14 ITS HISTORY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Simon now confined his attention chiefly to the affairs of Vlachia, being unable to resist the arms of the Albanians*, who took possession of Ætolia and Acarnania, which were divided into two districts, under command of the chieftains Ghinos Buïàs and Peter Leoses. Ioannina however resisted all their attempts to subdue it, and its spirited citizens being reduced to great straits, sent a deputation to Simon, imploring his assistance. But in avoiding a lesser evil they unfortunately fell into a greater! Simon, with the forces for their protection, sent back also as their governor, his son-in-law Thomas, whom my MS. designates by the gentle titles of, an imp of darkness, and a son of Satan. With his princess Angelina, he made a triumphant entry into Ioannina amidst the acclamations of the populace; he conducted himself for a short time with candour and moderation, but soon threw off the mask, and appeared in all his native depravity. The first attack made by this tyrant was upon the church and its treasures, which he pillaged to enrich his Servian followers, driving the excellent bishop, Sebastian, into exile, and turning the cathedral, after he had stripped it of its ornaments, into granaries and storehouses. He next raised his hand against the principal and wealthiest of the inhabitants, confiscating their estates, and driving into exile, without mercy, all except a few, who, by the basest compliances and vilest flattery ingratiated themselves into his favour. Amongst these unworthy citizens are particularized one Bardinus, governor of San. Donato †, and John Capsocavades, who commanded in Rakovitza; these men were his chief counsellors in iniquity and his associates in debauchery. Amidst the tyrannical acts of this monster, which became so great that even his own Servians desertea the city, none excited greater horror than that which he committed against *Not long before this time they had greatly annoyed the imperial possessions and fortresses in the Illyrian provinces, but had been severely chastised for their audacity by Andronicus jun. assisted by a formidable auxiliary force of Asiatic Turks. Cantacuz. 1. ii. c. 32. + A place in the neighbourhood of Paramithia. ITS HISTORY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 15 Elias Clauses, one of the best and richest of the citizens, whom he compelled to reveal his treasures by unheard-of cruelties, making him drink water mingled with ashes, and burning his naked body with torches and brimstone, till he expired under the torment. During the government of this wretch in the year 1368, a terrible pestilence invaded Ioannina, and swept off great numbers of inhabitants at its conclusion he forced all the rich widows who survived, to marry his despicable companions, and appropriated to his own use the property of the orphans. Whilst the unfortunate city was reduced to a state of misery by the oppressive laws, taxation, monopolies, and other burthens of its domestic tyrant, it was exposed to the greatest external calamities by an Albanian invasion, under Peter Leoses, who was induced to retire by receiving great bribes, and the hand of Irene, Thomas's daughter, in marriage. During the five succeeding years, in which the city was free from all incursions of the Albanians, the depravity of its governor continued to increase. In the mean time a second pestilence broke out in these parts, raging with particular violence in Ioannina and Arta. At the latter place Leoses himself fell a victim to it; after whose death a very celebrated chieftain, named Spatas, usurped the sovereignty, and joined together under his now formidable dominion, the two Albanian principalities of Ætolia and Acarnania. This warrior came up against Ioannina soon after its sufferings by the plague, and was only diverted from sacking the city by receiving Helen, the tyrant's sister, in marriage, with a regal dowry. The despot, liberated from this last and most pressing danger, sunk deeper and deeper in iniquity, giving himself up to the guidance of a most abandoned miscreant named Michael Apsaras, who not only led him into the commission of the most enormous and unnatural vices, but alienated his affections from his wife Angelina, a woman who, to great beauty, added the most angelic disposition, and who 16 ITS HISTORY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. had hitherto been able to afford protection to many suppliants against the tyranny and brutality of her husband*. In the year 1378 the Albanians of Malacassit under Ghino Frati made an irruption into the territories of Ioannina during the season of vintage, but were defeated and lost a great number in killed and prisoners. In the month of February the following year, a tower of the castron was betrayed by one Nicephorus a native of Peramast, to 200 Albanians, who next morning were joined by a large body of their countrymen from the island of the lake, with Valachians and Bulgarians mixed, when the whole castron, with its principal gula or citadel, fell into their hands. During three days the most terrible commotions ensued, and a general assault was prepared against the city by the Albanians in the fortress and their allies in the island. From this danger the citizens were delivered by the interposition of Michael the archangel, who appeared at the head of their armament with his flaming sword, and still continues to be the patron of the city. The expedition from the island being thus met and defeated, the Albanians in the castron surrendered at discretion, all of whom were put to death except a certain number who were sent back as a warning to their countrymen, with the loss of eyes, ears and noses: from this massacre Thomas took the surname of the Albanian-killer ('Axßavoxтóvos)§. In the ensuing month of May Spatas took revenge for these enormities by laying waste the vineyards and corn-fields in the vicinity of Ioannina, in spite of the mean vengeance of Thomas, who hung up before the city walls all the Albanians that fell into his power, or sent * She is styled in my Ioannina MS. Η τῷ ὄντι χρυσὴ και ευσεβετάτη βασίλισσα. A large town of the Pindus about ten miles beyond Mezzovo. A village at the north end of the lake. The Albanians became very formidable in the fourteenth century, at the latter end of which two of their chiefs shone very conspicuously, Balza in the north and Spatas in the south. Chalcocondyl. 1. iv. p. 111: they gained possession of many strong holds and cities in Illyricum, Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, Etolia, and Acarnania. Chalcocond. ibid. ITS HISTORY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 17 them mutilated into the enemy's camp. Nor did his cruelty towards his own subjects cease: in this very year he put to death Elias, the venerable Bishop of Mezzovo, at the instance of his confidant Apsaras, cut alive into small pieces Theochores an excellent citizen, and dragged another, named Gastiziotes, to death at a horse's tail: many lost their eyes or were kept in miserable dungeons till they discovered their riches to the tyrant. In the year 1380 he fortified various strong castles of his own district*, called in the assistance of the Turks, and carrying fire and sword into the territories of Malacassi and its vicinity inflicted the most horrid cruelties upon the victims who fell into his hands. In 1382 he repeated these incursions with the assistance of the same allies, conquered the cities of Velas, Drynopolis, Bagenetia, and Catuna: he repelled also an incursion of Spatas, who came to demand his wife's dowry which had not all been paid. In the same year this apostate, by which title he is chiefly designated, received the title of despot from the Emperor Manuel, son of John Palæologus and his associate on the throne. In the year 1385 the Turks made an incursion against Arta and carried away many Christian captives. Spatas on this occasion dispatched Matthew Archbishop of Ioannina, who happened to be in Arta, to request the assistance of Thomas against these fierce invaders: this was refused, and the poor archbishop banished for his interference. At length his enormities became so revolting that four of his own body-guard conspired to rid the world of such a monster, and effected their design by stabbing him in his bed on the night of December 20, 1385. This wretch having been buried with the obsequies due to royalty†, his widow Angelina in the month of January 1386, to the great joy of her subjects espoused Izaus Count of Cephalonia, an excellent and virtuous prince: amongst his first acts was the recall of the archbishop • Amongst these are mentioned Boursina, Critzounista, Dragomi, Velchista and Rakovitza. + In all probability it is his sepulchre to which the monumental inscription mentioned in p. 9, refers. VOL. II. D 18 ITS HISTORY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. from exile, the restoration of the dilapidated walls and revenue of the churches, the destruction of those horrid dungeons in which the late tyrant confined his wretched prisoners, and the punishment of his vile counsellors, the infamous Apsaras being deprived of his eyes and banished with all his family from the realm. After this he protected his country from the depredations of Albanian marauders, many of whom he subjected by his arms, and conciliated others by treaties which were faithfully observed. His good character procured for him the approbation of the Byzantine court and the regal title, the ceremony of his coronation being performed in the cathedral by the archbishop and two of his suffragans, the Bishops of Velas and Drynopolis. In the year 1387 the good Archbishop Matthew died, and was succeeded by Gabriel prior of the ancient convent called the Archimandreion; its tower was this same year struck by lightning, and falling down crushed fourteen persons to atoms under the ruins. Izaus entering into alliance with the rulers of Vlakia and Thessalonica, governed his states in peace and tranquillity till the year 1395, when he had the misfortune to lose his wife Angelina, whose remains were followed to the grave by a vast concourse of citizens uttering the most unfeigned accents of grief and lamentation. In 1397, at the instigation of his council, he espoused Irene, the daughter of his old antagonist Spatas, a woman of great beauty and talent: soon after his nuptials he lent his assistance to his Albanian father-in-law against an invasion of the Turks, who were defeated in a bloody battle near Drisco. In the following year Izaus having collected a large force marched against a powerful chieftain of Albania named Ghioni Zenevisi, in the province of Lower Dibra by him he was defeated and taken prisoner. The news of his captivity being carried to Florence, where he had relations of high rank, they, with the assistance of the Venetian government at Corfu, procured his release by a ransom of 10,000 florins, which was paid at the city of Argyro-Castro, whither Izaus was brought and libe |