HISTORY OF THE LATIN EMPIRE AND OTHER LATIN PRINCIPALITIES ON THE TERRITORY OF BYZANTIUM IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY: Medovikov, P. The Latin Emperors in Constantinople and their relations to the independent Greek rulers and the local population in general (Moscow, 1849). In Russian. Out of date. Guldencrone, la baronne Diane de. L'Achaie féodale. Étude sur le moyen-âge en Grèce (1205-1456). Paris, 1886. Popular book with references to some sources. Gerland, E. Geschichte der Frankenherrshaft in Griechenland. T. II. Geschichte des lateinischen Kaiserreiches von Konstantinopel. I. Teil: Geschichte der Kaiser Balduin I und Heinrich (1204–1216). Homburg v. d. Höhe, 1905. A detailed account of the external history of the Latin Empire, from 1204 to 1216, made on the basis of the manuscripts of K. Hopf. The first volume of the book has not yet appeared. Miller, W. The Latins in the Levant. A History of Frankish Greece (1204-1566). London, 1908. The best general work on the Frankish sway in Greece and in the islands. Miller, W. Essays on the Latin Orient (Cambridge, 1921). Articles and On the Latin Orient see a rich bibliography in the Cambridge Medieval CHURCH HISTORY: Belin, M. A. Histoire de la Latinité de Constantinople, 2d ed. (Paris, Luchaire, A. Innocent III: La question d'Orient (Paris, 1907). Inter- CULTURE: The above mentioned works of Dräseke, Pappadopoulos, Mŋλiapákns, Gardner, and Andreeva; see also Krumbacher and Montelatici. MONOGRAPHS: Nicephorus Blemmydes. Heisenberg, A. Dissertatio de vita et scriptis Nicephori Blemmydae. Barvinok, V. Nicephorus Blemmydes and his works (Kiev, 1911). In Theodore Lascaris. Pappadopoulos. See above. George Acropolites (Acropolita). Heisenberg, A. Studien zu Georgios Akropolites. Sitzungsberichte der philos. philol. und der histor. Klasse der K. bayer. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1899, vol. II, 463-558. Heisenberg, A. Dissertatio de vita scriptoris Georgii Acropolitae, in Opera Georgii Acropolitae (Leipzig, 1903). Nicholas Mesarites. Heisenberg, A. Analecta Mitteilungen aus italienischen Handschriften byzantinischer Chronographen (München, 1901), pp. 17-37. Heisenberg, A. Nicolaos Mesarites. Die Palastrevolution des Johannes Komnenos (Würzburg, 1907). John Mesarites. Heisenberg, A. Neue Quellen zur Geschichte des lateinischen Kaisertums und der Kirchenunion. I. Der Epitaphios der Nikolaos Mesarites auf seinen Bruder Johannes (München, 1923), pp. 3–7. Theodore Skutariotes. Heisenberg, A. Analecta, pp. 5-16. See above. Nicholas Eirenikos (Irenikos). Heisenberg, A. Aus der Geschichte und Literatur der Palaiologenzeit (München, 1920), pp. 97-112. John of Naupaktos (Naupactus). Wellnhofer, M. Johannes Apokaukos, Metropolit von Naupaktos in Aetolien (c. 1155-1233). Sein Leben und seine Stellung in Despotate von Epirus unter Michael Doukas und Theodoros Komnenos (Freising, 1913). Chernousov, E. From Byzantine backwoods of the thirteenth century. Essays presented to V. P. Buzeskul (Kharkov, 1913-1914), pp. 27795. In Russian. George Bardanes. Vasilievsky, V. "The Regeneration of the Bulgarian Patriarchate under the Tsar John Asen", Journal of the Ministry of Public Instruction, vol. 238 (1885), 224-33. In Russian. Kurtz, E. "Georgios Bardanes, Metropolit von Kerkyra", Byzantinische Zeitschrift, XV (1906), 603-13. Demetrius Chomatenus (Chomatianos). Drinov, T. "On some works of Demetrius Chomatianos as historical material", Vizantiysky Vremennik, I (1894), 319-40; II (1895), 1–23. In Russian. CHAPTER IX THE FALL OF BYZANTIUM (1261-1453) I. THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE EPOCH OF THE PALAEOLOGI General situation of the Empire in the epoch of the Palaeologi. Unsatisfactory knowledge of the epoch. Characteristics of the Emperors.-"Constantinople, the Acropolis of the universe, the imperial capital of the Romans, which, by the will of God, was under the power of the Latins, has come again under the power of the Romans—this has been granted them by the will of God through us." We read these words in the autobiography of Michael Palaeologus, the first Emperor of the restored Byzantine Empire.1 The territory of Michael's Empire was greatly reduced from the territory of Byzantium in the epoch of the Comneni and Angeli, especially after the First Crusade. In 1261 the Empire comprised the north-western corner of Asia Minor, the major part of Thrace and Macedonia, Thessalonica, and several islands in the northern part of the Aegean Sea (Archipelago). Accordingly, the Bosphorus and Hellespont, these exceedingly important strategic and commercial waterways, belonged to the restored Empire. The Despotat of Epirus came under the Empire's suzerainty. At the very beginning of his reign Michael received as ransom for the Prince of Achaia, William Villehardouin, captured by the Greeks in the battle of Castoria, as has been stated, three strong Frankish fortresses in the Peloponnesus: Monemvasia, situated on the eastern coast, the great rock rising out of the sea near the ancient Epidaurus Limera, which is "not only one of the most picturesque sites of the Peloponnesus, but has a splendid record of heroic independence which entitles it to a high place in the list 1 Imp. Michaelis Palaeologi, De vita sua opusculum, par. VIII, Christianskoe Čtenie (St. Petersburg, 1885), II, 535 (Greek text); 556 (Russian translation); translated into French by C. Chapman, Michel Paléologue, restaurateur de l'Empire Byzantin (Paris, 1926), p. 172. of the world's fortresses"; the well known fortified castle of Mistra; and Maina, another castle erected by the Franks in the mountains of Taygetus to overawe the Slavs dwelling there. These three strongholds became the strategic bases of support from which the troops of the Byzantine Emperors successfully fought the Frankish dukes. But the rest of the formerly great Empire was menaced on all sides by peoples politically or economically strong: the Turks threatened from the east, from Asia Minor, the Serbs and Bulgars from the north; the Venetians occupied some of the islands of the Archipelago, the Genoese, certain points on the Black Sea, and the Latin knights, the Peloponnesus and a portion of Middle Greece. Michael Palaeologus was not able even to unite all the Greek centers: the Empire of Trebizond continued to live a separate and independent life; the Byzantine possessions in the Crimea, namely the theme of Cherson (Korsun) with the adjacent country frequently referred to as "the Gothic Klimata", were in the power of the Emperors of Trebizond and paid them tribute. The Despotat of Epirus was only to a certain extent dependent upon the restored Empire of Michael. Under Michael Palaeologus the Empire reached the widest limits of the last period of its existence; but these limits were preserved only during his reign, so that, to quote T. Florinsky, "in this respect Michael Palaeologus was the first and also the last powerful Emperor of restored Byzantium". Nevertheless, the Empire of the first Palaeologus presents itself to the French scholar, Diehl, as " a slender, dislocated, miserable body upon which rested an enormous head-Constantinople".* The capital, which had never recovered after the sack of 1204, passed into the hands of Michael in a state of decay and ruin; the best and richest buildings stood as when they were sacked; the churches had been robbed of their precious utensils; the palace of Blachernae, which, from the time of the Comneni, 2 W. Miller, Essays on the Latin Orient (Cambridge, 1921), p. 231. 3 T. Florinsky, The Southern Slavs and Byzantium in the second quarter of the fourteenth century (St. Petersburg, 1882), I, 23 (in Russian). p. 220. Diehl, L'Empire byzantin sous les Paléologues. Études byzantines (Paris, 1905), had been the imperial residence and dazzled strangers with its rich decorations and mosaics, was completely devastated; inside it was, to quote a Greek contemporary source, "full of Italian smoke and fume" from the carousals of the Latin Emperors, and was therefore uninhabitable. Though the Byzantine Empire of the Palaeologi continued to be of great importance from a cultural standpoint, Constantinople ceased to be one of the centers of European policy. "After the restoration under the Palaeologi the Empire has almost exclusively the local significance of a national Greek medieval kingdom, which, in substance, is the continuation of the Empire of Nicaea, though it established itself in the Blachernae and arrayed itself in the antiquated forms of the old Byzantine Empire." Round this aging organism younger peoples were growing and gathering strength, especially the Serbs of the fourteenth century under Stephen Dušan (Dushan) and the Ottoman Turks; the enterprising commercial Italian republics, Genoa and Venice, especially the former, got control of the whole trade of the Empire, which became wholly dependent on them financially and economically. The only question was which of these peoples would put an end to the Empire of the Eastern Christians, seize Constantinople, and become master of the Balkan peninsula. The history of the fourteenth century, as we shall see later, was to answer this question in favor of the Turks. But if in the sphere of political international life Byzantium under the Palaeologi played a secondary part, its internal life was of great importance. In the epoch of the Palaeologi one may note the interesting fact of the rise of patriotism among the Greek people, accompanied by a turning back to the glories of ancient Greece; for instance, officially the Emperors continued to bear the usual title of "basileus and autocrat of the Romans", but some prominent men of the time tried to persuade the basileus Georgii Pachymeris, De Michaele Palaeologo, II, 31 (ed. Bonn., I, 161). B. A. Pančenko, "The Latin Constantinople and Pope Innocent III", in The Annals of the Historic-Philological Society at the University of Novorossiya (Odessa, 1914), vol. XXI, 1 (a reprint in Russian). |