Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/861

Rh CONSTANTINUS. in Italy, where they finally succeeded in conquer- ing all the dominions of the Greek emperors. In the following year, 1054, the great schism began, which resulted in the complete separation of the Greek and Roman churches, and put an end to the authority of the popes in the East. Constan- tine did not live to see the completion of the schism, for he died in the course of the same year, 1054. Constantino was a man of generous character, who, when emperor, would not revenge many insults he had received while he was but an officer in the army. He managed, however, the financial de- partment in an unprincipled manner, spending large sums upon the embellishment of Constantino- ple and other luxuries, and shewing himself a miser where he ought to have spared no money. Thus, for economy's sake, he paid off his Iberian troops, 50,000 in number, who were the bulwark of Greece, and who were no sooner disbanded than the frontier provinces of the empire were inun- dated by Arabs and Petchenegues, so that, although he augmented the extent of his dominions by the addition of Iberia and Armenia, he contributed much to the rapid decline of Greek power under his successor. The successor of Constantine X. was the empress Theodora mentioned above. (Cedren. p. 754, &c., ed. Paris ; Psellus in Zonar. vol. ii. p. 247, &c. ed. Paris; Glycas, p. 319, &c., ed. Paris ; Joel, p. 1 83, &c., ed. Paris.) [ W.P.] CONSTANTI'NUS XI. DUCAS (6 ^ovkus), emperor of the East, a. d. 1059 — 1067, was chosen by the emperor Isaac I. Comnenus, who abdicated in 1059, as his successor, in preference to his own children, because he thought him to be the most worthy of his subjects. It proved, how- ever, that, although Constantine was undoubtedly one of the best subjects of Isaac, he still was not fit to rule in those troublous times. Previously to his election, Constantine had been very active in putting Michael VI. Stratioticus on the throne (a. d. 1056), but he deserted him in the following year and espoused the party of Isaac Comnenus, who succeeded in seizing the government. Thence their friendship arose. When he ascended the throne, the people expected that he would take vigorous measures against those swarms of barba- rians who were attacking the empire from all sides, and they were the more justified in their expecta- tions as Constantine was an able general. But he loved talking quite as much as action, and instead of preparing for war, he addressed the people in a long elaborate speech on the duties of an emperor under the circumstances of the times. So fond was he of speeches, that he said he preferred the crown of eloquence to the crown of Rome, nor can we feel sure whether he really meant so or not, for both those crowns were rather dusty then. Having reduced his army from motives of economy, he saw his empire suddenly invaded (in 1064) by a host, or probably the whole nation, of the Uzes, for they are said to have been 600,000 men strong. While they ravaged Thrace and Macedonia, the Hunga- rians crossed the Danube and seized Belgrade, the key of the empire. Fortunately for the Greeks, the plague broke out in tlie camps of those barba- rians, and so much diminished their numbers that they hastened back to their steppes beyond the Danube. During the same time the Turks-Seljuks made similar attacks upon the Greek domains in Asia, and the Norm.ins obtained possession of the rest of the emperor's dominions in Italy. Bari, CONSTANTINUS. 843 the capital of them, was taken shortly before the death of the emperor, which happened in a. d. 1067. Constantine had many good qualitiei, though they were overshadowed by petty and strange passions. Love of justice induced him to recall immediately on his accession all those who were exiled for political crimes, and to undertake a great number of lawsuits, which, accustomed as he was to follow his sophistical genius, he believed to be just, while they proved to be mere chicaneries. When it became known that his love of war had turned into love of legal intrigues, many officers of his army abandoned the profession of arms, and became advocates for the purpose of rising to honours and making their fortunes. Constantine conferred the title of Augustus upon his three sons, Michael, Andronicus, and Constantine, who were all under age, and whom he destined to succeed him and to reign conjointly under the regency of his widow Eudoxia. But she was unable to keep the throne alone, and married Romanus Diogenes for the sake of protection and support, and this distinguished general, who was created emperor, must be considered as the real successor of Con- stantine XI. (Scylitzes, p. 813, &c., ed. Paris ; Psellus in Zonar. vol. ii. p. 272, &c., ed. Paris ; Glycas, p. 324, &c., ed. Paris ; Nicephorus Bryenn. p. 19, &c., ed. Paris.) [W. P.] CONSTANTI'NUS XII. DUCAS, emperor of the East, the youngest son of the preceding, succeeded his father Constantine XI. in 1067, to- gether with his brothers Michael and Andronicus, under the regency of their mother Eudoxia, who married Romanus III. Diogenes and made him emperor. After the capture of Romanus by the Turks in 1071, Constantine and his brothers were proclaimed emperors, but Michael, the eldest, was the real ruler. Constantine was confined in a monastery by the emperor Nicephorus III. Bota- niates about 1078. His final fate is not well known. He died either in the same year in con- sequence of cruel tortures to which he had been exposed, or as late as 1082, in a battle between the emperor Alexis I. and Robert Guiscard. Anna Comnena calls him Constantius (p. 117, ed. Paris). [Michael VII. ; Romanus III.] [W. P.] CONSTANTI'NUS XIII. PALAEO'LOGUS, surnamed DRAGASES (6 YlaXaioKoyos 6 Apayd- o-ijs), the last emperor of the East, A. D. 1448-1453, was the fourth son of the emperor Manuel II. Pa- laeologus. He was bom in a. d. 1 394, and obtained the throne after the death of his elder brother, the emperor John VIL, in 1448. He first married Theodora, daugliter of Leonardo, count of Tocco, a lord in the Peloponnesus, and, after her death, Catharina, daughter of Notaras Palaeologus Cate- lusius, prince of Lesbos, by neither of whom he left issue. Previously to his accession, Constantine was despot or lord of a small remnant of the Byzantine empire in the Chersonnesus Taurica, and during the reign of his brother John he was invested with the principality of, or more correctly a principality in, the Peloponnesus, which he bravely defended against the Turks. After the death of John, the throne was claimed bj' his surviving brothers, Demetrius, the eldest, Constantine, and Thomas. A strong party having declared for Constantine, this prince, who was still in the Peloponnesus, accepted the crown after long hesitation, as he saw that he had but few chances of defending it against