Bulgarians, enemies of the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium: the history of the rise and fall

For more than a thousand years, Byzantium has been a link between East and West. Originating at the end of antiquity, it existed until the end of the European Middle Ages. Until it fell to the Ottomans in 1453.

Did the Byzantines know that they were Byzantines?

Officially, the year of the “birth” of Byzantium is considered to be 395, when the Roman Empire was divided into two parts. The western part fell in 476. Eastern - with the capital in Constantinople, lasted until 1453.

It is important that it was called "Byzantium" later. The inhabitants of the empire themselves and the surrounding peoples called it "Roman". And they had every right to do so - after all, the capital was moved from Rome to Constantinople in 330, back in the days of the unified Roman Empire.

After the loss of the western territories, the empire continued to exist in a truncated form with the former capital. Considering that the Roman Empire was born in 753 BC, and died under the roar of Turkish cannons in 1453 AD, it lasted 2206 years.

Shield of Europe

Byzantium was in a permanent state of war: in any century of Byzantine history, for 100 years there will hardly be 20 years without war, and sometimes there will not be 10 years of peace.

Often, Byzantium fought on two fronts, and sometimes enemies pushed it from all four corners of the world. And if the rest of the European countries fought, basically, with an enemy more or less known and understandable, that is, with each other, then Byzantium often had to be the first in Europe to meet unknown conquerors, wild nomads who destroyed everything in their path.

The Slavs who came to the Balkans in the 6th century so exterminated the local population that only a small part of it remained - modern Albanians.

Byzantine Anatolia (the territory of modern Turkey) for many centuries supplied empires with warriors and food in abundance. In the 11th century, the invading Turks devastated this flourishing region, and when the Byzantines managed to recapture part of the territory, they could not gather either soldiers or food there - Anatolia turned into a desert.

On Byzantium, this eastern bastion of Europe, many invasions from the east crashed, the most powerful of which was the Arab one in the 7th century. If the “Byzantine shield” could not withstand the blow, and prayer, as the British historian of the 18th century Gibbon noted, would now be heard over the sleeping spiers of Oxford.

Byzantine Crusade

Religious warfare is by no means an invention of the Arabs with their Jihad or the Catholics with their Crusades. At the beginning of the 7th century, Byzantium was on the verge of death - enemies were pressing from all sides, and Iran was the most formidable of them.

At the most critical moment - when the enemies approached the capital from two sides - the Byzantine emperor Heraclius makes an extraordinary move: he proclaims a holy war for the Christian faith, for the return of the Life-Giving Cross and other relics captured by Iranian troops in Jerusalem (in the pre-Islamic era state religion Iran had Zoroastrianism).

The church donated its treasures for the holy war, thousands of volunteers were equipped and trained with the money of the church. For the first time, the Byzantine army marched on the Persians, carrying icons in front. In a hard struggle, Iran was defeated, Christian relics returned to Jerusalem, and Heraclius turned into a legendary hero, who even in the 12th century was remembered as his great predecessor by the Crusaders.

double-headed eagle

Contrary to popular belief, the double-headed eagle, which became the emblem of Russia, was by no means the emblem of Byzantium - it was the emblem of the last Byzantine dynasty of the Palaiologos. The niece of the last Byzantine emperor Sophia, having married the Moscow Grand Duke Ivan III, transferred only the family, and not the state coat of arms.

It is also important to know that many European states (Balkan, Italian, Austria, Spain, Holy Roman Empire) considered themselves the heirs of Byzantium for one reason or another, and had a double-headed eagle on their coats of arms and flags.

For the first time, the symbol of the double-headed eagle appeared long before Byzantium and the Paleologs - in the 4th millennium BC, in the first civilization on Earth, Sumer. Images of the double-headed eagle are also found among the Hittites, an Indo-European people who lived in the 2nd millennium BC in Asia Minor.

Russia - the successor of Byzantium?

After the fall of Byzantium, the vast majority of Byzantines - from aristocrats and scientists to artisans and warriors - fled from the Turks not to fellow believers, to Orthodox Russia, but to Catholic Italy.

The centuries-old ties between the Mediterranean peoples turned out to be stronger than religious differences. And if Byzantine scientists filled the universities of Italy, and partly even France and England, then in Russia the Greek scientists had nothing to fill in - there were no universities there.

In addition, the heir to the Byzantine crown was not the Byzantine princess Sophia, the wife of the Moscow prince, but the nephew of the last emperor Andrei. He sold his title to the Spanish monarch Ferdinand - the very one for whom Columbus discovered America.
Russia can be considered the successor of Byzantium only in a religious aspect - after all, after the fall of the latter, our country became the main stronghold of Orthodoxy.

Influence of Byzantium on the European Renaissance

Hundreds of Byzantine scholars who fled from the Turks who conquered their homeland, taking with them their libraries and works of art, breathed new energy into the European Renaissance.

Unlike Western Europe, in Byzantium the study of the ancient tradition was never interrupted. And all this legacy of their Greek civilization, much larger and better preserved, the Byzantines brought to Western Europe.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that without the Byzantine emigrants, the Renaissance would not have been so powerful and bright. Byzantine scholarship even influenced the Reformation: the original Greek text of the New Testament, promoted by the humanists Lorenzo Valla and Erasmus of Rotterdam, had a great influence on the ideas of Protestantism.

Abundant Byzantium

The wealth of Byzantium is a fairly well-known fact. But how rich the empire was - few know. Just one example: the size of the tribute to the formidable Attila, who kept most of Eurasia at bay, was equal to the annual income of just a couple of Byzantine villas.

Sometimes a bribe in Byzantium was equal to a quarter of payments to Attila. Sometimes it was more profitable for the Byzantines to pay off the invasion of barbarians not spoiled by luxury than to equip an expensive professional army and rely on the unknown outcome of the military campaign.

Yes, they were in the empire and hard times, but the Byzantine "gold" has always been valued. Even on the remote island of Taprobana (modern Sri Lanka), Byzantine gold coins were appreciated by local rulers and merchants. A hoard of Byzantine coins was found even on the Indonesian island of Bali.

1. Features of the development of Byzantium. Unlike the Western Roman Empire, Byzantium not only withstood the onslaught of the barbarians, but also existed for more than a thousand years. It included rich and cultural areas: the Balkan Peninsula with adjacent islands, part of the Transcaucasus, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt. Since ancient times, agriculture and cattle breeding have developed here. Thus, it was a Eurasian (Eurasian) state with a very diverse population in terms of origin, appearance and customs.

In Byzantium, including on the territory of Egypt, the Middle East, lively, crowded cities have survived: Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem. Crafts such as the production of glassware, silk fabrics, fine jewelry, and papyrus were developed here.

Constantinople, located on the shores of the Bosphorus, stood at the intersection of two important trade routes: land - from Europe to Asia and sea - from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. Byzantine merchants grew rich in trade with the Northern Black Sea region, where they had their colony cities, Iran, India, and China. They were well known in Western Europe, where they brought expensive oriental goods.

2. The power of the emperor. Unlike the countries of Western Europe, Byzantium retained a single state with despotic imperial power. Everyone had to tremble before the emperor, glorify him in poems and songs. The emperor's exit from the palace, accompanied by a brilliant retinue and a large guard, turned into a magnificent celebration. He performed in silk robes embroidered with gold and pearls, with a crown on his head, a golden chain around his neck, and a scepter in his hand.

The emperor had great power. His power was hereditary. He was the supreme judge, appointed military leaders and senior officials, received foreign ambassadors. The emperor ruled the country with the help of many officials. They tried their best to gain influence at court. The cases of petitioners were solved with the help of bribes or personal connections.

Byzantium could defend its borders from barbarians and even wage wars of conquest. Disposing of a rich treasury, the emperor maintained a large mercenary army and a strong navy. But there were periods when a major military leader overthrew the emperor himself and became a sovereign himself.

3. Justinian and his reforms. The empire especially expanded its borders during the reign of Justinian (527-565). Clever, energetic, well educated, Justinian skillfully selected and directed his assistants. Under his outward accessibility and courtesy, a merciless and insidious tyrant was hiding. According to the historian Procopius, he could, without showing anger, “in a quiet, even voice give the order to kill tens of thousands of innocent people.” Justinian was afraid of attempts on his life, and therefore he easily believed denunciations and was quick to reprisal.

The main rule of Justinian was: "one state, one law, one religion." The emperor, wishing to enlist the support of the church, granted her lands and valuable gifts, built many temples and monasteries. His reign began with unprecedented persecution of pagans, Jews and apostates from the teachings of the church. They were limited in their rights, dismissed from service, condemned to death. The famous school in Athens, a major center of pagan culture, was closed.

In order to introduce uniform laws for the entire empire, the emperor created a commission of the best lawyers. IN short term she collected the laws of the Roman emperors, excerpts from the works of prominent Roman lawyers with an explanation of these laws, new laws introduced by Justinian himself, compiled quick guide to the use of the law. These works were published under the general title "Code of Civil Law". This set of laws preserved Roman law for future generations. It was studied by lawyers in the Middle Ages and Modern times, drafting laws for their states.

4. Wars of Justinian. Justinian made an attempt to restore the Roman Empire to its former borders.

Taking advantage of the strife in the kingdom of the Vandals, the emperor sent an army on 500 ships to conquer North Africa. The Byzantines quickly defeated the Vandals and occupied the capital of the kingdom of Carthage.

Justinian then proceeded to conquer the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy. His army occupied Sicily, southern Italy and later captured Rome. Another army, advancing from the Balkan Peninsula, entered the capital of the Ostrogoths, Ravenna. The kingdom of the Ostrogoths fell.

But the harassment of officials and the robbery of soldiers caused uprisings of local residents in North Africa and Italy. Justinian was forced to send new armies to put down rebellions in the conquered countries. It took 15 years of intense struggle to completely subjugate North Africa, and in Italy it took about 20 years.

Using the internecine struggle for the throne in the kingdom of the Visigoths, Justinian's army conquered the southwestern part of Spain.

To protect the borders of the empire, Justinian built fortresses on the outskirts, placed garrisons in them, and laid roads to the borders. Destroyed cities were restored everywhere, water pipelines, hippodromes, theaters were built.

But the population of Byzantium itself was ruined by unbearable taxes. According to the historian, "people fled in large crowds to the barbarians, just to hide from their native land." Rebellions broke out everywhere, which Justinian brutally suppressed.

In the east, Byzantium had to wage long wars with Iran, even to cede part of the territory to Iran and pay tribute to it. Byzantium did not have a strong knightly army, as in Western Europe, and began to suffer defeats in wars with its neighbors. Soon after the death of Justinian, Byzantium lost almost all the territories conquered in the West. The Lombards occupied most of Italy, and the Visigoths took away their former possessions in Spain.

5. The invasion of the Slavs and Arabs. From the beginning of the VI century, the Slavs attacked Byzantium. Their detachments even approached Constantinople. In the wars with Byzantium, the Slavs gained combat experience, learned to fight in formation and take fortresses by storm. From invasions, they moved on to settling the territory of the empire: they first occupied the north of the Balkan Peninsula, then penetrated into Macedonia and Greece. The Slavs turned into subjects of the empire: they began to pay taxes to the treasury and serve in the imperial army.

Arabs attacked Byzantium from the south in the 7th century. They captured Palestine, Syria and Egypt, and by the end of the century, all of North Africa. Since the time of Justinian, the territory of the empire has been reduced by almost three times. Byzantium retained only Asia Minor, the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula and some areas in Italy.

6. Struggle against external enemies in the VIII-IX centuries. In order to successfully repel the attacks of enemies, a new order of recruitment into the army was introduced in Byzantium: instead of mercenaries, soldiers were taken into the army from peasants who received plots of land for their service. IN Peaceful time they cultivated the land, and with the outbreak of war they went on a campaign with their weapons and horses.

In the VIII century there was a turning point in the wars of Byzantium with the Arabs. The Byzantines themselves began to invade the possessions of the Arabs in Syria and Armenia, and later conquered from the Arabs part of Asia Minor, regions in Syria and Transcaucasia, the islands of Cyprus and Crete.

From the chiefs of troops in Byzantium gradually developed to know in the provinces. She built fortresses in her possessions and created her own detachments from servants and dependent people. Often, the nobility raised rebellions in the provinces and waged wars against the emperor.

Byzantine culture

At the beginning of the Middle Ages, Byzantium did not experience such a decline in culture as Western Europe. She became the heir to the cultural achievements of the ancient world and the countries of the East.

1. Development of education. In the 7th-8th centuries, when the possessions of Byzantium were reduced, the Greek language became the state language of the empire. The state needed well-trained officials. They had to competently draw up laws, decrees, contracts, wills, conduct correspondence and court cases, answer petitioners, and copy documents. Often educated people reached high positions, and with them came power and wealth.

Not only in the capital, but also in small towns and large villages in primary schools children of ordinary people who could pay for education could study. Therefore, even among the peasants and artisans there were literate people.

Along with church schools, public and private schools were opened in the cities. They taught reading, writing, counting and church singing. In addition to the Bible and other religious books, the schools studied the works of ancient scholars, the poems of Homer, the tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles, the writings of Byzantine scholars and writers; solve complex arithmetic problems.

In the 9th century in Constantinople, at the imperial palace, a higher school was opened. It taught religion, mythology, history, geography, literature.

2. Scientific knowledge. The Byzantines preserved the ancient knowledge of mathematics and used it to calculate taxes, in astronomy, and in construction. They also made extensive use of the inventions and writings of the great Arab scientists - physicians, philosophers and others. Through the Greeks, they learned about these works in Western Europe. In Byzantium itself there were many scientists and creative people. Leo the Mathematician (9th century) invented sound signaling for transmitting messages over a distance, automatic devices in the throne room of the imperial palace, set in motion by water - they were supposed to amaze the imagination of foreign ambassadors.

Prepared medical textbooks. To teach medical art in the XI century, a medical school (the first in Europe) was created at the hospital of one of the monasteries in Constantinople.

The development of crafts and medicine gave impetus to the study of chemistry; ancient recipes for the manufacture of glass, paints, and medicines were preserved. "Greek fire" was invented - an incendiary mixture of oil and resin that cannot be extinguished with water. With the help of "Greek fire", the Byzantines won many victories in battles at sea and on land.

The Byzantines accumulated a lot of knowledge in geography. They knew how to draw maps and city plans. Merchants and travelers made descriptions different countries and peoples.

History developed especially successfully in Byzantium. Bright, interesting essays historians were created on the basis of documents, eyewitness accounts, personal observations.

3. Architecture. christian religion changed the purpose and structure of the temple. In the ancient Greek temple, the statue of the god was placed inside, and religious ceremonies were held outside, in the square. Therefore, they tried to make the appearance of the temple especially elegant. Christians, on the other hand, gathered for common prayer inside the church, and the architects took care of the beauty of not only the external, but also its internal premises.

The Christian church was divided in plan into three parts: the vestibule - a room at the western, main entrance; nave (in French ship) - the elongated main part of the temple, where believers gathered for prayer; an altar where only the clergy could enter. With its apses - semicircular vaulted niches that protruded outwards, the altar was turned to the east, where, according to Christian ideas, the center of the earth Jerusalem is located with Mount Calvary - the place of the crucifixion of Christ. In large temples, rows of columns separated the wider and higher main nave from the side aisles, which could be two or four.

A remarkable work of Byzantine architecture was the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Justinian did not skimp on expenses: he wanted to make this temple the main and largest church of all Christendom. The temple was built by 10 thousand people for five years. Its construction was led by famous architects and decorated by the best artisans.

Hagia Sophia was called "a miracle of miracles" and was sung in verse. Inside, he was striking in size and beauty. A giant dome with a diameter of 31 m, as it were, grows out of two half-domes; each of them rests, in turn, on three small semi-domes. Along the base, the dome is surrounded by a wreath of 40 windows. It seems that the dome, like the vault of heaven, is floating in the air.

In the X-XI centuries, instead of an elongated rectangular building, a cross-domed church was established. In plan, it looked like a cross with a dome in the middle, mounted on a round elevation - a drum. There were many churches, and they became smaller in size: the inhabitants of the city quarter, the village, the monastery gathered in them. The temple looked lighter, looking up. To decorate it from the outside, they used multi-colored stone, brick patterns, alternated layers of red brick and white mortar.

4. Painting. In Byzantium, earlier than in Western Europe, the walls of temples and palaces began to be decorated with mosaics - images of multi-colored pebbles or pieces of colored opaque glass - smalt. Smalt

strengthened with different slopes in wet plaster. The mosaic, reflecting the light, flashed, sparkled, shimmered with bright multicolored colors. Later, the walls began to be decorated with frescoes - paintings painted with water-based paints on wet plaster.

In the design of temples, a canon has developed - strict rules for depicting and placing biblical scenes. The temple was the model of the world. The more important the image was, the higher it was placed in the temple.

The eyes and thoughts of those entering the church turned first of all to the dome: it was presented as a vault of heaven - the abode of a deity. Therefore, often a mosaic or fresco depicting Christ surrounded by angels was placed in the dome. From the dome, the gaze moved to the upper part of the wall above the altar, where the figure of the Mother of God reminded of the connection between God and man. In 4-pillar churches on sails - triangles formed by large arches, frescoes were often placed with images of the four authors of the Gospels: Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Moving around the church, the believer, admiring the beauty of its decoration, as if making a journey through the Holy Land - Palestine. On the upper parts of the walls, the artists unfolded episodes from the earthly life of Christ in the order they are described in the Gospels. Below were those whose activities are connected with Christ: the prophets (messengers of God), who predicted his coming; the apostles are his disciples and followers; martyrs who suffered for the sake of faith; saints who spread the teachings of Christ; kings as his earthly deputies. In the western part of the temple above the entrance, pictures of hell or the Last Judgment after the second coming of Christ were often placed.

In the depiction of faces, attention was drawn to the expression of emotional experiences: huge eyes, a large forehead, thin lips, an elongated oval of the face - everything spoke of high thoughts, spirituality, purity, holiness. The figures were placed on a gold or blue background. They seem flat and frozen, and the facial expressions are solemn and concentrated. The planar image was created specifically for the church: wherever a person went, he everywhere met the faces of the saints facing him.

On May 29, 1453, the capital of the Byzantine Empire fell under the blows of the Turks. Tuesday 29 May is one of important dates world history. On this day, the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist, created back in 395 as a result of the final division of the Roman Empire after the death of Emperor Theodosius I into the western and eastern parts. With her death, a huge period of human history ended. In the life of many peoples of Europe, Asia and North Africa, a radical change occurred due to the establishment of Turkish rule and the creation of Ottoman Empire.

It is clear that the fall of Constantinople is not a clear line between the two eras. The Turks had established themselves in Europe a century before the fall of the great capital. And by the time of the fall, the Byzantine Empire was already a fragment of its former greatness - the emperor's power extended only to Constantinople with its suburbs and part of the territory of Greece with the islands. Byzantium of the 13th-15th centuries can be called an empire only conditionally. At the same time, Constantinople was a symbol of the ancient empire, was considered the "Second Rome".

Background of the fall

In the XIII century, one of the Turkic tribes - kayy - led by Ertogrul-bey, squeezed out of nomad camps in the Turkmen steppes, migrated westward and stopped in Asia Minor. The tribe assisted the Sultan of the largest of the Turkish states (it was founded by the Seljuk Turks) - the Rum (Koniy) Sultanate - Alaeddin Kay-Kubad in his struggle with the Byzantine Empire. For this, the Sultan gave Ertogrul a fief of land in the region of Bithynia. The son of the leader Ertogrul - Osman I (1281-1326), despite the constantly growing power, recognized his dependence on Konya. Only in 1299 did he take the title of sultan and soon subjugated the entire western part of Asia Minor, having won a number of victories over the Byzantines. By the name of Sultan Osman, his subjects began to be called Ottoman Turks, or Ottomans (Ottomans). In addition to wars with the Byzantines, the Ottomans fought for the subjugation of other Muslim possessions - by 1487, the Ottoman Turks asserted their power over all the Muslim possessions of the Asia Minor peninsula.

The Muslim clergy, including the local orders of dervishes, played an important role in strengthening the power of Osman and his successors. The clergy not only played a significant role in the creation of a new great power, but justified the policy of expansion as a "struggle for faith." In 1326, the Ottoman Turks captured the largest trading city of Bursa, the most important point of transit caravan trade between the West and the East. Then Nicaea and Nicomedia fell. The sultans distributed the lands seized from the Byzantines to the nobility and distinguished soldiers as timars - conditional possessions received for service (estates). Gradually, the Timar system became the basis of the socio-economic and military-administrative structure of the Ottoman state. Under Sultan Orhan I (reigned from 1326 to 1359) and his son Murad I (reigned from 1359 to 1389), important military reforms were carried out: the irregular cavalry was reorganized - cavalry and infantry troops convened from Turkish farmers were created. The soldiers of the cavalry and infantry troops in peacetime were farmers, receiving benefits, during the war they were obliged to join the army. In addition, the army was supplemented by a militia of peasants of the Christian faith and a corps of Janissaries. The Janissaries initially took captive Christian youths who were forced to convert to Islam, and from the first half of the 15th century - from the sons of Christian subjects of the Ottoman Sultan (in the form of a special tax). Sipahis (a kind of nobles of the Ottoman state, who received income from the Timars) and the Janissaries became the core of the army of the Ottoman sultans. In addition, subdivisions of gunners, gunsmiths, and other units were created in the army. As a result, a powerful state arose on the borders of Byzantium, which claimed dominance in the region.

It must be said that the Byzantine Empire and the Balkan states themselves accelerated their fall. During this period, there was a sharp struggle between Byzantium, Genoa, Venice and the Balkan states. Often the belligerents sought to enlist the military support of the Ottomans. Naturally, this greatly facilitated the expansion of the Ottoman state. The Ottomans received information about the routes, possible crossings, fortifications, the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy troops, the internal situation, etc. The Christians themselves helped to cross the straits to Europe.

The Ottoman Turks achieved great success under Sultan Murad II (ruled 1421-1444 and 1446-1451). Under him, the Turks recovered after a heavy defeat inflicted by Tamerlane in the Battle of Angora in 1402. In many ways, it was this defeat that delayed the death of Constantinople for half a century. The Sultan suppressed all the uprisings of the Muslim rulers. In June 1422, Murad laid siege to Constantinople, but could not take it. The lack of a fleet and powerful artillery affected. In 1430, the large city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece was captured, it belonged to the Venetians. Murad II won a number of important victories in the Balkan Peninsula, significantly expanding the possessions of his power. So in October 1448, the battle took place on the Kosovo field. In this battle, the Ottoman army opposed the combined forces of Hungary and Wallachia under the command of the Hungarian general Janos Hunyadi. The fierce three-day battle ended with the complete victory of the Ottomans, and decided the fate of the Balkan peoples - for several centuries they were under the rule of the Turks. After this battle, the crusaders suffered a final defeat and no longer made serious attempts to recapture the Balkan Peninsula from the Ottoman Empire. The fate of Constantinople was decided, the Turks got the opportunity to solve the problem of capturing the ancient city. Byzantium itself no longer posed a great threat to the Turks, but a coalition of Christian countries, relying on Constantinople, could bring significant harm. The city was practically in the middle of the Ottoman possessions, between Europe and Asia. The task of capturing Constantinople was decided by Sultan Mehmed II.

Byzantium. By the 15th century, the Byzantine state had lost most of its possessions. The entire 14th century was a period of political setbacks. For several decades, it seemed that Serbia would be able to capture Constantinople. Various internal strife was a constant source civil wars. So the Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos (who ruled from 1341 - 1391) was overthrown from the throne three times: by his father-in-law, son and then grandson. In 1347 an epidemic swept black death”, which claimed the lives of at least a third of the population of Byzantium. The Turks crossed over to Europe, and taking advantage of the troubles of Byzantium and the Balkan countries, by the end of the century they reached the Danube. As a result, Constantinople was surrounded on almost all sides. In 1357, the Turks captured Gallipoli, in 1361 - Adrianople, which became the center of Turkish possessions on the Balkan Peninsula. In 1368, Nissa (the suburban residence of the Byzantine emperors) submitted to Sultan Murad I, and the Ottomans were already under the walls of Constantinople.

In addition, there was the problem of the struggle between supporters and opponents of the union with the Catholic Church. For many Byzantine politicians, it was obvious that without the help of the West, the empire could not survive. Back in 1274, at the Council of Lyon, the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII promised the pope to seek reconciliation of the churches for political and economic reasons. True, his son, Emperor Andronicus II, convened a council of the Eastern Church, which rejected the decisions of the Council of Lyons. Then John Palaiologos went to Rome, where he solemnly accepted the faith according to the Latin rite, but received no help from the West. Supporters of the union with Rome were mostly politicians, or belonged to the intellectual elite. The open enemies of the union were the lower clergy. John VIII Palaiologos (Byzantine emperor in 1425-1448) believed that Constantinople could be saved only with the help of the West, so he tried to conclude a union with the Roman Church as soon as possible. In 1437, together with the patriarch and a delegation of Orthodox bishops, the Byzantine emperor went to Italy and spent more than two years there without a break, first in Ferrara, and then at the Ecumenical Council in Florence. At these meetings, both sides often reached an impasse and were ready to stop the negotiations. But, John forbade his bishops to leave the cathedral until a compromise decision was made. In the end, the Orthodox delegation was forced to yield to the Catholics on almost all major issues. On July 6, 1439, the Union of Florence was adopted, and the Eastern churches were reunited with the Latin. True, the union turned out to be fragile, after a few years many Orthodox hierarchs present at the Council began to openly deny their agreement with the union or say that the decisions of the Council were caused by bribery and threats from Catholics. As a result, the union was rejected by most of the Eastern churches. Most of the clergy and people did not accept this union. In 1444, the pope was able to organize a crusade against the Turks (the main force was the Hungarians), but near Varna the crusaders suffered a crushing defeat.

Disputes about the union took place against the backdrop of the country's economic decline. Constantinople at the end of the 14th century was a sad city, a city of decline and destruction. The loss of Anatolia deprived the capital of the empire of almost all agricultural land. The population of Constantinople, which in the XII century numbered up to 1 million people (together with the suburbs), fell to 100 thousand and continued to decline - by the time of the fall, there were about 50 thousand people in the city. The suburb on the Asian coast of the Bosporus was captured by the Turks. The suburb of Pera (Galata), on the other side of the Golden Horn, was a colony of Genoa. The city itself, surrounded by a wall of 14 miles, lost a number of quarters. In fact, the city has turned into several separate settlements, separated by vegetable gardens, gardens, abandoned parks, ruins of buildings. Many had their own walls, fences. The most populous villages were located along the banks of the Golden Horn. The richest quarter adjacent to the bay belonged to the Venetians. Nearby were the streets where people from the West lived - Florentines, Anconians, Ragusians, Catalans and Jews. But, moorings and bazaars were still full of merchants from Italian cities, Slavic and Muslim lands. Every year, pilgrims arrived in the city, mainly from Russia.

The last years before the fall of Constantinople, preparations for war

The last emperor of Byzantium was Constantine XI Palaiologos (who ruled from 1449-1453). Before becoming emperor, he was despot of the Morea, the Greek province of Byzantium. Constantine had a sound mind, was a good warrior and administrator. Possessed the gift of evoking the love and respect of his subjects, he was greeted in the capital with great joy. During the short years of his reign, he was engaged in preparing Constantinople for a siege, seeking help and alliance in the West and trying to calm the confusion caused by union with the Roman Church. He appointed Luka Notaras as his first minister and commander-in-chief of the fleet.

Sultan Mehmed II received the throne in 1451. He was a purposeful, energetic, intelligent person. Although it was initially believed that this was not a young man sparkling with talents, such an impression was formed on the first attempt to rule in 1444-1446, when his father Murad II (he handed over the throne to his son in order to move away from state affairs) had to return to the throne to solve the problems that appeared. problems. This calmed the European rulers, all their problems were enough. Already in the winter of 1451-1452. Sultan Mehmed ordered the construction of a fortress at the narrowest point of the Bosporus Strait, thereby cutting off Constantinople from the Black Sea. The Byzantines were confused - this was the first step towards the siege. An embassy was sent with a reminder of the oath of the Sultan, who promised to preserve the territorial integrity of Byzantium. The embassy was left unanswered. Constantine sent messengers with gifts and asked not to touch the Greek villages located on the Bosphorus. The Sultan ignored this mission as well. In June, a third embassy was sent - this time the Greeks were arrested and then beheaded. In fact, it was a declaration of war.

By the end of August 1452, the fortress of Bogaz-Kesen (“cutting the strait”, or “cutting the throat”) was built. Powerful guns were installed in the fortress and a ban was announced on passing the Bosphorus without inspection. Two Venetian ships were driven off and a third sunk. The crew was beheaded, and the captain was impaled - this dispelled all illusions about Mehmed's intentions. The actions of the Ottomans caused concern not only in Constantinople. The Venetians in the Byzantine capital owned a whole quarter, they had significant privileges and benefits from trade. It was clear that after the fall of Constantinople, the Turks would not stop; the possessions of Venice in Greece and the Aegean were under attack. The problem was that the Venetians were bogged down in a costly war in Lombardy. An alliance with Genoa was impossible; relations with Rome were strained. And I didn’t want to spoil relations with the Turks - the Venetians conducted profitable trade in the Ottoman ports. Venice allowed Constantine to recruit soldiers and sailors in Crete. In general, Venice remained neutral during this war.

Genoa found itself in roughly the same situation. Concern was caused by the fate of Pera and the Black Sea colonies. The Genoese, like the Venetians, showed flexibility. The government appealed to the Christian world to send aid to Constantinople, but they themselves did not provide such support. Private citizens were given the right to act at their own discretion. The administrations of Pera and the island of Chios were instructed to follow such policy towards the Turks as they thought best in the circumstances.

The Ragusans, the inhabitants of the city of Raguz (Dubrovnik), as well as the Venetians, have recently received confirmation of their privileges in Constantinople from the Byzantine emperor. But the Republic of Dubrovnik did not want to jeopardize its trade in the Ottoman ports either. In addition, the city-state had a small fleet and did not want to risk it if there was no broad coalition of Christian states.

Pope Nicholas V (Cap. catholic church from 1447 to 1455), having received a letter from Constantine agreeing to accept the union, he vainly turned to various sovereigns for help. There was no proper response to these calls. Only in October 1452, the papal legate to the emperor Isidore brought with him 200 archers hired in Naples. The problem of union with Rome again caused controversy and unrest in Constantinople. December 12, 1452 in the church of St. Sophia celebrated a solemn liturgy in the presence of the emperor and the entire court. It mentioned the names of the Pope, the Patriarch, and officially proclaimed the provisions of the Union of Florence. Most of the townspeople accepted this news with sullen passivity. Many hoped that if the city held out, the union could be rejected. But having paid this price for help, the Byzantine elite miscalculated - the ships with the soldiers of the Western states did not come to the aid of the dying empire.

At the end of January 1453, the issue of war was finally resolved. Turkish troops in Europe were ordered to attack the Byzantine cities in Thrace. The cities on the Black Sea surrendered without a fight and escaped the pogrom. Some cities on the coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara tried to defend themselves, and were destroyed. Part of the army invaded the Peloponnese and attacked the brothers of Emperor Constantine so that they could not come to the aid of the capital. The Sultan took into account the fact that a number of previous attempts to take Constantinople (by his predecessors) failed due to the lack of a fleet. The Byzantines had the opportunity to bring reinforcements and supplies by sea. In March, all the ships at the disposal of the Turks are pulled to Gallipoli. Some of the ships were new, built within the last few months. The Turkish fleet had 6 triremes (two-masted sailing and rowing ships, three rowers held one oar), 10 biremes (single-masted vessel, where there were two rowers on one oar), 15 galleys, about 75 fusta (light, high-speed vessels), 20 parandaria (heavy transport barges) and a lot of small sailing boats, boats. Suleiman Baltoglu was at the head of the Turkish fleet. The rowers and sailors were prisoners, criminals, slaves and some volunteers. At the end of March, the Turkish fleet passed through the Dardanelles into the Sea of ​​Marmara, causing horror among the Greeks and Italians. This was another blow to the Byzantine elite, they did not expect that the Turks would prepare such a significant naval force and be able to block the city from the sea.

At the same time, an army was being prepared in Thrace. Throughout the winter, gunsmiths tirelessly made various kinds, engineers created wall-beating and stone-throwing machines. A powerful shock fist was assembled from about 100 thousand people. Of these, 80 thousand were regular troops - cavalry and infantry, Janissaries (12 thousand). Approximately 20-25 thousand numbered irregular troops - militias, bashi-bazouks (irregular cavalry, "turretless" did not receive a salary and "rewarded" themselves with looting), rear units. The Sultan also paid much attention to artillery - the Hungarian master Urban cast several powerful cannons capable of sinking ships (using one of them they sank a Venetian ship) and destroying powerful fortifications. The largest of them was dragged by 60 bulls, and a team of several hundred people was assigned to it. The gun fired cores weighing approximately 1200 pounds (about 500 kg). During March, the huge army of the Sultan began to gradually move towards the Bosphorus. On April 5, Mehmed II himself arrived under the walls of Constantinople. The morale of the army was high, everyone believed in success and hoped for rich booty.

The people in Constantinople were crushed. The huge Turkish fleet in the Sea of ​​Marmara and strong enemy artillery only added to the anxiety. People recalled predictions about the fall of the empire and the coming of the Antichrist. But it cannot be said that the threat deprived all people of the will to resist. Throughout the winter, men and women, encouraged by the emperor, worked to clear the ditches and strengthen the walls. A fund for contingencies was created - the emperor, churches, monasteries and private individuals made investments in it. It should be noted that the problem was not the availability of money, but the lack of the required number of people, weapons (especially firearms), the problem of food. All weapons were collected in one place in order to distribute them to the most threatened areas if necessary.

There was no hope for outside help. Byzantium was supported only by some private individuals. Thus, the Venetian colony in Constantinople offered its assistance to the emperor. Two captains of the Venetian ships returning from the Black Sea - Gabriele Trevisano and Alviso Diedo, swore an oath to participate in the struggle. In total, the fleet that defended Constantinople consisted of 26 ships: 10 of them belonged to the Byzantines proper, 5 to the Venetians, 5 to the Genoese, 3 to the Cretans, 1 arrived from Catalonia, 1 from Ancona and 1 from Provence. Several noble Genoese arrived to fight for the Christian faith. For example, a volunteer from Genoa, Giovanni Giustiniani Longo, brought 700 soldiers with him. Giustiniani was known as an experienced military man, so he was appointed commander of the defense of the land walls by the emperor. In general, the Byzantine emperor, not including allies, had about 5-7 thousand soldiers. It should be noted that part of the population of the city left Constantinople before the siege began. Part of the Genoese - the colony of Pera and the Venetians remained neutral. On the night of February 26, seven ships - 1 from Venice and 6 from Crete left the Golden Horn, taking 700 Italians.

To be continued…

"Death of an Empire. Byzantine Lesson»- a publicistic film by the abbot of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery, Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov). The premiere took place on the state channel "Russia" on January 30, 2008. The host - Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) - in the first person gives his version of the collapse of the Byzantine Empire.

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Bulgarians, enemies of the Byzantine Empire

Date: 04/21/2013

Basil II put up the Byzantine cataphracts against the Bulgarian cavalry, and the Russ armed with axes against the Slavic spearmen. The armies of the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian kingdom had much in common in terms of military art, in all other respects they were the complete opposite of each other. For example, the rich literary heritage of Byzantium and numerous documents that have survived to this day contain more information about the Byzantine army than about any other medieval army. Bulgaria, on the other hand, left extremely few sources on the basis of which it would be possible to draw up a description of the armed forces of this country - it did not have any civil institutions and developed writing. The little that is known today about her army is gleaned from the written sources of Bulgaria's enemies - the Byzantines.

When the Bulgars arrived on the Danube in the 7th century, the men of this tribe were predominantly warriors. The Byzantines who fought with them noted the excellent training of the heavy Bulgar horsemen, who equally skillfully used bows, spears and swords. The horse was a sacred animal among the Bulgars - one who mistreated his horse could be put to death. During the reign of Simeon I, the army was still based on heavy cavalry, the number of which is estimated at 12,000-30,000 horsemen. The Bulgarians were known for their ability to fight at night (“they see in the dark as the bats”, wrote one chronicler), as well as the ferocity with which they rushed into pursuit as soon as the enemy began to retreat. "When they put their enemies to flight, they are not satisfied, like the Persians, Byzantines, and other peoples, with pursuing them at a reasonable distance and plundering their camp, but instead they do not weaken the pressure until the enemy has been completely destroyed." The Byzantine chronicler known as Pseudo-Simeon describes the Bulgarian cavalry as "armoured with iron" - apparently referring to mail or scale armor - and notes that the horsemen were armed with swords, spears and bows, as well as maces.

The infantry of Simeon's army probably consisted of the Slavs who inhabited the lands south of the Danube. It was a lightly armed troops, using round shields, and whose main weapon was a spear. However, by the time of the reign of Tsar Samuil, the process of assimilation had gone so far that there were practically no ethnic differences between the soldiers of the Bulgarian army. The Bulgarian method of warfare had two distinctive features. The most important was the skillful use of the terrain, especially the Balkan mountain passes. The Bulgarians had many strongholds in the mountains and had extensive experience in transmitting signals to the main forces of their army about the approach of enemy troops. The detachments of the main army of the Bulgarians received time to organize ambushes or to cut off the enemy's retreat. Each of these fighting methods was successfully used many times against Byzantine troops.

Another feature, which is repeatedly mentioned in Byzantine sources, was the use of a cavalry reserve, which could be brought into battle at a decisive moment. This cavalry attacked the enemy unexpectedly, even when he had already managed to break through the main Bulgarian positions. The use of this tactic led some eyewitnesses to believe that the Bulgarians deliberately undertook a feigned retreat in order to then overturn the enemy with a surprise cavalry attack. Although there are strong doubts that the Bulgarian troops had such a high discipline to be able to use such tactics, it must be recognized that the horse reserve was an important integral part army and constantly waited for the moment when it would be possible to unexpectedly attack the enemy.

Today, little is known about the command structure of the Bulgarian army. Sources report that during the time of Tsar Samuil, he himself led the center of his army, and both flanks were under the command of his two closest associates. Under Belasitsa, the Bulgarian army supposedly numbered 20,000 people, taking into account the strong reserve in its rear.
The Byzantine army of Basil II was one of the most effective in the Middle Ages. The basis of its power lay in the organization of the troops, which was the result of a long process begun in the 7th century, when the emperor Heraclius divided the territory of the empire in Anatolia into military provinces, or themes. Each of them was supposed to provide him with a certain number of trained and armed soldiers during the war.

Over time, this system was extended to other areas of the empire in order to strengthen the defense of the eastern borders of Byzantium from Muslim incursions. The system of forming provincial corps also began to be used on the western borders of the empire, and by the end of the 9th century it was already, most likely, universal. By the time of the death of Basil II in 1025, the entire Byzantine Empire, with the exception of the lands around Constantinople itself, was divided into themes. These districts were united four by four under the authority of the governor or strategos, who at the same time was also the commander of the provincial troops stationed in them. In some border areas, the command of the troops was assigned to special commanders - duks, who led the corps stationed in them (formed not only from local troops). Provincial corps were made up of both professional soldiers and local peasant militias, who received military service from states small land plots. Both the land and the obligation to serve were inherited from father to son. However, both professionals and militias received salaries. At that time, the troops of the Eastern Themes formed the basis of the army, and the troops of the Anatolian Theme were the elite.

Constantinople and its environs were not included in any of the themes. For the defense of the capital, in it - or close enough to it, as a rule, in Thrace and Bithynia - was the main field army. These regiments formed the elite troops of the empire - the tagmata. The cavalry joined the emperor during military campaigns or maneuvers to defend the capital when it was threatened, and acted in conjunction with the infantry, which usually formed the garrison of the city. These troops acted in the front ranks of the Byzantine army fighting the Arabs and Bulgarians in the 9th and 10th centuries. Tagmata consisted of professional soldiers - mercenaries, often foreign, who served in the army long time. Tagmata detachments were also stationed in the provinces, where they were under the command of their officers, and not of local douks or stratigs. Starting from the reign of Basil II, the 11th century was characterized by an increase in the tagmata units directly subordinate to the central government, and, accordingly, a decrease in the number of provincial contingents. The tagmata consisted mainly of cavalry, and the best troops in the themes were also mounted. Byzantine cavalry, often heavily armored, were called cataphracts, with their horses also being armored. Byzantine cavalry used different kinds weapons, including two types of swords, as well as specially trained archers. For close combat, horsemen preferred the mace, some of which were so effective that they apparently could pierce the skull of an opponent's horse.

In Byzantium, there was another type of troops - the personal guard of the emperor. These units, as a rule, were very different from all other units of the Byzantine army. The emperor needed elite warriors who would be unconditionally devoted to him, and who would not be influenced in any way by politics or family ties. Therefore, the personal guard of the emperor almost entirely consisted of foreign mercenaries, that is, people who were absolutely indifferent to the activities of any of the political and religious groups of Byzantium. It included Macedonians, Khazars, Georgians and even Arabs who served in these units in the 8th and 9th centuries. The most famous division of the imperial guard was formed by Vasily II from 6,000 Russian soldiers who were sent to him by Prince Vladimir of Kyiv - it became known as the Varangian Guard. The word "Varangian", as some historians believe, comes from the ancient Germanic wara (oath, oath) and implies that they really proved themselves to be loyal defenders of the emperors who hired them. The presence on the battlefield of these warriors armed with axes meant that the emperor himself was there. The guard, which consisted under Vasily of the Varangians, was fundamentally different both in quality and in fact from the elite units, which consisted of foreign mercenaries, under the earlier emperors.

The Varangian regiment participated in all the campaigns of Vasily II, starting from the civil war, during which he was actually formed. At Chrysopolis, the Varangians surprised the rebel troops under the command of Kalokir Delphinus, general of Vardas Foki, while they were feasting. Many of them were killed, and the rest were put to flight. A few weeks later, the Varangians took part in the battle of Abydos, during which the troops of Phocas were finally defeated, and he himself was killed. accompanied Basil II in campaigns against Tsar Samuil in Greece and Macedonia. Written sources testify that the guards were involved in these campaigns. This is also confirmed by a large number of Norwegian and Russian weapons of the 11th century, discovered by archaeologists in Bulgaria. When, after the battle of Belasitsa, Basil finally captured the capital of Samuil in 1018, he divided the prisoners into three groups: one third for himself, the second for the Byzantine soldiers, and the third for the Varangians, which testified to how highly he valued them.

In the same year, the Lombard aristocrat Melus of Bari, who rebelled against Byzantine rule in southern Italy, fought several battles with the imperial army. At Cannes, the captain of Italy, Vasily Voioan, in whose army there were Varangians, met with the army of Melus, on the side of which mercenaries led by the Norman Gilbert Bouate acted. The Lombards who entered the battle with the Varangians were overthrown and defeated, and Gilbert and many of his Normans were killed. In 1021, Basil led a second expedition to Georgia, reporting on which the chroniclers mention the cruelty of the Rus, who were ordered to devastate the countryside and kill the locals. residents, and then they took part in the last decisive battle with the Georgians and Abasgians. The Varangians were paid very well, and after a while a person who wanted to join the regiment had to fork out for a fairly decent amount in gold. A candidate for entry into the Varangian regiment, who successfully made the long and dangerous journey to Constantinople, carrying a decent amount of cash, probably also had to pass a special selection in order to meet the high requirements for recruits. Warriors who failed to enter the guards could enter other mercenary units.

The high payment for admission to the regiment was justified by the opportunities on the way to obtaining a decent fortune in the future, since the salary paid to the Varangians and additional cash receipts turned out to be much higher than what they received in the Byzantine army. All the soldiers who entered the service - including detachments of foreign mercenaries and the Varangian Guard - were entered into special scrolls compiled by a special department of the imperial government. Their salary of 30 or 40 nomisms a month was far more than what a good artisan or regular soldier could earn in a year. A nomism, a coin containing about five grams of pure gold, retained its value over the centuries. It was used as an international currency and circulated in regions as far away as Scandinavia. In addition to salaries, the Varangians had many other sources of income - they robbed the local population and captured trophies. In addition to the usual payments upon accession to the throne of the new emperor, the guardsmen traditionally received the right to "raid" into his chambers.

One of the Varangians - Harald Gardrada - accumulated such a large personal fortune that, upon his return from Byzantium, he was able to marry the daughter of the Grand Duke of Kiev Yaroslav the Wise. After that, he returned to his homeland in Norway and used his amazing wealth to finance a successful struggle for the throne, and then an invasion of England. References to the athletic physique, appearance and militancy of the Varangians are often found in Byzantine sources. lived in early XII century chronicler Skylitsa reports that the Varangians wore lush beards, mustaches and long thick hair. One of the chronicles of the middle of the 11th century contains a description of a warrior of the Varangian guard: “Next to them were foreign mercenaries, Taurus-Scythians - terrible and huge. The warriors were blue-eyed and had a natural complexion ... the Varangians fought like crazy, as if blazing with anger ... they did not pay attention to their wounds ... ". The first Varangians who arrived to help Vasily had their own weapons and equipment, however soon the Varangian Guard began to receive armor and weapons from the imperial arsenals, although, according to tradition, they used only personal swords. The Varangians also used the usual weapons of the Byzantine warrior - with the exception that they preferred single-edged battle axes with a long handle.

Historians know a lot about the armament and organization of the Byzantine army, but little information has been preserved about how it fought, how combat training was carried out and how the Byzantines used one or another weapon they had. The Varangians, for example, had shields, but how did they use them on the battlefield if their favorite weapon was a huge ax that had to be held with both hands? Perhaps some warriors used axes, while others covered their comrades with shields? It is known that the Vikings of that time, who fought in Western Europe, used the "wall of shields" as the main battle formation, but there is no convincing evidence that the Varangian Guard acted in the same way. A similar situation developed with information about the cavalry. It is not known exactly which part of the Byzantine cavalry used bows and which used spears, there is no information about how the horsemen maneuvered on the battlefield. Perhaps they started with archery at the enemy, and then moved on to the attack. It is possible that at first a massive attack was carried out, similar to those carried out by the European knights, and the Byzantine cavalry could also use a more free formation.

BYZANTINE EMPIRE
the eastern part of the Roman Empire, which survived the fall of Rome and the loss of the western provinces at the beginning of the Middle Ages and existed until the conquest of Constantinople (the capital of the Byzantine Empire) by the Turks in 1453. There was a period when it stretched from Spain to Persia, but it was always based on Greece and other Balkan lands and Asia Minor. Until the middle of the 11th century. Byzantium was the most powerful power in the Christian world, and Constantinople was the largest city in Europe. The Byzantines called their country the "Empire of the Romans" (Greek "Roma" - Roman), but it was extremely different from the Roman Empire of Augustus. Byzantium retained the Roman system of government and laws, but in terms of language and culture it was a Greek state, had an oriental-type monarchy, and most importantly, zealously preserved the Christian faith. For centuries, the Byzantine Empire acted as the guardian of Greek culture; thanks to it, the Slavic peoples joined the civilization.
EARLY BYZANTIA
Founding of Constantinople. It would be legitimate to start the history of Byzantium from the moment of the fall of Rome. However, two important decisions that determined the character of this medieval empire - the conversion to Christianity and the founding of Constantinople - were taken by Emperor Constantine I the Great (reigned 324-337) about a century and a half before the fall of the Roman Empire. Diocletian (284-305), who ruled shortly before Constantine, reorganized the administration of the empire, dividing it into East and West. After the death of Diocletian, the empire was plunged into a civil war, when several applicants fought for the throne at once, among whom was Constantine. In 313, Constantine, having defeated his opponents in the West, retreated from the pagan gods with whom Rome was inextricably linked, and declared himself an adherent of Christianity. All of his successors, except one, were Christians, and with the support of the imperial power, Christianity soon spread throughout the empire. Another important decision of Constantine, taken by him after he became the sole emperor, having overthrown his rival in the East, was the election as the new capital of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, founded by Greek sailors on the European coast of the Bosporus in 659 (or 668) BC . Constantine expanded Byzantium, erected new fortifications, rebuilt it according to the Roman model and gave the city a new name. The official proclamation of the new capital took place in 330 AD.
Fall of the Western Provinces. It seemed that the administrative and financial policies of Constantine breathed new life to a unified Roman Empire. But the period of unity and prosperity did not last long. The last emperor who owned the entire empire was Theodosius I the Great (reigned 379-395). After his death, the empire was finally divided into East and West. Throughout the 5th c. at the head of the Western Roman Empire were mediocre emperors who were unable to protect their provinces from barbarian raids. In addition, the welfare of the western part of the empire has always depended on the welfare of its eastern part. With the division of the empire, the West was cut off from its main sources of income. Gradually, the western provinces disintegrated into several barbarian states, and in 476 the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire was deposed.
The struggle to save the Eastern Roman Empire. Constantinople and the East as a whole were in a better position. The Eastern Roman Empire was led by more able rulers, its borders were not so long and better fortified, and it was also richer and had a larger population. On the eastern borders, Constantinople retained its possessions during the endless wars with Persia that began in Roman times. However, the Eastern Roman Empire also faced a number of serious problems. The cultural traditions of the Middle Eastern provinces of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt were very different from those of the Greeks and Romans, and the population of these territories regarded the domination of the empire with disgust. Separatism was closely connected with ecclesiastical strife: in Antioch (Syria) and Alexandria (Egypt) every now and then new teachings appeared, which the Ecumenical Councils condemned as heretical. Of all the heresies, Monophysitism has been the most troubling. Constantinople's attempts to reach a compromise between orthodox and Monophysite teachings led to a schism between the Roman and Eastern churches. The split was overcome after the accession to the throne of Justin I (reigned 518-527), an unshakable orthodox, but Rome and Constantinople continued to drift apart in doctrine, worship and church organization. First of all, Constantinople objected to the pope's claim to supremacy over the entire Christian church. Discord arose from time to time, which led in 1054 to the final split (schism) of the Christian Church into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox.

Justinian I. A large-scale attempt to regain power over the West was made by Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527-565). Military campaigns led by outstanding commanders - Belisarius, and later Narses - ended with great success. Italy, North Africa and southern Spain were conquered. However, in the Balkans, the invasion of the Slavic tribes, crossing the Danube and devastating the Byzantine lands, could not be stopped. In addition, Justinian had to content himself with a tenuous truce with Persia, following a long and inconclusive war. In the empire itself, Justinian maintained the traditions of imperial luxury. Under him, such masterpieces of architecture as the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Constantinople and the church of San Vitale in Ravenna, aqueducts, baths, public buildings in cities and border fortresses were also built. Perhaps Justinian's most significant achievement was the codification of Roman law. Although in Byzantium itself it was later replaced by other codes, in the West, Roman law formed the basis of the laws of France, Germany and Italy. Justinian had a wonderful assistant - his wife Theodora. Once she saved the crown for him by persuading Justinian to stay in the capital during the riots. Theodora supported the Monophysites. Under her influence, and also faced with the political realities of the rise of the Monophysites in the east, Justinian was forced to move away from the orthodox position he had held in the early period of his reign. Justinian is unanimously recognized as one of the greatest Byzantine emperors. He restored cultural ties between Rome and Constantinople and prolonged the period of prosperity for the North African region by 100 years. During his reign, the empire reached its maximum size.

FORMATION OF MEDIEVAL BYZANTH
A century and a half after Justinian, the face of the empire changed completely. She lost most of her possessions, and the remaining provinces were reorganized. Greek replaced Latin as the official language. Even the national composition of the empire changed. By the 8th c. the country effectively ceased to be the Eastern Roman Empire and became the medieval Byzantine Empire. Military setbacks began shortly after Justinian's death. The Germanic tribes of the Lombards invaded northern Italy and established duchies in their own right further south. Byzantium retained only Sicily, the extreme south of the Apennine Peninsula (Bruttius and Calabria, i.e. "sock" and "heel"), as well as the corridor between Rome and Ravenna, the seat of the imperial governor. The northern borders of the empire were threatened by the Asian nomadic tribes of the Avars. Slavs poured into the Balkans, who began to populate these lands, establishing their principalities on them.
Heraclius. Together with the attacks of the barbarians, the empire had to endure a devastating war with Persia. Detachments of Persian troops invaded Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Asia Minor. Constantinople was almost taken. In 610 Heraclius (reigned 610-641), the son of the governor of North Africa, arrived in Constantinople and took power into his own hands. He devoted the first decade of his reign to raising a crushed empire from ruins. He raised the morale of the army, reorganized it, found allies in the Caucasus, and defeated the Persians in several brilliant campaigns. By 628, Persia was finally defeated, and peace reigned on the eastern borders of the empire. However, the war undermined the strength of the empire. In 633, the Arabs, who converted to Islam and were full of religious enthusiasm, launched an invasion of the Middle East. Egypt, Palestine and Syria, which Heraclius managed to return to the empire, were again lost by 641 (the year of his death). By the end of the century, the empire had lost North Africa. Now Byzantium consisted of small territories in Italy, constantly devastated by the Slavs of the Balkan provinces, and in Asia Minor, now and then suffering from the raids of the Arabs. Other emperors of the Heraclius dynasty fought off the enemies, as far as it was in their power. The provinces were reorganized, and administrative and military policies were radically revised. The Slavs were allocated state lands for settlement, which made them subjects of the empire. With the help of skillful diplomacy, Byzantium managed to make allies and trading partners of the Turkic-speaking tribes of the Khazars, who inhabited the lands north of the Caspian Sea.
Isaurian (Syrian) dynasty. The policy of the emperors of the Heraclius dynasty was continued by Leo III (ruled 717-741), the founder of the Isaurian dynasty. The Isaurian emperors were active and successful rulers. They could not return the lands occupied by the Slavs, but at least they managed to keep the Slavs out of Constantinople. In Asia Minor, they fought off the Arabs, driving them out of these territories. However, they failed in Italy. Forced to repel the raids of the Slavs and Arabs, absorbed in ecclesiastical disputes, they had neither the time nor the means to protect the corridor connecting Rome with Ravenna from the aggressive Lombards. Around 751, the Byzantine governor (exarch) surrendered Ravenna to the Lombards. The Pope, who himself was attacked by the Lombards, received help from the Franks from the north, and in 800 Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as emperor in Rome. The Byzantines considered this act of the pope an infringement on their rights and in the future did not recognize the legitimacy of the Western emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. The Isaurian emperors were especially famous for their role in the turbulent events around iconoclasm. Iconoclasm is a heretical religious movement against the worship of icons, images of Jesus Christ and saints. He was supported by broad sections of society and many clergy, especially in Asia Minor. However, it went against ancient church customs and was condemned by the Roman church. In the end, after the cathedral restored the veneration of icons in 843, the movement was suppressed.
THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MEDIEVAL BYZANTINE
Amorian and Macedonian dynasties. The Isaurian dynasty was replaced by the short-lived Amorian, or Phrygian, dynasty (820-867), whose founder was Michael II, formerly a simple soldier from the city of Amorius in Asia Minor. Under Emperor Michael III (reigned 842-867), the empire entered into a period of new expansion that lasted almost 200 years (842-1025), which made us recall its former power. However, the Amorian dynasty was overthrown by Basil, the harsh and ambitious favorite of the emperor. A peasant, in the recent past a groom, Vasily rose to the post of great chamberlain, after which he achieved the execution of Varda, the powerful uncle of Michael III, and a year later he deposed and executed Michael himself. By origin, Basil was an Armenian, but was born in Macedonia (northern Greece), and therefore the dynasty he founded was called the Macedonian. The Macedonian dynasty was very popular and lasted until 1056. Basil I (reigned 867-886) was an energetic and gifted ruler. His administrative transformations were continued by Leo VI the Wise (ruled 886-912), during whose reign the empire suffered setbacks: the Arabs captured Sicily, the Russian prince Oleg approached Constantinople. Leo's son Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (ruled 913-959) focused on literary activity, and military affairs were managed by the co-ruler, naval commander Roman I Lakapin (ruled 913-944). The son of Constantine Roman II (reigned in 959-963) died four years after accession to the throne, leaving two young sons, until the age of majority of which the outstanding military leaders Nikephoros II Phocas (in 963-969) and John I Tzimisces (in 969) ruled as co-emperors -976). Having reached adulthood, the son of Roman II ascended the throne under the name of Basil II (reigned 976-1025).

Successes in the fight against the Arabs. The military successes of Byzantium under the emperors of the Macedonian dynasty took place mainly on two fronts: in the struggle against the Arabs in the east, and against the Bulgarians in the north. The advance of the Arabs into the interior regions of Asia Minor was stopped by the Isaurian emperors in the 8th century, however, the Muslims fortified themselves in the southeastern mountainous regions, from where they now and then staged raids on Christian regions. The Arab fleet dominated the Mediterranean. Sicily and Crete were captured, and Cyprus was under the complete control of the Muslims. In the middle of the 9th c. the situation has changed. Under pressure from the large landowners of Asia Minor, who wanted to push the borders of the state to the east and expand their possessions at the expense of new lands, the Byzantine army invaded Armenia and Mesopotamia, established control over the Taurus Mountains and captured Syria and even Palestine. Equally important was the annexation of two islands - Crete and Cyprus.
War against the Bulgarians. In the Balkans, the main problem in the period from 842 to 1025 was the threat from the First Bulgarian Kingdom, which took shape in the second half of the 9th century. states of the Slavs and Turkic-speaking Proto-Bulgarians. In 865, the Bulgarian prince Boris I introduced Christianity among the people subject to him. However, the adoption of Christianity in no way cooled the ambitious plans of the Bulgarian rulers. The son of Boris, Tsar Simeon, invaded Byzantium several times, trying to capture Constantinople. His plans were violated by the naval commander Roman Lekapin, who later became co-emperor. Nevertheless, the empire had to be on the alert. At a critical moment, Nikephoros II, who focused on conquests in the east, turned to the Kiev prince Svyatoslav for help in pacifying the Bulgarians, but found that the Russians themselves were striving to take the place of the Bulgarians. In 971, John I finally defeated and expelled the Russians and annexed the eastern part of Bulgaria to the empire. Bulgaria was finally conquered by his successor Vasily II during several fierce campaigns against the Bulgarian king Samuil, who created a state on the territory of Macedonia with the capital in the city of Ohrid (modern Ohrid). After Basil occupied Ohrid in 1018, Bulgaria was divided into several provinces as part of the Byzantine Empire, and Basil received the nickname Bulgar Slayer.
Italy. The situation in Italy, as had happened before, was less favorable. Under Alberic, "princeps and senator of all the Romans," papal power was unaffected by Byzantium, but from 961 control of the popes passed to the German king Otto I of the Saxon dynasty, who in 962 was crowned in Rome as Holy Roman Emperor. Otto sought to conclude an alliance with Constantinople, and after two unsuccessful embassies in 972, he still managed to get the hand of Theophano, a relative of Emperor John I, for his son Otto II.
Internal achievements of the empire. During the reign of the Macedonian dynasty, the Byzantines achieved impressive success. Literature and art flourished. Basil I created a commission tasked with revising the legislation and formulating it in Greek. Under Basil's son Leo VI, a collection of laws was compiled, known as the Basilicas, partly based on the code of Justinian and in fact replacing it.
Missionary. No less important in this period of development of the country was missionary activity. It was started by Cyril and Methodius, who, as preachers of Christianity among the Slavs, reached Moravia itself (although in the end the region ended up in the sphere of influence of the Catholic Church). The Balkan Slavs who lived in the neighborhood of Byzantium adopted Orthodoxy, although this did not go without a short quarrel with Rome, when the cunning and unprincipled Bulgarian prince Boris, seeking privileges for the newly created church, put either Rome or Constantinople. The Slavs received the right to hold services in their native language (Old Church Slavonic). Slavs and Greeks jointly trained priests and monks and translated religious literature from Greek. About a hundred years later, in 989, the church had another success when Kyiv prince Vladimir converted to Christianity and established close ties between Kievan Rus and its new Christian church with Byzantium. This union was sealed by the marriage of Vasily's sister Anna and Prince Vladimir.
Patriarchy of Photius. In the last years of the Amorian dynasty and the first years of the Macedonian dynasty, Christian unity was undermined by a major conflict with Rome in connection with the appointment of Photius, a layman of great learning, as Patriarch of Constantinople. In 863, the pope declared the appointment null and void, and in response, in 867, a church council in Constantinople announced the removal of the pope.
DECLINE OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
The collapse of the 11th century After the death of Basil II, Byzantium entered into a period of reign of mediocre emperors that lasted until 1081. At this time, an external threat loomed over the country, which eventually led to the loss of most of the territory by the empire. From the north, the Turkic-speaking nomadic tribes of the Pechenegs advanced, devastating the lands south of the Danube. But far more devastating for the empire were the losses suffered in Italy and Asia Minor. Beginning in 1016, the Normans rushed to southern Italy in search of fortune, serving as mercenaries in endless petty wars. In the second half of the century, they began to wage wars of conquest under the leadership of the ambitious Robert Guiscard and very quickly took possession of all the south of Italy and expelled the Arabs from Sicily. In 1071, Robert Guiscard occupied the last remaining Byzantine fortresses in southern Italy and, having crossed the Adriatic Sea, invaded Greece. Meanwhile, the raids of the Turkic tribes on Asia Minor became more frequent. By the middle of the century, Southwestern Asia was captured by the armies of the Seljuk khans, who in 1055 conquered the weakened Baghdad Caliphate. In 1071, the Seljuk ruler Alp-Arslan defeated the Byzantine army led by Emperor Roman IV Diogenes at the Battle of Manzikert in Armenia. After this defeat, Byzantium was never able to recover, and the weakness of the central government led to the fact that the Turks poured into Asia Minor. The Seljuks created a Muslim state here, known as the Rum ("Roman") Sultanate, with its capital in Iconium (modern Konya). At one time, young Byzantium managed to survive the invasions of Arabs and Slavs into Asia Minor and Greece. To the collapse of the 11th century. gave special reasons that had nothing to do with the onslaught of the Normans and Turks. The history of Byzantium between 1025 and 1081 is marked by the reign of exceptionally weak emperors and the ruinous strife between the civil bureaucracy in Constantinople and the military landed aristocracy in the provinces. After the death of Basil II, the throne passed first to his mediocre brother Constantine VIII (ruled 1025-1028), and then to his two elderly nieces, Zoe (ruled 1028-1050) and Theodora (1055-1056), the last representatives of the Macedonian dynasty. Empress Zoe was not lucky with three husbands and an adopted son, who did not stay in power for long, but nevertheless devastated the imperial treasury. After Theodora's death, Byzantine politics came under the control of a party headed by the powerful Duca family.

The Komnenos dynasty. The further decline of the empire was temporarily suspended with the coming to power of a representative of the military aristocracy, Alexei I Komnenos (1081-1118). The Komnenos dynasty ruled until 1185. Alexei did not have the strength to expel the Seljuks from Asia Minor, but at least he managed to conclude an agreement with them that stabilized the situation. After that, he began to fight with the Normans. First of all, Alexei tried to use all his military resources, and also attracted mercenaries from the Seljuks. In addition, at the cost of significant trading privileges, he managed to buy the support of Venice with its fleet. So he managed to restrain the ambitious Robert Guiscard, who was entrenched in Greece (d. 1085). Having stopped the advance of the Normans, Alexei again took up the Seljuks. But here he was seriously hampered by the crusader movement that had begun in the west. He hoped that mercenaries would serve in his army during campaigns in Asia Minor. But the 1st crusade, which began in 1096, pursued goals that differed from those outlined by Alexei. The crusaders saw their task as simply driving the infidels out of Christian holy places, in particular from Jerusalem, while they often ravaged the provinces of Byzantium itself. As a result of the 1st crusade, the crusaders created new states on the territory of the former Byzantine provinces of Syria and Palestine, which, however, did not last long. The influx of crusaders into the eastern Mediterranean weakened the position of Byzantium. The history of Byzantium under Komnenos can be characterized as a period not of rebirth, but of survival. Byzantine diplomacy, which has always been considered the greatest asset of the empire, succeeded in playing off the crusader states in Syria, the strengthening Balkan states, Hungary, Venice and other Italian cities, as well as the Norman Sicilian kingdom. The same policy was applied to various Islamic states who were sworn enemies. Inside the country, the policy of the Komnenos led to the strengthening of large landlords at the expense of weakening the central government. As a reward for military service, the provincial nobility received huge possessions. Even the power of the Komnenos could not stop the slide of the state towards feudal relations and compensate for the loss of income. Financial difficulties were exacerbated by the reduction in revenue from customs duties in the port of Constantinople. After three prominent rulers, Alexei I, John II and Manuel I, in 1180-1185 weak representatives of the Komnenos dynasty came to power, the last of which was Andronicus I Komnenos (reigned 1183-1185), who made an unsuccessful attempt to strengthen the central power. In 1185, Isaac II (reigned 1185-1195), the first of the four emperors of the Angel dynasty, seized the throne. The Angels lacked both the means and the strength of character to prevent the political collapse of the empire or to oppose the West. In 1186 Bulgaria regained its independence, and in 1204 a crushing blow fell upon Constantinople from the west.
4th crusade. From 1095 to 1195, three waves of crusaders passed through the territory of Byzantium, who repeatedly looted here. Therefore, every time the Byzantine emperors were in a hurry to send them out of the empire as soon as possible. Under the Komnenos, Venetian merchants received trade concessions in Constantinople; very soon most of the foreign trade passed to them from the owners. After the accession to the throne of Andronicus Komnenos in 1183, Italian concessions were withdrawn, and Italian merchants were either killed by a mob or sold into slavery. However, the emperors from the dynasty of Angels who came to power after Andronicus were forced to restore trade privileges. The 3rd Crusade (1187-1192) turned out to be a complete failure: the Western barons were completely unable to regain control over Palestine and Syria, which were conquered during the 1st Crusade, but lost after the 2nd Crusade. Pious Europeans cast envious glances at the Christian relics collected in Constantinople. Finally, after 1054, a clear schism emerged between the Greek and Roman churches. Of course, the popes never directly called for the Christians to storm the Christian city, but they sought to use the situation in order to establish direct control over the Greek church. Eventually, the crusaders turned their weapons against Constantinople. The pretext for the attack was the removal of Isaac II Angel by his brother Alexei III. Isaac's son fled to Venice, where he promised the aged Doge Enrico Dandolo money, assistance to the crusaders, and the union of the Greek and Roman churches in exchange for support from the Venetians in restoring his father's power. The 4th crusade, organized by Venice with the support of the French military, was turned against the Byzantine Empire. The crusaders landed at Constantinople, meeting only token resistance. Alexei III, who usurped power, fled, Isaac became emperor again, and his son was crowned as co-emperor Alexei IV. As a result of the outbreak of a popular uprising, a change of power took place, the aged Isaac died, and his son was killed in the prison where he was imprisoned. Enraged crusaders in April 1204 took Constantinople by storm (for the first time since its founding) and betrayed the city to plunder and destruction, after which they created a feudal state here, the Latin Empire, headed by Baldwin I of Flanders. Byzantine lands were divided into fiefs and transferred to the French barons. However, the Byzantine princes managed to maintain control over three regions: the Despotate of Epirus in northwestern Greece, the Empire of Nicaea in Asia Minor, and the Empire of Trebizond on the southeastern coast of the Black Sea.
NEW RISE AND FINAL COLLAPSE
Restoration of Byzantium. The power of the Latins in the area Aegean Sea was, generally speaking, not very strong. Epirus, the Empire of Nicaea, and Bulgaria vied with the Latin Empire and with each other, making attempts by military and diplomatic means to regain control of Constantinople and drive out the western feudal lords who had entrenched themselves in various parts of Greece, in the Balkans and in the Aegean Sea. The Empire of Nicaea became the winner in the struggle for Constantinople. July 15, 1261 Constantinople surrendered without resistance to Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. However, the possessions of the Latin feudal lords in Greece turned out to be more stable, and the Byzantines did not succeed in putting an end to them. The Byzantine dynasty of Palaiologos, which won the battle, ruled Constantinople until its fall in 1453. The empire's possessions were significantly reduced, partly as a result of invasions from the west, partly as a result of the unstable situation in Asia Minor, in which in the middle of the 13th century. the Mongols invaded. Later, most of it ended up in the hands of small Turkic beyliks (principalities). Greece was dominated by Spanish mercenaries from the Catalan Company, which one of the Palaiologos invited to fight the Turks. Within the significantly reduced borders of the empire split into parts, the Palaiologos dynasty in the 14th century. torn apart by civil unrest and strife on religious grounds. The imperial power turned out to be weakened and reduced to supremacy over a system of semi-feudal appanages: instead of being controlled by governors responsible to the central government, the lands were transferred to members of the imperial family. The financial resources of the empire were so depleted that the emperors were largely dependent on loans provided by Venice and Genoa, or on the appropriation of wealth in private hands, both secular and ecclesiastical. Most of the trade in the empire was controlled by Venice and Genoa. At the end of the Middle Ages, the Byzantine church was significantly strengthened, and its tough opposition to the Roman church was one of the reasons why the Byzantine emperors failed to obtain military assistance from the West.

Fall of Byzantium. At the end of the Middle Ages, the power of the Ottomans increased, who initially ruled in a small Turkish udzha (border inheritance), only 160 km away from Constantinople. During the 14th century The Ottoman state took over all other Turkish regions in Asia Minor and penetrated into the Balkans, formerly belonging to the Byzantine Empire. A wise internal policy of consolidation, together with military superiority, ensured the dominance of the Ottoman sovereigns over their strife-torn Christian opponents. By 1400, only the cities of Constantinople and Thessaloniki, plus small enclaves in southern Greece, remained from the Byzantine Empire. During the last 40 years of its existence, Byzantium was actually a vassal of the Ottomans. She was forced to supply recruits to the Ottoman army, and the Byzantine emperor had to personally appear at the call of the sultans. Manuel II (reigned 1391-1425), one of the brilliant representatives of Greek culture and Roman imperial tradition, visited the capitals of European states in a vain attempt to secure military assistance against the Ottomans. On May 29, 1453, Constantinople was taken by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, while the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, fell in battle. Athens and the Peloponnese held out for several more years, Trebizond fell in 1461. The Turks renamed Constantinople Istanbul and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

GOVERNMENT
Emperor. Throughout the Middle Ages, the tradition of monarchical power, inherited by Byzantium from the Hellenistic monarchies and imperial Rome, was not interrupted. The whole Byzantine system of government was based on the belief that the emperor was God's chosen one, his vicegerent on Earth, and that imperial power was a reflection in time and space of God's supreme power. In addition, Byzantium believed that its "Roman" empire had the right to universal power: in accordance with a widely spread legend, all sovereigns in the world formed a single "royal family", headed by the Byzantine emperor. The inevitable consequence was an autocratic form of government. Emperor, from the 7th c. who bore the title of "basileus" (or "basileus"), single-handedly determined the internal and foreign policy country. He was the supreme legislator, ruler, protector of the church, and commander in chief. Theoretically, the emperor was elected by the senate, the people and the army. However, in practice, the decisive vote belonged either to a powerful party of the aristocracy, or, which happened much more often, to the army. The people vigorously approved the decision, and the elected emperor was crowned king by the Patriarch of Constantinople. The emperor, as the representative of Jesus Christ on earth, had a special duty to protect the church. Church and state in Byzantium were closely connected with each other. Their relationship is often defined by the term "caesaropapism". However, this term, implying the subordination of the church to the state or emperor, is somewhat misleading: in fact, it was about interdependence, not subordination. The emperor was not the head of the church, he did not have the right to perform the religious duties of a clergyman. However, the court religious ceremonial was closely connected with worship. There were certain mechanisms that supported the stability of imperial power. Often children were crowned immediately after birth, which ensured the continuity of the dynasty. If a child or an incapable ruler became emperor, it was customary to crown junior emperors, or co-rulers, who might or might not belong to the ruling dynasty. Sometimes commanders or naval commanders became co-rulers, who first acquired control over the state, and then legitimized their position, for example, through marriage. This is how the naval commander Roman I Lekapin and the commander Nicephorus II Phocas (reigned 963-969) came to power. In this way, the most important feature Byzantine system of government was a strict succession of dynasties. There were sometimes periods of bloody struggle for the throne, civil wars and mismanagement, but they did not last long.
Right. Byzantine legislation was given a decisive impetus by Roman law, although traces of both Christian and Middle Eastern influences are clearly felt. Legislative power belonged to the emperor: changes in laws were usually introduced by imperial edicts. Legal commissions have been set up from time to time to codify and revise existing laws. Older codices were in Latin, the most famous of them being Justinian's Digests (533) with additions (Novels). Obviously Byzantine in character was the collection of laws of the Basilica compiled in Greek, work on which began in the 9th century. under Basil I. Up to last stage In the history of the country, the church had very little influence on the law. Basilicas even canceled some of the privileges received by the church in the 8th century. However, gradually the influence of the church increased. In the 14-15 centuries. both laity and clergy were already placed at the head of the courts. The spheres of activity of church and state overlapped to a large extent from the very beginning. Imperial codes contained provisions relating to religion. The Code of Justinian, for example, included rules of conduct in monastic communities and even tried to define goals monastic life. The emperor, like the patriarch, was responsible for the proper administration of the church, and only secular power had the means to maintain discipline and carry out punishments, whether in church or in secular life.
Control system. The administrative and legal system of Byzantium was inherited from the late Roman Empire. In general, the organs of the central government - the imperial court, the treasury, the court and the secretariat - functioned separately. Each of them was headed by several dignitaries directly responsible to the emperor, which reduced the danger of the appearance of too strong ministers. In addition to actual positions, there was an elaborate system of ranks. Some were assigned to officials, others were purely honorary. Each title corresponded to a certain uniform worn on official occasions; the emperor personally paid the official an annual remuneration. In the provinces, the Roman administrative system was changed. In the late Roman Empire, the civil and military administration of the provinces was separated. However, since the 7th century, in connection with the needs of defense and territorial concessions to the Slavs and Arabs, both military and civil power in the provinces was concentrated in one hand. The new administrative-territorial units were called themes (a military term for an army corps). Themes were often named after the corps based in them. For example, the Fem Bukelaria got its name from the Bukelaria Regiment. The system of themes first appeared in Asia Minor. Gradually, during the 8th-9th centuries, the system of local government in the Byzantine possessions in Europe was reorganized in a similar way.
Army and Navy. The most important task of the empire, which almost continuously waged wars, was the organization of defense. The regular military corps in the provinces were subordinate to the military leaders, at the same time - to the governors of the provinces. These corps, in turn, were divided into smaller units, the commanders of which were responsible both for the corresponding army unit and for the order in the given territory. Along the borders, regular border posts were created, headed by the so-called. "Akrits", who have become virtually undivided masters of the borders in a constant struggle with the Arabs and Slavs. Epic poems and ballads about the hero Digenis Akrita, "the lord of the border, born of two peoples," glorified and glorified this life. The best troops were stationed in Constantinople and at a distance of 50 km from the city, along the Great Wall that protected the capital. The Imperial Guard, which had special privileges and salaries, attracted best warriors from abroad: at the beginning of the 11th century. these were warriors from Russia, and after the conquest of England by the Normans in 1066, many Anglo-Saxons expelled from there. The army had gunners, craftsmen who specialized in fortification and siege work, artillery to support the infantry, and heavy cavalry, which formed the backbone of the army. Since the Byzantine Empire owned many islands and had a very long coastline, a fleet was vital to it. The solution of naval tasks was entrusted to the coastal provinces in the south-west of Asia Minor, the coastal districts of Greece, as well as the islands of the Aegean Sea, which were obliged to equip ships and provide them with sailors. In addition, a fleet was based in the area of ​​​​Constantinople under the command of a high-ranking naval commander. Byzantine warships varied in size. Some had two rowing decks and up to 300 rowers. Others were smaller, but developed more speed. The Byzantine fleet was famous for its destructive Greek fire, the secret of which was one of the most important state secrets. It was an incendiary mixture, probably prepared from oil, sulfur and saltpeter, and thrown onto enemy ships with the help of catapults. The army and navy were recruited partly from local recruits, partly from foreign mercenaries. From the 7th to the 11th century in Byzantium, a system was practiced in which residents were provided with land and a small payment in exchange for service in the army or navy. Military service passed from father to eldest son, which provided the state with a constant influx of local recruits. In the 11th century this system was destroyed. The weak central government deliberately ignored the needs of defense and allowed residents to pay off military service. Moreover, local landlords began to appropriate the lands of their poor neighbors, in fact turning the latter into serfs. In the 12th century, during the reign of the Comneni and later, the state had to agree to granting certain privileges to large landowners and exemption from taxes in exchange for the creation of their own armies. Nevertheless, at all times, Byzantium was largely dependent on military mercenaries, although the funds for their maintenance fell on the treasury as a heavy burden. Starting from the 11th century, the support from the navy of Venice, and then Genoa, cost the empire even more expensive, which had to be bought with generous trade privileges, and later with direct territorial concessions.
Diplomacy. The principles of defense of Byzantium gave a special role to its diplomacy. As long as it was possible, they never skimped on hitting foreign states luxury or buy potential enemies. Embassies to foreign courts presented magnificent works of art or brocade garments as gifts. Important envoys arriving in the capital were received in the Grand Palace with all the splendor of imperial ceremonials. Young sovereigns from neighboring countries were often brought up at the Byzantine court. When an alliance was important to Byzantine politics, there was always the option of proposing marriage to a member of the imperial family. At the end of the Middle Ages, marriages between Byzantine princes and Western European brides became commonplace, and since the time of the Crusades, Hungarian, Norman or German blood flowed in the veins of many Greek aristocratic families.
CHURCH
Rome and Constantinople. Byzantium was proud to be a Christian state. By the middle of the 5th c. Christian church divided into five large areas under the control of the supreme bishops, or patriarchs: Roman in the West, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria - in the East. Since Constantinople was the eastern capital of the empire, the corresponding patriarchate was considered the second after Rome, while the rest lost their significance after the 7th century. Arabs took over. Thus, Rome and Constantinople turned out to be the centers of medieval Christianity, but their rituals, church politics and theological views gradually moved further and further away from each other. In 1054, the papal legate anathematized Patriarch Michael Cerularius and "his followers", in response he received anathemas from the council that met in Constantinople. In 1089, it seemed to Emperor Alexei I that the schism was easily overcome, but after the 4th Crusade in 1204, the differences between Rome and Constantinople became so clear that nothing could force the Greek Church and the Greek people to abandon the schism.
Clergy. The spiritual head of the Byzantine Church was the Patriarch of Constantinople. The decisive vote in his appointment was with the emperor, but the patriarchs did not always turn out to be puppets of the imperial power. Sometimes the patriarchs could openly criticize the actions of the emperors. Thus, Patriarch Polyeuctus refused to crown Emperor John I Tzimisces until he refused to marry the widow of his rival, Empress Theophano. Patriarch headed hierarchical structure white clergy, which included metropolitans and bishops who were at the head of provinces and dioceses, "autocephalous" archbishops who did not have bishops in their subordination, priests, deacons and readers, special cathedral ministers, such as custodians of archives and treasuries, as well as regents, responsible for church music.
Monasticism. Monasticism was an integral part of Byzantine society. Originating in Egypt in the early 4th century, the monastic movement has fired the Christian imagination for generations. In organizational terms, it took different forms, and among the Orthodox they were more flexible than among the Catholics. Its two main types were cenobitic ("coenobitic") monasticism and hermitage. Those who chose cenobitic monasticism lived in monasteries under the guidance of abbots. Their main tasks were the contemplation and celebration of the liturgy. In addition to monastic communities, there were associations called laurels, the way of life in which was an intermediate step between kinovia and hermitage: the monks here gathered together, as a rule, only on Saturdays and Sundays to perform services and spiritual communion. The hermits made various kinds of vows on themselves. Some of them, called stylites, lived on poles, others, dendrites, lived on trees. One of the numerous centers of both hermitage and monasteries was Cappadocia in Asia Minor. The monks lived in cells carved into the rocks called cones. The purpose of the hermits was solitude, but they never refused to help the suffering. And the more holy a person was considered, the more peasants turned to him for help in all matters of everyday life. In case of need, both the rich and the poor received help from the monks. Widowed empresses, as well as politically dubious persons, were removed to monasteries; the poor could count on free funerals there; monks surrounded orphans and elders with care in special houses; the sick were nursed in the monastic hospitals; even in the poorest peasant hut, the monks provided friendly support and advice to those in need.
theological disputes. The Byzantines inherited from the ancient Greeks their love of discussion, which in the Middle Ages usually found expression in disputes over theological issues. This propensity for controversy led to the spread of heresies that accompanied the entire history of Byzantium. At the dawn of the empire, the Arians denied the divine nature of Jesus Christ; the Nestorians believed that the divine and human nature existed in it separately and separately, never completely merging into one person of the incarnated Christ; Monophysites were of the opinion that only one nature is inherent in Jesus Christ - divine. Arianism began to lose its positions in the East after the 4th century, but it was never completely possible to eradicate Nestorianism and Monophysitism. These currents flourished in the southeastern provinces of Syria, Palestine and Egypt. The schismatic sects survived under Muslim rule, after these Byzantine provinces had been conquered by the Arabs. In the 8th-9th centuries. iconoclasts opposed the veneration of images of Christ and saints; their teaching was for a long time the official teaching of the Eastern Church, which was shared by emperors and patriarchs. Of greatest concern were the dualistic heresies, which held that only spiritual world is the kingdom of God, and material world- the result of the activity of the lower devilish spirit. The reason for the last major theological dispute was the doctrine of hesychasm, which split the Orthodox Church in the 14th century. It was about the way in which a person could know God while still alive.
Church cathedrals. All Ecumenical Councils in the period before the division of the churches in 1054 were held in the largest Byzantine cities - Constantinople, Nicaea, Chalcedon and Ephesus, which testified to how important role Eastern Church, and about the wide spread of heretical teachings in the East. The 1st Ecumenical Council was convened by Constantine the Great in Nicaea in 325. Thus, a tradition was created in accordance with which the emperor was responsible for maintaining the purity of the dogma. These councils were primarily ecclesiastical assemblies of bishops, who were responsible for formulating rules concerning doctrine and church discipline.
Missionary activity. The Eastern Church devoted no less energy to missionary work than the Roman Church. The Byzantines converted the southern Slavs and Russia to Christianity, they also began its spread among the Hungarians and the Great Moravian Slavs. Traces of the influence of Byzantine Christians can be found in the Czech Republic and Hungary, their huge role in the Balkans and in Russia is undoubted. Starting from the 9th c. Bulgarians and other Balkan peoples were in close contact with both the Byzantine church and the civilization of the empire, since church and state, missionaries and diplomats acted hand in hand. Orthodox Church Kievan Rus was directly subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire fell, but its church survived. As the Middle Ages came to an end, the church among the Greeks and Balkan Slavs gained more and more authority and was not broken even by the domination of the Turks.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC LIFE OF BYZANTIA
Diversity within the empire. The ethnically diverse population of the Byzantine Empire was united by belonging to the empire and Christianity, and was also to some extent influenced by Hellenistic traditions. Armenians, Greeks, Slavs had their own linguistic and cultural traditions. However, the Greek language has always remained the main literary and state language of the empire, and fluency in it was certainly required from an ambitious scientist or politician. There was no racial or social discrimination in the country. Among the Byzantine emperors were Illyrians, Armenians, Turks, Phrygians and Slavs.
Constantinople. The center and focus of the entire life of the empire was its capital. The city was ideally located at the crossroads of two great trade routes: the land route between Europe and Southwest Asia and the sea route between the Black and mediterranean seas. sea ​​route led from the Black to the Aegean Sea through the narrow strait of the Bosphorus (Bosporus), then through the small Sea of ​​Marmara squeezed by land and, finally, another strait - the Dardanelles. Immediately before the exit from the Bosphorus to the Sea of ​​Marmara, a narrow crescent-shaped bay, called the Golden Horn, deeply protrudes into the shore. It was a magnificent natural harbor that protected ships from dangerous oncoming currents in the strait. Constantinople was erected on a triangular cape between the Golden Horn and Sea of ​​Marmara. From two sides the city was protected by water, and from the west, from the land side, by strong walls. Another line of fortifications, known as the Great Wall, ran 50 km to the west. The majestic residence of the imperial power was also a trading center for merchants of all conceivable nationalities. The more privileged had their own quarters and even their own churches. The same privilege was given to the Anglo-Saxon Imperial Guard, which at the end of the 11th century. belonged to a small Latin church of St. Nicholas, as well as Muslim travelers, merchants and ambassadors who had their own mosque in Constantinople. Residential and commercial areas mainly adjoined the Golden Horn. Here, and also on both sides of the beautiful, wooded, steep slope that towered over the Bosphorus, residential quarters grew up and monasteries and chapels were erected. The city grew, but the heart of the empire was still a triangle, on which the city of Constantine and Justinian originally arose. The complex of imperial buildings, known as the Grand Palace, was located here, and next to it was the church of St. Sofia (Hagia Sophia) and the Church of St. Irene and St. Sergius and Bacchus. Nearby were the hippodrome and the Senate building. From here Mesa (Middle Street), the main street, led to the western and southwestern parts of the city.
Byzantine trade. Trade flourished in many cities of the Byzantine Empire, for example, in Thessaloniki (Greece), Ephesus and Trebizond (Asia Minor) or Chersonese (Crimea). Some cities had their own specialization. Corinth and Thebes, as well as Constantinople itself, were famous for the production of silk. As in Western Europe, merchants and artisans were organized into guilds. A good idea of ​​trade in Constantinople is given by a 10th-century An eparch's book containing a list of rules for artisans and merchants, both in everyday goods such as candles, bread or fish, and in luxury items. Some luxury items, such as the finest silks and brocades, could not be exported. They were intended only for the imperial court and could only be taken abroad as imperial gifts, for example, to kings or caliphs. The importation of goods could only be carried out in accordance with certain agreements. A number of trade agreements were concluded with friendly peoples, in particular with the Eastern Slavs, who created in the 9th century. own state. On the great Russian rivers East Slavs descended south to Byzantium, where they found ready-made markets for their goods, mainly furs, wax, honey and slaves. The leading role of Byzantium in international trade was based on income from port services. However, in the 11th c. there was an economic crisis. The gold solidus (known in the West as "bezant", the monetary unit of Byzantium) began to depreciate. In Byzantine trade, the dominance of the Italians, in particular the Venetians and Genoese, began, who achieved such excessive trading privileges that the imperial treasury was seriously depleted, which lost control over most of the customs fees. Even trade routes began to bypass Constantinople. At the end of the Middle Ages, the eastern Mediterranean flourished, but all the riches were by no means in the hands of the emperors.
Agriculture. Even more important than customs duties and trade in handicrafts was agriculture. One of the main sources of income in the state was the land tax: both large land holdings and agricultural communities were subject to it. Fear of tax collectors haunted smallholders who could easily go bankrupt due to poor harvests or the loss of a few heads of livestock. If a peasant abandoned his land and ran away, his share of the tax was usually collected from his neighbors. Many small landowners preferred to become dependent tenants of large landowners. Attempts by the central government to reverse this trend were not particularly successful, and by the end of the Middle Ages, agricultural resources were concentrated in the hands of large landowners or were owned by large monasteries.