition was rapacious and profuse and his gifts were doubled by the graces of his conversation and manners the love of the soldiers and people excited the jealousy of the court and michael thrice escaped from the dangers in which he was involved by his own imprudence or that of his friends under the reign of justice and vaticies a dispute arose between two officers one of whom accused the other of maintaining the hereditary right of the paleology the cause was decided according to the new jurist prudence of the latins by single combat the defendant was overthrown but he persisted in declaring that himself alone was guilty and that he had uttered these rash or treasonable speeches without the approbation or knowledge of his patron yet a cloud of suspicion hung over the innocence of the constable he was still pursued by the whispers of malevolence and a subtle courtier the archbishop of philadelphia urged him to accept the judgment of god in the fiery proof of the ordeal three days before the trial the patient's arm was enclosed in a bag and secured by the royal signet and it was incumbent on him to bear a red hot ball of iron three times from the altar to the rails of the sanctuary without artifice and without injury paleologists alluded the dangerous experiment with sense and pleasantry i'm a soldier said he and will boldly enter the list with my accusers but a layman a sinner like myself is not endowed with the gift of miracles your piety most holy prelate may deserve the inter possession of heaven and from your hands i will receive the fiery globe the pledge of my innocence the archbishop started the emperor smiled and the absolution or pardon of michael was approved by new rewards and new services in the succeeding reign as he held the government of niece he was secretly informed that the mind of the absent prince was poisoned with jealousy and that death or blindness would be his final reward instead of awaiting the return and sentence of theodore the constable with some followers escaped from the city and the empire and though he was plundered by the turkmans of the desert he found a hospitable refuge in the court of the sultan in the ambiguous state of an exile michael reconciled the duties of gratitude and loyalty drawing his sword against the tartars admonishing the garrisons of the roman limit and promoting by his influence the restoration of peace in which his pardon and recall were honorably included while he guarded the west against the despot of apyrus michael was again suspected and condemned in the palace and such was his loyalty or weakness that he submitted to be led in chains above six hundred miles from dorazo to niece the civility of the messenger alleviated his disgrace the emperor's sickness dispelled his danger and the last breath of theodore which recommended his infant son at once acknowledged the innocence and the power of paleologous but his innocence had been too unworthily treated and his power was too strongly felt to curb an aspiring subject in the fair field that was open to his ambition in the council after the death of theodore he was the first to pronounce and the first to violate the oath of allegiance to mazalan and so dextrous was his conduct that he reaped the benefit without incurring the guilt or at least the reproach of the subsequent massacre in the choice of a regent he balanced the interests and passions of the candidates turned their envy and hatred from himself against each other and forced every competitor to own that after his own claims those of paleologous were best entitled to the preference under the title of great duke he accepted or assumed during a long minority the active powers of government the patriarch was a venerable name and the factious nobles were seduced or oppressed by the ascendancy of his genius the fruits of the economy of vacities were deposited in a strong castle on the banks of the hermos in the custody of the faithful verandians the constable retained his command or influence over the foreign troops he employed the guards to possess the treasure and the treasure to corrupt the guards and whatsoever might be the abuse of the public money his character was above the suspicion of private avarice by himself or by his emissaries he strove to persuade every rank of subjects that their own prosperity would rise in just proportion to the establishment of his authority the weight of taxes was suspended the perpetual theme of popular complaint and he prohibited the trials by the ordeal and judicial combat these barbaric institutions were already abolished or undermined in france and england and the appeal to the sword offended the sense of a civilized and the temper of an unwarlike people for the future maintenance of their wives and children the veterans were grateful the priests and philosophers applauded his ardent zeal for the advancement of religion and learning and his vague promise of rewarding merit was applied by every candidate to his own hopes conscious of the influence of the couragey michael successfully labored to secure the suffrage of that powerful order their expensive journey from niece to magnesia afforded decent and ample pretense the leading prelates were tempted by the liberality of his nocturnal visits and the incorruptible patriarch was flattered by the homage of his new colleague who led his mule by the bridle into town and removed to a respectful distance the importunity of the crowd without renouncing his title by royal dissent paleo the just encouraged a free discussion to the advantages of elective monarchy and his adherents asked with the insolence of triumph what patient would trust his health or what merchant would abandon his vessel to the hereditary skill of a physician or a pilot the youth of the emperor and the impending dangers of a minority required the support of a mature and experienced guardian of an associate raised above the envy of his equals and invested with the name and prerogatives of royalty for the interests of the prince and people without any selfish views for himself or his family the great duke consented to guard and instruct the son of theodore but he sighed for the happy moment when he might restore to his firmer hands the administration of his patrimony and enjoy the blessings of a private station he was first invested with the title and prerogatives of despot which bestowed the purple ornaments and the second place in the roman monarchy it was afterwards agreed that john and michael should be proclaimed as joint emperors and raised on the buckler but that the preeminence should be reserved for the birthright of the former a mutual league of amity was pledged between the royal partners and in case of a rupture the subjects were bound by their oath of allegiance to declare themselves against the aggressor an ambiguous name the seed of discord in civil war paleologous was content but on the day of the coronation and in the cathedral of niece his zealous adherence most vehemently urged the just priority of his age and merit the unseasonable dispute was eluded by postponing to a more convenient opportunity the coronation of john lascaris and he walked with the slight diadem in the trail of his guardian who alone received the imperial crown from the hands of the patriarch it was not without extreme reluctance that arseneus abandoned the cause of his pupil out the verangians brandish their battle axes a sign of ascent was extorted from the trembling youth and some voices were heard that the life of a child should no longer impede the settlement of the nation a full harvest of honors and employment was distributed among his friends by the grateful paleologous in his own family he created a despot and two sebastichrotters alexis stratigopolis was decorated with the title of cedcer and that veteran commander soon repaid the obligation by restoring constantinople to the greek emperor it was in the second year of his reign while he resided in the palace and gardens of nymphaeum near smirna that the first messenger arrived at the dead of night and the stupendous intelligence was imparted to michael after he had been gently waked by the tender precaution of his sister eulogia the man was unknown or obscure he produced no letters from the victorious caesar nor could it easily be credited after the defeat of vocities and the recent failure of paleologous himself that the capital had been surprised by a detachment of eight hundred soldiers as a hostage the doubtful author was confined with the assurance of death or an ample recompense and the court was left some hours in the anxiety of hope and fear till the messengers of alexis arrived with the authentic intelligence and displayed the trophies of the conquest the sword and the scepter the buskins and bonnet of the usurper baldwin which he had dropped in his precipitate flight a general assembly of the bishops senators and nobles was immediately convened and never perhaps was an event received with more heartfelt and universal joy in a study duration the new sovereign of constantinople congratulated his own and the public fortune there was a time said he a far distant time when the roman empire extended to the adriatic the tigress and the confines of ethiopia after the loss of the provinces our capital itself in these last and calamitous days has been rested from our hands by the barbarians of the west from the lowest ebb the tide of prosperity has again returned in our favor but our prosperity was that of fugitives and exiles and when we were asked which was the country of the romans we indicated with a blush the climate of the globe and the quarter of the heavens the divine providence has now restored to our arms the city of constantin the sacred seat of religion and empire and it will depend on our valor and conduct to render this important acquisition the pledge and omen of future victories so eager was the impatience of the prince and people that michael made his triumphal entry into constantinople only twenty days after the expulsion of the latins the golden gate was thrown open at his approach the devout conqueror dismounted from his horse and a miraculous image of mary the conductoress was born before him that divine virgin in person might appear to conduct him to the temple of her son the cathedral of saint sophia but after the first transport of devotion in pride he sighed at the dreary prospect of solitude in ruin the palace was defiled with smoke and dirt and the gross intemperance of the francs whole streets had been consumed by fire or were decayed by the injuries of time the sacred and profane edifices were stripped of their ornaments and as if they were conscious of their approaching exile the industry of the latins had been confined to the work of pillage and destruction trade had expired under the pressure of anarchy and distress and the numbers of inhabitants had decreased with the opulence of the city it was the first care of the greek monarch to reinstate the nobles in the palaces of their fathers and the houses or the ground which they occupied were restored to the families that could exhibit a legal right of inheritance but the far greater part was extinct or lost the vacant property had devolved to the lord he repealed Constantinople by a liberal invitation to the provinces and the brave volunteers were seated in the capital which had been recovered by their arms the french barons and the principal families had retired with their emperor but the patient and humble crowd of latins was attached to the country and indifferent to the change of masters instead of banishing the factories of the peasants venetians and genoese the prudent conqueror accepted their oaths of allegiance encouraged their industry confirmed their privileges and allowed them to live under the jurisdiction of their proper magistrates of these nations the peasants and venetians preserved their respective quarters in the city but the services and power of the genoese deserved at the same time the gratitude and jealousy of the greeks their independent colony was first planted at the sea port town of Heraclea in Thrace they were speedily recalled and settled in the exclusive possession of the suburb of Galata and advantageous post in which they revived the commerce and insulted the majesty of the Byzantine empire the recovery of Constantinople was celebrated as the era of a new empire the conqueror alone and by the right of the sword renewed his coronation in the church of Saint Sophia and the name and honors of John Laskaris his pupil and lawful sovereign were insensibly abolished but his claims still lived in the minds of the people and the royal youth must speedily attain the years of manhood and ambition by fear or conscience paleologists was restrained from dipping his hands in innocent and royal blood but the anxiety of a usurper and a parent urged him to secure his throne by one of those imperfect crimes so familiar to the modern Greeks the loss of sight incapacitated the young prince for the active business of the world instead of the brutal violence of tearing out his eyes the visual nerve was destroyed by the intense glare of a red-hot basin and John Laskaris was removed to a distant castle where he spent many years in privacy and oblivion such cool and deliberate guilt may seem incompatible with remorse but if Michael could trust the mercy of heaven he was not inaccessible to the reproaches and vengeance of mankind which he had provoked by cruelty and treason his cruelty imposed on a servile court the duties of applause or silence but the clergy had a right to speak in the name of their invisible master and their holy legions were led by a prelate whose character was above the temptations of hope or fear after a short abdication of his dignity Arcenius had consented to ascend the ecclesiastical throne of Constantinople and to preside in the restoration of the church his pious simplicity was long deceived by the arts of paleologous and his patience and submission might sue the usurper and protect the safety of the young prince on the news of his inhuman treatment the patriarch unsheathed his spiritual sword and superstition on this occasion was enlisted in the cause of humanity injustice in a synod of bishops who were stimulated by the example of a zeal the patriarch pronounced a sentence of excommunication though his prudence still repeated the name of Michael in the public prayers the eastern prelates had not adopted the dangerous maxims of ancient Rome nor did they presume to enforce their censures by deposing princes or absolving nations from their oaths of allegiance but the Christian who had been separated from God in the church became an object of horror and in a turbulent and fanatic capital that horror might arm the hand of an assassin or inflame a sedition of the people paleologous felt his danger confessed his guilt and deprecated his judge the act was irretrievable the prize was obtained and the most rigorous penance which he solicited would have raised the sinner to the reputation of a saint the unrelenting patriarch refused to announce any means of atonement or any hopes of mercy and condescended only to pronounce that for so great a crime great indeed must be the satisfaction do you require said Michael that I should abdicate the empire and at these words he offered or seemed to offer the sword of state Arseneas eagerly grasped this pledge of sovereignty but when he perceived that the emperor was unwilling to purchase absolution at so dear a rate he indignantly escaped to his cell and left the royal center kneeling and weeping before the door end of chapter 62 part 1