Byzantium and the Slavs briefly. Slavs and the Byzantine Empire in the VI-VII centuries. Mission of Cyril and Methodius
Long before Croats touched the conquest francs, the same South Slavic people, along with their close relatives, Serbs have forged much stronger ties with Eastern Roman Empire and the Eastern Church, which had not yet been separated from Rome. However, these relationships were completely different. In this case, the invaders were the Slavs. After their participation, from the end of the 5th century, in various raids of other "barbaric" tribes into the territory of the Empire, they continued to threaten Byzantium, at that time the only Christian empire, even during the brilliant reign Justinian I, which was previously incorrectly believed by some scholars to be of Slavic origin. During the sixth century the Slavic danger, combined with that from their Avar overlords, steadily increased. More and more often they penetrated far into the Balkans, until in the first half of the 7th century the emperor Heraclius did not allow some of their tribes, liberated from the Avars, to settle in the devastated lands south of the Danube.
These Slavs, soon converted to Christianity, were led by Chrovatos, whose name (perhaps of Iranian origin) was adopted by his people, who later became known as the Croats. At this time, other tribes of the same group received the name "serbs", which, according to some authoritative opinions, comes from the word servus(slave). Definitely settling in the area that they still occupy today, the Serbo-Croats made the region practically independent from Byzantium, defending themselves at the same time from Avars. Culturally, however, they came under the influence of Byzantium, which never ceased to regard their territory as part of Illyria, a province of the Eastern Empire.
The Greek influence was especially strong among the Serbs, who moved deeper into the Balkans and were the immediate neighbors of the Greeks. On the other hand, the Croats who settled further northwest soon came under Western influence. This explains the growing difference between these two peoples, who had a common origin and continued to speak the same language. With the growing opposition between Eastern and Western Christendom, the division between Serbs and Croats became even deeper, which is a distinctive feature of the history of the South Slavs.
But already at the early time of their substantiation in the region far to the south of their ancestral home, another problem arose that remained important for a long time. The problem of their relationship with completely different peoples who simultaneously invaded the Byzantine Empire and after crossing the lower reaches of the Danube settled forever in the territory of the Empire in the Balkans, but to the east of the Serbo-Croats, not on the Adriatic coast, but on the Black Sea. These were Bulgars or Bulgarians.
The southern branch of that Turkic people, which as a whole played such an important, but rather short-lived role in the history of Eurasia and the steppes of the northern Black Sea region, has already mixed with the Slavic tribes of the Ants in this region. After participating in earlier invasions of the Eastern Empire by the Avars, as well as the Slavs, they certainly crossed the Danube under their khan or kagan. Asparuhe, having founded in 679 in the north of Thrace (the territory of modern Bulgaria) the Bulgarian state.
However, this state, which soon expanded its borders in all directions, was dominated by the Slavic population. In addition to the formation of new states in the northern part of the empire, numerous Slavic tribes continued to raid the Balkan Peninsula and even Greece throughout the 6th and 7th centuries. Most of them stayed there in larger or smaller groups, creating the so-called Sclavinia (Latin: Sclavinia Greek: Σκλαβινίαι), that is, permanent settlements which, not being organized as political units, changed the ethical character of the entire empire. Some scholars have even expressed the opinion that the Greek population was completely Slavicized - an obvious exaggeration, since the Slavs rarely succeeded in capturing more or less important cities, which they besieged, but which remained Greek, like most of the Mediterranean coast.
But while the scattered Slavic settlers fell under the influence of Greek culture even more than in Serbia, they, in turn, influenced the Bulgar conquerors so much that they even adopted their language, and already in its pagan period the new state should be considered as Bulgaro-Slavonic. Gradually, the Turkic features completely disappeared, and the Bulgarians became one of the South Slavic peoples.
The Byzantine Empire, which still had occasional problems with its Slavic subjects and was even forced to resettle some of them as far as Bithynia in Asia Minor, was seriously concerned about the growth of Bulgarian power in the immediate vicinity of Constantinople. Emperor Justinian II, after the victory over the Bulgarians and Slavs in 690, he was forced to ask them for help in order to return his throne from the hands of a rival, and as a reward he granted Asparuh's successor, Tervelu, the title of Caesar, when he received him in the capital in 705.
Despite the treaty that eleven years later Byzantium concluded with Bulgaria, which established a new frontier north of Adrianople, a whole series of Greco-Bulgarian wars took place in the course of the eighth century. In 805 Khan Krum, after helping the Franks to crush the Avars, formed a powerful Bulgarian Empire on both sides of the Danube. The role of the Slavic factor increased until the death of Krum in 814. Byzantium, which suffered a terrible defeat in 811, was seriously threatened by its northern neighbor. Constantinople itself was besieged by the Bulgarians. Relations improved under the new khan Omortaga who even assisted the emperor Michael III against the Slavic uprising and turned against the Franks he encountered in Croatia. But until the reign of Boris, from 852, the conversion of Bulgaria to the Christian faith was not seriously considered. In this regard, completely new questions arose in its relations with Byzantium.
Unlike the restored Western Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire had absolutely no desire for territorial expansion. However, she wanted to control the foreign groups that had infiltrated her borders and even created their own states within the empire. In addition, she feared new invasions by other barbarian tribes, the first attack of the Norman "Russians" on Constantinople in 860 was a serious warning.
In both directions, the missionary activity of the Greek Church, under the leadership of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, working closely with the emperor, seemed to be especially useful in bringing under the influence of Byzantium the Slavic population of the Balkans, as well as dangerous neighbors, Slavic and non-Slavic.
This missionary activity, which was generally less developed in Eastern than in Western Christendom, was greatly intensified under a certain Patriarch Photius. Thanks to the willful decision of the imperial authorities, in 858 he replaced the legitimate patriarch Ignatius, and this was the beginning of a long crisis in the religious life of Byzantium. But he turned out to be one of the most prominent leaders of the Greek Church, who was especially eager to promote the spread of Christianity even among distant Khazar, neighbors of the last Greek colonies on the northern coast of the Black Sea. It was then that Constantine (in monasticism - Kirill) and Methodius, Greek brothers from Thessaloniki, who were equally distinguished as theologians and as linguists, began their mission in 860 or 861. They failed to convert the Khazar Khagan, who ruled in favor of Judaism, but they were soon sent to the Slavs of the Danubian region. And at the same time it became known that the Bulgarian Khan Boris wanted to become a Christian.
In both cases, however, the question had to be decided as to whether the converts would be under the ecclesiastical authority of the Patriarchate of Constantinople or directly under Rome, a question that had both religious and political aspects, and which was to be decisive for the entire future of the Slavs. There was as yet no definite schism between the Roman and Greek churches, but already there was growing tension. The tension was further heightened by the fact that Pope Nicholas I did not recognize the appointment of Photius and excommunicated him in 863. Today we know that even the Photius break with Rome in 867 was by no means final, but this church conflict, which lasted until 880, prepared a schism in the future. And even Ignatius, who again occupied the patriarchal throne of Constantinople from 867 to 877, opposed Rome on the issue of a new Bulgarian church, which he wanted to place under his rule.
Despite the desire to remain on good terms with the papacy, the emperor was adamant about the Bulgarian problem, and as a result, Boris, who was baptized in 864, after trying to find out which side would grant greater autonomy to the new Bulgarian church, decided in favor of Byzantium, a decision which, obviously, was also dictated by geographical conditions and the entire past history of the territory occupied by the Bulgarians. The situation was quite different in old Pannonia, which lies in the Danubian basin north of the Serbo-Croatian settlements. There, in the same years, Constantine and Methodius undertook their most important mission, entrusted to them by Photius, to attract a new Slavic force, the so-called Moravian Empire. The results of their activities have become very significant not only for the relationship of various Slavic peoples with Byzantium, but also for the entire future of Central and Eastern Europe.
From the beginning of the 6th century, on the northern border of the Byzantine Empire, along the lower and middle Danube, invasions of Slavic tribes begin.
The Danubian frontier has always been a particularly turbulent frontier of the empire. Numerous barbarian tribes occupying the lands north of the Danube and the Black Sea steppes were a constant threat to Byzantium. However, the destructive waves of barbarian invasions that swept through the empire in the 4th-5th centuries did not linger for a long time within its borders or spread so much that they soon disappeared without a trace. Neither the Black Sea Goths - newcomers from the distant Baltic, nor the nomads of the Asian steppes - the Huns could not hold out for a long time on the territory of Byzantium and, moreover, have a noticeable impact on the course of its internal socio-economic development.
The invasions of the Transdanubian barbarians acquire a different character when the Slavic tribes become the main and decisive force in them. The turbulent events that unfolded on the Danube border in the first half of the 6th century marked the beginning of a long era of the penetration of the Slavs into the Byzantine Empire.
Mass invasions and settlement of a number of Byzantine districts and regions were a natural stage in the entire previous history of the Slavs.
By the VI century. Slavs as a result of their gradual resettlement from the lands that they occupied in the I-II centuries. n. e. east of the Vistula (between the Baltic Sea and the northern spurs of the Carpathian Mountains), became the immediate neighbors of Byzantium, firmly settling on the left bank of the Danube. Contemporaries quite clearly indicate the places of settlements of the Sklavins and Antes - related Slavic tribes who spoke the same language and had the same customs 1. According to Procopius, they occupied most of the land on the left bank of the Danube. The territory inhabited by the Slavs extended in the north to the Vistula, in the east to the Dniester and in the west to the middle reaches of the Sava 2 . The Antes lived in close proximity to the Slavs, constituting the eastern branch of the Slavic tribes that settled on the northern borders of the Byzantine Empire. Especially densely, apparently, the lands in the Northern Black Sea region were populated by Ants - to the east of the Dniester and in the Dnieper region 3.
The resettlement of the Slavs from their original habitats and their invasion of Byzantium were due to both external factors - the movement of various ethnic masses in the era of the "great migration of peoples", and, mainly, the development of the socio-economic life of the Slavic tribes.
The transition of the Slavs, thanks to the appearance of new agricultural tools, to arable farming made it possible for individual families to cultivate the land. And although arable land remained by the middle of the 1st millennium, apparently in the ownership of the community, the emergence of an individual peasant economy, which provided the opportunity to use the product of labor for personal enrichment, as well as the constant growth of the population, necessitated the expansion of lands suitable for cultivation. The socio-political system of the Slavs, in turn, changed. According to Procopius, the Slavs and Antes are not ruled by one person, but since ancient times they have been living in the rule of the people, and therefore fellow tribesmen share both happiness and misfortune 4. However, the testimony of the same Procopius and other Byzantine writers of the VI century. allow us to see that the Slavs had a tribal nobility and there was a primitive slavery 5 .
Economic and social evolution leads to the formation of military democracy among the Slavs - that form of political organization in which it is war that opens up the greatest opportunities for the tribal nobility to enrich and strengthen their power. Slavs (both individuals and entire detachments) begin to willingly join mercenary troops 6 . However, service in a foreign army could only partially satisfy their growing needs; the desire to master new, already cultivated fertile lands, the thirst for prey pushed the Slavic tribes into the Byzantine Empire.
In alliance with other peoples of the Danube-Black Sea basin - Carps, Costoboks, Roxolans, Sarmatians, Gepids, Goths, Huns - the Slavs, in all likelihood, participated in raids on the Balkan Peninsula even earlier, back in the II-V centuries. Byzantine chroniclers were often confused in determining the ethnicity of the numerous barbarians who attacked the empire. Perhaps it was the Slavs who were those “Getic horsemen” who, according to the testimony of Marcellinus, devastated Macedonia and Thessaly in 517, reaching Thermopylae 7 .
Under their own name, the Slavs as enemies of the empire are first mentioned by Procopius of Caesarea. He reports that shortly after the accession to the throne of Emperor Justin, "the Antes ..., having crossed Istres, invaded the Roman land with a large army" 8 . Against them, a Byzantine army was sent, led by a prominent commander Herman, who inflicted a severe defeat on the Antes. This suspended, apparently, for some time their raids on the territory of the empire. In any case, for the entire subsequent period of the reign of Justin, the sources do not record a single invasion of the Antes and Slavs.
The picture changes dramatically under Justinian. Describing the state of imperial affairs (for the period from the accession of Justinian to the throne until the middle of the 6th century), Procopius bitterly writes that “the Huns (Hunno-Bulgars. - Red.), Sclavins and Antes almost annually raid Illyricum and all of Thrace, that is, all areas from the Ionian Gulf (Adriatic Sea. - Red.) up to the outskirts of Constantinople, including Hellas and the region of Chersonesos [Thracian]...» 9 . Another contemporary of the events that took place under Justinian - Jordanes - also speaks of "the daily stubborn onslaught from the Bulgars, Antes and Sklavins" 10 .
At this first stage of the offensive of the Slavs, their invasions, which followed one after another and were accompanied by terrible devastation of the Byzantine lands, were, for all that, only short-term raids, after which the Slavs, having captured the booty, returned to their lands on the left bank of the Danube. The border along the Danube still remains a frontier separating Byzantine and Slavic possessions; the empire takes urgent measures to protect and strengthen it.
In 530, Justinian appointed the brave and energetic Hilvudius, a Slav, judging by his name, as the strategos of Thrace. Having entrusted him with the defense of the northern border of the empire, Justinian apparently expected that Khilvudius, who had advanced far in the Byzantine military service and was well acquainted with the military tactics of the Slavs, would more successfully fight against them. Hilvudius really justified the hopes of Justinian for a while. He repeatedly organized raids on the left bank of the Danube, "beating and taking into slavery the barbarians who lived there" 11 .
But already three years after Hilvudius was killed in one of the battles with the Slavs, the Danube "became available for the barbarians to cross at their will and the Roman possessions were completely open to their invasion" 12.
Justinian was clearly aware of the danger that threatened the empire. He directly stated that "in order to stop the movement of the barbarians, resistance is needed, and moreover, serious" 13 . In the very first years of his reign, grandiose in scope work was begun to strengthen the Danube border. Along the entire river bank - from Singidun to the Black Sea - construction of new and restoration of old fortresses was carried out; the defensive system consisted of several lines of fortifications that reached the Long Walls. Procopius names several hundred fortified points erected in Dacia, Epirus, Thessaly and Macedonia.
However, all these structures, stretching for many tens of kilometers, could not prevent the Slavic invasions. The empire, waging heavy and bloody wars in North Africa, Italy, Spain, forced to keep its troops in a vast area from the Euphrates to Gibraltar, was unable to equip the fortresses with the necessary garrisons. Talking about the Slavic raid in Illyricum (548), Procopius complains that "even many fortifications that were here and seemed strong in the past, the Slavs managed to take, since no one defended them ..." 14.
The broad offensive of the Slavs on the Byzantine lands was largely weakened due to the lack of unity between the Slavs and the Antes. In 540, as a result of the conflict between these two largest Slavic tribes, a war broke out between them, and joint attacks on the empire ceased. The Sklavins enter into an alliance with the Hunno-Bulgars and in 540-542, when the plague raged in Byzantium, they invaded its borders three times. They reach Constantinople and break through the outer wall, causing a terrible panic in the capital. “Nothing like this has been seen or heard since the foundation of the city,” writes an eyewitness to this event, John of Ephesus 15 . However, having plundered the suburbs of Constantinople, the barbarians left with captured booty and prisoners. During one of these attacks, they penetrated as far as Thracian Chersonese and even crossed the Hellespont to Avydos. Around the same time (somewhere between 540 and 545) the Antes invaded Thrace.
The strife between the Antes and the Slavs, which led to the disunity of their actions, was not slow to take advantage of Justinian. In 545, ambassadors were sent to the Antes. They announced Justinian’s agreement to let the Antes Turris fortress, located on the left bank of the lower Danube, and the lands surrounding it (most likely, to authorize their settlement in this “originally belonging to the Romans” area), and also to pay them large sums of money, demanding in return to continue to observe peace with the empire and counteract the raids of the Hunno-Bulgars.
The negotiations ended, in all likelihood, successfully. Since that time, the sources never mention the performances of the Antes against Byzantium. Moreover, in the documents containing the full title of Justinian, the latter is called "Αντιχος" since 533; more than half a century later, in 602, the Antes were also in allied relations with Byzantium 16 .
From now on, having lost their closest and natural ally, the attack on the lands of the Byzantine Empire is carried out by the Sclavins - both alone and together with the Hunno-Bulgars.
The onslaught of the Slavs on the empire increased markedly in the late 40s and especially in the 50s of the 6th century. In 548, their numerous detachments, having crossed the Danube, marched all over Illyricum up to Epidamnus. An idea of the scale of this invasion can be formed on the basis of the news of Proconius (even if somewhat exaggerating the number of imperial forces), that the Slavs were followed by a 15,000-strong Byzantine army, but “it was not decided anywhere to approach the enemy anywhere” 17.
From the middle of the VI century. the attack of the Slavs on Byzantium enters a new stage, qualitatively different from the previous invasions. In 550-551. a real Slavic-Byzantine war is being played out. Slavic detachments, acting according to a predetermined plan, conduct open battles with the Byzantine army and even achieve victory; they take Byzantine fortresses by siege; part of the Slavs who invaded the territory of the empire remains for the winter in its lands, receiving fresh reinforcements from across the Danube and preparing for new campaigns.
War 550-551 began with the invasion of the Slavs in Illyricum and Thrace (spring 550). Three thousand Slavs crossed the Danube and, without meeting resistance, also crossed the Maritsa. Then they were divided into two parts (in 1800 and 1200 people). Although these detachments were much inferior in strength to the Byzantine army sent against them, thanks to a surprise attack, they managed to defeat him. Having won, one of the Slavic detachments then entered into battle with the Byzantine commander Asvad. Despite the fact that under his command there were "numerous excellent horsemen ..., and the Slavs put them to flight without much difficulty" 18. Having besieged a number of Byzantine fortresses, they also captured the seaside town of Topir, guarded by a Byzantine military garrison. “Before,” Procopius notes, “the Slavs never dared to approach the walls or go down to the plain (for an open battle) ...” 19.
In the summer of 550, the Slavs again cross the Danube in a huge avalanche and invade Byzantium. This time they appear near the city of Naissa (Nish). As the Slavic captives later showed, the main goal of the campaign was to capture one of the largest cities of the empire, moreover, beautifully fortified - Thessaloniki. Justinian was forced to give an order to his commander Herman, who was preparing an army in Sardica (Serdica) for a campaign in Italy against Totila, to immediately leave all affairs and speak out against the Slavs. However, the latter, having learned that Germanus was heading against them, who in the reign of Justin had inflicted a severe defeat on the Antes, and assuming that his army represented a significant force, decided to avoid a collision. Having passed Illyricum, they entered Dalmatia. More and more fellow tribesmen joined them, freely crossing the Danube20.
Having wintered on the territory of Byzantium, "as if in their own land, without fear of the enemy" 21 , the Slavs in the spring of 551 again poured into Thrace and Illyricum. They defeated the Byzantine army in a fierce battle and went all the way to the Long Walls. However, thanks to an unexpected attack, the Byzantines managed to capture some of the Slavs as prisoners, and force the rest to retreat.
In the autumn of 551 a new invasion of Illyricum followed. The leaders of the troops sent by Justinian, as in 548, did not dare to engage in battle with the Slavs. Having stayed within the empire for a long time, ”those with rich booty crossed back across the Danube.
The last action of the Slavs against the empire under Justinian was the attack on Constantinople in 559, carried out in alliance with the Kutrigur Huns 22 .
By the end of the reign of Justinian, Byzantium was helpless before the Slavic invasions; the alarmed emperor did not know “how he would be able to repel them in the future” 23 . The construction of fortresses in the Balkans, again undertaken by Justinian, had as its goal not only a rebuff to the Slavic invasions from across the Danube, but also opposition to the Slavs, who managed to gain a foothold in the Byzantine lands, using them as a springboard for further advancement into the depths of the empire: the strengthening of Philippopolis and Plotinopol in Thrace were built, according to Procopius, against the barbarians who lived in the areas of these cities; for the same purpose, the fortress of Adina in Moesia was restored, around which the “barbarian Slavs” took refuge, raiding neighboring lands, as well as the fortress of Ulmiton, which was completely destroyed by the Slavs who settled in its vicinity 24.
The empire, exhausted by wars, did not have the means to organize active resistance to the increasingly intensifying Slavic onslaught. In the last years of the reign of Justinian, the Byzantine army, according to the testimony of his successor Justin II, was "so disorganized that the state was left to continuous invasions and raids of the barbarians" 25 .
The local population of the empire, especially ethnically diverse in the northern Balkan provinces, was also a poor defender of their land. The economic life of the regions along the Danube, which had been repeatedly subjected to barbarian invasions over the course of several centuries, noticeably died out in a number of regions, and these regions themselves became depopulated. In the reign of Justinian, the situation became even more complicated due to the increased tax burden. “... Despite the fact that ... all of Europe was plundered by the Huns, Sclavins and Antes, that some of the cities were destroyed to the ground, others were completely robbed as a result of monetary indemnities, despite the fact that the barbarians took all people with all their wealth, that as a result of their almost daily raids, all areas became deserted and uncultivated - despite all this, Justinian, nevertheless, did not remove taxes from anyone ... ”, Procopius states indignantly in "Secret History" 27 . The severity of the taxes forced the inhabitants either to leave the empire altogether, or to go over to the barbarians, who did not yet know the developed forms of class oppression and whose social system, because of this, brought relief to the exploited masses of the Byzantine state. Later, by settling in the territory of the empire, the barbarians softened the burden of payments that lay on the local population. So, according to John of Ephesus, in 584, the Avars and Pannonian Slavs, turning to the inhabitants of Moesia, said: “Come out, sow and reap, we will take only half (taxes or, most likely, the harvest. -) from us. Red.)" 28 .
The struggle of the masses against the exorbitant oppression of the Byzantine state also contributed to the success of the Slavic invasions. The first raids of the Slavs on Byzantium were preceded and, obviously, contributed to the uprising that broke out in Constantinople in 512, which in 513-515. spread to the northern Balkan provinces and in which, along with the local population, the barbarian federates took part 29-30. During the reign of Justinian and under his successors, favorable conditions for Slavic invasions were in Pannonia and especially in Thrace, where the Scamari movement was widely developed.
The offensive of the Slavs against Byzantium, which was growing from year to year, was, however, from the beginning of the 60s of the 6th century. temporarily suspended by the appearance of the Turkic horde of Avars on the Danube. Byzantine diplomacy, which widely practiced a policy of bribery and inciting some tribes against others, did not fail to use new aliens to counter the Slavs. As a result of negotiations between the embassy of the Avar Khakan Bayan and Justinian, which took place in 558, an agreement was reached under which the Avars were obliged, on condition of receiving an annual tribute from Byzantium, to protect its Danube border from barbarian invasions. The Avars defeated the Huns-Utigurs and Huns-Kutrigurs, who were at war with each other due to the intrigues of Justinian, and then began to attack the Slavs. First of all, the lands of the Ants were subjected to the raids of the Avars, moving from the Transcaspian steppes along the Black Sea coast to the lower Danube. “The owners of the Antes were brought into distress. The Avars plundered and devastated their land,” reports Menander Protector 32 . In order to redeem the tribesmen captured by the Avars, the Antes sent an embassy to them in 560, headed by Mezamir. Mezamir behaved in the headquarters of the Avars very independently and with great audacity. On the advice of one Kutrigur, who urged the Avars to get rid of this influential person among the Antes, Mezamir was killed. “Since then,” Menander concludes his story, “the Avars began to devastate the land of the Ants even more, did not stop plundering it and enslaving the inhabitants” 33 .
Feeling their strength, the Avars begin to make more and more demands on Byzantium: they ask for places for them to settle and increase the annual reward for maintaining the union and peace. Disagreements arise between the empire and the Avars, which soon lead to open hostilities. The Avars enter into allied relations with the Franks, and then, having intervened in the feuds of the Lombards and Gepids, in alliance with the first, they defeat the Gepids, who were under the protection of the empire, in 567, and settle on their lands in Pannonia along the Tisza and the middle Danube. The Slavic tribes living on the Pannonian Plain had to recognize the supreme power of the Avars. Since that time, they have been attacking Byzantium together with the Avars, taking an active part in their struggle against the empire.
The first news of such united invasions is contained in the contemporary Western chronicler John, abbot of the Biklyariysky monastery. He reports that in 576 and 577. the Avars and Slavs attacked Thrace, and in 579 they occupied part of Greece and Pannonia 34. In 584, according to another contemporary of the events described - Evagrius, the Avars (no doubt, together with their Slavic allies) captured Singidun, Anchial and devastated "all Hellas" 35 . The Slavs who were in the Avar army, who were generally known for their ability to cross rivers, participated in the construction of a bridge across the Sava in 579 to carry out the capture of Sirmium, planned by the Avars; in 593, the Pannonian Slavs made ships for the Avar Khakan, and then built a bridge across the Sava from them 36 .
In the Avar army (as well as in the Avar Khakanate in general), the Slavs were, in all likelihood, the most significant ethnic group: it is significant that in 601, when the Byzantine army defeated the Avars, a Slavic detachment of 8 thousand people was captured, much outnumbered the Avars themselves and other barbarians subject to him 37 who were in the Khakan's army.
However, since the Avars politically dominated the Pannonian Slavs, Byzantine authors, talking about the Avar attacks on the empire, often do not mention the participation of the Slavs in them at all, although the presence of the latter in the Avar army is beyond doubt.
The Avars repeatedly tried to subdue the Slavs who lived on the lower Danube, but all their efforts invariably ended in failure. Menander tells that Bayan sent an embassy to the leader of the Slavins Davryta and "to those who stood at the head of the Slavin people", demanding that they submit to the Avars and undertake to pay tribute to them. The independent answer, full of confidence in their strength, that the Avars received to this is well known: “Was that person born in the world and warmed by the rays of the sun who would subjugate our strength? Not others of ours, but we are accustomed to possessing someone else's. And we are sure of this as long as there is war and swords in the world.
The Sklavins from the lower Danube continued to retain their independence. They fought both against Byzantium and against the Avars.
With new force, the invasion of the Slavs into the empire resumed in the late 70s - early 80s of the 6th century. In 578, 100,000 Sklavians crossed the Danube and devastated Thrace and other Balkan provinces, including Greece itself - Hellas 39 . Emperor Tiberius, who, due to the war with Persia, did not have the opportunity to counteract the Slavic invasions on his own, invited the Avar Khakan, who at that time was in peaceful relations with the empire, to attack the possessions of the Slavs. Bayan, "feeling a secret hostility to the Slavs ... because they did not submit to him," willingly agreed to Tiberius' proposal. According to Menander, the Khakan hoped to find a rich country, “since the Slavs plundered the Roman land, while their land was not ravaged by any other people.” A huge Avar army (according to Menander - 60 thousand horsemen) was transferred on Byzantine ships across the Sava, led through the territory of the empire to the east to some place on the Danube and here it was transferred to its left bank, where it began "without delay to burn the villages Slavs, ruin them and devastate the fields” 40 .
The cruel devastation carried out by the Avars on the lands of the Slavs, however, did not lead to their submission to the power of the khakan. When in 579 Bayan tried, referring to the upcoming campaign against the Sclavins, to build a bridge across the Sava and capture the strategically important Byzantine city of Sirmium, he put forward the fact that the Sclavins "do not want to pay him the established annual tribute" 41 .
The attack of the Avars on the Sclavinians, provoked by the empire, did not save Byzantium from their new invasions. On the contrary, they are becoming even more formidable and are now entering their last, final stage - the mass settlement of the Slavs on its territory. In 581, the Slavs make a successful campaign in the Byzantine lands, after which they no longer return beyond the Danube, but settle within the empire. An exceptionally valuable description of this invasion of the Slavs is given by John of Ephesus, a direct witness to the events he depicts. “In the third year after the death of Tsar Justin and the accession of the conqueror Tiberius,” he says, “the accursed people of the Sklavins attacked. They swiftly passed through all of Hellas, the regions of Thessaloniki [Thessaly?] and all of Thrace, and conquered many cities and fortresses. They devastated and burned them, took captives and became masters of the earth. They settled on it as masters, as on their own, without fear. For four years and until now, due to the fact that the king is busy with the Persian war and sent all his troops to the East, because of this they spread over the earth, settled on it and expanded on it now, as long as God allows them. They cause havoc and fires and capture captives, so that at the very outer wall they captured all the royal herds, many thousands (heads) and various other (prey). So to this day, i.e. until 895 42, they remain, live and calmly stay in the countries of the Romans - people who did not dare (before) to appear from dense forests and (places) protected by trees and did not know that such a weapon, except for two or three longidia, i.e., darts” 43 .
In 584, the Slavs attack Thessalonica. And although this attack, like the subsequent attempts of the Slavs to capture the city, ended in failure, the fact that the Slavic detachment of 5 thousand people, consisting of "experienced in military affairs" people and including "the entire chosen color of the Slavic tribes", decided for such an enterprise, in itself is very indicative. The Slavs "would not have attacked such a city if they had not felt their superiority in strength and courage over all those who had ever fought with them" 44, - it is directly stated in the "Miracles of St. Demetrius" - a remarkable hagiographic work of this era, dedicated to the description of the "miracles" that, during the siege of the city by the Slavs, his patron, Demetrius, allegedly worked, and containing important historical data about the Slavs.
The vicissitudes of the Slavic-Avar-Visayatzhian struggle of this time were very complex. As a rule, the Avars acted in alliance with the Pannonian Slavs. Sometimes the latter acted independently, but with the sanction of the khakan. Having failed to achieve the subordination of the Lower Danubian Slavs, the Avar Khakan nevertheless claimed, on occasion, that Byzantium recognized their lands for him. So it was, for example, in 594, after the emperor's campaign against the Slavs: the khakan demanded his share of the booty, claiming that the Byzantine army had invaded "his land." However, not only Byzantium considered these Slavic lands as independent, but even Bayan's close associates considered his claims to them "unjust" 45 . Bayan himself, if it was beneficial for him, in his relations with Byzantium also proceeded from the fact that the sklavins on the lower Danube were independent of him: when in 585 the sklavins, at the instigation of the khakan, invaded Thrace, breaking even through the Long Walls, the peace between the Avars and Byzantium was not officially violated, and the khakan received a stipulated tribute from the empire, although his intrigues were known to the court of Constantinople 46 .
A new invasion of the Avars and Slavs into Byzantium followed at the end of 585-586, after the emperor Mauritius rejected the demand of the khakan to increase the tribute paid to him by the empire. During this largest Avaro-Slavic attack (in the autumn of 586), another attempt was made to take Thessalonica. A huge Slavic army, having captured the surrounding fortifications, began to lay siege to the city. A detailed description of this siege in the Miracles of St. Demetrius" shows how far forward the military equipment of the Slavs had gone by this time: they used siege machines, battering rams, stone-throwing weapons - everything that the then art of siege of cities knew.
In 587-588, as evidenced by sources, in particular the anonymous Monemvasian Chronicle, probably compiled in the 9th century. 46a, the Slavs take possession of Thessaly, Epirus, Attica, Euboea and settle in the Peloponnese, where for the next two hundred years they live completely independently, not subject to the Byzantine emperor.
The successful attack of the Slavs on Byzantium in the late 70s - 80s of the VI century. was to a certain extent relieved by the fact that until 591 she waged a difficult twenty-year war with Persia. But even after the conclusion of peace, when the Byzantine army was transferred from the East to Europe, the stubborn attempts of Mauritius to resist further Slavic invasions (the emperor even takes command personally at first - a precedent that has not taken place since the time of Theodosius I) did not give any significant results.
Mauritius decided to transfer the fight against the Slavs directly to the Slavic lands on the left bank of the Danube. In the spring of 594, he ordered his commander Priscus to head for the border in order to prevent the Slavs from crossing it. In Lower Moesia, Priscus attacked the Slavic leader Ardagast, and then devastated the lands under his rule. Moving on, the Byzantine army invaded the possessions of the Slavic leader Musokia; thanks to the betrayal of the Gepid who had defected from the Slavs, Priscus managed to capture Musokia and plunder his country. Wishing to consolidate the successes achieved, Mauritius ordered that Priscus spend the winter on the left bank of the Danube. But the Byzantine soldiers, who had recently won victories over the Slavs, rebelled, declaring that "countless crowds of barbarians are invincible" 47 .
The next year, Mauritius appointed his brother Peter as commander-in-chief in place of Priscus. However, the new campaign brought even less results. While Mauritius was making every effort to postpone the war for the Danube, the Slavs continued their attacks on imperial lands: in the region of Markianopolis, the advance detachment of Peter's army encountered 600 Slavs, "carrying a large booty captured from the Romans" 48. By order of Mauritius, Peter had to stop his campaign in the Slavic lands altogether and remain in Thrace: it became known that "large crowds of Slavs were preparing an attack on Byzantium" 49 . Peter stepped out without having had time to receive this order, and, faced with the Slavic leader Piragast, defeated him. When Peter returned to the camp, the Slavs attacked him and put the Byzantine army to flight.
In 602, during the renewed hostilities between Byzantium and the Avars, Mauritius, seeking to secure the empire from the invasion of the Slavs, again orders Peter to move into the Slavic lands. In turn, the khakan orders his commander Apsihu "to exterminate the tribe of Antes, who were allies of the Romans" 50 . Having received this order, part of the khakan's army (in all likelihood, the Slavs who did not want to fight against their fellow tribesmen) went over to the side of the emperor. But the campaign against the Antes, nevertheless, obviously, took place and led to the defeat of this Slavic tribe. From now on, the Antes disappear forever from the pages of Byzantine sources.
With the onset of autumn, Mauritius demanded from Peter that he spend the winter in the lands of the Slavs on the left bank of the Danube. And again, as in 594, the Byzantine soldiers, realizing the futility of fighting "the countless multitude of barbarians who, like waves, flooded the whole country on the other side of Istria" 51, raised a revolt. Moving towards Constantinople and taking possession of it, they overthrew the throne of Mauritius and proclaimed emperor the centurion Phocas, half a barbarian in origin.
Such was the inglorious result of Byzantium's attempt to carry out an active struggle against the Slavs. The Byzantine army, which had just victoriously ended the war with Persia, the strongest power of that time, turned out to be powerless to close the Danube border of the empire for Slavic invasions. Even winning victories, the soldiers did not feel like winners. These were not battles with a properly organized army, which were usually fought by Byzantine soldiers. To replace the broken Slavic detachments, new ones immediately appeared. In the Slavic land beyond the Danube, every inhabitant was a warrior, an enemy of the empire. On its territory, the Byzantine army, by virtue of the very system of its organization, also could not always count on the support of the local population. Since military operations against the Slavs were usually carried out in the warm season, the army disbanded for the winter, and the soldiers themselves had to take care of their food. “With the onset of late autumn, the strategist disbanded his camp and returned to Byzantium,” Theophylact Simokatta tells about the campaign of 594. “The Romans, not engaged in military service, scattered around Thrace, getting food for themselves in the villages” 52.
Byzantium was well aware of the difficulties of the struggle against the Slavs, the need to use special tactics in the war with them. A special section of the "Strategikon" consists of advice on how best to carry out short-term raids on their villages, with what caution one should enter their lands; Pseudo-Mauritius recommends plundering Slavic villages and taking food supplies out of them, spreading false rumors, bribing princes and turning them against each other. “Since they (Slavs. - Ed.) have many princes (ρηγων), - he writes, - and they disagree with each other, it is advantageous to attract some of them to their side - either through promises or rich gifts, especially those who are in our neighborhood” 53 . However, as the consciousness of their ethnic integrity and unity of goals grows among the Slavs, as they further unite, this policy brings less and less success. Justinian, as already noted, managed to split the Antes from the joint struggle of the Slavs against the empire 54 . Having lost the support of their fellow tribesmen, the Antes, whose tribes, according to Procopius, were "innumerable" 55, were first subjected to devastating raids, and then to defeat by the Avars. But even at that time, to which the work of Pseudo-Mauritius directly refers, it can be seen that the leaders of individual Slavic tribes, despite the danger, go to the rescue of each other. When in 594 the Byzantine army defeated Ardagast, Musoky without delay allocated a whole flotilla of single-tree boats and rowers for the crossing of his people. And, although the sources do not directly mention this, it was the Slavic warriors who, apparently, refused to participate in the campaign of the Avar Khakan against the Ants in 602.
The civil war that broke out in the Byzantine Empire after the overthrow of the emperor Mauritius, and the re-started war with Persia, allowed the Slavs to lead the story in the first quarter of the 7th century. onset of the greatest magnitude. The scope of their invasions is greatly expanded. They acquire a fleet of one-tree boats and organize sea expeditions. George Pisida reports on the Slavic robberies in the Aegean in the early years of the 7th century, and the anonymous author of The Miracles of St. Demetrius" tells that the Slavs "subjected to devastation from the sea all of Thessaly, the islands adjacent to it, Hellas. Cyclades, all of Achaia and Epirus, most of Illyricum and part of Asia. Feeling their strength at sea, the Slavs again made an attempt in 616 to take Thessalonica, surrounding it from land and from the sea. The siege of Thessalonica is carried out this time by the tribes that have already firmly settled the territory of Macedonia and the Byzantine regions adjacent to it: the author of the “Miracles of St. Demetrius" notes that the Slavs approached the city with their families and "wanted to settle them there after the capture of the city" 57 .
During the siege, as in other maritime enterprises of this period, the empire is opposed by a large alliance of Slavic tribes, including Draguvites, Sagudats, Veleyezites, Vayunits, Verzits and others; at the head of the Slavs besieging Thessalonica is their common leader - Hatzon.
After the death of Hatzon, the Slavs were forced to lift the siege of Thessalonica. But two years later, having enlisted the support of the Avar Khakan, the Macedonian Slavs, together with the army brought by the Khakan (a significant part of which were Slavs under his supreme authority), again subjected the city to a siege, which lasted for a whole month.
The overall picture that had been created in the empire by that time as a result of the Slavic invasions and the development of Byzantine lands by them, emerges quite clearly from the motivation with which the Slavs turned to the Avar Khakan, asking him to help them c. mastering Thessalonica: “It should not be,” said the Slavic ambassadors, “that when all the cities and regions are devastated, this city alone remains intact and accepts fugitives from the Danube, Pannonia, Dacia, Dardania and other regions and cities” 58 .
The plight of Byzantium was also well known in the West: Pope Gregory I wrote in 600 that he was greatly disturbed by the Slavs threatening the Greeks; he was especially worried by the fact that they had already begun to approach Italy through Istria 59 . Bishop Isidore of Seville notes in his chronicle that "in the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Heraclius, the Slavs took Greece from the Romans" 60 . According to the Jacobite writer of the 7th century. Thomas the Presbyter, in 623 the Slavs attacked Crete and other islands 61; Paul the Deacon speaks of the attacks of the Slavs in 642 on Southern Italy 62 .
Finally, in 626, the Avars and Slavs allied with the Persians and undertook the siege of Constantinople. The city was besieged by land and sea. To storm the walls of the Byzantine capital, many siege weapons were drawn up. Countless Slavic one-tree boats that arrived from the Danube entered the Golden Horn Bay. However, the outcome of this siege determined the superiority of Byzantium at sea. After the death of the Slavic fleet, the Avaro-Slavic army was defeated on land and was forced to retreat from Constantinople.
The sieges of Constantinople and Thessaloniki, attacks on the coastal Byzantine cities and islands were carried out primarily by the Slavs, who were firmly settled in the territory of the empire. Most densely they settled in Macedonia and Thrace. To the west of Thessaloniki (to the city of Verroi), as well as along the Vardaru River and in the Rhodopes, the Draguvites settled. To the west of Thessaloniki, as well as in Chalkidike and in Thrace, the Sagudates settled. The Vaunites settled along the upper reaches of the Bystrica. To the northeast of Thessaloniki, along the river Mesta, lived the Smolensk people. On the river Strymon (Struma), along its lower and middle reaches, they extended, reaching in the west to the lake. Langazy, settlements of Strymonians (Strumians); on the lands adjacent to Thessalonica from the east, in Halkidiki, the Rhynchins settled. In the Ohrid region, sources indicate the place of residence of the Verzites. In Thessaly, on the coast around Thebes and Dimitrias, the Veleyezites (Velsites) settled. In the Peloponnese, the slopes of Taygetos were occupied by the Milingi and the Ezerites. Seven Slavic tribes, unknown by name, settled on the territory of Moesia. Slavic tribes unknown by name also settled, as narrative and toponymic data show, in other areas of Greece and the Peloponnese. Numerous Slavic settlers appeared in the 7th century. in Asia Minor, especially in Bithynia.
The very fact of the massive settlement by the Slavs at the end of the 6th and in the 7th centuries of Macedonia and Thrace, as well as other, more remote regions of the Byzantine Empire - Thessaly, Epirus, Peloponnese, does not currently raise any serious objections. Numerous and indisputable evidence of written sources, as well as toponymic and archaeological data, leave no doubt here. Linguistic studies show that even in the very south of the Balkan Peninsula - in the Peloponnese - there were several hundred names of localities of Slavic origin63. A. Bon, the author of a large work on the Byzantine Peloponnese, notes that toponymic data testify to the predominance of the Slavic population in certain parts of the Peloponnese 64 . P. Lemerl, who wrote the fundamental work on Eastern Macedonia, states that “Macedonia in the 7th-8th centuries. was more Slavic than Greek" 65 . Rejecting attempted by D. Georgakas again to study the word σχλαβος and to interpret the εσδλαβωδη in the famous phrase of Constantine Bagryanorogennoe: εσδλαβωδη Δε πασα ηωρχχαι γεγονε βαρβαρος ("the whole country turned out and became the barbaric") 66 as εσχλαβωδη, that is, "was addressed to slavery" 67, P. Lemerle wittily asks who, if not the Slavs, were, in this case, the masters of these slaves? 68 The term σχλαβος, as F. Delger finally established, could at that time only be an ethnicon 69 .
The settlement of free community Slavs in the territory of Byzantium strengthened local rural communities, increased the weight of small free property, and accelerated the eradication of slave-owning forms of exploitation. Already during their invasions, plundering and destroying Byzantine cities - the centers of the slave economy and the main stronghold of the slave system of the Byzantine state - smashing the palaces and estates of the nobility, exterminating and taking away many of its representatives with their whole families, the Slavs contributed to the transition of the forced population of the empire - slaves and columns - to the position of free peasants and artisans. With the end of the invasions and the accompanying destruction of cities, villages, fields, new settlers in many ways contribute to increasing the viability of Byzantium, significantly increasing the productive agricultural stratum of the population of the Byzantine Empire. The Slavs - the original farmers - continue to engage in arable farming in the imperial regions inhabited by them: in the “Miracles of St. Demetrius" tells that Thessalonica during the blockade of her in 675 and 676. the Macedonian Slavs bought food from the Veleyezites, and the Draguvites supplied the products of the litany to the former captives of the Avar Khakan who moved from Pannonia to Macedonia (between 680-685) 70 .
The Slavic agricultural population fills the ranks of the bulk of the Byzantine taxpayers, provides combat-ready personnel for the Byzantine army. In Byzantine sources there are very definite indications that the main concern of the empire in relation to the Slavs was to ensure the proper flow of taxes and the fulfillment of military service. It is also known that from the Slavs whom Justinian II resettled from Macedonia to Asia Minor, he formed a whole army of 30 thousand people.
However, Byzantium did not manage to turn the new settlers into obedient subjects far from immediately and not everywhere. Starting from the middle of the 7th century, the Byzantine government waged a long struggle against them, trying to achieve recognition of its supreme power - paying taxes and supplying military units. Especially a lot of efforts of the empire had to be used to conquer the Slavic population of Macedonia and the Peloponnese, where entire regions were formed, completely populated by the Slavs and directly called in the sources "Sclavinia". In the Peloponnese, such a "Sclavinia" arose in the Monemvasia region, in Macedonia - in the Thessaloniki region. In 658, Emperor Constant II was forced to make a campaign in Macedonian "Sclavinia", as a result of which some of the Slavs who lived there were subjugated.
However, just two decades after the campaign of Constant II, the Macedonian Slavs again oppose the empire. Author of The Miracles of St. Demetrius" says that the Slavs who settled near Thessaloniki kept peace only for appearances, and the leader of the Rinchins, Pervud, had evil intentions against the city. Having received a message about this, the emperor ordered the capture of Perwood. The leader of the Rinchins, who was at that time in Thessalonica, was arrested and taken to Constantinople. Upon learning of Perwood's fate, the Rinchins and Strimonians demanded his release. The emperor, busy with the war with the Arabs, and, apparently, fearing the intervention of the Slavs, at the same time did not dare to immediately release Perwood. He made a promise to return the Rinkhin leader at the end of the war. However, Perwood, not trusting the Greeks, attempted to escape. The attempt was unsuccessful, Purwood was caught and executed. Then the Rinchins, Strimonians and Sagudats opposed the empire with united forces. For two years (675-676) they subjected Thessalonica to a blockade: the Strimonians acted in the areas adjacent to the city from the east and north, and the Rhinkhins and Sagudats - from the west and in the seaside. In 677, the Slavs besieged Thessalonica, and for some unknown reason, the Strimonians refused to participate in this enterprise, while the Draguvites, on the contrary, joined the besiegers. Together with the Sagudats, they approached Thessalonica from the land, and the Rinchins from the sea. Having lost many of their leaders during the siege, the Slavs were forced to retreat. However, they continued to attack the Byzantine villages, and in the autumn of the same year 677 they again besieged Thessalonica, but again failed. Three years later, the Rinchins, this time again in alliance with the Strimonians, embark on a sea robbery along the Hellespont and Propontis. They organize attacks on Byzantine ships, following with food to Constantinople, raid the islands, taking with them booty and captives. The emperor was finally forced to send an army against them, directing the main blow against the Strymonians. The latter, having occupied gorges and fortified places, called for help from other Slavic leaders. The further course of the war is not entirely clear; apparently, after the battle that took place between the Byzantine army and the Macedonian Slavs, an agreement was reached and peaceful relations were established.
But soon the Macedonian Slavs rebelled again. In 687-688. Emperor Justinian II was faced with the need to again make a trip to the Macedonian "Sclavinia" in order to bring the Slavs who lived there to the subjugation of Byzantium.
Even less successful were the efforts of the empire to retain the northern Balkan provinces inhabited by Slavs. Moesia was the first to fall away from Byzantium, where an alliance of "seven Slavic tribes" was formed - a permanent tribal association. The Proto-Bulgarians of Asparuh, who appeared in Moesia, subjugated the Slavic tribes that were part of this union, and later they formed the core of the Bulgarian state formed in 681.
The Slavic tribes, which the Byzantine government managed to keep under its rule, continued the struggle for their independence for a long time. In the following centuries, the Byzantine Empire had to make a lot of efforts in order to turn the Slavs settled within its borders into their subjects.
The topic of this lesson is “Byzantium and the Slavs. Decline of the Empire. The beginning of this period in the history of Byzantium was marked by a coup and the beginning of a new imperial dynasty. Students are given the names of various figures of Byzantium. The lesson provides descriptions of various wars waged by Byzantium with the Slavic Bulgarian kingdom. The reasons for the alliance of the Byzantine Empire with the Russians against the Bulgarians are revealed. The emergence of the Slavic state of Great Moravia and the interest of various states in it are considered. Students are given a biography of Cyril and Methodius. At the end of the lesson, the reasons for the decline of the Byzantine Empire are given, the great role of its existence for Orthodoxy is emphasized.
Byzantium and the Slavs. Decline of the empire.
BACKGROUND
The Eastern Roman Empire, which arose in 395, reached its greatest power in the 6th century, during the reign of Emperor Justinian. Justinian significantly expands the territory of the empire, but already in the 7th century. the territory of Byzantium is reduced by almost three times.
This was due to the activity on the borders of the empire of the Slavs, who in the VI century. I begin to populate the Balkan Peninsula, as well as the Arabs, who in the 7th century. conquer large territories from Byzantium (Palestine, Syria, Egypt, North Africa). ()
The great migration of peoples () leads to the fact that the Slavs in the VI-VII centuries. settled in the Lower and Middle Danube, invaded the Balkans and became a dangerous enemy of Byzantium.
DEVELOPMENTS
The Germans attacked the empire, ravaged its lands, founded the so-called. "barbarian kingdoms". At the same time, the Germans perceived Roman culture, legal norms, the Latin language, and Christianity.
During the reign of the emperors of the Macedonian dynasty (867-1025), the Byzantine Empire reached extraordinary power. The Byzantine throne is occupied by wise emperors-legislators, writers, generals. This period is called the Macedonian Renaissance. But the full well-being of the empire was hampered by constant wars that had to be waged against neighbors: Arabs in the south, Iran in the east and Slavs in the north. In today's lesson, we will look at the relationship between Byzantium and the Slavs.
In the second half of the 7th c. the Slavs who settled on the lands along the lower reaches of the Danube, north of the Balkan Range, were conquered by the nomadic Bulgarians, Turks by origin. The ancestors of the Bulgarians (or Bulgars) first lived in Western Siberia, but in the first centuries of our era they migrated to the middle Volga; from here part of them came to the Balkan Peninsula. Here the Bulgarian state arose. Gradually, the Bulgarians dissolved among the Slavs they conquered, adopted their language, but gave them their own name. In the middle of the ninth century Bulgaria adopted Christianity from Byzantium. This contributed to the development of her ties with the rest of the Christian world. At the same time, Bulgaria waged long wars with Byzantium, at times Byzantium was forced to pay tribute to the Bulgarians. Prince Simeon (893-927) was an outstanding ruler of Bulgaria. Educated, energetic and ambitious, Simeon dreamed of subjugating the entire Balkan Peninsula, of seizing the imperial throne of Byzantium. For about 30 years he waged wars with Byzantium, more than once besieged its capital. He managed to win back part of the lands inhabited by the Slavs, to subdue the Serbs. Simeon called himself "king of the Bulgarians and Greeks." But long wars exhausted the country and ruined the population. After the death of Simeon, Bulgaria weakened, Serbia separated from it. From the north, Bulgaria and Byzantium were raided by the Hungarian cavalry, and then for a century and a half by the nomadic Pechenegs, pushed back to the Northern Black Sea region from the depths of Asia.
Rice. 1. The first Bulgarian kingdom under Simeon ()
At the beginning of the XI century. Byzantine Emperor Basil II, nicknamed the Bulgar Slayer, almost every year at the head of the army made campaigns in Bulgaria. He destroyed cities and villages, evicted the Bulgarians from their homes. Having defeated the Bulgarian army, Vasily II ordered to blind 14 thousand prisoners, leaving one one-eyed guide for every hundred blind, and let them go home to intimidate them. The Bulgarian king, at the sight of such a mass of his blinded warriors, died of a heart attack. Using the strife of the Bulgarian nobility in the struggle for power, Byzantium in 1018 completely subjugated Bulgaria. Bulgaria lost its independence for more than a century and a half.
Rice. 2. Vasily II Bulgar Slayer ()
In the first half of the ninth century in the valley of the Morava River, the state of the Western Slavs arose - the Great Moravian state. At first, it was subordinate to the Franks, and after the collapse of the empire of Charlemagne - to Germany. The princes paid tribute to her and accepted Christianity from the German bishops. But then the Great Moravian state achieved independence and entered into a struggle with Germany. Several times the German kings invaded and overthrew objectionable Moravian princes from the throne, replacing them with their supporters. To fight Germany, one of the Moravian princes concluded an alliance with Byzantium against her. In order to free the church from the influence of the German clergy, he asked to send missionaries to Moravia to preach Christianity in the native language of the Slavs. The first Slavic enlighteners were the learned Bulgarian monks from Byzantium, the brothers Cyril and Methodius.
Rice. 3. Saints Cyril and Methodius ()
Cyril taught philosophy, knew the languages of different peoples. Methodius, a good organizer, ruled the Byzantine region for about 10 years. Then he became a monk and soon became the head of the monastery. In 863 the brothers were sent to the Great Moravian state. Before leaving, Kirill created the Slavic alphabet based on the Greek alphabet. With the help of Methodius, he translated several liturgical books into Slavonic. In Moravia, the brothers built churches, opened a school for the training of priests from local residents. They created a church independent of the German bishops. After the death of the brothers, the German clergy began to persecute their disciples. Some students found shelter in Bulgaria. Here they continued to translate Greek religious books and contributed to the rise of Bulgarian literature. From Bulgaria, Slavic writing passed to Russia. A long struggle with the kings of Germany weakened the Great Moravian state. Taking advantage of this, the Hungarians in 906 defeated her and seized part of her lands. The Great Moravian Empire collapsed.
The Byzantine Empire did not escape the decline either. Long wars with neighboring states, the struggle for power among the contenders for the imperial throne weakened its former power. Basil II was in fact the last powerful emperor of Byzantium. Not having the strength to resist, in the middle of the XV century. the empire will be conquered by the Ottoman Turks.
Bibliography
1. Agibalova E. V., Donskoy G. M. History of the Middle Ages. - M., 2012.
2. Atlas of the Middle Ages: History. Traditions. - M., 2000.
3. Illustrated world history: from ancient times to the 17th century. - M., 1999.
4. History of the Middle Ages: Book. for reading / Ed. V. P. Budanova. - M., 1999.
5. Kalashnikov V. Riddles of History: Middle Ages / V. Kalashnikov. - M., 2002.
6. Stories on the history of the Middle Ages / Ed. A. A. Svanidze. - M., 1996.
1. Anthology of Old Russian literature ().
Homework
1. What period in the history of Byzantium is called the "Macedonian Renaissance"? Why?
2. Which neighboring states posed the greatest threat to Byzantium?
3. How did the adoption of Christianity affect the historical fate of the Slavs?
4. What is the merit of Cyril and Methodius in the development of Slavic culture?
5. Why was the powerful Byzantine Empire conquered by the Ottoman Turks?
A new state arose on the Balkan Peninsula in the territory between the Danube and the Balkan mountain range in the 80s. 7th century At the initial stages of the formation of the Bulgarian statehood, two peoples took part in this process - the Proto-Bulgarians (the people of the Turkic group) and the Slavs. A complex process unfolded in the territory where another population previously lived. Until the end of the 1st millennium BC. the Thracians lived there, leaving rich traditions of agriculture, cattle breeding, trade and original culture to the newcomers. Thracian history abounded in many events that influenced Bulgarian history as well. So, the Thracian regions in the VIII-VII centuries. BC. were covered by Greek colonization. The Greeks founded a number of cities on the Black Sea, many of which became Bulgarian over the centuries. Among them are Apollonia (Sozopol), Odessa (Varna), Mesemvria (Nesebar) and others. In the II century BC. the Romans appeared in the aforementioned lands, subjugating the Thracians. The Danubian lands formed the Roman province of Moesia, the province of Macedonia arose in the South-West of the Balkans, Thrace was closer to the Balkan ridge. and the Greek population remained on the Black Sea coast with their own traditions.
The Slavs, who appeared in the Balkans in the 5th century AD, thus entered the sphere of influence of a higher culture, which undoubtedly had a huge impact on their development. The Slavs changed their places of habitual habitat, carried away by the so-called. Great Migration of Nations. In the V - VII centuries. Slavic settlements are found near the borders, and then on the lands of the Byzantine Empire. The Slavs began their acquaintance with Byzantium with raids on its territory, depriving the empire of rest.
The Slavs of Byzantium were especially annoying during the reign of Emperor Justinian (527-565). The largest Byzantine historians of the 5th - 7th centuries. considered it their duty to characterize the uninvited guests very impartially. Negative reviews about the Slavs are undoubtedly exaggerated, but there is no reason not to trust them at all, because the assessments of different authors, witnesses of those distant events, often coincide. About one of the Slavic attacks on the empire (548), the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea responded as follows: “At that time, the army of the Slavs, having crossed the Ister (Danube) river, did terrible misfortunes throughout Illyria, up to Epidaurus, killing and taking into slavery everyone who came across them, as well as robbing good. “In 550,” the same author continues, “after a long siege, the Slavs took the city of Topir, near the Aegean Sea, moreover, they killed every one of the men, numbering 15 thousand.” One can repeatedly multiply references to this kind of evidence by Byzantine, mainly, authors, but in essence the characterization of “barbarian atrocities” is usually of the same type. In addition, the Byzantines did not remain in debt and cruelly took revenge on the Slavs in full accordance with the customs of that time.
but mid 6th century brought important changes. From the raids, the Slavs began to move on to settling in the lands of the Byzantine Empire that they liked. By the end of the 6th century, the Balkan Peninsula was filled with Slavic settlements, and the territory between the Balkan Range and the Danube was also colonized. It was in this area in the 80s. In the 7th century, the Bulgarian state began to form. The Slavs brought their culture to the settled lands, which became the upper layer of the cultures that already existed there.
New settlers created military-territorial formations in the Balkans - Slavinia. One of these Slavinia, bearing the name "Seven Slavic clans" was destined to play an important role in the state formation of the future Bulgaria.
The Slavs who settled in the Balkans found themselves in a variety of natural and climatic conditions. The Bulgarian state was formed in the East and Center of the Balkans. The territory was cut or framed by mountain ranges - the Balkan Range, Rilo-Rodopsky, Staro-Planinsky and Pirinsky. There was a fertile Danubian plain. The territory towards the Black and Aegean Seas was crossed by the rivers Maritsa and Iskar. The Black Sea was the natural border of Bulgaria in the East. The climate was relatively mild, predominantly Mediterranean. Once in a new natural environment for themselves, the Slavs continued to develop their usual agricultural occupation. They were also raising livestock.
Sources eloquently describing the military successes of the Slavs are stingy with other information. And yet the collective portrait of the Slavs is drawn by Byzantine authors. “Slavs and Antes,” testifies Procopius of Caesarea, “are not controlled by one person, but have lived in democracy since ancient times, and therefore both luck and misfortune are discussed together.” According to the review of the Byzantine commander con. VI - beg. 7th century Mauritius, “for the love of freedom, they never agree to serve or obey, and especially in their own country. They are numerous and hardy, easily enduring heat and cold, and rain, and nakedness of the body, and lack of food. With guests they are meek and hospitable, they have a lot of different livestock and food, especially millet and zhit. Their wives are chaste beyond all human nature.”
Slavs and Proto-Bulgarians
The Balkan Peninsula, especially its North-Eastern part, was very densely colonized by the Slavs when new aliens appeared on the same territory. This time it was a Turkic tribe Proto-Bulgarians. One of the proto-Bulgarian unions settled in 70s 7th century in the interfluve of the Danube, Dniester and Prut, in the area referred to in the sources by the term "Ongle". The warlike Proto-Bulgarians managed to subdue the Slavic tribes living along the Danube. And at the beginning 80s they also conquered the Slavic union “Seven clans”. The desire to quickly settle down and settle down in new lands united both the winners and the vanquished. The Slavs and Proto-Bulgarians were also united by the danger that constantly emanated from Byzantium.
Forced by the will of fate to live in one small area, the two peoples were extremely dissimilar. Different ethnic groups had their own specific culture, habits and passions. Therefore, the process of creating a single Slavic-Bulgarian nation dragged on for centuries. Life, religion, way of managing - everything was different at first. P the Roto-Bulgarians were soldered by stable tribal ties, the despotic khan led a sharply militarized society. FROM the Lavians, on the other hand, were more democratic. It is enough to recall in this connection the opinions of Byzantine authors about the Slavs. Both ethnic groups were pagans but worshiped various gods, each to his own. They spoke different languages, using as a language of communication and writing Greek. And finally, the Slavs were predominantly farmers, and the Proto-Bulgarians pastoralists. Differences were overcome by about by the middle of the 10th century, when two peoples, different economic systems formed a single economic synthesis, and the single Slavic people began to be called the Turkic ethnonym “Bulgarians”.
The Slavic invasions completely changed the ethnic map of the Balkans. Slavs became the predominant population everywhere. The remnants of the peoples that were part of the Byzantine Empire, in essence, survived only in remote mountainous regions (in the 30s of the 19th century, the German scientist Fallmerayer noted that modern Greeks, in essence, descend from the Slavs. This statement caused a heated discussion in scientific circles ).
With the extermination of the Latin-speaking population of Illyricum, the last connecting element between Rome and Constantinople disappeared: the Slavic invasion erected an insurmountable barrier of paganism between them. The Balkan communications stalled for centuries; Latin, which was until the 8th century. the official language of the Byzantine Empire, has now been replaced by Greek and has been safely forgotten. The Byzantine Emperor Michael III (842-867) wrote in a letter to the Pope that Latin was "a barbarian and Scythian language." And in the XIII century. Athenian Metropolitan Michael Choniates was absolutely sure that "rather the donkey will feel the sound of the lyre, and the dung beetle to the spirits, than the Latins will understand the harmony and charm of the Greek language."
The “pagan rampart” erected by the Slavs in the Balkans deepened the gap between the European East and West and, moreover, at the very time when political and religious factors were increasingly separating the Church of Constantinople and the Roman Church.
This barrier was partly removed in the second half of the 9th century, when the Balkan and Pannonian Slavs adopted Christianity.
In this century, Byzantium experienced a political and cultural renaissance. It was determined by several important circumstances of the external and internal life of the empire. The Arab onslaught was repulsed, and a balance of power was established on the Byzantine-Arab border. At the same time, an even more important victory over iconoclasm entailed the restoration of secular education and the revival of the missionary fervor of the Orthodox Church. New generations of theologians and diplomats left the University of Constantinople with an ardent desire to see Byzantine politics - spiritual and secular - more offensive, they were ready to bring to the "barbarians" not only the light of the true faith, but also the magically attractive glow of the brilliant Byzantine civilization. It is no coincidence that St. Constantine (Cyril), in scholarly disputes with the Arabs and Khazars, argued the advantage of Greek Orthodoxy, firstly, by the fact that all the arts come from Byzantium, and, secondly, by the words of the prophet Daniel: “... the God of heaven will raise up a kingdom that will not be destroyed forever, and this kingdom will not be transferred to another people; it will crush and destroy all kingdoms, but it itself will stand forever” (Dan. 2:44).
The process of Christianization of the Slavic population of Greece took place in the following order: military, diplomatic, cultural pressure; Hellenization; appeal; political submission. Emperor Leo VI the Wise (881 - 911) mentions these four stages of the assimilation of the "Greek" Slavs in connection with the activities of his predecessor, Emperor Basil I (867 - 886): “Our father Basil, emperor of the Romans, of blessed memory, managed to convince them (Slavs. - S. Ts.) to reject their ancient customs, and made them Greeks, and subjugated them to rulers according to the Roman model, and honored them with baptism, and freed them from the power of their leaders, and taught them to fight against peoples hostile to the Romans.
Mission of Cyril and Methodius
The conversion of the Bulgarians and Moravians proceeded somewhat differently, whose political independence from Byzantium prevented their assimilation. In this regard, the spread of Orthodoxy among them encountered a serious difficulty - the language of Christian preaching remained completely incomprehensible to most of the new converts. The church service was conducted by the Greek priests in the Greek language, which the ordained priests from the Slavs practically did not know. In turn, only a few Greek missionaries had a good command of the Slavic language. The Life of St. Methodius reports that the emperor, prompting the Thessalonica brothers to go to Moravia, gave the following argument: “You are thessalonians, and the Thessalonians all speak purely Slavic.”
Medieval "Cyril and Methodius" literature described the creation of the Slavic alphabet as a kind of one-time act, a kind of miracle.
Cyril and Methodius create the alphabet. Miniature of the Radziwill Chronicle
However, the Thessalonica brothers certainly had predecessors in this field. Sending Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius on an educational mission to the Danubian Slavs in 862, Emperor Michael III noted in his parting speech that already in the first half of the 9th century. Greek philologists tried to create a Slavic alphabet, though in vain. Yes, and the brothers themselves appear before us surrounded by students and assistants, to whose lot, presumably, a considerable part of the educational work fell. It is most likely that the creation of the Slavic alphabet was preceded by a long and painstaking scientific work, and that Slavic writing came into being somewhat earlier than the Moravian mission of the Thessalonica brothers.
The Cyrillic alphabet was based on the Slavic dialect of South Macedonia and the environs of Thessaloniki, where the enlightenment brothers spent their childhood. But thanks to the common Slavic linguistic unity that was still preserved at that time, manifested both in vocabulary and in syntax, the Cyrillic alphabet acquired a universal meaning in the Slavic world. "Technically" it was an adaptation of Greek writing to the phonetic features of Slavic speech. But, despite the apparent simplicity, it was the creation of a first-class linguist. “It was the initial phase of the development of the Church Slavonic language that was the most successful in terms of linguistic accuracy and literary quality,” noted D. Obolensky. - The translations of Constantine are distinguished primarily by scientific adequacy and poetic depth. He perfectly knew how to use all the rich variety of Greek vocabulary and syntax, without the slightest violence against the spirit of the Slavic language. Therefore, and also due to the fact that various Slavic peoples then spoke a more or less common dialect, Church Slavonic became the third international language of Europe and the common literary dialect of the Eastern European peoples admitted to the Byzantine Commonwealth: Bulgarians, Russians, Serbs and Romanians "[Obolensky D The Byzantine Commonwealth of Nations. Six Byzantine portraits. M., 1998. S. 153]. Historians are unanimous in the opinion that "Konstantin can be deservedly ranked among the greatest philologists of Europe" [Ibid. S. 151].
Catholic missionaries, in turn, tried to draw the Great Moravian Principality into the orbit of influence of the Roman Church. In the ninth century she tried to translate several Christian texts (“Our Father”, the Creed, etc.) into the Moravian dialect using the Latin alphabet.
The See of Rome at first treated the idea of worship in the Slavic language quite loyally. The East Frankish (German) episcopate looked at this matter differently, expressing in theological form the desire of King Louis the German to expand his possessions at the expense of the Moravian lands. Therefore, Constantine had to contend with a close-knit group of Latin clerics who were extremely hostile to the Slavic liturgy. According to his Life, they pounced on Constantine "like ravens on a falcon", asserting the theory of three "sacred" languages - Hebrew, Greek and Latin, in which only it is "allowed" to serve the liturgy. Constantine was excellent in his objections. He denounced this teaching as a "trilingual heresy", in contrast to which he formulated his credo: all languages are good and acceptable in the eyes of God. At the same time, he referred to the words of the apostle Paul: “Now, if I come to you, brethren, and begin to speak in unknown tongues, then what benefit will I bring you?” (1 Cor., 14: 6) and to the sermon of John Chrysostom: "The teaching of fishermen and artisans shines brighter than the sun in the language of the barbarians." As a result of his dispute with the "tri-pagans", Pope Adrian II fully approved and solemnly blessed the Slavic liturgy in a special message.
Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Brothers Cyril and Methodius. Fresco of St. Naum Monastery, Bulgaria.
In 869, Constantine died, having taken tonsure before his death under the name of Cyril. Methodius, appointed archbishop of Pannonia and papal legate among the Slavic peoples, tried to continue his work. But, alas, politics got in the way of culture. In 871, Svyatopolk, the nephew of Rostislav, the ruling prince of Great Moravia, threw his uncle into prison and swore an oath of vassalage to Louis the German. The East Frankish clergy secured the arrest of Methodius, who spent two years in a Swabian prison and was released only after strong pressure exerted on the German bishops by the new Pope John VIII. However, the idea of a Slavic liturgy found less and less support among the powers that be. Svyatopolk, who soon quarreled with Louis and expelled the Germans from the country, did not see any benefit in the Byzantine orientation; As for the See of Rome, over the years it more and more clearly revealed the desire not to aggravate relations with the recalcitrant German clergy. In 880, John VIII banned Slavic worship.
The last years of Methodius' life were poisoned by persecution and intrigue. He still managed to translate into Slavonic a number of Byzantine legal texts concerning the Church, but after his death in 885, the translation activity of his circle died out. Some time later, the ambassador of Emperor Basil I in Venice, who was going around the slave market in search of his compatriots subject to ransom, drew attention to a group of slaves put up for sale by Jewish merchants. After making inquiries, he found out that these were the disciples of Constantine and Methodius, sold into slavery as heretics. The unfortunate were ransomed and sent to Constantinople.
It seemed that the Moravian mission of the Thessalonica brothers ended in complete failure. But history does not like to rush to conclusions. During the short twenty years of the activity of the Slavic enlighteners, the Danubian Slavs had their own clergy and, most importantly, the foundations of Slavic literature in the spoken language were laid. The new cultural undertaking proved extremely viable. The Roman Church managed to uproot the Slavic liturgy in Central Europe only two centuries after the death of Constantine and Methodius. But the sprout of Orthodox spirituality, grafted by them to the tree of Slavic culture, did not wither and bore fruit in another place and at another time: in 865 the disciples of Constantine and Methodius baptized Bulgaria, and in 988 the Russian land adopted Christianity.