Page:Constantinople by Brodribb.djvu/132

 young emperor in his most shameless orgies. Among the favourite amusements of this most Christian prince was the public burlesque of the ceremonies of the Church. Michael the Drunkard lacked none of the ability of his forefathers: he was successful in his military enterprises, and was popular among the lower classes, who probably knew little enough of court life and its infamies. His reign is remarkable in many ways. First, the dispute between Photius the patriarch and Pope Nicholas. The latter claimed to be absolute master of the whole Christian Church; the former declared that the patriarchs of Constantinople were equal in rank to the popes of Rome. Then, were the newly converted Bulgarian Christians to belong to the jurisdiction of Rome? Secondly, the reign is remarkable for the first appearance of the Russians. Two or three years before they made their first attack, Rurik, a Scandinavian, arrived at Novgorod, and speedily reduced to submission the surrounding tribes. No one knows what motives induced the Russians to threaten Constantinople. Probably on spreading southwards and gaining access to the Dnieper vague rumours reached them of the city's wealth. They suddenly appeared with a fleet of some two hundred small vessels, which might have carried 6,000 men or so, at the mouth of the Black River in the Propontis. They ravaged the country, burned the monasteries of the Prince's Islands, and slaughtered holy monks just as if they had been common people. The emperor, who was on the Asiatic side, and about to commence a campaign against the Saracens, hurried back and speedily put