426 THE DECLINE AND FALL lands, an hermit announced himself as the true Baldwin, the em- peror of Constantinople, and the lawful sovereign of Flanders. He related the wonders of his escape, his adventures, and his penance, among a people prone to believe and to rebel : and, in the first transport, Flanders acknowledged her long-lost sover- eign. A short examination before the French court detected the impostor, who Avas punished with an ignominious death ; but the Flemings still adhered to the pleasing error ; and the countess Jane is accused by the gravest historians of sacrificing to her ambition the life of an unfortunate father. "^*^ Reign and In all civiliscd hostility a treaty is established for the exchange HeM^.*^AJD. or ransom of prisoners ; and, if their captivity be prolonged, their ajd'. ml; ^*^ condition is known, and they are treated according to their rank ^^^^ with humanity or honour. But the savage Bulgarian was a stranger to the laws of war ; his prisons were involved in dark- ness and silence ; and above a year elapsed before the Latins could be assured of the death of Baldwin, before his brother, the regent Henry, would consent to assume the title of emperor. His moderation was applauded by the Greeks as an act of rare and inimitable virtue. Their light and perfidious ambition was eager to seize or anticipate the moment of a vacancy, while a law of succession, the guardian both of the prince and people, was gradually defined and confirmed in the hereditary monarchies of Europe. In the support of the Eastern empire Henry was gradually left without an associate, as the heroes of the crusade retired from the world or from the war. The doge of Venice, [junei] the venerable Dandolo, in the fulness of years and glory, sunk into the grave. The marquis of Montferrat was slowly recalled from the Feloponnesian war to the revenge of Baldwin and the defence of Thessalonica. Some nice disputes of feudal homage and service were reconciled in a personal interview between the emperor and the king ; they were firmly united by mutual esteem and the common danger ; and their alliance was sealed by the [Agnes] nuptial of Henrj' with the daughter of the Italian prince. He soon deplored the loss of his friend and father. At the persua- sion of some faithful Greeks, Boniface made a bold and successful inroad among the hills of Rhodope : the Bulgarians fled on his douin, No. 230). 2. By the declaration of Calo-John himself, who excuses his not releasing the captive emperor, quia debitum carnis exsolverat cum carcere teneretur (Gesta Innocent. III., c. 109). 36 See the story of this impostor from the French and Flemish writers in Ducange, Hist, de C. P. iii. 9 ; and the ridiculous fables that were believed by the monks of St. Alban's in Matthew Paris, Hist. Major, p. 271, 272.
