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zes were now to serve as the principal basis of the new negotiations.134 The delegate was supplied with both official and secret instructions. The legate was given some special powers, the most important of which was the right to convoke a council, to preside over it as a vicar of the Pope, and to draw up its decisions as he pleased.

This papal mission organized so energetically and hopefully ended in complete failure; the bishop of Orvieto was not even received by the Emperor, who had meantime changed his mind. On his way to Nicaea, in Macedonia, the papal legate was ordered to leave the imperial territory, and forbidden to journey further.185

Theodore II who, at that time, took the field against Bulgaria and was successful in his political enterprises, came to the conclusion that he had no further need of the papal support. His final aim, the taking of Constantinople, seemed to Theodore now entirely realizable without any new attempt to form the union, that is, without losing the independence of the Greek Church.

In 1258 Theodore II died. Michael Palaeologus, who usurped the throne of Nicaea in 1259, was dangerously threatened by the coalition formed against him in the West. The papal support was needed, and, as far as we know, Michael sent envoys to Pope Alexander IV. But the latter was not energetic enough and did not take the opportunity of making use of Michael's difficult position.136 Finally Michael succeeded in seizing Constantinople without any support from the Holy See.

The Empire of Nicaea preserved the Orthodox Church and the Orthodox patriarchate, and restored them to Constantinople. During the Nicene Empire the plan for union had no success.

Social and Economic Situation of the Empire of Nicaea.The emperors of Nicaea were always concerned with the problems of the internal life of their state. The rise of economic pros

134 Schillman, no. II, pp. 114-15. In these documents the name of Emperor Caloiohannes (Vatatzes) is many times mentioned.

135 Georgii Acrop., ch. 67 (ed. Heisenberg, pp. 139-40). Cf. a mistaken statement in the Cambr. Med. H. (iv, 505): "After a barren interview with the Papal plenipotentiaries (the Emperor) told Acropolita to get rid of them."

136 See Norden, op. cit., pp. 382-83.

perity was one of their very important aims. In this respect John Vatatzes is especially noticeable; his varied and strenuous external activity did not prevent him from paying adequate attention to the economic wealth of his country. He encouraged agriculture, vineyards, and stock-breeding. To quote a source, "in a short time, all the warehouses have been filled to overflowing with fruits; roads, streets, all stalls, and enclosures have been filled with flocks of cattle and fowls." The famine which, at that time, befell the adjacent Sultanate of Rum compelled the Turks to crowd into the Nicene dominions to buy, at a high price, the means of subsistence. Turkish gold, silver, Oriental stuffs, jewels, and other articles of luxury poured in abundance into the hands of the Nicene Greeks and filled the imperial treasury. By diminishing taxes Vatatzes succeeded in raising the economic prosperity of the Empire. In times of dearth the large supplies of corn collected in granaries were distributed among the people. Having at his disposal considerable amounts of money Vatatzes erected all over the country forts and such buildings, as hospitals, almshouses and poorhouses.138

A Byzantine historian of the fourteenth century (Nicephorus Gregoras) writes that John Vatatzes was anxious "that, having everything at home he needed, no one should be induced to lay a grasping hand on simple and poor men, and that thereby the state of the Romans might be completely purified from injustice."139

Vatatzes himself was a large landowner and many of his nobles also possessed considerable tracts of land, and derived a sufficient living from their estates.140 These estates seem to have been granted by the Emperor to the members of his office-holding nobility, and remind us of the west-European beneficium or Byzantine pronoia, that is to say, land granted by the emperors or, in their name, by their ministers, to subjects for their services to the state on condition that they furnish military service. Perhaps the large landowners were sometimes discontented with

137 Nicephori Gregorae, Historia, II, 6, 2 (ed. Bonn., I, 42). 188 Scutariotae, pp. 285-86. Nic. Gregorae, II, 6, 2 (I, 42).

139 Nic. Gregorae, ibidem.

140 Nic. Gregorae, ibidem.

Vatatzes' regime and renounced allegiance to him. In any case, we know that towards the close of his reign some confiscations by the Emperor of movable and immovable property took place,111 and this very interesting phenomenon may be explained by an antagonism between the throne and the large landowners, on which we have no information. A recent historian even judges it possible to aver that such risings of the aristocracy against Vatatzes actually took place.142

From the social standpoint, Vatatzes may be regarded as a protector of the peasantry and urban class; he endeavored, first of all, to raise their wealth and prosperity; and this circumstance might have evoked the dissatisfaction of the landed aristocracy, which brought about Vatatzes' severe measures against them.

When Theodore II ascended the throne, the office-holding aristocracy persecuted by his father looked upon the new Emperor with confidence, hoping to regain their lost wealth and influence.143 But they were disappointed in their expectations. Theodore's policy was to diminish the influence of the aristocracy, and severe measures were apparently taken against many of its members; a long list of names of high officials who suffered under Theodore II is given by a contemporary writer.144 The aristocracy was put down under Theodore II, and men of humble origin surrounded his throne; owing everything to Theodore they were obedient tools in his hands.145 After Theodore's death, under his son, who was only a child, the aristocracy again held up their heads.

In connection with Theodore's military enterprises the taxes were considerably augmented, and in his letter to Nicephorus Blemmydes, who accused the Emperor of extorting too many

141 Georgii Acropolitae, par. 52 (I, 105, lines 3-5).

142 See Pappadopoulos, Théodore II Lascaris, p. 70. Andreeva, Essays. ... pp. 102103 (in Russian).

143 Georgii Acropolitae, par. 52 (I, 105, 1-3).

144 Idem, par. 75 (I, 154-55). See also Georgii Pachymeris, De Mich. Palaeologo, lib. I, 15 (Vol. I, 40).

145 See B. Pappadopoulos, op. cit., pp. 79-81. W. Miller, in The Cambr. Med. H., IV, 504. Andreeva, Essays . pp. 102, 108-10, 116 (in Russian).

taxes from the population, Theodore explained that the reason for his policy was his military activities.140

The Emperors of Nicaea were also very much interested in the development of commercial relations with other states, and especially with Venice. In August, 1219, Theodore I Lascaris made an alliance and a commercial treaty with the Venetian Podesta in Constantinople, which secured to the Venetian merchants the privilege of trading free of dues on land and sea, all over the Empire of Nicaea (per totum Imperium meum et sine aliqua inquisitione).147

Western goods imported by the Venetians according to this treaty competed successfully with eastern goods which had to pass through the whole territory of the Sultanate of Iconium. Eastern and Italian stuffs were in special demand, and the population spent enormous amounts of money for their purchase. Seeing this John Vatatzes, under pain of "dishonor", that is to say, of losing their social position, forbade his subjects to purchase and wear foreign stuffs and ordered them to be satisfied "only with that which the land of the Romans produces and which the hands of the Romans are able to prepare.' "148 How long this regulation, which was intended to support local production, remained in force, we do not know; probably it was soon forgotten.

The friendly relations with Venice did not last long, and under Vatatzes the Republic of St. Mark was hostile to Nicaea. At that time Vatatzes had some difficulties with the former imperial governor of the island of Rhodes, Leon Gabalas, who, soon after 1204, had styled himself "Lord of the Cyclades", and even "Caesar". When Vatatzes opened hostilities against him, being unable to protect the island with his own forces, he made an offensive and defensive alliance with Venice, which broke down the treaty concluded with Theodore I Lascaris. In the treaty of 1234

146 Theodori Lascaris, Epistula XLIV, pp. 57-58.

147 Tafel et Thomas., Fontes rerum austriacarum. Urkunden, II, 205-07. See W. Heyd, op. cit., I, 304-05. A. Schaube, Handelsgeschichte der Romanischen Völker des Mittelmeergebiets bis zum Ende der Kreuzzüge (München-Berlin, 1906), pp. 262-63. Gardner (op. cit., p. 95) is wrong in stating that this treaty is dated August, 1220.

148 Niceph. Gregorae, Historiae, II, 6, 4, (I, 43); from him in Zachariae von Lingenthal, Jus graeco-romanum, III, 574.

between Leon Gabalas and Venice the latter was granted vast commercial privileges. In this very interesting document Leon Gabalas called himself "dominus Rhode et Cicladum insularum Ksserus Leo Gavalla", "lord of Rhodes and the Cyclades, Caesar Leo Gavalla".149 Vatatzes sent an expedition to Rhodes and the island became the possession of the Emperor of Nicaea.150

Just before the taking of Constantinople, as we have seen. above, the Genoese gained the upper hand over their Venetian rivals when, in 1261, Michael Palaeologus signed the treaty of Nymphaeum. According to this treaty the Genoese obtained commercial supremacy in the Levant. After the restoration of the Byzantine Empire Michael Palaeologus continued his friendly relations with the Genoese.

Education, Learning, Literature, and Art in the Epoch of the Empire of Nicaea.-After the ruin of the Empire in 1204 and its division into a certain number of independent Latin and Greek dominions, the state of Nicaea became not only the center for the future political unification of the Hellenes, but also a hotbed of intense cultural life. As George of Cyprus states, in the second half of the thirteenth century, Nicaea was said "to be an ancient Athens in her abundance of scholars" and "a marvelous and greatly loved source of scholarship."151 Perhaps it may not be amiss to recall that in the Middle Ages, in the West, Paris was called "a new Athens" and "a city of science." True, on his coming to Nicaea George of Cyprus was disappointed in his expectations of Nicaea as a city of scholarship. In one of the works of Theodore Lascaris we read that Corinth is famous for music, Thessaly for weaving, Philadelphia for shoemaking, and Nicaea for philosophy.152 All the Lascarids, except the last, the child John IV, were real admirers of learning and education and very well understood that spiritual culture was one of the foundations

149 Tafel et Thomas, II, 320; for the text of the treaty, pp. 320-22. 150 Georgii Acropolitae, par. 48 (I, 86-88). See Heyd, I, 307. Schaube, p. 263. 151 Georgii Cyprii, Aóyos тà κał' davròv tepiéxwv. Migne, Patr. Gr. vol. 142, col. 21. I. E. Troizky, "Autobiobraphy of George of Cyprus," Christianskoe Čtenie (St. Petersburg, 1870), II, 167, 169–70 (in Russian).

153 Theodori Lascaris, De naturali communione, V, 2. Migne, Patr. Gr., vol. 140, col. 1345. Dräseke, "Theodore Laskaris", Byz. Zeitsch., III (1894), 500.

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