Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/192

Rh 174 ANDRONICUS. Attains. (Polyb. xxxii. 26.) Andronicus was again sent to Rome in B. c. 149, and assisted Nico- rnedes in conspiring against his father Prusias. (Appian, Miihr. 4, &c.) ANDRONI'CUS ('AvSpoci/cos), an Aetoman, the son of Andronicus, was put to death by the Ilomans, in b. c. 167, because he had borne arms ■with his father .against the Romans. (Liv. xlv. 31.) ANDRONI'CUS I. COMNE'NUS {'AvSpo- v'lKos Kqjxv7]v6s), emperor of Constantinople, hon of Isaac, grandson of Alexis I. and first-cousin of the emperor Manuel Comnenus, was bom in the begiiming of the twelfth century after Christ. The life of this highly gifted man, wlio de- serves the name of the Byzantine Alcibiadcs, pre- sents a series of adventures of so extraordinary a description, as to appear more like a romance than a history. Nature had lavished upon him her choicest gifts. His manly beauty was unparalleled, and the vigour of his body was animated by an enterprising mind and an undaunted spirit. En- dowed with great capacities, he received a careful education, and the persuasive power of his eloquence was 80 great, that he was equally dangerous to kings and queens : three royal princesses were his concubines. For love and war were his predomi- nant passions, but they both degenerated into luxury and cruelty. In everj- deed or mischief, says (jibbon (ch. 48), he had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute. In 1141 he was made prisoner by the Turks- Seljuks, and remained during a year in their cap- tivity. After being released, he received the com- mand in Cilicia, and he went there accompanied by Eudoxia Comnena, the niece of the eniporor Manuel, who lived on a similar footing with lier sister Theodora. At the close of this war he re- ceived the government of Naissus, Braniseba, and Castoria ; but the emperor soon afterwards ordered Jiim to be imprisoned in Constantinople. He escaped from captivity after liaving been confined twelve years, and fled to Jaroslav, grand duke of Kussia, and at Kiev obtained the pardon of his offended sovereign. He contrived an alliance be- tween Manuel and Jaroslav against Hungary, and at the head of a Russian army distinguished him- self in the siege of Semlin. Still suspected by ^Manuel, he was again sent to Cilicia. He staid some time at Antioch, and there seduced Philippa, the daughter of Raymond of Poitou, prince of Antioch, and the sister-in-law of the emperor Manuel, who had married her sister Maria. To escape the resentment of the emperor, he fled to Jerdsalem, and thence eloped with Theodora, the widow of Baldwin III. king of Jerusalem, a Com- jienian princess v.ho was renowned for her beauty. They first took refuge at the court of Nur-ed-din, sultan of Damascus ; thence they went to Baghdad and Persia, and at length settled among the Tui-ks. He then proceeded to make war upon the emperor of Constantinople, and invaded the province of Trebizond, but the governor of this town succeeded in taking queen Theodora and the two children she had bonie to Andronicus, and sent them to Constantinople. To regain them Andronicus im- plored the mercy of his sovereign, and after pros- trating himself laden with chains to the foot of the pmperor''s throne, he retired to Oenoe, now Unich, a town on the Black Sea in the present eyaiet of Trebizond. There he lived quietly till the death of the emperor Manuel in 11 00. ANDRONICUS. Manuel was succeeded by Alexis II., whom Andronicus put to death in the month of October 1183, and thereupon he ascended the throne. [Alexis II.] Agnes or Anna, the widow of Alexis, and daughter of Louis VII. king of France, a child of eleven years, was compelled to marry Andronicus, who was then advanced in years. His reign was short. He was hated by the nobles, numbers of whom he put to death, but was beloved by the people. His administration was wise ; and he remedied several abuses in civil and ecclesias- tical matters. William II., the Good, king of Sicily, whom the fugitive Greek nobles had per- suaded to invade Greece, was compelled by Andronicus to desist from his attack on Constanti- nople and to withdraw to his country, after he had destroyed Thessalonica. Thus Andronicus thought himself quite sure on the throne, when the im- prudence of his lieutenant, the superstitious Hagiochristophorites, suddenly caused a dreadful rebellion. This officer resolved to put to death Isaac Angelus, a noble but not a dangerous man ; the people of Constantinople, however, moved to pity, took arms for the rescue of the victim, and Isaac was proclaimed emperor. Andronicus was seized, and Isaac abandoned liim to the revenge of his most im- placable enemies. After having been carried through the streets of the city, he was hanged by the feet be- tween the statues of a sow and a wolf, and in that position was put to death by the mob. (12th of September, 1185.) (Nicetas, Afanuel Comnenus, i. 1, iii. iv. 1 — 5 ; Alexis Mamielis Comn. Fit. c. 2, 9, &c. ; Andro7iiciis Comnenus; Guilielmus Ty- rensis, xxi. 13.) [W. P.] ANDRONI'CUS II. PALAEO'LOGUS, ilw. Elder (^AvSpov'iKos UaKaioKoyos), emperor of Con- stantinople, the eldest son of the emperor ^Michael Palaeologus, was born a. d. 1260. At the age of fifteen ho was associated with his father in the government, and he ascended the throne in 1283. ^lichael had consented to a union between the Greek and Latin churches on the second general council at Lyon, but Andronicus was opposed to this measure, and was at length excommunicated by pope Clement V. in 1307. During this the Greek armies were beaten by Os- man, the founder of the Turkish empire, who gradually conquered all the Byzantine possessions in Asia. In this extremity Andronicus engaged the army and the fleet of the Catalans, a numerous band of warlike adventurers, to assist him against the Turks. Roger de Flor, or de Floria, the son of a German noble at the court of the emperor Frederic II., the commander of these adventureis, accordingly went to Constantinople with a nu- merous fleet and an anny of 8000 men. The emperor appointed him admiral of the empire, and conferred upon him the title of Caesar. This famous captain defeated the Turks in several en- gagements, but his troops ravaged the country of their allies with as much rapacity as that of their common enemies, and in order to get rid of them, the emperor caused Roger to be assassinated at Adrianople. But the Catalans now turned their arms against the Greeks, and after having devas- tated Thr^e and Macedonia, they retired to the Peloponnesus, where they conquered several dis- tricts in which they maintained themselves. Michael, the son of Andronicus, wns associated with his father in the throne. Michael had two sons, Andronicus and Manuel. Both loved the