Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 2 1913.djvu/419

 CHAPTER XIII

THE SUCCESSORS OF HERACLIUS TO 717

Besides Constantine, who had been his colleague since 613, Heraclius left four sons by Martina — Theodosius, who was deaf and dumb, Heraclius, who had been crowned in 638, David the Caesar, and Martin the nobilissimus, and (though Constantine was twenty-eight and Heraclius only sixteen) he desired by his will that they should enjoy equal rights, while Martina received the honours of an empress and a mother from both. Relying upon this provision, Martina claimed to exercise the practical sovereignty herself: but the people would not permit this, on the ground that a woman could not receive foreign envoys, and compelled her to leave the government to her stepson. Anticipating such a result, Heraclius had entrusted a large sum to the patriarch Pyrrhus for her benefit: but, Philagrius the treasurer having discovered this and informed Constantine, Pyrrhus was forced to surrender it. As the Emperor was suffering from consumption (which caused him to reside at Chalcedon), Philagrius, fearing to be left exposed to Martina's vengeance, persuaded him to send a donative to the soldiers through Valentine the Armenian, the commander of Philagrius' guard, urging them to protect his two sons and maintain their claim to the succession. Valentine however used the money to gain influence for himself; and after Constantine's death (24 May 641) Philagrius was forcibly ordained and banished to Septum (Ceuta), and many of his supporters were flogged, without opposition from the army, though Martina tried to attach it to her son's cause by a further donative in the name of the dead Emperor. But in consequence of her incestuous marriage and her attempt to exclude Constantine from power she was exceedingly unpopular, and by the malevolence of her enemies she was now accused of poisoning him. Valentine, who had either originated this report or used it for his own purpose, placed himself at the head of a military force in Asia, occupied Chalcedon on the pretext that the lives of Constantine's sons were in danger, and sent instructions to the troops in the provinces not to obey Martina, while the Empress brought the army of Thrace to defend the capital. To allay the commotion, Heraclius produced his elder nephew, Heraclius, a boy of ten, to whom