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Byzantine Empire

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General history

                                           Βασιλεία Ρωμαίων
                                                  Roman (Byzantine) Empire
                                                 (Flag of the late Empire)
                          (The Imperial emblem of the double-headed eagle)
                                              Image:EasternRomanEmpire.png
                           Byzantine Empire at its greatest extent c. 550.
    Territories highlighted violet conquered during the reign of Justinian
                                                                        I.
                                                           National Motto:
Βασιλεύς Βασιλέων Βασιλεύων Βασιλευόντων
                               (Greek: "King of Kings Ruling Over Rulers")
                                                  Official languages Greek
                                                    Capital Constantinople
                             Official Religion Greek Orthodox Christianity
                                            Government Autocratic Monarchy
                                                     Head of state Emperor
                     Head of government Megas Logothetes, later Megas Doux
                Deliberative Body Byzantine Senate, until the 13th century
                                                                      Area
                                                                   - Total
                                                                 - % water
                                            2.7 million km² at its height
                                                                        ?%
            Population ca. 34 million at its foundation in the 4th century
               Establishment traditionally considered the establishment of
             Constantinople as capital of the Roman Empire; May 11, 330 AD
       Dissolution Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire on May 29,
                                                                   1453 AD
                       First Emperor Constantine the Great ( 306 - 337 AD)
                             Last Emperor Constantine XI ( 1449 - 1453 AD)
                                              Currency Solidus, Hyperpyron

   The Byzantine Empire ( Greek name: Βασιλεία τῶν Ρωμαίων - Basileia tōn
   Romaiōn) is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to
   describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centered
   around its capital of Constantinople. In certain specific contexts,
   usually referring to the time before the fall of the Western Roman
   Empire, it is also often referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire. To
   its inhabitants, the Empire was simply the Roman Empire and its
   emperors continued the unbroken succession of Roman emperors. During
   much of its history it was known to many of its Western contemporaries
   as The Empire of the Greeks due to the increasing dominance of its
   Greek population and distinct culture.

   There is no consensus on the exact point when the Byzantine period
   began. Some place it during the reign of Emperor Diocletian, (284–305)
   who introduced administrative reforms that divided the empire into a
   pars Orientis (eastern half) and a pars Occidentis (western half). Some
   consider Constantine I the first Byzantine emperor. Others start it
   during the reign of Theodosius I (379–395) and Christendom's victory
   over pagan Roman religion, or, following his death in 395, with the
   permanent division of the empire into western and eastern halves.
   Others place it yet further in 476, when the last western emperor,
   Romulus Augustus, was forced to abdicate, thus leaving sole imperial
   authority to the emperor in the Greek East. Others again point to the
   reorganisation of the empire in the time of Heraclius (ca. 620) when
   Greek was made the official language and the Empire's conflicts turned
   largely to the east. In any case, the changeover was gradual and by
   330, when Constantine inaugurated his new capital, the process of
   further Hellenization and increasing Christianization was already under
   way.

Name of the Byzantine Empire

   Byzantine Empire Timeline
   667 BC Ancient city of Byzantium (future Constantinople) is founded.
   330 AD Constantine makes Constantinople his capital.
   395 Empire permanently split into Eastern and Western halves, following
   the death of Theodosius I.
   527 Justinian I crowned emperor.
   532–537
   Justinian builds the church of Hagia Sophia
   533–554 Justinian's generals reconquer North Africa and Italy from the
   Vandals and Ostrogoths.
   568 The Lombard invasion results in the loss of most of Italy.
   634–641 Arab armies conquer the Levant and Egypt. In the following
   decades, they take most of North Africa, and later conquer Sicily as
   well.
   730–787; 813–843 Iconoclasm controversies. This results in the loss of
   most of the Empire's remaining Italian territories, aside from some
   territories in the south.
   843–1025 Macedonian dynasty established. The empire experiences a
   military and territorial revival. Byzantine scholars record and
   preserve many valuable ancient Greek and Roman texts.
   1002–1018 Emperor Basil II campaigns annually against the Bulgarians,
   with the object of annihilating the Bulgar state.
   1014 The Bulgarian army is completely defeated at the Battle of
   Kleidon. Basil II becomes known as The Bulgar Slayer.
   1018 Bulgaria surrenders and is annexed to the empire. The whole of the
   Balkans is incorporated into the Byzantine Empire, with the Danube as
   the new Imperial Frontier in the north.
   1025 Death of Basil II. Decline of the Byzantine Empire begins.
   1054 Schism. Split between Church in Rome and the Church in
   Constantinople.
   1071 Emperor Romanos IV is defeated by the Seljuk Turks at the Battle
   of Manzikert. Most of Asia Minor is lost. In the same year, the last
   Byzantine outposts in Italy are conquered by the Normans.
   1081 Komnenos dynasty is established by Alexios I. Decline is arrested.
   Byzantium becomes involved in Crusades. Economic prosperity generates
   new wealth; literature and art reach new heights; however, in Anatolia,
   Turks become established.
   1091 Imperial armies defeat Pechenegs at the Battle of Levounion.
   1097 Recapture of Nicaea from the Turks by Byzantine armies and First
   Crusaders.
   1097-1176 Byzantine armies recapture the coasts of Asia Minor from the
   Turks, and push east towards central Anatolia; Crusader Principality of
   Antioch becomes Byzantine protectorate.
   1122 Byzantines defeat Pechenegs at the Battle of Beroia.
   1167 Byzantine armies win decisive victory over the Hungarians at the
   Battle of Sirmium; Hungary becomes Byzantine client state.
   1176 Battle of Myriokephalon. Manuel I Komnenos attempts to capture
   Konya, capital of Seljuk Turks; is forced to withdraw after destruction
   of his siege equipment. End of Byzantine attempts to recover Anatolian
   plateau.
   1180 Death of Manuel I Komnenos. Decline of the Byzantine Empire
   recommences.
   1185 A successful rebellion is organized in Bulgaria. Lands lost in the
   Balkans.
   1204 Constantinople conquered by Crusaders; Latin Empire formed.
   1261 Constantinople reconquered by Michael VIII Palaiologos, Byzantine
   emperor of Nicaea,
   1453 Ottoman Turks conquer Constantinople. Death of Constantine XI last
   Emperor of the Byzantine Empire. End of the Byzantine Empire.

   The Empire's native Greek name was Ρωμανία, Rōmanía, or Βασιλεία
   Ρωμαίων, Basileía Rōmaíōn, a direct translation of the Latin name of
   the Roman Empire, Imperium Romanorum. The term Byzantine Empire was
   introduced in western Europe in 1557, inspired from the city of
   Byzantium by German historian Hieronymus Wolf about a century after the
   fall of Constantinople who had taken it from the writing of 15th
   century Byzantine historian Laonicus Chalcocondyles. He presented a
   system of Byzantine historiography in his work Corpus Historiae
   Byzantinae, in order to "distinguish ancient Roman from medieval Greek
   history without drawing attention to their ancient predecessors".

   Standardization of the term began gradually in the 18th century, when
   French authors such as Montesquieu began to popularize it. Hieronymus
   himself was influenced by the rift caused by the 9th century dispute
   between Byzantines and Franks. The Franks under Charlemagne's newly
   formed empire, and in concert with the Pope, attempted to legitimize
   their conquests by claiming inheritance of Roman rights in Italy. The
   Donation of Constantine, one of the most famous forged documents in
   history, played a crucial role in this. Henceforth, it was prevalent in
   the West to refer to the emperor in Constantinople not by the usual
   Imperator Romanorum (Emperor of the Romans) which was now reserved for
   the Frankish monarch, but as Imperator Graecorum (Emperor of the
   Greeks) and the land as Imperium Graecorum, Graecia, Terra Graecorum or
   even Imperium Constantinopolitanum. All of this was resented by the
   Byzantines, who viewed their Basileus as the only legitimate Roman
   Emperor.

   The term 'Byzantine' was introduced in the English-speaking world by
   Sir George Finlay in 1854, in his work "History of the Byzantine and
   Greek Empires".

Identity, continuity, and consciousness

   " Byzantium may be defined as a multi-ethnic empire that emerged as a
   Christian empire, soon comprised the Hellenized empire of the East and
   ended its thousand-year history, in 1453, as a Greek Orthodox state: An
   empire that became a nation, almost by the modern meaning of the word".
   For instance, the scholar, teacher and translator, John Argyropoulos
   (Constantinople, c.1415 - c.1490) addressed John VII as ‘Sun King of
   Hellas’ and urged the last Emperor, Constantine XI, to proclaim himself
   ‘King of the Hellenes’.

Origin

   Map of the Roman Empire ca. 395, showing the dioceses and praetorian
   prefectures of Gaul, Italy, Illyricum and Oriens (east), roughly
   analogous to the four Tetrarchs' zones of influence after Diocletian's
   reforms.
   Enlarge
   Map of the Roman Empire ca. 395, showing the dioceses and praetorian
   prefectures of Gaul, Italy, Illyricum and Oriens (east), roughly
   analogous to the four Tetrarchs' zones of influence after Diocletian's
   reforms.

   Caracalla's decree in 212, the Constitutio Antoniniana, extended
   citizenship outside of Italy to all free adult males in the entire
   Roman Empire, effectively raising provincial populations to equal
   status with the city of Rome itself. The importance of this decree is
   historical rather than political. It set the basis for integration
   where the economic and judicial mechanisms of the state could be
   applied around the entire Mediterranean as was once done from Latium
   into all of Italy.

   The division of the Empire began with the Tetrarchy (quadrumvirate) in
   the late 3rd century with Emperor Diocletian, as an institution
   intended to more efficiently control the vast Roman Empire. He split
   the Empire in half, with two emperors (Augusti) ruling from Italy and
   Greece, each having as co-emperor a younger colleague of their own
   (Caesares). After Diocletian's voluntary abandonment of the throne, the
   Tetrarchic system began soon to crumble: the division continued in some
   form into the 4th century until 324 when Constantine I killed his last
   rival and became the sole emperor.

   Constantine made two momentous and far-reaching decisions; one being
   when he decided to found a new capital city and chose Byzantium for
   that purpose, and the other being his adoption of Christianity. Rome
   had long since ceased to be an effective political capital of the
   Empire, being too far from the endangered northern frontiers and the
   wealthy Eastern provinces, and since the mid 3rd century had rarely
   seen Emperors on a regular basis. Byzantium was well positioned astride
   the trade routes between East and West, was a superb base from which to
   guard the crucial Danubian provinces, and was reasonably close to the
   Eastern frontiers. Constantine had experienced its potential as a
   fortress firsthand when it held out as the last pocket of resistance
   during his successful war against his Eastern rival Licinius (324).

   In 330, Nova Roma was officially founded very near the location of
   Byzantium (which subsequently disappeared), however the populace
   commonly called it Constantinople (in Greek, Κωνσταντινούπολις,
   Kōnstantinoúpolis, meaning Constantine's City). Constantine began the
   building of the great fortified walls that were perhaps the most
   striking feature of the city. These walls, expanded and rebuilt in
   subsequent ages, combined with the fortified harbour and fleet, made
   Constantinople a virtually impregnable fortress, and certainly the most
   important fortress in the early Middle Ages. On several occasions in
   the hundreds of years to come, Constantinople would stand as the last
   bulwark of Roman civilization in the eastern Mediterranean, and indeed
   as the main bulwark of Christian civilization as a whole.
   Byzantine Culture
   Art
   Aristocracy &
   Bureaucacy
   Army
   Architecture
   Coinage
   Cuisine
   Dance
   Dress
   Economy
   Gardens
   Law
   Literature
   Music
   Medicine
   Navy
   Constantine I
   Enlarge
   Constantine I

   The new capital became the centre of his administration. Constantine
   deprived the single praetorian prefect of his civil functions,
   introducing regional prefects with civil authority. During the 4th
   century, four great "regional prefectures" were also created.

   Constantine is generally considered to be the first Christian emperor.
   Tradition holds that he received a vision at the Battle of Milvian
   Bridge promising him victory with the adaptation of the labarum,
   although delayed receiving baptism until shortly before his death.
   Whatever the actual case may be, there is no question that after 312
   Constantine began to shower favors on Christianity, and the religion,
   which had been persecuted under Diocletian, became a "permitted
   religion" and steadily increased its power as years passed, apart from
   a short-lived return to pagan predominance under the emperor Julian.
   Although the empire was not yet "Byzantine" under Constantine,
   Christianity would become one of the defining characteristics of the
   Byzantine Empire, as opposed to the pagan Roman Empire.

   Constantine also introduced a new stable gold coin, the solidus, which
   was to become the standard coin for centuries, and not only in the
   Byzantine Empire.

   After Emperor Jovian was asphyxiated while hastening to Constantinople
   in 364, Valentinian was coronated emperor. He felt that he needed help
   to govern the large and troublesome empire, and, on March 28 of the
   same year, appointed his brother Valens as co-emperor in the palace of
   Hebdomon. Valens obtained the eastern half of the Balkan peninsula,
   Greece, Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor as far east as Persia. A defining
   moment in the history of the Empire that came during the rule of
   Emperor Valens was the Battle of Adrianople in 378 in which Valens and
   the best of the remaining Roman legions were killed by the Visigoths.
   This defeat has been proposed by some authorities as one possible date
   for dividing the ancient and medieval worlds. However, the Roman Empire
   was divided further by Valens' successor Theodosius I (also called "the
   Great"), who had ruled both parts since 392: following the dynastic
   principle well established by Constantine, in 395 Theodosius gave the
   two halves to his two sons Arcadius and Honorius; Arcadius became ruler
   of the eastern half, with his capital in Constantinople, and Honorius
   became ruler of the western half, with his capital in Ravenna.
   Theodosius was the last Roman emperor whose authority covered the
   entire traditional extent of the Roman Empire. At this point, it is
   common to refer to the empire as "Eastern Roman" rather than
   "Byzantine."

Early history

   Eastern and Western Roman Empires, c. 476 AD.
   Enlarge
   Eastern and Western Roman Empires, c. 476 AD.

   The Eastern Roman Empire was largely spared the difficulties of the
   west in the 3rd and 4th centuries (see Crisis of the Third Century) in
   part because urban culture was better established there and the richer
   east could more easily afford both to placate invaders with tribute and
   to pay barbarian mercenaries to serve in its armies. Throughout the 5th
   century, various invading armies overran the western half of the Roman
   Empire but refrained from ravaging the east. Theodosius II further
   fortified the walls of Constantinople, leaving the city impenetrable to
   attacks; it was to be preserved from foreign conquest until 1204. To
   spare the Eastern Roman Empire from the invasion of the Huns of Attila,
   Theodosius gave them subsidies, said to be 300kg (700lbs) of gold.
   Moreover, he favored merchants living in Constantinople who traded with
   the barbarians. His successor, Marcian, refused to continue to pay the
   great sum. However, Attila had already diverted his attention from the
   Western Roman Empire and died, in 453, after the Battle of Chalons. The
   Hunnic Empire collapsed and Constantinople was free from the menace of
   Attila. This started a profitable relationship between the Eastern
   Roman Empire and the remaining Huns. The Huns would eventually fight as
   mercenaries in Byzantine armies during the following centuries.
   Leo I of the Byzantine Empire (401 - 474, reigned 457 - 474).
   Enlarge
   Leo I of the Byzantine Empire (401 - 474, reigned 457 - 474).

   At the time since the fall of Attila, the true chief in Constantinople
   was the Alan general Aspar. Leo I managed to free himself from the
   influence of the barbarian chief favouring the rise of the Isaurians, a
   crude semi-barbarian tribe living in Roman territory, in southern
   Anatolia. Aspar and his son Ardabur were murdered in a riot in 471, and
   henceforth, Constantinople became free from foreign influences for
   centuries. Leo was also the first emperor to receive the crown not from
   a general or an officer, as evident in the Roman tradition, but from
   the hands of the patriarch of Constantinople. This habit became
   mandatory as time passed, and in the Middle Ages, the religious
   characteristic of the coronation had totally substituted the old form.
   In 468, Leo unsuccessfully attempted to reconquer North Africa from the
   Vandals. By that time, the Western Roman Empire was already restricted
   to Italy (Britain had fallen to Angles and Saxons, Spain fell to the
   Visigoths, Africa fell to the Vandals and Gaul fell to the Franks).

   In 466, as a condition of his Isaurian alliance, Leo married his
   daughter Ariadne to the Isaurian Tarasicodissa, who took the name Zeno.
   When Leo died in 474, Zeno and Ariadne's minor son (Leo I's grandson)
   succeeded to the throne as Leo II, with Zeno acting as regent. When Leo
   II died later that year, Zeno became emperor. The end of the Western
   Empire is sometimes dated to 476, early in Zeno's reign, when the
   barbarian general Odoacer deposed the titular Western Emperor Romulus
   Augustus, but declined to replace him with another puppet. To recover
   Italy, Zeno could only negotiate with the Ostrogoths of Theodoric who
   had been settled in Moesia. He sent the barbarian king in Italy as
   magister militum per Italiam ("chief of staff for Italy"). After the
   fall of Odoacer in 493, Theodoric, who had lived in Constantinople
   during his youth, ruled over Italy on his own, maintaining a merely
   formal obedience to Zeno. He revealed himself as the most powerful
   Germanic king of that age, but his successors were greatly inferior to
   him and their kingdom of Italy started to decline in the 530s.

   In 475, Zeno was deposed by a plot to elevate Basiliscus (the general
   who led Leo I's 468 invasion of North Africa) to the throne. Zeno
   recovered the throne twenty months later. However, Zeno had to face the
   threat coming from his Isaurian former official Illo and the other
   Isaurian, Leontius, who was also elected rival emperor. Isaurian
   prominence ended when an aged civil officer of Roman origin, Anastasius
   I, became emperor in 491 and after a long war defeated them in 498.
   Anastasius revealed himself to be an energetic reformer and an able
   administrator. He perfected Constantine I's coinage system by
   definitively setting the weight of the copper follis, the coin used in
   most everyday transactions. He also reformed the tax system, and
   abolished the hated chrysargyron tax in a manner that ensured that it
   could never be revived. The State Treasury contained the enormous sum
   of 320,000 pounds of gold when he died.

Age of Justinian I

   Justinian I depicted on one of the famous mosaics of the St. Vitale
   church in Ravenna.
   Enlarge
   Justinian I depicted on one of the famous mosaics of the St. Vitale
   church in Ravenna.

   The reign of Justinian I, which began in 527, saw a period of Byzantine
   expansion into former Roman territories. The 6th century also saw the
   beginning of a long series of conflicts with the Byzantine Empire's
   traditional early enemies, such as the Sassanid Persians, Slavs and
   Bulgars. Theological debates, such as over the question of
   Monophysitism, also caused civil unrest.

   Justinian, the son of an Illyrian peasant, had perhaps already exerted
   effective control during the reign of his predecessor, Justin I
   (518–527). Justin I was a former officer in the imperial army who had
   been chief of the guards to Anastasius I, and had been proclaimed
   emperor (almost at the age of 70) after Anastasius' death. Justinian
   was a nephew of Justin and was later adopted as Justin's son. Justinian
   would become one of the most refined people of his century, inspired by
   the dream to re-establish Roman rule over all the Mediterranean world.
   He reformed the administration and the law, and with the help of
   brilliant generals such as Belisarius and Narses, he regained some of
   the lost Roman teritories in the west, conquering much of Italy, North
   Africa, and a small area in southern Spain.

   In 532, attempting to secure his eastern frontier, Justinian signed a
   peace treaty with the Sassanid Shah Khosrau I agreeing to pay a large
   annual tribute to the Sassinids. The same year, the Nika riots erupted
   and lasted for one week in the capital. This was a most violent revolt,
   and nearly half of Constantinople was destroyed.

   The western conquests began in 533, as Justinian's sent Belisarius to
   reclaim the former province of North Africa with a small army of 15,000
   men, mainly mercenaries. An earlier expedition in 468 had been a
   failure, but this new venture was successful. The kingdom of the
   Vandals at Carthage lacked the strength of former times under King
   Gaiseric and the Vandals surrendered after few battles against
   Belisarius' forces. General Belisarius received a Roman triumph in
   Constantinople with the last Vandal king, Gelimer, as his prisoner.
   However, the reconquest of North Africa would take a few more years to
   stabilize. It was not until 548 that the major local independent tribes
   were subdued.

   In 535, Justinian I launched his most ambitious campaign, the
   reconquest of Italy. Italy was under the rule of the Ostrogoths. He
   dispatched an army to march overland from Dalmatia while the main
   contingent, transported on ships and again under the command of General
   Belisarius, disembarked in Sicily easily conquering the island. The
   marches on the Italian mainland were initially victorious and the major
   cities, including Naples, Rome and the capital Ravenna, fell one after
   the other. The Goths were seemingly defeated and Belisarius was
   recalled to Constantinople in 541 by Justinian. Belisarius brought with
   him to Constantinople the Ostrogoth king Witiges as a prisoner in
   chains. However, the Ostrogoths and their supporters were soon reunited
   under the energetic command of Totila. The ensuing Gothic Wars were an
   exhausting series of sieges, battles and retreats which consumed almost
   all the Byzantine and Italian fiscal resources, impoverishing much of
   the countryside. Belisarius was eventually recalled by Justinian, who
   had lost trust in his commander. At a certain point, the Byzantines
   seemed to be on the verge of losing all the gained possessions. After
   having neglected to provide sufficient financial and logistical support
   to the desperate troops under Belisarius' former command, in the summer
   of 552 Justinian gathered a massive army of 35,000 men (mostly Asian
   and Germanic mercenaries) to contribute to the war effort. The astute
   and diplomatic eunuch Narses was chosen for the command. Totila was
   defeated and died at the Battle of Busta Gallorum. Totila's successor,
   Teias, was likewise defeated at the Battle of Mons Lactarius (central
   Italy, October 552). Despite continuing resistance from a few Goth
   garrisons, and two subsequent invasions by the Franks and Alamanni, the
   war for the reconquest of the Italian peninsula came to an end.
   Map of the Byzantine Empire around 550
   Enlarge
   Map of the Byzantine Empire around 550

   Justinian's program of reconquest was further extended in 554 when a
   Byzantine army managed to seize a small part of Spain from the
   Visigoths. All the main Mediterranean islands were also now under
   Byzantine control. Aside from these conquests, Justinian revised the
   ancient Roman legal code in the new Corpus Juris Civilis. Even though
   the laws were still written in Latin, the language itself was becoming
   archaic and poorly understood even by those who wrote the new code.
   Under Justinian's reign, the Church of Hagia Sofia ("Holy Wisdom"), the
   most famous and important of the Empire, was rebuilt in the 530s,
   having been destroyed during the Nika riots. The 6th century was also a
   time of flourishing culture and even though Justinian closed the
   university at Athens, the Empire produced notable people such as the
   epic poet Nonnus, the lyric poet Paul the Silentiary, the historian
   Procopius, the natural philosopher John Philoponus among others.

   The conquests in the west meant that other parts of the Empire were
   left almost unguarded even though Justinian was a great builder of
   fortifications in Byzantine territories throughout his reign. Khosrau I
   had, as early as 540, broken the pact previously signed with Justinian
   and plundered Antiochia. The only way Justinian could forestall him was
   to increase the sum he paid to the Persians every year. The Balkans
   were subjected to repeated incursions where Slavs had first crossed the
   imperial frontiers during the reign of Justin I. The Slavs took
   advantage of the sparsely-deployed Byzantine troops and pressed on as
   far as the Gulf of Corinth. The Kutrigur Bulgars had also attacked in
   540. The Slavs invaded Thrace in 545 and in 548 assaulted Dyrrachium,
   an important port on the Adriatic Sea. In 550, the Sclaveni pushed on
   as far to reach within 65 kilometers of Constantinople itself. In 559,
   the Eastern Roman Empire found itself unable to repel a great invasion
   of Kutrigurs and Sclaveni. Divided in three columns, the invaders
   reached Thermopylae, the Gallipoli peninsula and the suburbs of
   Constantinople. The Slavs feared the intact power of the Danube
   Byzantine fleet and of the Utigurs (paid by the Byzantines themselves)
   more than the resistance of the ill-prepared Byzantine imperial army.
   The Empire was safe, but in the following years the Byzantine control
   in the Balkans was severely reduced.

   Soon after the death of Justinian in 565, the Germanic Lombards, a
   former imperial foederati tribe, invaded and conquered much of Italy.
   The Visigoths conquered Cordoba, the main Byzantine city in Spain,
   first in 572 and then definitively in 584. The last Byzantine
   strongholds in Spain were swept away twenty years later. The Turks
   emerged in Crimea, and, in 577, a horde of some 100,000 Slavs had
   invaded Thrace and Illyricum. Sirmium, the most important Roman city on
   the Danube, was lost in 582, but the Byzantines managed to maintain
   control of the river for several more years even though they
   increasingly lost control of the inner provinces.

   Justinian's successor, Justin II, refused to pay Justinian's tribute to
   the Sassanid Empire. This resulted in a long and costly war which
   lasted until the reign of his successors Tiberius II and Maurice,
   focused over the control over the disputed territory of Armenia.
   Fortunately for the Byzantines, the Persian Empire was weakend by a
   civil war. Maurice was able to take advantage of his friendship with
   the new king Khosrau II (whose disputed accession to the Persian throne
   had been assisted by Maurice) in order to sign a favorable peace treaty
   in 591. This treaty gave the Byzantine Empire control over much of
   western Armenia. Maurice reorganized the remaining Byzantine
   possessions in the west into two Exarchates, the Ravenna and the
   Carthage. Maurice increased the Exarchates' self-defense capabilities
   and delegated them to civil authorities.

   The Avars and later the Bulgars overwhelmed much of the Balkans, and in
   the early 7th century the Sassanids invaded and conquered Egypt,
   Palestine, Syria and Armenia. The Persians were eventually defeated and
   the territories were recovered by Emperor Heraclius in 627. However,
   the unexpected appearance of the Arabs, newly united and converted to
   Islam overwhelmed an Empire exhausted from the Persian wars, and the
   southern provinces were overrun.

   The Byzantine Empire's most catastrophic defeat of this period was the
   Battle of Yarmuk, fought in Syria. Heraclius and the military governors
   of Syria were slow to respond to the new threat, and Byzantine
   Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, and the Exarchate of Africa were
   incorporated into the Muslim Caliphate in the 7th century, a process
   which was completed with the fall of Carthage in 698. The Byzantines
   made little attempt to regain the lost provinces, dominated as they
   were by Monophysitism.

   The Lombards continued to expand in northern Italy, taking Liguria in
   640 and conquering most of the Exarchate of Ravenna in 751, leaving the
   Byzantines with control of only small areas around the toe and heel of
   Italy, plus some semi-independent coastal cities like Venice, Naples,
   Amalfi and Gaeta.

Fight for survival

   The Byzantine Empire at the accession of Leo III, c. 717
   Enlarge
   The Byzantine Empire at the accession of Leo III, c. 717

   The Empire's loss of territory was offset to a degree by consolidation
   and an increased uniformity of rule. Emperor Heraclius made Greek the
   official language, and the Emperor's Latin title, Augustus, was
   replaced with the Greek Basileus. Heraclius' reforms widened the
   cultural gap between the Eastern Roman Empire and its earlier
   predecessor, as well as the former imperial lands of western Europe.
   The reign of Heraclius is often taken to be the definitive break
   between the "Eastern Roman" and "Byzantine" Empires.

   Within the empire, the southern provinces differed significantly in
   culture and practice from those in the north, observing Monophysite
   Christianity rather than Chalcedonian Orthodox. The loss of the
   southern territories to the Arabs further strengthened Orthodox
   practice in the remaining provinces.

   Constans II (reigned 641–668) subdivided the empire into a system of
   military provinces called themes in an attempt to improve local
   responses to the threat of constant assaults. Outside of the capital,
   urban life declined, while Constantinople grew to become the largest
   city in the Christian world.

   During Constans' reign the Byzantines completely withdrew from Egypt,
   and the Arabs launched numerous attacks on the islands of the
   Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Sea. Constans sent a fleet to attack the
   Arabs at Finike in 655, but was defeated: 500 Byzantine ships were
   destroyed in the battle, and the emperor himself came close to being
   killed. Only an Arabic civil war put an end to the planned Muslim
   assault on Constantinople.
   Restored section of the fortifications that protected Constantinople
   during the medieval period.
   Enlarge
   Restored section of the fortifications that protected Constantinople
   during the medieval period.

   In 658, the imperial army defeated the Slavs on the Danube River,
   temporarily slowing their advance into the Balkans. Constans, having
   attracted the hatred of the people of Constantinople, temporarily moved
   the capital to Syracuse. In 661, he launched an attack on the Lombard
   Duchy of Benevento in southern Italy. After a series of victories and
   defeats, he retreated to Naples. He was the last Eastern emperor to
   visit Rome as a Byzantine possession, though later emperors would
   return in the 15th century to beg for help against the Ottomans.
   Constans was assassinated in Sicily shortly after this campaign, and no
   serious attempt was made to reconquer southern Italy until the 9th
   century.

   Arab attempts to conquer Constantinople were frustrated by the secret
   Byzantine weapon Greek fire (the exact composition of which remains a
   mystery to this day), the extensive city fortifications, and the skill
   of both generals and warrior-emperors such as Leo the Isaurian (r.
   717–741). After the assaults were repelled, these defeats, combined
   with the Berber Rebellion, and the Arab defeat in Europe at the Battle
   of Tours, led to the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate at the Battle
   of the Zab in 750. The subsequent fracture of the Muslim world, leaving
   the Umayyads in control of Spain while being eclipsed by the Abbasids
   in the remainder of the Islamic empire, allowed the Byzantines to stem
   their decline and continue to recover.

   In his landmark work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
   Empire, the 18th century historian Edward Gibbon depicted the Byzantine
   Empire of this time as effete and decadent. However, an alternative
   examination of the Byzantine Empire reveals a military superpower in
   the early Middle Ages. Scholars point to the empire's heavy cavalry
   (the cataphracts), its subsidy (albeit inconsistently) of a free and
   well-to-do peasant class forming the basis for cavalry recruitment, its
   extraordinarily in-depth defense systems (the themes), and its use of
   subsidies to make its enemies fight each other. Other factors include
   the empire's prowess at intelligence-gathering, a communications and
   logistics system based on mule trains, a superior navy (although often
   under funded), and rational military strategies and doctrines (not
   dissimilar to those of Sun Tzu) that emphasized stealth, surprise,
   swift maneuvering and the marshaling of overwhelming force at the time
   and place of the Byzantine commander's choosing.

   The 8th century was dominated by controversy and religious division
   over iconoclasm. Icons were banned by Emperor Leo III, leading to
   revolts by iconodules (supporters of icons) throughout the empire.
   After the efforts of Empress Irene, the Second Council of Nicaea met in
   787 and affirmed that icons could be venerated but not worshipped.
   Irene also attempted a marriage alliance with Charlemagne the Frank,
   recently crowned by the Pope as Emperor of the West. In theory, this
   alliance would have united the two 'Roman' empires and created a
   European superpower comparable in strength to ancient Rome. In
   practice, the two empires were so different that it is hard to see how
   such a union could have succeeded. Regardless, these plans were
   abandoned when Irene was deposed.

   The iconoclast controversy returned in the early 9th century, only to
   be resolved once more in 843 during the regency of Empress Theodora,
   who restored the icons. These controversies further contributed to the
   disintegrating relations with the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy
   Roman Empire, both of which continued to increase their independence
   and power.

Golden age

   The Byzantine Empire at the accession of Basil I, c. 867
   Enlarge
   The Byzantine Empire at the accession of Basil I, c. 867

   The Byzantine Empire reached its height under the Macedonian emperors
   of the late 9th, 10th and early 11th centuries. During these years the
   Empire held out against pressure from the Roman church to remove
   Patriarch Photios, and gained control over the Adriatic Sea, southern
   Italy, and all of Bulgaria as it was under the Bulgarian tsar Samuel.
   The cities of the empire expanded, and prosperity was able to spread
   across the provinces thanks to the empire's new-found security. The
   population of the empire rose, and production increased, stimulating
   new demand while also helping to encourage trade. Culturally, this was
   a productive period of Byzantine history, as there was considerable
   growth in education and learning. Ancient texts were preserved and
   patiently re-copied. Byzantine art flourished, and brilliant mosaics
   graced the interiors of new churches, which were being built across the
   empire in this period.

Internal developments

   Although traditionally attributed to Basil I (867-886), initiator of
   the Macedonian dynasty, the "Byzantine renaissance" has been more
   recently ascribed largely to the reforms of his predecessor, Michael
   III (842-867) and his wife's counsellor, the erudite Theoktistos. The
   latter in particular favoured culture at the court, and, with a careful
   financial policy, increased steadily the gold reserves of the Empire.
   The rise of the Macedonian dynasty coincided with internal developments
   which strengthened the religious unity of the empire. The iconoclast
   movement was experiencing a steep decline: this favoured its soft
   suppression by the emperors and the reconciliation of the religious
   strife that had drained the imperial resources in the previous
   centuries. Despite occasional tactical defeats, the administrative,
   legislative, cultural and economic situation continued to improve under
   Basil's successors, especially with Romanos I Lekapenos (920-944). The
   theme military subdivision reached its definitive form in this period,
   with new ones added in recognition of the new conquests. The church
   establishment began to support loyally the imperial cause, and the
   power of the landowning class was limited in favour of agricultural
   small holders, who made up an important part of the military force of
   the Empire. These favourable conditions contributed to the increasing
   ability of the emperors to wage war against the Arabs.

Wars against the Muslims

   By 867, the empire had stabilised its position in both the east and the
   west, while the success of its defensive military structure had enabled
   the emperors to begin planning wars of reconquest in the east. However,
   the reconquest process began with variable fortunes. The temporary
   reconquest of Crete (843-843) was followed by a crushing Byzantine
   defeat on the Bosphorus, while the emperors were unable to prevent the
   ongoing gradual Muslim conquest of Sicily (827-902). Using present day
   Tunisia as their launching pad, the Muslims conquered Palermo in 831,
   Messina in 842, Enna in 859, Syracuse in 878, Catania in 900 and the
   final Greek stronghold, the fortress of Taormina, in 902.

   These drawbacks were later counterbalanced by a victorious expedition
   against Damietta in Egypt (856), the defeat of the Emir of Melitene
   (863), the confirmation of the imperial authority over Dalmatia (867)
   and Basil I's offensives towards the Euphrates (870s).

   The threat from the Muslims was meanwhile reduced by inner struggles
   and by the rise of the Turks in the east, but the Byzantine empire
   found another enemy in the Paulician sect, which had found a large
   following in the eastern provinces of the Empire and often fought under
   the Arab flag. It took several campaigns to subdue the Paulicians, who
   were eventually defeated by Basil I.

   However, in 904, disaster struck the empire when its second city,
   Thessalonica, was sacked by an Arab fleet under a Byzantine renegade.
   The Byzantines responded by destroying an Arab fleet, in 908, and
   sacking the city of Laodicea in Syria two years later. Despite this
   revenge, the Byzantines were still unable to strike a decisive blow
   against the Muslims, who inflicted a crushing defeat on the imperial
   forces as they attempted to regain Crete in 911.

   The situation on the border with the Arab territories remained fluid,
   with the Byzantines alternatively on the offensive or defensive. The
   Russians, who appeared near Constantinople for the first time in 860,
   were another new enemy to face. In 941 they appeared on the Asian shore
   of the Bosphorus, but this time they were crushed, showing the
   improvements in the Byzantine military position after 907, when only
   diplomacy had been able to push back the invaders. The vanquisher of
   the Russians was the famous general John Kourkouas, who continued the
   offensive with other noteworthy victories in Mesopotamia (943): these
   culminated in the reconquest of Edessa (944), which was especially
   celebrated for the return to Constantinople of the venerated Mandylion
   relic.

   The soldier emperors Nikephoros II Phokas (reigned 963-969) and John I
   Tzimiskes (969-976) expanded the empire well into Syria, defeating the
   emirs of north-west Iraq and reconquering Crete and Cyprus. At one
   point under John, the empire's armies even threatened Jerusalem, far to
   the south. The emirate of Aleppo and its neighbours became vassals of
   the empire in the east, where the greatest threat to the empire was the
   Egyptian Fatimid kingdom.

Wars against the Bulgars

   Emperor Basil II the Bulgar Slayer (976-1025)
   Enlarge
   Emperor Basil II the Bulgar Slayer (976-1025)

   The traditional struggle with the See of Rome continued, spurred by the
   question of religious supremacy over the newly Christianized Bulgaria.
   This caused the invasion of the powerful Tsar Simeon I in 894, but this
   was pushed back by the Byzantine diplomacy, which called the help of
   the Hungarians. However, the Byzantines were in turn defeated at the
   Battle of Bulgarophigon (896), and obliged to pay annual subsides to
   the Bulgars. Later (912) Simeon even had the Byzantines grant him the
   crown of basileus of Bulgaria and had the young emperor Constantine VII
   marry one of his daughters. When a revolt in Constantinople halted his
   dynastic project, he again invaded Thrace and conquered Hadrianopolis.

   A great imperial expedition under Leo Phokas and Romanos Lekapenos
   ended again with a crushing Byzantine defeat (917), and the following
   year the Bulgars were free to ravage northern Greece up to Corinth.
   Adranopolis was captured again in 923 and in 924 a Bulgar army besieged
   Constantinople. The situation in the Balkans improved only after
   Simeon's death in 927.

   Under the emperor Basil II (reigned 976-1025), the Bulgarians, who had
   conquered much of the Balkans from the Byzantines since their arrival
   three hundred years previously, became the target of annual campaigns
   by the Byzantine army. The war was to drag on for nearly twenty years,
   but eventually at the Battle of Kleidon the Bulgarians were completely
   defeated. The Bulgarian army was captured, and it is said that 99 out
   of every 100 men were blinded, with the remaining hundredth man left
   with one eye so as to lead his compatriots home. When Samuil of
   Bulgaria saw the broken remains of his once gallant army, he died of
   shock. In 1014, Bulgaria surrendered, and became part of the empire.
   This stunning victory restored to the empire the Danube frontier, which
   had not been held since the days of the emperor Heraclius (reigned
   610-641).

   The empire also gained a new ally at this time in the new Varangian
   state in Kiev, from which the empire received an important mercenary
   force, the Varangian Guard, in exchange for Basil's sister Anna as a
   wife for Vladimir I of Kiev. Basil II also had relatives marry leaders
   of the Holy Roman Empire.

Triumph

   The Byzantine Empire under Basil II, c. 1025
   Enlarge
   The Byzantine Empire under Basil II, c. 1025

   The Byzantine Empire now stretched from Azerbaijan and Armenia in the
   east, to Calabria in Southern Italy to the west. Many successes had
   been achieved, ranging from the conquest of Bulgaria, to the annexation
   of Georgia and Armenia, to the total annihilation of an invading force
   of Egyptians outside Antioch. Yet even these victories were not enough;
   Basil considered the continued Arab occupation of Sicily (it had been
   lost to the Arabs c.902), to be an outrage. Accordingly, he planned to
   reconquer the island, which had belonged to the empire for over three
   hundred years (c.550-c.900). However, his death in 1025 put an end to
   the project. Basil's reign was the culmination of over three hundred
   years of desperate struggle, which had seen the Byzantine empire
   fighting for its very survival, and reaching the nadir of its fortunes
   with two sieges of Constantinople in 674-78, and 717-18. Yet the empire
   had clawed its way back from the brink of destruction, and by 1025
   Byzantium was once again the greatest power in the Mediterranean. Such
   was the impression that the formidable Byzantine army built up during
   this period, that the mere threat of an imperial army marching
   eastwards was enough to keep local rulers in line.

   The 11th century was also momentous for its religious events. In 1054,
   relations between Greek-speaking Eastern and Latin-speaking Western
   traditions within the Christian Church reached a terminal crisis.
   Although there was a formal declaration of institutional separation, on
   July 16, when three papal legates entered the Hagia Sophia during mass
   on a Saturday afternoon and placed a bull (official papal document) of
   excommunication on the altar, the so-called Great Schism actually was
   the culmination of centuries of gradual separation. The schism was
   purported to stem from the Eastern Church's refusal to accept the
   western doctrine that the Holy Spirit came from the Father and the Son
   ( filioque), and not the Father alone; in reality, however, there were
   a number of political interests involved in the division of the
   Christian Church. From this split, the modern Roman Catholic and
   Eastern Orthodox churches arose. This development was to be fateful
   indeed for the Byzantine empire.

Crisis and fragmentation

   Byzantium soon fell into a period of difficulties, caused to a large
   extent by the growth of the aristocracy, which undermined the theme
   system. The succession of weak rulers who succeeded Basil II after 1025
   disbanded the large armies which had been defending the eastern
   provinces from attack; instead gold was stockpiled in Constantinople,
   ostensibly in order to hire mercenaries should troubles arise. In fact,
   most of the money was frittered away in the form of gifts to favourites
   of the emperor, extravagant court banquets, and expensive luxuries for
   the imperial family.
   Nicephorus III Botaniates, Byzantine emperor from 1078 to 1081
   Enlarge
   Nicephorus III Botaniates, Byzantine emperor from 1078 to 1081

   Meanwhile, the remnants of the once-formidable armed forces were
   allowed to decay, to the point where they were no longer capable of
   functioning as an army. Elderly men with ill-maintained equipment mixed
   with new recruits who had never participated in a training exercise.
   Facing its old enemies, the Holy Roman Empire and the Abbasid
   Caliphate, the Eastern Roman Empire might have recovered, but around
   the same time new invaders appeared on the scene who had little reason
   to respect its reputation.

   In 1040, the Normans, originally landless mercenaries from northern
   parts of Europe in search of plunder, began attacking the Byzantine
   strongholds in southern Italy. In order to deal with them, a mixed
   force of mercenaries and conscripts under the formidable George
   Maniakes was sent to Italy in 1042. Maniakes and his army engulfed the
   land in a fury of destruction, leaving a trail of burning ruins and
   shattered fortresses behind them. Any who opposed this terrifying
   advance were tortured to death; many were buried alive. However, before
   he could complete his campaign of annihilation, the general was
   recalled to Constantinople due to palace intrigue. Gripped by murderous
   rage at a serious of outrages against his wife and property by one of
   his rivals, he was proclaimed emperor by his troops, and led them
   across the Adriatic to victory against a loyalist army. However, a
   mortal wound led to his death shortly afterwards. With the opposition
   absent in the Balkans, the Normans were able to complete the expulsion
   of the Byzantines from Italy by 1071.

   It was in Asia Minor, however, that the greatest disaster would take
   place. The Seljuk Turks, who were mainly interested in defeating Egypt
   under the Fatimids, nevertheless conducted a series of damaging raids
   into Armenia and eastern Anatolia, which was the main recruiting ground
   for Byzantine armies. With the imperial armies weakened by years of
   insufficient funding and civil warfare, Emperor Romanos Diogenes
   realised that a time of re-structuring and re-equipment was necessary.
   Consequently, he attempted to lead a defensive campaign in the east
   until his forces had recovered enough to defeat the Seljuks. However,
   due to treachery from his opponents who deserted him on the field of
   battle, he suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Alp Arslan
   (Sultan of the Seljuk Turks) at Manzikert in 1071. Romanos was
   captured, and, although the Sultan's peace terms were not excessive,
   the battle was catastrophic for the Byzantine Empire in another way.

   On his release, Romanos found that his enemies had conspired against
   him to place their own candidate on the throne in his absence. After
   two defeats in battle against the rebels, Romanos surrendered and
   suffered a horrific death by torture. The new ruler, Michael Doukas,
   refused to honour the treaty that had been signed by Romanos. In
   response, the Turks began to move into Anatolia in 1073, while the
   collapse of the old defensive system meant that they met no opposition.
   To make matters worse, chaos reigned as the empire's remaining
   resources were squandered in a series of disastrous civil wars.
   Thousands of Turkoman tribesmen crossed the unguarded frontier and
   moved into Anatolia. By 1080, an area of 30,000 square miles had been
   lost to the empire.

   It is almost impossible to overestimate the significance of these
   events, as within less than a decade more than half of the manpower of
   the empire had been lost, along with much of its grain supply. Thus,
   the battle of Manzikert resulted in the greatest blow to the empire in
   its 700 years of history.

Komnenian dynasty and the crusaders

   The Byzantine Empire at the accession of Alexios I Komnenos, c. 1081
   Enlarge
   The Byzantine Empire at the accession of Alexios I Komnenos, c. 1081

Alexios I Komnenos

   After Manzikert, a partial recovery was made possible due to the
   efforts of the Komnenian dynasty. This is sometimes referred to as the
   Komnenian restoration. The first emperor of this royal line was Alexios
   I Komnenos (whose life and policies would be described by his daughter
   Anna Komnene in the Alexiad). Alexios' long reign of nearly 37 years
   was full of struggle. At his accession in 1081, the Byzantine Empire
   was in chaos after a prolonged period of civil war resulting from the
   defeat at Manzikert.

   At the very outset of his reign, Alexios had to meet the formidable
   attack of the Normans under Robert Guiscard and his son Bohemund of
   Taranto, who took Dyrrhachium and Corfu, and laid siege to Larissa in
   Thessaly (see Battle of Dyrrhachium). Alexios led his forces in person
   against the Normans, yet despite his best efforts his army was
   destroyed in the field. Alexios himself was wounded in the battle, and
   for a time it looked as though the empire's final hour had come.
   However, at the moment of supreme crisis fate relented on the
   unfortunate Alexios, and the Norman danger was ended for the time being
   with Robert Guiscard's death in 1085.

   However, Alexios's trials and tribulations were only just beginning. At
   the very moment when the Emperor urgently needed to raise as much
   revenue as possible from his shattered empire, taxation and the economy
   were in complete disarray. Inflation was spiralling out of control, the
   coinage was heavily debased, the fiscal system was confused (there were
   six different nomismata in circulation), and the imperial treasury was
   empty. In desperation, Alexios had been forced to finance his campaign
   against the Normans by using the wealth of the Orthodox Church, which
   had been put at his disposal by the Patriarch of Constantinople.
   This coin was struck by Alexios during his war against Robert Guiscard
   Enlarge
   This coin was struck by Alexios during his war against Robert Guiscard

   In 1087, Alexios faced a new invasion. This time, the invaders
   consisted of a horde of 80,000 Pechenegs from north of the Danube, and
   they were heading for Constantinople. Without enough troops to repel
   this new threat, Alexios used diplomacy to achieve a victory against
   the odds. Having bribed the Cumans, another barbarian tribe, to come to
   his aid, he advanced against the Pechenegs, who were caught by surprise
   and annihilated at the Battle of Levounion on 28 April 1091.

   With stability at last achieved in the west, Alexios now had a chance
   to begin solving his severe economic difficulties and the
   disintegration of the empire's traditional defences. In order to
   reestablish the army, Alexios began to build a new force on the basis
   of feudal grants ( próniai) and prepared a to advance against the
   Seljuks, who had conquered Asia Minor and were now established at
   Nicaea.

   However, he still did not have enough manpower to recover the lost
   territories in Asia Minor. Having been impressed by the abilities of
   the Norman cavalry at Dyrrhachium, he sent his ambassadors west to ask
   for reinforcements from Europe. The ambassadors dispatched their
   mission with great success - at the Council of Piacenza in 1095, Pope
   Urban II was impressed by Alexios's appeal for help, which spoke of the
   suffering of the Christians of the east, and hinted at a possible union
   of the eastern and western churches. Pope Urban was concerned with
   increasing restlessness of the martial nobility in Western Europe, who,
   currently deprived of major enemies, were causing chaos throughout the
   countryside. Alexios's appeal offered a means not only to redirect the
   energy of the knights to benefit the Church, but also to consolidate
   the authority of the Pope over Christendom and to gain the east for the
   See of Rome.

First Crusade

   Medieval manuscript depicting the Capture of Jerusalem during the First
   Crusade
   Enlarge
   Medieval manuscript depicting the Capture of Jerusalem during the First
   Crusade

   On 27 November 1095, Urban II called together the Council of Clermont
   in France. There, amid a crowd of thousands who had come to hear his
   words, he urged all those present to take up arms under the banner of
   the Cross and launch a holy war to recover Jerusalem and the east from
   the 'infidel' Muslims. Indulgences were to be granted to all those who
   took part in the great enterprise. Many promised to carry out the
   Pope's command, and word of the Crusade soon spread across western
   Europe.

   Alexios had anticipated help in the form of mercenary forces from the
   West, and was totally unprepared for the immense and undisciplined
   hosts which soon arrived, to his consternation and embarrassment. The
   first group, under Peter the Hermit, he sent to Asia Minor, ordering
   them to stay close to the coast and await reinforcements. However, the
   unruly crusaders refused to listen and began looting and pillaging the
   local Christian inhabitants. As they marched on Nicaea, in 1096, they
   were caught by the Turks and massacred almost to the last man.

   The second, "official" host of knights, led by Godfrey of Bouillon,
   Alexios also sent into Asia, promising to supply them with provisions
   in return for an oath of loyalty. By their victories, Alexios was able
   to recover for the Byzantine Empire a number of important cities and
   islands — Nicaea, Chios, Rhodes, Smyrna, Ephesus, Philadelphia, Sardis,
   and in fact much of western Asia Minor (1097–1099). This is ascribed by
   his daughter Anna as a credit to his policy and diplomacy, but good
   relations were not to last. The crusaders believed their oaths were
   made invalid when Alexios did not help them during the siege of Antioch
   (he had in fact set out on the road to Antioch, but had been persuaded
   to turn back by Stephen of Blois, who assured him that all was lost and
   that the expedition had already failed); Bohemund, who had set himself
   up as Prince of Antioch, briefly went to war with Alexios, but agreed
   to become Alexios' vassal under the Treaty of Devol in 1108.

Slow recovery

   Despite his many successes, during the last twenty years of his life,
   Alexios lost much of his popularity. This was largely due to the harsh
   measures he was forced to take in order to save the embattled empire.
   Conscription was introduced, causing resentment among the peasantry,
   despite the pressing need for new recruits to the imperial army. In
   order to restore the imperial treasury, Alexios took measures to tax
   the aristocracy heavily; he also cancelled many of the exemptions from
   taxation that the church had previously enjoyed. In order to ensure
   that all taxes were paid in full, and to halt the cycle of debasement
   and inflation, he completely reformed the coinage, issuing a new gold
   hyperpyron (highly refined) coin for the purpose. By 1109, he had
   managed to restore order by working out a proper rate of exchange for
   the whole coinage. His new hyperpyron would be the standard Byzantine
   coin for the next two hundred years.

   The final years of Alexios's reign were marked by persecution of the
   followers of the Paulician and Bogomil heresies — one of his last acts
   was to burn at the stake the Bogomil leader, Basil the Physician, with
   whom he had engaged in a theological controversy; by renewed struggles
   with the Turks (1110–1117); and by anxieties as to the succession,
   which his wife Irene wished to alter in favour of her daughter Anna's
   husband, Nikephorus Bryennios, for whose benefit the special title
   panhypersebastos ("honored above all") was created. This intrigue
   disturbed even his dying hours.

   Nevertheless, despite the unpopularity of some of his measures,
   Alexios' efforts had been vital to the survival of the empire.
   Financially and militarily bankrupt, and facing wave after wave of
   foreign invasion, the empire he inherited had been on the point of
   collapse. His long struggle to protect and restore the strength of the
   empire had been exhausting; however, because of his heroic and tireless
   actions, Alexios' successors inherited a viable state, with both the
   internal stability, and the military and financial resources, to expand
   in the future.

John's restoration of the empire

   Emperor John II Komnenos. During his reign (1118-1143) he earned near
   universal respect, even from the Crusaders, for his courage, dedication
   and piety.
   Enlarge
   Emperor John II Komnenos. During his reign (1118-1143) he earned near
   universal respect, even from the Crusaders, for his courage, dedication
   and piety.

   Alexios' son John II Komnenos succeeded him in 1118, and was to rule
   until 1143. On account of his mild and just reign he has been called
   the Byzantine Marcus Aurelius. John was unusual for his lack of cruelty
   — despite his long reign, he never had anyone killed or blinded. He was
   loved by his subjects, who gave him the name 'John the Good'. He was
   also an energetic campaigner, spending much of his life in army camps
   and personally supervising sieges.

   During John's reign Byzantium faced many difficulties: enemies
   confronted the empire on all sides. An invasion of nomadic horsemen
   from the north threatened Byzantine control in the Balkans. The Turks
   were harassing Byzantine territory in Asia Minor. However, John soon
   proved himself just as determined and energetic as his predecessor
   Alexios. At the Battle of Beroia, John personally led the imperial
   armies against the Pecheneg invader. With the aid of the emperor's
   elite troops, the Varangian Guard, the horsemen were decisively
   crushed. The emperor's victory was so severe that the Pechenegs soon
   disappeared as an independent people. The Danube frontier had been
   secured.

   John was then able to concentrate on Asia Minor, which became the focus
   of his attention for most of his reign. The Turks were pressing forward
   against the Byzantine frontier, and John was determined to drive them
   back. Thanks to John's energetic campaigning, Turkish attempts at
   expansion in Asia Minor were halted, and John prepared to take the
   fight to the enemy. In order to restore the region to Byzantine
   control, John led a series of campaigns against the Turks, one of which
   resulted in the reconquest of the ancestral home of the Komneni at
   Kastamonu. John quickly earned a formidable reputation as a
   wall-breaker, taking stronghold after stronghold from his enemies.
   Regions which had been lost to the empire ever since Manzikert were
   recovered and garrisoned. Yet resistance, particularly from the
   Danishmends of the north-east, was strong, and the difficult nature of
   holding down the new conquests is illustrated by the fact that
   Kastamonu was recaptured by the Turks even as John was in
   Constantinople celebrating its return to Byzantine rule. John
   persevered, however, and Kastamonu was soon changed hands once more.
   John advanced into north eastern Anatolia, provoking the Turks to
   attack his army. Yet once again John's forces were able to maintain
   their cohesion, and the Turkish attempt to inflict a second Manzikert
   on the emperor's army backfired when the Sultan, discredited by his
   failure to defeat John, was murdered by his own people.

   John, like Basil II before him, was a slow but steady campaigner. His
   armies made careful, measured gains over time, rarely exposing
   themselves to excessive risks, but nevertheless advancing inexorably
   towards their objectives. However, the Turks were resilient, and they
   did not allow themselves to be decisively defeated in any one
   engagement. They knew that it was difficult for the emperor to remain
   in one theatre of war for a long time, as events elsewhere often
   intervened that required his attention.

   John consolidated his conquests and the existing Byzantine holdings in
   Asia by the building of a series of forts. Historian Paul Magdalino
   explains this process in his book "The empire of Manuel Komnenos" by
   placing it in the context of the Komnenian restoration of the Byzantine
   empire as a whole; he points out that while John's father Alexios had
   fortified places on the coast, John now expanded Byzantine control into
   the interior by fortifying places such as Lopadion, Achyraous and
   Laodicea, which guarded the approaches to the valleys and coastlands of
   Asia Minor. This restoration of order under John enabled agricultural
   prosperity to begin a recovery that would eventually restore these war
   torn regions to their former status as a productive and valuable part
   of the Byzantine empire.

   Towards the end of his reign, John made a concerted effort to secure
   Antioch. On the way, he captured the southern coast of Asia Minor and
   Cilicia. He advanced into Syria at the head of his veteran army, which
   had been seasoned by a lifetime of campaigning. Although John fought
   hard for the Christian cause in the campaign in Syria, there was a
   famous incident where his allies, Prince Raymond of Antioch and Count
   Joscelin II of Edessa, sat around playing dice while John pressed the
   siege of an enemy town. These Crusader Princes were suspicious of each
   other and of John, and neither wanted the other to gain from
   participating in the campaign, while Raymond also wanted to hold on to
   Antioch, which he had agreed to hand over to John if the campaign was
   successful. Ultimately, Joscelin and Raymond conspired to keep John out
   of Antioch, and while he was preparing to lead a pilgrimage to
   Jerusalem and a further campaign, he accidentally grazed his hand on a
   poison arrow while out hunting. The poison set in, and shortly
   afterwards he died.

   Historian J. Birkenmeier has recently argued that John's reign was the
   most successful of the Komnenian period. In "The development of the
   Komnenian army 1081-1180", he stresses the wisdom of John's approach to
   warfare, which focused on siege warfare rather than risky pitched
   battles. Birkenmeier argues that John's strategy of launching annual
   campaigns with limited, realistic objectives was a more sensible one
   than that followed by his son Manuel I. According to this view, John's
   campaigns benefited the Byzantine Empire because they protected the
   empire's heartland from attack while gradually extending its territory
   in Asia Minor. The Turks were forced onto the defensive, while John
   kept his diplomatic situation relatively simple by allying with the
   Western Emperor against the Normans of Sicily.

   Overall, what is clear is that John II Komnenos left the empire a great
   deal better off than he had found it. Substantial territories had been
   recovered, and his successes against the invading Petchenegs, Serbs and
   Seljuk Turks, along with his attempts to establish Byzantine suzerainty
   over the Crusader States in Antioch and Edessa, did much to restore the
   reputation of his empire. His careful, methodical approach to warfare
   had protected the empire from the risk of sudden defeats, while his
   determination and skill had allowed him to rack up a long list of
   successful sieges and assaults against enemy strongholds. By the time
   of his death, he had earned near universal respect, even from the
   Crusaders, for his courage, dedication and piety. His early death meant
   his work went unfinished — his last campaign might well have resulted
   in real gains for Byzantium and the Christian cause.

Manuel I Komnenos

   Map of the Byzantine Empire under Manuel Komnenos, c.1170. By this
   time, the empire was once again the most powerful state in the
   Mediterranean, with client states stretching from Hungary to the
   Kingdom of Jerusalem, and a network of allies and diplomatic contacts
   stretching from Aragon, France, Germany, Pisa, Genoa and Rome in the
   west, to Antioch, Jerusalem, Konya and Damascus in the east.
   Enlarge
   Map of the Byzantine Empire under Manuel Komnenos, c.1170. By this
   time, the empire was once again the most powerful state in the
   Mediterranean, with client states stretching from Hungary to the
   Kingdom of Jerusalem, and a network of allies and diplomatic contacts
   stretching from Aragon, France, Germany, Pisa, Genoa and Rome in the
   west, to Antioch, Jerusalem, Konya and Damascus in the east.

   John's chosen heir was his fourth son, Manuel I Komnenos. According to
   Niketas Choniates, a historian of Byzantium, Manuel was chosen over his
   elder surviving brother because of his ability to listen carefully to
   advice. Manuel was known for his lively and charismatic personality; he
   was known for his love for all things from Western Europe. Manuel
   arranged jousting matches, even participating in them, an unusual
   experience for the Byzantines. Manuel himself is generally considered
   the most brilliant of the four emperors of the Komnenos dynasty;
   unusual for a Byzantine ruler, his reputation was particularly good in
   the west and the Crusader states, especially after his death. The Latin
   historian William of Tyre described Manuel as "beloved of God... a
   great-souled man of incomparable energy", [whose] "memory will ever be
   held in benediction". Manuel was further extolled by Robert of Clari as
   a "generous and worthy man".

   Manuel dedicated himself to restore the glory of his empire, and to
   regain the status of superpower inside the Mediterranean world.
   Manuel's foreign policy was both ambitious and expansive, reaching out
   to all corners of the Mediterranean world. He made several alliances,
   with the Pope and Western Christian kingdoms, and successfully handled
   the passage of the potential dangerous Second Crusade through his
   empire, establishing a Byzantine protectorate over the Crusader
   kingdoms of Outremer.

   Manuel campaigned aggressively against his neighbours both in the west
   and in the east; facing Muslims in Palestine, he allied himself with
   the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and sent a large fleet to participate
   in a combined invasion of Fatimid Egypt. In an effort to restore
   Byzantine control over the ports of southern Italy, he sent an
   expedition to invade Italy in 1155. Operating as part of a coalition of
   Byzantine, rebel, and Papal forces, Manuel's armies achieved initial
   success. However, disputes within the coalition led to the eventual
   failure of the expedition. Despite this military setback, Manuel was
   undeterred, and his armies successfully invaded the Kingdom of Hungary
   in 1167, defeating the Hungarians at the Battle of Sirmium. Manuel was
   highly successful in the Balkans and Hungary - historian Paul Magdalino
   argues that no emperor had dominated the region so effectively since
   Late Antiquity.

   In the east, however, Manuel's achievements are more ambiguous. Manuel
   suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Myriokephalon, in 1176,
   against the Turks. He and his army were marching against Konya, the
   Turkish capital, when they were ambushed; the ensuing defeat has since
   entered the popular imagination as a legendary disaster. Exaggerated
   accounts of the battle often describe the destruction of the entire
   Byzantine army, and with it the end of Byzantine power and influence.
   However, the modern consensus among Byzantine historians is that, while
   the Battle of Myriokephalon was a serious humiliation for the emperor,
   it was certainly not a catastrophe. Nor was it in any way equivalent to
   the Battle of Manzikert over a century earlier. In fact, much of the
   emperor's army emerged from the battle without serious damage. The
   units involved in the battle are well documented campaigning in Asia
   Minor the next year. The imperial frontier remained unmoved for the
   remainder of Manuel's reign, a clear indication that the Turks were
   unable to gain any advantage from their victory. In the following year
   (1177) the Byzantines inflicted a major defeat on a large Turkish force
   in the Meander valley. Thus, despite its dramatic reputation, it is
   clear that the battle had done nothing to alter the dominant strategic
   position of the empire in Asia Minor.

   By contrast, Manuel's programme of fortification in Byzantine Asia, for
   which he was praised by Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates, is
   largely regarded as an important success. Manuel demanded tribute from
   the Turkmen of the Anatolian interior for the winter pasture in
   Imperial territory; he also improved the defenses of many cities and
   towns, and established new garrisons and fortresses across the region.
   As a result of the cumulative efforts of all three Komnenian emperors,
   Manuel's domination of Asia Minor was more effective than that of any
   emperor since before Manzikert. As historian Paul Magdalino makes
   clear, "by the end of Manuel's reign, the Byzantines controlled all the
   rich agricultural lowlands of the peninsula, leaving only the less
   hospitable mountain and plateau areas to the Turks."

   In the religious sphere, disputes between the Catholic and the Orthodox
   Church occasionally harmed efforts at cooperation with the Latins;
   however, Manuel was almost certainly the Byzantine emperor who came
   closest to healing the breach between the two churches. Pope Innocent
   III clearly had a positive view of Manuel when he told Alexios III that
   he should imitate "your outstanding predecessor of famous memory the
   emperor Manuel... in devotion to the Apostolic See, both in words and
   in works".

   Manuel was very successful in expanding his influence, particularly
   over the Crusader states. As an example, Manuel participated in the
   building and decorating of many of the basilicas and Greek monasteries
   in the Holy Land, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in
   Jerusalem, where due his efforts the Byzantine clergy were allowed to
   perform the Greek liturgy each day. All this reinforced his position as
   overlord of the Crusader states, with his hegemony over Antioch and
   Jerusalem secured by agreement with Raynald, Prince of Antioch, and
   Amalric, King of Jerusalem respectively. This success in gaining
   influence and allies among the western states and the Pope is regarded
   one of the most impressive achievements of Manuel Komnenos's reign.

Military reform

   At the beginning of the Komnenian period in 1081, the Byzantine Empire
   had been reduced to the smallest territorial extent in its history.
   Surrounded by enemies, and financially ruined by a long period of civil
   war, the empire's prospects had looked grim. Yet, through a combination
   of determination, military reform, and years of campaigning, Alexios I
   Komnenos, John II Komnenos and Manuel I Komnenos managed to restore the
   power of the Byzantine Empire. An important factor in the success of
   the Komnenoi was their establishment of a reconstructed Byzantine army.
   The new military system which they created is known as the Komnenian
   army. From c.1081 to c.1180, the Komnenian army played an important
   role in providing the empire with a period of security that enabled
   Byzantine civilization to flourish.

Twelfth century 'Renaissance'

   'The Lamentation of Christ' (1164), a fresco from the church of Saint
   Panteleimon in Nerezi near Skopje. It is considered a superb example of
   12th century Komnenian art.
   Enlarge
   'The Lamentation of Christ' (1164), a fresco from the church of Saint
   Panteleimon in Nerezi near Skopje. It is considered a superb example of
   12th century Komnenian art.

   It has recently been argued that a '12th century renaissance' occurred
   in Byzantium. Although the term does not enjoy widespread usage, it is
   beyond doubt that 12th century Byzantium witnessed major cultural
   developments, which were largely underpinned by rapid economic
   expansion.

   The 12th century was a time of significant growth in the Byzantine
   economy, with rising population levels and extensive tracts of new
   agricultural land being brought into production. Archaeological
   evidence from both Europe and Asia Minor shows a considerable increase
   in the size of urban settlements, together with a ‘notable upsurge’ in
   new towns. In Athens the medieval town experienced a period of rapid
   and sustained growth, starting in the eleventh century and continuing
   until the end of the twelfth century. Thessaloniki, the second city of
   the Empire, hosted a famous summer fair which attracted traders from
   across the Balkans and even further afield to its bustling market
   stalls. In Corinth, silk production fuelled a thriving economy. In Asia
   Minor, some areas had become depopulated due to Turkish raiding in the
   late eleventh century. Yet as the Komnenian emperors built up extensive
   fortifications in rural areas during the twelfth century, repopulation
   of the countryside took place. The rise of the Italian city-states may
   have been a factor in these developments; active traders at this time
   in the ports of the east, their activities may have stimulated economic
   growth.

   Overall, given that both population and prosperity increased
   substantially in this period, economic recovery in Byzantium appears to
   have been strengthening the economic basis of the state. This helps to
   explain how the Komnenian emperors, Manuel Komnenos in particular, were
   able to project their power and influence so widely at this time.

   The new wealth being generated during this period had a positive impact
   on Byzantine cultural life. In artistic terms, the twelfth century was
   a very productive period in Byzantine history. There was a revival in
   the mosaic art, and regional schools of Architecture began producing
   many distinctive styles that drew on a range of cultural influences.

   According to N.H.Baynes in Byzantium, An Introduction to East Roman
   Civilization,


   Byzantine Empire

    Such was the influence of Byzantine art in the twelfth century, that
                               Russia, Venice,

      southern Italy and Sicily all virtually became provincial centres
                        dedicated to its production.


   Byzantine Empire

Decline and disintegration

Death of Manuel Komnenos

   The 12th century was marked by a series of wars against the Hungarians
   and the Serbs. Emperor Manuel I Komnenos campaigned successfully in
   this region, forcing the rebellious Serbs to vassalage (1150-1152) and
   leading his troops into Hungary. In 1168, a decisive victory near Zemun
   enabled him to conclude a peace by which Dalmatia and other frontier
   territories were ceded to him. Manuel's success enabled him to choose
   the next king of Hungary, and he duly appointed Béla III in 1172.
   However, from the moment of Manuel's death on 24 September 1180, the
   Byzantine Empire began a steep decline that would never be reversed.

Collapse under the Angeloi

   The Komnenos dynasty was replaced in 1185 by that of the Angeloi. It is
   the universal verdict of history that the inaction and ineptitude of
   the Angeloi quickly lead to a collapse in Byzantine power on all
   fronts. Surrounded by a crowd of slaves, mistresses and flatterers,
   they permitted the empire to be administered by unworthy favourites,
   while they squandered the money wrung from the provinces on costly
   buildings and expensive gifts to the churches of the metropolis. They
   scatterred money so lavishly as to empty the treasury, and allowed such
   license to the officers of the army as to leave the Empire practically
   defenceless. Together, they consummated the financial ruin of the
   state.

   The empire's enemies lost no time in taking advantage of this new
   situation. In the east the Turks invaded the empire, gradually eroding
   Byzantine control in Asia Minor. Meanwhile in the west, the Serbs and
   Hungarians broke away from the empire for good, and in Bulgaria the
   oppressiveness of Angeloi taxation resulted in the Vlach-Bulgarian
   Rebellion, organised in 1185 in Bulgaria by the brothers Asen and
   Peter. The rebellion led to the establishment of the Second Bulgarian
   Empire on territory which had been vital to the empire's security in
   the Balkans. Kaloyan of Bulgaria annexed several important cities,
   while the Angeloi squandered the public treasure on palaces and gardens
   and attempted to deal with the crisis through diplomatic means. These
   events significantly contributed to the decline of the Byzantine
   empire. Control of the Balkans was vital to imperial security at this
   time. The empire's losses to Bulgaria and Serbia were a major disaster,
   significantly reducing the amount of territory, manpower and revenue
   available to the state. They also meant that the easily-defensible
   Danube frontier was replaced by a long and vulnerable land frontier
   through the rich provinces of South Greece, Macedonia and Thrace with
   the two revived aggressive Slav states to the north. Byzantine
   authority was severely weakened, and the growing power vacuum at the
   centre of the empire encouraged fragmentation, as the provinces began
   to look to local strongmen rather than the government in Constantinople
   for protection. This further reduced the resources available to the
   empire and its military system, as large regions passed outside central
   control. By 1204, the days of Byzantine supremacy in the eastern
   Mediterranean were gone for good.

The Fourth Crusade

   The Fourth Crusade was the single most catastrophic event in the
   history of the Byzantine empire. Considered by many to be the low point
   of the Crusading era, the outcome of the Fourth Crusade was also a
   supreme irony. The Crusades had originated in a call for aid by the
   Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who had envisaged the use of
   western soldiers in the defense of the empire. Yet, in 1204, the
   soldiers of the Fourth Crusade sacked the Byzantine capital at
   Constantinople and dismantled the Byzantine empire.
   The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople, by Eugène Delacroix,
   1840
   Enlarge
   The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople, by Eugène Delacroix,
   1840

   Although the stated intent of the crusade was to conquer Egypt, the
   leaders of the Crusade were placed in an extremely difficult position
   when they found that considerably fewer men had responded to the call
   for a crusade than had been expected. As a result, they could not
   afford to pay for the huge Venetian fleet which they had hired to take
   them to Egypt. The Venetians would not let the crusaders leave without
   paying the full amount agreed to, originally 85,000 silver marks. The
   crusaders could only pay some 51,000. After a period of indecision and
   argument between the Crusade leaders and the increasingly impatient
   Venetians, the Venetian Doge Enrico Dandolo made a controversial new
   proposal - the crusaders could pay their debts by attacking the port of
   Zara in Dalmatia (essentially an independent community which recognized
   King Emeric of Hungary as a protector, and which was previously ruled
   by Venice).

   The citizens of Zara made reference to the fact that they were fellow
   Catholics by hanging banners marked with crosses from their windows and
   the walls of the city, but nevertheless the city fell after a brief
   siege. Both the Venetians and the crusaders were immediately
   excommunicated for this by Pope Innocent III.

   In 1202, the Byzantine prince Alexius Angelus, the son of the recently
   deposed Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelus, offered to reunite the
   Byzantine church with Rome, pay the crusaders an enormous sum, and join
   the crusade to Egypt with a large army if the crusaders would sail to
   Constantinople and topple the reigning emperor. The crusaders accepted;
   their fleet arrived at Constantinople in late June 1203.

   The Crusaders' initial motive was to restore Isaac II to the Byzantine
   throne so that they could receive the support that they were promised.
   The citizens of Constantinople turned against emperor Alexius III, who
   then fled. Prince Alexius was elevated to the throne as Alexius IV
   along with his blind father Isaac.

   Alexius IV realised that his promises were hard to keep, as the empire
   was short on funds. In fear of his life, the co-emperor asked from the
   crusaders to renew their contract for another six months (until April
   1204). Opposition to Alexius IV grew, and one of his courtiers, Alexius
   Ducas (nicknamed 'Murtzuphlos' because of his thick eyebrows), soon
   overthrew him and had him strangled to death. Alexius Ducas took the
   throne himself as Alexius V; Isaac died soon afterwards, probably
   naturally.
   Map to show the partition of the empire following the Fourth Crusade,
   c.1204.
   Enlarge
   Map to show the partition of the empire following the Fourth Crusade,
   c.1204.

   The Catholic clergy meanwhile accused the Byzantines of being traitors
   and murderers since they had killed their rightful lord, Alexius IV.
   The churchmen used inflammatory language and claimed that "the Greeks
   were worse than the Jews", and they invoked the authority of God and
   the pope to take action. Although Innocent III had warned them not to
   attack, the papal letter was suppressed by the clergy, and the
   crusaders prepared to assault the Byzantine capital.

   Eventually, the crusaders took the city on the 13th of April. The
   crusaders inflicted a horrible and savage sacking on Constantinople for
   three days, during which many ancient and medieval Roman and Greek
   works were stolen or destroyed. Among the loot were four bronze horses
   from the Hippodrome. These were taken to Venice, where they remain to
   this day. Despite their oaths and the threat of excommunication, the
   Crusaders systematically violated the city's holy sanctuaries,
   destroying, defiling or stealing all they could lay hands on; according
   to Byzantine historian Nicetas Choniates, a prostitute was even set up
   on the Patriarchal throne. When Innocent III heard of the conduct of
   his crusaders, he was appalled, saying "You vowed to liberate the Holy
   Land but you rashly turned away from the purity of your vow when you
   took up arms not against Saracens but Christians… The Greek Church has
   seen in the Latins nothing other than an example of affliction and the
   works of Hell, so that now it rightly detests them more than dogs".

   According to a prearranged treaty, the Byzantine empire was dissolved
   and its territories divided between Venice and the Latin Empire of
   Constantinople. The Greek Orthodox clergy were displaced by Latin
   Catholic clergy, while the nobility were displaced by Latin feudal
   barons. Byzantine exiles fled Constantinople, taking refuge in Nicaea,
   Trebizond, and Epirus.

The fall of the Byzantine Empire

   The flag of the Empire in the late 14th century.
   Enlarge
   The flag of the Empire in the late 14th century.

   After the sack of Constantinople in 1204, three Byzantine successor
   states were established. These states included the Empire of Nicaea,
   the Empire of Trebizond, and the Despotate of Epirus.
   The Byzantine Empire in 1265 (William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas,
   1911).
   Enlarge
   The Byzantine Empire in 1265 (William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas,
   1911).

   The first state, controlled by the Palaiologan dynasty, managed to
   reclaim Constantinople in 1261 and defeated Epirus. This led to a short
   lived revival of the Eastern Roman Empire under Michael VIII, but the
   war-ravaged empire was ill-equipped to deal with the encircling enemies
   that now surrounded it. Much of Constantinople lay in ruins; the army
   was desperately short of funds; Italian merchants and their ships
   dominated the empire's sea-lanes; the economy was in decline; the
   empire's ancient frontiers had been overrun; the provinces were in
   disarray. Michael was a remarkably successful emperor, and during his
   reign the empire went some way towards recovery. But his magnificent
   achievement did not outlast his own lifetime. Ultimately, the resources
   available were simply not sufficient for the task of restoring the
   Byzantine empire. Major structural reforms, of the kind conducted by
   the emperor Heraclius in the 7th century, may yet have saved the
   empire. However, the Palaiologan dynasty never produced a reforming
   emperor, and the empire's decline continued.

   Civil war racked the empire during the 14th century; the Asian
   provinces were lost to the Turks, while the Serbians and Bulgarians
   conquered the empire's remaining territory in Europe. For a while, the
   empire survived simply because the Muslims were too divided to attack.
   However, the unifying influence of Osman I (1258–1326) allowed the
   newly founded Ottoman Empire (1299-1923) to deprive the Byzantines of
   all but a handful of port cities.

   The Emperors appealed to the west for help, but the Pope would only
   consider sending aid in return for a reunion of the Eastern Orthodox
   Church with the See of Rome. Church unity was considered, and
   occasionally accomplished by imperial decree, but the Orthodox
   citizenry and clergy refused accept Roman Catholicism and shunned the
   Latin Rite. Some western mercenaries arrived to bolster the Christian
   defence of Constantinople, but most Western rulers, distracted by their
   own affairs, did nothing as the Ottomans picked apart the remaining
   Byzantine territories.

   The Turks had previously considered Constantinople not worth the
   considerable effort of conquest, but with the advent of cannon, the
   walls (which had been impenetrable to assault for over 1,000 years) no
   longer offered adequate protection against the Ottomans.
   The Byzantine Empire by the year 1400
   Enlarge
   The Byzantine Empire by the year 1400

   Constantinople by this stage was underpopulated and dilapidated. The
   population of the city had collapsed so severely that it was now little
   more than a cluster of villages separated by fields. In March 1453, an
   Ottoman army of 85,000 men led by Sultan Mehmet II laid siege to the
   city. Despite a desperate last-ditch defense of the city by the
   massively outnumbered Christian forces (7,000 men, 2,000 of whom were
   foreign mercenaries), Constantinople finally fell to the Ottomans after
   a two-month siege by on Tuesday May 29, 1453. The last Byzantine
   emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, was last seen casting off his
   imperial regalia and throwing himself into hand-to-hand combat after
   the walls of the city were taken.

Aftermath

   Mehmed II went on to conquer the Greek statelets of Mistra in 1460 and
   Trebizond in 1461. By the end of the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire
   had established its firm rule over Asia Minor and parts of the Balkan
   peninsula. Mehmed and his successors continued to consider themselves
   proper heirs to the Byzantine Empire until the demise of the Ottoman
   Empire in the early 20th century. Meanwhile, the Danubian
   Principalities harbored Orthodox refugees, including some Byzantine
   nobles (see Byzantium after Byzantium for details).

   Technically, the Byzantine Empire lived on in the city of Monemvasia in
   the Morea, until 1471, when the titular Despot of the Morea, Demetrius
   Palaeologus, now living in Rome under the protection of the Pope, sold
   it to the latter for cash. Meanwhile, his nephew, and the nephew of the
   last Emperor, Constantine XI Palaeologus, Andreas Palaeologus had
   inherited the defunct title of Byzantine Emperor and used it since 1465
   until his death in 1503.

   At his death, the role of the emperor as a patron of Eastern Orthodoxy
   was claimed by Ivan III, Grand Dukes of Muscovy. He had married
   Andreas's sister, Sophia Paleologue, whose grandson, Ivan IV, would
   become the first Tsar of Russia (tsar, also spelled czar, is a term
   traditionally applied by Slavs to the Byzantine Emperors). Their
   successors supported the idea that Moscow was the proper heir to Rome
   and Constantinople. The idea of the Russian Empire as the new, Third
   Rome was kept alive until its demise in 1917, with the Russian
   Revolution.

   Empress Catherine the Great (1762-1796), launched a series of campaigns
   against the Ottomans to capture Constantinople and recreate the
   Byzantine Empire under Russian control. She commissioned the Sophia
   Cathedral in her imperial residence, named her grandson after the first
   Byzantine Emperor and managed to wrest the Crimea from the Ottomans.
   Although the Russian armies would approach Constaninople in 1829 and
   1878, the Ottoman Empire was rescued by the intervention of the Great
   Powers during the Crimean War and Congress of Berlin.

Legacy and importance

   The city of Constantinople in 1453.
   Enlarge
   The city of Constantinople in 1453.

   Byzantium was arguably the only stable state in Europe during the
   Middle Ages. Its expert military and diplomatic power ensured
   inadvertently that Western Europe remained safe from many of the more
   devastating invasions from eastern peoples, at a time when the Western
   Christian kingdoms might have had difficulty containing it (this role
   was mirrored in the north by the Russian states of Kiev,
   Vladimir-Suzdal and Novgorod). Constantly under attack during its
   entire existence, the Byzantine Empire shielded Western Europe from
   Persians, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, and for a time, the Ottomans.

   The 20th century has seen an increased interest by historians to
   understand the empire, and its impact on European civilization is only
   recently being recognised.

Economy

   The Byzantine economy was the most advanced in Europe for many
   centuries. The Byzantine Solidus was the internationally preferred
   currency for 700 years, only gradually being superseded by Italian
   currencies (particularly that of Venice) after 1204. The wealth of the
   empire was unmatched by any state in Europe, and its capital was one of
   the wealthiest cities in the world. This economic wealth was helped
   enormously by the fact that Byzantium was the most important western
   terminal of the Silk Road. It was also the single most important
   commercial centre of Europe for much of the Medieval era, which status
   it held until Venice began to overtake Constantinople during the 13th
   and 14th centuries.

   One of the economic foundations of the empire was trade. Constantinople
   was located on important east-west and north-south trade routes.
   Trebizond was an important port in the eastern trade. The exact routes
   varied over the years with wars and the political situation. Imports
   and exports were uniformly taxed at ten percent.

   Raw silk was bought from China and India and made up into fine brocades
   and cloth-of-gold that commanded high prices through the world. Silk
   processing was an imperial monopoly, only processed in imperial
   factories, and sold to authorized buyers. Later, silk worms were
   smuggled into the Empire and the overland silk trade became less
   important. Other exports included gold jewelry, enameled work, and fine
   carvings in ivory and semi-precious stone. In other parts of the
   empire, wine was made and exported to the north. Furs, slaves, timber,
   metals, and amber were imported from the north, and dried fish from the
   south.

   Commercial life in the Byzantine empire was extensively and minutely
   regulated by the state. Interest rates, profits, and prices were set by
   law, and enforced through a system of guilds. There was always full
   employment: It was very difficult to fire an employee, and any
   able-bodied man who was "idle" was required to take a public-works job.

   The sack of Constantinople by Latin crusaders in 1204 was an economic
   catastrophe. As one Crusader, Geoffrey of Villehardouin, wrote of the
   sack of the Byzantine Capital in 1204,

   "... Never, since the world was created, had so much booty been won in
   any city."

   By the early thirteenth century, the Crusaders had altered the trade
   routes to the advantage of the Italian city-states. Although the
   Palaiologoi took back Constantinople in 1261, the empire's economy
   never entirely recovered. Territorial gains by the Turks in Asia Minor
   forced Constantinople to look elsewhere for its food supply. For
   political and military reasons the weakened empire was forced to grant
   concessions to Italian traders, reducing tax revenues. Furthermore, the
   Italians had acquired silk worms, reducing the value of the imperial
   monopoly. For the last two centuries of its existence, the ever
   declining territories and revenues of the Byzantine Empire were never
   enough to pay for the cost of its defence. This situation greatly
   contributed to the eventual collapse of the empire.

Science and law

   Byzantium played an important role in the transmission of classical
   knowledge to the Islamic world and to Renaissance Italy. Its rich
   historiographical tradition preserved ancient knowledge upon which
   splendid art, architecture, literature and technological achievements
   were built. It is not an altogether unfounded assumption that the
   Renaissance could not have flourished were it not for the groundwork
   laid in Byzantium, and the flock of Greek scholars to the West after
   the fall of the Empire.

   The Emperor Justinian I's formation of a new code of law, the Corpus
   Juris Civilis, and the revisions it constantly underwent (most notably
   in the Macedonian Dynasty), had a clear effect on the evolution of
   jurisprudence. The Codex itself compiled all previous statutes of Roman
   emperors, paved the way for a more developed system of appeals courts
   and a system of maritime law which strongly influenced their modern
   equivalents. In this Byzantium arguably contributed more towards the
   evolution of jurisprudence and modern legal systems than its direct
   predecessor, Roman law.

Religion

   Modern day church with the double-headed flag of the Greek Orthodox
   Church.
   Enlarge
   Modern day church with the double-headed flag of the Greek Orthodox
   Church.

   The Byzantine Empire had a major influence upon Orthodox Christianity.
   This was embodied in the Byzantine version of Christianity, which
   spread Orthodoxy and eventually led to the creation of the " Byzantine
   commonwealth" (a term coined by 20th century historians) throughout
   Eastern Europe. Early Byzantine missionary work spread Orthodox
   Christianity to various Slavic peoples, where it still is a predominant
   religion. Such modern-day countries are Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav
   Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, Romania, and
   Ukraine; of course, it has also remained the official religion of the
   Greeks via the uninterrupted continuity of the Greek Orthodox Church.
   Less well known is the influence of the Byzantine religious sensibility
   on the millions of Christians in Ethiopia, the Coptic Christians of
   Egypt, and the Christians of Armenia, though they all belong to the
   Oriental Orthodox (as opposed to the Byzantine Eastern Orthodox) faith.
   In 1054, there was a break between the Eastern and Western churches of
   the Byzantine Empire.

   Robert Byron, one of the first 20th century Philhellenes, argued that
   the greatness of Byzantium lay in what he described as "the Triple
   Fusion": that of a Roman body, a Greek mind and an oriental, mystical
   soul.

Art, architecture, and literature

   Byzantine Art and Byzantine Architecture were largely based around the
   Christian story and its heralds, and the importance of icons in
   Orthodox society. In terms of architecture, Byzantines emphasized the
   Dome, the arch and the Grecian cross lay out. It is evidenced today in
   countless examples of old Byzantine Churches with their traditional
   mosaics depicting Saints and figures from the Bible. Its impact was
   such that it spawned a Neo-Byzantine architectural revival in later
   years. Byzantine Art was also important in this respect, its impact on
   Orthodoxy can be witnessed across southeast Europe, Russia, the Holy
   Land and parts of the Middle East, but also in those areas of Turkey
   where it was allowed to survive.

   The finest Byzantine literary works were Hymns and devotionals. The
   other area where the Byzantines excelled was in practical writing.
   While rarely works of genius, a series of competent, diligent writers,
   both male and female, produced many works of practical value in the
   fields of public administration, military affairs, and the practical
   sciences. The early theological work of the Byzantines was important in
   the development of western thought. Historiography influenced later
   Russian chroniclers.

   This article is part of the series on:

   History of Greece
   Prehistory of Greece
   Cycladic Civilization
   Minoan Civilization
   Mycenaean Civilization
   Ancient Greece
   Ancient Greece
   Hellenistic Age
   Roman Greece
   Medieval Greece
   Byzantine Empire
   Ottoman Greece
   Modern Greece
   Greek War of Independence
   Kingdom of Greece
   Axis Occupation of Greece
   Greek Civil War
   Military Junta
   The Hellenic Republic

   Most of the writing was in classical Greek. Vernacular literature
   developed much more slowly than in the west. There was little fiction,
   the best-known work being the epic poem Digenis Acritas, written in
   something approaching the vernacular. Much of the writing of the day
   was history, theology, biography, and hagiography. Many letters have
   survived, some work-a-day correspondence, a few minor masterpieces, as
   well as a few large encyclopedic works, such as the huge Suda. Perhaps
   the Byzantine empire's greatest contribution to literature was their
   careful preservation of the best works of the ancient world, as well as
   compilations of works on certain subjects, with certain revisions, most
   specifically in the fields of medicine and history.

Civil service and the government

   The Byzantine State differed from other States of its day in that it
   emphasized the importance of a rigid, semi-professional Civil Service
   rather than direct rule, and the appointment of the Monarch. The Civil
   Administration can largely be divided into three groups, the Palatine
   Administration, the Provincial Government and the Central Civil
   Service. Within this context, the system can be divided into two
   further sub-groupings, Judicial Officers and Financial Officers who
   were spread across the 13 permanent Departments of State (in the
   Central Civil Service).

   In this, it can be said it anticipates the systems of many modern
   nation states, and, despite the occasionally derogatory use of the word
   "Byzantine", it had a distinct ability for reinventing itself in
   accordance with the Empire's situation. In this it was far more stable
   than other European systems of government at the time, and contributed
   clearly towards the evolution of Political science and the system of
   government.

Diplomacy

   Whereas classical writers are fond of making a sharp distinction
   between peace and war, for the Byzantines diplomacy was a form of war
   by other means. Anticipating Machiavelli, Byzantine historian John
   Kinnamos writes, "Since many and various matters lead toward one end,
   victory, it is a matter of indifference which one uses to reach it."
   With a regular army that never exceeded 140,000, the empire's security
   depended on activist diplomacy. Byzantium's "Bureau of Barbarians" was
   the first foreign intelligence agency, gathering information on the
   empire’s rivals from every imaginable source.

   The Byzantines were skilled at using diplomacy as a weapon of war. If
   the Bulgars threatened, subsidies could be given to the Russians. A
   Russian threat could be countered by subsidies to the Patzinaks. If the
   Patzinaks proved troublesome, the Cumans or Uzes could be contacted.
   There was always someone to the enemy’s rear in a position to
   appreciate the emperor’s largesse. Another innovative principle of
   Byzantine diplomacy was effective interference in the internal affairs
   of other states. In 1282, Michael VIII sponsored a revolt in Sicily
   against Charles of Anjou called the Sicilian Vespers. Emperor Heraclius
   once intercepted a message from Persian rival Khosrau II which ordered
   the execution of a general. Heraclius added 400 names to the message
   and diverted the messenger, provoking a rebellion by those on the list.
   The emperor maintained a stable of pretenders to almost every foreign
   throne. These could be given funds and released to wreak havoc if their
   homeland threatened attack.

Why did the empire fall?

   The decline and fall of the Byzantine empire was a process lasting many
   centuries. There is no consensus on exactly when this process began;
   several dates have been suggested by historians:
     * 1025 - Death of the soldier-emperor Basil II
     * 1071 - The Battle of Manzikert
     * 1180 - Death of Manuel I Komnenos
     * 1185 - Demise of the Komnenos dynasty
     * 1204 - Fourth Crusade conquers Constantinople

   Taking into account the restoration of imperial power by the Komnenoi,
   recent books by Paul Magdalino and J. Birkenmeier have placed the
   permanent drop in imperial power after the death of the emperor Manuel
   I Komnenos (1180), and especially after the death of the last Komnenian
   emperor, Andronikos I Komnenos (1185). Although this view is not
   universally held, historians generally agree that after the Fourth
   Crusade in 1204, the empire was only a shadow of its former self. The
   death of Michael VIII in 1282 marks the last high point of the
   Byzantine empire. From then on, the empire entered its final decline.
   Map of the changes in borders of the Byzantine Empire
   Enlarge
   Map of the changes in borders of the Byzantine Empire

   One possible explanation for the disintegration of the Byzantine Empire
   is the permanent settlement of Anatolia by the Seljuks, a Turkic
   people. Their rise to power gradually deprived the empire of much of
   its territory and resources, thus contributing greatly to the eventual
   collapse of the empire. Yet the fall of the empire cannot be ascribed
   to any one single cause. External factors such as the arrival of new
   enemies must also be weighed against internal changes within the empire
   itself.

   Therefore, another major factor in the decline of the Byzantine empire
   may have been the disintegration of its traditional military system,
   the 'theme' system, which had supplied large numbers of troops for the
   empire in earlier centuries. The system had also provided the empire
   with a highly effective form of defense in depth. Yet by the later 11th
   century, this system had largely fallen into disuse. If we view the
   theme system as one of the main institutional strengths of the
   Byzantine state, then its demise helps to explain the collapse of the
   empire. Without strong underlying institutions that could endure beyond
   the reign of each emperor, the state was extremely vulnerable in times
   of crisis. Byzantium had come to rely too much on individual emperors.

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