In the course of the following century a different personage figured in the history of the prison. This was Veccus, Chartophylax of St. Sophia at the time of his confinement, and subsequently Patriarch of Constantinople.[547] He incurred the displeasure of Michael Palæologus by opposing the union of the Eastern and Western Churches, through which the emperor hoped to secure the goodwill and assistance of the Pope in maintaining the newly recovered throne of Constantinople. Before an assembly convened to discuss the question in the presence of Michael, Veccus, who had been appointed the spokesman of the opponents of the Imperial policy on account of his abilities, denounced the Latins as heretics with whom ecclesiastical communion was simply impossible. The emperor resented the affront, but, unwilling to make it the official ground of proceedings against the popular champion of orthodoxy, sought other reasons for punishing him. Accordingly, he accused Veccus of having thwarted the marriage which had been arranged between the Princess Anna and the second son of the Kral of Servia; another of Michael’s measures to make his position secure. The charge had some foundation. For upon the completion of the negotiations for the marriage, the bride-elect had started for her destined home under the care of Veccus and of the Patriarch of Constantinople. But when the party reached Berœa, Veccus, acting on the private instructions of the empress, left Anna and the patriarch, and pushed forward to investigate the character and manners of the people among whom the princess was to cast her lot. The primitive and boorish ways of the Servian Court did not commend themselves to Veccus, as a suitable environment for a lady brought up in the palaces of Constantinople. The splendour of the tent which Veccus occupied was lost upon the Kral; while the eunuchs in the household of the Byzantine princess shocked the sovereign’s unsophisticated mind. Pointing to the wife of his elder son, simply attired, and busy spinning wool, the rough monarch exclaimed, “That is how we treat our brides!” Nor was Veccus more favourably impressed by other experiences. The embassy which the Kral sent to welcome the bride-elect was robbed on the journey by brigands; and the Byzantine envoys awoke one morning to find that all their fine horses had been stolen during the night. Under these circumstances, Veccus thought the wisest course was to conduct Anna back to Constantinople;[548] and for this action Michael now saw fit to prosecute him.