Isaacus

(Ἰσαάκιος ὁ Κομνηνός), emperor of Constantinople (A. D. 1057-1059), and the first of the Comneni who ascended the imperial throne, was one of the most virtuous emperors of the East. [See the genealogical table of the Comneni, Vol. I. p. 820.] he was the elder son of Manuel Comnenus, praefectus totius orientis in the reign of Basil II, whom he lost while still a boy, and was educated, together with his younger brother John, under the care of Basil. Their learning. talents, and moral principles, as much as the merits of their late father, recommended them to the favour of the emperor, and at an early age they were both entrusted with important civil and military functions. Isaac became so distinguished, that, supported by the illustrious name of his family, he succeeded in obtaining the hand of Catharina, or Aicatharina, the daughter of Samuel, or perhaps John Wladislaus, king of the Bulgarians, a lady who, at the time when Isaac made her acquaintance, was a captive at the Byzantine court. During the stormy reigns of the eight immediate successors of Basil II. (Constantine IX., Romanns III., Michael IV., Michael V., Zoe, Constantine X., Theodora, and Michael VI.), who successively occupied the throne during the short period of 32 years, the position of Isaac was often dangerous but he conducted himself with so much prudence, and enjoyed so much of the general esteem, that he not only escaped the many dangers by which he was surrounded, but was considered by the people a worthy successor of their worthless master, Michael VI. The conduct of this emperor was so revoltin, that shortly after his accession in 1056, the principal nobles and functionaries, supported by the clergy and a large majority of the nation, resolved to depose him. They offered the crown to the old Catacalon, a distinguished general who was leader of the conspiracy, but he declined the proposition on the ground of his age and obscure birth, and pointed out Isaac Comnenus as a fit candidate for their choice. Isaac was proclaimed emperor (August 1057) without his knowledge, and was with some difficulty induced to accept the crown. Michael sustained a severe defeat at a place called Hades, and, despairing of success, proposed to Isaac to share with him the imperial power, an offer which the peaceful prince would have accepted but for the interference of Catacalon, who strongly opposed any amicable arrangement, on the ground of the well-known faithlessness of Michael. The latter was soon after compelled to resign, and assume the monastic habit. In his struggle with Michael, Isaac was cordially assisted by his excellent brother John. He rewarded the leaders of the conspiracy with great liberality, but in a manner that showed his good sense, for he sent most of them into the provinces, and conferred such honours and offices upon them as entailed only a moderate degree of power and influence. He divided the important functions of the curopalates between Catacalon and his brother John. The treasury being exhausted, he introduced a system of great economy into all the branches of the administration, showing, by his own example, how his subjects ought to act under such circumstances. In levying new taxes, however, he called upon the clergy also to contribute their share, but they refused to comply with his orders; and the patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, had the impudence to say to the emperor: " I have given you the crown, and I know how to take it from you again." Banishment was the reward for this insolence, and death prevented the priest from taking revenge by kindling a rebellion. In several cases Isaac acted rather haughtily, and he sometimes found difficulty in reconciling through his wisdom, those whom he had wounded through his pride. In 1059 he marched against the Hungarians, who had crossed the Danube, land compelled them to sue for peace. This was the only occasion during his reign where he could show that he was the best tactician among the Greeks. The empire recovered visibly under his administration from so many calamities, and great was the grief of the people when, after his return from the Hungarian campaign, he was suddenly attacked by a violent fever, which brought him to the verge of the tomb. Feeling his death approaching, he called for his brother and offered him the crown, but John having declined it, he appointed Constantine Ducas, a renowned general, his future successor. Isaac, however, recovered from his illness, but, to the utmost grief and astonishment of his brother and the people, resigned the crown into the hands of Constantine Ducas, and retired to a convent (December, 1059). His wife and daughter followed his example, and took the veil. Isaac survived his abdication about two years, living in the strictest performance of the duties of a monk. and devoting his leisure hours to learned occupations. The emperor Constantine XI. often visited him in his cell, and consulted him on important affairs; and among the people he was in the odour of sanctity. His death probably took place in 1061. He left no male issue. Works Scholia to the Iliad

Homer was the favourite author of Isaac, who wrote Scholia to the Iliad, which are extant in several libraries, but are still unpublished. Περὶ τῶν καταλειφθέντων ὑπὸ τοῦ Ὁμήρου, and Χαρακτηρίσματα

There are also extant in manuscript Περὶ τῶν καταλειφθέντων ὑπὸ τοῦ Ὁμήρου, and Χαρακτηρίσματα, being characteristics of the leaders of the Greeks and Trojans menitoned in the Iliad. Other Works

His other works are lost. Further Information

Cedren. p. 797, &c.; Zonar. vol. ii. p. 265, &c.; Scylitzes, p. 807, &c.; Glycas, p. 322, &c.; Joel, p. 184. &c., in the Paris editions; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i. p. 558. [W.P]

(Ἰσαάκιος ὁ Ἄγγελος), emperor of Constantinople (A. D. 1185 --1195), was the eldest son of Andronicus Angelus, and was born in the middle half of the 12th century. Belonging to one of the great Byzantine families and descended, through his grandmother Theodora, from the imperial family of the Comneni, he held several offices of importance in the reign of the emperor Manuel Comnenus; but his name remained obscure, and the emperor Andronicus Comnenus, the exterminator of the Greek nobility, despised to kill such a harmless being, although he put his father Andronicus Angelus to death. The weak-minded Isaac became, nevertheless, the cause of the deposition and miserable end of Andronicus Comnenus. In the summer of 1185 the emperor retired for a short time to one of his country seats in Asia, appointing one Hagiochristophorites his lieutenant in Constantinople during his absence. This officer gave orders to put Isaac to death, because his name began with an I; and there was a silly belief among the people that Andronicus would be ruined by somebody whose name began with an I. Isaac was fortunately apprized of the bloody design of the emperor's lieutenant, but had barely time to escape from his palace, and to avail himself of the sanctuary of the church of St. Sophia. A dense crowd soon filled the church : Isaac implored their assistance; and the numerous enemies of Andronicus, exerting themselves to kindle a revolt in favour of any one persecuted by that cruel emperor, the fickle people of Constantinople suddenly took up arms, killed the officers despatched by Hagiochristophorites to put Isaac to death, and proclaimed the latter emperor of Constantinople (A. D. 1185). Andronicus hastened to his capital, but it was too late he was seized by the mob, and, by order, or at least with the consent of Isaac, perished in the miserable manner which is related in his life. [Andronicus I.]

No sooner was Isaac firmly established on the throne than lie began a life which Gibbon thus describes: --" He slept on the throne, and was awakened only by the sound of pleasure: his vacant hours were amused by comedians and buffoons ; and even to these buffoons the emperor was an object of contempt: his feasts and buildings exceeded the examples of royal luxury, the number of his eunuchs and domestics amounted to twenty thousand, and the daily sum of four thousand pounds of silver would swell to four millions sterling the annual expense of his household and table. His poverty was relieved by oppression, and the public discontent was inflamed by equal abuses in the collection and the application of the revenue." Shortly after his accession Isaac was involved in a dreadful war with the Bulgarians, which arose under the following circumstances:--After the conquest by Basil II. of the powerful Bulgarian kingdom, which extended over the greater part of the Thracian peninsula, the Bulgarians continued to live under the sway of the Byzantine emperors, till Peter and Asan, two brothers, who were descended from the ancient kings of Bulgaria, took up arms in order to deliver their country from the insupportable oppression and rapacity of Isaac. They were successful--they penetrated as far as Thessalonica--they defeated and made prisoner Isaac Sebastocrator, the Greek generalissimo, in a pitched battle; and at last Asan was acknowledged as king of Bulgaria Nigra, or that country which is still called Bulgaria. In this war the Bulgarians were assisted by the Blachi or Moro-Vlachi, the descendants of ancient Roman colonists in the mountainous parts of Thessaly and Macedonia, who were likewise driven to despair by the rapacious emperor, and who finally left their homes and emigrated into the countries beyond the Danube (Dacia), where, mixed with Slavonian tribes, they continued to live, and still live, as Wallachians. However, some of them remained in their native mountains in Thessaly and Macedonia: they were the ancestors of the present Kutzo-Wallachians. In a second war with the Bulgarians, the Greek arms obtained a decisive victory (1193); but Isaac was, nevertheless, obliged to recognise the successor of Asan, Joannicus or Joannes. Isaac was more successful against William II., the Good, who was compelled, in 1187, to give up the conquests which he had made two years previously in Epeirus, Thessaly, and Macedonia. In 1189 the emperor Frederic I. of Germany appeared on the northern frontier of the Byzantine empire, with an army of 150,000 men, on his way to the Holy Land. Iin spite of the menaces of Isaac., the emperor quietly advanced, took up his winter-quarters at Adrianople, and crossed the Bosporus, deelining both to help the Bulgarians against the Greeks, and the Greeks against the Bulgarians.

Isaac was so terrified by the emperor's march through his dominions, and the success of the other crusaders in Syria and Palestine, that he sent an ambassador to Saladin offering him his alliance against the Latins, which, however, Saladin declined, because Isaac demanded the restitution of the holy sepulchre. Besides Bulgaria, Isaac lost the island of Cyprus, where Alexis Comnenus had made himself independent, but was deprived of his conquest by Richard Coeur de Lion of England (1191), who in 1192 ceded it to king Guido of Jerusalem; and Cyprus was never again united to the Byzantine empire. Isaac, continuing to make himself despised and hated by the Greeks, a rebellion broke out at Constantinople while he was hunting in the mountains of Thrace; and Alexis, the younger brother of Isaac, was raised to the throne. On this news, Isaac fled without daring to implore the assistance of any one. Arrived at Stagyra in Macedonia, he was arrested and brought before Alexis, who ordered his eyes to be put out, and confined him in a prison (1195). [Alexis III.] Alexis, the son of Isaac, fortunately escaped, fled to Italy, and succeeded in rousing the Latin princes to a war against Alexis III., which resulted in the capture of Constantinople in 1203, and the restoration of the blind Isaac, who reigned, together with his son [Alexis IV], till the following year, 1204, when Alexis IV. was dethroned and killed by Alexis Ducas Murzuphlus [Alexis V.], who usurped the throne, and kept it during two months, when he, in his turn, was deposed by the Latins. Murzuphlus spared the life of Isaac, who, however, did not long survive the melancholy fate of his youthful and spirited son. (Nicetas, Isaacius Angelus; Isaacius et Alexis filius ; the Latin authorities quoted under Alexis III., IV., V.] [W.P]

literary.

1. Of Antioch. [See No. 5.]

2. Argyrus. [Argyrus.]

3. Of Armenia, catholicus or patriarch of Armenia Magna, lived in the middle of the twelfth century. Works Orationes Invectivae II. adversus Armenos

He wrote Orationes Invectivae II. adversus Armenos. Editions

This was published in Greek and Latin, and with notes in Combefisius, Auctuar. Nov. Bibl. vol. ii. p. 317, &c., and by Galland. Bibl. Patr. vol. xiv. p. 411, &c. Further Information

Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. ii. p. 227 Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. xi. p. 123, &c.

4. Of Niniveh. [See No. 6.]

5. Surnamed Syrus, because he was a native of Syria, was first monk and afterwards priest at Antioch, and died about A. D. 456. Works

He wrote in Syriac, and perhaps also in Greek, different works and treatises on theological matters, several of them to oppose the writers of the Nestorians and Eutychians.

His principal work is De Contemtu Mundi, de Operatione Corporali et sui Abjectione Liber. Editions

This was published in the second edition of the Orthodoxographi, Basel, 1569; in the Bibl. Patr. Colon. vol. vi.; in the B. P. Paris, vol. v.; in the B. P. Novissima Lugdun, vol. xi.; and in Galland. Bibl. Patr. vol. xii.

In all these collections it is printed in Greek, with a Latin translation, but the Greek text also seems to be a translation from the Svriac. Uncertain which Isaac wrote this work

It is very doubtful whether this work was written by Isaac, the subject of this notice, or by another Isaac, the subject of the following article. Neither Trithenius nor Gennadius (De Script. Eccles.) attribute the work to our Isaac. De Cogitationibus

There is more reason to believe that he wrote De Cogitationibus. Editions

The Greek text, with a Latin translation, was published by Petrus Possinus, in his Ascetica. Other works in MS.

Several other productions of Isaac are extant in MS. in the library of the Vatican and in other libraries. Further Information

Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. i. p. 434-435 ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. xi. p. 214, &c.

6. Surnamed Syrus, lived in the middle of the sixth century, and was bishop of Niniveh, but abdicated and retired to a convent, of which he was afterwards chosen abbot. After having lived several years in that convent he went to Italy and died near Spoleto. Works

It is probable that Isaac wrote originally in Syriac. De Contemtu Mundi

It is probable that he is the author of the work De Contemtu Mundi, which is mentioned in the preceding article. Sermones Ascetici

He also wrote 87 Sermones Ascetici, which some attribute to the preceding Isaac, and which are extant in MS. in Greek, in the imperial library at Vienna. Some Homilies of this Isaac are extant in MS. in the Bodleian and other libraries. Further Information

Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. i. p. 519-520; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. xi. p. 215, &c.

7. Tzetzes. [Tzetzes.] [W.P]