Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/455

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 433 disdained the name and office of regent ; they agreed to invest [a.d. iws] him for his Hfe with the title and prerogatives of emperor, on the sole condition that Baldwin should marry his second daughter [Mary] and succeed at a mature age to the throne of Constantinople.^*^ The expectation, both of the Greeks and Latins, was kindled by the renown, the choice, and the presence of John of Brienne ; and they admired his martial aspect, his green and vigorous age of more than fourscore years, and his size and stature, which surpassed the common measure of mankind.^^ But avarice and the love of ease appear to have chilled the ardour of enter- prise ; his troops were disbanded, and two years rolled away without action or honour, till he was awakened ^- by the dan- gerous alliance of Vataces, emperor of Nice, and of Azan, king of Bulgaria.^2 They besieged Constantinople by sea and land, [a.d. 1235] with an army of one hundred thousand men, and a fleet of three hundred ships of war ; while the entire force of the Latin em- peror was reduced to one hundred and sixty knights and a small addition of Serjeants and archers. I tremble to relate that, instead of defending the city, the hero made a sally at the head of his cavalry ; and that, of forty-eight squadrons of the enemy, no more than three escaped from the edge of his invincible sword. Fired by his example, the infantry and citizens boarded the vessels that anchored close to the walls ; and twenty-five were dragged in triumph into the harbour of Constantinople. ^[For the act see Buchon, Recherches et Mat^riaux, p. 21-23.] Constantinople. In 1233, when he was eleven years old, his father broke the Latin chain, left a splendid fortune, and escaped to the Greek court of Nice, where his son was raised to the highest honours. xvi. He defeated the forces of Thessalonica and Epirus in the battle of Klokotnitza (near the Strymon), 1230, and extended his power over the greater part of Thrace, Macedonia and Albania. His empire touched three sea.s and included the cities of Belgrade and Hadrianople. An inscription in the cathedral of Tmovo, which he built, records his deeds as follows: " In the year 6738 [= 1230] Indiction 3, I, Joannes Asen, the Tsar, faithful servant of God in Christ, sovereign of the Bul- garians, son of the old Asen, have built this magnificent church and adorned it with paintings, in honour of the Forty Martyrs, with whose help, in the 12th year of my reign, when the church was painted, I made an expedition to Romania and de- feated the Greek army and took the Tsar, Kyr Thodor Komnin, prisoner, with all his bolyars. I conquered all the countries from Odrin [Hadrianople] to Dratz [Durazzo], — Greek, Albanian and Servian. The Franks have only retained the towns about Tzarigrad [Constantinople] and that city itself ; but even they sub- mitted to my empire when they had no other Emperor but me, and I permitted them to continue, as God so willed. For without him neither work nor word is accomplished. Glory to him for ever, Amen. " (Jirecek, p. 251-2.)] VOL. VI. 28
 * i Acropolita, c. 27. The historian was at that time a boy, and educated at
 * [He did not arrive at Constantinople till 1231.]
 * •* [For this able and humane prince, see Jirecek, Geschichte der Bulgaren, chap,