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LXVI.

CHAP. 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.

Negotia

tion of

Cantacu

Clement

VI. A. D.

1348.

After the decease of Andronicus, while the Greeks were distracted by intestine war, they could not prezene with sume to agitate 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 Musulman 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 Rhône, 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 innocence of their sovereign, excused his distress, applauded his magnanimity, and displayed a clear knowledge of the state and revolutions of the Greek empire, which he had imbibed from the honest accounts of a Savoyard lady, an attendant of the empress Anne'. 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 Constanti

4 See the original lives of Clement VI. in Muratori (Script. Rerum Itali. carum, 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 religi oso; Fleury (Hist. Eccles. tom. xx. p. 126), and the Vie de Petrarque (tom. . p. 42-45). The abbé de Sade treats him with the most indulgence; but he is a gentleman as well as a priest.

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).

LXVI.

nople, the emperor and the nuncios admired each other's CHAP. 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 pas"sage to the armies of France: my troops, my gallies,

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 in"sufficient to express the ardour with which I sigh for "the re-union 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 kin"dle 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 ma"ritime 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 a cloyster; and, except by his prayers, the humble monk was incapable of directing the counsels of his pupil or the state'.

John Pa

Yet of all the Byzantine princes, that pupil, John Treaty of Palæologus, was the best disposed to embrace, to be-læologus 1. lieve, and to obey, the shepherd of the West. His mother with no Anne of Savoy, was baptised in the bosom of the Latin

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,

cent VI.

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A.D. 1355.

CHAP church: her marriage with Andronicus imposed a LXVI. change of name, of apparel, and of worship; but her heart was still faithful to her country and religion; she had formed the infancy of her son, and she governed the emperor, after his mind, or at least his stature, was enlarged to the size of man. In the first year of his deliverance and restoration, the Turks were still masters of the Hellespont; the son of Cantacuzene was in arms at Adrianople; and Palæologus could depend neither on himself nor on his people. By his mother's advice, and in the hope of foreign aid, he abjured the rights both of the church and state; and the act of slavery', subscribed in purple ink, and sealed with the golden bull, was privately entrusted to an Italian agent. The first article of the treaty is an oath of fidelity and obedience to Innocent the sixth and his successors, the supreme pontiff's of the Roman and Catholic church. The emperor promises to entertain with due reverence their legates and nuncios; to assign a palace for their residence and a temple for their worship; and to deliver his second son Manuel as the hostage of his faith. For these condescensions, he requires a prompt succour of fifteen gallies, with five hundred men at arms, and a thousand archers, to serve against his Christian and Musulman enemies. Palæologus engages to impose on his clergy and people the same spiritual yoke; but as the resistance of the Greeks might be justly foreseen, he adopts the two effectual methods of corruption and education. The legate was empowered to distribute the vacant benefices among the ecclesiastics who should subscribe the creed of the Vatican three schools were instituted to instruct the youth of Constantinople in the language and doctrine of the Latins; and the name of Andronicus, the heir of the empire, was enrolled as the first student. Should he fail in the measures of persuasion or force, Palæologus declares himself 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 gallies were as vain and imaginary as the sub

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.

mission of the Greeks: and it was only by the secrecy, CHAP. that their sovereign escaped the dishonour of this fruit- LXVI. less humiliation.

John Pa

V. at

October,

13, &c.

The tempest of the Turkish arms soon burst on his Visit of head; and, after the loss of Adrianople and Romania, lologus he was inclosed in his capital, the vassal of the haughty to Urban Amurath, with the miserable hope of being the last de- Rome, voured by the savage. In this abject state, Palæologus A.D. 1369, 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 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 St. 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

8 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 Spon. danus (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 Palæologus.

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

VOL. VIII.

LXVI.

CHAP. East and West"; nor could the former be entitled to the rare privilege of chanting the gospel in the rank of a deacon". 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 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 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 dangerous1. The disconsolate Greek 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

13

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).

11 Through some Italian corruptions, the etymology of Falcone in bosco (Matteo Villani, l. xi. c. 79. in Muratori, tom. xv. p. 746), suggests the English word Hawkwood, the true nam 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' Inghliterra 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).

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