married to Frederick II., who had assumed the title of King of Jerusalem. But old as he was, he was still of commanding stature and martial bearing. His arm had lost none of its strength, nor his brain any of its vigour. He accepted the crown on the understanding that the young Baldwin, then eleven years of age, should join him as emperor on coming of age.
Great things were expected from so stout a soldier. Yet for two years nothing was done. Then the emperor was roused into action.
It was understood 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 lands producing revenue. What they 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.
