With Veccus out of the way, Michael pushed the matter of the union of the churches more hopefully, and in furtherance of the Imperial policy caused a list of passages favourable to the orthodox character of the Latin Church to be compiled from the writings of theologians of repute, and submitted to the patriarch and his clergy for consideration. The patriarch replied by presenting a list of counter passages, and the situation remained what it had been before Veccus was imprisoned. Thereupon the suggestion was made that the first list should be forwarded to the cell of the Chartophylax. Such a man, it was urged, would never alter his views unless convinced by reason. The suggestion was adopted, and after reading the extracts, Veccus acknowledged that the argument for the union of the Churches was stronger than he had hitherto believed. His mind, however, he added, could not be satisfied on the point at issue by the perusal of isolated passages, torn from their connection, and he therefore begged permission to study the works from which the extracts submitted to him had been taken, pleading as an excuse that he was more versed in the writings of classic authors than in patristic learning. Upon this he was released, and provided with the books necessary for the full prosecution of his inquiries.
The result was that, ere long, he found himself in agreement with the emperor, and the scheme for the union of the Churches was pursued with renewed ardour. Delegates proceeded from Constantinople to the Council assembled at Lyons, and there on June 29, 1274, the two great divisions of Christendom were formally united. On the second day of June in the following year Veccus was elevated to the patriarchal throne.[[550]]
It is natural to suspect that the prison of Anemas had a share in the conversion of Veccus. But the historian Pachymeres ascribes the change to candour of judgment and sincere love of the truth. Certain it is that Veccus suffered for the views he adopted, and died twenty-five years later in the prison of the Castle of St. Gregorius, near Helenopolis (Yalova), a martyr to his convictions.[[551]]
The Tower of Anemas was probably also the prison to which the Despot Michael was committed by Andronicus II. on the charge of treason. He had been created Despot by Michael Palæologus, and was married to the Princess Anna, above mentioned, after the failure of the Servian marriage to which reference has been made. Upon her death, he fell into disgrace at the Court for marrying a daughter of the Bulgarian king Terter, the repudiated wife of the King of Servia. To this he added treasonable offences, and was, therefore, confined with his wife and children in the prison attached to the Great Palace. On attempting to escape, he was removed to the prison at Blachernæ[[552]] for greater security.
Another inmate of the prison of Anemas was Syrghiannes, a political adventurer conspicuous for his intrigues during the struggle between Andronicus II. and Andronicus III., taking sometimes the one side and sometimes the other.
He had been immured elsewhere for five years on the charge of conspiracy to assassinate the elder emperor, but in 1322, at the instance of John Cantacuzene, then Grand Domestic, he was transferred to the Tower of Anemas as a more tolerable place of confinement, in the hope of conciliating him; and there he was permitted to receive visits from his mother, and even to have his wife and children with him.[[553]] Ultimately he was released, but the old spirit was too strong to be vanquished by suffering or by kindness. He returned to a life of intrigue and rebellion, and his career was closed by the hands of assassins.
Later in the century, members of the Imperial family were once more imprisoned in the Tower of Anemas, under circumstances which afford a vivid picture of an empire weakened by domestic feuds, and distracted by the rival ambitions of foreign powers that were awaiting its dissolution, and ready to appropriate its territories.
There John VI. Palæologus imprisoned his eldest son Andronicus, and there, upon the escape of the latter, he was himself imprisoned with his two younger sons, Manuel and Theodore.
Andronicus had been excluded from the succession to the throne, on account, it is said, of his indifference to the financial straits of his father, when the latter was detained at Venice for inability to meet the demands of creditors. The disinherited prince, seeking an opportunity for revenge, found a kindred spirit in a son of Amurath I., Saoudji, who was jealous of his younger brother Bajazet, because he was the Sultan’s favourite child. The two princes, bound by a common grievance, joined forces to supplant their respective parents on the throne, and raised the standard of revolt. Amurath crushed the rebellion with remorseless severity, and after putting out the eyes of his own son, called upon the emperor to punish Andronicus in the same manner. Andronicus was consequently committed to the Tower of Anemas, along with his wife and his son John, a child only five years old, and there he and his little boy underwent the operation of being blinded. The cruel deed was, however, performed so imperfectly that Andronicus recovered the use of one eye, while his son suffered only from a squint. Two years were thus passed in the tower, after which the prisoners were released, either through the intervention of the Genoese, at the price of the concession to them of the island of Tenedos, or in compliance with the demand of Bajazet.
