superior power, could not but appear, on reflection, the result of timid caution, and narrow politics; and, as Henry valued himself on his extensive foresight, and sound judgment, the ascendant acquired over him, by such a youth as Charles, roused his indignation, and prompted him to seek vengeance, after all remedy for his miscarriage was become impracticable. He accordingly entered into a league with the king of the Romans, and the king of Spain, who also interested himself in this matter: he obtained liberal supplies from his parliament; and he landed in France with one of the largest, and best appointed armies that had ever been transported from England". A.D.1492. But Charles and his ministers found means to divert the impending storm, by dissolving the confederacy. They drew the king of Spain into a separate treaty, by restoring to him the counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne; and as they knew Henry's ruling passion to be money, he was bought off by the famous treaty of Estaples, the particulars of which I shall afterwards have occasion to mention. Maximilian now alone remained of all those hostile powers; and A. D. 1493. he was content to conclude a peace, on obtaining restitution of Artois, Franche Comte, and Carolois, which had been ceded as the dowry of his daughter, when she was affianced to the king of France12. Charles's motives for purchasing peace at so high a price were neither those of indolence nor timidity, but of ambition and youthful ardour. He had determined to vindicate his title to the kingdom of Naples, supposed to descend to him from the second house of Anjou, which ended in Charles count of Maine, who had bequeathed all his rights and possessions to the crown of France. This project had long engaged the mind of Charles; but, in order to carry it effectually into execution, it was necessary 11. Bacon, ubi sup.、 VOL. II. A. D. 1494. to be at peace with his neighbours: and that being now secured he set out for Italy with as little concern as if it had been a mere journey of pleasure 13. But before I speak of the success of that expedition, and the wars in which it involved Europe, several important matters merit your attention—the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, and the expulsion of the Moors out of Spain. LETTER L. THE PROGRESS OF THE TURKS, AND THE FALL OF THE GREEK EMPIRE. You have already seen, my dear Philip, the weakness of the empire of Constantinople at the time of the crusades; you have seen the imperial city sacked, and the government seized by the champions of the cross. The Greeks recovered their empire from the French in 1261, but in a mangled and impoverished condition. It continued in the same weak state. The monastic passion seemed to have obscured the rays of common sense. Andronicus, son of Michael Paleologus, who had restored the Greek empire, allowed himself to be persuaded, that God being his protector, all military force was unnecessary; and the superstitious Grecks, regardless of danger, employed themselves in disputing about the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, when they should have been studying the art of war and training themselves to military discipline. One half of the empire pretended, that the light upon Mount Tabor had been from all eternity; and the other half affirmed, that it had been produced by God only for the purpose of the transfiguration'. In the mean time the Turks, whose force had been broken by the Mogul Tartars, were strengthening themselves in 13. Ibid. chap. v. Mezeray, tom. iv. 1. Pachymer. Asia Minor, and soon over-ran Thrace. Othman, from whom the present sultans are descended, and to whom the Ottoman empire owes its establishment, fixed the seat of his government at Prusa, in Bithynia, about the beginning of the fourteenth century. His son Orcan advanced as far as the borders of the Propontis; and John Cantacuzenus, colleague of the emperor Paleologus, was glad to purchase the friendship of an infidel and barbarian, according to the haughty language of the Greeks, by giving him his daughter in marriage2. A. D. 1346. Cantacuzenus, who had usurped the imperial dignity, ended his days in a monastery; and John Paleologus, after having in vain implored succours in Italy, and humbled himself at the feet of the pope, was obliged to return A. D. 1370. and conclude a shameful treaty with Amurath, the son of Orcan, whose tributary he consented to become. The Turkish army had crossed the streights of Calipolis, taken the city of Adrianople, and marched into the heart of Thrace, before the return of the emperor3. Amurath first gave to the Janizaries that form under which they at present subsist. In order to create a body of devoted troops, that might serve as the immediate guards of his person and dignity, the sultan commanded his officers to seize annually, as the imperial property, the third part of the young males, taken in war. After being instructed in the Mahometan religion, inured to obedience by severe discipline, and trained to warlike exercise, these youths were formed into regular bands, distinguished by the name of Fanizaries, or new soldiers. And as every sentiment which enthusiasm can inspire, and every mark of honour that the favour of the prince could confer, were employed to animate them with martial ardour, and fill them with a sense of their own pre-eminence, the Janizaries soon became the chief strength and pride of the Ottoman armies. By their valour, Amurath defeated, in the A. D. 1389. plain of Cassovia, the united forces of the Wallachians, Hungarians, Dalmatians, and Triballians, under the conduct of Lascaris, prince of Servia; but walking care. lessly over the field of victory, he was assassinated by a Christian soldier, who had concealed himself among the slain. He was succeeded by his son Bajazet, surnamed Ilderim, or the Thunderbolt, on account of the rapidity of his conquests4. The Greeks, though surrounded by such dangerous enemies, and though their empire was almost reduced to the boundaries of Constantinople, were not more united among themselves than formerly. Discord even reigned in the imperial family. John Paleologus had condemned his son Andronicus to lose his eyes: Andronicus revolted against him, and by the assistance of the Genoese, who were masters of the commerce, and even part of the suburbs of Constantinople, he shut his father up in prison. After two years confinement, the emperor recovered his liberty and his authority, and built a citadel in order to obstruct the designs of the Turks; but Bajazet, the terrible Bajazet, ordered him to demolish his works-and the works were demolished5!What but ruin, and that both sudden and inevitable, could be expected from a people, whose timidity induced them to destroy the very column of their security. In the mean time, the progress of the Turks in Europe alarming the Christian princes, Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, and the flower of the French nobility, took arms, and followed the call of John-without-Fear, count of Nevers. The main army, which consisted of about one hun. dred thousand men, of different nations, was commanded by Sigismund, king of Hungary, afterwards emperor of Germany. The Christians besieged Nicopolis, upon the Danube. Bajazet came to relieve it. He examined the disposition of his enemies: he tried their spirit by skirmishes, and found they had courage, but wanted conduct: he drew 4. Cantemir Hist. Oth. Emp. 5. Ducas. them them into an ambuscade, and gained a complete victory over Constantinople was immediately threatened by the conqueror. But Manuel Paleologus, the son and successor of John, purchased a seeming peace, by submitting to an annual tribute of six hundred pieces of gold; by obliging himself to build a mosque, and receive into the city a cadi, or judge, to decide the differences between the Mahometans settled there on account of trade. Perceiving, however, a new storm arising, he withdrew, and went to the several courts of Europe to petition assistance, as his father had formerly done and with no better success. Nobody would stir in his defence. Few princes indeed were in a condition so to do, almost all Christendom being involved in civil wars. The Turks, meanwhile, had laid siege to Constantinople, and its ruin seemed inevitable; when the fatal blow was diverted for a time, by one of those great events, that fill the world with confusion. The dominions of the Mogul Tartars, under Genghiz Khan, and his immediate successors, extended (as we have had occasion to see) from the Wolga to the frontiers of China, and as far east as the river Ganges. Tamerlane, or Timur Beck, one of the princes of those Tartars, and a descendant of Genghiz Khan, by the female line, though born without dominions (in the ancient Sogdiana, at present the country of the Usbecs) subdued almost as great an extent of territory as his victorious ancestor; and in the sweep of his conquests, gave a blow to the empire of the Turks. He had subjected Persia, India, and Syria, when the Greek emperor, and five Mahometan princes, whom the sultan had stripped of their dominiovs, invited him into Asia 6. Cantemir, ubi sup. 1 |