eir aims and their
pursuits, and each one leaves the Empire somewhat weaker than he found
it.

The new Empire of Constantinople and that of Trebizond existed side by
side, and frequent intermarriages took place between the royal families.
By studying conjointly the annals of the Palaeologi and the Comneni we
become acquainted with a number of the princesses of these royal houses,
and can form some idea of the character of Greek womanhood in this age
of decadence, and of the social life of the times as it affects woman's
position and aspirations.

The women of the two rival houses appear, as a rule, superior in
character, judgment, and virtue to the men, and this difference between
the males and females of the imperial families is so marked, that we
would fain know more of the system of education for women which produced
an effect so singular and so uniform. It must have been due to the fact
that in spite of the general demoralization, the life of the convents in
which the princesses were trained was pure and uplifting, the methods of
instruction thorough, the discipline severe; while the clergy who had in
charge the education of the princes were so bent on their own preferment
and the acquirement of political power, that they aimed rather at
gaining an ascendency over their imperial wards than in imparting the
instruction which would have made them great rulers.

The only empress of the Palaeologi, however, to gain supreme power and to
win a place in history, was of foreign birth. Anne of Savoy, by the
nomination of her dying husband, Andronicus III. (1328-1341), and the
custom of the Empire, was made regent of her son, John V., Palaeologus, a
lad of nine years. Her reign was made memorable through her struggles
with a powerful courtier, who aroused civil war and ascended the throne
for a time as John VI., Cantacuzenus (1347-1354).

Byzantine etiquette required the widowed empress to weep for nine days
beside the body of her deceased husband, who was laid out in state in
the monastery of the Guiding Virgin, whither he had retired when death
was near and where he assumed the habit and the devotions of a monk. But
John Cantacuzenus, the grand domesticos and first minister of the
Empire, was bent on playing the role of earlier usurpers, and during her
absence determined to establish himself in the imperial palace as
guardian of the emperor. The empress, recognizing the danger of
infringement on the rights of her child,