ng his brother John as his successor. For some
unaccountable reason, and much to the chagrin of his wife Anna, whose
ambitions were distinctly imperial, John declined the honor, and
persisted in his refusal in spite of the entreaties of his wife and
relatives, and with a seeming blindness to the welfare of the state.
Possibly he felt that a curse rested upon a dynasty which had usurped
the throne. Constantine Ducas, another Cappadocian patrician, was then
selected; during his reign of seven troubled years he proved himself to
be a sorry administrator. His empress, Eudocia Makremvolitissa, and Anna
Dalassena are the two dominating personalities who determined the tenor
of court intrigue and largely influenced the course of the events of
this period. Anna most intensely hated Ducas and all his house, for they
were occupying a throne which she thought should have been retained in
her own family; and her relations with the empress were those of rivalry
or of friendship, in proportion as Eudocia was acting in sympathy with
or in opposition to her husband's family.

Constantine XI.--Ducas--was as intensely partisan as Anna; and when he
found his end approaching, he wished above all things to assure the
elevation of his three children, Michael, Andronicus, and Constantine.
Constantine was well aware of the dangers which his dynasty would incur
should the empress marry a second time; before conferring upon her the
regency of the Empire, he therefore exacted from her a most solemnly
attested promise that under no circumstances would she take a second
husband. This important document was deposited in the hands of the
patriarch, John Xiphilinus. Constantine made the Senate, also, take an
oath never to acknowledge any other emperor than one of his own
children. Feeling that he had bound his wife by irretrievable bonds, and
that every precaution had been taken to assure the implicit fulfilment
of his wishes, Constantine breathed his last with a contented mind.

But Eudocia soon discovered the need of a strong arm for the protection
of her own rights and those of her sons. A woman of executive gifts, she
was also devoted to literary pursuits, and her knowledge of history had
taught her with how much reluctance the Byzantines submitted to the
sovereignty of a woman. She recalled, too, the experience of the Empress
Theophano, who had found prudent guardians for her sons, Basil II. and
Constantine IX., in the persons of the soldiers Nic