Byzantines/History

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The Byzantine empire was formed from the Eastern Roman Empire, when the Roman emperor Constantine moved the seat of Roman rule from Rome to the ancient Greek city of Byzantium (which quickly became known as Constantinople, now known as Istanbul in present-day Turkey), while the western part of the Roman Empire was completely overrun by Germanic barbarians. Separated from the rest of Europe, yet located at the very crossroads of both Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the Byzantines would continue to rule an empire, develop a unique culture of their own and remain a local power until Byzantium and the entire Greek peninsula were lost to Muslim invaders in the 15th century.

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Dark Ages of Rome

In the 4th century, Emperor Constantine the Great (306–337CE), after seizing the title and position of Augustus of the Western Roman Empire, made Christianity a licit religion with the Edict of Milan in 313CE. This official toleration of the Christian religion was the turning point in the history of Christianity and of the development of the Empire. Constantine became the Emperor of the whole Roman Empire, ushering in the first lasting imperial dynasty in roughly 100 years. He called the Council of Nicaea in 325CE, the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church, starting a long tradition of Roman Emperors calling and endorsing Church councils. Through this endorsement of Christianity, Constantine ensured the importance of the religion for the remainer of the empire (Emperor Theodosius in 380CE made Christianity the only imperial religion, making the link between the Roman Empire and the Church official).

It was also at this time that the Empire became divided into the Eastern and Western Roman Empire and so five years later, Constantine, wishing to move his imperial capital away from the pagan past of Old Rome (and, of course, the barbarian incursions to the north) founded his new capital at the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, which he renamed Nova Roma. This new capital became known as Constantinopolis (Constantinople in English), that is to say, "the city of Constantine." This relocation, along with the focus on the newly endorsed religion of Christianity at Nicaea, cemented the importance of the eastern section of the Empire perminently. The western part of the empire would persist for roughly another century and a half, but it would never regain prominance again within the Empire itself. The west would be ruled by a line of titular emperors and military viceroys based in Milan. Later, the emperor Theodosius the Great (379–395CE) officially divided the Empire into two independant states, which inevitably lead to the downfall of the Western Empire from constant barbarian assault.

By the beginning of the 6th century CE, with the capital and most of the land holdings of the Empire now in the Greek-speaking east, the formerly pagan Italo-Roman Empire became culturally and geographically a Christian Graeco-Roman Empire. This Hellenisation caused later western historians to give the name "Byzantine" to the empire. Officially and popularly, however, the empire was Roman, with its inhabitants called Romans (or in Greek, "Romaioi"), until the collapse and eventual extinction of the Byzantines in 1461CE.

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Justinian dynasty

Justinian I (527–565CE) pushed for the reconquest of territory lost during the Empire's disintegration in the west. The general Belisarius, under the orders of his emperor, managed to reincorporate much of the territory around the Mediterranean coast in North Africa, Italy and Spain. The conquests the Empire made under Justinian, however, drained much of the Empire's fortunes causing it to be ill-equipped to retain its territory under the threat of foreign invasion. This, in conjunction with the constant wars with Persia, set the empire up for failure in regard to repelling Slavic invasions in the the 6th century and Islamic Arab invasions in the 7th century. Between the death of Emperor Heraclius in 641CE until the rise of the Macedonian Emperors in 867CE, the Byzantine Empire was reduced to barely more than Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and parts of the Italian peninsula.

The other major accomplishments of Justinian were his institution of administrative and legal reforms that would become the cornerstone of jurisprudence in Europe and his reconstruction of the great church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, which would remain the largest Christian church for a millenium.

Macedonian dynasty

In 867, the so-called Macedonian dynasty took the throne of the Byzantine Empire. The Macedonian was the second longest reigning dynasty in Byzantine history, and witnessed the Byzantines retaking much of their lost territory and driving Muslim pirates from the Aegean sea, allowing Byzantine trade to resume unimpeded. This period saw a period of economic growth and a cultural renaissance. The Byzantines also began to spread Christianity to the Bulgarians, Serbs and then the Russians. Yet, it was punctuated by the tenures of individuals who associated themselves with the dynasty through marriage. This might be considered "dynastic grafting," with the interlopers attempting to use the legitimacy of the Macedonian dynasty to advance their own family ambitions. Nevertheless, the longevity of the dynasty and the degree to which usurpers and interlopers were forced to retain the legitimate Macedonian rulers are surprising considering its inauspicious beginnings.

The scion of the dynasty, Basil, was an unlikely candidate to found a dynasty. Born a peasant in Thrace or Macedonia between 830-36CE, Basil moved to Constantinople where he became a groom. He was soon noticed by the emperor Michael III and moved over to the imperial household, where the emperor forced Basil to divorce his wife and marry his own mistress. In the future this act would cause disputes over the parentage of Basil's sons. In 866CE Basil murdered the power behind the throne, Bardas, the uncle of Michael III, and was raised to the rank of co-emperor. The next year Basil murdered Michael and became sole emperor, while his family would hold sway over the Golden City for 194 years. In those years, art, literature, and architecture flourished, as a testament to the skill of the Macedonian emperors and the prosperity their rule brought to Byzantium. In the realm of politics Byzantium lost its last holdings in Sicily, but in the course of the tenth and early eleventh centuries built up a commanding position in southern Italy, recovered Crete and Cyprus, pushed the eastern boundary deep in Armenia, recovered Cilicia and large areas of northern Syria and Mesopotamia, and conquered the Bulgarian Empire, restoring the Danube frontier for the first time since the seventh century. By the time of Basil II, Basil I's great-great grandson, Constantinople was the capital of an empire that was the undisputed superpower of the day.

Family issues plagued the Macedonians throughout their tenure on the imperial throne. Basil I was unsure of the parentage of his second and third sons Leo and Stephen, and even went so far as to have Stephen castrated. Basil's elder son Constantine died in 879, and the old emperor had grown suspicious of his second son Leo. Nevertheless when Basil died, after being dragged by a deer for sixteen miles during a hunting trip, it was Leo who succeeded him. The family difficulties of Leo VI (886-912) were of a different nature; he was unable to father a son and heir. Leo married four times in an attempt to bear a son, causing the Moechian Controversy within the Church. Leo's son, Constantine, was born to his mistress Zoe Karbonopsina in 905. Leo hurriedly married his mistress to legitemize his son, who was crowned at the age of two in 908. When Leo died in 912 his younger brother Alexander (912-913) became the senior emperor. Alexander had no children and continued to depict himself alongside his nephew Constantine VII on his seals.

After seven years Zoe's regency was replaced by the government of Romanos I Lekapenos (920-944). Although an interloper, Romanos was very careful to highlight his links to the legitimate dynasty. Before his coronation in 920 Romanos had already married his daughter to Constantine VII. Romanos I always included Constantine on his seals. Initially these took the same form as those of Basil I with his sons Leo and Alexander. After the death of his eldest son Christopher, Romanos used the two-emperor type with himself in the senior position opposite the Macedonian Constantine. Later Romanos returned to the three-emperor design, although with himself depicted in a natural style that was very different from that used for Constantine VII and his son. The design program, while explicitly advancing Romanos and his family's interests ahead of Constantine's, nevertheless acknowledged that legitimacy was acquired through association with the Macedonian dynasty. The association could be minimized, but not obliterated.

After becoming sole emperor in 945, Constantine VII chose not to share many of his seals-a decision that was duplicated by the next interloper, John I Tzimiskes (969-976), and by Constantine's grandson Basil II (976-1025) on half of his seals. Basil ruled alongside his younger brother Constantine VIII, and the other half of the seals issued between 976 and 1025 show both emperors in the traditional Macedonian stance.

The emperors after Basil II were members of the Macedonian family by marriage or adoption. Romanos III married Zoe, daughter of Constantine VIII. On his death Zoe married Michael IV, brother to the powerful John the Orphanotrophos. Following Michael's death John was able to keep the throne in his family's control, albeit briefly, by having his nephew Michael V adopted by Zoe and crowned. Michael V was ousted when he turned on the empress, and Zoe married Constantine IX Monomachos. After the deaths of Zoe and Constantine, Theodora, the younger daughter of Constantine VIII, ruled alone, choosing Michael VI to succeed her on her deathbed.

After the Macedonian dynasty the Byzantines again began to decline.

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The Coming of the Turks and Manzikert

From the East the Turks defeated the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert, a blow that saw almost the whole of the Byzantine military force wiped out in just a few weeks. The empire would hold out a little longer and even recover some power under the so-called Comnenian reforms, but the damage was done. From the west, European powers began to make incursions into Greece, culminating in the sack of Constantinople by the marauding armies of the 4th Crusade in 1204. Little by little, the Byzantine Empire was stripped away until only Constantinople held out. The final blow came in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks, under Mehmed the Conqueror, took the city and the title of "Caesar" after a lengthy siege. Once more, Constantinople would be the center of a great Mediterranean empire again, but this time renamed Istanbul when the Turks moved their capital west from Konya to the city. By now only Morea, a small state in southern Greece, remained in Byzantine hands but its fate was soon sealed. Ruled by members of the Palaeologoi, its despot David tried to incite the Catholics to launch a crusade but instead invited the wrath of the Turks, and so in 1461, the Turks marched into the Peloponnesus, effectively exterminating the Byzantine Empire once and for all.

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References