Note 241 — LETTER IV.

After the Spaniards, in 1533, abandoned the fortress of Coron in the Morea, some Greeks, who had taken their part, fled with them to Charles V. Among them was one James Heraclides, whose ancestors had been Despots, or Lords, of Samos and Paros. In his suite was a lad named John Basilicus, the son of a ship-captain in Crete. He took a fancy to the young man, and had him educated, and for some years he worked as a copyist in the Vatican library. On the death of his patron, John persuaded his household to acknowledge him as the nephew of their deceased master by allowing them to take possession of the property left by him, only keeping for himself all the diplomas, title-deeds and other documents he could find. Many years afterwards he repaired to Charles V. in his retirement at Yuste, and obtained from him an acknowledgment that he was nephew and heir of Heraclides, and as such was recognised by him as Despot of Samos and Paros. Charles V. also acknowledged the good service he had done while in the Albanian light cavalry attached to the Spanish army, and according to some accounts gave him the right of conferring the degree of Doctor and creating Notaries and Poet-Laureates. Armed with these credentials he repaired to Wittenberg, where he became acquainted with Melancthon, published an historical work in Latin, and with the Emperor’s consent exercised his powers by creating some Poet-Laureates. At Lubeck he assumed the character of a prince banished by the Turks, and thence repaired to the courts of Denmark and Sweden, and next went by Dantzic to Albert of Brandenberg, the first Duke of Prussia. He then visited Nicholas Radzivill at Wilna, who introduced him to Sigismund, King of Poland. To gain Radzivill’s favour he professed himself a Protestant. In Poland he heard of the disturbed state of Moldavia, and found that the wife of the Hospodar Alexander was a kinswoman of his pretended uncle. Armed with letters of recommendation from Radzivill and the King, he entered Moldavia, assumed the name of James Heraclides, and on the strength of a forged pedigree, passed himself off as a descendant of the ancient Moldavian dynasty of that name. He applied himself to learn the language and to gain the affections of the nobles. Thereon Alexander, who at first had received him well, tried to poison him, but he escaped to Upper Hungary; here he obtained the assistance of Albert Laszky and would have invaded Moldavia through Ruthenia, if the Palatine had not stopped him by the King of Poland’s orders. He then retired to Kaschau, where he gained the confidence of Busbecq’s old colleague Zay, then Governor of Upper Hungary. Having come to an understanding between themselves, they wrote to Ferdinand, who entered into a secret agreement to assist Basilicus with money, and allow him to levy troops in his dominions. To lull the suspicions of Alexander, a report of Basilicus’s death was circulated, and his funeral was actually performed by Laszky at Kesmark, the capital of the County of Zips. His second invasion proved more successful. In November, 1561, he defeated Alexander near Suczawa, who fled to Jassy, and thence to Constantinople. There he endeavoured to prejudice the Sultan against him, and spread reports that he was about to invade Thrace with his German mercenaries. Though Solyman was much annoyed at these events, and had commenced to assemble an army to attack the Despot, yet he deemed it wiser to dissemble his vexation, and, yielding to the representations of the Despot’s envoys, which were supported by a judicious administration of bribes, he conferred on him the vacant dignity. The Despot, however, soon made himself unpopular by raising the taxes, which he was obliged to do in order to provide the increased tribute he had agreed to pay, Alexander having carried off all the money in the treasury. Moreover, to save expense he dismissed his German and Italian troops, retaining only Hungarians. The priests and common people were alienated by his religious innovations, especially as they could not refute his arguments, ‘having learnt to worship God with more zeal than knowledge.’ He declared his intention of abolishing vain ceremonies and false doctrines, and introduced Calvinist preachers from Poland, who ridiculed the mass-books, expressed their abhorrence of all ceremonies, destroyed images, and, in the words of the episcopal historian, had the arrogance to affirm that their doctrines agreed with the testimony of the Scriptures. He began to plunder the churches of their treasures, plate, &c., which made the priests fear their turn would come next. His crowning act of sacrilege was to melt down certain silver crosses, venerable both from their age and the relics they contained, and to coin them into pieces bearing his image and superscription. The nobles were further estranged by his projected marriage with the beautiful Christina, daughter of Martin Zborowski, Castellan of Cracow, a man of great influence in Poland, and the leader of the Protestant party. Accordingly, they conspired against him, treacherously surprised and killed most of his foreign guards, his other partisans, and his infant child, and besieged him in Suczawa. After three months his Hungarian troops mutinied and surrendered the fortress, and he was cruelly murdered by Tomza, the leader of the conspirators.