صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

Upon ascending the throne, John II (1118-1143) had at once to undergo a painful experience. A plot against him was discovered; his sister Anna took the leading part in it, and his mother was also entangled in the conspiracy. The conspiracy failed; but John treated the conspirators very leniently, only punishing the majority by depriving them of their property. Because of his lofty moral qualities, John deserved general respect; he was called Calojohn (Caloyan), that is to say, John the Good (or the Handsome). It is interesting to notice that both Greek and Latin writers are unanimous in their high appreciation of John's character. To quote one source (Nicetas Choniates), "he was the best type (kopwvis) of all the Emperors, from the family of the Comneni, who had ever sat upon the Roman throne." Gibbon, who was always severe in his judgment of Byzantine rules, wrote, concerning this "best and greatest of the Comnenian princes", that even "the philosophic Marcus (Aurelius) would not have disdained the artless virtues of his successor, derived from his heart, and not borrowed from the schools.'

[ocr errors]

Opposed to needless luxury and wasteful prodigality, John stamped his mark upon the court, which, under his rule, lived a strict and economical life; there were no more entertainments, no festivities, no enormous expenses. On the other hand, the reign of this merciful, calm, and most moral Emperor was, as we shall see later, little but a continuous military campaign.

His son and successor, Manuel I (1143-1180) formed a complete contrast to John. A convinced admirer of the West who had chosen as his ideal the Western knight, the new Emperor changed at once the austere court setting of his late father. Cheerful entertainments, love, receptions, sumptuous festivities, hunting parties after the Western pattern, tournaments, all this spread widely over Constantinople. The visits to the capital of foreign sovereigns such as the kings of Germany and France, the sultan of Iconium, and several Latin princes from the east, with the king of Jerusalem, Amaury I, at their head, required enormous amounts of money.

2 Nicetae Choniatae, Historia. pp. 63-64.

3 Gibbon, chapter XLVIII (ed. Bury, V, 229).

A very great number of West-Europeans appeared at the Byzantine court, and the most lucrative and responsible offices of the Empire began to pass into their hands. Manuel was married twice, each time to a Western princess. His first wife, Bertha of Sulzbach, whose name was changed in Byzantium to Irene, was a sister-in-law of the King of Germany, Conrad III, and his second wife, Mary (Maria), was a French lady of rare beauty, a daughter of a prince of Antioch. As will be shown below, the whole reign of Manuel was regulated by his Western ideals, as well as by his illusive dream of restoring the unity of the former Roman Empire; for that purpose he hoped, with the aid of the Pope, to deprive the King of Germany of his imperial crown, and he was even ready to effect a union with the Western Catholic church. The Latin oppression and the neglect of indigenous interests evoked general discontent among the population; and a vigorous desire to change the system was manifested. But Manuel died before he saw the collapse of his policy.

Alexius II (1180-1183), son and successor of Manuel, was twelve years old at his father's death. His mother, Mary of Antioch, was proclaimed regent. But practically all power passed into the hands of the regent's favorite, Alexius Comnenus, Manuel's nephew. The new government relied upon the support of the hated Latin element. Popular exasperation, therefore, kept increasing. The Empress Mary, formerly so popular, was now considered as a "foreigner". A French historian (Diehl) compares the condition of Mary to that of Marie Antoinette, who in the time of the French revolution was similarly called by the populace, "the Austrian".

A strong party formed against the all-powerful favorite Alexius Comnenus; at the head of that party stood Andronicus Comnenus, one of the most singular figures in the annals of Byzantine history, and an interesting type for both historian and novelist.

Andronicus, a nephew of John II and cousin of Manuel I, belonged to the younger line of the Comneni, which had been re

Diehl, Figures byzantines, II, 112.

995

moved from the throne and had distinguished itself by extraordinary energy, sometimes wrongly directed. Later on, in the third generation, this line provided the sovereigns of the Empire of Trebizond who are known in history as the dynasty of the Grand Comneni. "Prince-exile" of the twelfth century, "the future Richard III of Byzantine history”, in whose soul there was "something similar to that of Caesar Borgia", "Alcibiades of the Middle-Byzantine Empire", Andronicus represented "a perfect type of a Byzantian of the twelfth century with all his virtues and vices." Handsome, elegant, and witty, an athlete and a warrior, well educated and charming, especially to the women who adored him, frivolous and passionate, sceptic and, in case of need, hypocrite and perjurer, ambitious conspirator and intriguer, terrible in his old days for his ferocity, Andronicus, as Diehl says, being a genius by nature, might have become the savior and regenerator of the exhausted Byzantine Empire; but for that purpose he lacked "perhaps, a little moral sense."

An historian contemporary with Andronicus (Nicetas Choniates) wrote about him: "Who has been born of such strong rock or with a heart forged on such an anvil as not to be softened by the streams of Andronicus' tears nor to be charmed by the wiliness of his words which he poured out as from a dark spring". In another place the same historian compares Andronicus to the "multiform Proteus"."

In spite of the semblance of friendship with Manuel, Andronicus was suspected by the latter and found no opportunities of presenting himself in his true light in Byzantium. He spent most of Manuel's reign in wandering over the different countries of Europe and Asia. Having been sent by the Emperor first to Cilicia and then to the borders of Hungary, Andronicus was ac

V. Vasilievsky, The Alliance of the Two Empires, in the Slavyansky Sbornik (St. Petersburg, 1877), II, 277 (in Russian). Diehl, Figures byzantines, II, 90, 93. Scala, Das Griechentum seit Alexander dem Grossen, in Helmolt, Weltgeschichte (Leipzig and Vienna, 1904), V, 95.

Diehl, op. cit., II, 93. L. Bréhier, Andronic (Comnène). Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques publié sous la direction de A. Baudrillart, II (Paris, 191420), col. 1782.

Nic. Chon. pp. 317, 319.

cused of political treason and plotting against Manuel's life; he was confined in a Constantinopolitan prison, where he spent several years; after many extraordinary adventures, he succeeded in escaping from his confinement through a neglected drain pipe; then he was caught again and imprisoned for several years more. But he escaped again to the north and took refuge in south-west Russia with the Prince of Galich, Yaroslav. Under the year 1165, a Russian chronicler says: "The Emperor's cousin Kyr (Sir) Andronicus took refuge from Tsargrad with Yaroslav, of Galich; and Yaroslav received him with great love and gave him several cities in consolation."8 As Byzantine sources inform us, Andronicus was kindly received by Yaroslav, had his residence in Yaroslav's house, ate and hunted with him, and even took part in his councils with the boyars (Russian nobility)". But the stay of Andronicus at the court of the Prince of Galich seemed dangerous to Manuel, whose restless relative was already entering into negotiations with Hungary, with which Byzantium had begun a war. In such circumstances, Manuel determined to pardon Andronicus, who was dismissed by Yaroslav from Galich to Constantinople, "with great honor", as says a Russian chronicler.10

Appointed Duke of Cilicia, in Asia Minor, he did not stay there for long. Via Antioch he arrived in Palestine, where he fell in love with Theodora, the Emperor's relative and widow of the King of Jerusalem, who yielded to his solicitations. The infuriated Emperor commanded Andronicus to be blinded; but having been warned in time of his danger, he fled abroad with Theodora and led a wandering life for several years in Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, spending some time even in far-off Iberia (Georgia or Gruzia, in the Caucasus).

At last, Manuel's envoys succeeded in seizing the passionately beloved Theodora and the children she had borne to Andronicus; and being incapable of enduring that loss, he resolved

* Ipatyevskaya Lietopis (Chronicle) under the year 6673, p. 359 Voskresenskaya Lietopis, under the same year, in the Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles, VII, 78 (in old Russian).

Ioannis Cinnami, Historia, p. 232. Nic. Chon., p. 172.

[blocks in formation]

upon making his submission to Manuel. The pardon was granted, and Andronicus apparently repented the follies of his stormy life. His appointment as governor of Pontus, in Asia Minor, on the shores of the Black Sea, was a sort of honorable exile of a dangerous relative. At that time, 1180, Manuel died, and his son, Alexius II, a child of twelve, became Emperor. Andronicus was then sixty years old.

Such was, in general, the biography of the man in whom the population of the capital exasperated by the latinophile policy of the Empress-regent, Mary of Antioch, and her favorite, Alexius Comnenus, reposed all their trust. Very skillfully pretending to protect the violated rights of the minor Alexius II, who was in the power of the wicked rulers, and to be "a friend of the Romans" (pλopwμatos), Andronicus succeeded in winning the hearts of the exhausted population who deified him. To quote a contemporary (Eusthathius of Thessalonica), Andronicus "to the majority of people, was dearer than God himself", or, at least, "immediately followed him"." After having created the proper feeling in the capital, Andronicus set out for Constantinople.

At the news of the march of Andronicus, the populace of the capital gave vent to their hatred for the Latins. A raging mob attacked the Latin quarter and began to massacre the Latins, without distinction of sex or age; the infuriated populace plundered not only private houses, but also the Latin churches and charitable institutions; in a hospital the patients lying in bed were murdered; the papal legate was insulted and beheaded; many Latins were sold into slavery in the Turkish markets. By that massacre of the Latins, in 1182, as Th. Uspensky says, "really the seed of the fanatic enmity between West and East, if not planted, was watered."12 The all-powerful ruler, Alexius Comnenus, was imprisoned and blinded. Then Andronicus entered the capital in triumph. In order to give stability to his position, he began gradually to destroy Manuel's relatives and commanded

11 Eustathii, De Thessalonica a Latinis capta, ed. Bonn., p. 388.

12 Th. Uspensky, "Emperor Alexius II and Andronicus", in the Journal of the Ministry of Public Instruction, vol. 214 (1881), 73. Idem, "The Last Comneni. Beginnings of reaction", in the Viz. Vremennik, XXV (1927), 14 (in Russian).

« السابقةمتابعة »