CHAP. III.

$ 2.

The conquest of Cyprus was now complete. Richard celebrated his marriage with Berengaria at Amathus, and she was crowned Queen of Cyprus, as well as of England, which she was never destined to visit, in the capital of Venus. The English monarch converted Cyprus into a feudal kingdom, treating the property of the inhabitants very much as the Goths and Vandals had treated property in the provinces of the Roman empire which they subdued. The Greeks were compelled to cede one half of their landed estates to the sovereign, who granted these lands to his vassals in order to create a feudal garrison, by investing a number of Crusaders with knight's fees over the whole surface of the island. After this act of spoliation, the inhabitants were guaranteed in the possession of the remainder of their landed property, and in all the privileges granted to them by the emperor Manuel I. Feudal society was thus introduced among the Hellenic race, and Richard Coeur-de-Lion, who remained in possession of his conquest only for a few months, established a domination that lasted several centuries, and transferred the government to various nations of aliens, who have treated the Greeks of Cyprus more as serfs than subjects from that time to the present hour.

On quitting the island, Richard intrusted the government to Richard Camville and Robert Turnham. The dethroned emperor Isaac was transported to Tripolis, to be kept imprisoned in the castle of Margat, under the wardship of the Knights Hospitallers.1 The Greeks soon

1 Isaac escaped from Margat, and attempted to invade the Byzantine empire, but was poisoned by one of his own household.-Nicetas, 298. His daughter was placed under the protection of Berengaria, and Richard is said to have been a great admirer of her beauty. When the queen quitted Palestine the Cypriot princess accompanied her to Poitiers. One of the articles in the treaty for the ransom of Richard, extorted by the German emperor, was, that Isaac and his daughter should be set at liberty. The article is supposed to have been suggested by the Duke of Austria, who was connected with the family of Kommenos by marriage. The daughter of Isaac was married to a Flemish noble, who vainly claimed the crown of Cyprus.-Roger of Hoveden, 414; Saville's edit. Ducange, Fam. Byz. Aug. 184.

RICHARD I. GIVES AWAY CYPRUS.

93

considered their lot under the feudal regime much worse than it had been under the tyrant Isaac, and they took up arms to expel the English. Richard, who wished to withdraw all his troops for the war in Palestine, sold the island to the Templars; but these knights found the internal affairs of Cyprus in so disturbed a state, that they surrendered back their purchase to Richard in a short time. The king of England then conferred the sovereignty on Guy of Lusignan, who had lost the kingdom of Jerusalem by the election of Henry Count of Champagne as successor to Conrad of Montferrat.1

The domination of the English and the Templars had already caused the emigration of thousands of Greek families to the Byzantine provinces in Asia Minor, and to the Greek islands of the Archipelago. Guy of Lusignan repeopled Cyprus with Latin Christians from Syria. Three hundred and fifty knights and barons of the kingdom of Jerusalem, whose lands had been occupied by the troops of Saladin, received fiefs in land, and two thousand serjeants at arms; besides, a number of burgesses were established in the fortified towns. Latin bishops and priests were intruded into all the benefices; and the Greeks accuse these new teachers of attempting to force the orthodox to adopt the rites and ceremonies of the Catholics by the cruellest persecutions.

From this period the history of Cyprus ceases to be connected with the records of the Greek nation, and belongs for about three centuries to the annals of the Frank domination in the East. At a later period Cyprus was nothing more than a dependency of the republic of Venice; and since its conquest by the Turks, the Greek population has been sinking, from age to age, into an inferior state of society, in consequence of the destruction of capital and

1 Henry of Champagne was the nephew of Richard. He married Isabella, widow of Conrad of Montferrat, only surviving daughter of Amaury or Almeric, King of Jerusalem. Sybilla, the elder daughter, wife of Guy of Lusignan, died without issue.

A. D.

1192.

§ 3.

CHAP. III. property; and the island is probably at the present hour incapable of maintaining in wretchedness one-tenth of the population which it nourished in abundance at the time of its conquest by Richard, King of England.1

SECT. III.-FOURTH CRUSADE-CONQUEST OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE.

Religious enthusiasm and the pursuit of glory had less to do with the conduct of the fourth Crusade than with the preceding expeditions. Many of the leaders engaged in it to escape the punishment of their feudal delinquencies to the crown of France, and many were needy adventurers eager to better their condition abroad, as the prospect of improving it at home became daily more clouded. The chiefs of this Crusade concluded a treaty with the republic of Venice, which engaged to transport all who took the cross to Palestine by sea; but when the expedition assembled, the Crusaders were found to be so few, that they were unable to pay the stipulated price. Henry Dandolo, the blind old hero who was then doge, took the cross and joined them; but he appears hardly to have contemplated visiting the holy sepulchre, and only to have proposed guiding the operations of the Crusade in such a manner as to render it subservient to his country's interests. When the Crusaders declared their inability to pay the whole sum agreed on, Dandolo proposed that the republic should defer its claim for 34,000 marks of silver, and despatch the fleet immediately, on condition that the Crusaders should aid in reducing the city of Zara, which had lately rebelled and

1 From 1191 to 1486 Cyprus was a feudal kingom under the sway of sovereigns who often assumed a triple crown, and styled themselves kings of Cyprus, Jerusalem, and Armenia. From 1486 to 1571 it was a Venetian possession, and since 1571 it has been a Turkish province.- Loredano, Istoria de' Re Lusignani dall' anno. 1180 sin' al 1475, and the French translation by Giblet, Paris 1732. Jauna, Histoire Générale des Royaumes de Chypre, de Jerusalem, d'Arménie, et d'Aegypte,—Leyde, 1747, 2 vols. 4to,-is an inaccurate work.

FOURTH CRUSADE: FRANKS AND VENETIANS.

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admitted a Hungarian garrison, again under the domination of Venice. The Crusaders consented. In vain Pope Innocent III., the greatest prince who ever sate on the papal throne, excommunicated both the Crusaders and the republic of Venice, for turning the swords they had consecrated to the service of Christianity against Christians. Dandolo despised the excommunication, and took Zara.1

While the expedition remained in Dalmatia, ambassadors from the emperor Philip of Germany solicited their assistance in behalf of his nephew, Alexius Angelos, the son of the dethroned emperor of Constantinople, Isaac II. In spite of the opposition of many French nobles, who were more pious and more amenable to papal censures than the Venetians and Italians, it was decided to attack the Byzantine empire.2 A treaty was signed at Zara, by which the Crusaders engaged to replace Isaac II. and his son Alexius on the throne of Constantinople; and Alexius, in return, promised to pay them 200,000 marks of silver, and furnish them with provisions for a year. He further engaged to place the Eastern church under the papal authority, to accompany the Crusaders in the holy war, or else to furnish them with a contingent of 10,000 men paid for a year, and to maintain constantly a corps of 500 cavalry for the defence of the Christian possessions in Palestine. Thus, as Nicetas says, the young Alexius

Various accounts are given concerning the age and blindness of Dandolo. The best authorities are: for his age, Marin Sanudo, Vite de Duchi di Venetia, 526, who says he was 85 years when he was elected doge in 1192; and concerning his blindness, Villehardoin, his companion in the crusade, who says that he had fine eyes, but was stone blind, from a wound in the head. This notice by the marshal refutes the tale of his having been blinded by Manuel I. when envoy at Constantinople, as reported by Andrea Dandolo. The two friends would both have been delighted to plead so good a reason, according to their ideas, for conquering the Greeks. See the text of Villehardoin by Buchon, 47: "Ki viex hons estoit. Et si avoit bieans iex en sa teste et si n'en véoit goute, car perdue avoit la veue par une plaie qu'il avoit eue el chief."

2 Villehardoin, 53, says that only twelve French nobles could be persuaded to swear to assist Alexius. The disgrace or the glory of conquering Constantinople belongs, therefore, to the Belgians, Venetians, and Lombards.

A. D.

1203.

CHAP. III. quitted the ancient doctrines of the orthodox church to follow the novelties of the Popes of Rome.1

§ 3.

On the 23d June 1203, the Venetian fleet, with the army of the Crusaders on board, appeared in sight of Constantinople. The Byzantine troops had been neglected both by Isaac II. and Alexius III., and were now illdisciplined and ill-officered; the citizens of Constantinople were void of patriotism, and the Greek fleet had been for some time utterly neglected. One of the heaviest of the Venetian transports, armed with an immense pair of shears, in order to bring the whole weight of the ship on the chain drawn across the entrance of the port, was impelled with all sail set against the middle of this chain, which was thus broken in two, and the whole fleet entered the Golden Horn. The Crusaders occupied Galata, and prepared to assault Constantinople. The army was divided into six divisions, and encamped on the hills above the modern suburb of Eyoub, for their numbers did not admit of their extending themselves beyond the gate of Adrianople. An attack directed against the portion of the wall opposite the centre of the camp was perseveringly carried on; and on the 17th July, a breach, caused by the fall of one of the towers, appeared practicable. A furious assault was made by the Flemish knights; but, after a long and bloody combat, they were all hewed down by the battleaxes of the English and Danes of the Varangian guard.2 The Greeks were less successful in defending their ramparts towards the port where they were assailed by the Venetians. High towers had been constructed over the decks of the transport ships, and the tops of the masts of the galleys were converted into little castles filled with bowmen. A number of vessels directed their attack

1 Nicetas, 348.

2 Sixteen Crusaders mounted the breach; two were seized, the rest were slain, as we learn from an eye-witness. "Et li murs fut mout garnis d'Englois et de Danois."-Villehardoin, 72. Nicetas, 35, mentions also the Pisans as having done good service.