Roman Empire
Byzantine Empire
Eastern half of the ancient Roman Empire that did not fall.
Recent History
Basil I (r. 867 - 886)- 867 CE- Peasant born Basil I assassinates Emperor Michael III and takes over as Emperor
- Basil's laws were collected in the Basilika, consisting of sixty books, and smaller legal manuals known as the Eisagoge
- Son Leo VI was responsible for completing these legal works and The Basilika remained the law of the Byzantine Empire until its fall
- Basil was the first Byzantine emperor since Constans II (r. 641–668) to pursue an active policy to restore the Empire's power in the West.
- 871 - Basil allied with Holy Roman Emperor Louis II (r. 850–875) against the Arabs and sent a fleet of 139 ships to clear the Adriatic Sea of their raids.
- 876 - Conquered Bari in S. Italy
- 878 - The Byzantine position in Sicily deteriorated, and Syracuse fell to the Emirate of Sicily
- 879- When his eldest and favorite son Constantine died, Basil raised his youngest son, Alexander, to the rank of co-emperor.
- Basil disliked the elder son and bookish Leo, on occasion physically beating him. Basil's relationship with Leo was clouded by the suspicion that the latter might wish to avenge the murder of Michael III (who was suspected to be Leo's father).
- 880 - General Nikephoros Phokas (the Elder) succeeded in taking Taranto and much of Calabria Italy.
- c. 884 Leo was eventually imprisoned by Basil after the detection of a suspected plot, but the imprisonment resulted in public rioting; Basil threatened to blind Leo but was dissuaded by Patriarch Photios.
- 886 - Basil died in a hunting accident and Leo immediately reburied, with honor and pomp, Michael III
- 866 - Born to the Empress Eudokia Ingerina, Leo was either the illegitimate son of Emperor Michael III or the second son of Michael's successor, Basil I the Macedonian. Eudokia was both Michael III's mistress and Basil’s wife.
- 870- Crowned Co-Caesar like his elder brother
- 879 - Became direct heir after his older brother Constantine died but he and his father Basil did not get along.
- c. 882 - His mother dies and shortly after he takes up a mistress Zoe Zaoutzaina.
- c. 884 - Zoe is married off to a minor noble by Basil, enraging Leo
- c. 885 - Leo is imprisoned by Basil for a suspected plot against him for 3 years, and is almost blinded but Patriarch Photios dissuaded Basil
- 886 - Becomes the Emperor over his younger brother, Alexander
- Reburied Michael III in splendor
- Using his former tutor Patriarch Photios's excommunication by Pope John VIII as an excuse, Leo dismissed him and replaced him with his own 19-year-old brother Stephen.
- Replaced many patriarchs during his reign, meddling with the Patriarchate.
- 894 - Indulging his chief counselor Stylianos Zaoutzes (father of his mistress Zoe), Leo provoked a war with Simeon I of the Bulgarian Empire and lost
- 896- Lost the major Battle of Boulgarophygon and had to make the required commercial concessions and to pay annual tribute
- 897 - First wife died and he married mistress Zoe
- 899 - Second wife Zoe Zaoutzes dies
- 900 - Won against the Emirate of Tarsus, in which the Arab army was destroyed and the Emir himself captured
- 900 - Married illegally a 3rd time to Eudokia Baïana
- 901 - Eudokia Baïana dies
- 902 - Emirate of Sicily took Taormina, the last Byzantine outpost on the island of Sicily
- 902 - Applied pressure on his eastern frontier through the creation of the new thema of Mesopotamia, a Byzantine invasion of Armenia, and the sacking of Theodosiopolis, as well as successful raids in the Arab Thughur or "borderland"
- 902 - Leo took as mistress Zoe Karbonopsina instead of marrying again (which was still illegal)
- 904 - The renegade Leo of Tripolis sacked Thessalonica with his pirates – an event described in The Capture of Thessalonica by John Kaminiates
- 905 - A son and heir, Constantine Flavius Porphyrogenitus "Born in the Purple" to legitimize him
- 905 - Married Zoe by replacing Nicholas Mysticos who opposed it - had a long penance and had to outlaw all future 4th marriages but involved the Pope in this gathering which improved relations
- 906 - His attempts to control the great aristocratic families (e.g., the Phokadai and the Doukai) occasionally led to serious conflicts, the most significant being the revolt of Andronikos Doukas
- 907 - Constantinople was attacked by the Kievan Rus' under Oleg of Novgorod, who was seeking favorable trading rights with the empire and Leo paid them off.
- 908 - Had son Constantine VII crowned co-Emperor
- 911 - Kievan Rus attack again and a trade treaty was finally signed.
- 911-912 - A large-scale expedition to recover Crete under Himerios failed disastrously.
- Bishop Liutprand of Cremona gives an account similar to those about Caliph Harun al-Rashid, to the effect that Leo would sometimes disguise himself and go about Constantinople looking for injustice or corruption.
- Was a prolific writer about religious and state matters, including codifying Roman Law in the Empire
- 912 - Died and was succeeded by his younger brother Alexander, who had reigned as emperor alongside his father and brother since 879
- 912 - Alexander succeeded as senior emperor alongside Leo's young son Constantine VII.
- Alexander promptly dismissed most of Leo's advisers and appointees, including the admiral Himerios, the patriarch Euthymios, and the Empress Zoe Karbonopsina, the mother of Constantine VII whom he locked up in a nunnery.
- The patriarchate was again conferred on Nicholas Mystikos, who had been removed from this position because he had opposed Leo's fourth marriage.
- Alexander found himself attacked by the forces of Al-Muqtadir of the Abbasid Caliphate in the East, and provoked a war with Simeon I of Bulgaria by refusing to send the traditional tribute on his accession.
- 913 - Died after an exhausting game of Polo, reigning only 13 months supposedly like his brother predicted
- 913 - His uncle Alexander lay dying, he appointed a seven-man regency council for Constantine. It was headed by the Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos, the two magistroi John Eladas and Stephen
- The new and shaky regime survived the attempted usurpation of Constantine Doukas, and Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos quickly assumed a dominant position among the regents.
- Nicholas negotiated a peaceful settlement, crowned Simeon emperor of the Bulgarians in a makeshift ceremony outside Constantinople, and arranged for the marriage of Simeon's daughter to Constantine VII.
- 914 - Because of Nicholas' unpopular concession to Simeon, he was driven out of the regency by Constantine's mother Zoe Karbonopsina
- Zoe governed with the support of imperial bureaucrats and the influential general Leo Phokas the Elder, who was her favorite and possible lover.
- 914 - Zoe withdrew concessions to Simeon so the Bulgarians invade Thrace and take Adrianople
- 915 - Zoe's troops defeated an Arab invasion of Armenia, and made peace with the Arabs.
- 917 - Battle of Acheloos is a crushing defeat for Romans, Romanos (Roman admiral) unable or unwilling to ferry the Pecheng cavalry across the river from the north to complete pincer move.
- 919 - Romanos occupies the palace, and with the support of Patriarch and other nobles, overthrows Leo and Zoe, becoming regent.
Eastern Orthodox Christianity Recent History
843 CE - Ended the Iconoclasm debate with the regency of Theodora- Byzantine Iconoclasm was started by a ban on religious images by Emperor Leo III (r. 717- 741) and continued under his successors until 843 when Michael III became Emperor. It was accompanied by widespread destruction of images and persecution of supporters of the veneration of images.
- The pope (in Rome) remained firmly in support of the use of images throughout the period, and the whole episode widened the growing divergence between the Byzantine and Carolingian traditions in what was still a unified church, as well as facilitating the reduction or removal of Byzantine political control over parts of Italy.
- Even though no Emperor from 843 onward was an Iconoclast, there were still competing factions within the religion- Zealots (Orthodox Monks in favor of icons) and the politicians (more tolerant)
- The period of Iconoclasm decisively ended the so-called Byzantine Papacy under which, since the reign of Justinian I a century before, the popes in Rome had been initially nominated by, and later merely confirmed by, the emperor in Constantinople, and many of them had been Greek-speaking. By the end of the controversy the pope had approved the creation of a new emperor in the West, and the old deference of the Western church to Constantinople had gone. Opposition to icons seems to have had little support in the West and Rome
- Ignatius I (847–858)
- St. Photios I the Great (858–867)
- Ignatius I (867–877), restored
- St. Photios I the Great (877–886), restored
- In 867 Basil I the Macedonian usurped the throne and, seeking an alliance with Pope Nicholas I and Louis II, Holy Roman Emperor, banished Photios and restored Ignatios on the patriarchal throne
- Reinstated, Ignatios refused to yield to the papacy and drew Bulgaria back into the orbit of the Byzantine Church in 870.
- Since Ignatios and Photios pursued the same policy, the latter was recalled and reinstated as tutor to the emperor's children.
- When Ignatios died in October 877, Photios was reinstated as patriarch and contributed to Ignatios' sanctification.
- A council convened at Constantinople in November 879 formally recognized Photios and the legates of Pope John VIII attended, prepared to acknowledge Photios as legitimate patriarch
- However, Photios stood firm on the main points contested between the Eastern and Western Churches:
- 1. The demand of an apology to the Pope. 2. The ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Bulgaria. 3. The addition of the filioque to the Nicene creed by the Western church
- Stephen I (886–893) - Nothing of note
- Antony II Kauleas (893–901) - Nothing of note
- Nicholas I Mystikos (901–907) - Refused to acknowledge Leo VI's (r. 886-912) 4th marriage & heir
- Euthymius I Synkellos (907–912) - Replaced Nicholas and agreed to legitimize Constantine VII
- Nicholas I Mystikos (912–925), restored after being recalled from Exile
Military Organization
The term thema was ambiguous, referring both to a form of military tenure and to an administrative division. A theme was an arrangement of plots of land given for farming to the soldiers. The soldiers were still technically a military unit, under the command of a strategos, and they did not own the land they worked as it was still controlled by the state. Therefore, for its use the soldiers' pay was reduced. By accepting this proposition, the participants agreed that their descendants would also serve in the military and work in a theme, thus simultaneously reducing the need for unpopular conscription as well as cheaply maintaining the military. Within each theme, eligible men were given grants of land to support their families and to equip themselves. Following revolts strengthened by the large size of these divisions, Leo III the Isaurian, Theophilus, and Leo VI the Wise all responded by breaking the themes up into smaller areas and dividing control over the armies within each theme into various tourmai. The large early themes were progressively split up in the 8th–9th centuries to reduce their governors' power, while in the 10th century, new and much smaller themes, called "Armenian themes" because many were settled by Armenians, were created in the East in conquered territories. While in ca. 842 the Taktikon Uspensky lists 18 strategoi of themes, the De Thematibus of ca. 940 lists 28, and the Escorial Taktikon, written ca. 971–975, lists almost 90 strategoi of themes and other military commands. Sicily had been completely lost to the expanding Emirate of Sicily at the beginning of Constantine VII's reign in 905 and Cyprus was a condominium jointly administered with the Abbasid Caliphate until its reconquest by Nikephoros II Phokas in 965. Constantinople itself was under an Eparch and protected by the numerous tagmata and police forces.Structure of the Thema
| Name | No. of personnel | No. of subordinate units | Officer in command |
| Thema | 9600 | 4 Tourmai | Strategos |
| Tourma | 2400 | 6 Droungoi | Tourmarches |
| Droungos | 400 | 2 Banda | Droungarios |
| Bandon | 200 | 2 Kentarchiai | Komes |
| Kentarchia | 100 | 10 Kontoubernia | Kentarches/Hekatontarches |
| 50 | 5 Kontoubernia | Pentekontarches | |
| Kontoubernion | 10 | 1 "Vanguard" + 1 "Rear Guard" | Dekarchos |
| Vanguard Rear Guard | 5 4 | Pentarches Tetrarches |
- The Scholai ("the Schools"), were the most senior unit, the direct successor of the imperial guards established by Constantine the Great (r. 306–337). The term scholarioi , although in its stricter sense referring solely to the men of the Scholai, was also used as a general reference for all common soldiers of the tagmata.
- The Exkoubitoi or Exkoubitores ("the Sentinels"), established by Leo I.
- The Arithmos ("Number") or Vigla (from the Latin word for "Watch"), promoted from thematic troops by the Empress Eirene in the 780s, but of far older ancestry, as the archaic names of its ranks indicate. The regiment performed special duties on campaign, including guarding the imperial camp, relaying the Emperor's orders, and guarding prisoners of war.
- The Hikanatoi ("the Able Ones"), established by Emperor Nikephoros I (r. 802–811) in 810.
- The Noumeroi (from the Latin numerus, "number") were a garrison unit for Constantinople, which probably included the Teichistai or tōn Teicheōn regiment ("of the Walls"), manning the Walls of Constantinople. The unit's origins may lie as far back as the 4th–5th centuries.
- The Optimatoi (from Latin optimates, "the best"), although formerly an elite fighting unit, had by the 8th century been reduced to a support unit, responsible for the mules of the army's baggage train (the touldon). Unlike the tagmata, it was garrisoned outside Constantinople and closely associated with its garrison area: the thema Optimatōn, which lay across Constantinople and comprised northern Bithynia. The commanding domestikos of the Optimatoi was also the governor of the thema.
- The men of the central Imperial Fleet (basilikon plōimon), are also counted among the tagmata in some sources.
Structure of the Tagma
| Officer (No.) | Unit | Subordinates | Subdivisions |
| Domestikos (1) | Tagma | 4,000 | 20 banda |
| Topotērētēs (1/2) | 2,000 | 10 banda | |
| Komēs (20) | Bandon | 200 | 5 kentarchiai |
| Kentarchos (40) | kentarchia | 40 |
| Year | 745 | 810 | 842 | 959 | 970 | 976 | 1025 |
| Total size | 18,000 | 22,000 | 24,000 | 28,000 | 32,000 | 36,000 | 42,000 |
10th Century Roman Empire Society/Facts
- Constantinople Population: Ranges between 300,000 - 1,000,000
- Year | Est. Pop. | Area KM Sq.
- 842 | 8,000,000 | 1,000,000
- In the Byzantine state, the emperor was the sole and absolute ruler, and his power was regarded as having divine origin.
- The Byzantine Empire was a theocracy, said to be ruled by God working through the Emperor.
- The most important administrative reform, which probably started in the mid-7th century, was the creation of themes, where civil and military administration was exercised by one person, the strategos.
- In the 8th and 9th centuries, civil service constituted the clearest path to aristocratic status, but, starting in the 9th century, the civil aristocracy was rivalled by an aristocracy of nobility.
- The constitution of the Byzantine Empire was based on the conviction that it was the earthly copy of the Kingdom of Heaven. Just as God ruled in Heaven, so the Emperor, made in his image, should rule on earth and carry out his commandments ... It saw itself as a universal empire.
- Byzantine diplomacy managed to draw its neighbors into a network of international and inter-state relations.
- This network revolved around treaty making, and included the welcoming of the new ruler into the family of kings, and the assimilation of Byzantine social attitudes, values and institutions.
- Whereas classical writers are fond of making ethical and legal distinctions between peace and war, Byzantines regarded diplomacy as a form of war by other means.
- Logothete of the Course/Drome/Dromos or Postal Logothete, was the head of the department of the Public Post, and one of the most senior fiscal ministers.
- The writings of Classical antiquity were cultivated and extended in Byzantium. Therefore, Byzantine science was in every period closely connected with ancient philosophy, and metaphysics.
- Greek was the main language, with Latin used by the administration. By the beginning of the Middle Ages, Syriac had become more widely used by the educated classes in the far eastern provinces. Similarly Coptic, Armenian, and Georgian became significant among the educated in their provinces. Later foreign contacts made Old Church Slavic, Middle Persian, and Arabic important in the Empire and its sphere of influence. There was a revival of Latin studies in the 10th century for the same reason and by the 11th century knowledge of Latin was no longer unusual at Constantinople.
- Backgammon, polo, and playing instruments like the lyra, organ, harp, or bagpipe were common recreational activities.
- One of the economic foundations of Byzantium was trade, fostered by the maritime character of the Empire - Textiles, silk, spices, and luxury goods were staples.
- The state strictly controlled both the internal and the international trade, retained the monopoly of issuing coinage, attempted to exercise formal control over interest rates, and set the parameters for the activity of the guilds and corporations.
- The state intervened at times of crisis to ensure the provisioning of the capital, and to keep down the price of cereals, and the government often collected part of the surplus through taxation, and put it back into circulation, through redistribution in the form of salaries to state officials, or in the form of investment in public works.
Head(s) of State
Constantine VII (b. 905 CE)- Reign: 913 - 959
- Nephew of Emperor Alexander r. 912-913
- Son of Emperor Leo VI the Wise r. 886 - 912
- Grandson of Basil I - Founder of Macedonian Dynasty r. 867 - 886
- Regency: 913 - 919
- Mother of Constantine VII
- Mistress and 4th wife of Leo VI
- Domestic of the Schools or "General" - c. 911 -919
- Son of Nikephoros Phokas the Elder, an eminent Byzantine general who had distinguished himself in southern Italy
- Uncle of Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas (r. 963-969)
- Caesar or "junior emperor" - r. 919 - 944
- Former Drungarius (Admiral of the Fleet) - 912-919
- Father, Theophylact the Unbearable, was an Armenian peasant soldier who rescued the Emperor Basil I from the enemy in battle at Tephrike and had been rewarded by a place in the Imperial Guard
- Empress - Constantine's Wife - r. 919 - 959
- Daughter of Romanos I Lekapenos
- The eldest son of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos
- Named Co-Emperor 921 until he died in 931
- Son of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos
- Named Co-Emperor 924 - 944
- Son of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos
- Named Co-Emperor 924 - 944
Type
Geopolitical, Empire
State Religious Leaders
Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople- John VII Grammaticus (836–843)
- Methodius I (843–847)
- Ignatius I (847–858)
- St. Photios I the Great (858–867)
- Ignatius I (867–877), restored
- St. Photios I the Great (877–886), restored
- Stephen I (886–893)
- Antony II Kauleas (893–901)
- Nicholas I Mystikos (901–907)
- Euthymius I Synkellos (907–912)
- Nicholas I Mystikos (912–925), restored
- Stephen II of Amasea (925–928)
- Tryphon, also Tryphonius (928–931)
- Theophylactus (933–956)
- Christopher I (817–841)
- Sophronius I (841–860)
- Michael I (860–870)
- Michael II (870–903)
- vacant (903–907)
- Christodoulos (907–932)
- Eutychius (932–940)
- Sophronius II (941)
- Isaac (941–954)
- Nicholas (846–868)
- Theodosius I (870–890)
- Simeon (892–907)
- Elias (907–934)
- Theodosius II (936-943)
- Theocharistus (944-948)
- Agapius I (953-959)
- vacant (860–862)
- Theodosius (862–878)
- Elias III (878–907)
- Sergius II (908–911)
- Leontius I (912–929)
- Athanasius I (929–937)
- Christodolus (937–950)
Border War
Abbasid Empire is fractured so diplomatic relations have been tenable.
Aggressive War
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