History of the Byzantine Empire by George Finlay

Author:George Finlay
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Blackwood
Published: 1854-05-07T16:00:00+00:00

^ Compare Acropolita, 17, and Niceph. Oregoras, 12, with Ducange, Font. Aug. Byz., 220,22%

BOOK IV. of Alexis and Isaac Lascaris to such a degree that they ciLj^ not only retired from Nicaea, but even attempted to carry off their niece Eudocia, who had been promised to the Latin emperor Robert. Failing in this attempt, they deserted to the Latins, and distinguished themselves at the court of Constantinople by their eagerness to commence hostilities against their countrymen. The military power of the Latin empire was constantly declining. The army which effected its conquest was soon dispersed over its surface with the feudal chiefs among whom it had been partitioned, or its warriors proceeded to Palestine to complete their vows, in order to return to their hereditary possessions in their native lands. No Latin army of equal strength could ever again be assembled under the walls of Constantinople. Nevertheless, for a short time, the reports which spread through western Europe of the immense plunder and rich fiefs which the conquerors of the Byzantine empire had acquired, attracted an ample supply of fresh recruits to the East. But in a few years, defeats and misfortunes on one side, and the improving condition of European society on the other, arrested emigration. The prudence and valour of the Emperor Henry could with difficulty efface the impression produced by the terrible and romantic tales that were circulated concerning the murder of Baldwin by the King of Bulgaria ; and before the melancholy end of the first Belgian emperor was forgotten, men were appalled by the news that his brother-in-law, Peter of Courtenay, the third emperor, had perished by a similar untimely end. In attempting to march from Dyrrachium to Constantinople, Peter of Courtenay was defeated and taken prisoner by Theodore, the despot of Epirus, and for some time his fate was shrouded in the same mystery as that of Baldwin. The world was long unwilling to believe that both the imperial brothers-

PAPAL POLICY IN THE EAST. 373

in-law had perished in prison. Yolande, the wife of a. d.

Peter, who had administered the government of Con- ._ '

stantinople as regent with great prudence, did not long survive her husband ; and Robert, the second son of Peter, who succeeded to the throne of the Latin empire, was a weak and incapable prince. The kingdom of Saloniki was governed by an Italian regency, acting in the name of Demetrius, the second son of the king, Marquess Boniface of Montferrat.^ It was soon evident that neither the empire nor the kingdom could resist the attacks of the Greeks, Epirots, and Bulgarians, without assistance from western Europe. The solicitations for aid were generally addressed to the popes, who possessed the power of rendering the contest a holy war, by granting indulgences to every Catholic who attacked the Greek heretics. The popes consequently became the arbiters of the Latin empire, and supported its cause with fervour. As a matter of course, they regarded the Greeks as more dangerous enemies of papal influence than the Mohammedans.

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