is
strong right arm and in his having married the daughter of the imbecile
Alexius III. Alexius Comnenus, grandson of Andronicus I., had betaken
himself to the eastern frontier of the Empire, and, chiefly through the
glamour of his name, had made for himself, out of the long strip of
coast land at the south-east corner of the Black Sea, a kingdom that was
destined to carry on an independent existence for nearly three hundred
years as the empire of Trebizond. Furthermore, Michael Angelus, a cousin
of Alexius III., became "despot" of Epirus and later conquered the Latin
kingdom of Thessalonica. Finally, after the Greek empire of Nicaea had
enjoyed a steady growth for over half a century, during which it
absorbed the kingdom of Thessalonica, Michael Palaeologus, the usurper of
the Nicene throne, succeeded in wresting Constantinople from its Latin
rulers, and established anew the Byzantine Empire, under the dynasty of
the Palaeologi.

In the stories of the dynasties of these various kingdoms we have not
many glimpses into the history of woman, but wherever feminine names are
mentioned woman is found to be exerting her customary influence over the
affairs of state and the destinies of empires.

The dynasty of Theodore Lascaris was handed down through his daughter
Irene, whose husband succeeded to the throne as the Emperor John III.
The Empress Irene was much beloved because of her amiable character and
domestic virtues, and there is preserved a beautiful incident of the
affection she inspired in a young maiden. John Asan, the King of
Bulgaria, had formed an alliance with John III. through the betrothal of
his daughter Helena to Theodore, the heir-apparent to the Nicene throne.
Highly esteeming the virtues of the Empress Irene, the Bulgarian king
had sent the young Helena to be educated under her care. Later, when the
alliance between the emperor and the king was broken off, Asan sent for
his daughter, with the request that she return to Bulgaria. John III.
scorned to retain his son's betrothed as a hostage, and suffered the
attendants to arrange her departure. But when the maiden ascertained
that she was not to return to her dear mother the empress, her grief was
inconsolable. Her tears and lamentations over the separation and her
praises of the Nicene queen at length excited the serious displeasure of
her father, and he had to threaten her with severe punishment if she did
not cease to weep and mourn for her Greek mother.