Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/92

 74 was a failure. He suffered a severe defeat in battle at the hands of the Armenian prince Thoros. Finding himself beaten, he made a wild, reckless, and altogether foolhardy at- tempt upon the life of Thoros. Though this attempt failed, it probably helped to maintain his popularity.

He escapes from the empire.

It now became necessary for him to escape out of the empire, in order to avoid dismissal or more severe pun- ishment. Collecting all the money from Cilicia which he could obtain, he went with a large retinuo to Haymond, Prince of Antioch. He was always a favorite with women, and soon after his arrival fell in love with Philippa, daughter of Raymond and sister of the Empress Maria. The emperor did his utmost to separate them, and found a candidate for Philippa's hand ; but that lady, in the only interview she would grant the imperial nominee, asked him if he thought any woman, after having looked on him and on Andronicos, would hesitate about her choice. Persuasion and threats by her family and the emperor were in vain. Andronicos, however, was afraid of being captured and surrendered by Raymond to his suzerain, and therefore escaped to Jerusalem. Once more he found an imperial princess willing to abandon herself to him. Theodora, daughter of his cousin Isaac, the sebastocrator, and widow of Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, succeeded to the place of Philippa. The looseness of morality among the crusading knights in the holy city of Christendom was so great that Andronicos and Theodora hardly made a pretence of secrecy in regard to their relations. The emperor again did his utmost to gain possession of his unruly subject, and gave orders that his eyes should be put out if he could be caught — the commonest punishment for political offences, and one inflicted with a frightful frequency. The command was conveyed in an imperial bull, but the document fell into the hands of Theodora. When it was shown to the intended victim he felt it necessary once more to fly, and accordingly took refuge among the Turks, finally settling down under the sultan who then ruled in Chaldoea, whither