Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/420

 402 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. While the first of the grave internal differences of the Cru- saders was thus brought temporarily to an end, three leaders otlicrs of an equallj serious character, which it is o expe 1 ion. j^g^^j^^ ^y. purpose to describe, presented them- selves. Innocent's anticipation of misfortune was soon justi- fied by events. There was, as he had foreseen, little hope of aid in the crusade from the conquerors of an empire which they were not able to defend. Within eighteen months of the capture of the city three of the principal actors and a crowd of those only second to them in rank had died, and most of them by violent deaths. We have already seen that Baldwin fell into the hands of his enemies and was succeeded by his brother. Dandolo ended his long life in June, 1205, and lies buried in or near the Great Church of the Divine Wisdom.^ Two years afterwards Boniface, who had continued to be of doubtful loyalty until he appears to have been contented by the marriage of his daughter to the new emperor Henry, met with a violent death. He was caught in a defile in the Rhodope Mountains by the Bulgarians, and was mortally wounded. The years that followed the conquest were of wild disorder and confusion. The government of the country throughout was a task to w^hich the Crusaders were unequal. empue. rp|^g attempt to rule the ancient empire under the forms of the Western feudal system utterly broke down. The land was divided into fiefs among the barons and knights, but the division caused much disaffection and wrangling. Few were satisfied in the general scramble which followed. In spite of an attempt to decide differences by lot, the rule was that each should keep what he could take. Western titles and dignities were introduced, and w^c read in the empire of the New Eome for the first and last time of grand constables, seneschals, cup-bearers, marshals, grand butlers, masters of the ^ A slab in the women's gallery, inscribed " Henrico Dandolo," com- memorates liira. This, after having long been forgotten, was discovered a few years ago, and though some of the archaeologists of Constantinople whose opinions arc entitled to respect believe it to be comparatively mod- ern, I see no reason to doubt that it was placed in its present position shortly after Dandolo's death.