LXII. CHAP. 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 repeopled Constantinople by a liberal invitation to the provinces; and the brave volunteers were seated in the capital which had been recov ered 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 Pisans, 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 Pisans 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 the 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, an advantageous post, in which they revived the commerce, and insulted the majesty, of the Byzantine empire,"1 blinds and the young emperor, A. D. 1261, Dec. 25. Palæologus The recovery of Constantinople was celebrated as the æra banishes of a new empire: the conqueror, alone, and by the right of the sword, renewed his coronation in the church of St. Sophia; and the name and honours of John Lascaris, 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, Palæologus was restrained from dipping his hands in innocent and royal blood; but the anxiety of an 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 bason,22 and John 21 See Pachymer (1. 2. c. 28...33), Acropolita (c. 88), Nicephorus Gregoras (1. iv. 7), and for the treatment of the subject Latins, Ducange (1. v. c. 30, 31). 22 This milder invention for extinguishing the sight, was tried by the philosopher Democritus on himself, when he sought to withdraw his mind from Lascaris was removed to a distant castle, where he spent CHAP. many years in privacy and oblivion. Such cool and delibe- LXII. rate 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, Arsenius 23 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 Palæologus; and his patience and submission might soothe the usurper, and protect the safety of the young prince. On the news of his inhuman treatment, the patriarch unsheathed the spiritual sword; and superstition, on this occasion, was enlisted in the cause of humanity and justice. In a synod of bishops, who were is excomstimulated by the example of his zeal, the patriarch pronounced a sentence of excommunication; though his pru- triarch dence still repeated the name of Michael in the public pray- A. D. ers. The eastern prelates had not adopted the dangerous 1262... 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 and 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. Palæologus 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 the visible world: a foolish story! The word abacinare, in Latin and Italian, has furnished Ducange (Gloss. Latin. with an opportunity to review the various modes of blinding: the more violent were scooping, burning with an iron, or hot vinegar, and binding the head with a strong cord till the eyes burst from their sockets. Ingenious tyrants! 23 See the first retreat and restoration of Arsenius, in Pachymer (1. ii. c. 15. l. iii. c. 1, 2), and Nicephorus Gregoras (l. iii. c. i. 1. iv. c. 1). Posterity justly accused the adλia and palvμia of Arsenius, the virtues of an hermit, the vices of a minister (1. xii. c. 2). municated Arsenius, 1268. LXII CHAP. 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. Arsenius 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 ce, and left the royal sinner kneeling and weeping be fore the door.24 Schism of he Ar enites, 1266... 1312. The danger and scandal of this excommunication subsisted above three years, till the popular clamour was asA. D. suaged by time and repentance; till the brethren of Arse nius condemned his inflexible spirit, so repugnant to the unbounded forgiveness of the gospel. The emperor had art. fully insinuated, that, if he were still rejected at home, he might seek, in the Roman pontiff, a more indulgent judge; but it was far more easy and effectual to find or to place that judge at the head of the Byzantine church. Arsenius was involved in a vague rumour of conspiracy and disaffection; some irregular steps in his ordination and government were liable to censure; a synod deposed him from the episcopal office; and he was transported under a guard of soldiers to a small island of the Propontis. Before his exile, he sullenly requested that a strict account might be taken of the treasures of the church; boasted that his sole riches, three pieces of gold, had been earned by transcribing the psalms; continued to assert the freedom of his mind; and denied, with his last breath, the pardon which was implored by the royal sinner.25 After some delay, Gregory, bishop of Adrianople, was translated to the Byzantine throne; but his authority was found insufficient to support the absolution of the emperor; and Joseph, a reverend monk, was substituted to that impor tant function. This edifying scene was represented in the presence of the senate and people; at the end of six years, the humble penitent was restored to the communion of the faith 24 The crime and excommunication of Michael are fairly told by Pachymer (1. ii. c. 10. 14. 19, &c.) and Gregoras (I. iv. c. 4). His confession and perance restored their freedom. 25 Pachymer relies the exile of Arsenius (1. iv. c. 1...16): he was one of the commis arks who visited him in the desart island. The last testament of the unforgiving patriarch is still extant (Dupin, Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, tom. x. p. 95). LXII. ful; and humanity will rejoice, that a milder treatment of the CHAP. captive Lascaris was stipulated as a proof of his remorse. But the spirit of Arsenius still survived in a powerful faction of the monks and clergy, who persevered above fortyeight years in an obstinate schism. Their scruples were treated with tenderness and respect by Michael and his son; and the reconciliation of the Arsenites was the serious labour of the church and state. In the confidence of fanaticism, they had proposed to try their cause by a miracle; and when the two papers, that contained their own and the adverse cause, were cast into a fiery brasier, they expected that the catholic verity would be respected by the flames. Alas! the two papers were indiscriminately consumed, and this unforeseen accident produced the union of a day, and renewed the quarrel of an age.26 The final treaty displayed the victory of the Arsenites: the clergy abstained during forty days from all ecclesiastical functions; a slight penance was imposed on the laity; the body of Arsenius was deposited in the sanctuary; and in the name of the departed saint, the prince and people were released from the sins of their fa thers.27 Palæolo Dec. 1... 1282, The establishment of his family was the motive, or at Reign of least the pretence of the crime of Palæologus; and he was Michael impatient to confirm the succession, by sharing with his gus, A. D. eldest son the honours of the purple. Andronicus, after-1259, wards surnamed the Elder, was proclaimed and crowned A. D. emperor of the Romans, in the fifteenth year of his age; Dec. 11. and, from the first æra of a prolix and inglorious reign, he Reign of held that august title nine years as the colleague, and fifty as the successor, of his father. Michael himself, had he died Elder, in a private station, would have been thought more worthy. 1273, of the empire: and the assaults of his temporal and spiritual Nov. 8... enemies, left him few moments to labour for his own fame 1332, or the happiness of his subjects. He wrested from the Feb. 13. Franks several of the noblest islands of the Archipelago, 26 Pachymer (1. vii. c. 22 ) relates this miraculous trial like a philosopher, and treats with similar contempt a plot of the Arsenites, to hide a revelation in the coffin of some old saint (1. vii. c 13). He compensates this incredulity by an image that weeps, another that bleeds (1. vii. c 30), and the miraculous cures of a deaf and a mute patient (1. xi. c. 32). 27 The story of the Arsenites is spread through the thirteen books of Pachymer. Their union and triumph are reserved for Nicephorus Gregoras (1. vii. 9), who neither loves nor esteemns these sectaries. Androni cus the A. D. A. D. LXII. CHAP. Lesbos, Chios, and Rhodes: his brother Constantine was sent to command in Malvasia and Sparta; and the eastern side of the Morea, from Argos and Napoli to Cape Tænarus, was repossessed by the Greeks. This effusion of Christian blood was loudly condemned by the patriarch; and the insolent priest presumed to interpose his fears and scruples between the arms of princes. But in the prosecution of these western conquests, the countries beyond the Hellespont were left naked to the Turks; and their depredations verified the prophesy of a dying senator, that the recovery of Constantinople would be the ruin of Asia. The victories of Michael were achieved by his lieutenants; his sword rusted in the palace; and in the transactions of the emperor with the popes and the king of Naples, his political arts were stained with cruelty and fraud.28 His union Latin church, A. D. 1274 .. 1277: I. The Vatican was the most natural refuge of a Lawith the tin emperor, who had been driven from his throne; and pope Urban the fourth appeared to pity the misfortunes, and vindicate the cause, of the fugitive Baldwin. A crusade, with plenary indulgence, was preached by his command against the schismatic Greeks; he excommunicated their allies and adherents; solicited Louis the ninth in fa. vour of his kinsman; and demanded a tenth of the ecclesiastic revenues of France and England for the service of the holy war.29 The subtle Greek, who watched the rising tempest of the West, attempted to suspend or soothe the hostility of the pope, by suppliant embassies and respectful letters; but he insinuated that the establishment of peace must prepare the reconciliation and obedience of the Eastern church. The Roman court could not be deceived by so gross an artifice; and Michael was admonished, that the repentance of the son should precede the forgiveness of the father, and that faith (an ambiguous word) was the only basis of friendship and alliance. After a long and affected delay, the approach of danger, and the importunity of Gregory the tenth, compelled him to enter on a more serious negociation: 28 Of the xiii books of Pachymer, the first six (as the ivth and vth of Nicephorus Gregoras) contain the reign of Michael, at the time of whose death he was forty years of age. Instead of breaking, like his editor the Pere Poussin, his history into two parts, I follow Ducange and Cousin, who number the xiii books in one series. 29 Ducange, Hist. de C. P. 1. v. c. 33, &c. from the Epistles of Urban IV. |