The Waverley Novels | Page 2

among these
Counts had the audacity to seat himself on the throne of the Emperor.
[Greek: Tolmaesas tis apo panton ton komaeton eugenaes eis ton
skimpoda ton Basileos ekathisen.] The Emperor restrained himself and
said nothing, for he was well acquainted of old with the nature of the
Latins.
"But the Count Baldwin [Greek: Baldoninos] stepping forth, and
seizing him by the hand, dragged him thence, and with many
reproaches said, 'It becomes thee not to do such things here, especially
after having taken the oath of fealty. [Greek: douleian haeposchomeno].
It is not the custom of the Roman Emperors to permit any of their
inferiors to sit beside them, not even of such as are born subjects of
their empire; and it is necessary to respect the customs of the country.'
But he, answering nothing to Baldwin, stared yet more fixedly upon the
Emperor, and muttered to himself something in his own dialect, which,
being interpreted, was to this effect--'Behold, what rustic fellow [Greek:
choritaes] is this, to be seated alone while such leaders stand around
him!' The movement of his lips did not escape the Emperor, who called
to him one that understood the Latin dialect, and enquired what words
the man had spoken. When he heard them, the Emperor said nothing to
the other Latins, but kept the thing to himself. When, however, the

business was all over, he called near to him by himself that swelling
and shameless Latin [Greek: hypsaelophrona ekeinon kai anaidae], and
asked of him, who he was, of what lineage, and from what region he
had come. 'I am a Frank,' said he, 'of pure blood, of the Nobles. One
thing I know, that where three roads meet in the place from which I
came, there is an ancient church, in which whosoever has the desire to
measure himself against another in single combat, prays God to help
him therein, and afterwards abides the coming of one willing to
encounter him. At that spot long time did I remain, but the man bold
enough to stand against me I found not.' Hearing these words the
Emperor said, 'If hitherto thou hast sought battles in vain, the time is at
hand which will furnish thee with abundance of them. And I advise
thee to place thyself neither before the phalanx, nor in its rear, but to
stand fast in the midst of thy fellow-soldiers; for of old time I am well
acquainted with the warfare of the Turks.' With such advice he
dismissed not only this man, but the rest of those who were about to
depart on that expedition."--Alexiad, Book x. pp. 237, 238.
Ducange, as is mentioned in the novel, identifies the church, thus
described by the crusader, with that of Our Lady of Soissons, of which
a French poet of the days of Louis VII. says--
Veiller y vont encore li Pelerin Cil qui bataille veulent fere et fournir.
DUCANGE in Alexiad, p. 86.
The Princess Anna Comnena, it may be proper to observe, was born on
the first of December, A.D. 1083, and was consequently in her fifteenth
year when the chiefs of the first crusade made their appearance in her
father's court. Even then, however, it is not improbable that she might
have been the wife of Nicephorus Bryennius, whom, many years after
his death, she speaks of in her history as [Greek: ton emon Kaisara],
and in other terms equally affectionate. The bitterness with which she
uniformly mentions Bohemund, Count of Tarentum, afterwards Prince
of Antioch, has, however, been ascribed to a disappointment in love;
and on one remarkable occasion, the Princess certainly expressed great
contempt of her husband. I am aware of no other authorities for the
liberties taken with this lady's conjugal character in the novel.

Her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius, was the grandson of the person of
that name, who figures in history as the rival, in a contest for the
imperial throne, of Nicephorus Botoniates. He was, on his marriage
with Anna Comnena, invested with the rank of Panhypersebastos, or
Omnium Augustissimus; but Alexius deeply offended him, by
afterwards recognising the superior and simpler dignity of a Sebastos.
His eminent qualities, both in peace and war, are acknowledged by
Gibbon: and he has left us four books of Memoirs, detailing the early
part of his father-in-law's history, and valuable as being the work of an
eye-witness of the most important events which he describes. Anna
Comnena appears to have considered it her duty to take up the task
which her husband had not lived to complete; and hence the
Alexiad--certainly, with all its defects, the first historical work that has
as yet proceeded from a female pen.
"The life of the Emperor Alexius," (says Gibbon,) "has been delineated
by the pen of a favourite daughter, who