Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/83

 CHAPTER lY. WEAKENING OF TEE EMPIRE FROM DYNASTIC TROUBLES. At the time when the B3^zantine empire had need of all her strength, when half-civilized liordes were pouring into the Balkan peninsula from the North, when she had been almost overwhelmed by the wave of Turkish invasion in Asia Minor, when Sicilians, Yenetians, and Crusaders were alike hostile to her, a series of dynastic troubles commenced in the capital itself, which greatly diminished the reputation of the New Kome and lessened its strength. These troubles were, for the most part, what we may call accidental. They did not arise, directly at least, in consequence of the struggles of the empire with foreign enemies, though undoubtedly these troubles increased their importance. Under ordinary circum- stances and in other times — say, for example, a century ear- lier — they would have settled themselves, and the empire would have presented a united front to the various enemies who were attacking it. The earlier of these dynastic strug- gles weakened the empire. The later contributed largely to its destruction. The Emperor Manuel, who reigned from 1143 to 1180, had The Emperor Tulcd with ability and energy. But he had become Manuel. unpopular with his subjects on account of his fond- ness for the Latins and of his extravagance. The citizens of Constantinople complained that their own merchants were ruined by the favors which were heaped on the Italians. ManuePs leaning towards the West was due, in part at least, to his personal character. He had been influenced deeply by the spirit of Western chivalry. He was tall, of quite excep- tional strength,^ and of great skill in all military exercises. 5
 * Cinnamus, pp. 73, 140.