erstood at Constantinople that Vatatces, the successor of
Theodore Lascaris, was on the point of concluding an alliance,
offensive and defensive, with Agan, King of the Bulgarians and
successor of John. The alliance could have but one meaning, the
destruction of the Latin empire.

It must be remembered that the vast Roman Empire of the East was
shrunken in its dimensions to the city of Constantinople and that
narrow strip of territory commanded by her walls, her scanty armies,
and her diminished fleets. Of territory, indeed, the Latin empire had
none in the sense of land producing revenue. What it held was held
with the drawn sword in the hand ready for use. The kingdom of
Thessalonica was gone; and though the dukedoms, marquisates, and
countships of Achaia, Athens, Sparta, and other independent petty
states were still held by the emperors or their sons, they were like
the outlying provinces of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem--Edessa,
Tripoli, and the rest--a source of weakness rather than of strength.
Little help, if any, could be looked for from them.

The alliance, however, was concluded, and the allies, with an immense
army, estimated at a hundred thousand, besides three hundred
ships-of-war, sat down before the city and besieged it by sea and
land. The incident that follows reads like a story from the history of
Amadis de Gaul. Gibbon says that he "trembles" to relate it. While
this immense host lay outside his walls; while thirty ships armed with
their engines of war menaced his long line of seaward defences in the
narrow strait, brave old John de Brienne, who had but one hundred and
sixty knights with their following of men-at-arms and archers---say
two thousand in all--led forth his little band, and at one furious
onset routed the besieging army. Probably it was mainly composed of
the Bulgarian hordes, undisciplined, badly armed, and, like all such
hosts, liable to panic. Perhaps, too, the number of the enemy was by
no means so great as is reported, nor were the forces of John de
Brienne so small.

Nor was his success limited to the rout of the army, for the citizens,
encouraged by their flight, attacked the ships, and succeeded in
dragging five-and-twenty of them within the port. It would appear that
the Bulgarians renewed their attempt in the following year, and were
again defeated by the old Emperor. It would have been well for the
Latins had his age been less. He died in the year 1237, and young
Baldwin,