DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0047
OF the CIVIL government OF athens,
25
iheodosius II. is said to have favoured the Athenians, upon the ac-
count of his queen Eudosia, who was an Athenian by birth. Justinian
also is reported to have been very kind to them ; but from his reign, for
the space of about seven hundred years, either for want of historians in
ages so rude and barbarous, or because they lived in peace and obscurity,
without achieving or suffering any thing deserving to be transmitted to
posterity ; there is no account of any thing that passed between them till
the 13th century.
At that time, Nicetas tells us, Athens was in the hands of Baldwin,
and was besieged by one of the generals of Theodorus Lascares, who
was then the Greek emperor, but he was repulsed with loss, and forced
to raise the siege. Not long after, it was besieged by the Marquis Boni-
facius, who made himself master of it(l).
It was afterwards governed by one Delves, of the house of Arragon ;
and after his death fell into the hands of Bajazet, emperor of the
Turks (2). Afterwards it was taken by the Spaniards of Catalonia, un-
der the command of Andronicus Paleeologus the elder (3). And these
are the same that Chalcocondylas calls Ksati§<i?s£, and reports, they were
dispossessed of it by Reinerius Acciaiolo, a Florentine, who, having no
legitimate male issue, left it by his last will and testament to the state of
Venice.
The Venetians were not long masters of it, being dispossessed by An-
tony, a natural son of Reinerius, who had given him the sovereignty of
Thebes and Boeotia ; and from this time it continued some years under
the government of the Acciaioli : for Antony was succeeded by one of
his kinsmen, called Nerius. Nerius was displaced by his brother Anto-
ny for his insufficiency and unfitness to govern ; and after Antony's death,
recovered it again ; but leaving only one son, then an infant, was suc-
ceeded by his wife, who, for her folly, was ejected by Mahomet, upon
the complaint of Francus, the son of Antony the second, who succeeded
her ; and having confined her some time in prison, put her to death, and
was upon that score accused by his son Mahomet 11. who sent an army
under the conduct of Omares to besiege him. Francus, upon this, made
his application to the Latins ; but they refused to grant him any assist-
ance, except he would engage his subjects in all things to conform to the
Romish superstition, and renounce all those articles, wherein the Greek
church differs from them ; which he not being able to do, was forced to
surrender it to the Turks, in the year of our Lord 1455 (4), and in their
hands it continues to this day.
CHAP. VIII.
of the city of athens, and its walls, gates, streets, buildings, &c,
v ■ •
The city of Athens, when it flourished in its greatest splendour, was
one of the fairest and largest cities of all Greece, being, says Aristides, a
(1) Nicetas Choniates in vita Baldaini.
'^H.aonic, Chakoadvlas. lib- iii:
(3) Nicepb. Greg. lib. vii.
(4} Chalconcr. lib. vi ii tttl
4
25
iheodosius II. is said to have favoured the Athenians, upon the ac-
count of his queen Eudosia, who was an Athenian by birth. Justinian
also is reported to have been very kind to them ; but from his reign, for
the space of about seven hundred years, either for want of historians in
ages so rude and barbarous, or because they lived in peace and obscurity,
without achieving or suffering any thing deserving to be transmitted to
posterity ; there is no account of any thing that passed between them till
the 13th century.
At that time, Nicetas tells us, Athens was in the hands of Baldwin,
and was besieged by one of the generals of Theodorus Lascares, who
was then the Greek emperor, but he was repulsed with loss, and forced
to raise the siege. Not long after, it was besieged by the Marquis Boni-
facius, who made himself master of it(l).
It was afterwards governed by one Delves, of the house of Arragon ;
and after his death fell into the hands of Bajazet, emperor of the
Turks (2). Afterwards it was taken by the Spaniards of Catalonia, un-
der the command of Andronicus Paleeologus the elder (3). And these
are the same that Chalcocondylas calls Ksati§<i?s£, and reports, they were
dispossessed of it by Reinerius Acciaiolo, a Florentine, who, having no
legitimate male issue, left it by his last will and testament to the state of
Venice.
The Venetians were not long masters of it, being dispossessed by An-
tony, a natural son of Reinerius, who had given him the sovereignty of
Thebes and Boeotia ; and from this time it continued some years under
the government of the Acciaioli : for Antony was succeeded by one of
his kinsmen, called Nerius. Nerius was displaced by his brother Anto-
ny for his insufficiency and unfitness to govern ; and after Antony's death,
recovered it again ; but leaving only one son, then an infant, was suc-
ceeded by his wife, who, for her folly, was ejected by Mahomet, upon
the complaint of Francus, the son of Antony the second, who succeeded
her ; and having confined her some time in prison, put her to death, and
was upon that score accused by his son Mahomet 11. who sent an army
under the conduct of Omares to besiege him. Francus, upon this, made
his application to the Latins ; but they refused to grant him any assist-
ance, except he would engage his subjects in all things to conform to the
Romish superstition, and renounce all those articles, wherein the Greek
church differs from them ; which he not being able to do, was forced to
surrender it to the Turks, in the year of our Lord 1455 (4), and in their
hands it continues to this day.
CHAP. VIII.
of the city of athens, and its walls, gates, streets, buildings, &c,
v ■ •
The city of Athens, when it flourished in its greatest splendour, was
one of the fairest and largest cities of all Greece, being, says Aristides, a
(1) Nicetas Choniates in vita Baldaini.
'^H.aonic, Chakoadvlas. lib- iii:
(3) Nicepb. Greg. lib. vii.
(4} Chalconcr. lib. vi ii tttl
4