Page images
PDF
EPUB

LXVI.

CHAP. unworthy to reign; transferred to the Pope all regal and paternal authority; and invests Innocent with full power to regulate the family, the government, and the marriage, of his son and successor. But this treaty was neither executed nor published. The Roman gallics were as vain and imaginary as the submission of the Greeks; and it was only by the secrecy, that their sovereign escaped the dishonour, of this fruitless humiliation.

Visit of John Paleologus

V. at Rome,

A. D. 1369. October 13. &c.

>

The tempest of the Turkish arms soon burst on his head; and, after the loss of Adrianople and to Urban Romania, he was inclosed in his capital, the vassal of the haughty Amurath, with the miserable hope of being the last devoured by the savage. In this abject state, Palæologus embraced the resolution of embarking for Venice, and casting himself at the feet of the Pope. He was the first of the Byzantine princes who had ever visited the unknown regions of the West, yet in them alone he could seek consolation or relief; and with less violation of his dignity he might appear in the sacred college, than at the Ottoman Porte. After a long absence, the Roman pontiffs were returning from Avignon to the banks of the Tyber; Urban the Fifth *, of a mild and virtuous character, encouraged or allowed the pilgrimage of the Greek Prince; and, within

the

* See the two first original lives of Urban V. (in Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. iii. p. ii. p. 623. 635.), and the Ecclesiastical Annals of Spondanus, (tom. i. p. 573. A. D. 1369, No. 7.), and Raynaldus, (Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. xx. p. 223. 224.). Yet, from some variations, I suspect the Papal writers of slightly magnifying the genuflexions of Palxologus.

LXVI.

the same year, enjoyed the glory of receiving in the CHA P. Vatican the two Imperial shadows, who represented the majesty of Constantine and Charlemange. In this suppliant visit, the Emperor of Constantinople, whose vanity was lost in his distress, gave more than could be expected of empty sounds and formal submissions. A previous trial was imposed; and, in the presence of four cardinals, he acknowledged, as a true Catholic, the supremacy of the Pope, and the double procession of the Holy Ghost. After this purification, he was introduced to a public audience in the church of St Peter; Urban, in the midst of the cardinals, was seated on his throne; the Greek monarch, after three gunuflexions, devoutly kissed the feet, the hands, and at length the mouth, of the holy father, who celebrated high mass in his presence, allowed him to lead the bridle of his mule, and treated him with a sumptuous banquet in the Vatican. The entertainment of Palæologus was friendly and honourable; yet some difference was observed between the Emperors of the East and West*; nor could the former be entitled to the rare privilege of chaunting the gospel in the rank of a deacon f. In favour of his proselyte,

Paullo minus quam si fuisset Imperator Romanorum. Yet his title of Imperator Græcorum was no longer disputed, (Vit. Urban V. p. 623.).

+ It was confined to the successors of Charlemagne, and to them only on Christmas-day. On all other festivals, these Imperial deacons were content to serve the Pope, as he said mass, with the book and the corporal. Yet the Abbé de Sade generously thinks, that the merits of Charles IV. might have entitled him, though not on the proper day, (A. D. 1368. November 1.), to the whole privilege. He seems to affix a just value on the privilege and the man, (Vie de Petrarque, tom. iii. p. 735.).

LXVI.

CHAP. proselyte, Urban strove to rekindle the zeal of the French King, and the other powers of the West; but he found them cold in the general cause, and active only in their domestic quarrels. The last hope of the Emperor was in an English mercenary, John Hawkwood *, or Acuto, who, with a band of adventurers, the white brotherhood, had ravaged Italy from the Alps to Calabria; sold his services to the hostile states; and incurred a just excommunication by shooting his arrows against the Papal residence. A special licence was granted to negociate with the outlaw; but the forces, or the spirit of Hawkwood, were unequal to the enterprise; and it was for the advantage perhaps of Palæologus, to be disappointed of a succour, that must have been costly, that could not be effectual, and which might have been dangerous t. The disconsolate Greek prepared

* Through some Italian corruptions, the etymology of Falcone in bosco, (Matteo Villani, 1. xi. c. 79. in Muratori, tom. xv. P. 746.), suggests the English word Hawkwood, the true name of our adventurous countryman, (Thomas Walsingham, Hist. Anglican, inter Scriptores, Cambdeni, p. 184.). After twoand-twenty victories, and one defeat, he died, in 1394, General of the Florentines, and was buried with such honours as the republic has not paid to Dante or Petrarch, (Muratori, Annali d'Italia, tom. xii. p. 212-371.).

This torrent of English (by birth or service) overflowed from France into Italy after the peace of Bretigny in 1360. Yet the exclamation of Muratori (Annali, tom. xii. p. 197.) is rather true than civil. "Ci mancava ancor questo, che dopo 66 essere calpestrata l'Italia da tanti masnadieri Tedeschi ed Ungheri, venissero fin dall' Inghliterra nuovi cani a finire di divorarla."

↑ Chalcondyles, 1. i. p. 25. 26. The Greek supposes his journey to the King of France, which is sufficiently refuted by the silence of the national historians. Nor am I much more inclined to believe, that Palæologus departed from Italy, valde bene consolatus et contentus, (Vit. Urban V. p. 623.).

LXVI.

prepared for his return, but even his return was CHA P. impeded by a most ignominious obstacle. On his arrival at Venice, he had borrowed large sums at exorbitant usury; but his coffers were empty, his creditors were impatient, and his person was detained as the best security for the payment. His eldest son Andronicus, the regent of Constantinople, was repeatedly urged to exhaust every resource; and, even by stripping the churches, to extricate his father from captivity and disgrace. But the unnatural youth was insensible of the disgrace, and secretly pleased with the captivity of the Emperor; the state was poor, the clergy was obstinate; nor could some religious scruple be wanting to excuse the guilt of his indifference and delay. Such undutiful neglect was severely reproved by the piety of his brother Manuel, who instantly sold or mortgaged all that he possessed, embarked for Venice, relieved his father, and pledged his own freedom to be responsible for the debt. On his return to Con- His return stantinople, the parent and king distinguished his to Coutwo sons with suitable rewards; but the faith and nople, manners of the slothful Palæologus had not been improved by his Roman pilgrimage; and his apostacy or conversion, devoid of any spiritual or temporal effects, was speedily forgotten by the Greeks

and Latins *.

stanti

A. D.

1370.

Thirty years after the return of Palæologus, his visit of son and successor, Manuel, from a similar motive, the Embut on a larger scale, again visited the countries of nuel.

the

* His return in 1370, and the coronation of Manuel, Sept. 25. 1373, (Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 241.), leaves some intermediate sera for the conspiracy and punishment of Androni

cus.

peror Ma

LXVI.

CHAP. the West. In a preceding chapter, I have related his treaty with Bajazet, the violation of that treaty, the siege or blockade of Constantinople, and the French succour under the command of the gallant Boucicault. By his ambassadors, Manuel had solicited the Latin powers; but it was thought that the presence of a distressed monarch would draw tears and supplies from the hardest barbarians † ; and the marshal who advised the journey, prepared the reception, of the Byzantine prince. The land was occupied by the Turks; but the navigation of Venice was safe and open; Italy received him as the first, or at least as the second, of the Christian princes; Manuel was pitied as the champion and confessor of the faith; and the dignity of his beha-· viour prevented that pity from sinking into contempt. From Venice he proceeded to Padua and Pavia; and even the Duke of Milan, a secret ally of Bajazet, gave him safe and honourable conduct to the verge of his dominions 1. On the confines of France, the royal officers undertook the care of his person, journey, and expences; and two thousand

to the court of France, A. D. 1400, Jume 3.;

* Memoires de Boucicault, p. i. c. 35. 36.

+ His journey into the west of Europe is slightly, and I believe reluctantly, noticed by Chalcondyles (1. ii. c. 44-50.), and Ducas (c. 14.)

Muratori, Annali d'Italia, tom. xii. p. 406. John Galeazzo was the first and most powerful Duke of Milan. His connection with Bajazet is attested by Froissard; and he contributed to save and deliver the French captives of Nicopolis.

For the reception of Manuel at Paris, see Spondanus, (Annal. Eccles. tom. i. p. 676. 677. A. D. 1400. No. 5.), who quotes Juvenal des Ursins, and the monk of St Denys; and Villaret, (Hist. de France, tom. xii. p. 331-334.), who quotes nobody, according to the last fashion of the French writers.

« PreviousContinue »