 Section 20 of the Byzantine Empire. 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 Mike Boutaz. The Byzantine Empire. The Rear Guard of European Civilization. By Edward Ford. Section 20. The Komneny. The Last Great Rally. Part 2. John Komnenos was about 31 at the time of his accession. A harsh-featured man of insignificant appearance, black-haired and so dark of complexion that the Constantinopleitons called him Mauro Johannes. But his character was in strong contrast to his unprepossessing personal appearance. He was by far the best of his line. Strong, brave, hard-working, of excellent intentions, not without capacity for peaceful administration, mild and forbearing. The first internal event of his reign was a palace intrigue against him directed by his sister. It was defeated, but the Emperor took no harsh measures against Anna and actually restored her forfeited property. He set himself to do all in his power to moderate the severity of taxation, which was now reaching a pitch of intensity like that in the earlier Empire under Theodosius and Justinian. Zonaras, a retired minister of Alexius, and hardly likely, therefore, to be prejudiced over much against his order, says bitterly that the best tradition of Roman kingship were dead. That constitutional government was a thing of the past, and that the Comnenian administration slaughtered the people like sheep, ate their flesh, and sucked their very Mauro from their bones. Possibly this terrible indictment applies to the days of Manuel I rather than those of Alexius or John, but it is quite clear that the economic condition of the Empire was steadily proceeding from bad to worse. The foundation of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem had diverted to the Syrian ports much of the trade, which had formerly passed through the Empire. The commercial privileges conferred on Italian cities had aggravated the evil. The vast revenue of the Macedonian emperors could not now be raised with ease. Everywhere the receipts showed signs of diminution. The deficit was made up by new and crushing executions with a natural result that the population declined steadily in prosperity. Worse still, the expenditure on the court was heavier than ever before. The many branched imperial house absorbed vast sums yearly. Internal economics were entirely neglected. Roads and public works fell fast to decay. The old fear of further diminishing the revenue by employing taxpayers in the defensive services led to the repetition of the blunder of Theodosius and his successors. The army was swamped with expensive and more or less unreliable mercenaries. The vitally important naval force was allowed to decay. John did his best. Details of his reforms are lacking, but there is no doubt that they consisted mainly in careful economy. He was a warrior by birth and training, but it does not appear that he waged unnecessary war. He curtailed expenditure on the court as far as possible. He seems to have had a strong personal dislike for ostentation. He had a greater version for unnecessary bloodshed. Capital punishment was in abeyance during his reign. It is a thousand pities that we know so little of his measures, but there is no doubt that he won as no Roman emperor had ever won the love and trust of his people. Before long, the nickname Mauro Johannes was tabooed among the delighted Constantinople-itans, and for all time thereafter, the ugly dark-skinned emperor was Callo Johannes. Men had recognized that the unsightly body enclosed a beautiful soul. In 1120, John took command in Asia and captured Lauditia and Sozopolus, thereby securing southern Phrygia. And in 1121, he recovered great part of Pisidia and Lycia. Alexius had held only the coastline. Next year, he was called to Europe by a Pecheneg invasion, which he repelled by a victory at Peroi in Hymus. In 1123, trouble threatened with the Servians. Next year, John drove them across the border, but they now called in the aid of the Hungarians, who in 1125 took Belgrade and advanced as far as Sofia. At a place called Kran, they were defeated by John, and for the rest of his reign gave no more trouble. In 1126, John again took the field in Asia Minor, invaded Paflagonia and captured Castamon, which had been the seat of his family before the Seljuk conquests. The result of his first years was that the position of the Empire in Asia had been much improved, and land communications established with Cilicia and Pontus. The Emperor seems for the present to have been satisfied. For several years thereafter, he devoted his attention to internal affairs. It was doubtless during this period that most of his administrative reforms were carried out. There were some bickering with the Venetians in 1127, which were successfully dealt with. The ten comparatively quiet years, 1127 to 1136, have another interest. John was busy refounding, resettling and reforming, but it was then, probably, that he became thoroughly acquainted with the critical economic state of his realm. When in 1137 he again took the field, his operations were directed towards Syria. Professor Oman considers that this policy was strategically false, but to the writer it seems that it was economically sound. The Emperor probably hoped to obtain possession of the Syrian ports, and so control once more the trade of the Levant. In 1137 John entered Cilicia and established effective control over the Armenian state in the Taurus, and then entered Syria and took Antioch, making the Latin county tributary. Next year he invaded Mohammedan Syria. It was the first time for 50 years that the Imperial Eagles had been seen there. He was ill-supported by the Latins and failed before the Shaysar, but in its main results the campaign was successful. John considered it decisive enough to permit him in the following year to devote his attention to the North. Here he was opposed by the Danish men, against whom he was entirely successful, taking Nixar, Neo-Sezaria, and considerably advancing the frontier in Paflagonia and Pontus. His success alarmed the salutes of Rome, who in 1141 pushed raids into Frigia and Bithynia. They were, however, repulsed, and in 1142 John retaliated. He conquered Pesidia up to the shores of Lake Keralis, removed the semi-independent cultivators on its islets into the empire. The nil-advised economic measure, as Finley points out, and marched triumphantly through southern Lyconia into Syria, wasted the county of Antioch, and then retired to Anazarbus where he wentered, intending to take up again his great scheme of conquering Latin Syria. He was in the midst of his preparations, when on a hunting expedition his arm was accidentally pierced by a poisoned or dirty arrow. The wound mortified quickly, and on April 8, 1143, in his 55th year, John died. His reign of nearly 25 years had been very successful. Territory had been recovered, the administration carried out with an efficiency that was never again to know, and the financial problem met by strict economy and prudence. Roman traditions had disappeared under the successors of Theodora III. Good and careful government passed away with John II, the one ruler of the Roman Empire whom his subjects called the Good. John's designated heir was his youngest son, Manuel, a curious figure in history, somewhat of a Byzantine coeur de Lyon. There was some natural family opposition, but Manuel was loyally supported by his father's Turkish minister, Aksuk, and seated himself on the throne with little difficulty. He was not devoid either of statesmanship or military capacity, but was reckless, vain, fickle, and extravagant. The last vice was fatal in its effects on the Empire. The results of John's wisdom were soon effaced. Taxation pressed harder and ever harder upon the provincials, and matters came at last to the sad condition which evoked the bitter observation of zonaras. Manuel's reign is only a record of wars, some of them sufficiently purposeless and non-productive of really solid results. Manuel was a pronounced westernizer, alike in policy, in direction of conquests, and in machimony. His ideas were directed to Europe. He neglected during the greater part of his reign his father's design of steady consolidation in the East. At first, however, he showed signs of following it up. In 1144 he took up command at Anazarbus and marched into Syria. Antioch was again entered, but Manuel was content to display his power and made no attempt to carry out his father's wider plans. He left in command in Cilicia his cousin Andronicus, one of the most extraordinary figures in Byzantine history, and returned to Constantinople. Andronicus was defeated by Taurus of Armenia in the following year. In 1145 and 1146 Manuel pushed raids far into Seljuk territory, but they were purposeless and had slight effect. In 1146 the fleet of the Normans of Sicily seized Corfu, and raided Greece, sucking Thebes and Corinth, and carrying off many experienced artisans and silk-weavers. Manuel for the present could not avenge the insult. For the hosts of Germany under Kaiser Conrad III and of France under Louis VII were already descending upon him in the Second Crusade. There were more chances of friction in 1147 than there had been in 1095 to 1097, for the Emperor of the West was present in person. Manuel has been accused like Alexius of treachery, but there can be no doubt that the disasters which befell the crusaders in Asia Minor were mostly due to their lack of elementary military science. The only man among them who appears as being in any sense capable of command was an obscure knight named Gilbert, who directed the march of the French army to Atalia. Both armies were either destroyed or otherwise reduced to impotence in Asia Minor by the Seljuks. A mere remnant reached Palestine. Then, in 1148, Manuel turned against the Normans. He recovered Corfu and his fleet ravaged the coast of Sicily, though George of Antioch made the daring reconnaissance into the Propontes, firing arrows in defiance into the gardens of the Imperial Palace. There was little serious fighting, but peace was not formally made until 1155. Manuel was flattered by King William's expressions of submission, but of course, this conveyed nothing substantial. In the same year, the Syravians made a raid into the Empire. Manuel promptly advanced against them, defeated them on the Drina, overrun the country and reduced it to vassalage, though it needed constant punitive expeditions to retain it in anything like permanent subjection. Coastilities next broke out with Hungary, doubtless owing to Syravian appeals and intrigues. Manuel forestalled the Hungarian attack, crossed the Danube and wasted southern Hungary, garrisoning the captured towns. King Giza II attempted to recover Brantzova, which was defended by Andronikus Komnenos, but the Emperor relieved it by a rapid march, though he considered his cousin's conduct so equivocal that he deprived him of his command. In 1153 peace was concluded, Serbia was probably left in the lurch, otherwise status quo was maintained. In 1152 Andronikus, who had been again entrusted with a command in Silesia, was defeated by Taurus for the second time and disgraced by his certainly long-suffering relative and Emperor. After a considerable delay, Manuel entered Silesia in person in 1155, brought Taurus to complete subjection and once more reduced Antioch, which under Reginald Deschatillon had shown signs of rebellion to submission, remaining in the east until 1157. The Seljuks of Rum were now under the energetic Sultan Kilij Arslan II. He attacked Manuel on his homeward march, but was severely defeated and, thereupon, made peace, determining to consolidate the Turkish processions on the plateau before renewing war. He was a man of considerable ability, and in a visit made by him soon afterwards to Constantinople, he probably formed a good idea of the Emperor's unstable character. For some 18 years thereafter, there was peace, at least nominally, between the Empire and the Sultanate, and during this period, Kilij Arslan conquered and absorbed the Danish maned Emirate and united the whole central plateau under his rule. In 1158, Baldwin III, King of Jerusalem, was at Constantinople, and from that date thereafter, the crusading state was always more or less dependent on the Empire. The agreement was sealed by the King's marriage to Manuel's niece, Theodora. In 1161, the peace of Hungary was broken. Giza II, in that year, was succeeded by Stephen III, but Manuel claimed the right of nominating the successor and set up a prince named Ladislaus. Stephen III was driven from the throne, but Ladislaus only lived for six months. Manuel appointed in his place another Stephen, but he was detested as the symbol of the country's servitude and deposed. Stephen III being reinstated. Manuel seems to have convinced himself that the new king's position was too strong to be assailed, and in 1163 again concluded peace. Stephen ceding the fortress of Zugmin, Semlin, and his brother taken to wife Maria, the Emperor's daughter. There was, however, civil war in Hungary between the two Stevens, and Manuel took advantage of it to invade the country once more. Peace was brought about by the mediation of the King of Bohemia. Manuel in all this shows to poor advantage. He concluded and broke treaties and made war, with very slight reference to anything except his unstable desires. Byzantine influence was evidently dominant in Hungary, but it does not appear to have been popular. In 1165 Stephen declared war and recaptured Zugmin, but next year Manuel came upon the scene, retook the place, and marched into Croatia. By the end of the year he had conquered nearly the entire country between the Danube and the Adriatic, and had recovered Dalmatia, which, as we have seen, had been donated in thief to Venice by Alexius I, but had been conquered by Coloman of Hungary. In 1167 Manuel returned to Constantinople, and his troops in Hungary were severely defeated. He was himself in bad health, and in 1168 he could not take the field, but placed his nephew Andronicus Contostephanos in command. A great battle was fought near Zugmin, and the Hungarians entirely defeated. A treaty of peace followed by which Manuel retained all Croatia and Dalmatia, up to the survey, and Zugmin and its neighborhood. Until the end of the Comnenian period, Hungary was politically subservient to the empire. In 1170 Manuel was approached by Amalric I of Jerusalem for assistance against Egypt. He assented, but the fleet which he fitted out, though over 200 strong, was of inferior quality. The navy had been so much neglected that it was impossible to produce a really effective force, and though the victor, Zugmin, was in chief command, he could affect little. Damietta was besieged, but the Latins gave little or no assistance, and the expedition was a failure. Amalric visited Constantinople next year, perhaps he was obeying summons. He probably had some awkward explanation to make. Manuel utilized the opportunity to make a display of his pump and power. Amalric returned to Jerusalem, well furnished with gold. The emperor's help undoubtedly contributed much to the prolongation of the existence of the decaying crusading state. Meanwhile, war had broken out of Venice. The great naval republic was probably annoyed because Manuel had not renewed the grant to it of Dalmatia. Commercial jealousy also contributed to force on war. Manuel had entered into alliance with the Genoese and Pisans, who were rivals of Venice in the 1110 trade and with the commercial town of Ancona. Venice declared war in 1171. The struggle lasted for three years, but was absolutely indecisive. In 1172, Venice seized several Dalmatian ports and a fleet under the doge Vital Michelli, sailed up the Aegean and captured Chios. Manuel was again unprepared. Doubtless the failure of the Egyptian expedition had further disorganized the fleet, but by 1173 a large force had been put together, which proceeded to attack the Venetians. The latter had suffered terribly from disease and were in no condition to offer resistance. Chios was recovered and finally only 17 shattered galleys reached Venice. So great was the exasperation and alarm that the unfortunate doge was assassinated. The Venetian attack on Ancona was repelled with great loss, with the help of Ferrara and the Countess of Bertinoro. And in 1174 the republic was glad to conclude peace on the basis of maintenance of the status quo ante. Then, too late, Manuel decided to resume the recovery of Asia Minor. The chances were less favorable than in 1097. Kilij Arslan had united all the Seljuk and Danishmen emirates beneath his banner. Manuel began operations by fortifying Dorileum and Sublion near the headwaters of the meander. This was treated by the Sultan as a Cassus Belli. In 1176 Manuel gathered a large army at Laudicia and advanced on Iconium. Kilij Arslan had collected all his forces and attacked Manuel in the passes near Mirio Kefalon. The emperor displayed the grossest lack of foresight and precaution and advanced without making any attempt to reconnoiter or even, as it appears, warning the officers to keep proper order. When the army was fairly entangled in the pass, Kilij Arslan gave the word to attack. Seljuk horsemen charged into the head of the crowded column and poured down the slopes on either side. The troops taken by surprise and without space were in to deploy could make no effective resistance. Manuel lost his head and thought only of saving his life. His guards brought him safely through the disorder and carnage to Mirio Kefalon, but his spirit was broken. And so far from attempting to restore order among the fugitives who were pouring in, he sat in listless despair, though his forsaken troops were still making a gallant fight. Several officers succeeded in keeping their men together and in making a way out of the fatal defile. Andronikus Contostephanos, who commanded the rearguard, behaved in a manner worthy of his reputation. His position was the most dangerous of all, but the men closed their ranks around their victor of Zugmen and forced their way steadily ahead through the wild confusion. Their loss was heavy, but the general and all who survived got through safely and in order to the emperor. The army had been as much frightened as mold. Half of it probably never struck a blow, but the slaughter had been great, and it had lost all its stores, military chests, and baggage. Yet it rallied quickly, and the Seljuk horde made no attempt to close. The sultan probably recognized that his victory had been due to exceptional circumstances. Manuel himself had lost heart. His self-confidence had been shattered forever. The excellent conduct of his nephew and other generals only threw his own poor behavior into higher relief. In his distress after his flight he asked for water, but when it was brought he dropped it in horror, as he saw its crimson tinge. Christian blood he groaned, and from the gloomy groups about him a voice spoke out boldly. What of it, Augustus? You have drunk your subjects' blood all your reign. It was a bitter illusion to the remorseless taxation which had crushed the life out of the empire. One wonders if the bold speaker knew Zonaras and what was his after fate. So low had Manuel's spirit sunk, that he despaired of making his way home, and made overtures for peace. Kilij Arslan was nothing loath. He exacted only that Dorileum and Subleon should be dismantled. Manuel consented and destroyed the walls of Subleon, which was not far off. But the energetic remonstrances of the staff appeared to have recalled him to himself, and he repudiated the treaty. In 1077 Kilij Arslan sent a large army down the meander. It took or received ransom from trails and Antioch, and storming several fortresses made its way to the coast, where it filled a cart with sand and sea shells to prove to its sultan that it had indeed looked upon the Mediterranean, but it did not bring them back. On its retreat it was attacked by John Dukas Vatases and utterly defeated. Kilij Arslan, thereupon invaded Silesia and besieged Cladiopolis, but Manuel, now more of his former self, arrived by forced marches from the west and swept the besiegers across the mountains to Iconium. In 1078 peace was concluded, apparently on the basis of the status quo. The Seljuks might snatch a success, but were clearly no much as yet for the empire. But Manuel had one little credit. It was Andronicus Contostephanos, who had saved the disaster, but Mirio Kefalon, from becoming a catastrophe, it was Vatases, who had repelled the invasion of 1077. Manuel died on September 24, 1080, at the age of 58, after a reign of 37 years. His character has been demonstrated by the record of his actions. He was not the equal of his two predecessors, who were both tolerable statesmen and good soldiers, and of whom John was certainly a successful administrator. Manuel was a crowned knight-errant. His best political designs were spoiled by feeble execution. Even in Hungary, where his success was considerable, he showed great vacillation. His conduct at Mirio Kefalon shows him in a very bad light, and in strong contrast to his indomitable grandfather. His internal administration was as bad as it well could be, conducted without regard to any other consideration than the payment of his mercenary armies. Externally, despite the comparative failure of 1176 to 1178, the Empire was great and powerful. It had extended towards the West, and Hungary was its vassal. Its influence was still great in the Caucasian region, but internally matters were almost hopeless. The free agricultural population of Europe was disappearing. As that of Asia had done. The people were ground down by exactions. Everything was in disorder. There was a splendid court and a fine army, and that was all. The Empire was a whited sepulcher already tottering, ready to fall before a vigorous push, unless heroic measures were taken. Manuel's successor was his son Alexius II, the offspring of his third wife, Maria of Antioch. His short reign was chiefly occupied in struggles for the regency. The young Emperor's relative Alexius was the chief assistant of the Emperor's mother at first, but he was gradually supplanted by Andronicus, that first cousin of Manuel, whom we have already more than once encountered. After his second fiasco in Silesia, he had been imprisoned for many years, but after strange vicissitudes and extraordinary adventures had been pardoned. His character was as strange as his escapades and adventures. Professor Oman curtly describes him as an unscrupulous Raphian, but this is only a part of the truth. He was a Raphian, but a most able and accomplished one. He was entirely reckless of human life, but he was a statesman, a better one than any of the Comnenian Caesar's. Scoundrel as he was, he won the passionate love of more than one woman. He was a man of singularly temperate life, and at 70 was still strong and hardy, with a facial aspect of a middle-aged man. In 1183 he finally obtained the upper hand. Alexios Comnenos and the distinguished general Andronicus Contostephanos were blinded. Maria, the emperor's sister, poisoned, and the Horace Kimmer completed the bloodbath by strangling both the young emperor and his mother. When the murderers had done their work, he came to view the dead and kick the emperor's corpse as it lay. Your father was a villain, he said. Your mother a harlot, and you were a fool. How much of the sweeping assertion was true is doubtful, and for Andronicus to make it was like Satan rebuking sin. By such means Andronicus obtained the supreme power, and another side of his complex character came into play. He set vigorously to work to reform the administration. He abolished the sale of offices which under the Comneni had become common, and affected great improvements in the administration of the law. He set himself sternly against the overshadowing influence of the aristocracy, and his capacity and grim energy made him a dangerous antagonist. There were rebellions against him, but they were of family origin, not popular in any sense of the word. The most prominent was that of Isaac Comnenos, governor of Cilicia. Andronicus was quite capable of dealing with them. He spoke of marrying again. He was so handsome and vigorous, despite his 74 years, that the idea seemed not all absurd. More dangerous than a rebellion was an invasion of the Sicilian Normans in 1185. Their army took Durazzo and marched with little opposition across Macedonia to Thessalonica, which also fell into their hands. Andronicus was preparing to march against them when the end came. His anti-aristocratic policy had now fully developed, and execution after execution drove the nobles to despair. One of them, Isaac Angelos, arrested in his house, cut down the imperial emissary, and raised a revolt. Andronicus had earned hatred on every side, and no one would lift a hand on his behalf. He was absent from the capital, and when he returned, was seized and slowly done to death. He bore his sufferings with the patience which might have become a better man. With all his monstrous vices and crimes, he was probably the ablest of the Comneni. At all events, the only one who clearly discerned the signs of the times. And his death was a fatal blow to the declining empire. End of section 20. Recording by Mike Botez. Section 21 of the Byzantine Empire. 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 Mike Botez. The Byzantine Empire. The Rear Guard of European Civilization. By Edward Ford. Section 21. The Angeli. The Traitor's Stroke. Isaac Angelos was a sovereign of a type which hitherto we have hardly met in East Roman history. He was a mere spectacular figure. Handsome, a fine courtier, but without capacity for government. His elevation was a disaster. The times were such that a vigorous ruler was urgently needed. While as he was, Andronicus might have saved the empire had he survived for ten years. Under the Angeli, hope was soon lost. At first Isaac II showed some vigour. We should perhaps rather say that the measures initiated by Andronicus were carried out without interference by the new emperor. The Sicilian army was advancing on the capital from Thessalonica. A Sicilian fleet was in the propontis. An army under Alexius Brannas covered Constantinople. Isaac propitiated it by prompt payment of arrears and a handsome donation. The total cost was 4,000 pounds of gold, about 190,000 pounds. A fact which shows how wealthy, even in its decline, the empire was, as compared with the barbarian west, where half this sum would have been thought enormous. The army was still efficient when well led. Brannas defeated the Sicilians before Mosinopolis, and following them up, court and again routed them at Anfiopolis. They retreated in headlong flight to Durazzo, and forthwith evacuated the empire. The fleet withdrawing at the same time. A cellic raid was brought off, and Isaac might hope for quiet. But in 1186 Bulgaria rose in revolt under three brothers, Peter, John and Asan. The cause was undoubtedly fiscal oppression. The first effort was defeated, but in the same year the expedition to Cyprus, where Isaac Komnenos had now established himself, was repulsed. In 1187, Isaac's uncle, John, defeated the rebels, but they gained in their turn a success over John Komnenos and crossed Hymnus into Thrace. Isaac now, much against his inclination, placed Alexius Brannas in command. Brannas defeated the Bulgarians and cleared Thrace, but then proclaimed himself emperor, and marched on the capital. Isaac only saved himself by enlisting in his behalf Conrad Marquis of Montferrat, afterwards famous in the Third Crusade, who was then in Constantinople. The troops of Brannas arrived outside the gates and attacked, but were repulsed. Then Montferrat solid out and defeated them, killing Brannas. His death was another misfortune for the empire. He was a good general and might have made a good emperor. He could not have been worse than Isaac. In the confusion of the civil war, the Bulgarians steadily made headway, and in 1190, the great western emperor, Friedrich Barbarossa, reached the east on his way to the crusade, and there was fresh trouble. Isaac had no love for crusaders. There was peace between him and the famous Salah Eddin Yusuf, now supreme in Egypt and Syria. The ill will of east towards west had been becoming steadily more pronounced since 1144. Barbarossa had to fight his way through Thrace, but his great personality called Isaac. Peace was made, and Friedrich crossed to Asia. In 1190, he fought his way through Asia Minor and had almost reached Syria, when he was drowned in the Kalikadnos. The name which he left in Germany is well known. In 1191, Cyprus was finally lost, owing to Komnenos quarrel with Richard I of England. In 1192, Isaac at last took the field against the Bulgarians. He was defeated, and Varna, Nysh, and Sardica, which had, hitherto held out, fell one after another. Yet, next year, Isaac defeated the Servians, who had now joined in the revolt, and reduced them to submission. Clearly, the situation was still far from desperate. In 1194, the Bulgarians made their way through Hemus into Thrace. They failed to take Adjernopoul, but pushed forward to Arcadiopolis, and defeated an imperial force under its walls. The way was now clear for an advance on the capital, but they probably felt no confidence in their power to capture the great city and retired northwards. Isaac had done nothing, employing his time in gorgeous festivities in the palace. The court expenditure rose to the enormous sum of 4000 pounds of silver a day, though every department of the administration was starved for want of money. To raise funds, all the experience of bankruptcy were called into play. Offices were bought and sold as formerly, and new ones recklessly created and put up for sale. No pay was attached to any posts, either of old or new creation. The officials, as Nikita's bitterly says, were sent forth without purse or script to recoup themselves by oppressing the provincials. The empire had all but lost the last semblance of a constitutionally governed state. Its condition would have appeared evil past description to anyone who had known the well-being of the Macedonian times. Even to those who could only remember the decadent days of the Kamneni, it was evident that matters could not well be worse. Misgovernment had the usual results. Bregan-dage began everywhere to raise its head, as men fled from the intolerable oppression of those worse bregans who called themselves imperial officials. The rule of the law everywhere relaxed. Anarchy grew apace. In 1195, the weak monarch felt himself forced to take energetic measures. Great preparations were made for a renewal of the war, but before Isaac could take the field, he was dethroned and blinded by a coup d'état, affected by his brother Alexios, with whom he had never been on good terms. He had reigned about nine-and-a-half years. He was not a positively bad man, merely weak and pleasure-loving, not actively cruel or malignant, but as a ruler he deserved little but contempt. Alexios III was not long in showing that he was yet more worthless than his brother. Isaac had once or twice roused himself to display of energy, but Alexios was absolutely inert. He was ruled in all things by his wife Euphrosin, a specimen of the bad type of society woman, clever, shameless, disillute, and what was of the worst import for the bleeding empire, a reckless spend-thrift. Alexios made an ostentatious declaration at his accession of his intention of instituting reforms. As a matter of fact, nothing was done. The disposition of patronage was managed by Euphrosin and a ring of courtiers who made their market out of it, while the disorder of the administration was at its height. The army, mutinous and unpaid, melted away to a shadow, and the navy was literally non-existent, hardly a ship being fit for sea, while the ministers of marines sold the stores and equipment almost without concealment. The people, though growing steadily more and more exasperated at the increase of taxation, had no means except revolt, of expressing their sentiments. They were hardly aware of what was going on. A sale of naval stores, for example, which left the arsenal half empty, could be easily advertised as a disposal of useless superfluities. For the present, there was little trouble in Asia. The Seljuk Sultanate was torn by civil war. In Europe, Assan, the Bulgarian leader, was assassinated by a noble named Ivan, who took service with the empire, and until 1200, faithfully guarded the passes of Hymus against Calod John, or John Issues, Assan's successor. In 1197, Henry VI, the great emperor of the west, threatened the empire, and Alexius ground his subjects, yet more for money, to buy him off. In 1198, there was a revolt in Macedonia, under crisis of Strumicia, which was put down in the following year, but in 1200, Ivan the Bulgarian broke out in rebellion. He was betrayed and put to death, and then, for once in his life, Alexius, or his ministers, made great effort. Peace was made with the new Vlachov-Bulgarian kingdom, and exertions were made to restore order in the European provinces. For the moment, a return of tranquility seemed at hand, but peace was of little avail without reform, and though there was no longer a war on the borders, anarchy continued to increase. At Constantinople, the empress's conduct was the chief subject of gossip during these years. She eventually went a little too far, even for her invertebrate husband, by indulging openly in a criminal intrigue with a Dukas vatases. The brilliant imperial prostitute was exiled and even imprisoned for several months, but Alexius found himself lost without her unscrupulous cleverness, and Euphrosine was forgiven, released, and was soon flaunting herself before the loungers of Constantinople more gaily than before. Alexius could take his ease once more. His instincts were those of mere self-critification. He was in this respect more contemptible than his brother, who had some artistic tastes. In a fool's paradise of gorgeous pageants and banquets, the infatuated monarch dreamed away the years, while without the palace wall's confusion ever became worse confounded, when suddenly, without warning, the blow fell. In 1203 he heard that a Venetian fleet and a Western army, accompanied by his nephew, Alexius, son of Isaac II, who had succeeded in escaping from Constantinople, wore on their way to dethrone him. The Western army consisted of French, Flemings, and Italians, under Baldwin of Flanders and Bonifacio of Montferrat. It had gathered at Venice for a fourth crusade against Egypt and Syria, now under the vigorous rule of El Adil, safe at Din, Mohammed, brother of Salah at Din, Yusuf. El Adil was a pronounced westernizer. He had contracted a chivalrous acquaintance with Richard Cur de Lyon during the third crusade and was alive to the importance of the trade with the Italian cities. He had granted trading privileges to the Venetians, who were by no means disposed to enter upon hostilities, which would rob them of them. They kept the crusaders loitering near Venice until their scanty funds were expended, and then, under the guidance of the famous Doge Enrico D'Andolo, suggested that they should pay for their passage by mercenary service. To this, Baldwin of Flanders agreed. Montferrat was already deep in D'Andolo's schemes, and the crusading host proceeded by sea to Zara, which, in weakening of the empire in the Adriatic, had become independent and stormed it for Venice. The plunder, however, under the careful manipulation of the Venetians, did not yield enough to pay the passage of the army to the east. D'Andolo then proposed that the expedition should be diverted to Constantinople. Young Alexios Angelos appeared in the camp soon after the fall of Zara and added his entreaties. He was lavish in his promises of assistance of every kind, if they would restore his father, and the prospect of pocketing Byzantine gold began to seduce the greedy western barons. Still, all was not over. The great pope, innocent the third, the promoter of the crusade, was already angry at the expedition against Zara. Baldwin of Flanders had scruples, as well he might have, as to the morality of the proceeding, but he was persuaded by D'Andolo and Montferrat not to abandon his comrades. The pope, who would probably have excommunicated the army and Venice alike, had he got wind of the nefarious design, was kept in complete ignorance. The agreement finally made was that Venetians and crusaders should re-enthrone Isaac II and receive 200,000 marks of silver and a reinforcement of 10,000 troops for service in Syria. To propitiate the pope, a clause was inserted to the effect that the Eastern Church was to acknowledge the supremacy of Rome. There can be little doubt that D'Andolo saw from the first that the conditions were not likely to be fulfilled without friction, and that then Venice would be able to use the barbarian host to destroy her commercial rival. The Venetians were the moving spirit in the great act of international piracy, and upon them in general, on D'Andolo in particular, the guilt must mainly rest. In July the whole force of Venice and the crusade reached the boss for us. The Westerners were apparently 30,000 to 40,000 strong, as to the Venetian numbers we know nothing. No effective resistance could be made. The only reliable troops in the capital were the Varangian Guard, half-mutinous for want of pay. The navy was almost non-existent, only 20 ill-equipped vessels could be put in commission. The Venetians probably had five times that number of galleys. The army was put on shore some distance from the capital, and the tumultuous force which attempted to oppose its march was dispersed without difficulty. The crusader's attack on a section of the land wall was repulsed by the Varangian Guard, but the Venetian fleet forced the boom at the harbour's mouth and carried 25 of the bastions of the low sea walls by throwing light-boarding bridges on them from scaffolds raised on their galleys. Once inside they set fire to the harbour quarters, and a terrible conflagration resulted, which destroyed great part of the northern and north-eastern side of the city. The wretched Alexius III then fled into the open country, and the deserted officers released and re-enthroned the blind Isaac II. They informed Prince Alexius and hostilities seized to the disgust of Venetians who had made the beginning of destroying Constantinople and longed to complete the work, much to the disappointment of the brutal barons and soldiery who were thirsting for rapine. For the next five months they lay round the city, endeavouring to wring by any and every means money out of the emperors. Isaac II seems to have become half imbecile during his long confinement, and the presence and threats of the rude westerners completed the overthrow of his intellect, while his son was treated with contempt by the barons and detested by the Constantinople, as the one who had sold them and their church to the Pope. The ever-increasing demands of the filibusters, of course prompted by Dandolo, with the object of forcing on a quarrel, at last induced Alexius to begin plundering the churches. January 1204. At once the revolt broke out, the gates were closed and every Latin who could be caught was murdered. Isaac II died of terror. Alexius IV hid himself in the palace and turned for help in quelling the tumult to the protovestiarios Alexius Dukas, nicknamed Murzuflus, on account of his bushy-bittling eyebrows. Dukas seized and strangled him, was acknowledged emperor by the army and people and prepared to fight for his crown. Money was hardly to be had, but the new emperor seized all the available property of the angel and courtiers and ministers and was able partly to pay the arrears due the few regular core within the city. He endeavored to strengthen his hopelessly inadequate force by arming the citizens. This attempt was practically a failure. The Constantinopolitans were unwarlike. They responded to the emperor's appeals by complaining that they paid taxes for their defense. The regular regiments were made untrustworthy by being diluted with recruits. The militia corps from the first were nearly useless. At sea, Alexius could do nothing. The Venetian fleet lay securely in the harbor. All that could be done was to strengthen the seawall. The emperor was frequently in the field. He had all the instincts of the fighting Byzantine mobility. He straightened the besieging horde for provisions, kept the city fairly supplied, and gained some small successes. But in a single action of any magnitude, his raw troops were beaten. On April 9, the Venetians and Westerners assaulted the city on its northwestern side. The Venetians attacked the seawall on a front of two miles. The land army threatened the gate of Blackherne. The attack was repelled with considerable loss, and the defeat caused dissensions among the allies. Baldwin and the moderate or scrupulous party, regarding it as the vengeance of heaven. But they could do nothing without the Venetians, and Dandolo insisted on a renewal of the assault. On April 12, a second attempt was made, and this time the seawall was penetrated. The garrison defended the wall of Blackherne until taken in the rear, and then fell back into the streets. The Westerners occupied the northwestern quarters of the city, and, as before, set fire to the houses. Under cover of night, the emperor endeavored to rally his troops, hoping yet to repel the invaders in a street fight. The men, however, were demoralized. They threw down their arms and deserted in numbers. The Varangian guard mutinied outright, and refused to fight unless they were paid. Alexius, beside himself with rage and despair, went to the palace of Bukoleon, and thence, seeing no hope of defending the city, fled by the Golden Gate into Thrace. Many officers and nobles at once followed his example. In haste, often in disguise, with such of their money and goods as they could carry, men, women and children fled to escape from the brutal horde, which was already spread in ruin through the splendid city. General Theodor Laskaris, son-in-law of Alexius III, remained until day, striving to gather troops for a final effort, but he could do nothing. The army had melted away, and at last he, too, withdrew to Asia. At dawn, the victors found that all resistance had ceased. Without cause, without a shadow of excuse, they proceeded, with care and deliberation, to suck the city. What a lovely place to plunder was all the fierce and uncouth old Prussian Blücher could say when he saw London. And if a civilized saved the mark, soldier could speak thus in 1814, we can imagine the feelings of the brutal, vicious nobles of medieval France and Burgundy, when they found themselves among the wealth for which they had thirsted so long. The Italians were almost as bad. The Venetians behaved worst of all, for they shed more blood than their allies. No circumstance of horror was spared the unhappy city. Thousands of citizens were murdered in the streets and houses, dwellings were sucked, their female inmates outraged in hideous fashion and frequently murdered. Buildings were destroyed right and left, sacred edifices fared worse even than private houses, priests were slain, nuns violated. The clergy with the westerners disgraced themselves and their church for all time. They took an active part in the pillage and lifted not a hand to say the horrors that were going on. The loss to art was beyond calculation. The havoc done to the cause of civilization by the wanton destruction of priceless books will not bear contemplation. The soldier burned libraries in their campfires and though nominal Christians they held ribald orgies in Hagia Sophia, while prostitutes performed filthy actions and dances on the very altar. After three days of pillage, outrage and murder the leaders made a public distribution of such valuables as remained unplundered and then collected all the bronze works of art and melted them down for the mint. It is difficult to write of such deeds without indignation. Italians and French alike showed that in 1204 they were barbarians and barbarians of a very low type. The Turks in 1453 had the excuse that they were fighting hard up to the very moment of their entry into the city, but in 1204 all resistance had seized long before the sack. The extreme depths of cowardice, greed, lasciviousness and senseless stupidity were reached on this occasion. The Westerners may fairly claim to have outdone the Turks. When Pope Innocent heard so much of the truth as filtered through to him, he declared in righteous wrath that no good could ever come of the conquest. Two thirds of the splendid city of Constantin were heaps of ashes. All that remained was ruined, stripped bare of everything, naked and desolate. Three fourths of the people had fled or had perished. None but the poorest remained. Baldwin of Flanders was elected emperor and received direct capital, Thrace and the Asiatic provinces. Boniface was at first granted Lydia and Caria, but held out for Macedonia and Thessaly. He had married the widow of Isaac II. The Venetians claimed a quarter and half-quarter of the empire, which they interpreted as every isle and port that they could seize upon. In their utter ignorance, the leaders drew lots for the Seljuk Sultanate and for Persia and Assyria. In actual fact, everything had to be conquered. The victors held only Constantinople and its district. Callo John of Bulgaria was on his way to make his profit out of the dismembered empire. Alexius III was still at large in Thrace. Alexius V was indeed captured near the capital, brought back and flung from the top of the column of Arcadius, because he murdered his predecessors. Certainly the filibustering ringleaders had little sense of shame, nor had they even the honour which is supposed to exist among thieves. Seven thousand of the barons and followers went home after the sack. They had gained wealth enough to last them all their life and saw no reason for undergoing further hardship. In Asia Theodor Laskaris was in Nicaea and several other nobles were at the head of local risings. Alexius Comnenos, who had already made himself practically independent in Trebizond with the help of Tamar, the famous Queen of Georgia, proclaimed himself emperor of the faithful Romans. His brother David was active in Bithynia. Wherever a leader arose the Greek population gathered about him and prepared to fight the destroyers of the city queen. Even at this early date it was becoming evident that the Latin Empire of Romania was to be only a simulacrum and a sham. The leaders of the shameful pirate raid were soon to no disaster and to pay for their deeds with death and captivity. One of them was passed human judgment. Dandolo died soon after the sack. One hopes devoutly that, either be hell, torments of special terror were reserved for him. He may fairly claim to have done more to ruin southeastern Europe and Asia Minor to deliver them over to the Turks to destroy Christianity in them and to retard the general progress of civilization than anyone. Venice, for whom he did such deeds as, if private individuals only were concerned, would debar him from the company of honest men, may honor him. From the rest of the world he deserved nothing but execration. End of section 21. Recording by Mike Botez. Section 22. Epilogue, The Death Agony. The Latin and Greek states, their history, ignominious end of the Latin Empire, Michael VIII, movements in Central Asia and irresistible advance of Turks, loss of Imperial Asia, civil war, Surveying and Turkish conquest in Europe, check of Turks at Timur, their recovery, Manuel II, repulsive Murad II at Constantinople, John VI, attempts to obtain assistance from the West, The Union of the Churches, Constantine XII, Mohammed II, fall of Constantinople, and final destruction of remains of empire. With the sack of Constantinople in 1204, the Roman Empire, to all extents and purposes, came to an end if, indeed it had not already practically terminated its career before 1081. Men like Zonaris could see that the Empire of the Kaminoi was not the Empire of Leo III and Basil II. Its Roman traditions had been lost. But the destruction of the capital finally wrecked any hope of the re-establishment of a really powerful and vigorous state. Under the Kaminoi, the government had steadily tended more and more to become a pure despotism, and the annihilation of the administrative system in the capital broke up the machinery in every part of the empire. For some years there was an anarchy. The empire was dismembered. The chiefs who had seceded and saving parts of it were occupied in defending them. And when they had leisure to form administrations, they were necessarily of a very imperfect description, and one and all based upon feudal and semi-feudal principles, destructive of real stability. Against this must of course be set the fact that the Roman law was still enforced. Under a strong ruler the people could be assured of personal justice. And so far the Greek states, which emerged from the ruins of the empire, were more healthy than the wretchedly misgoverned kingdoms of the West. The sack of Constantinople was the signal for a general advance of Bulgarians and Turks. Calo John occupied northern Macedonia and Thrace. The Latin emperor Baldwin was defeated and captured near Adronopo and never again heard of. In Asia the Seljuks of Rome overran Pesidia and captured Italia and Sinope. Sinope, but were then checked by Theodore Lascaris, who was established at Nicaea. Alexis III had already succumbed in Thrace. In a purus in Albania, Michelangelo, a bastard cousin of Alexius, had made himself supreme. In Trebizand, Alexis Cominos had proclaimed himself Emperor of the Faithful Romans and ruled from Faces to West of Sinope, while his brother David occupied parts of Pithinia. The Black Sea dependencies were nominally parts of his state, only the southern Cremea appears to have been actually subject. The Latin Empire, which in 1205 had passed into the hands of Henry, the capable brother of Baldwin, never included anything more than southern Thrace in western Blythynia and Maizia. Bonifacio of Monferrat was slain by the Bulgarians, and his kingdom of Salonica was gradually conquered by Theodore, successor of Michael of Epirus. The capital fell in 1222. The Latin principalities in Greece showed more vitality, and those of Ikea and Athens held their own. Theodore Lascaris showed great vigor. He first secured himself from the Latins by repulsing them from Prusa and concluded a truce in 1207. He then extended his sway over the old imperial provinces from Blythynia to Caria. And in 1209 was ready to meet the attack which the crusading barons induced Caicosuru of Rhum to make upon him. Theodore pushed boldly forward to meet the Seljuk advance, and at Antioch on Mayander, completely defeated and slew the Sultan. The Seljuks troubled the new state no more for many years. In 1214 Theodore concluded a favorable treaty with the Latin Emperor Henry, and then attacked David Comenos of Blythynia, who state he annexed. Henry, a wise and conciliatory ruler, died in 1217, and with him the only hope of the establishment of a Latin state that Constantinople passed away. The Venetians reaped many of the benefits so unscrupulously played for. They did not obtain their three-eighths of the Empire, but they seized Crete and many other islands, and a number of ports in Appyrus and Greece. The ruin of Constantinople left the trade of the East in their hands. Their occupation of the coast towns and the anarchy of the Latin state strangled the sea commerce of the Greeks. But they were soon involved in a chronic struggle with the Genoese, who ultimately secured the trade of the Uxin and the Central Asiatic Mart. Theodore Lascaris died in 1222, and was seceded by his son-in-law, John Dukas Vatakis, 1222-1254. Meanwhile the Latin Empire steadily went from bad to worse. The lives of the emperors were a long train of humiliations. Peter of Quotene was slain by the Albanians with all his army. Robert, 1219-1228, and Baldwin II, 1228-1261, lost everything except Constantinople and its district. Vatakis conquered all their possessions in Asia except Chalcedon. Theodore Angelos captured Adrenopoli and occupied Central Thrace. Such territory, as they regained, was almost deserted, the inhabitants flying to any refuge where they could escape anarchy and feudal cruelty and insolence. The nominal sovereign had no control over the barons. Deeds of lawless barbarity were frequent, while industry vanished. Revenue could not be raised, and but for the Venetian command of the sea, the Moribund State could not have dragged on its miserable existence as long as it did. In 1230 John of Niseia conquered southern Thrace, and in 1235 formed an alliance with John Asin, the great king of Bulgaria, and besieged Constantinople. He was repulsed but then turned against the Angeloid, made them tributary, and in 1246 annexed Thessalonica and its territory. Baldwin II spent most his entire reign in wandering about Europe, seeking assistance. In 1259 he was actually forced to pledge his son to the Capelli for a small loan. Considering the origin of the Latin Empire and the irreparable mischief caused by it, it is impossible not to feel satisfaction at the spectacle of its robber founders and their successors drinking the cup of delegation to the very dregs. John Dukas of Niseia died in 1254, having nearly doubled the extent of his dominions, and also put the finances into good order. His opportunities were limited. During the greater part of his reign a powerful sovereign ruled in Bulgaria, but he held his own against him in the Seljuks and reunited many old imperial districts under his sway. The Greek sea commerce being ruined, he encouraged agriculture as the mainstay of his realm. On one occasion, when presenting his wife with a valuable coronet, he told her that it had been bought with money realized from the sale of eggs on his private farms. The anecdote bespeaks the true father of his people, and at the same time it shows that the economic horizon of the Greek states had been woefully narrowed. Theodore II, 1254 through 1258, conquered northern Macedonia from Bulgaria and gained territory from the Angeloi of Aperus. His son John was thrust aside and blinded in 1260 by the regent Michael Pele Logos, who gained a great victory over the ear-purots, Latins of Greece, and Italians in Pelagonia, and firmly established himself as emperor. Constantinople was now almost derelict. Its walls were held only by the help of the Venetian fleet. Within the Latins could barely collect a little money by wrecking buildings and selling the materials. Hitherto they had sold the sacred relics which the churches still contained. The city was a dreary wilderness, and imperial palaces were so filthy and neglected as to be unfit for occupation. In 1261 the Venetian fleet went to the Aegean on a raid. In general Alexius Stratocopoulos, Caesar, commanded in Thrace, entered by the gate of the Pege on the night of July 24th through the 25th, with about a thousand men, and put an end to the Latin Empire of Romania. No one can feel a grain of regret at its disappearance. Sir Edwin Pears' crushing condemnation is not too severe. It deserves only to be remembered as a gigantic failure, a check to the progress of civilization, a mischievous episode, an abortion among states, born in sin, shaping in iniquity, and dying among ignominy. Unhappily the mischief which it had wrought could not be repaired. Some simulacrum of an empire might be re-established, centering at the ruined city of Constantine, but there was no possibility of restoring its past glory. The Asiatic territory was in fair condition, but that in Europe had been wasted and depopulated. The cities had decayed. The great sea-born commerce had mostly passed to foreign hands. The splendid administrative system was in ruins. Everything had to be rebuilt from the very foundation. The materials for the reconstruction hardly existed. The task might have appalled Heraclius or Leo III, and Michael VIII, though active in Abel, was not by any means a ruler of a high order, and was suspicious, treacherous, and timid. In 1269 he regained a number of the smaller Aegean islands, having previously recovered southern Laconia, but in Asia his suspicious timidity induced him to break up the frontier militia, which was anti-Pale Logan and its sympathies, and thereby leaves the way open for the Turks, who were for reasons which must be briefly alluded to against spreading westward. He was hampered by his relations with the Genoese and Venetians, and by the unfriendly attitude of the church on account of his treatment of John IV. The Seljuk emperors united to assail him, and encroached upon his Asiatic borders. They made no special progress until late in his reign, but in 1282 they attacked and destroyed Treles. The result was that, though in Europe the border was at the line of Hamas, and though in Greece progress had been made, in Asia the most vigorous part of the empire, ruin was at hand. Michael made a fruitless effort to consummate the impracticable union of the eastern and western churches, and died in 1282. In the midst of the disorder caused by the establishment of the Latin Abortionate Constantinople, a greater westward movement of central Asiatics under Mongol lead was in progress. In 1206 the Calca-Mongols erected Timud-Shin, their lord of lords, Genghis Khan, and by 1227 he had extended his way to the Dnieper. At 1239 the great general Supetai Khan extinguished the independence of Russia. In 1258 Hulugu, grandson of Genghis Khan, captured Baghdad, ended the Abbasid Caliphate, and then broke up the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. Many of the followers, chiefly Turks, settled or remain in Asia Minor, among them a small horde under Ertugrul. Ertugrul was seceded about 1280 by his son Othman. After this Turkish progress was steady. Andronikus II, son of Michael VIII, enlisted the services of a Spanish mercenary army under a German Ruffian named Blum, called Raja de Flor, which temporarily repelled the advancing Turks, but whose lawlessness was such that it was soon involved in a war with its employers. While this internecine struggle, which ruined great part of Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece was in progress, the Turks inundated the already wasted Asiatic provinces. They were often defeated, but to no purpose. The disorder in Asia, the pressure of the Mongol advance, ensured their continual reinforcement by fresh immigrants. The cities were isolated by the presence of the nomads, and slowly starved or weakened into submission. In 1299, Othman took the title of Sultan and established himself in Lithonia. In 1308, Ephesias surrendered, and in 1326, after a partial blockade of ten years, Bressa, Tartar hordes also invaded the European provinces. But these were repelled. And while steadily losing territory in Asia, Andronicus II conquered Thessaly from the Vlox in 1308 and encroached on Epirus. Andronicus III, 1329 through 1341, lost Nicomedia and Nicaea to Orcan, the successor of Othman. But though his Asiatic domain had almost vanished, completed the conquest of Epirus and made progress in Greece. Andronicus's death was followed by a long civil struggle between the supporters of his son John V, 1341 through 1391, and John Cantacusenos, 1342 through 1355, during which the Turks gained ground with ease, mixed in the quarrels of the warring rulers, and seceded in thoroughly ruining Thrace. While Stephen Dushan of Serbia occupied Macedonia, Thessaly, and Epirus and threatened to seize Thessalonica, the net result of external wars and civil broils extending over a century was that in 1373, John V, now by the abdication of Cantacusenos, sole ruler, became the vassal of Murad I, the successor of Orcum. Murad was a fanatical Mohammedan and gave his followers that tinge of religious intolerance, which completed the hatefulness of their national character. Barbarians of a low type they had always been, but easygoing and tolerant. Murad gave his heavy, clumsy barbarian weapon the fine edge of Mohammedan fanaticism and carried forward the organization of the terrible renewed troops, the famous Janissaries. He forced John to help him to take Philadelphia, the last independent imperial city in Asia Minor, 1379. In 1387 he took Thessalonica and in 1389 gained a complete victory over the Servians on Kosovo Paul near Uzkab, though himself slain by treachery. He was seceded by his son, Bayezid I, and in 1391 Manuel II seceded his wretched father at Canstan, Tonopol. For ten years Bayezid kept the city in constant terror of siege. Manuel made a tour in Europe to obtain assistance, but with little result. But in 1402 came a sudden turn of fortune's wheel. The great Turkish conqueror Timur came down upon Asia Minor and defeated Bayezid at Angora. He pushed on to Smyrna, which he captured and sacked, and wasted Asia Minor with horrible barbarity. The Ottoman Empire was shattered, and by taking advantage of the dynastic struggles between Bayezid's sons, Manuel recovered parts of Thrace and Greece and Thessalonica. He assisted Muhammad I, 1413 through 1420, to recover his father's dominions and remained on friendly terms with him until his death. He would have maintained peace also with Muhammad's assessor, Yorah II, but he was now more than 70 years of age and was overruled by the Senate, which thought the opportunity favorable and compelled the aged emperor to associate with him his son John VII, the leader of the war party. Then in June 1422 Murad besieged Constantinople, but though he brought canon into play against the walls, he was kept at bay and bloodily repulsed in a great assault on August the 24th. The garrison followed up the Turks in their retreat and captured some of their guns. Murad's withdrawal had been caused by dynastic troubles, the success was clearly only temporary. It was Constantinople's last victory over the barbarians, whom she had withstood for eleven centuries. John's warlike ardor cooled and he made peace, paying tribute and retaining such territory as remained to him. Southeast Thrace from Siliviria to Mesimbria, Thessalonica, Empirical Morca, Lemnos, Imbros, Thassos, and Samothrace. Thessalonica was lost in 1428 to the Venetians, from whom Murad speedily took it, and then there remained only about 12,000 sq. miles of territory, mostly wasted and useless, of the wide dominions of the Roman emperors of the east. Manuel died in 1425 at the age of 77. John passed his reign chiefly in desperate attempts to procure help from the west. Despite the ill will of the clergy and people, he finally in 1440 concluded the union of the churches. The results were disastrous. He lost the confidence of his subjects and gained no substantial assistance. The Pope, though willing, could do little. Venice and Genoa were selfish and indifferent. Venice would not understand that the crime of 1204 had shattered the defense of Europe and that she would soon be forced to cringe to the Turk. Constantine, the emperor's brother who held a semi-independent position in the Morea, gained several successes over the Turks, but was finally defeated by Murad in person. And though the latter was repulsed from Croya in Albania by the famous George Castriotes, Iskandar Bey, he gained a great victory over John Hunyadi on Kosovo Paul, October 18, 1448. John died of grief. He was seceded by his gallant brother, Constantine XII, the last Christian sovereign of Constantinople. And in 1451 the great Murad was seceded by his greater son, Muhammad II, the conqueror and lawgiver, strange combination of student, warrior, sensualist, legislator, and bloodthirsty savage, the mightiest of Ottoman rulers. His resolution was fixed from the outset to conquer Constantinople. The emperor gave a pretext by a rash demand for an increase in the subsidy which he received for the maintenance of Muhammad's kinsmen and possible rival, Orkan. Muhammad built a great fortress, Romelia Hisar, on Constantine's territory near the capital, massacred the inhabitants around, refused all red dress, and on April 6, 1453, besieged Constantinople by land and sea. Part of the population of the city had fled. It contained not more than 90,000 inhabitants, of whom Francis informs us that only 4,983 Greeks and 2,000 foreigners were fighting men. This seems incredible, but it is confirmed by independent testimony. No account speaks of more than 6,000 Greeks and 3,000 foreigners, including Genoese volunteers from Galata. The command under the emperor was held by Giovanni Giustiniani, a Genoese noble who had come on his own account to the doomed city with two ships and seven hundred men. He did not unhappily agree very well with the Grand Duke Lucas Notaris, the Greek commander and the Venetians and Genoese also quarreled. It does not seem that the Genoese of Galata as a whole were guilty of treachery, but some certainly were. The Great Inner Wall was ruinous, there were few cannon, and such as they were the ramparts could not endure the shock of their recoil. The garrison was utterly inadequate. There were ships enough to defend the harbor, but not to take the offensive. Arms and military stores were lacking. Appeals for help to Europe had little result. John Hunyadi and the King of Aragon bargained for a reward from the scanty possessions of the empire. Venice would not stir, but Pope Nicholas V did his best to collect a fleet. Three Genoese ships were sent in advance, and thirty others were to follow. Muhammad had collected for the Great Attempt a host of twelve thousand Janissaries, seventy thousand regulars, and sixty thousand irregular, with a fleet of fifteen large galleys and seventy smaller ones, besides hundreds of boats and barges. He had a huge siege part, but by far his most tremendous weapon was his train of artillery. In all he is said to have had two hundred guns of which sixty were of large caliber, ten enormous, and a twelve hundred pounder of forty-six inch caliber which surpassed all records in gun-making until the nineteenth century. With his fearful disparity of force and armament it is astonishing that any serious resistance was made, yet it is quite clear that there were times when the garrison appeared to have the advantage. Muhammad directed his main attack at the weak point in the city's defenses, down into the Lycus Valley. There he stationed himself with his Janissaries and other picked troops under Halil and Sarajah Pasha and his heaviest artillery. Isaac and Mahmoud Pasha, with the Asiatic troops, attacked the triple wall towards the Golden Gate, while Karajah Pasha and the European levees assailed those toward the Golden Horn, and a fourth force under Zagan Pasha blockaded Galata. The fleet under Baltoglu, a Bulgarian renegade, lay at double columns, the Mombashe. And Muhammad, seeing the danger of forcing the harbor in the face of the squadron which lay at the boom, began to construct a tramway for the transport of his lighter vessels into the upper Golden Horn. On April twelfth the batteries opened fire and at once it appeared that the walls which had so long stood every assault could not stand against the weapons of the Turk. Breaches began to appear and the defenders could only toil day and night to repair them. On the eighteenth the damage already done was so great that Muhammad ordered an assault. It was repulsed with heavy loss by Justiniani and a simultaneous attack on the boom that the Turkish fleet was also repelled by Notaris. On April twentieth the three Genoese ships, aforesaid, with an imperial vessel under Captain Flatenelis, reached the city and fought their way in through the entire Turkish fleet. They reached Saralago Point and were then becalmed but beat off every attack of the vessel swarming around until a breeze sprang up and carried away for themselves, despite all the Turks could do. Muhammad was beside himself with rage and disgraced in flog by Toglu. On the twenty-second the Turkish shipway was ready and seventy vessels of various sorts were hauled into the upper harbor. An attempt was made to destroy them on April twenty-eighth but it was betrayed by someone in Galata and beaten off. Muhammad massacred his prisoners and thereupon Constantine retaliated by hanging the Turks whom he had taken. No news came from without. The steady bombardment never ceased. A light vessel was sent under Turkish colors to look for the relieving fleet and a proposal was made that the emperor should escape. Constantine steadily refused. He declared he would never abandon his comrades. If death must be, he would die with them. It was a reply worthy of the last representative of the majesty of Rome. On May seventh an assault was repulsed and on the twelfth another determined attack near the Andrapunel gate was gallantly beaten back. Attempts on the boom all ended in failure but the scanty garrison was worn out with constant alarms. The battering at the walls and the lycus fell went on continually and a huge breach gaped for twelve hundred feet. Elsewhere serious damage had been wrought. Men, women and children twirled night and day to repair the walls in vain. On May twenty-third the scout vessel came back. She had seen nothing of a relieving fleet. One or two of her little crew of twelve had spoken of saving themselves but the others would not hear of it. Whatever our fate may be it is our duty to return. Was their proud decision and the little craft made sail for the doomed city. On May twenty-eight it was evident that a final assault was at hand. Muhammad had made up his mind that everything must be risked to forestall aid from the west. He made the usual appeals of a Turk and a Mohammedan to the ferocious horde which he led. They might take everything in the city. He would keep only the empty buildings. In the city a solemn service was held in Hagia Sophia. The tragic pathos of the event has often been dwelt upon. After service, Constantine called nobles and officers together in Blakernay and solemnly asked pardon of all whom he had offended. In the darkness of early morning on May twenty-ninth the barbarian host attacked. The horde of the irregular first flung itself at the walls but was repelled again and again with great slaughter being flogged and sabred back to repeated attacks by bodies of Janissaries and police. Next the Anatolian corps assaulted the stockaded breach in the valley of the Lycus where the emperor and just Diniani captained the defense. Zagan and Karajah furiously assaulted the walls to the north but were beaten off while attack after attack at the breach was successfully repelled. Three hundred Turks actually penetrated the stockade but were mostly killed and the rest driven out. The duration of the desperate contest was telling fearfully upon the handful of defenders. A little after dawn the Janissaries and the sultanic guards came on. So furious was their fire that the defenders could not show themselves and under its cover the Janissaries charged the breach grandmasters and brave men said the Venetian barbaro who fought like lions and outnumbered the defenders by six to one. Yet before the splendid resistance to the grander masters and braver men who held the breach the assault of the Janissaries magnificent and invincible brave as lions officers worthy of them was stayed and brought to a stand but Justiniani was severely wounded and left his post and for a moment the defense slackened. Constantine rallied his followers sent in his little bodyguard and placed himself at their head but it was too late Muhammad threw his last autos into the fray and led the assault and the bloodstained breach was his. The remains of the garrison fought to the death on the esplanade between the walls in the front of their line was the Emperor Constantine with the offbalus Pelélogos and John Delmata on his left and Don Francisco Lavres de Toledo at his right and he flung away his imperial insignia lest the Turks should recognize and capture him. His companions fell and soared in hand amid the uncoming crowd Janissaries and Sipahi's Constantine met the end that befitted a Roman Emperor and a faithful soldier of Christ. There's little more the pitiful story of sack and massacre has been told so often why large on the story of Turkish bestiality one must speak as a matter of duty of the foul deeds of ancestors and co-religionists but things which disgraced civilized men to this day the pleasure and glory of Turks. The Venetian and Genoese ships which had aided in the defense stayed to the last moment in the harbor and saved all whom they could such imperial ships as were man seemed to have done the same some gallant Cretans held out in three towers and surrendered on honorable terms some hundreds of the garrison got on board the ships a few more escaped to Galata. The Turkish seamen left their ships absolutely empty in their thirst for blood and rapine but the harbor's mouth was blocked by the boom. Two desperate sailors of Admiral Viedo's gallery spring overboard and hacked through the chain and one by one the Venetian ships seven Genoese in some Greek vessels got outside and escaped. As they drew away across the propontist to the Hellespot in safety they left to the mercy of the barbarians of Asia the great city from which that day to this has been in the prophet's vivid words an abomination of desolation where truth and mercy justice and peace have never been. Muhammad conquered Trebizond in 1464 the second empire of his boasting chroniclers the Moraea had already fallen into his hands and with it the last fractions of Roman territory in the east pass from civilization for nearly 500 years the Turk has made his style among the ruins of the city of Constantinople but the end is not yet. End of section 22