The Project Gutenberg eBook of Byzantine Constantinople, by Alexander Van Millingen

448. Tafferner, chaplain to the Embassy sent by the Emperor Leopold I. to the Ottoman Court (Cæsarea Legatio quam, mandante Augustissimo Rom. Imperatore Leopoldi I. ad Portam Ottomanicam, suscepit, perficitque Excellentissimus Dominus Walterus Comes de Leslie, 1688), gives in his account of the mission (pp. 92, 93) the following description of the palace in his day:—“Præteriri non potuit quin inviseretur aula magni Constantini: Regia hæc ad Occidentem mœnibus adhæret; nobilia sublimibus operibus instructissimo olim colle locata: tribus substructionibus moles assurrexerat; altius nullum in tota urbe domicilium. Palatij coronis superstes marmore inciso elaborata tectum fulcit, ventis et imbribus pervium. Vastæ et eminentes præter sacræ antiquitatis ædilitatem è pario lapide fenestræ liquidò demonstrant, cujus palatij ornamenta fuerint, cujus aulæ etiamnum ruinæ sint. Propylæum decem columnæ magnitudinis et artificij dignitate conspicuæ sustinent: ejus in angulo desolatus, et ruderibus scatens puteus mœret. Pergula è centro prominens universæ urbis conspectum explicat. Columnis constat auro passim illitis, cujus radios color viridis extiamnum animat. Grandiora lapidum fragmenta, cum primis fabricæ ornamentis, ac fulcris cæteris in Moschèas translata sunt: sola tantæ molis vestigia, atque ex ungue cadaver nunc restat. Muro extimo meridiem versùs insertum parieti visitur Oratoriolum hominibus recipiendis sex opportunum: Angustia loci persuadet privatæ illud pietati Constantini sacrum fuisse. Squallet turpiter hæc Imperatorij operis majestas nunc inter arbusta, atque hederas et sive cœli injurias, sive immanitatem barbarorum, sive Christianorum incuriam accuses, non absimilem cum tempore rebus cæteris, utcunque floreant, internecionem minatur.”

449. Paspates, p. 19.

450. Dr. Mordtmann was the first to prove this. See below, p. 122.

451. The Sixth Hill sends three spurs towards the Golden Horn, which may be distinguished as the eastern, middle, and western.

452. This is the view of Dr. Paspates, pp. 2, 3, 92.

453. Procopius (De Æd., i. c. 3), speaking of the Church of Blachernæ, describes it as situated πρὸ τοῦ περιβόλου, ἐν χώρῳ καλουμένῳ Βλαχέρναις. Cf. Paschal Chron., p. 726.

454. This is the view of Dr. Mordtmann, p. 11.

455. Previous to the erection of Manuel’s Wall, the Moat may have continued further north, protecting the wall along the western side of the spur.

456. Cf. Paspates, pp. 92-99, regarding the remains of the walls around the spur, the area they enclose, and their character. According to him, the wall on the eastern side of the spur measures m. 157.81 in length, and is in some parts m. 13-14 high; the wall along the northern side of the spur is m. 180.90 long, and m. 13-14 high; the wall on the western side of the spur is m. 35 long, and as high as the adjoining walls of the city.

457. Paschal Chron., 724, τὸ τεῖχος Βλαχερνῶν. This was before the erection of the Wall of Heraclius.

458. Ibid., p. 726, ἔξωθεν τοῦ καλουμένου Πτεροῦ.

459. Nicephorus, Patriarcha CP., p. 20, τὸ Βλαχερνῶν προτείχισμα τὸ καλούμενον Πτερόν.

460. Paschal Chron., ut supra; cf. Procopius, De Æd., i. c. 3, c. 6.

461. Notitia, ad Reg. XIV.

462. See above, p. 111. See also illustration facing p. 118.

463. With alterations made in the course of time by repairs.

464. Notitia, ad Reg. XIV. “Regio sane licet in urbis quartadecima numeretur, tamen quia spatio interjecto divisa est, muro proprio vallata alterius quomodo speciem civitatis ostendit.”

Dionysius Byzantius derives the name Blachernæ from a barbarian chieftain who was settled there. If so, it is extremely probable that the Sixth Hill was fortified, to some extent, even before the foundation of Constantinople. See Gyllius, De Top. C.P., iv. c. 5.

465. On this view, a wall must, also, be supposed to have proceeded from Londja to the Golden Horn, completing the circuit of the fortifications around the city.

466. Notitia, ad Reg. XIV.

467. Page 719; cf. Ibid., p. 500; Cinnamus, p. 274.

468. Ut supra, Περὶ τὸ γεώλοφον ἄφ᾽ οὗπερ ὁρατὰ μὲν τὰ ἐν Βλαχέρναις ἀνάκτορα, ὁπόσα νένευκε πρὸς ἑσπέραν. Περὶ δὲ γε τὴν τούτου ὑπόβασιν ὑπτιάζει τις αὔλειος, πρὸς μεσημβρίαν μὲν ἐς τὸ τεῖχος λήγουσα ὅπερ ἔρυμα τῶν ἀρχείων ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀνήγειρε Μανουὴλ, κατὰ δὲ βορρᾶν ἄνεμον τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἐγγίζουσα.

469. Anna Comn., vi. p. 275, et passim.

470. Nicetas Chon., p. 269; Benjamin of Toledo, p. 12.

471. As a rule, two to four courses of stone, alternating with six to nine courses of brick.

472. This is a piece of Turkish repair, in which the lintel of a postern is found.

474. See above, p. 83.

475. Pusculus, iv. 177.

476. Nicolo Barbaro, p. 794, “Questa Calegaria si xe apresso del palazzo de, l’imperador;” p. 784, “Li no ve iera barbacani.” Leonard of Scio, “Ad partem illam murorum simplicium, qua nec fossatis, nec antemurali tutebatur, Calegariam dictam.” Again he says, “Murus ad Caligariam erat perlatus, fortisque.”

477. Phrantzes, p. 280.

478. Leonard of Scio, “Horribilem perinde bombardam (quamquam major alai quam vix bovum quinquagenta centum juga vehebant) ob partem illam ... lapide qui palmis meis undecim ex meis ambibat in gyro, ex ea murum conterebant.”

480. Ibid.; N. Barbaro, May 16, 21-25; Phrantzes, p. 244.

481. Paspates, p. 22; Phrantzes, p. 280.

482. See below, p. 132. The tower is marked L on Map facing p. 115.

483. Mordtmann, p. 35.

484. See below, p. 132.

485. See above, p. 103. The inscription is now reversed, and stands a little above the base of the tower.

486. Nicetas Chon., pp. 719, 720.

487. Anna Comnena, x. p. 48; Albert Aquensis, lib. ii. c. 10, speaks of certain gates, versus Sanctum Argenteum; while Tudebodus Imitatus et Continuatus (Auteurs Occidentaux sur les Croisades, vol. iii. p. 178) states that Bohemond, who, according to Anna Comnena (x. p. 61) and Ville-Hardouin (c. 33), lodged at the Monastery of SS. Cosmas and Damianus, in the Cosmidion (Eyoub), was assigned quarters—extra civitatem in Sancto Argenteo. The Sanctus Argenteus of these writers was doubtless the church dedicated to the saints above mentioned, who were styled the Anargyri (Without Money). The name of the bay and the epithet of the saints were probably connected.

488. See foot of List of Illustrations.

489. Ville-Hardouin, c. 39, 40, 46, 47.

490. Cantacuzene, i. pp. 89, 90.

491. Ibid., i. pp. 255, 289, 290.

492. Nicephorus Greg., ix. pp. 420, 421.

493. Cantacuzene, iii. p. 501.

494. Constantinopolis Christiana, ii. pp. 130-132.

496. Notitia, ad Reg. XIV.

497. Suidas, Ad vocem, Anastasius.

498. Constant. Porphyr., De Cer., pp. 542, 543.

499. Anna Comn., x. pp. 36, 54, 63.

500. Nicetas Chon., p. 269.

501. William of Tyre, xx. c. 24.

502. William of Tyre, ut supra.

503. Nicetas Chon., p. 720.

504. Ibid., p. 351.

505. See below, p. 143.

506. Ville-Hardouin, c. 39.

507. Ibid., c. 55.

508. Pachymeres, vol. i. pp. 144, 161.

509. Cantacuzene, i. p. 305; iv. pp. 290, 291; Nicephorus Greg., ix. p. 420, etc.

510. Phrantzes, p. 280.

511. Nicetas Chon., p. 269.

512. See Benjamin of Toledo, and Odo de Dogilo, iv. p. 37, both of whom visited the palace in the reign of Manuel Comnenus.

513. Cantacuzene, i. pp. 89, 90.

514. See Map facing p. 115.

515. Cantacuzene, iii. pp. 611, 612; Nicephorus Greg., xv. pp. 774-779.

516. See below, p. 132.

517. See tower L, in Map facing p. 115.

518. See illustration facing p. 248.

519. Pages 22-32, where Dr. Paspates gives an interesting account of his discovery and exploration of the chambers.

520. The plan was taken by Mr. Hanford W. Edson, formerly Instructor in Mathematics at Robert College. It was drawn by Professor Alfred Hamlin, of Columbia College, and revised by Mr. Arthur E. Henderson, Architect.

521. Since the above was written this way of entering the tower and chambers has been closed. One gains admittance now at the opening V, from the courtyard of the Mosque of Aivas Effendi.

522. In the opinion of some authorities, e.g. Professor Strzygowski, this apartment was a cistern.

523. Cf. Lanciani, The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome, pp. 178, 179, 182.

524. See the loophole windows in plan of that residence, facing p. 109.

525. See below, p. 273.

526. See above, p. 128.

528. Speaking of similar substructures below the Domus Gaiana in the Palace of the Cæsars at Rome, Lanciani remarks: “We gain by them the true idea of the human fourmillière of slaves, servants, freed men, and guards, which lived and moved and worked in the substrata of the Palatine, serving the court in silence and almost in darkness” (The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome, p. 150).

529. Nicetas Chon., pp. 580, 581, Προθέμενος δὲ καὶ πύργον τεκτήνασθαι κατὰ τὸ ἐν Βλαχέρναις παλάτιον, ἅμα μὲν εἰς ἔρυμα τῶν ἀνακτόρων, ὡς ἔφασκε, καὶ ὑπέρεισμα, ἅμα δὲ καὶ εἰς ἐνοίκησιν ἐαυτῷ.

530. Ibid. ut supra.

531. See above, p. 132. The tower is marked L on the Map which faces p. 115.

533. Anna Comn., xii. 161, 162, where the prison of Anemas, ἡ τοῦ Ἀνεμᾶ εἱρκτή, is described as πύργος δ᾽ ἦν εἷς τις τῶν ἀγχοῦ τῶν ἐν Βλαχέρναις ἀνακτόρων διακειμένων τειχῶν τῆς πόλεως: also p. 161, τὸν ἀγχοῦ τῶν ἀνακτόρων ᾠκοδομημένον πύργον.

534. See his Epistle to Pope Nicholas V.

535. Page 51, Ἐν τοῖς πύργοις τοῖς λεγομένοις Ἀδεμανίδες πλησίον Βλαχέρνων. The name Anemas appears first in Theophanes, p. 749, as the surname of a certain Bardanius, τὸ ἐπίκλην Ἀνεμᾶν, in the reign of Nicephorus I., 802-811.

536. The Byzantine authors who refer to the Prison of Anemas in express terms are: Anna Comnena, xii. pp. 161, 162; Nicetas Choniates, p. 455 (ἡ τοῦ Ἀνεμᾶ φρουρὰ); Pachymeres, vol. i. p. 378; Cantacuzene, lib. ii. p. 329; Phrantzes, p. 51; Ducas, p. 45. Once, Pachymeres (vol. ii. p. 409) speaks of ταῖς κατὰ τὰς Βλαχέρνας εἱρκταῖς, in which the Despot Michael and his family were confined.

538. Ancient and Modern Consple., pp. 11, 45. The patriarch supposed that the Palace of Blachernæ stood within the enclosure formed by the Wall of Heraclius and the Wall of Leo. Ibid., p. 44.

539. Pand. Hist. Turc., s. 206.

540. See his Epistle to Pope Nicholas V.

541. Dolfin, s. 64, “Hieronymo Italiano, Leonardo da Languasto Genoexe, cum molti compagni, la porta Chsilo et le Torre Anemande, le qual el cardinal a sue spese hauea reparato, diffensaua.”

542. See below, p. 173.

543. Anna Comn., xii. pp. 161, 162.

544. See Schlumberger, Un Empereur Byzantin au Dixième Siècle, chap. ii., for a brilliant account of the conquest of Crete by Nicephoras Phocas in 962; cf. Leo Diaconus, Historia, lib. i. et ii.

545. Anna Comn., xii. pp. 153-161.

546. Ibid., pp. 161-164.

547. Nicetas Chon., pp. 452-458.

548. Pachymeres, vol. i. pp. 374-403.

549. For the account of the mission to Servia, see Pachymeres, vol. i. pp. 350-355.

550. For the circumstances attending the imprisonment of Veccus, see Pachymeres, vol. i. pp. 374-403.

551. Pachymeres, vol. ii. p. 270.

552. Pachymeres, vol. ii. pp. 304, 396, 408, 409, where the prison is styled ταῖς κατὰ τὰς Βλαχέρνας εἱρκταις.

553. Cantacuzene, i. pp. 171, 172; ii. pp. 329-332, 457.

554. Langier, Histoire de la République de Venise, vol. iv. pp. 251, 253.

555. The history of the imprisonment of these Imperial personages is found in Phrantzes, pp. 49-57: Ducas, pp. 43-46: Chalcocondylas, pp. 40-46, 51, 60-64.

556. Paschal Chron., p. 726, Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει ἐκτίσθη τὸ τεῖχος πέριξ τοῦ οἴκον τῆς δεσποίνης ἡμῶν τῆς θεοτόκου, ἔξωθεν τοῦ καλουμένου Πτεροῦ.

557. Ibid., Procopius, De Æd., lib. i. c. 3; Paschal Chron., p. 702.

558. Theophanes, p. 361.

559. For account of the siege, see Paschal Chronicle, pp. 715-726; Nicephorus Patriarcha CP., pp. 20, 21.

560. Theophanes, pp. 568, 592.

561. Theophanes Cont., p. 618.

563. Theophanes, p. 592; Cedrenus, vol. i. p. 787.

564. Paspates, p. 19.

565. Paschal Chron., p. 726; Nicephorus, Patriarcha CP., p. 21.

566. See above, Chapter IX.

567. Theophanes Cont., pp. 612-618; Συναθροίσας λαὸν πολὺν καὶ τεχνίτας ἤρξατο κτίζειν ἕτερον τεῖχος ἔξωθεν τοῦ τείχους τῶν Βλαχερνῶν, κόψας καὶ τὴν σούδαν πλατεῖαν.

568. Theophanes, p. 785; Theophanes Cont., pp. 612-618.

569. Anna Comn., ii. p. 104.

570. Leunclavius, Pand Hist. Turc., s. 200. The Pentapyrgion mentioned by Constantine Porphyrogenitus was a piece of furniture in the form of a castle with five towers, kept in the Great Palace.

571. Theophanes Cont., pp. 60, 61; Cedrenus, vol. ii. pp. 81-83.

572. Procopius, De Æd., i. c. 6; Paschal Chron., pp. 724, 725.

573. Anna Comn., x. p. 48; Itinéraires Russes en Orient., p. 124. The church was dedicated to SS. Priscus and Nicholas (Procopius, ut supra). The Holy Well is now regarded as that of St. Basil (Patriarch Constantius, Ancient and Modern Consple., p. 44). Whether the church should be identified with the Church of St. Nicholas, τὰ Βασιλίδου (Codinus, p. 125, Paspates, p. 34), is doubtful.

The Cosmidion, now Eyoub, obtained its name from the celebrated Church and Monastery of SS. Cosmas and Damianus in the district. The church was founded by Paulinus, the friend of Theodosius II., and the victim of his jealousy, and is therefore sometimes described as ἐν τοῖς Παυλίνου. It stood on the hill at the head of the Golden Horn, commanding the most beautiful view of the harbour, and constituted, with the walls around it, an acropolis (Procopius, De Æd. i. c. 6). It was restored by Justinian the Great, and was famed for miraculous cures. The two saints had been what would now be termed “medical missionaries,” and exercised their art gratuitously; hence, their epithet Ἀνάργυροι (without money). Owing to the strategical position of the monastery, it was frequently seized by assailants of the city, as, for example, by the Avars (Paschal Chron., p. 725), and by the rebel Thomas (Theophanes Cont., p. 59). It was granted to Bohemond by Alexius Comnenus, and was consequently known as the Castle of Bohemond (William of Tyre, ii. pp. 84, 85). Andronicus II. Palæologus dismantled the fortress, lest it should be used by the Catalans (Pachymeres, vol. ii. p. 592).