The Byzantine Empire: Part 5 - Crusades and the Fall of Constantinople

1042-1453
Yes, yes, I recognize that 1042-1453 is a long stretch of time, but while Rome wasn't built in a day, Byzantium didn't fall in one either. It went through a slow, painful decline in power through two major issues. The first was the split of the church, through one side believing the west wasn't well represented and the east believing it was fine. The split created the Catholic (universal) and Eastern Orthodox (true) churches, the separation meaning they no longer supported each other. The other major problem - and this one the more violent, scary one - was the rise of the Seljuk Turks. Originally nomadic, they banded together and caught the Muslim world by surprise, taking large sections of territory. They set their sights on the Byzantine Empire, and with the mismanagement of previous emperors and the military being stripped in fear of uprisings, it was right there, ready to be trampled.

The crusaders taking Jerusalem. Upon hearing this news
the Pope proclaimed he was "totally stoked" and was
glad the soldiers could "git 'er done."

With the Turks rampaging across the lands, the Pope needed to do something, and while he wasn't yelling "terrorist!" or forcing people off airplanes, he ignited the western civilizations of Europe in a fervor of anti-Muslim sentiments. With that, the first Crusade was born, and taking up the banner of Christ they went to kill all the non-Christians they could find in the most Christian way they could. But how did Constantinople feel about this? Alexius, the emperor, was wary of the men coming through his lands on the way to attack the Turks. First, they might make the Pope more powerful, thus weakening his own position. Second, that many people coming through the city would need food and hospitality, and not being willing to provide might not work out too well. I'm betting you wouldn't like to be the one to tell a massive number of angry, violent men that they're going to be well fed during their travels.

Saladin: Upon trampling an enemy soldier,
he would shout back at his troops, yelling
"look, no hands!".

Fortunately, they passed through on their way to take Jerusalem, but Alexius was still supposed to send soldiers. The lands were, after all, meant to be returned to Constantinople's influence once they were liberated from the Turks. So, when a massive army was descending upon a number of crusaders, Alexius took his men and ventured out to support them. That was when he came across a man fleeing from the battle who informed Alexius that by the time they arrived all would be lost - so Alexius, not wanting to go fight a war that's already concluded, went back to Constantinople. This is one of those historical "what if?" moments where you have to wonder what would have happened if that man had never escaped. Well... Byzantium would probably still go down, but it would likely be a fair while later.

The reason this was so bad for the empire was the crusaders didn't lose. They fought on valiantly, and as things go with having the advantage of being the defender, they shut themselves off in their fortifications and defeated the superior numbers of the Turks. This destroyed the reputation of the empire, and the crusaders would no longer return the lands to Constantinople, instead keeping them for themselves.

Some time later, the Turks, who had taken the role as vassal states instead of being entirely eliminated, started to rise up again. Under the banner of the great Saladin (so great I've seen him in Age of Empires and the Civilization series - really the benchmark for a top level historical ruler) the Turks stole Jerusalem back and sparked another Crusade against him. The Turks were much more successful this time, however, and the Ottoman Empire was created and running largely unopposed. As for the crusaders that went out to fight them, they also ended up brutalizing Constantinople. Due to infighting between emperors and would-be emperors, one hired the crusaders to get him the crown. They were successful, but discovered he couldn't afford to pay them all that he had promised. As a result, the crusaders rampaged across the city, looting, burning and destroying much of Constantinople. Looking back on it, the crusaders didn't seem to be the holy rollers they claimed to be. Who knew?

With Constantinople in shambles, they soon became a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans frequently shamed the emperor and his people, forcing them into the indignity of living underfoot. They finally pushed the emperor Manuel II a little too far, forcing them to declare war. The Ottoman army was much, much greater, but they had the walls of Constantinople to protect them and the Turks lacked an adequate navy to attack from the sea. They managed to hold on, and the Mongol, Timur the Lame (what a name to go down in history with) forced them to retreat as he was attacking Ottoman territory. It was good timing, and it gave them a reprieve, but this was grasping at straws and the empire was on the outs.

A statue of the last emperor of the Byzantines. I mean, don't
get me wrong, he fought well and all, but he did just get
a statue of him for having the empire die under his watch.
Just sayin'.

Eventually they returned, and they attacked once more with the emperor Constantine at the helm. While it seemed like they could shield themselves behind the walls of Constantinople forever, the introduction of the cannon spelled the end. The walls were repeatedly bombarded, and while they would restack the rubble during the nighttime, their soldiers were outnumbered ten to one. Regardless, they held on valiantly, turning away advance after advance of the Ottoman troops. Constantine was told to flee as the city was sure to fall, but he chose to stay, rallying the troops and going down with the ship. In what must have been a surprisingly nice moment (considering both sides were displaying the corpses of their enemy outside their walls) the split churches both met in the Hagia Sophia and had a communal service. The speech the emperor gave was more a funeral service than a inspiration.

After 1123 years, the Byzantine Empire fell as the Ottoman troops ransacked and set fire to the city, raping and pillaging everything in sight. The 88th and final emperor charged into battle with his troops and was never seen from again.

The Byzantine Empire: Part 4 - Political Intrigue

800-976
The problem with covering hundreds of years of history is it tends to jump around from wild
successes to massive failures with the flip of a page. Since the previous blog, it's been a little while. Constantinople's power had gone up and down - and, at the beginning of the 9th century, it was just starting to turn around again, this time for the better. The Byzantine empire stumbled upon a number of (literal) gold mines, teaching religion outside of the Latin language helped to solidify ties with their territories, and education began to find importance again. Then came the time of Michael the Drunk - a man whose name tells you almost entirely everything you need to know about him. Almost. What's just as important is he had an uncle who was much smarter and more capable than the frequently inebriated emperor. His uncle would be slated to take the leadership once Michael's death came through either an assassination, an unfortunate drunken tumble down the stairs, or a liver that finally collapsed under the weight of so, so much abuse - or so it seemed. Michael was impressed by a peasant whom he believed was a particularly talented wrestler, and decided that being able to pin someone was a good enough reason to pass the crown on to him. The uncle warned him against this, both because it was obviously ludicrous but also because he didn't trust the wrestler. As it turns out, similar to the rest of his life, he should have listened to his uncle. They were murdered by the would-be successor, and with that the Macedonian dynasty began under the leadership of Basil I. That's assassination one. There are plenty more to come.

There's Basil on the left, wrestling a man. The crowd are all politely watching,
yelling for a suplex, or at the very least, a beheading.

Basil I was a capable leader, but you could say what felled him was karma. He disapproved of the woman his son hoped to take as a wife, and eventually Leo (his son) would take the throne after Basil found an unfortunate death similar in the way to the mob's enemies have "accidents" while out on a hunting trip. Unfortunately for Leo, the wife his father had planned for him wasn't anyone he was interested in. Fortunately for him, his wife died and he was free to marry his longtime mistress of whom Basil disapproved of. This wife also died from a fever. Upon marrying a third wife, she died in childbirth (along with the baby). This means that he would have to marry a fourth woman, but he himself had forbidden the marrying of multiple women in this way, which was a seemingly endless streak of bad luck just piled on by his own doing. So, he slept around outside of marriage a little and had a son whom couldn't be fully recognized as legitimate. It was basically an emperor using the "easier to ask forgiveness than permission" idea. However, avoiding his conundrum with his inability to marry another woman over the graves of his multiple dead wives did little to solve the problem of how a child born outside of marriage would affect his succession. It would take plenty of time with political maneuvering (he was a terrible military leader, but boy could he get his way out of trouble) he managed to get the Pope to recognize his son, and Constantine VII would be set to lead. So to that tally, add another assassination and throw three dead wives in the mix.

Unfortunately, since Constantine VII was only six, he didn't really rule anything, even after Leo died. Leo's uncle, Alexander, who had lived in his shadow long enough took the true role of leadership instead of the title and started to undo much of what Leo had completed. However, after only thirteen months he died while playing a game of polo - perhaps the lamest death of an emperor since the guy who suffocated himself almost immediately after taking hold.  Even then, Constantine VII wouldn't rule. The general Romanus had won the hearts of the people through killing that special number of people to warrant moving up the political ranks, and while he promised to "protect" the emperor, he soon became it himself. He had a large number of sons and it looked like he was going to start a dynasty of his own. But here's the kicker - his favourite son died, and he believed his other ones, well... sucked. So he returns the leadership to the at least sort of rightful Constantine VII (how rightful can you be when pretty much everyone finds their way through assassinations or usurping?). To keep with the tally, that's a polo-related death, a death of a son who would be emperor, and the hundreds of non-important deaths of military campaigns that are always glossed over in the wake of rulers.

Look! There she is, Theophano, poisoning her husband!
I think. How can anyone tell? Maybe that's why it was just a rumour.

Constantine's son, Romanus II, seemed to be following in a similar fashion as the son of Basil I. He didn't like his son's wife, Theophano, but instead of stepping in, he let the marriage happen. A short time later, Basil II was born to Theophano and Romanus II, and within a year, Constantine VII found his end through a fever and Romanus II rose to emperor. In spite of all the deaths passings of the throne, things were going fairly well, specifically because of the general Nicephorus who had recently retaken Crete, a sore spot on the empire that they had lost some time ago. Upon his return, however, he found that Romanus II had been poisoned (another assassination!), leaving their six year old son as the next in line. Theophano (who was dealing with rumours that she did the deed) sent for the general to return to help solidify his rule, and after a fight with a chamberlain who was also vying for power, Nicephorus took the throne and married Theophano.

He was well suited for it; capable and proven in military prowess (which is kind of the Byzantine Empire's man thing, as with most empires) and he proved to be a success. However, he was a successful jerk, and his nephew, Tzimiskes, was growing ever popular. More than that, he was particularly popular with Theophano whom Nicephorus had married, and in a Days of Our Lives-esque betrayal, he was sleeping with her. In a more violent version of Days of Our Lives, Theophano and Tzimiskes brutally murdered Nicephorus, (fourth assassination?!) and took the throne for themselves. By this point Nicephorus was so strongly disliked by the general population, this takeover went about as smoothly as brutal, savage murders could.

Nicephorus: either this is how he
looked, or it's an action figure.
Look at the base at the bottom -
that's so he doesn't fall off your shelf.

Once the dust settled (and soaked up the increasing pools of blood that had been occurring in the empire in the past while) Tzimiskes went on to succeed time and time again in military assaults on the then collapsing Arab caliphate. Upon his return, however, he would prove to be yet another casualty, but this time from the aristocracy. Finding fields and fields of land, he questioned who it belonged to and found that it belonged to Basil Lecapenus. Not fond of the idea of losing his lands or being thrown in jail for what I'm sure was some shady dealing, Lecapenus poisoned the emperor to save his skin. Assassination number five. Whoever was hired as the personal bodyguard of the emperors must be absolutely atrocious at their job.

It was a wild two-hundred years or so. Massive military campaigns, assassinations galore, and more Basils than an over-spiced spaghetti. All in all and in spite of all of that, the Byzantines came out rather strongly. But, that wouldn't last for long. The Crusaders were coming, and the fall of the power of the empire was nigh. So, so nigh.

The Byzantine Empire: Part 3 - Justinian and his General

518-566

In 518 the emperor Justin came in at a time where things were going fairly well. And no, that's not Justinian whom you may have heard of, but rather his uncle, the first of the dynasty. He's probably best known for his nephew Justinian, but who at the time of his birth was named Peter Sabbatius. The emperor saw potential in the boy and gave him the best possible education and advantages, and Peter, never forgetting that, eventually took the name Justinian in recognition of all that his uncle had done for him. Through Justinian's reign Byzantium would see massive amounts of construction, an influx of wealth, a system of laws finally put together properly and at long last some success in wartime. But all that had to be paid for.

Justinian really amped up the taxes, which, true to modern day, angered pretty well close to everyone. In spite of winning land outside their borders (his general Belisarius, who I will show to be one of my new favourite historical figures, was winning fight after fight in Persia) the general population just couldn't stand to be having that kind of money stripped from them. The people got progressively more frustrated until all the anger culminated into a revolt while Justinian was visiting the hippodrome (an arena for horse racing, and to my disappointment, hippo-free). He was forced to flee to his palace, and very well may have been killed were it not for Belisarius who was waiting to be deployed to go clear out the Vandals who had defeated the aggressively stupid Basiliscus not long ago. Belisarius then went to the hippodrome and, as the Roman youth say, kicked their faces in. Except with swords. While there would be no chance at a rebellion of the like again soon, as if you kill all those willing to revolt it tends to leave a very small number willing to give it another go, the idea that the people were so enraged as to rise against him must have shaken Justinian.

The Hagia Sophia is quite the building. I wonder if I could buy
a Belisarius bobblehead there.

He loosened the reigns on the lower class, giving them heavy tax breaks in comparison to what it was like before, but the nobility were not so lucky. Believing that they were hampering him at every turn, he overtaxed the nobility excessively or, more simply, had them murdered. And in the wake of all of this bloodshed...

Another Byzantine golden age! With the treasury overflowing, Justinian builds the massive, beautiful Hagia Sophia, a marvel of architecture and cultural beauty amidst a number of other construction projects. But it wasn't just the home life he was taking care of - he had a few scores to settle, and he had just the man to take care of it.

Sending Belisarius against the Vandals worked brilliantly. They happened to attack at a good time, managing to catch them out of sorts as they were returning from quelling an uprising within their borders. Belisarius pretty well wiped them out entirely, returning the entire treasury and the piles of plunder they had stolen from raids on the empires over the ages. For this he was given the highest honour a general could receive. Of course, this is Belisarius. Belisarius! He wasn't done yet.

Justinian set his sights on retaking the Western Roman Empire, or at least the territory that formerly held that name. Deciding on a two-pronged assault, one general would attack from the north while Belisarius would attack from the south. The gothic king was almost ready to surrender on the spot but was spurred on to battle by the northern general's foolish death (he attacked too recklessly and ended up getting himself killed). The southern advance (of course) was going much better, however. With many supporting the Roman traditions, the doors of Rome flung open without a drop of blood spilled, but there was a distinct problem; he was taking so many cities that his army was all too rapidly losing size. Not because of the losses in battle (there were few) but because with each takeover he had to leave a small garrison behind to secure it. Before long, he was left with a relative skeleton crew of soldiers, and the gothic king who had fled to the city of Ravenna to regroup had noticed that the general's numbers were surprisingly slim. Horribly outnumbered, Belisarius and company held the line against the intruders, but were in desperate need of reinforcements.

This artist must not have liked Justinian,
giving him a rather profound double chin.
He could have gone by "Justinian
the Big Boned".

Back in Constantinople, Justinian felt about Belisarius the way many emperors felt about their successful generals; fearful of the populace getting behind the winning warlord rather than the throne. Justinian did eventually decide to send reinforcements, but with them he sent a man by the name of Nantes to watch over his every action and "help" him lead. Nantes he didn't have to worry about; he couldn't possibly take the throne because he just didn't have the balls for it. (He was a eunuch.) Unfortunately, all this did was split the forces up and as a result they lost a number of battles. Even then, they were still strong enough to push to the gates of Ravenna.

To the surprise and frustration of Belisarius, he was suddenly recalled to Byzantium. Persia was attacking and he had to be there to defend it. Knowing he had to leave almost immediately, he was given an interesting proposal by the gothic king. The king said that if he were to take the crown and restore the Western Roman Empire, the goths would rally behind him. With his standing army and the force of the goths behind him, he would be infinitely more powerful, have an empire of his own to lead, and finally find the recognition he deserves. Obviously, he took the deal - but Belisarius was loyal to a fault, and he used the prospect of taking the crown as a ruse. It wasn't until he was heading back to Byzantium the king realized he had been betrayed. Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that Belisarius had been nothing but infinitely successful and stunningly loyal, this garnered further distrust from Justinian, and more specifically, his wife Theodora.

Upon returning home he was once more sent to battle Persia. While out east, the dreaded black plague struck home and wiped out a massive part of the population, and Justinian himself was struck by the sickness. Belisarius got word of this, and believed Justinian will likely die and thus a new emperor would have to be crowned, it seems like the reins would pass to Theodora, Justinian's wife. His men in particular couldn't stomach having Theodora lead, whom they were not very fond of. His men thought that, since he has found success pretty well everywhere he's gone, that he should be leading. Unfortunately, Theodora heard this rumour and stripped Belisarius of his title and exiled him. After all what he did for the empire, he got pushed aside in disgrace.

Theodora was, apparently, rather babely. What
is the Latin translation for "hubba hubba"?

Meanwhile the empire had completely gone to crap with astounding speed. The plague had crippled the economy, the hold on the west was collapsing due to too many generals running things and fighting amongst themselves, and with the lack of numbers and poor economy Persia was taking land rapidly upon discovering Byzantium's newfound weakness. In addition to battling Persia, they were dealing with an increasingly distressing presence of the Huns who showed up just thirty miles out of Constantinople while the army was out fighting. With barely any men to fight them off and in desperate need of a military mind, Justinian lifts the exile of Belisarius and calls on him one last time. It's essentially the plot for countless movies.

Justinian: "Belisarius... the Huns have arrived. You're the only one that can stop them!"

Belisarius: "But I'm old now - I'm pushing fifty, and that's really old in ancient Byzantine times, or as we call it, present day."

Justinian: "You're the best there is. You have to do it. For the empire, Belisarius!"

*Belisarius looks at a tattered Byzantine standard, and ponders his role in the army.*

Belisarius: "Fine, Justinian. I'll help. But I'm getting too old for this *$%@."

Anyways - in his last heroic stand, Belisarius defeats the Huns outnumbered with a ragtag bunch of soldiers. Afterwards, he went into retirement and faded out of the limelight, a general so great that some of his enemies would surrender just knowing they were to fight him.

If only the emperors that followed the eventual death of Justinian could be so heroic (or at least competent). While they did inherit the throne at a difficult time (an empire too stretched out and poor) their shortsightedness certainly didn't help the situation. Worse yet, a new enemy in the Muslim army came to their doorstep after having rampaged through a weakened Persia. Upon attacking Constantinople, if it wasn't for a tremendous invention of "Greek fire", a kind of persistently burning flamethrower attached to ships (an invention well ahead of its time) it may very well have fallen.