BOOK III. he had concluded with Isaac, and lose the tribute he CH. 111. § 1. received from the Byzantine empire.1 The false Alexius assembled an army of eight thousand men, and ravaged the vale of the Mæander, storming several cities in order to gratify his followers with plunder: among others he took the rich city of Chona. Isaac sent his brother Alexius to encounter the pretender, but the imperial troops met with little success. The career of the rebel was, however, suddenly arrested by a priest, by whom he was assassinated, as a just vengeance for his alliance with the Infidels, by whose assistance he had plundered the richest cities of Asia Minor, and who under his banner had desecrated the churches in these cities. The assassin carried his head to Alexius the sevastokrator, who was so struck by its resemblance to the well-known features of Manuel, that he exclaimed, Those who followed him may indeed be innocent!" After his death several persons assumed the name of Alexius II.; one was taken in Paphlagonia, and put to death, and another at Nicomedia, who was deprived of sight. 66 Theodore Mankaphas, a noble of Philadelphia, also assumed the title of Emperor, and attempted to dethrone Isaac; but his historical importance is derived rather from the fact that he is recorded to have coined silver money with his effigy than from the importance of his rebellion.2 In the year 1189 he rendered himself master of the country round Philadelphia, and his progress alarmed Isaac to such a degree that he marched against him in person. The approach of Frederic Barbarossa made the emperor anxious to terminate the 1 Nicetas, 269, mentions that this happened before Kilidy-Arslan II. was dethroned by his son Kothbeddin, consequently before 1187.-L'Art de vérifier les Dates, ii. 67, 4to edit. 2 Nicetas, 255. I believe coin-collectors have not yet met with silver coins of this scoundrel, which they would prize highly, but I see mention made of five' copper concave pieces in the catalogue of Mr Borrel's collection, which was formed at Smyrna, and sold at London in 1852. war, and he agreed to pardon Mankaphas, on the rebel making his submission, and laying aside the imperial ensigns. The pardoned rebel soon after fled to Iconium, where Gaïasheddin Kaikhosrou allowed him to enrol troops among the nomade tribes, and with these bands he ravaged the frontiers of the Byzantine empire with the same barbarity as the false Alexius. At last Isaac bribed the sultan to deliver him up, on condition that his life should be spared, and his punishment should not exceed perpetual imprisonment. New claimants to the throne, however, continued to take the field, and the suspicions of Isaac induced him to punish many nobles of the highest rank for real or imaginary conspiracies.1 The Vallachian insurrection in the mean time kept the northern provinces of the empire in a state of anarchy. In the year 1192 the emperor hoped to crush it by conducting in person a well-disciplined army against the half-disciplined bands of Vallachians, Bulgarians, and Sclavonians, who had taken up arms. But he led his army into the mountain-passes without taking any precautions, where it was attacked and its ranks broken. The valour of the imperial guard saved the emperor by breaking through the Vallachians, carrying with them Isaac, helpless and bareheaded. In the following year the Vallachians stormed Anchialus, Varna, Nyssa, and Stupion, and burned part of Triaditza (Sardica). The emperor boasted of a glorious campaign when he recovered possession of the plundered ruins of these cities. He, however, defeated the Zupan of Servia, who had invaded the empire and plundered Skupia. Subsequently he marched to the banks of the Save, and after an idle procession to meet his fatherin-law, the King of Hungary, he returned to Constan 1 Nicetas, 271, 272, 273, 278. A. D. 1185-1195. BOOK III. tinople. In 1194 the Byzantine army, under the command of the generals of the European and Asiatic native troops, was completely defeated by the Vallachians near Arcadiopolis; and the country round Philippopolis, Sardica, and Adrianople was laid waste by the insurgents. The Emperor Isaac now felt the necessity of making some extraordinary exertions to terminate this war, which was daily approaching nearer to the walls of the capital. New levies were made in the empire, the foreign mercenaries were assembled from their different stations, and great numbers of Hungarian auxiliaries were brought into the field. Fifteen hundred pounds' weight of gold and six thousand of silver were expended in equipping the troops and forming the necessary magazines; and in the month of March 1195, Isaac quitted Constantinople, accompanied by his brother Alexius, in whom he placed implicit confidence. But natural affection, as well as honour and truth, appears to have been banished from Byzantine society; and this brother had already formed a plot to seize the throne, which he carried into execution when the court reached Kypsela. While the Emperor Isaac was engaged in hunting, Alexius occupied his tent, and was proclaimed emperor by the nobles and troops he had gained to support his usurpation. The army, who despised Isaac, readily transferred their allegiance to Alexius, whose vices were then less known. The dethroned emperor, when informed of the catastrophe, turned his horse's head from the camp and fled, he knew not whither. At Stagyra, then called Makri, he was overtaken by his brother's agents, who immediately deprived him of sight. He was transported directly to Constantinople, where he was imprisoned in a dungeon, and supplied with rations of bread and water like a criminal. Isaac II. reigned nine years and seven months. He was middle-sized, of a healthy constitution, with a florid complexion and red hair. When dethroned, he was not forty years of age, (April 1195).1 A. D. 1195-1203. SECT. II.—REIGN Of Alexius III. (ANGELOS COMNENOS), A.D. 1195–1203. CHARACTER OF ALEXIUS III.-LAVISH EXPENDITURE OF THE COURT - VE- On During the reign of Andronicus, Alexius Angelos, who was older than his brother Isaac II., fled for safety to the court of Saladin, where he was residing when he heard of his brother's elevation to the throne. his way to Constantinople he was arrested by the Prince of Antioch, and owed his release from captivity to his brother's affection. This, and many other acts of kindness, he repaid with the basest treachery. Even the corrupt society of Constantinople required that some attempt should be made to throw a veil over the ingratitude of the new emperor. To effect this Alexius III. assumed the name of Comnenus, insinuating thereby that his adoption into that imperial house had dissolved his connection with the humbler family of Angelos, and that duty compelled him to dethrone a worthless sovereign like Isaac. Alexius, being tall and well made, and possessing an agreeable and dignified manner, as well as more natural talent, a better education, and more command over his temper, appeared very much superior to his brother 1 Nicetas, 290. BOOK III. until he mounted the throne. As emperor, however, CH. III. § 2. he laid aside his hypocrisy, and was as careless of public business, as lavish in his expenditure, as ignorant of military affairs, and as great a coward as Isaac. The first act of Alexius III. was to reward the officers and troops who had shared his treason, by distributing among them the money his brother had collected for carrying on the war against the Vallachians. He then sent the army back to its usual quarters, and returned to the capital, leaving Thrace and Macedonia exposed to the incursions of the rebels. His wife Euphrosyne had prepared the senate and people to give him a favourable reception by a liberal distribution of bribes and promises of promotion; and his coronation was performed in St Sophia's by the obsequious Patriarch. The behaviour of his horse alone caused some to reflect on the injustice of his conduct and the instability of his power. As he was about to mount on horseback at the steps of the great church, after the ceremony was finished, and return in procession to the palace, according to the immemorial usage of the Roman empire, his horse for a long time refused to allow him to mount; and when at last he had gained his seat, it reared and plunged until the emperor's crown fell from his head, and was broken by the fall. It then completed the disaster by throwing the emperor himself on the ground. Alexius, however, escaped unhurt.1 The public treasury was quickly emptied by the lavish expenditure of Alexius and Euphrosyne; and every species of extortion, injustice, and fraud, was then employed to collect money. When it was no longer possible to bestow money, places, pensions, and estates belonging to the imperial domain, were con 1 Nicetas, 294. |