BYZANTINE EMPIRE BYZANTINE HISTORIANS. 



779 



great success against the Turks and other barbarians. 

 The reign of his son, Manuel I., who succeeded him 

 (1143), was also not unfortunate. His son, Alexius 

 II., succeeded (1180), and was dethroned by his guar- 

 dian, Andronicus, as was the latter by Isaac (1185). 

 4.fter a reign disturbed from without and within, 

 Isaac was dethroned by his brother, Alexius III. 

 (J1951. The crusaders restored him and his son, 

 Alexius IV.; but the seditious Constantinopolitans 

 proclaimed Alexius V., Ducas Murzuphlus, emperor, 

 .vho put Alexius IV. to death. At the same 

 time, Isaac II. died. During the last reigns, the 

 kings of Sicily had made many conquests on the 

 coasts of the Adriatic. The Latins now forced 

 their way to Constantinople (1204), conquered the 

 city, and retained it, together with most of the 

 European territories of the empire. Baldwin, count 

 of Flanders, was made emperor, Boniface, marquis 

 of Montferrat, obtained Tiiessalonica as a king- 

 dom, and the Venetians acquired a large extent 

 of territory. In Attalia, Rhodes, Philadelphia, Co- 

 rinth, and Epirus, independent sovereigns arose. 

 Theodore Lascaris seized on the Asiatic provinces, 

 bore the title of emperor at Nice, and was, at first, 

 more powerful than Baldwin. A descendant of the 

 Comneni, named Alexius, established a principality 

 at Trebizond, in which his great-grandson John took 

 the title of emperor. Neither Baldwin nor his suc- 

 cessors were able to secure the tottering throne. He 

 himself died in captivity, among the Bulgarians (1206). 

 To him succeeded Henry, his brother, with Peter, 

 brother-in-law of Henry, and his son Robert (1221). 

 With the exception of Constantinople, all the remain- 

 ing Byzantine territory, including Thessalonica, was 

 conquered by John, emperor of Nice. Baldwin II., 

 brother of Robert, under the guardianship of his col- 

 league, John Brienne, king of Jerusalem, died in 

 1237. Michael Palteologus, king of Nice, conquered 

 Constantinople in 1261, and Baldwin died in the 

 West, a private person. The sovereigns of Nice, up 

 to this period, were Theodore Lascaris (1204) ; John 

 Ducas Patatzes, a good monarch and successful war- 

 rior (1222); Theodore II., his son (1259), who was 

 deprived of the crown by Michael Palaeologus (1260). 

 In 1261, Michael took Constantinople from the La- 

 tins. He laboured to unite himself with the Latin 

 church, but his son, Andronicus II. (1282), renounced 

 the connexion. Internal disturbances, and foreign 

 wars, particularly with the Turks, threw the exhaust- 

 ed empire into confusion. Andronicus III., his grand- 

 son, obliged him to divide the throne (1322), and, at 

 length, wrested it entirely from him. Andronicus 

 died a monk (1328). Andronicus IV., who ascended 

 the throne in the same year, waged war unsuccess- 

 fully against the Turks, and died (1341.) His son John 

 was obliged to share the throne with his guardian, 

 John Catacuzene, during ten years. The son of the lat- 

 ter, Matthew, was also made emperor. But John Canta- 

 cuzcne resigned UK* crown, and Matthew was compell- 

 ed to abdicate (1355). Under the reign of John, the 

 Turks first obtained a firm footing in Europe, and con- 

 quered Gallipolis (1 357). The family of Palsologus, 

 from this time, were gradually deprived of their Euro- 

 pean territories, partly by revolt, partly by the Turks. 

 The sultan Amurath took Adrianople (1361). Bajazet 

 conquered almost all the European provinces except 

 Constantinople, and obliged John to pay him tribute. 

 Tht latter was, some time after, driven out by his own 

 sor., Andronicus, who was succeeded by his second 

 son, Manuel (1391). Bajazet besieged Constanti- 

 nople, defeated an army of western warriors, under 

 Sigismund, near Nicopolis (1396), and Manuel was 

 obliged to place John, son of Andronicus, on his 

 throne. Timur's invasion of the Turkish provinces 

 saved Constantinople for this time (1402). Manuel 



then recovered his throne, and regained some of the 

 lost provinces from the contending sons of Bajazet. 

 To him succeeded his son John (1 425), whom Amu- 

 rath II. stripped of all his territories except Constan- 

 tinople, and extorted a tribute from him (1444). To 

 the emperor John succeeded his brother Constantine. 

 With the assistance of his general, the Genoese Jus- 

 tinian, he withstood the superior forces of the enemy 

 with fruitless courage, and fell in the defence of Con- 

 stantinople, by the conquest of which, May 29, 1453, 

 Mohammed II. put an end to the Greek or Byzantine 

 empire. In 1 46 1 , David Comnenus, emperor of Tre- 

 bizond, submitted to him, and, at a subsequent period, 

 was put to death. See Comneni. 



BYZANTINE HISTORIANS ; a series of Greek authors, 

 whose works relate to the history of the lower Greek 

 empire, from the fourth century until the conquest of 

 Constantinople by the Turks, and to the Turkish his- 

 tory until the end of the 16th century. These 

 authors display the faults of a degenerate period ; but 

 they contain, also, the relics of former excellence. 

 They are the principal source of the history of the 

 decay of the Roman empire ; and a correct delineation 

 of the condition and character of the modern Greeks 

 requires an intimate acquaintance with them, of which 

 D'Anse de Villoison is an example. They contain, 

 besides, an inexhaustible store of materials relative to 

 the great migration of the nations, and the new poli- 

 tical system to which it gave rise in the north of Asia 

 and in Europe, and illustrative of ecclesiastical his- 

 tory. These too much neglected authors have been 

 collected in an edition, published at Paris Corpus 

 Scriptorum Historic Byzantinte (Paris, royal press, 

 1645 1702, 23 vols.) ; reprinted at Venice, with a 

 different arrangement of the works ( 1729 1733), and 

 explained by several French scholars, particularly by 

 Du Cange, who have rendered great service by their 

 commentaries and glossaries. These collections, 

 however, are rarely to be found complete. Hase has 

 enlarged the list of these writers, by his edition of 

 Leo Diaconus (Leonis Diaconi Caloensis Historia, etc., 

 c Bibl. Regia nunc primum in Lucem edid. ill. C. B. 

 Hase, Paris, 1819, folio), which, in form and the 

 value of the contents, approaches the great Paris 

 edition. He has promised, also, to publish Psellus. 

 Stritter, keeper of the royal archives at Moscow, un- 

 der Paul, has proved, by an excellent extract, (Memo- 

 rice Populorum ad Danubium, Pontinn Euxinum, 

 Paludem Meeotidem, Mare Caspium et inde magis ad 

 Septentrionem I?icolentium, Petersb., 1771 79, four 

 vols., 4to), their importance as sources of ancient 

 Russian history. Four of them form a continued his- 

 tory of the Byzantine empire to the year 1470, viz. : 

 1. Zonaras; 2. Nicetas Acominatus Choniates; 3. Ni- 

 cephorus Gregorias ; 4. Laonicus, or Nicholas Chal- 

 condylas of Athens. The other authors, who have 

 treated only single parts of the Byzantine history, are 

 almost all to be found in the Corpus Byzantimttn, 

 which appeared at Paris, in 1648, from the royal 

 press, in three splendid folio volumes. The most 

 remarkable among these are in chronological order : 

 1. Procopius of Caesarra, rhetorician at Constantino- 

 ple. We have from him eight books of histories, viz., 

 Persica., in four books, and Got/iica, in four books, 

 published separately by Hoschel (Augsburg, 1607) ; 

 ajid Secret History (Anecdota), in nine books (in 

 which, contrary to the opinions expressed in his first 

 work, he shows himself very inimical to the emperor 

 Justinian) published by Reinhard, at Erlangen ml 

 Leipsic (1753). 2. Agathias, after the death of Jus- 

 tinian, wrote an account of his reign, in five books, 

 published at Paris (1660, folio) 3. Theophylact of 

 Egypt. We have from him a history of the emper- 

 or Maurice, in eight books to 604 (Paris, 1644.) 

 4. Nicephorus, patriarch of Constantinople, who 

 4x2 



