Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/100

 82 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. Others took off his brown pyramid-shaped hat, replaced it by one of imperial scarlet, and clothed him with an imperial stole. Next day Andronicos was crowned in the Great Church, but it was noted that the order of the names was now reversed : the herald proclaimed Andronicos, son of Comnenos, and Alexis, emperors and princes of the Komans. Once more, and for the last time, Andronicos protested that he sought only the welfare of Alexis, and added that he only accepted the crown with that object. Hardly, however, were the coro- nation festivities at an end when a council, which he had formed of his supporters, deprived the co-emperor of all his dignities, and before this sentence was well published con- demned the unhappy lad to death. The following perormur- nio^ht Alcxis was bow-struuo:. His body was car- dered. . . ried to his murderer, who, giving it a kick, re- marked that the boy's father had been a perjurer, his mother a prostitute, and the boy himself a fool. The corpse was then thrown into the sea. Andronicos had now attained the object of his ambition, and could throw off all disguise. Though an old man, he in- sisted upon going through the form of marriage with Anne, aged eleven years, a daughter of the King of France, to w^hom Alexis had been affianced. The remainder of his short reign was occupied in endeavor- ing to impose his rule upon the whole of the empire, in sup- pressing revolts, and in the exercise of the most relentless cruelty. One of his generals, Lapardas, had been occupied in fighting against the King of Hungary, who had invaded the empire as soon as he found that Alexis was to be set aside. Lapardas endeavored to join those in Nicaea, Broussa, or else- where, who had not yet acknowledged the rule of the usurper. He was captured at Adramyttium, and by the imperial order had his eyes put out. The two cities first mentioned had walls, the ruins of which still remain in wonderful preserva- , ^ . tion, which made them very strono^. The emperor Andronicos i. t « jo r iMysPiegeto iiimsclf Set out to rcducc Nicaea. His efforts, at first, met with little success. The city was well provisioned, and, as one side is situated on the lake of Asca-