A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

MANUEL. MANUEL. 923
yielded to the entreaties of his subjects and his painful and long illness, he died on'the 24th of
ministers, who wanted a firm head in the capital September following, at the age of sixty. The.
during the approaching storm; and tile command reign of Manuel was glorious, yet presents nothing
of the army was consequently entrusted to Andro- but an uninterrupted series of bloodshed and denicus Contostephanus. Under Andronicus were vastation. Manuel was perhaps the greatest warAndronicus Lampados, Andronicus Comnenus, and rior of his time, but he was far from being a great
Demetrius and Georgius Branas. The armies met general. When young he was virtuous, but
not far from Zeugminum, the present Semlin; and after he had ascended the throne he plunged into
after one of the most bloody and obstinate contests all those vices by which the Greeks, and esperecorded in history, in which Demetrius Branas cially the Comnenian family, disgraced themselves.
was slain, and the left wing of the Greeks com- He oppressed his subjects by heavy war-taxes, yet
pletely routed, Andronicus Contostephanus at last he did not pay his troops, though he gave large
carried the day. So terrible was the loss of the pensions to ministers or other men of influence at
Hungarians, that king Geisa sued for immediate foreign courts, where he was constantly intriguing.
peace, which was granted to him; and during a He is said to have been deeply versed in theology,
considerable period the Byzantine influence was so but was certainly rather a great talker than a great
great in Hungary as to cause to its inhabitants thinker on religion. His first wife was Bertha
great uneasiness for their further independence. A (Irene), niece of Conrad III., emperor of Germany;
few years afterwards Manuel set out for Asia, and and his second Maria (Xene), daughter of Rayin an interview with king Amalric, who had just mond, prince of Antioch. His concubinage with
come to the throne, and intended to persuade his niece, Theodora-Comnena, was a great disgrace
Manuel to send him some auxiliaries for an expedi- to him. He was succeeded by his only son,
tion into Egypt, Manuel accepted the proposition Alexis II. (Cinnam. lib. i. iv.; Nicet. lib. ii. iii.;
with joy; but' instead of a subordinate force, he Guill. Tyrensis, lib. xvi. We have more Latin or
equipped a fleet of 220 large ships, with a sufficient Western than Byzantine sources on the history of
army on board, under the command of Andronicus the time.) [W. P.]
Contostephanus (1169). When this powerful MA'NUEL II., PALAEO'LOGUS (Maovi)A
armament appeared off Ascalon it excited the jea- 6 IlaAaLohA'yos), emperor of Constantinople A. D.
lousy of Amalric, who was justly afraid that his 1391-1425, was the son of the emperor John VI.,
share in the projected conquests would not answer in whose life is related the history of Manuel prehis expectation; and this jealousy gradually in- vious to his sole accession, which took place on the
stilling itself into the minds of all the party, be- death of John, in A. D. 1391. Manuel was then
came the cause of the final failure of the whole an hostage at the court of sultan Bayazid, but no
undertaking. The combined Latin and Greek sooner was he informed of the death of his father,
forces marched by land upon Damietta, where the than he escaped from Nicaea, and hastened to Confleet appeared soon afterwards. The siege was stantinople, fearing lest his brother Andronicus
long; but the town was at last reduced to such should seize the crown. His flight enraged the
extremity, that everybody expected its hourly sur- sultan, who, without declaring war, advanced with
render, when the treachery of either Amalric him- his main army against Constantinople, and laid
self or one of his generals obliged the assailants to siege to it, swearing he would not retire till he had
raise the siege and retreat into Palestine. In order taken the city, and put the emperor to death. In
to clear himself from any blame, Amalric went to this extremity Manuel implored the assistance of
Constantinople, where he met with a splendid re- the Western princes, with whom he had constant
ception -from Manuel, who was ready to join him negotiations: his efforts were crowned with success,
in a second expedition, when he was unexpectedly inasmuch as a powerful army, composed of
involved in two wars, with the Venetians and the Hungarians, Germans, and French, headed by the
Turks. In 1176 Manuel suffered a dreadful defeat flower of European chivalry and nobility, appeared
near Myriocephalus from Sultan Az-ed-din, in on the Turkish frontier, and obliged Bayazid to
spite of his almost incredible personal valour, and raise the siege, and defend his own- kingdom. The.
completely surrounded by superior forces, was com- unfortunate battle of Nicopolis, in 1396, where the
pelled to make a dishonourable peace, promising, allies were routed, and 10,000 of them, who were
among other conditions, to raze the fortresses. of taken prisoners, massacred by the victors on the
Sableium and Dorylaeum (1176).* Anxious to field of-battle, seemed to be the signal for the final
revenge himself for such unexpected disgrace, destruction of the Greek empire, for no sooner had
Manuel broke the peace, and the war was renewed Bayazid obtained that decisive victory on the
this time with better success for the Greeks, who banks of the Danube, than he changed the blockade
routed Az-ed-din in Lydia, and finally obtained an of Constantinople into a close siege. The obstinatehonourable peace (11 77). Manuel now proposed resistance of the inhabitants, and the attention
to the emperor Frederic an alliance against king which the sultan was obliged to pay to the ap-:
Henry of Sicily, whom he intended to deprive of proaching danger arising from the conquests of
all his dominions; but the negotiations to that Timur, delayed the surrender of the Greek capital;*
effect were carried on slowly; and it seemed that and after a blockade and siege of nearly six years,Manuel had lost his former energy. In fact, the the belligerent parties came to terms. Manuel
defeat at Myriocephalus preyed upon his mind; turned the friendship of Bayazid for John, the son
his strength was undermined by a slow fever; and of the blinded Andronicus, to his own advantage.
in the spring of 1180 he was compelled to keep to He gave his nephew the government of Constantihis bed, from which he never rose again. After a nople, reserving for himself the Peloponnesus,
whither he proceeded with his family, and then set
Roger de Hoveden, the English historian, was out for Europe, to beg succour from the Western
present at this battle, serving as a volunteer in the princes. Italy, France, and Germany, received
Greek army.. the imperial suppliant with all the honours due to