CHAP. the French princes to draw their swords in the general defence LXVI. of religion. 4. Should the subjects of Andronicus be treated Negotiation of Cantacu Clement VI. as the worst of schismatics, of heretics, of pagans, a judicious policy may yet instruct the powers of the West to embrace an useful ally, to uphold a sinking empire, to guard the confines of Europe; and rather to join the Greeks against the Turks, than to expect the union of the Turkish arms with the troops and treasures of captive Greece." The reasons, the offers, and the demands, of Andronicus, were eluded with cold and stately indifference. The kings of France and Naples declined the dangers and glory of a crusade: the pope refused to call a new synod to determine old articles of faith; and his regard for the obsolete claims of the Latin emperor and clergy, engaged him to use an offensive superscription: "To the moderator? of the Greeks, and the persons who style themselves the patriarchs of the Eastern churches." For such an embassy, a time and character less propitious could not easily have been found. Benedict the Twelfth was a dull peasant, perplexed with scru ples, and immersed in sloth and wine: his pride might enrich with a third crown the papal tiara, but he was alike unfit for the regal and the pastoral office. After the decease of Andronicus, while the Greeks were zene with distracted by intestine war, they could not presume to agitate A. D. 1348. a general union of the Christians. But as soon as Cantacuzene had subdued and pardoned his enemies, he was anxious to justify, or at least to extenuate, the introduction of the Turks into Europe, and the nuptials of his daughter with a Mussulman prince. Two officers of state, with a Latin interpreter, were sent in his name to the Roman court, which was transplanted to Avignon, on the banks of the Rhone, during a period of seventy years; they represented the hard necessity which had urged him to embrace the alliance of the miscreants, and pronounced by his command the specious and edifying sounds of union and crusade. Pope Clement the Sixth, the successor of Benedict, received them with hospitality and honour, acknowledged the 4 2 The ambiguity of this title is happy or ingenious; and moderator, as synonymous to rector, gubernator, is a word of classical, and even Ciceronian, Latinity, which may be found, not in the Glossary of Ducange, but in the Thesaurus of Robert Stephens. 3 The first Epistle (sine titulo) of Petrarch, exposes the danger of the bark, and the incapacity of the pilot. Hæc inter, vino madidus, ævo gravis ac soporifero rore perfusus, jamjam nutitat, dormitat, jam somno præceps, atque (utinam solus) ruit....Heu quanto felicius patrio terram sulcasset aratro, quam scalmum piscatorium ascendisset. This satire engages his biographer to weigh the virtues and vices of Benedict XII. which have been exaggerated by Guelphs and Ghibe. lines, by Papists and Protestants (see Memoires sur la Vie de Petrarque, tom. I. p. 259, ii. not. xv. p. 13-16.) He gave occasion to the saying, Bibamus papaliter. 4 See the original lives of Clement VI. in Muratori (Script. Rerum Italicarum. tom. iii. P. ii. p. 550-589.) Matteo Villani (Chron. 1. iii. c. 43, in Muratori, tom. xiv. p. 186,) who styles him, molto cavallaresco, poco religioso; Fleury (Hist. Eccles, tom. xx. p. 126,) and the Vie de Petrarque (tom. ii. p. 42-45.) The abbé de Sade treats him with the most indulgence; but he is a gentleman as well as a priest. innocence of their sovereign, excused his distress, applauded CHAP. his magnanimity, and displayed a clear knowledge of the state LXVI. and revolutions of the Greek empire, which he had imbibed from the honest accounts of a Savoyard lady, an attendant of the empress Anne.5 If Clement was ill-endowed with the virtues of a priest, he possessed however the spirit and magnificence of a prince, whose liberal hand distributed benefices and kingdoms with equal facility. Under his reign, Avignon was the seat of pomp and pleasure: in his youth he had surpassed the licentiousness of a baron; and the palace, nay, the bedchamber of the pope, was adorned, or polluted, by the visits of his female favourites. The wars of France and England were adverse to the holy enterprise; but his vanity was amused by the splendid idea; and the Greek ambassadors returned with two Latin bishops, the ministers of the pontiff. On their arrival at Constantinople, the emperor and the nuncios admired each other's piety and eloquence; and their frequent conferences were filled with mutual praises and promises, by which both parties were amused, and neither could be deceived. "I am delighted," said the devout Cantacuzene, "with the project of our holy war, which must redound to my personal glory, as well as to the public benefit of Christendom. My dominions will give a free passage to the armies of France: my troops, my galleys, my treasures, shall be consecrated to the common cause; and happy would be my fate, could I deserve and obtain the crown of martyrdom. Words are insufficient to express the ardour with which I sigh for the reunion of the scattered members of Christ. If my death could avail, I would gladly present my sword and my neck if the spiritual phoenix could arise from my ashes, I would erect the pile and kindle the flame with my own hands." Yet the Greek emperor presumed to observe, that the articles of faith which divided the two churches had been introduced by the pride and precipitation of the Latins: he disclaimed the servile and arbitrary steps of the first Palæologus; and firmly declared, that he would never submit his conscience, unless to the decrees of a free and universal synod. "The situation of the times," continued he, "will not allow the pope and myself to meet either at Rome or Constantinople; but some maritime city may be chosen on the verge of the two empires, to unite the bishops, and to instruct the faithful, of the East and West." The nuncios seemed content with the proposition; and Cantacuzene affects to deplore the failure of his hopes, which were soon overthrown by the death of Clement, and the different temper of his successor. His own life was prolonged, but it was prolonged in 5 Her name (most probably corrupted) was Zampea. She had accompanied, and alone remained with her mistress at Constantinople, where her prudence, erudition, and politeness, deserved the praises of the Greeks themselves (Cantacuzen. 1. i. c. 42.) CHAP. a cloister; and, except by his prayers, the humble monk was LXVI. incapable of directing the counsels of his pupil or the state.6 Yet of all the Byzantine princes, that pupil, John Palæologus, Treaty of was the best disposed to embrace, to believe, and to obey, the ologus I. shepherd of the West. His mother Anne of Savoy, was bapwith Inno- tized in the bosom of the Latin church: her marriage with A. D. 1355. Andronicus imposed a change of name, of apparel, and of John Pala cent VI. worship; but her heart was still faithful to her country and 6 See this whole negotiation in Cantacuzene (1. iv. c. 9,) who, amidst the praises and virtues which he bestows on himself, reveals the uneasiness of a guilty conscience. 7 See this ignominious treaty in Fleury (Hist. Eccles. p. 151–154,) from Raynaldus, who drew it from the Vatican archives. It was not worth the trouble of a pious forgery. it was only by the secrecy, that their sovereign escaped the CHAP. dishonour of this fruitless humiliation. LXVI. John Pala Urban V. A. D. 1369, The tempest of the Turkish arms soon burst on his head; and, after the loss of Adrianople and Romania, he was en- Visit of closed in his capital, the vassal of the haughty Amurath, with the ologus to miserable hope of being the last devoured by the savage. In at Rome, this abject state, Palæologus embraced the resolution of em-October 13, barking for Venice, and casting himself at the feet of the pope ; &c. 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 Tiber; Urban the Fifth, of a mild and virtuous character, encouraged or allowed the pilgrimage of the Greek prince; and, within the same year, enjoyed the glory of receiving in the Vatican the two Imperial shadows, who represented the majesty of Constantine and Charlemagne. 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 Saint Peter; Urban, in the midst of the cardinals, was seated on his throne; the Greek monarch, after three genuflexions, 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;9 nor could the former be entitled to the rare privilege of chanting the gospel in the rank of a deacon.10 In favour of his 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 8 See the two first original lives of Urban V. (in Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. iii. P. ii. 623. 635,) and the Ecclesiastical Annals of Spondanus (tom. i. p. 573, A. D. 1363, 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 Palæologus. 9 Paullo minus quam si fuisset Imperator Romanorum. Yet this title of Imperator Græcorum was no longer disputed (Vit. Urban V. p. 623.) 10 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,) CHAP. active only in their domestic quarrels. The last hope of the LXVI. 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 bis services to the hostile states; and incurred a just excommunication by shooting his arrows against the papal residence. A special license was granted to negotiate 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.2 The disconsolate Greek's prepared for his return, but even his return was 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 were 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 Ilis return freedom to be responsible for the debt. On his return to Conto Constan- stantinople, the parent and king distinguished his two sons with A. D. 1370. suitable rewards; but the faith and manners of the slothful Pa tinople, læologus, 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.14 Thirty years after the return of Palæologus, his son and suc 11 Through some Italian corruptions, the etymology of Falcone in bosco (Matteo Villani, I. 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 two and 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.) 12 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 essere calpestrata l'Italia da tanti masnadieri Tedeschi ed Ungheri, venissero fin dall' Inghilterra nuovi cani a finire di divorarla. 13 Chalcocondyles, 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.) 14 His return in 1370, and the coronation of Manuel, Sept. 25, 1373 (Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 241,) leaves some intermediate era for the conspiracy and punishment of Andronicus. |