Chapter XXVI: The End of a Long Tale. (1370-1453.)

The tale of the last seventy-five years of the Byzantine Empire is a mere piece of local history, and no longer forms an important thread in the web of the history of Christendom. Murad the Turk might have taken Constantinople in 1370, without altering in any very great measure the course of events in Eastern Europe during the next century. For after 1370 the empire ceased to exercise its old function of “bulwark of Christendom against the Ottomite.” That duty now fell to the Servians and Hungarians, who continued to discharge it for the next hundred and fifty years. The Paleologi, by their base subservience to the Turk, protracted the life of the empire long after all justification for its existence had disappeared.

If Constantinople had fallen in 1370, instead of 1453, there are only two ways in which European history would have been somewhat modified. The commercial resources of Genoa and Venice would have been straitened before the appointed time, and ere the Cape route to India enabled Europe to dispense with the use of Constantinople as half-way house to the East. And, we may add, the Renaissance would have been shorn of some of its brilliance in the next century, if the dispersion of the Greeks had taken place before Italy was quite fitted to receive them and turn their learning to account. But in other respects it is hard to see that much harm would have resulted from the fall of Constantinople in the end of the fourteenth rather than the middle of the fifteenth century.

While Murad I. was conquering the Servians and Bulgarians, John Paleologus was dragging out a long and unhonoured old age. His reign was protracted for over half a century, but his later years were much vexed by the undutiful behaviour of his children. His son Andronicus twice rebelled against him, and once succeeded in seizing the throne for a short space. Andronicus allied himself unto Saoudji, a son of Murad I., who plotted a similar treason against his father the Emir. But Murad easily quelled the rebellion, put out the eyes of his own son, and sent Andronicus in chains to John II., bidding him to follow his example. The Emperor did not dare to disobey, and ordered his son to be blinded. But the operation was so ineffectually performed that Andronicus retained a measure of sight, and was even able to venture on a second rebellion against his father.

In consequence of his heir’s unnatural conduct, the aged John determined to deprive him of his succession, and when he died in 1391, he left the throne to his second son Manuel, and not to his eldest born. Manuel II. was above the average of the Paleologi, and showed some signs of capacity, but of what use was it to a prince whose sole dominions were Constantinople, Thessalonica, and the Peloponnesus? He had neither military strength nor money to justify rebellion against the Turk, and could only wait on the course of events.

There was, however, one moment in Manuel’s life at which the liberation of the empire from the Ottoman suzerainty appeared possible and even probable. In 1402, there burst into Asia Minor a great horde of Tartars, under the celebrated conqueror Timour [Tamerlane]. Sultan Bayezid, the successor of Murad I., went forth to withstand the invader. But at Angora in Galatia, he suffered a crushing defeat, and the Ottoman Empire seemed likely to perish by the sword. Bayezid was captured, his trusty Janissaries were cut to pieces, his light horsemen scattered to the winds. The Tartars swarmed all over Asia Minor, occupied Broussa, the Ottoman capital, and restored to their thrones all the Seljouk Emirs whose dominions Murad I. had annexed. Bayezid died in captivity, and his sons began to fight over the remains of his empire: Prince Suleiman seized Adrianople, Prince Eesa Nicaea, and each declared himself Sultan.

Manuel Paleologus And His Family. (_From a Contemporary MS._) (_From
"L’Art Byzantin." Par C. Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._)

This was a rare opportunity for Manuel Paleologus: the thieves had fallen out, and the rightful owner might perchance come again to his own, if he played his cards well. The control of the Straits was of great importance to each of the Turkish pretenders, so much so, that Manuel was able to sell his aid to Suleiman for a heavy price. In order to keep Eesa from crossing the water, the holder of the European half of the Ottoman realm ceded to the Emperor Thessalonica, the lower valley of the Strymon, the coast of Thessaly, and all the seaports of the Black Sea from the mouth of the Bosphorus up to Varna.

For a moment Manuel once more ruled what might in courtesy be called an empire, and so long as the Ottomans were occupied in civil war he contrived to retain his gains. The strife of the sons of Bayezid lasted ten years: Suleiman was slain by his brother Musa, Eesa by his brother Mohammed, and the two supplanters continued the war. By all Oriental analogies their empire ought to have fallen to pieces, for it is very much easier to build up a new state in the East than to keep together an old one which is breaking asunder. But Mohammed, the youngest of the sons of Bayezid, was a man of genius: he triumphed over the last of his brothers, and united all the remnants of the Ottoman realm that remained. Much had been lost to the Seljouk Emirs in Asia Minor, and to the Servians and Manuel Paleologus in Europe, but the rest was back in Mohammed’s hands by A.D. 1421. Manuel had very luckily cast in his lot with Mohammed during the later years of the Turkish civil war, and his ally let him enjoy the dominions he had recovered by his original treaty with Suleiman in 1403.

Between 1402 and 1421, Europe had an unparalleled opportunity to rid herself of the Ottomans. Unfortunately it was not taken. Sigismund, king of Hungary, and at the same time Emperor, was the sovereign on whom the duty of leading the attack ought to have fallen. But Sigismund was now engaged in his great struggle with the Hussites in Bohemia. This wretched religious war directed the strength of Hungary northward when it was wanted in the south. Without such a power to back them the Servians, though they recovered their own liberty as a result of the battle of Angora, could do nothing towards driving the Turks from the Balkans. There was never any sympathy between Serb and Magyar, and save under the direct pressure of fear of a Moslem invasion they would not act together. The Hungarian kings had always laid claim to a suzerainty over the crown of Servia, and from time to time tried to convert their neighbours to Roman Catholicism by force of arms. Hence there was no love lost between them, and a crusade to expel the Turks was never concerted.

Arabesque Design From A Byzantine MS. (_From "L’Art Byzantin." Par Charles
Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._)

Mahomet the Unifier died in 1421, and evil days at once set in for Constantinople and for Christendom, when his ambitious son Murad II. came to the throne. Manuel Paleologus was one of the first to feel the change in the times. He tried to make trouble for Murad, by supporting against him two claimants to the Ottoman Sultanate, each named Mustapha, one the uncle, the other the brother of the new ruler. This drew down on the empire the fate which had been delayed since 1370: the Sultan declared war on Manuel, took one after another all the fortresses which had been recovered by the peace of 1403, and finally laid siege to Constantinople. For the last time the walls of the city proved strong enough to repulse an assault. Though Murad levelled against them cannon, then seen for the first time in the East, built movable towers to shelter his troops, and launched his terrible Janissaries to the assault, he could not succeed. The report of a miraculous vision of the Virgin, who vouchsafed to reveal herself as the defender of the city, encouraged the Greeks to resist with a better spirit than might have been expected. At last the pretender Mustapha, whom Manuel had supplied with money to cause a revolt against his brother, began to stir up such trouble in Asia Minor, that the Sultan determined to raise the siege and march against him. He granted Manuel peace, on the condition that he ceded all his dominions save the cities of Constantinople and Thessalonica and the Peloponnesian province. Thus the empire once more sank back into a state of vassalage to the Ottomans [1422].

Manuel II. died three years after, at the age of seventy-seven. He was the last sovereign of Constantinople who won even a transient smile from fortune. The tale of the last thirty years of the empire is one of unredeemed gloom.

To Manuel succeeded his son John VI., whose whole reign was passed in peace, without an attempt to shake off the Turkish yoke; such an attempt indeed would have been hopeless, unless backed by aid from without. As Manuel II. once observed, “the empire now requires a bailiff not a statesman to rule it.” Treaties, wars, and alliances were not for him: all that he could do was to try to save a little money, and to keep his walls in good repair, and even these humble tasks were not always feasible.

All the descriptions of Constantinople in the fifteenth century, whether written by Greek natives or by Western travellers, bear witness to a state of exhaustion and debility which make us wonder that the empire did not collapse sooner. The country outside the walls was a desert. Within them more than half the ground was unoccupied, and covered only by ruins which testified to ancient magnificence. The great palace by the Augustaeum, which sheltered so many generations of emperors, had grown so dilapidated that the Paleologi dwelt in a mere corner of it. Part of the porticoes of St. Sophia had fallen down, and the Greeks could not afford to repair even the greatest sanctuary of their faith. The population of the city had shrunk to about a hundred thousand souls, most of them dwelling in great poverty. Such commerce and wealth as still survived in Constantinople had passed almost entirely into the hands of the Italians of Genoa and Venice, whose fortified factories at Galata and Pera now contained the bulk of the wares that passed through the city. The military strength of the empire was composed of about four thousand mercenary troops, of whom many were Franks and hardly any were born subjects of the empire. The splendid court, which had once been the wonder of East and West, had shrunk to such modest dimensions that a Burgundian traveller noted with surprise that no more than eight attendants accompanied the empress when she went in state to worship in St. Sophia.(32)

John VI., in spite of the caution with which he avoided all action, was destined to see the empire lose its most important possession beyond the walls of Constantinople. His brother Andronicus, governor of Thessalonica, traitorously sold that city to the Venetians for 50,000 zecchins. The Sultan, incensed at a transfer of Greek territory having taken place without his permission, pounced down on the place, expelled the Venetians and annexed Thessalonica to the Ottoman Empire [1430].

The chief feature of the reign of the last John Paleologus was his attempt to win aid for the empire by enlisting sympathy in Western Europe. He determined to conform to Roman Catholicism and to throw himself on the generosity of the Pope. Accordingly he betook himself to Italy in 1438, with the Patriarch of Constantinople and many bishops in his train. He appeared at the Councils of Ferrara and Florence, and was solemnly received into the Roman Church in the Florentine Duomo, on July 6, 1439. It had apparently escaped John’s notice that Eugenius IV., the pope of his own day, was a very different personage from the great pontiffs of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, who were able to depose sovereigns and send forth Crusades at their good pleasure. Since the Great Schism the papacy had been hopelessly discredited in Christendom. Eugenius IV. was engaged in waging a defensive war against the Council of Basle, which was attempting to depose him, and had little thought or power to spend on aiding the Eastern Christians. All that John could get from him was a sum of money and a body of three hundred mercenary troops. This was a poor return for his journey and conversion.

Only one thing of importance was accomplished by the apostasy of the Emperor—the outbreak of a venomous ecclesiastical struggle at Constantinople between the conformists who had taken the oath at Florence, and the bulk of the clergy, who disowned the treaty of union. John was practically boycotted by the majority of his subjects; the Orthodox priests ceased to pray for him, and the populace refused to enter St. Sophia again, when it had been profaned by the celebration of the Roman Mass. The opinion of the majority of the Greeks was summed up in the exclamation of the Grand-Duke John Notaras—“Better the turban of the Turk in Constantinople than the Pope’s Tiara.”

The last years of the reign of John VI. coincided with the great campaigns of Huniades and Ladislas of Poland against the Turks. For a moment it seemed as if the gallant king of Poland and Hungary, backed by his great Warden of the Marches, might restore the Balkan lands to Christendom. They thrust Murad II. back over the Balkans, and appeared in triumph at Sophia. But the fatal battle of Varna [1444] ended the career of King Ladislas in an untimely death, and after that fight the Ottomans were obviously fated to accomplish their destiny without a check. John Paleologus watched the struggle without movement if not without concern. He was too cautious to stir a finger to aid the Hungarians, for he knew that if he once offended the Sultan his days would be numbered.

John VI. passed away in 1448, and Sultan Murad in 1451. The one was succeeded by his brother Constantine, the last Christian sovereign of Byzantium, the other by his young son Mohammed the Conqueror. Constantine was a Romanist like his elder brother, and was therefore treated with great suspicion and coolness by his handful of subjects. He was the best man that the house of Paleologus had ever reared, brave, pious, generous, and forgiving. Like King Hosea of Israel, “he did not evil as the kings that were before him,” yet was destined to bear the penalty for all the sins and follies of his long line of predecessors.

Mohammed II., the most commanding personality among the whole race of Ottoman Sultans, set his heart from the first on seizing Constantinople, the natural centre of his empire, and making it his capital. Some excuse had to be found for falling on his vassal: the one that he chose was a rather unwise request which Constantine had made. There dwelt at Constantinople a Turkish prince of the royal house named Orkhan, for whom Mohammed paid a considerable subsidy, on condition that he was kept out of the way of mischief and plotting. Some unhappy inspiration impelled Constantine to ask for an increase in the subsidy, and to hint that Orkhan had claims to the Sultanate. This was excuse enough for Mohammed: without taking the trouble to declare war he sent out troops and engineers, and began to erect forts on Greek soil, only four miles away from Constantinople, at the narrowest point of the Bosphorus, so as to block the approach to the city from the Black Sea. The Emperor did not dare to remonstrate, but when the Turks began to pull down a much-venerated church, in order to utilize its stones in the new fort, a few Greeks took arms and drove the masons away. They were at once cut down by the Turkish guards: Constantine demanded redress, and then Mohammed, having fairly picked his wolf-and-lamb quarrel with his unfortunate vassal, commenced open hostilities [Autumn 1452].

Turkish light troops at once appeared to blockade the city while the Sultan began to collect a great train of cannon at Adrianople, and to build a large fleet of war galleys in the ports of Asia: the siege was to begin in the ensuing spring.

The empire was now in its death agony, and Constantine recognized the fact. He spent the winter in making frantic appeals to the Pope and the Italian naval powers to save him from destruction. Nicholas V. was willing enough to help; now that the Emperor was a convert to Catholicism something must be done to aid him. But all that the Pope could send was a cardinal, a moderate sum of money, and a few hundred soldiers of fortune hastily hired in Italy. Venice and Genoa could have done much more, but they had so often heard the cry of “Wolf” raised that they did not realize the danger to their Eastern trade at its true extent. From Genoa, Giovanni Giustiniani brought no more than two galleys and three hundred men. Venice did even less, only commissioning the bailiff of its factory at Galata to arm such able-bodied Venetians as were with him for the protection of the city. Altogether the Franks, counting both trained mercenaries and armed burghers, who co-operated in the defence of Constantinople, were not more than three thousand strong. Yet either Genoa or Venice could have thrown a hundred galleys and twenty thousand men into the scale if they had chosen.

Details Of St. Sophia.

Constantine’s own troops were about four thousand strong, but he hoped to recruit them by a general levy of the male population of the city. He issued a passionate appeal to his subjects to join in saving the holy city, the centre of Eastern Christendom. But the Greeks only remembered that he was an apostate, who had foresworn the faith of his fathers and done homage to the Pope. They stood aside in sullen apathy, and from the whole population of the city only two thousand volunteers were enlisted. Theological bitterness led the blind multitude to cry with Notaras that it preferred the Turk to the Roman.

In April, 1453, the young Sultan, with seventy thousand picked troops at his back, laid formal siege to the city on the land side, while a fleet of several hundred war galleys beset the Bosphorus. The end could not be for a moment doubtful; nine thousand men could not hope to defend the vast circuit of the land and sea-wall against a veteran army urged on by a young and fiery general. Mohammed set his cannon to play on the walls, and it was soon seen that the tough old Roman mortar and stone that had blunted the siege engines of so many foes could not resist the force of gunpowder. The Sultan’s artillery was rude, but it was heavy and numerous; ere long the walls began to come down in flakes, and breaches commenced to show themselves in several places.

Constantine XIII. and his second in command, the Genoese Giustiniani, did all that brave and skilful men might, in protracting the siege. They led sorties, organized attacks by water on the Turkish fleet, and endeavoured to drive off the siege artillery of the enemy by a counter fire of cannon. But it was found that the old walls were too narrow to bear the guns, and where any were hoisted up and brought to bear, their recoil shook the fabric in such a dangerous way that the fire was soon obliged to cease.

At sea the Christians won one great success, when four galleys from the Aegean forced their way in through the whole Turkish fleet, and reached the Golden Horn in safety, after sinking many of their assailants. But the Turks had as great a numerical superiority on the water as on land, and the inevitable could only be delayed. Mohammed even succeeded in getting control of the harbour of the city, above its mouth, by dragging light galleys on rollers over the neck of land between the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, and launching them in the inland waters just above Galata. Thus the inner, as well as the outer, sea-face of the city was beset by enemies.

The end came on May 29, 1453. The Sultan had opened several practicable breaches, of which the chief lay in the north-west angle of the city by the gate of St. Romanus, where two whole towers and the curtain between them had been battered down and choked the ditch. The storm was obviously at hand, and the doomed Emperor was obliged to face his fate. Greek historians dwelt with loving sorrow on the last hours of the unfortunate prince. He left the breach at midnight, partook of the sacrament according to the Latin rite in St. Sophia, and snatched a few hours of troubled sleep in his half-ruined palace. Next morning, with the dawn, he rose to ride back to the post of danger. His ministers and attendants crowded round his horse as he started on what all knew to be his last journey. Looking steadfastly on them he prayed one and all to pardon him for any offence that he might wittingly or unwittingly have committed against any man. The crowd answered with sobs and wails, and with the sounds of woe ringing in his ears Constantine rode slowly off to meet his death.

The assault commenced at dawn; three main attacks and several secondary ones were directed against weak spots in the wall. But the chief stress was on the great breach by the gate of St. Romanus. There the Emperor himself and Giustiniani at his side stood in the midst of the yawning gap with their best men around them, and opposed a barrier of steel to the oncoming assailants. Twelve thousand Janissaries, sabre in hand, formed successive columns of attack; as soon as one was beaten off another delivered its assault. They fell by hundreds before the swords of the mailed men in the breach, for their felt caps and unarmoured bodies were easy marks for the ponderous weapons of the fifteenth century. But the ranks of the defenders grew thin and weary; Giustiniani was wounded in the face by an arrow, and taken on board his galley to die. Constantine at last stood almost alone in the breach, and a forlorn hope of Janissaries headed by one Hassan of Ulubad, whom Turkish chroniclers delight to honour, at last forced their way over the wall. The Emperor and his companions were trodden under foot, and the victorious army rushed into the desolate streets of Constantinople, seeking in vain for foes to fight. The Greeks, half expecting that God would interfere to save the queen of Christian cities by a miracle, had crowded into the churches, and were passing the fatal hour in frantic prayer! The shouts of the victorious enemy soon showed them how the day had gone, and the worshippers were dragged out in crowds, to be claimed as slaves and divided among the conquerors.

Mohammed II. rode through the breach after his men, and descended into the city, scanning from within the streets that so many Eastern conquerors had in vain desired to see. He bade his men search for the Emperor, and the corpse of Constantine was found at last beneath a heap of slain, so gashed and mauled that it was only identified by the golden eagles on his mail shoes. The Turk struck off his head, and sent it round their chief cities as a token of triumph. Riding through the hippodrome towards St. Sophia, Mohammed noted the Delphic tripod with its three snakes,(33) standing where Constantine the Great had placed it eleven hundred years before. Either because the menacing heads of the serpents provoked him, or merely because he wished to try the strength of his arm, the Sultan rose in his stirrups and smote away the jaws of the nearest snake with one blow of his mace. There was something typical in the deed though Mohammed knew it not. He had defaced the monument of the first great victory of the West over the East. He, the successor in spirit not only of Xerxes but of Chosroës and Moslemah and many another Oriental potentate, who had failed where he succeeded, could not better signalize the end of Greek freedom than by dealing a scornful blow at that ancient memorial, erected in the first days of Grecian greatness, to celebrate the turning back of the Persians on the field of Plataea.

At last the Sultan came to St. Sophia, where the crowd of wailing captives was being divided among his soldiery. He rode in at the eastern door, and bade a mollah ascend the pulpit and repeat there the formula of the Moslem faith. So the cry that God was great and Mohammed his prophet rang through the dome where thirty generations of patriarchs had celebrated the Holy Mysteries, and all Europe and Asia knew the end was come of the longest tale of Empire that Christendom has yet seen.

Finis.

TABLE OF EMPERORS.

Arcadius, 395-408 Theodosius II., 408-450 Marcianus, 450-457 Leo I., 457-474 Zeno, 474-491 Anastasius I., 491-518 Justinus I., 518-527 Justinianus I., 527-565 Justinus II., 565-578 Tiberius II., Constantinus, 578-582 Mauricius, 582-602 Phocas, 602-610 Heraclius, 610-641 Heraclius Constantinus and Heracleonas, 641-2 Constans II., 642-668 Constantine IV., 668-685 Justinian II., 685-695 Leontius, 695-697 Tiberius III., Apsimarus, 697-705 Justinian II. (restored), 705-711 Philippicus, 711-713 Anastasius II., Artemius, 713-715 Theodosius III., 715-717 Leo III., the Isaurian, 717-740 Constantine V., Copronymus, 740-775 Leo IV., 775-779 Constantine VI., 779-797 Irene, 797-802 Nicephorus I., 802-811 Stauracius, 811 Michael I., Rhangabe, 811-813 Leo V., the Armenian, 813-820 Michael II., the Amorian, 820-829 Theophilus, 829-842 Michael III., 842-867 Basil I., the Macedonian, 867-886 Leo VI., the Wise, 886-912 Constantine VII., Porphyrogenitus, 912-958 [Co-regent Emperors— Alexander, 912-913 Romanus I., Lecapenus, 919-945] Romanus II., 958-963 Basil II., Bulgaroktonos, 963-1025 [Co-regent Emperors— Nicephorus II., Phocas, 963-969 John I., Zimisces, 969-976] Constantine VIII., 1025-28 Romanus III., Argyrus, 1028-34 Michael IV., the Paphlagonian, 1034-42 Michael V., 1042 Constantine IX., Monomachus, 1042-55 Theodora, 1055-57 Michael VI., Stratioticus, 1056-57 Isaac I., Comnenus, 1057-59 Constantine X., Ducas, 1059-67 Michael VII., Ducas, 1067-78 [Co-regent Emperor— Romanus IV., Diogenes, 1067-71] Nicephorus III., Botaniates, 1078-81 Alexius I., Comnenus, 1081-1118 John II., Comnenus, 1118-43 Manuel I., Comnenus, 1143-80 Alexius II., Comnenus, 1180-83 Andronicus I., Comnenus, 1183-85 Isaac II., Angelus, 1185-95 Alexius III., Angelus, 1195-1203 Isaac II. (restored), 1203-4 Alexius V., Ducas, 1204

LATIN EMPERORS.

Baldwin I., 1204-5 Henry, 1205-16 Peter, 1217-19 Robert, 1219-28 Baldwin II., 1228-61

NICAEAN EMPERORS.

Theodore I., Lascaris, 1204-22 John III., Ducas, 1222-54 Theodore II., Ducas, 1254-59 John IV., Ducas, 1259-60

EMPIRE RESTORED.

Michael VIII., Paleologus, 1260-82 Andronicus II., Paleologus, 1282-1328 Andronicus III., Paleologus, 1328-41 John V., Paleologus, 1341-91 [Co-regent— John VI., Cantacuzenus, 1347-54] Manuel II., 1391-1425 John VII., 1425-48 Constantine XI., 1448-53

INDEX.

Abdalmelik, the Caliph, wars of, with Justinian II., 174-6

Abubekr, the Caliph, wars of, with Heraclius, 160

Achaia, Frank principality of, 296

Acroinon, battle of, 188

Adana, taken by Nicephorus Phocas, 230

Adrianople, battle of, 40;
besieged by the Goths, 41;
captured by the Turks, 329

Africa, conquered by Belisarius, 84-5;
overrun by the Saracens, 176

Aijnadin, battle of, 162

Alaric the Goth, 47;
wars with Stilicho, 48;
departs to Italy, 49

Alaeddin, Sultan of the Seljouks, 322

Alboin the Lombard invades and conquers Italy, 116

Aleppo, Emirate of, 227;
attacked by Nicephorus Phocas, 231;
tributary to the empire, 270

Alexander, emperor-regent, 217

Alexandria, stormed by the Arabs, 166

Alexius I. (Comnenus), usurpation of, 257;
wars with the Normans, 259;
conquests of in Asia Minor, 205;
commercial policy of, 268

Alexius II. (Comnenus), short reign and murder of, 272

Alexius III. (Angelus), usurpation of, 278;
attacked by the Crusaders, 282;
flies, 284

Alexius IV. (Angelus), takes refuge in Germany, 279;
persuades the Crusaders, 280;
made emperor, 284;
murdered, 285

Alexius V. (Ducas), murders Alexius IV., 285;
defends Constantinople, 287;
slain, 293

Alexius Comnenus, emperor of Trebizond, 298

Alp Arslan, Sultan of the Seljouk Turks, attacks the empire, 252;
defeats Romanus IV., 254

Amalasuntha, Gothic queen, murdered, 82

Amalphi, commerce of, 225

Amorium, stormed by the Saracens, 210

Amour, Turkish Emir, 327

Amrou conquers Egypt, 166

Anastasius I., reign of, 61

Anastasius II., usurpation of, 181

Anatolic theme, 167

Andreas murders Constans II., 169

Andronicus I. (Comnenus), crimes and fall of, 272-3

Andronicus II. (Paleologus), reign of, 315-20

Andronicus III. (Paleologus), reign of, 321-2

Angelus, house of, _see_ Isaac II. Alexius III. and Theodore of Epirus

Angora, battle of, 334

Ani, taken by the Turks, 251

Anthemius, prime minister of Theodosius II., 54-5

Anthemius, architect of St. Sophia, 107

Anne of Savoy, empress-regent, 326

Antioch, taken by the Persians, 99;
taken a second time, 129;
stormed by the Saracens, 163;
retaken by Nicephorus Phocas, 231;
lost to the Turks, 256;
besieged by the Crusaders, 265;
tributary to the Comneni, 270

Antioch-on-Maeander, battle of, 299.

Antonia, wife of Belisarius, 74

Apsimarus, Tiberius, emperor, 177;
executed, 179

Arabs, _see_ Saracens

Arcadius, reign of, 47-54;
his dealings with the Goths, 48;
quarrels with Chrysostom, 52

Armenia, conquered by the Byzantines, 243;
overrun by the Turks, 251

Army, reformed by Leo and Zeno, 61;
description of, in tenth century, 218

Artemius Anastasius, reign of, 61

Art, decay and revival of, 222-4

Aspar, executed by Leo I., 60

Athalaric, Gothic king, 81

Athanarich, Gothic king, 42;
visits Constantinople, 44

Athens, early Byzantines at war with, 6;
schools of, closed by Justinian, 150;
Frank duchy of, 297;
conquered by the “Grand Company,” 319

Attila, king of the Huns, wars of with the empire, 57

Augustaeum, description of the, 19

Avars, invasions of, the 122;
war of, with Heraclius, 134;
besiege Constantinople, 137

Baanes, rebel in Syria, 163

Baduila, Gothic king, victories of, 92;
takes Rome, 94;
slain in battle, 95

Baldwin I., emperor, his character,281;
crowned, 292;
slain by the Bulgarians, 295

Baldwin II., reign of, 301;
his travels, 305;
expelled from Constantinople, 306

Bardas Caesar, 212;
murdered by Michael III., 213

Bari, taken by the Normans, 259

Basil I., made Caesar, 213;
assassinates Michael III., 213;
laws of, 214

Basil II., ascends the throne, 229;
assumes the full power, 240;
his Bulgarian victories, 241-3;
campaigns in Asia, 243;
dies, 244

Bayezid, Turkish Sultan, 334

Belisarius, Persian victories of, 73;
quells the _Nika_ riots, 79;
conquers Africa, 84;
takes Palermo, 88;
takes Rome, 89;
takes Ravenna, 91;
recalled, 92;
acts against Persia, 100;
defeats the Huns, 104;
disgraced, 105

Beneventum, Lombard duchy of, 117;
wars of with Constans II., 169

Black Sea, Greek trade with, 2

“Blues and Greens,” Circus factions, 22, 75;
great riot of, against Justinian, 76-7;
armed by Maurice, 127

Bohemund the Norman, wars of with Alexius I., 267

Boniface of Montserrat, 281-2;
made king of Thessalonica, 292;
slain in battle, 296

Bosphorus, the, 1-2

Bostra, stormed by the Saracens, 162

Branas, Alexius, rebellion of, 277

Brienne, house of, at Athens, 308;
expelled by the “Grand Company,” 319

Broussa, _see_ Prusa

Bucellarian Theme, 167-8

Buhawides, Persian dynasty, 226-7

Bulgarians, invade and settle in Moesia, 171;
defeated by Justinian II., 173;
aid Justinian, 179;
defeat the Saracens, 187;
at war with Constantine V., 196;
defeat Constantine VI., 198;
slay Nicephorus I., 203;
besiege Constantinople, 204;
routed by Leo V., 205;
defeat Leo VI, 216;
conquered by the Russians, 235;
conquered by Basil II., 241-3;
revolt against Isaac II., 276-7;
slay Baldwin I., 295;
conquests of, 308;
subdued by the Turks, 330

Burtzes storms Antioch, 231

Byzantium, founded, 1;
early history of, 2-8;
under the Romans, 9-12;
chosen as Constantine’s capital, 17;
_see afterwards under_ Constantinople

Candia taken by Nicephorus Phocas, 228

Cantacuzenus, John, usurpation of, 325-8

Caracalla, grants privileges to Byzantium, 10

Carthage, taken by Belisarius, 85;
taken by the Saracens, 176

Cassiodorus, his work in literary copying, 149

Chalcedon, founded. 3;
taken by the Persians, 134

Champlitte, William of, founds principality of Achaia, 296

Charles the Great crowned emperor, 109

Cherson. Justinian II. at, 177;
sacked, 180

Chosroës I., king of Persia, wars of, with Justinian, 72-4, 90-100

Chosroës II.. wars with Phocas and Heraclius, 120-135;
death of, 138

Chosroantiocheia, foundation of, 72

Christianity, influence of, on the empire and society, 145-149

Chrysostom, _see under_ John Chrysostom

Cilicia, conquered by Nicephorus Phocas, 230;
lost to the Turks, 236;
reconquered by the Comneni, 270

Column, of the Hippodrome, 25;
of Constantine, 25

Commerce, centralization of, at Constantinople, 224, 225;
decline of, under the Comneni, 267;
effects of Fourth Crusade on, 310

Comnena, Anna, writes her father’s life, 264

Comnenus, _see under_ Alexius, John, Andronicus, Manuel, David, Isaac

Conrad of Montserrat defeats Branas, 277

Constans II., reign of, 166;
wars of with the Saracens, 167;
murdered, 169

Constantine I., besieges Byzantium, 12;
master of the world, 14;
seeks a capital, 16;
founds Constantinople, 18

Constantine III., defeated by the Saracens, 164;
short reign of, 165

Constantine IV. (Pogonatus), wars of with the Saracens, 170;
defeats Moawiah, 171;
holds the Council of Constantinople, 172

Constantine V. (Copronymus), wars of, 196;
persecutes the Image-worshippers, 197

Constantine VI., reign of, 198;
blinded by his mother, 198

Constantine VII. (Porphyrogenitus), reign of, 216, 217;
literary works of, 220, 221

Constantine VIII., reign of, 245

Constantine IX. (Monomachus), reign of, 247

Constantine X. (Ducas), reign of, 250, 251

Constantine XI. (Paleologus), accession of, 343;
attacked by the Turks, 344;
last hours of, 347;
death of, 348

Constantinople founded by Constantine, 18;
topography of, 19-29;
besieged by the Goths, 41;
street fighting in, 51;
besieged by Avars and Persians, 136, 137;
besieged for the first time by the Saracens, 170;
besieged for the second time by the Saracens, 185, 186;
besieged by Bulgarians, 205;
commercial importance of, 224;
riots in, 247;
the Crusaders at, 264;
taken by the Franks and Venetians, 284;
stormed and sacked a second time, 287, 288;
devastation of, by the Latins, 291;
besieged by John Ducas, 301;
recovered by the Greeks, 305;
taken by John Paleologus, 329;
besieged by Murad II., 337;
last siege of, 346;
taken by the Turks, 348

Corippus, poem of, 144

Council of Constantinople, under Constantine IV., 172;
under Constantine V., 197;
under Leo V., 206

Council of Florence, John VI. at, 341

Courtenay, house of at Constantinople, 300, 301

Crete, conquered by the Saracens, 208;
recovered by Nicephorus Phocas, 228;
taken by the Venetians, 292

Cross, the Holy, captured by the Persians, 132;
recovered by Heraclius, 139;
removed to Constantinople, 163

Crumn, king of Bulgaria, defeats Nicephorus I., 203;
besieges Constantinople, 205

Crusaders, their dealings with Alexius I., 263, 264;
enter Syria, 265;
of the Fourth Crusade, 279;
conquer Constantinople, 288

Ctesiphon, Heraclius at, 138

Cyprus, monks banished to, 197;
recovered by Nicephorus Phocas, 230;
seized by Isaac Comnenus, 277;
taken by Richard I. of England, 278

Damascus, taken by the Persians, 131;
taken by the Saracens, 163

Dandolo, Henry, doge of Venice, 280, 281;
at the storm of Constantinople, 284, 288

Dara taken in the Persian wars, 136

Dastagerd taken by Heraclius, 138

David Comnenus defeated by Theodore I., 299

Delphic tripod, the, 24;
mutilated by Mahomet II., 349

Delphic oracle, the, orders foundation of Byzantium, 3

Digenes Akritas, epic of, 222

Diocletian makes Nicomedia his capital, 15

Diogenes, Romanus, reign of, 251;
defeated at Manzikert, 254;
slain, 256

Ducas, _see under_ Constantine X., Michael VII., John III., Theodore II.

Durazzo, battle of, 260

Dushan, Stephen, king of Servia, conquests of, 327

Ecloga, the, Leo III.’s code of laws, 194

Eesa, Sultan, 334-5

Egypt, conquered by the Persians, 134;
conquered by the Saracens, 164;
separated from the Caliphate, 227

Eikasia, story of, 211

Emesa, taken by the Saracens, 163;
taken by Nicephorus Phocas, 231

Epirus, the despotate of, 298, 301, 304, 327

Ertogrul, the Turk, 322

Eudocia (Athenaïs), wife of Theodosius II., her disgrace, 56

Eudocia, wife of Romanus Diogenes, 251

Eudoxia, Ælia, wife of Arcadius, 52

Eugenius IV., pope, treaty of, with John VI., 341

Euphrosyne, wife of Michael the Amorian, 207

Eutropius, minister of Arcadius, 47;
protected by Chrysostom, 50

Euphemius, rebel in Sicily, 208

Exarchate, of Ravenna, 119;
conquered by the Lombards, 196

Fatimite dynasty in Egypt, 243

Ferrara, John VI. at Council of, 341

Flaccilla, benevolence of, 156

Florence. Council of, 341

Franks, threaten Italy, 89;
summoned by Witiges, 91;
protect the Papacy, 196

Fritigern, Gothic ruler, 35-7;
victory of over Valens, 40

Fravitta defeats Gainas, 31

Gainas, minister of Arcadius, 47;
rebellion of, 50; slain, 51

Gallienus, Byzantium destroyed by, 10

Gallipoli seized by the Turks, 329

Ganzaca burnt by Heraclius, 136

Gelimer, king of the Vandals, 81;
defeated and captured, 85

Genoa, rise of, 263;
trade of, with the East, 267;
allied to Michael Paleologus, 314;
sends aid to Constantine XI., 344

George the Alan, 318

George of Pisidia, poems of, 221

Giustiniani, John, defends Constantinople, 344-8

Godfrey of Bouillon, 264

Goths, early history of, 32;
cross the Danube, 37;
defeat Valens, 39;
besiege Constantinople, 41;
submit to Theodosius, 42;
the Visigoths under Alaric, 48;
quit the East, 49;
the Ostrogoths under Theodoric at war with Zeno, 62;
invade Italy, 64;
kingdom of, attacked by Belisarius, 86;
wars of, with Justinian, 88-94;
defeated and destroyed, 95

“Grand Company,” the, hired by Andronicus II., 317;
ravage Thrace, 318;
conquer Athens, 319

Greece, invaded by the Goths, 48;
overrun by the Slavs, 125;
conquered by the Crusaders, 296, 297

Greek fire, invented, 170;
used by the Byzantine fleet, 220

Gregory the Great, Pope, 120, 121

Guiscard, Robert, wars of, with Alexius I., 259-61

Haroun-al-Raschid, wars of, with Nicephorus I., 203

Helena, mother of Constantine I., 19

Hellas, theme of, 168;
revolts against Leo III., 193

Henry of Flanders, Emperor, 295-6

Henry VI. of Swabia, Emperor of the West, 278

Heracleonas, reign and fall of, 165-6

Heraclius the Elder, rebellion of, 130

Heraclius I., sails against Constantinople, 130;
slays Phocas, 130;
disasters of the Persian War, 132;
his Crusade, 133;
victorious campaign of, 135-7;
his triumph, 139;
attacked by the Saracens, 160;
defeated, 163;
last years of, 164

Heraclius Constantinus, son of Heraclius I., short reign of, 165

Hierapolis taken by Nicephorus Phocas, 231

Hieromax, battle of the, 162

Hilderic, Vandal king, deposed, 81

Hippodrome, the great, 22

Histiaeus holds Byzantium, 5

Honorius slays Stilicho, 49

Hungary, converted to Christianity, 262;
invaded by Manuel I., 271;
attacks the Ottoman Turks, 342

Huniades, John, 342

Huns, under Attila, 57;
ravage Syria, 71;
threaten Constantinople, 104;
defeated by Belisarius, 105

Iconium, Sultanate of, _see under_ Seljouks

Iconoclasm, the movement, 188-9;
vigorous under the Isaurian emperors, 192-7;
in the ninth century, 203-10;
ended by Michael III., 212

Iconodules, 202

Images, superstitions connected with, 190;
removed by Leo III., 192;
use of, ceases in the East, 212

Innocent III., sends out Fourth Crusade, 281;
wrath of with the Crusaders, 290

Irene, the empress, regency of, 107;
deposed, 198;
blinds her son and seizes the throne, 199

Isaac I. (Comnenus), his short reign, 250

Isaac II. (Angelus), rebels, 273;
his reign, 276;
deposed by his brother, 278;
restored, 284;
dies, 285

Isaac Comnenus, of Cyprus, 277-8

Isaurians, the, enlisted by Leo and Zeno, 61;
dynasty of the, 192-9

Isperich, king of Bulgaria, 172

Italy, conquered by Belisarius, 88-91;
partly conquered by the Lombards, 116;
Constans II. in, 169;
central parts of, lost, 196;
southern parts of, conquered by the Normans, 258

Jacobites, in Egypt and Syria, 161

Janissaries, the, 324

Jerusalem, Eudocia at, 57;
taken by Persians, 132;
Heraclius at, 139;
taken by the Saracens, 163;
taken by the Crusaders, 265

John I. (Zimisces), murders his uncle, 232;
successful wars of, 234-7;
dies, 239

John II. (Comnenus), reign and conquests of, 268-9

John III. (Ducas Vatatzes), 300;
conquers Thrace and Macedonia, 301

John IV. (Ducas), dethroned by Michael Paleologus, 304

John V. (Paleologus), minority of, 325-8;
expels John Cantacuzenus, 329;
defeated by the Turks, 330;
later years of, 333

John VI. (Paleologus), reign of, 339;
embraces Catholicism, 341

John (Angelus), Emperor of Thessalonica, 300

John, King of Bulgaria, 276;
conquers Baldwin I., 295

John the Cappadocian, finance minister, 76

John Chrysostom, patriarch, 52;
exiled, 53

John Ducas, regent, 255

John the Faster, patriarch, 120

John the Grammarian, patriarch, 209, 212

John Huniades, general, 342

John Lydus, author, 143

Julian, reign of, 32

Justin I., reign of, 65

Justin II., reign and wars of, 117

Justinian I., character of, 65;
marries Theodora, 66;
first Persian war of, 71-4;
Italian and African wars of, 83-93;
recalls Belisarius, 91;
his buildings, 106-9;
his legal work, 112

Justinian II., misfortunes of, 172;
banished, 175;
reconquers his throne, 179;
slain, 180

Kadesia, battle of, 164

Kaikhosru, Sultan, slain in battle, 299

Karasi, Emirs of, 319

Karl the Great, crowned emperor, 201

Kathisma, the, 24

Khaled, victories of, 162

Khazars, allied to Heraclius, 137;
shelter Justinian II., 178

Kief, Russian capital, 234

Kobad, wars of, with Justinian, 71

Ladislas, king of Bulgaria, 243

Ladislas, king of Poland and Hungary, 342

Larissa, battle of, 261

Lascaris, _see under_ Theodore I.

Latin language, used in the Balkan Peninsula, 124;
decay of the, 144

Law, Roman, codified by Justinian, 112;
changes of Leo III., 194;
of Basil I., 214

Lazarus the painter, 224

Lecky, Mr., views of, discussed, 153

Lazica, wars of Justinian and Chosroës about, 100

Leo I., reign of, 60

Leo III., the Isaurian, seizes the crown, 182;
defends Constantinople, 184;
religious reforms of, 192;
political reforms of, 194

Leo IV., short reign of, 197

Leo V. (the Armenian) seizes the throne, 204;
defeats the Bulgarians, 205;
murdered, 206

Leo VI. (the Wise), reign of, 216;
literary works of, 218

Leo the Deacon, 237

Leontius, usurpation and fall of, 175-7;
slain, 179

Liberius conquers South Spain, 96-7

Licinius, wars of with Maximinus Daza, 11;
dethroned by Constantine I., 12

Literature, 221-2

Lombards, the, leave Pannonia, 115;
conquer North Italy, 117;
defeated by Constans II., 169;
subdue the Exarchate, 196

Louis IX., of France, gives money to Baldwin II., 305

Lupicinus, governor of Moesia, 37

Lydus, John, author, 143

Macedonia, overrun by Slavs, 125;
in hands of Boniface of Montferrat, 292;
conquered by Stephen Dushan, 327

Maeander, battle of the, 299

Mahomet, the prophet, rise of, 159

Mahomet I., Sultan, reunites the Ottoman Empire, 336

Mahomet II. conquers Constantinople, 343-50

Maniakes, wars of, 246

Manuel I. (Comnenus), reign and wars of, 271-2

Manuel II. (Paleologus), reign and misfortunes of, 336-9

Manzikert, battle of, 254

Marcianus, reign of, 59

Martina, niece and wife of Heraclius, 165;
exiled, 166

Martyropolis, 121

Maurice, reign of, 120;
Persian wars, 121;
fall and death of, 127

Maximinus Daza takes Byzantium, 11

Melek-Adel, Sultan of Egypt, 279

Mesembria, taken by Bulgarians, 204;
battle of, 205

Mesopotamia, conquered by Heraclius, 136;
invaded by John Zimisces, 239

Michael I. (Rhangabe), short reign of, 204

Michael II. (the Amorian), conspiracy of, 206;
ecclesiastical policy of, 207;
wars of, 208

Michael III. (the Drunkard), minority of, 212;
excesses and murder of, 213

Michael IV. (the Paphlagonian), reign and wars of, 246

Michael V., ephemeral power of, 247

Michael VI. (Stratioticus), short reign of, 248-9

Michael VII. (Ducas), minority of, 251;
disastrous reign of, 256

Michael VIII. (Paleologus), usurpation of, 303-4;
overthrows the Latin Empire, 305;
disbands the Asiatic militia, 313;
wars of, 304, 314

Michael IX., son and colleague of Andronicus II., defeated by the “Grand
Company,” 318

Michael Angelus, despot of Epirus, 300

Moawiah, Caliph, attacks Constantinople, 170;
his armies defeated, 171

Moesia, invaded by the Goths, 37;
seized by the Bulgarians, 171

Monks, characteristics of the early, 149;
favour image worship, 193;
persecuted by Constantine Copronymus, 197

Monophysites, 75

Moors, Gelimer flies to the, 85

Montferrat, _see under_ Boniface and Conrad

Morals, effect of Christianity on, 145-7;
general character of Byzantine, 155-6

Moslemah besieges Constantinople, 185-7

Motassem, the Caliph, sacks Amorium, 210

Murad I., conquers Thrace, 329;
suzerain of John V., 330;
conquers the Serbs, 332

Murad II., besieges Constantinople, 337;
makes peace with Manuel II., 338;
wars of, 342

Murtzuphlus, _see_ Alexius V. (Ducas)

Myriokephalon, battle of, 272

Naissus, birthplace of Constantine I., 16;
taken by the Bulgarians, 277

Naples, taken by Belisarius, 88;
interference of the Pope with, 120

Narses, the eunuch, conquers Italy from the Goths, 95

Narses, General, burnt alive by Phocas, 129

Navy, the Byzantine, 219-20

Nicaea, taken by the Crusaders, 264;
by the Ottomans, 323

Nicephorus I. dethrones Irene, 199;
disastrous wars of, 203

Nicephorus II., Phocas, takes Candia, 228;
emperor, 229;
wars of, 231;
murdered by Zimisces, 232

Nicholas V., pope, sends aid to Constantine XI., 344

Nicomedia, taken by the Ottomans, 323

Nineveh, battle of, 138

Normans, conquer Byzantine Italy, 247;
invade the empire, 259;
second invasion of repelled, 267;
third invasion of, 273

Notaras, John, 342

Nuceria, Goths beaten at, 95

Obeydah, Saracen general, 162

Obsequian theme, the, 168

Odoacer, conquered by Theodoric, 63, 64

Omar, the Caliph, visits Jerusalem, 163

Omeyades, dynasty of the, 170

Orkhan, Emir of the Ottomans, reign and successes of, 323-4;
Pretender to the Sultanate, 343

Orosius, history of, 150

Ostrogoths, under Theodoric in Moesia, 62;
conquer Italy, 64;
weakness of the kingdom of, 82;
attacked by Justinian, 88;
wars of with Belisarius and Narses, 89-94;
crushed, 95

Othman, Emir of the Turks, conquests of, 321-23

Palace, imperial, at Constantinople, 19

Paleologus, house of, _see under_ Michael VI., Andronicus II. and III.,
John V. and VI., Constantine XI.

Palermo, taken by Belisarius, 88

Palestine, conquered by the Persians, 132;
overrun by the Arabs, 163;
subdued by the Crusaders, 265

Pandects, compiled by Justinian, 112

Patriarchal palace of Constantinople, 21

Patriarchs, _see under_ John, Sergius, &c.

Paulicians, sect of the persecuted by Basil I, 214

Paulinus, put to death by Theodosius II., 57

Patzinak Tartars, the, 237;
wars of with Alexius I., 262

Pavia, taken by the Lombards, 116

Persian Empire destroyed by the Arabs, 164

Persian Wars under Julian, 32;
under Justinian, 71, 99;
under Maurice, 121;
under Phocas and Heraclius, 130-36

Peter, general under Nicephorus Phocas, 231

Philip of Macedon, attacks Byzantium, 7

Philip of Swabia, helps Alexius Angelus the younger, 279-8

Philippicus, usurpation and fall of, 180-1

Phocas, emperor, his usurpation, 127;
cruelty of, 129;
slain, 130

Phocas, Bardas, rebels against John Zimisces, 233;
against Basil II., 241

Phocas, Nicephorus, reign of, 228-30;
wars of, 231;
murdered, 233

Photius, patriarch, his learning, 221

Plague, the great of A.D. 542, 101

Popes, rise of the power of, 120;
estranged from the empire, 196;
call in the Franks, 199

Priscus, general of Maurice, 126

Prusa, taken by the Turks, 323;
sacked by the Mongols, 334

Pulcheria, Empress, with her brother Theodosius II., 55;
marries Marcianus, 59

Pelekanon, battle of, 323

Polyeuktus, patriarch, 230

Ravenna, taken by Belisarius, 91;
exarchate of, 119;
occupied by the Lombards, 196

Rhangabe, Michael, short reign of, 204

Rhazates, general, slain by Heraclius, 137

Richard Coeur de Leon, conquers Cyprus, 278

Robert Guiscard, wars of with Alexius I., 259-60;
final repulse of, 261

Roger de Flor, hired by Andronicus II., 317;
conquests of, 318;
assassinated, 318

Romanus I. (Lecapenus), long regency of, 217

Romanus II, short reign of, 228-9

Romanus III. (Argyrus), married to Zoe, 245;
dies, 246

Romanus IV. (Diogenes), reign of, 251;
defeated by Turks, 254;
dies, 256

Rome, taken by Belisarius, 89;
besieged by the Goths, 90;
taken by Baduila, 94;
Gregory the Great at, 120;
Constans II. at, 169;
Charles the Great at, 199

Ruric, founds the Russian kingdom, 234

Russians, early invasions of, 216;
attack Bulgaria, 234;
defeated by John Zimisces, 237;
converted to Christianity, 239

Sabatius, father of Justinian, 65

Samuel, king of Bulgaria, 241;
wars and death of, 242

Saoudji, rebels against Murad I., 333

Sapor, king of Persia, 32

Saracens, the, converted by Mahomet, 159;
invade Syria, 160-2;
conquer Egypt, 166;
conquer Persia, 164;
civil wars of the, 166;
for later history, _see under_ names of the Caliphs

Sardis, taken by Alexius I., 265

Scholarian Guards, the, 104

Seljouk Turks, conquer Persia and Armenia, 250-1;
invade the empire, 252;
conquer Asia Minor, 254;
defeated by the Crusaders, 265;
wars of with the Comneni, 265-7-72;
with Theodore I., 298

Sergius, patriarch, 133

Senate House at Constantinople, 21

Servians, cross the Danube, 123;
conquered by Basil II., 243;
rebel against Michael IV., 246;
conquered by Manuel I., 271;
overrun Macedonia, 327;
subdued by the Turks, 330

Severus, emperor, takes Byzantium, 9

Shahrbarz, the Persian, takes Jerusalem, 132;
defeated by Heraclius, 135

Sicily, conquered by Belisarius, 88;
invaded by Saracens, 208;
finally conquered by Saracens, 214;
invaded by Maniakes, 246 ;

Siroes, deposes his father Chosroës, 138

Skleros, Bardas, rebel against Basil II., 241

Slavery, influence of Christianity on, 147-8

Slavs, invade the Balkan Peninsula, 123;
subject to the Avars, 124-37;
ravages of the, 125, 129;
made tributary by Constans II., 169;
besiege Thessalonica, 171

Sophia. St., first building of, 27;
burnt in 410 A.D., 53;
burnt in the _Nika_ riots, 77;
rebuilding of by Justinian, 107-9;
desecrated by the Turks, 349

Spain, South of, conquered by Justinian’s generals, 96-7

Stauracius, emperor, short reign of, 204

Statues at Constantinople, 21, 25;
destruction of by the Crusaders, 291

Suleiman, Saracen vizier, besieges Constantinople, 185;
dies, 186;
Turkish Sultan, reign of, 334-6

Stephen Lecapenus, usurpation of, 217

Stephen Dushan, king of Servia, conquests of, 327

Stephen, pope, calls in the Franks, 196

Stilicho, wars of with Alaric, 47-8;
murdered by Honorius, 49

Swiatoslaf, king of Russia, conquers Bulgaria, 235;
defeated by Zimisces, 237

Syria, invaded by the Huns, 71;
invaded by Kobad, 73;
conquered by Shahrbarz, 129-30;
invaded and conquered by the Saracens, 162-3;
conquests of Nicephorus Phocas in, 229;
subdued by the Crusaders, 265

Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem, 163

Tagina, battle of, 95

Tarsus, taken by Nicephorus Phocas, 230

Teia, Gothic king, slain in battle, 95

Telemachus, martyrdom of, 145

Terbel, king of Bulgaria, aids Justinian II., 178

Themes, institution of the provincial system of, 167-8

Theodahat, Gothic king, murders his wife, 82;
war of with Justinian, 87;
slain, 88

Theodora, wife of Justinian, career of, 66-8;
in the _Nika_ riots, 79;
death of, 103

Theodora, wife of Theophilus, 211;
regency of, 212

Theodora, daughter of Constantine VIII., reign of, 248

Theodora, daughter of Cantacuzenus, married to Orkhan, 328

Theodore I. (Lascaris), at the siege of Constantinople, 289;
made emperor at Nicaea, 298;
wars of, 299

Theodore II. (Ducas), short reign of, 303

Theodore, Studita, 221

Theodoric, son of Triarius, wars of with Zeno, 62-3

Theodoric, son of Theodemir, rebels against Zeno, 62;
conquers Italy, 64;
dies, 81

Theodotus, minister of Justinian II., 174

Theodosius I., wars of, with the Goths, 42;
dies, 44

Theodosius II., reign of, 54-6;
war with Attila, 57

Theodosius III., usurpation of, 181;
abdicates, 183

Theophano, empress, 229;
murders her husband, 233

Theophilus, emperor, reign and wars of, 208-11;
his love of art, 224-5

Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, 52

Thessalonica, besieged by the Slavs, 171;
stormed by the Saracens, 216;
Crusading kingdom of, 292;
retaken by the Greeks, 296;
taken by the Turks, 330;
recovered, 336;
finally lost, 341

Theuderic, Frankish king, attacks Witiges, 89

Thomas, rebel in Asia, 208

Tiberius II., Constantinus, short reign of, 114;
wars of, 117

Tiberius III., Apsimarus, rebellion of, 177;
deposed and slain, 179

Tiberius, son of Justinian II., slain, 180

Togrul Beg, Turkish chief, conquers Bagdad, 251

Totila, _see under_ Baduila

Trebizond, empire of, founded, 298

Tribonian, minister of Justinian I., 112

Tricameron, battle of, 85

Turks, _see under_ Seljouks, and names of Ottoman Sultans

Tuscany, conquered by the Lombards, 116

Tyana, sacked by Saracens, 182

Uldes, king of the Huns, 51

Urosh, king of Servia, 327

Uscup, capital of Stephen Dushan, 327

Valens, reign of, 36;
slain in battle by the Goths, 41

Vandals, kingdom of the, in Africa, 82;
conquered by Belisarius, 85

Varangian guards, 239;
at Durazzo, 260;
at siege of Constantinople, 282, 288

Verona, Baduila at, 92

Venice, rise of, 225;
commercial treaties of, with Alexius I., 268;
wars with Manuel I., 271;
aids the Fourth Crusade, 279;
engages in war with Alexius III., 282;
share of in plunder of Constantinople, 292;
at war with Michael VIII., 314

Vigilius, pope, persecuted by Justinian, 103

Vikings, the, in Russia, 234

Visigoths, the, invade Moesia, 35;
slay Valens, 41;
under Alaric, 48;
migrate to Italy, 49

Vitalian, rebellion of, 61

Welid, caliph, wars of, with the empire, 182

Witiges, Gothic king, 88;
besieges Rome, 90;
submits to Belisarius, 91

Yezid, Saracen prince, wars of with the empire, 170

Zachariah, patriarch of Jerusalem, 132

Zapetra, taken by Theophilus, 210

Zara, taken by the Crusaders, 280

Zeno, emperor, reorganizes the army, 61;
wars of with the Goths, 62;
sends Theodoric to Italy, 64

Zeuxippus, baths of, 19

Zimisces, John, murders Nicephoras 1, 233;
Russian war of, 235-7;
Asiatic conquests of, 239

Zoe, empress, her marriages and reign, 245-7

FOOTNOTES

1 See coin on opposite page. The Bosphorus was supposed to have drawn
its name from being the place where Io, when transformed into a cow,
forded the strait from Europe into Asia Βοῦς-πορὸς.

2 See coin on page 4.

3 Ammianus Marcellinus.

4 Certainly not by Procopius, whose name it bears.

5 There had been only an isolated raids of Huns in A.D. 395, which
penetrated as far as Palestine. No other invasion reached as far as
Antioch.

6 “Born in Germania, a district between Thrace and Illyricum,” says
his secretary, Procopius. We do not know where the district—a German
settlement, presumably—was situated.

7 See chap. ii. p. 22.

8 To hold the view which denied the existence both of a truly human
and a truly Divine nature in Our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 See map on p. 20.

10 The murder of Amalasuntha took place _after_ the Roman invasion of
Africa; but Theodahat was already on the throne when the Vandal war
was proceeding.

11 The king’s real name was Baduila, as shown on his coins, and
recorded by some historians, but Imperialist writers always call him
Totila, which seems to have been a nickname.

12 Bury’s “Later Roman Empire,” i. 402.

13 Agathias.

14 It is comforting to know that the popular legend which tells how the
great general lived in poverty and disgrace, begging the passer-by
“dare obolum Belisario,” and dying in the streets, is untrue. But
the suspicious emperor’s conduct was quite unpardonable.

15 Calabria is here used in its old sense, meaning South Apulia, and
not the extreme point of Italy down by Reggio and Squillace.

16 From them the Albanians descend: the Albanian tongue is the only
relic of ancient Illyria.

17 To be carefully distinguished from his homonym in Justinian’s time.

18 “History of European Morals,” ii. p. 13.

19 Mr. Lecky speaks of the “perpetual fratricide” of the Byzantine
emperors. It may be interesting to point out that from 340 to 1453
there was not a single emperor murdered by a brother, and only one
dethroned by a brother. Two were dethroned by sons, but not
murdered.

20 To the credit of Amrou and his Saracens it must be recorded that the
great Alexandrian Library was not burnt by them in sheer fanatical
wantonness as the legends tell. It had perished long before.

21 Mr. Bury’s excellent chapter on “Themes,” in vol. ii. of his “Later
Roman Empire,” is most convincing as to these very puzzling
provinces and their origin.

22 “Slaves to images”; a term of contempt not unfairly applied to the
image-worshippers.

23 See p. 116.

24 It is said to have been either his birth-place or that of his
mother.

25 This name was given him because he was born in the Purple Chamber,
the room in the palace set aside for the Empress. Emperors born in
their father’s reign had been scarce of late. Constantine VI. and
Michael the Drunkard were the only two in the 110 years before
Constantine VII.

26 There is a splendid copy of this book in the Bodleian Library, made
as late as 1560, where all the prophecies are applied to the Turks
and Venetians.

27 There were two palace intrigues against him, both headed by members
of his own family. Neither of them won any support from people or
army.

28 He pierced himself by misadventure with one of his own poisoned
arrows, and died of the wound.

29 Nicetas, “Isaac Angelus,” book iii. ch. 8, § 6.

30 See page 289.

31 Sometimes known as John Vatatzes.

32 See Bertrandon de la Broquière quoted in Finlay, vol. iii. p. 493, a
very interesting passage.

33 See pp. 24, 25.