Constantinople: The Story of the Old Capital of the EmpireHutton, William Holden
History
Constantinople: The Story of the Old Capital of the Empire
Hutton, William Holden
Istanbul (Turkey)
Time would fail to tell of the wonderful things that were discovered
and stolen. Almost every country in Europe received some fragments of
the True Cross, found by S. Helena. Besides this there were drops of
the Saviour's Blood, one of His teeth, some of His hair, the purple
robe, some of the bread blessed at the Last Supper, and countless
relics of the Blessed Virgin and the Apostles. The heads of S. John
Baptist and of many of the Apostles found their way to the West.
Venice was incomparably the largest gainer, but even the little church
of Bromholm in Norfolk, by a gift which was the result of a double
robbery, became the possessor of a fragment of the true Cross. The
Crusaders were not content with taking relics of the primitive Church,
but must needs take also the mortal remains of the Greek Fathers; you
may see the head of S. Chrysostom to-day in the cathedral of Pisa.
The reliquaries, the exquisite examples of Byzantine art, that were
scattered about the West, remain very often even now to witness to the
completeness of the spoliation. But artistically the things that were
destroyed, broken up or melted down, were far more precious than those
that survived. If S. Mark's still possesses the horses that once stood
in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, we know that magnificent statues
of Juno, of Paris, of Bellerophon, an exquisite figure of Helen, of
which Nicetas pathetically deplores that "she who had formerly led all
spectators captive could not soften the heart of the barbarians," and
many ancient works, statues, medallions, vases, were destroyed in the
furnace. There are remains of ancient art in Constantinople to-day;
but when we think of the pillage of 1204 and the Mohammedan Conquest
we marvel that there is anything more ancient than the sixteenth
century, or more valuable than a kettle or a candlestick of old time,
to be found in the whole city.
The capture of the city was followed by the election, by twelve
electors representing the Crusaders, of an Emperor for the throne of
the Cæsars. Baldwin Count of Flanders, by what process of intrigue we
do not know, was chosen. He was "heaved" upon the shield, as the
ancient custom was; he received the reverence of those who had been
his equals in the campaign; he was led in triumph to S. Sophia, and in
a strange mixture of Latin and Greek rites was consecrated, crowned
and enthroned a week after his election, as Cæsar and Augustus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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