on to action against the dynasty by Theodore's outrageous conduct toward
his sister Martha. The latter had a beautiful daughter who had been most
tenderly reared as became her rank. To the surprise of all, the emperor
ordered the family to bestow her in marriage on one of his pages,
Valanidiotes. Though beneath the maiden in rank, the page succeeded in
winning the affection of the highborn damsel, and the family were
consenting to the union, when the emperor capriciously changed his mind,
and compelled a betrothal between the maiden and a man of her own rank.
A report that this marriage was not consummated led the superstitious
emperor to suspect that both this event and a malignant attack of his
disease were due to some charm practised by the mother.
In his vexation and rage, he ordered Martha, though connected by birth
with the imperial family, to be enclosed in a sack with a number of
cats, which were from time to time pricked with pins that they might
torture the unfortunate lady. Martha was brought into court with the
sack thus bound about her neck, and was examined concerning her supposed
witchcraft, but the suspicious tyrant could extract nothing from her on
which to base a condemnation.
This unseemly action was an offence Michael could never forgive. From
this time he began assiduously to plot against the throne. The story of
his usurpation and of his cruelty toward the rightful emperor, the young
lad, John IV.,--Ducas,--does not concern us here.
Suffice it to say that
he ascended the throne of Nicæa as Michael VIII.,--
Palæologus,--and was
fortunate enough to capture the city of Constantinople and revive the
Greek Empire there. Through the Empire of Nicæa the thread of tradition
was unbroken, and from 1261 on we have once more a Byzantine Empire.
The history of this concluding period, 1261-1453, embracing the dynasty
of the Palæologi, is the most degrading portion of the national annals.
Michael is renowned for being the restorer of the Eastern Empire, but
his throne was gained through baseness and cruelty, and he left to his
descendants a heritage of vice and crime of such a nature that the
Empire survived for a century or two not because of its intrinsic worth,
but because the Ottomans were not yet ready to seize it.
It is a period
notable for the absence of literary taste, of patriotic feeling, of
political honesty, of civil liberty. The emperors are, as a rule,
immoral and capricious men, utterly selfish in their aims and their
pursuits, and each one leaves the Empire somewhat weaker than he found
it.
The new Empire of Constantinople and that of Trebizond existed side by
side, and frequent intermarriages took place between the royal families.
By studying conjointly the annals of the Palæologi and the Comneni we
become acquainted with a number of the princesses of these royal houses,
and can form some idea of the character of Greek womanhood in this age
of decadence, and of the social life of the times as it affects woman's
position and aspirations.
The women of the two rival houses appear, as a rule, superior in
character, judgment, and virtue to the men, and this difference between
the males and females of the imperial families is so marked, that we
would fain know more of the system of education for women which produced
an effect so singular and so uniform. It must have been due to the fact
that in spite of the general demoralization, the life of the convents in
which the princesses were trained was pure and uplifting, the methods of
instruction thorough, the discipline severe; while the clergy who had in
charge the education of the princes were so bent on their own preferment
and the acquirement of political power, that they aimed rather at
gaining an ascendency over their imperial wards than in imparting the
instruction which would have made them great rulers.
The only empress of the Palæologi, however, to gain supreme power and to
win a place in history, was of foreign birth. Anne of Savoy, by the
nomination of her dying husband, Andronicus III. (1328-1341), and the
custom of the Empire, was made regent of her son, John V., Palæologus, a
lad of nine years. Her reign was made memorable through her struggles
with a powerful courtier, who aroused civil war and ascended the throne
for a time as John VI., Cantacuzenus (1347-1354).
Byzantine etiquette required the widowed empress to weep for nine days
beside the body of her deceased husband, who was laid out in state in
the monastery of the Guiding Virgin, whither he had retired when death
was near and where he assumed the habit and the devotions of a monk. But
John Cantacuzenus, the grand domesticos and first minister of the
Empire, was bent on playing the rôle of earlier usurpers, and during her
absence determined to establish himself in the imperial palace as
guardian of the emperor. The empress, recognizing the danger of
infringement on the rights of her child, deemed it necessary to shorten
the period of mourning to three days, and returned to the palace to
assert her authority as regent. Then began a course of intrigue between
the two parties. Cantacuzenus instituted a rebellion against the regent,
and by his followers was crowned and invested with the imperial robe.
Under the guidance of the patriarch and the grand duke Apocaucus, the
Empress Anne adopted forceful measures to intimidate the partisans of
the rebels. Among the interesting women of this period was Theodora, the
mother of Cantacuzenus, a woman of preeminent virtue and talent, far
superior in ability and moral force to her son. But against her the
vengeance of Anne was chiefly directed. The aged lady was thrown into
prison by order of the regent, and was subjected to great cruelty and
privations until death came to her relief. The young emperor, John V.,
was solemnly crowned. Apocaucus was appointed prime minister, and a
vigorous war was prosecuted against the rebels, who were threatened with
extermination. To save his cause Cantacuzenus treacherously turned to
the common enemy, the Turk, and sacrificing his daughter Theodora on the
altar of his ambition gave her in marriage to Orkhan, and sent her to
dwell at Brusa, as a member of the Sultan's harem. All the religious
people of the day were incensed at this violation of common decency and
lack of paternal feeling, but the tone of morality was too low to cause
serious opposition.
Meanwhile, there was discord in the palace. The Empress Anne fell out
with her chief supporter. She had a violent quarrel with the patriarch.
Her prime minister Apocaucus was assassinated. Through the aid of his
Turkish ally Cantacuzenus was successful. The empress-regent showed a
determination to defend herself in the palace, but her partisans were
less courageous than she, and she was compelled to submit. But
Cantacuzenus was as wily as he was ambitious.
Recognizing the strength
of his opponents, after he himself had been crowned emperor, he
determined on the marriage of his daughter Helena with the young
heir-apparent, and agreed to associate John V. with him on the throne
when he reached the age of twenty-five. The children, for John was only
fifteen and Helena thirteen, were betrothed and wedded with great
ceremony, and then received the crown, and the courtiers and people were
entertained by the rare spectacle of two emperors and three empresses
seated on their thrones.
"The strange spectacle delighted the gazers; but it was not viewed
without some feeling of contempt, for it was generally known that the
imperial crowns were bright with false pearls and diamonds; that the
robes were stiffened with tinsel; that the vases were of brass, not
gold; and instead of the rich brocade of Thebes, the hangings were of
gilded leather."
Cantacuzenus deserves to rank with the two Angeli as the third of the
great destroyers of the Eastern Empire. Through civil wars he depleted
its resources; and by introducing the Turk into his dominions, he paved
the way for the final downfall. Fortunately, John V.
asserted himself at
the age of twenty-four; Cantacuzenus was tonsured and placed in a
monastery where he passed the rest of his days in literary labors. In
native gifts and force of character, and in her checkered history, the
Empress Anne of Savoy deserves a place by the side of the earlier
self-asserting empresses of Constantinople.
The tale of the last hundred years of the Byzantine Empire is a mere bit
of local history, and no longer forms an important warp in the woof of
the annals of Christendom. Women there were who were deserving of a
better destiny, but they are naturally obscured in the general
demoralization. The Mussulman might have taken Constantinople
seventy-five years earlier. The end came on May 29,1453.
The city was
captured by Mohammed II., and Constantine XIII., the last of the Cæsars,
the worthy scion of degenerate sires, fell in the breach. Mohammed
proceeded quickly to convert Constantinople from a Christian into a
Turkish capital. The city was sacked. The Byzantine women were sold into
slavery, or became wives or concubines of the conquerors and passed the
rest of their days in a Turkish harem. And, from this date, for
centuries the life of Greek womanhood under Turkish domination was
passed in oppression and obscurity.
The fragment of the Greek Empire known in the history of the Middle Ages
as the Empire of Trebizond was the creation of accident.
A young man
descended from the worst tyrant of Constantinople, but of an illustrious
name which retained the glamour inspired by the founder of the Comneni
dynasty, grasped the sovereignty of a most important commercial centre,
and his descendants continued to hold it until overwhelmed by the
all-conquering power of the Turk. The Empire of Trebizond possesses
unique grandeur in the romances of the West: the beauty of its
princesses was a theme of universal praise; its reputed wealth and
splendor excited the cupidity of Venetian and Genoese merchants. But it
was, after all, an insignificant kingdom, which owed its strength merely
to the weakness of surrounding peoples; and whose ostentatious court
ceremonials were but an attempt to keep up the traditions of the
Byzantine Empire and of the Comneni family in more prosperous days.
Shortly after the assassination of Andronicus by Isaac II.,
--Angelus,--his son Manuel, with other members of his family, met a
similar fate. Manuel was survived by two sons, Alexius and David, the
former a little lad of four. The boys were concealed for a time, and
were brought up in obscurity in Constantinople, where faithful friends
gave them an education worthy of their station. At the time when the
Crusaders captured the city, Alexius escaped, raised an army, and took
possession of Trebizond, then one of the most important commercial seats
on the borders of the Black Sea. The surrounding province gladly
recognized him as the lawful sovereign of the Roman Empire, and the
Comneni dynasty was continued through him for two and a half centuries
or more. To mark the legitimacy of his claim, and to prevent confusion
with the rival family of Alexius III.,--Angelus,--
Alexius assumed the
designation of "Grand-Comnenus," and by this title the family was known
until its extermination.
The earlier years of the Empire of Trebizond were notable chiefly for
the efforts of its rulers to retain and extend their power, which was
circumscribed by the stronger empire of Nicæa. After the latter had been
merged into the restored Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as its
capital, Trebizond was still strong enough to maintain an independent
existence. A league was formed between the reigning sovereigns, Michael
VIII.,--Palæologus,--of Constantinople, and John II., then Emperor of
Trebizond, through the espousal of the latter to Michael's youngest
daughter, Eudocia, who was destined to show herself one of the best and
most capable of the Palæologi princesses.
The ceremony was solemnized with great ostentation on September 12,
1282. The question of precedence was an important one, as the Trebizond
government had considered itself the direct successor of the Empire of
the Cæsars. But through this marriage the wily monarch of Constantinople
gained the advantage; for John on this occasion laid aside the title of
"Emperor of the Romans," to be henceforth reserved exclusively for the
sovereign of the city of the Golden Horn, while that of Trebizond
assumed the title of "Emperor of all the East, Iberia, and Perateia."
Furthermore, the inhabitants of the city saw in the respective marriage
robes a certain inferiority of the Trebizontine monarch to the family of
his wife; for while the robes of John were embellished with
single-headed eagles, the bride appeared in a dress covered with
double-headed eagles to mark her rank in the Empire of the East and West
as a princess of the Palæologi, born in the purple chamber.
John and his royal bride had not been long settled on the throne when he
experienced a sudden and unexpected discomfiture at the hands of an
aspiring sister. Theodora, the oldest child of Manuel I.
by his marriage
with Roussadan, an Iberian princess, jealous of the popularity of her
sister-in-law, and proud of the superiority of Comneni traditions to
those of the usurper of Constantinople, availed herself of the party
intrigues of the nobles, and the popular dissensions in the capital, to
assemble an army, surprise her imperial brother, and mount the throne.
Her glory was of brief duration, but the existence of coins bearing her
name and effigy demonstrates that her power was stable and that she was
fully recognized as a sovereign of the Empire. No clue exists which
enables us to determine how Theodora obtained the throne or how she was
at length driven from power, but John appears to have finally recovered
his throne and capital and to have expelled the ambitious princess.
During succeeding years the influence of Byzantine womanhood and the
relations between the two kingdoms continued prominent.
John died in
1297, leaving two sons, Alexius II. and Michael. The former succeeded
his father at the age of fifteen, and was placed under the guardianship
of his mother Eudocia's brother, the Byzantine emperor Andronicus II.
Andronicus ordered his ward, the young emperor of Trebizond, though an
independent sovereign prince, to marry Irene, the daughter of a
Byzantine subject, Choumnus, one of his favorite ministers. But the idea
of a Comnenus marrying below his station was offensive both to Alexius
and his people. In obedience to the blood within his veins, and in
contempt of his guardian's command, Alexius rejected the proposed
mesalliance, and married the daughter of an Iberian prince.
The young married couple presented a beautiful example of conjugal
tenderness and devotion, but this did not soften the hard heart of the
guardian. Andronicus even went so far as to endeavor, to make the Greek
Church declare the marriage null and void on the ground that it had been
contracted by a union without the consent of his guardian. But the
patriarch and clergy, sympathizing with the lovers, and alarmed at the
ludicrous position in which they would be placed, took advantage of the
interesting condition of the bride to refuse to gratify the spleen of
the chagrined emperor.
At this time also, Eudocia, the mother of Alexius, who was in partial
durance in the imperial palace at Constantinople, saw an opportunity of
obtaining her freedom and of returning to her dominions.
Her brother
Andronicus was offended with her because she had rejected his proposal
to form a second marriage with the Krai of Servia.
She persuaded her brother that her influence over her son, who was
devotedly attached to her, would have far more weight in making the
young emperor agree to a divorce than the sentence of an ecclesiastical
tribunal whose authority he was able to decline; and to this end she
obtained her brother's permission to return to Trebizond. Upon arriving
at her son's court Eudocia was so much impressed with the conjugal
fidelity of her son Alexius that she at once approved of his conduct,
and supported him in his determination to resist the tyrannical
pretensions of his guardian. Eudocia is an excellent example of the
superiority of the Palæologi women over their weaker and more selfish
brothers. In every situation, even in her months of exile from her
dominions, she maintained herself with dignity, and in her careful
rearing of her son and regard for his interests she exhibited motherly
traits of a high order.
In the next generation there was also an alliance between the royal
families of the two kingdoms. The emperor Basilius, second son of
Alexius II., married Irene Palæologina, the natural daughter of
Andronicus III. of Constantinople. Basilius had no legitimate issue, but
falling in love with a beautiful lady of Trebizond, also named Irene, he
made her his mistress and conferred on her every possible honor. She
bore him four children. To insure the succession of one of his natural
sons, Basilius in 1339 persuaded or forced the clergy to celebrate a
public marriage with his Trebizontine mistress, though there is no
evidence that he obtained a divorce from his lawful wife Irene, beyond
his own decree. He died suddenly in the April following his marriage to
his mistress.
Irene Palæologina, who was, in spite of his second nuptials, universally
regarded as the lawful wife of Basilius, was suspected of having
hastened his end; and her unfaithful husband had certainly tried the
soul of the proud lady. At any rate she was prepared for the sad event,
and had already organized a faction which placed her on the throne, as
the second independent Empress of Trebizond.
This promptitude in profiting by her husband's death, was worthy of the
first Empress Irene in Byzantine history, and gave just ground for
suspicion. But in considering an age when it was usual for people to
circulate calumnious reports against their rulers, the evidence should
be strong before we condemn the Palæologi princess.
However, the
flagrant immorality of the court circles, and the lightness of character
of Irene herself, as well as her conduct after the event, tended to give
credibility to the rumor.
Irene, as soon as she was safely established on the throne, sent off her
rival of Trebizond and the two sons of Basilius to Constantinople where
her father Andronicus detained them as hostages for the tranquillity of
her empire. A strong party of the nobility, however, who had hoped to
gain wealth and power through the favor of the Trebizontine Irene, whom
they purposed to make regent during the minority of her children, were
chagrined at the success of the schemes of the Palæologi princess, and
at once began to plan her downfall. Two great parties arose, and the
little empire was once more disturbed by the turmoil of civil war.
Irene, with all her daring, was, like her father, of a gay and
thoughtless disposition, and did not fully realize the danger of her
situation. She recognized, however, that a second husband would
strengthen her cause; and she urged her father Andronicus to send her a
husband chosen from among the Byzantine nobles, who could aid her in
repressing the factions which threatened her throne.
Andronicus gave a
favorable reception to Irene's ambassadors, but died before he had time
seriously to attend to her request. The light-minded Irene consoled
herself during the delay by falling in love with the grand domesticos of
her palace. But this bit of favoritism only divided her own court into
factions and strengthened the cause of her enemies.
A new storm now burst over the head of the thoughtless empress. Another
woman, whose title to rule was far stronger than that of Irene, appeared
to claim the throne. Anna, called Anachoutlon, was the eldest daughter
of the Emperor Alexius II. She had in early womanhood taken the veil,
and until this time had lived in seclusion. The opposition party
searched out her retreat and persuaded her to quit her monastic dress
and escape to Lazia, where she was proclaimed Empress of Trebizond, as
the nearest legitimate heir of her brother Basilius. All the provincials
united in demanding the sovereignty of a member of the house of
Grand-Comnenus in preference to the usurpation of a Palæologi princess,
who was planning to marry a foreigner. The popular demand for the rule
of a scion of the house of Grand-Comnenus gave Anna a triumphal march to
the capital, and with but little opposition she was admitted within the
citadel and universally recognized as the lawful empress. Irene was
dethroned after a troubled reign of one year and four months. Three
weeks later Michael Grand-Comnenus, second son of John II. and Eudocia,
who had been selected at Constantinople as a suitable husband of Irene,
arrived on the scene, to find the change of sovereignty.
The Empress
Anna was surrounded by a cabal of powerful chiefs, who determined to
keep the reins of power in their hands. She graciously received her
kinsman, but he was later treacherously seized and imprisoned by Anna's
partisans. Irene was sent on, under suitable escort, to Constantinople,
to pass the rest of her life in retirement. The treatment of Michael
aroused the fury of many adherents of the house of Grand-Comnenus.
Another upheaval followed. John III., son of Michael, was brought over
from Constantinople, and proclaimed emperor by a constantly growing
faction. The hapless Anna, who had doubtless ofttimes regretted giving
up the peaceful life of the monastery for the troubles and cares of a
crown, was taken prisoner in the palace, and was immediately strangled.
She had occupied the throne hardly more than a year.
The next period of importance in our study of Trebizontine princesses is
that covered by the long reign--1349-1390--of Alexius III., the second
son of Basilius by Irene of Trebizond. His wife was also a Byzantine
princess, Theodora, the daughter of Nicephorus Cantacuzenus, brother of
the emperor John V., Cantacuzenus, whose stormy career of opposition to
Anne of Savoy we have already noticed. Theodora bore to Alexius a number
of beautiful daughters, whom he utilized when they became of
marriageable age to form alliances with his powerful neighbors, both
Mohammedan and Christian. His eldest daughter, Eudocia, Alexius first
wedded to the Emir Tadjeddin, who had gained possession of the important
district of Limnia; after Tadjeddin was slain in a quarrel with a
neighboring emir, the beautiful and accomplished princess became the
wife of the Byzantine emperor, John V. That aged monarch had chosen her
to be the bride of his son, the emperor Manuel II.,--
Palæologus; but
when she arrived at Constantinople for the celebration of the nuptials,
her beauty and grace so powerfully captivated the decrepit old debauchee
that he set aside the inclinations of his son, who was also enamored of
his prospective bride, and married the young widow himself.
Anna, another daughter of Alexius, was married to Bagrat VI., King of
Georgi