When the Roman Byzantine Empire collapsed. Fall of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire

BYZANTINE EMPIRE
the eastern part of the Roman Empire, which survived the fall of Rome and the loss of the western provinces at the beginning of the Middle Ages and existed until the conquest of Constantinople (the capital of the Byzantine Empire) by the Turks in 1453. There was a period when it extended from Spain to Persia, but its basis was always Greece and other Balkan lands, as well as Asia Minor. Until the middle of the 11th century. Byzantium was the most powerful power in the Christian world, and Constantinople was the largest city in Europe. The Byzantines called their country the “Empire of the Romans” (Greek “Rome” - Roman), but it was extremely different from the Roman Empire of the time of Augustus. Byzantium retained the Roman system of government and laws, but in language and culture it was a Greek state, had an eastern-type monarchy, and most importantly, it zealously preserved the Christian faith. For centuries, the Byzantine Empire acted as the guardian of Greek culture, thanks to which the Slavic peoples joined civilization.
EARLY BYZANTIUM
Founding of Constantinople. It would be right to begin the history of Byzantium with the fall of Rome. However, two important decisions that determined the character of this medieval empire - the conversion to Christianity and the founding of Constantinople - were made by Emperor Constantine I the Great (reigned 324-337) approximately a century and a half before the fall of the Roman Empire. Diocletian, who ruled shortly before Constantine (284-305), reorganized the administration of the empire, dividing it into Eastern and Western. After the death of Diocletian, the empire was plunged into civil war, when several contenders fought for the throne, including Constantine. In 313, Constantine, having defeated his opponents in the West, abandoned the pagan gods with which Rome was inextricably linked, and declared himself a supporter of Christianity. All but one of his successors were Christians, and with the support of the imperial power, Christianity soon spread throughout the empire. Another important decision of Constantine, made after he became sole emperor by overthrowing his rival in the East, was to choose as the new capital the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, founded by Greek sailors on the European shore of the Bosporus in 659 (or 668) BC . Constantine expanded Byzantium, erected new defensive structures, rebuilt it according to Roman models and gave the city a new name. The official proclamation of the new capital took place in 330 AD.
Fall of the Western Provinces. Constantine's administrative and financial policies seemed to breathe new life into the unified Roman Empire. But the period of unity and prosperity did not last long. The last emperor who owned the entire empire was Theodosius I the Great (reigned 379-395). After his death, the empire was finally divided into Eastern and Western. Throughout the 5th century. At the head of the Western Roman Empire were mediocre emperors who were unable to protect their provinces from barbarian raids. In addition, the welfare of the western part of the empire always depended on the welfare of its eastern part. With the division of the empire, the West was cut off from its main sources of income. Gradually, the western provinces disintegrated into several barbarian states, and in 476 the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire was deposed.
The struggle to preserve the Eastern Roman Empire. Constantinople and the East as a whole were in a better position. The Eastern Roman Empire was led by more capable rulers, its borders were shorter and better fortified, and it was richer and had a larger population. On the eastern borders, Constantinople retained its possessions during the endless wars with Persia that began in Roman times. However, the Eastern Roman Empire also faced a number of serious problems. The cultural traditions of the Middle Eastern provinces of Syria, Palestine and Egypt were very different from those of Greece and Rome, and the population of these territories viewed imperial rule with disgust. Separatism was closely connected with church strife: in Antioch (Syria) and Alexandria (Egypt) new teachings appeared every now and then, which the Ecumenical Councils condemned as heretical. Of all the heresies, Monophysitism caused the most trouble. Attempts by Constantinople to reach a compromise between Orthodox and Monophysite teachings led to a split between the Roman and Eastern Churches. The schism was overcome with the accession of Justin I (reigned 518–527), a staunchly orthodox figure, but Rome and Constantinople continued to diverge from each other in doctrine, worship, and church organization. First of all, Constantinople objected to the pope's claims to supremacy over the entire Christian church. Disagreements arose periodically, leading in 1054 to the final split (schism) of the Christian Church into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox.

Justinian I. A large-scale attempt to regain power over the West was made by Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527-565). Military campaigns led by outstanding commanders - Belisarius, and later Narses - ended with great success. Italy, North Africa and southern Spain were conquered. However, in the Balkans, the invasion of Slavic tribes who crossed the Danube and devastated Byzantine lands could not be stopped. In addition, Justinian had to be content with a fragile truce with Persia, which followed a long war that did not lead to a definite result. Within the empire itself, Justinian maintained the traditions of imperial luxury. Under him, such masterpieces of architecture were erected as the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Constantinople and the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, aqueducts, baths, public buildings in cities and border fortresses were also built. Perhaps Justinian's most significant achievement was the codification of Roman law. Although in Byzantium itself it was subsequently replaced by other codes, in the West Roman law formed the basis of the legislation of France, Germany and Italy. Justinian had an excellent assistant - his wife Theodora. She once saved his crown by convincing Justinian to remain in the capital during popular unrest. Theodora supported the Monophysites. Under her influence, and also faced with the political realities of the rise of the Monophysites in the east, Justinian was forced to move away from the orthodox position he had occupied during his early reign. Justinian is unanimously recognized as one of the greatest Byzantine emperors. He restored cultural ties between Rome and Constantinople and extended the period of prosperity for the North African region by 100 years. During his reign the empire reached its maximum size.

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

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

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

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

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

SOCIO-ECONOMIC LIFE OF BYZANTIUM
Diversity within the empire. The ethnically diverse population of the Byzantine Empire was united by their affiliation with the empire and Christianity, and were also to some extent influenced by Hellenistic traditions. Armenians, Greeks, Slavs had their own linguistic and cultural traditions. However, Greek always remained the main literary and official language of the empire, and fluency in it was certainly required of an ambitious scientist or politician. There was no racial or social discrimination in the country. Among the Byzantine emperors were Illyrians, Armenians, Turks, Phrygians and Slavs.
Constantinople. The center and focus of the entire life of the empire was its capital. The city was ideally located at the intersection of two great trade routes: the land route between Europe and South-West Asia and the sea route between the Black and Mediterranean seas. The sea route led from the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea through the narrow Bosporus Strait (Bosporus), then through the small, land-locked Sea of ​​Marmara and, finally, another strait - the Dardanelles. Immediately before leaving the Bosphorus into the Sea of ​​Marmara, a narrow crescent-shaped bay, called the Golden Horn, juts deep into the shore. It was a magnificent natural harbor that protected ships from the dangerous cross currents in the strait. Constantinople was built on a triangular promontory between the Golden Horn and the Sea of ​​Marmara. The city was protected on both sides by water, and on the west, on the land side, by strong walls. 50 km to the west there was another line of fortifications, known as the Great Wall. The majestic residence of the imperial power was also a trading center for merchants of every conceivable nationality. The more privileged had their own neighborhoods and even their own churches. The same privilege was given to the Anglo-Saxon Imperial Guard, which at the end of the 11th century. belonged to the small Latin church of St. Nicholas, as well as Muslim travelers, merchants and ambassadors who had their own mosque in Constantinople. Residential and commercial areas were mainly adjacent to the Golden Horn. Here, as well as on both sides of the beautiful forested, steep slope overlooking the Bosphorus, residential areas grew and monasteries and chapels were erected. The city grew, but the heart of the empire remained the triangle on which the city of Constantine and Justinian originally arose. Here was a complex of imperial buildings known as the Grand Palace, and next to it was the temple of St. Sophia (Hagia Sophia) and the Church of St. Irene and St. Sergius and Bacchus. Nearby were the hippodrome and the Senate building. From here Mesa (Middle Street), the main street, led to the western and southwestern parts of the city.
Byzantine trade. Trade flourished in many cities of the Byzantine Empire, such as Thessaloniki (Greece), Ephesus and Trebizond (Asia Minor) or Chersonesos (Crimea). Some cities had their own specialization. Corinth and Thebes, as well as Constantinople itself, were famous for their silk production. As in Western Europe, merchants and artisans were organized into guilds. A good idea of ​​\u200b\u200btrade in Constantinople is given by the book compiled in the 10th century. The book of the eparch, containing a list of rules for artisans and traders of both everyday goods, such as candles, bread or fish, and luxury goods. Some luxury goods, such as the finest silks and brocades, could not be exported. They were intended only for the imperial court and could only be exported abroad as imperial gifts, for example to kings or caliphs. The import of goods could only be carried out in accordance with certain agreements. A number of trade agreements were concluded with friendly peoples, in particular with the Eastern Slavs, who created in the 9th century. own state. Along the great Russian rivers, the Eastern Slavs descended south to Byzantium, where they found ready markets for their goods, mainly furs, wax, honey and slaves. The leading role of Byzantium in international trade was based on income from port services. However, in the 11th century. there was an economic crisis. The gold solidus (known in the West as the bezant, the Byzantine currency) began to depreciate in value. Byzantine trade began to be dominated by the Italians, in particular the Venetians and Genoese, who achieved such excessive trade privileges that the imperial treasury was seriously depleted, and it lost control over most of the customs duties. Even trade routes began to bypass Constantinople. At the end of the Middle Ages, the eastern Mediterranean flourished, but all the wealth was by no means in the hands of the emperors.
Agriculture. Agriculture was even more important than customs duties and trade in handicrafts. One of the main sources of income in the state was the land tax: it was levied on both large landholdings and agricultural communities. Fear of tax collectors haunted small landowners, who could easily go bankrupt due to a bad harvest or the loss of several head of livestock. If a peasant abandoned his land and ran away, his share of the tax due was usually collected from his neighbors. Many small landowners preferred to become dependent tenants of large landowners. Attempts by the central government to reverse this trend were not particularly successful, and by the end of the Middle Ages, agricultural resources were concentrated in the hands of large landowners or were owned by large monasteries.

STATE AND BYZANTINE LAW

In 395, the Roman Empire was divided into the Western (capital - Rome) and Eastern (capital - Constantinople). The first empire ceased to exist in 476 under the blows of the Germanic tribes. The Eastern Empire, or Byzantium, existed until 1453. Byzantium received its name from the ancient Greek colony of Megara, a small town of Byzantium, on the site of which Emperor Constantine
in 324-330 he founded the new capital of the Roman Empire - Constantinople. The Byzantines themselves called themselves “Romans”, and the empire – “Romanian”, therefore for a long time the capital was called “New Rome”.

Byzantium was in many ways a continuation of the Roman Empire, preserving its political and state traditions. At the same time, Constantinople and Rome became two centers of political life - the “Latin” West and the “Greek” East.

The stability of Byzantium had its reasons, hidden
in the features of socio-economic and historical development. Firstly, the Byzantine state included economically developed regions: Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, the Balkan Peninsula (the territory of the empire exceeded 750,000 sq. km
with a population of 50-65 million people), who conducted brisk trade
with India, China, Iran, Arabia and North Africa. The decline of an economy based on slave labor was not felt as strongly here as in Western Rome, since the population was
in a free or semi-free state. Agriculture was not built on forced labor in the form of large slave-owning latifundia, but on small peasant farming (communal peasantry). Therefore, small farms responded more quickly to the changing market conditions and more quickly, compared to large farms, restructured their activities. And in the craft here, the main role was played by free workers. For these reasons, the eastern provinces suffered less than the western ones from the economic crisis of the 3rd century.

Secondly, Byzantium, having large material resources, had a strong army, navy and a strong, ramified state apparatus, which made it possible to restrain the raids of the barbarians. There was a strong imperial power with a flexible administrative apparatus.

Thirdly, Byzantium was built on the basis of a new Christian religion, which, in comparison with the pagan Roman one, had a progressive meaning.

The Byzantine Empire reached its greatest power
during the reign of Emperor Justinian I (527-565), who carried out extensive conquests, and again the Mediterranean Sea became an inland sea, this time of Byzantium. After the death of the monarch, the state entered into a long crisis. The countries conquered by Justinian were quickly lost. In the VI century. clashes with the Slavs begin,
and in the 7th century. - with the Arabs, who at the beginning of the 8th century. captured North Africa from Byzantium.

At the beginning of the same century, Byzantium began to emerge from the crisis with difficulty. In 717, Leo III, nicknamed the Isaurian, came to power and founded the Isaurian dynasty (717-802). He carried out a number of reforms. To find funds for their implementation, as well as for the maintenance of the army and administration, he decided to liquidate monastic land ownership. This was expressed in the fight against icons, because the church was accused of paganism - worship of icons. The authorities used iconoclasm to strengthen their political and economic positions, to subjugate the church and its wealth. Laws are issued against the veneration of icons, considering it as idolatry. The fight against icons made it possible to appropriate church treasures - utensils, icon frames, shrines containing the relics of saints. 100 monastic estates were also confiscated, the lands of which were distributed to peasants, as well as in the form of rewards to soldiers for their service.

These actions strengthened the internal and external position of Byzantium, which again annexed Greece, Macedonia, Crete, Southern Italy and Sicily.

In the second half of the 9th century, and especially in the 10th century, Byzantium achieved a new rise, as the powerful Arab Caliphate gradually disintegrated into a number of independent feudal states and Byzantium conquered Syria and numerous islands in the Mediterranean Sea from the Arabs, and at the beginning of the 11th century . annexes Bulgaria.
At that time, Byzantium was ruled by the Macedonian dynasty (867-1056), under which the foundations of a socially centralized early feudal monarchy took shape. Under her, Kievan Rus adopted Christianity from the Greeks in 988.

Under the next dynasty, Comneni (1057-1059, 1081-1185),
In Byzantium, feudalization intensifies and the process of enslavement of peasants is completed. Under her, the feudal institution was strengthened penetration("care"). Feudalization leads to the gradual disintegration of the state, and small independent principalities appear in Asia Minor. The foreign policy situation was also becoming more complicated: the Normans were advancing from the west, the Pechenegs from the north, and the Seljuks from the east. The first crusade saved Byzantium from the Seljuk Turks. Byzantium managed to return part of its possessions. However, soon Byzantium and the crusaders began to fight among themselves. Constantinople was taken by the crusaders in 1204. Byzantium broke up into a number of states, loosely connected with each other.

With the coming to power of the Palaiologan dynasty (1261-1453), Byzantium managed to strengthen itself, but its territory decreased noticeably. Soon a new threat loomed over the state from the Ottoman Turks, who extended their power over Asia Minor, bringing it to the shores of the Sea of ​​Marmara. In the fight against the Ottomans, the emperors began to hire foreign troops, who often turned their weapons against their employers. Byzantium was exhausted in the struggle, aggravated by peasant and urban uprisings. The state apparatus was in decline, which leads to the decentralization of power and its weakening. The Byzantine emperors decide to turn to the Catholic West for help. In 1439, the Union of Florence was signed, according to which the Eastern Orthodox Church submitted to the Pope. However, Byzantium never received real help from the West.
Upon the return of the Greeks to their homeland, the union was rejected by the majority of the people and the clergy.

In 1444, the crusaders suffered a severe defeat from the Ottoman Turks, who dealt the final blow to Byzantium. Emperor John VIII was forced to seek mercy from Sultan Murad II. In 1148, the Byzantine emperor dies. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, entered into a fight with the new Sultan Mehmed II Fatih (the Conqueror). On May 29, 1453, under the attacks of Turkish troops, Constantinople was taken, and with its fall, the Byzantine Empire actually ceased to exist. Türkiye is turning into one
of the powerful powers of the medieval world, and Constantinople becomes the capital of the Ottoman Empire - Istanbul (from “Islambol” - “abundance of Islam”).

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

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

Background of the fall

In the 13th century, one of the Turkic tribes - the Kays - led by Ertogrul Bey, forced out of their nomadic camps in the Turkmen steppes, migrated westward and stopped in Asia Minor. The tribe assisted the Sultan of the largest Turkish state (founded by the Seljuk Turks) - the Rum (Konya) Sultanate - Alaeddin Kay-Kubad in his fight against the Byzantine Empire. For this, the Sultan gave Ertogrul land in the region of Bithynia as fief. The son of the leader Ertogrul - Osman I (1281-1326), despite his constantly growing power, recognized his dependence on Konya. Only in 1299 did he accept the title of Sultan and soon subjugated the entire western part of Asia Minor, winning a series of victories over the Byzantines. By the name of Sultan Osman, his subjects began to be called Ottoman Turks, or Ottomans (Ottomans). In addition to wars with the Byzantines, the Ottomans fought for the subjugation of other Muslim possessions - by 1487, the Ottoman Turks established their power over all Muslim possessions of the Asia Minor Peninsula.

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

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

The Ottoman Turks achieved great success under Sultan Murad II (ruled 1421-1444 and 1446-1451). Under him, the Turks recovered from the heavy defeat inflicted by Tamerlane in the Battle of Angora in 1402. In many ways, it was this defeat that delayed the death of Constantinople for half a century. The Sultan suppressed all the uprisings of the Muslim rulers. In June 1422, Murad besieged Constantinople, but was unable to take it. The lack of a fleet and powerful artillery had an effect. In 1430, the large city of Thessalonica in northern Greece was captured; it belonged to the Venetians. Murad II won a number of important victories on the Balkan Peninsula, significantly expanding the possessions of his power. So in October 1448 the battle took place on the Kosovo Field. In this battle, the Ottoman army opposed the combined forces of Hungary and Wallachia under the command of the Hungarian general Janos Hunyadi. The fierce three-day battle ended with the complete victory of the Ottomans, and decided the fate of the Balkan peoples - for several centuries they found themselves under the rule of the Turks. After this battle, the Crusaders suffered a final defeat and made no further serious attempts to recapture the Balkan Peninsula from the Ottoman Empire. The fate of Constantinople was decided, the Turks had the opportunity to solve the problem of capturing the ancient city. Byzantium itself no longer posed a great threat to the Turks, but a coalition of Christian countries, relying on Constantinople, could cause significant harm. The city was located practically in the middle of the Ottoman possessions, between Europe and Asia. The task of capturing Constantinople was decided by Sultan Mehmed II.

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

In addition, there was the problem of the struggle between supporters and opponents of the union with the Catholic Church. For many Byzantine politicians it was obvious that without the help of the West, the empire could not survive. Back in 1274, at the Council of Lyon, the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII promised the pope to seek reconciliation of the churches for political and economic reasons. True, his son Emperor Andronikos II convened a council of the Eastern Church, which rejected the decisions of the Lyon Council. Then John Palaiologos went to Rome, where he solemnly accepted the faith according to the Latin rite, but did not receive help from the West. Supporters of union with Rome were mainly politicians or belonged to the intellectual elite. The lower clergy were the open enemies of the union. John VIII Palaiologos (Byzantine emperor in 1425-1448) believed that Constantinople could only be saved with the help of the West, so he tried to conclude a union with the Roman Church as quickly as possible. In 1437, together with the patriarch and a delegation of Orthodox bishops, the Byzantine emperor went to Italy and spent more than two years there, first in Ferrara, and then at the Ecumenical Council in Florence. At these meetings, both sides often reached an impasse and were ready to stop negotiations. But John forbade his bishops to leave the council until a compromise decision was made. In the end, the Orthodox delegation was forced to concede to the Catholics on almost all major issues. On July 6, 1439, the Union of Florence was adopted, and the Eastern churches were reunited with the Latin. True, the union turned out to be fragile; after a few years, many Orthodox hierarchs present at the Council began to openly deny their agreement with the union or say that the decisions of the Council were caused by bribery and threats from Catholics. As a result, the union was rejected by most Eastern churches. The majority of the clergy and people did not accept this union. In 1444, the Pope was able to organize a crusade against the Turks (the main force was the Hungarians), but at Varna the crusaders suffered a crushing defeat.

Disputes about the union took place against the backdrop of the country's economic decline. Constantinople at the end of the 14th century was a sad city, a city of decline and destruction. The loss of Anatolia deprived the capital of the empire of almost all agricultural land. The population of Constantinople, which in the 12th century numbered up to 1 million people (together with the suburbs), fell to 100 thousand and continued to decline - by the time of the fall there were approximately 50 thousand people in the city. The suburb on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus was captured by the Turks. The suburb of Pera (Galata) on the other side of the Golden Horn was a colony of Genoa. The city itself, surrounded by a 14-mile wall, lost a number of neighborhoods. In fact, the city turned into several separate settlements, separated by vegetable gardens, orchards, abandoned parks, and ruins of buildings. Many had their own walls and fences. The most populous villages were located along the banks of the Golden Horn. The richest quarter adjacent to the bay belonged to the Venetians. Nearby were streets where Westerners lived - Florentines, Anconans, Ragusians, Catalans and Jews. But the piers and bazaars were still full of traders from Italian cities, Slavic and Muslim lands. Pilgrims, mainly from Rus', arrived in the city every year.

Last years before the fall of Constantinople, preparation for war

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

Sultan Mehmed II received the throne in 1451. He was a purposeful, energetic, intelligent person. Although it was initially believed that this was not a young man brimming with talents, this impression was formed from the first attempt to rule in 1444-1446, when his father Murad II (he transferred the throne to his son in order to distance himself from state affairs) had to return to the throne to resolve emerging issues. problems. This calmed the European rulers; they all had their own problems. Already in the winter of 1451-1452. Sultan Mehmed ordered the construction of a fortress to begin at the narrowest point of the Bosphorus Strait, thereby cutting off Constantinople from the Black Sea. The Byzantines were confused - this was the first step towards a siege. An embassy was sent with a reminder of the oath of the Sultan, who promised to preserve the territorial integrity of Byzantium. The embassy left no answer. Constantine sent envoys with gifts and asked not to touch the Greek villages located on the Bosphorus. The Sultan ignored this mission too. In June, a third embassy was sent - this time the Greeks were arrested and then beheaded. In fact, it was a declaration of war.

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

Genoa found itself in approximately the same situation. The fate of Pera and the Black Sea colonies caused concern. The Genoese, like the Venetians, showed flexibility. The government appealed to the Christian world to send assistance to Constantinople, but they themselves did not provide such support. Private citizens were given the right to act as they wished. The administrations of Pera and the island of Chios were instructed to follow such a policy towards the Turks as they considered most appropriate in the current situation.

The Ragusans, residents of the city of Ragus (Dubrovnik), as well as the Venetians, recently received confirmation of their privileges in Constantinople from the Byzantine emperor. But the Dubrovnik Republic did not want to put its trade in Ottoman ports at risk. In addition, the city-state had a small fleet and did not want to risk it unless there was a broad coalition of Christian states.

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

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

At the same time, an army was being prepared in Thrace. All winter, gunsmiths tirelessly worked on various types of weapons, engineers created battering and stone-throwing machines. A powerful strike force of approximately 100 thousand people was assembled. Of these, 80 thousand were regular troops - cavalry and infantry, Janissaries (12 thousand). There were approximately 20-25 thousand irregular troops - militias, bashi-bazouks (irregular cavalry, the “crazy” did not receive pay and “rewarded” themselves with looting), rear units. The Sultan also paid great attention to artillery - the Hungarian master Urban cast several powerful cannons capable of sinking ships (with the help of one of them a Venetian ship was sunk) and destroying powerful fortifications. The largest of them was pulled by 60 oxen, and a team of several hundred people was assigned to it. The gun fired cannonballs weighing approximately 1,200 pounds (about 500 kg). During March, the Sultan's huge army began to gradually move towards the Bosphorus. On April 5, Mehmed II himself arrived under the walls of Constantinople. The morale of the army was high, everyone believed in success and hoped for rich booty.

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

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

To be continued…

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

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On May 11, 330 AD, on the European shore of the Bosphorus, the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great solemnly founded the new capital of the empire - Constantinople (and to be precise and use its official name, then New Rome). The emperor did not create a new state: Byzantium in the strict sense of the word was not the successor of the Roman Empire, it itself was Rome. The word "Byzantium" appeared only in the West during the Renaissance. The Byzantines called themselves Romans (Romeans), their country - the Roman Empire (Empire of the Romans). Constantine's plans corresponded to this name. New Rome was built at a major crossroads of major trade routes and was originally planned as the greatest of cities. Built in the 6th century, Hagia Sophia was the tallest architectural structure on Earth for more than a thousand years, and its beauty was compared to Heaven.

Until the mid-12th century, New Rome was the main trading hub of the planet. Before its devastation by the Crusaders in 1204, it was also the most populated city in Europe. Later, especially in the last century and a half, more economically significant centers appeared on the globe. But even in our time, the strategic importance of this place would be difficult to overestimate. Owner of the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits owned the entire Near and Middle East, and this is the heart of Eurasia and the entire Old World. In the 19th century, the real owner of the straits was the British Empire, which protected this place from Russia even at the cost of an open military conflict (during the Crimean War of 1853–1856, and the war could have started in 1836 or 1878). For Russia, this was not just a matter of “historical heritage,” but an opportunity to control its southern borders and main trade flows. After 1945, the keys to the straits were in the hands of the United States, and the deployment of American nuclear weapons in this region, as is known, immediately caused the appearance of Soviet missiles in Cuba and provoked the Cuban Missile Crisis. The USSR agreed to retreat only after the curtailment of American nuclear potential in Turkey. Nowadays, the issues of Turkey’s entry into the European Union and its foreign policy in Asia are paramount problems for the West.

They only dreamed of peace

New Rome received a rich inheritance. However, this also became his main “headache”. In his contemporary world there were too many contenders for appropriation of this inheritance. It is difficult to remember even one long period of calm on the Byzantine borders; the empire was in mortal danger at least once a century. Until the 7th century, the Romans, along the perimeter of all their borders, waged difficult wars with the Persians, Goths, Vandals, Slavs and Avars, and ultimately the confrontation ended in favor of New Rome. This happened very often: young and vibrant peoples who fought the empire went into historical oblivion, while the empire itself, ancient and almost defeated, licked its wounds and continued to live. However, then the former enemies were replaced by Arabs from the south, Lombards from the west, Bulgarians from the north, Khazars from the east, and a new centuries-old confrontation began. As the new opponents weakened, they were replaced in the north by the Rus, Hungarians, Pechenegs, Polovtsy, in the east by the Seljuk Turks, and in the west by the Normans.

In the fight against enemies, the empire used force, diplomacy, intelligence, military cunning, honed over centuries, and sometimes the services of its allies. The last resort was double-edged and extremely dangerous. The crusaders who fought with the Seljuks were extremely burdensome and dangerous allies for the empire, and this alliance ended with the first fall for Constantinople: the city, which had successfully fought off any attacks and sieges for almost a thousand years, was brutally devastated by its “friends.” Its further existence, even after liberation from the crusaders, was only a shadow of its previous glory. But just at this time, the last and most cruel enemy appeared - the Ottoman Turks, who were superior in their military qualities to all previous ones. The Europeans truly got ahead of the Ottomans in military affairs only in the 18th century, and the Russians were the first to do this, and the first commander who dared to appear in the internal regions of the Sultan's empire was Count Pyotr Rumyantsev, for which he received the honorary name of Transdanubia.

Irrepressible subjects

The internal state of the Roman Empire was also never calm. Its state territory was extremely heterogeneous. At one time, the Roman Empire maintained its unity through its superior military, commercial and cultural capabilities. The legal system (the famous Roman law, finally codified in Byzantium) was the most perfect in the world. For several centuries (since the time of Spartacus), Rome, within which more than a quarter of all humanity lived, was not threatened by any serious danger; wars took place on distant borders - in Germany, Armenia, Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). Only internal decay, the crisis of the army and the weakening of trade led to disintegration. Only from the end of the 4th century the situation on the borders became critical. The need to repel barbarian invasions in different directions inevitably led to the division of power in a huge empire between several people. However, this also had negative consequences - internal confrontation, further weakening of ties and the desire to “privatize” their piece of imperial territory. As a result, by the 5th century the final division of the Roman Empire became a fact, but did not alleviate the situation.

The eastern half of the Roman Empire was more populated and Christianized (by the time of Constantine the Great, Christians, despite persecution, already accounted for more than 10% of the population), but in itself did not constitute an organic whole. Amazing ethnic diversity reigned in the state: Greeks, Syrians, Copts, Arabs, Armenians, Illyrians lived here, and soon Slavs, Germans, Scandinavians, Anglo-Saxons, Turks, Italians and many other peoples appeared, from whom only the confession of the true faith and submission to the imperial power appeared . Its richest provinces - Egypt and Syria - were geographically too distant from the capital, fenced off by mountain ranges and deserts. As trade declined and piracy flourished, maritime communication with them became increasingly difficult. In addition, the overwhelming majority of the population here were adherents of the Monophysite heresy. After the victory of Orthodoxy at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, a powerful uprising broke out in these provinces, which was suppressed with great difficulty. Less than 200 years later, the Monophysites joyfully greeted the Arab “liberators” and subsequently converted to Islam relatively painlessly. The western and central provinces of the empire, primarily the Balkans, but also Asia Minor, experienced a massive influx of barbarian tribes - Germans, Slavs, Turks - for many centuries. Emperor Justinian the Great tried in the 6th century to expand the state's boundaries in the west and restore the Roman Empire to its “natural borders,” but this led to enormous effort and expense. Within a century, Byzantium was forced to shrink to the limits of its “state core,” predominantly inhabited by Greeks and Hellenized Slavs. This territory included the west of Asia Minor, the Black Sea coast, the Balkans and southern Italy. The further struggle for existence mainly took place in this territory.

The people and the army are united

The constant struggle required constant maintenance of defense capability. The Roman Empire was forced to revive the peasant militia and heavily armed cavalry that were characteristic of Ancient Rome during the republican period, and again create and maintain a powerful navy at state expense. Defense has always been the main expense of the treasury and the main burden for the taxpayer. The state closely monitored that the peasants maintained their fighting capacity, and therefore strengthened the community in every possible way, preventing its disintegration. The state fought against the excessive concentration of wealth, including land, in private hands. State regulation of prices was a very important part of the policy. The powerful state apparatus, of course, gave rise to the omnipotence of officials and large-scale corruption. Active emperors fought against abuses, while inert ones started the disease.

Of course, slow social stratification and limited competition slowed down the pace of economic development, but the fact of the matter is that the empire had more important tasks. It was not because of a good life that the Byzantines equipped their armed forces with all sorts of technical innovations and types of weapons, the most famous of which was the “Greek fire” invented in the 7th century, which brought the Romans more than one victory. The army of the empire maintained its fighting spirit until the second half of the 12th century, until it gave way to foreign mercenaries. The treasury now spent less, but the risk of it falling into the hands of the enemy increased immeasurably. Let us recall the classic expression of one of the recognized experts on the issue, Napoleon Bonaparte: the people who do not want to feed their army will feed someone else’s. From that time on, the empire began to depend on Western “friends,” who immediately showed it the value of friendship.

Autocracy as a recognized necessity

The circumstances of Byzantine life strengthened the perceived need for the autocratic power of the emperor (Basileus of the Romans). But too much depended on his personality, character, and abilities. That is why the empire developed a flexible system of transferring supreme power. In specific circumstances, power could be transferred not only to a son, but also to a nephew, son-in-law, brother-in-law, husband, adopted successor, even one’s own father or mother. The transfer of power was secured by a decision of the Senate and the army, popular approval, and a church wedding (from the 10th century, the practice of imperial anointing, borrowed from the West, was introduced). As a result, imperial dynasties rarely survived their centenary, only the most talented - the Macedonian - dynasty managed to hold out for almost two centuries - from 867 to 1056. A person of low origin could also be on the throne, promoted thanks to one or another talent (for example, the butcher from Dacia Leo Macella, a commoner from Dalmatia and uncle of the Great Justinian Justin I, or the son of an Armenian peasant Basil the Macedonian - the founder of that same Macedonian dynasty). The tradition of co-government was extremely developed (co-rulers sat on the Byzantine throne for a total of about two hundred years). Power had to be held firmly in hands: throughout Byzantine history there were about forty successful coups d'etat, usually ending with the death of the defeated ruler or his removal to a monastery. Only half of the basileus died on the throne.

Empire as a katechon

The very existence of an empire was for Byzantium more of an obligation and a duty than an advantage or a rational choice. The ancient world, the only direct heir of which was the Roman Empire, has become a thing of the historical past. However, his cultural and political legacy became the foundation of Byzantium. The Empire, since the time of Constantine, was also a stronghold of the Christian faith. The basis of the state political doctrine was the idea of ​​the empire as a “katechon” - the guardian of the true faith. The barbarian Germans who filled the entire western part of the Roman ecumene accepted Christianity, but only in the Arian heretical version. The only major “acquisition” of the Universal Church in the West until the 8th century was the Franks. Having accepted the Nicene Creed, the Frankish king Clovis immediately received the spiritual and political support of the Roman Patriarch-Pope and the Byzantine Emperor. This began the growth of the power of the Franks in western Europe: Clovis was granted the title of Byzantine patrician, and his distant heir Charlemagne, three centuries later, already wanted to be called Emperor of the West.

The Byzantine mission of that period could easily compete with the Western one. Missionaries of the Church of Constantinople preached throughout Central and Eastern Europe - from the Czech Republic to Novgorod and Khazaria; The English and Irish Local Churches maintained close contacts with the Byzantine Church. However, papal Rome quite early began to be jealous of its competitors and expelled them by force; soon the mission itself in the papal West acquired an openly aggressive character and predominantly political objectives. The first large-scale action after Rome's fall from Orthodoxy was the papal blessing of William the Conqueror for his campaign in England in 1066; after this, many representatives of the Orthodox Anglo-Saxon nobility were forced to emigrate to Constantinople.

Within the Byzantine Empire itself, there were heated disputes on religious grounds. Heretical movements arose either among the people or in the government. Under the influence of Islam, the emperors began iconoclastic persecutions in the 8th century, which provoked resistance from the Orthodox people. In the 13th century, out of a desire to strengthen relations with the Catholic world, the government agreed to a union, but again did not receive support. All attempts to “reform” Orthodoxy based on opportunistic considerations or to bring it under “earthly standards” have failed. The new union in the 15th century, concluded under the threat of Ottoman conquest, could no longer even ensure political success. It became a bitter smile of history over the vain ambitions of the rulers.

What is the advantage of the West?

When and in what ways did the West begin to gain the upper hand? As always, in economics and technology. In the spheres of culture and law, science and education, literature and art, Byzantium until the 12th century easily competed with or was far ahead of its Western neighbors. The powerful cultural influence of Byzantium was felt in the West and East far beyond its borders - in Arab Spain and Norman Britain, and in Catholic Italy it dominated until the Renaissance. However, due to the very conditions of existence of the empire, it could not boast of any special socio-economic successes. In addition, Italy and Southern France were initially more favorable for agricultural activity than the Balkans and Asia Minor. In the 12th–14th centuries, Western Europe experienced rapid economic growth - one that had not happened since ancient times and would not happen until the 18th century. This was the heyday of feudalism, papacy and chivalry. It was at this time that a special feudal structure of Western European society arose and was established with its estate-corporate rights and contractual relations (the modern West emerged precisely from this).

The Western influence on the Byzantine emperors from the Komnenos dynasty in the 12th century was the strongest: they copied Western military art, Western fashion, and for a long time acted as allies of the crusaders. The Byzantine fleet, so burdensome to the treasury, was disbanded and rotted, its place was taken by flotillas of the Venetians and Genoese. The emperors cherished the hope of overcoming the not so long ago falling away of papal Rome. However, the strengthened Rome already recognized only complete submission to its will. The West marveled at the imperial splendor and, to justify its aggressiveness, loudly resented the duplicity and corruption of the Greeks.

Did the Greeks drown in debauchery? Sin coexisted with grace. The horrors of palaces and city squares were interspersed with the genuine holiness of the monasteries and the sincere piety of the laity. Evidence of this is the lives of saints, liturgical texts, high and unsurpassed Byzantine art. But the temptations were very strong. After the defeat of 1204 in Byzantium, the pro-Western trend only intensified, young people went to study in Italy, and a craving for the pagan Hellenic tradition arose among the intelligentsia. Philosophical rationalism and European scholasticism (and it was based on the same pagan scholarship) began to be viewed in this environment as higher and more refined teachings than patristic ascetic theology. Intellect took precedence over Revelation, individualism over Christian achievement. Later, these trends, together with the Greeks who moved to the West, would greatly contribute to the development of the Western European Renaissance.

Historical scale

The empire survived the fight against the crusaders: on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, opposite the defeated Constantinople, the Romans retained their territory and proclaimed a new emperor. Half a century later, the capital was liberated and held out for another 200 years. However, the territory of the revived empire was practically reduced to the great city itself, several islands in the Aegean Sea and small territories in Greece. But even without this epilogue, the Roman Empire existed for almost a whole millennium. In this case, one can not even take into account the fact that Byzantium directly continues the ancient Roman statehood, and considered the founding of Rome in 753 BC its birth. Even without these reservations, there is no other such example in world history. Empires last for years (Napoleon's Empire: 1804–1814), decades (German Empire: 1871–1918), or at best centuries. The Han Empire in China lasted four centuries, the Ottoman Empire and the Arab Caliphate - a little more, but by the end of their life cycle they became only fictional empires. For most of its existence, the Western-based Holy Roman Empire of the German nation was also a fiction. There are not many countries in the world that did not claim imperial status and existed continuously for a thousand years. Finally, Byzantium and its historical predecessor - Ancient Rome - also demonstrated a “world record” of survival: any state on Earth withstood, at best, one or two global foreign invasions, Byzantium – much more. Only Russia could be compared with Byzantium.

Why did Byzantium fall?

Her successors answered this question differently. The Pskov elder Philotheus at the beginning of the 16th century believed that Byzantium, having accepted the union, betrayed Orthodoxy, and this was the reason for its death. However, he argued that the demise of Byzantium was conditional: the status of the Orthodox empire was transferred to the only remaining sovereign Orthodox state - Moscow. In this, according to Philotheus, there was no merit of the Russians themselves, such was God’s will. However, from now on the fate of the world depended on the Russians: if Orthodoxy falls in Rus', then the world will soon end with it. Thus, Philotheus warned Moscow about its great historical and religious responsibility. The coat of arms of the Palaiologos, inherited by Russia, is a double-headed eagle - a symbol of such responsibility, a heavy cross of the imperial burden.

The elder’s younger contemporary Ivan Timofeev, a professional warrior, pointed to other reasons for the fall of the empire: the emperors, having trusted in flattering and irresponsible advisers, despised military affairs and lost combat readiness. Peter the Great also spoke about the sad Byzantine example of the loss of fighting spirit, which became the cause of the death of a great empire: a solemn speech was delivered in the presence of the Senate, Synod and generals in the Trinity Cathedral of St. Petersburg on October 22, 1721, on the day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, at the acceptance king of the imperial title. As you can see, all three - the elder, the warrior and the newly proclaimed emperor - meant similar things, only in different aspects. The power of the Roman Empire rested on strong power, a strong army and the loyalty of its subjects, but they themselves had to have a strong and true faith at their core. And in this sense, the empire, or rather all those people who made it up, always balanced between Eternity and destruction. The constant relevance of this choice contains an amazing and unique flavor of Byzantine history. In other words, this story in all its light and dark sides is a clear evidence of the correctness of the saying from the rite of the Triumph of Orthodoxy: “This apostolic faith, this paternal faith, this Orthodox faith, this faith establish the universe!”

accepted in history science, the name of the state that arose in the east. parts of Rome empire in the 4th century and existed until the middle. 15th century; adm., economics and Constantinople was the cultural center of Britain. Official name On Wednesday. century - Basileia ton Romaion - the Roman Empire (in Greek "Romeev"). The emergence of V. as independent. the state was prepared in the depths of Rome. empires, where economically more powerful and less affected by the crisis slave owners. Hellenized eastern societies districts (M. Asia, Syria, Egypt, etc.) already in the 3rd century. tried to separate themselves politically from Latvian. West. Creation at the beginning 4th century new political center in the East was actually a division of the empire into 2 states and led to the emergence of V. In the continuation of the 4th century. both states sometimes united under the rule of one emperor, they will end. the break occurred at the end. 4th century The emergence of V. contributed to the economic. stabilization and delayed the fall of the slaveholding. building in the east parts of the Mediterranean. 4 - beginning 7th centuries for V. were characterized by economic rise, transformation of a number of agri. settlements in the centers of crafts and trade in Asia, Syria, eastern. parts of the Balkan Peninsula; development of trade with Arabia, the Black Sea region, Iran, India, China; population density in Syria and Asia. In Marxist historiography, the periodization of the history of early Vietnam is connected with the problem of the existence of slave owners in Vietnam. building, with the stages of transition to feudalism and its development. Most scientists consider V. slaveholding until the middle. 7th century (M. Ya. Syuzyumov, Z. V. Udaltsova, A. P. Kazhdan, A. R. Korsunsky), although some believe that Vladimir switched to feudalism already in the 4th-5th centuries, believing that already in the 4th century A feud began to form. property, main colonat became a form of exploitation in the countryside, in the city the labor of free artisans was used, slavery was preserved only as a dying way of life (this view is most consistently defended by E. E. Lipshits) (see discussion on page of the journal "VDI", No. 2 and 3 for 1953, No. 2 and 3 for 1954, No. 1, 3 and 4 for 1955, No. 1 for 1956 and on the page of the magazine "VI", No. 10 for 1958, No. 3 for 1959, No. 2 for 1960, NoNo 6, 8 for 1961). V. in the last period of the existence of the slave system (4th - early 7th centuries). The owners of the land of this period were the state, nobility, church, townspeople, and free peasant communities. Members of the peasant community (metrocomia) had plots of arable land in private ownership; the sale of land to “strangers” was limited (Code of Justinian, XI, 56). The peasants were bound by mutual responsibility; communal relations were regulated by customary law; Garden and vegetable crops and viticulture have become widespread; basic economic the trend was towards the growth of small farming. Slavery still retained a predominant place in society, both in the countryside and in the city. Although the number of slaves entering the military service. production decreased, but the influx of slaves into the state continued, because the barbarian tribes neighboring V., fighting with each other, sold many slaves to V. (almost the only equivalent in trade with V.). Slave prices were stable for a long time. A slave was still considered a thing, its use was regulated by law; the slave was not a subject of family law and did not have personal property guaranteed by law. However, the impact of the new relationship was taking its toll; legislation made it easier to free slaves, which was adopted in the 4th-6th centuries. wide scope. The estates of large landowners were cultivated not only by slaves, but also by dependent peasants - enapographers, freedmen, or rented out. Slave owners sought to take advantage of the benefits of small farming. Contrary to basic economics. tendencies of the era, they tried to enslave and attach to the land small landowners, whose dependence was under the rule of slave owners. relations often approached a slave state (especially among enapographers). Slave owner the nature of society in the 4th-6th centuries. was determined not only by the predominance of slave labor in society, but also by the preservation of slave ownership. superstructure that conflicted with progressive development trends. State the apparatus was in the hands of those layers of the nobility who were interested in preserving slave-owning property relations. From Byzantium. Only some of the cities were centers of craft and trade (for example, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, Laodicea, Seleucia, Skitopol, Byblos, Caesarea, Beirut, Thessalonica, Trebizond, Ephesus, Smyrna). Most cities are settlements of small property owners and slave owners united in municipalities. Provincial the cities were exploited by the nobility of Constantinople; local government (curia) turned into an auxiliary apparatus of the tax system. Most cities in the 4th-6th centuries. lost its society. land; a number of settlements that were formerly part of the district subordinate to the city received metrocomy rights. Large provincial estates. the nobility also withdrew from subordination to the city; moreover, the election of officials and the bishop (who was of great importance in self-government) was decided by the surrounding large landowners (Code of Justinian 1, 4, 17 and 19). Production in the cities was small-scale, artisans rented premises from the nobility, church, and state. Trade and craft. associations were associated with the liturgical system, therefore rich townspeople and landowners were forcibly included in the colleges. Taxes and rent for the premises were absorbed. part of the surplus product of artisans. Luxury goods and weapons were manufactured in the state. workshops where slave labor predominated (Code of Justinian, XI, 8, 6); those who were legally free were also usually assigned to such workshops and, in case of escape, were forcibly returned. In large cities there were numerous. lumpen-proletarian layer, living at the expense of either the state (policy of “bread and circuses”) or the mountains. liturgists. From the 4th century does charity. functions began to be assigned to the church and special "charitable institutions" The bulk of the grain for the capital came from Egypt. Local markets were supplied by Ch. arr. suburban houses: mountains. the nobility sought to have a “proastia” (suburban estate) with vineyards, olive groves, vegetable gardens, orchards. Despite the devastation caused by barbarian invasions, the severity of taxes, which sometimes forced townspeople to flee the city, until the 7th century. there were no signs of urban agrarianization. Inscriptions and papyri indicate rather the consolidation of old cities and the founding of new cities. The development of the city was based, however, on the shaky ground of a degraded slaveholding. x-va and was interrupted at the beginning. 7th century (this view, however, is disputed by some scientists). Cities were cultural centers (see article Byzantine culture). Those types of antique. property, which had actually ceased to exist, was abolished by the Code of Justinian, where a single “full property” was proclaimed. Justinian's law, imbued with the idea of ​​the supra-class essence of the state, theoretical. the rationale for the cut was the provision of deities, the origin of imperial power, and was aimed at guaranteeing property. slave-owner relations about-va. The social basis of the monarchy in Century 4-6 centuries. there were mountains. slave owners: owners of suburban estates ("proastiev"), homeowners, moneylenders, merchants, from among whom a high-ranking nobility was created by purchasing positions. The material basis of the monarchy was heavy taxes for the population, which meant that they were absorbed. part of the surplus product of slaves and colones. Class. struggle in V. 4-6 centuries. was a protest against the military-fiscal dictatorship, against attempts to artificially detain society. development within the framework of slave ownership. relationships. From the 4th century it took mainly the form of a heretic. movements. Under Constantine, Christianity became the dominant religion, which caused an aggravation of internal affairs. contradictions in the church. Christianity, genetically related to the protest of the oppressed masses, in the 4th century. still retained democracy. phraseology. Church the hierarchs and exploiting strata sought to eliminate them in Christ. democratic doctrine trends; adv. the masses sought to preserve them. The origin of any “heresy” of that time lies in this contradiction. Dept. hierarchs, relying on the mood of the masses, dogmatically formalized those who disagreed with the domination. church teaching (see Donatists, Arianism, Nestorianism, etc.); later, having become a “church,” heresy lost its democratic character. character. Repression and restrictions on rights and religion were used against heretics. “anathemas” (the church hierarchy fiercely defended slave-owning relations). In Egypt and Syria the church. unrest that took religion. shell, were also due to separatist sentiments. Dr. a form of class struggle was the movement of dims - mountain organizations. population by circus parties (see Veneti and Prasin). Both parties sought to attract people. the masses, who sometimes opposed the oppression of slave owners. states as a whole, against the will of their leaders (for example, in the Nika uprising in 532). V. ethnically represented a combination of various nationalities involved in Helleno-Roman. statehood and culture. Greek the population predominated in Greece, to the east. Mediterranean coast; Romanis lived in the Balkans. tribes into which the Germans, Alans and Slavs joined. settlers. In the East, Britain subjugated the Armenians, Syrians, Isaurians, and Arabs; in Egypt, the local Coptic population. Official language was Latin, which was gradually replaced by Greek from the end. 5th and 6th centuries. Civil language acts was b. including Greek. Protest against national Religion accepted oppression. form (revolt of the Samaritans 529-530). A serious danger for slave owners. V. there were attacks by barbarians. The rural population of Vietnam sometimes supported the barbarians, hoping with their help to get rid of fiscal oppression and oppression of landowners. nobility But the mountains patriciate and trade-craft. layers, fearing barbaric robberies and violation of trades. connections, desperately defended the cities. Among the Byzantines. landowner There was a layer of nobility that was ready to get close to the barbarian leaders. Trying to merge with the military. The nobility of V., the leaders of the barbarians, went into the service of the Byzantines. pr-vu, which used barbarians as punitive forces in the fight against the people. movements (especially in cities). The Visigoths, recruited into the service of Britain, rebelled in 376, which led to revolution. movement among the population of the Balkan Peninsula. In the battle of Adrianople (378) Byzantium. the army was defeated. However, with the support of the mountains. population and due to the betrayal of the barbarian leaders, this movement was suppressed in 380 imp. Theodosius I. Towards the end. 4th century The barbarian element began to predominate in Byzantium. army and there was a real threat of a united action of barbarian slaves with barbarian soldiers. In the face of this danger, the patriciate of Constantinople in 400 carried out a massacre of the barbarian mercenaries and the slaves who supported them, eliminating the threat of barbarian conquest. Having overcome in the 5th century. danger from the Ostrogoths and Huns, the empire in order to stabilize the slaveholding. relations throughout the Mediterranean went on the offensive under Justinian against the barbarian states of the West (Vandal, Ostrogothic and Visigothic). However, V.'s successes turned out to be fragile. In Africa, resistance of the broad masses arose (the Stotza uprising), in Italy - the uprising of the Ostrogoths at hand. Totils supported by slaves and colons. V. suppressed these movements with difficulty. Difficulties increased in the East, where the Persians, taking advantage of separatist sentiments, waged wars against Britain, trying to break through to maritime trade. routes on the Mediterranean and Black Seas. V. waged a difficult struggle with various tribes advancing from the North. Black Sea region, repelling their attacks either by force of arms or by bribing the leaders. Under Justinian, Britain achieved the highest degree of its power; However, Justinian’s aggressive policy undermined the forces of Britain, and already in the last quarter of the 6th century. V. began to lose her conquests in Italy and Spain. Fundamental changes in the position of the empire are associated with the attack of the Slavs on the Balkan Peninsula. Failures in the wars with the Slavs and general discontent among the population caused an uprising in the army. The rebels in 602 with the support of the mountains. the lower classes took possession of Constantinople and, having proclaimed the centurion Phocas emperor, began to carry out terror against the nobility. Regardless of Phocas' subjective goals, his production objectively performed progressive functions. After 8 years the uprising was suppressed, but the rule remained. the class as a whole suffered a crushing blow. The power of the slave owner. The superstructure was broken and the forces striving for social reorganization were given scope. In the 1st half. 7th century Most of the Balkan Peninsula was inhabited by the Slavs, and Syria, Palestine and Egypt were lost to Britain as a result of Arab conquests. Early feudal Vietnam during the period of dominance of the free peasant community (mid 7th - mid 9th centuries). As a result, glory. and Arab. conquests of the territory V. decreased. V. of this period is a country with strong renown. ethnic element. In the north and west of the Balkan Peninsula, the Slavs created their own states (from 681 - Bulgaria) and assimilated the local population; in the south of the Peninsula and in Asia, on the contrary, they merged with the Greek. nationality. The Slavs did not create new social forms in Byzantium, but they introduced them into Byzantium. The community had strong remnants of the tribal system, which strengthened the Byzantine Empire. community, the nature of the cut is the subject of debate. The customary law of the community was formalized by the Agricultural Law (approximately the beginning of the 8th century). Large landholdings have declined enormously; sources speak of abandoned deposits overgrown with forests, of divisions of land between peasants (“merismos”). Apparently, there was a gradual violence. destruction of that form of earth. property in the region was based on the labor of slaves, enapographers and other categories of dependent population. The institution of peasants attached to the land has disappeared: there is no legislator in the Eclogue. the collection of the 8th century, which replaced the Code of Justinian, nor the later Tax Charter provided for attachment to the land. Free cross. the community became dominant. The community owned pastures, forest, and undivided land, but the arable plots were obviously privately owned. The changes were generally favorable for the peasants - and if in the 4th-6th centuries. peasants fled from V. to the barbarians, then from the horse. 7th and 8th centuries from Arabic caliphate and from Bulgaria there was an exodus of the population to Europe. This allowed Byzantium. plans to move to military service in villages. population of the region and the middle. 7th century spread throughout the empire; the structure of the army acquired the territory. character. New military adm. were formed. districts are themes, with a strategist at their head (theme structure). The command structure of the femes was formed from consist. landowners, from among whom the provincials were formed. military landowner nobility turning into feudal. The process of feudalization was facilitated by the fact that the freedom of the peasant was relative - although the peasant did not depend on the large landowner, he was in the grip of the state. taxes and debts to moneylenders; the differentiation of the village progressed. Various forms of tenancy and wage labor were common within the community; Slavery also remained. Ch. the enemy is the cross. communities at that time were a state with its tax system and domination. church. At the end of the 7th century. The peasant-plebeian heresy of the Paulicians, which originated in Armenia, spreads. Social changes of the 7th-8th centuries. The city was also affected. Some cities remained centers of commodity production (Constantinople, Thessaloniki, Ephesus). With the loss of the largest cities of Syria, Palestine and Egypt conquered by the Arabs, the role of Constantinople in the history of Britain increased. At the end of the 7th-8th centuries. economical the power of the Constantinople nobility declines, the position of free craft strengthens. Commodity circulation decreased. In archaeological finds of coins from the 7th-8th centuries. almost never occur. Distant cities, without losing their nominal connection with Europe, actually achieved independence and turned into aristocratic republics governed by the patriciate (Venice, Amalfi, Chersonese). Int. Vietnam's policy of this period was characterized by the struggle of the mountains. and provincial nobility, and both groups sought to preserve the centralists. state End of 7th century was marked by confiscations of the property of the ancient mountains. surnames (terror of Justinian II) in favor of the military. settlements and the nascent military. provincial nobility Subsequently, the struggle for the paths of feudalization took the form of iconoclasm, which arose as a people. movement against the oppression of the state and the church (bourgeois historians view iconoclasm from a confessional point of view, seeing in it an exclusively ideological struggle and separating it from socio-economic conditions). Provincial The hierarchs, demagogically leading the movement of the masses, distorted its social meaning, concentrating the attention of the masses on the issue of the cult of icons. Folding military-landowner. the class used the movement to strengthen its political. and economical provisions. The government supported iconoclasm, seeking to strengthen power over the church and take possession of its treasures. The mountains came out on the side of the icon-worshipers. know Constantinople, monasticism associated with it, bargaining. centers of Hellas and islands. The iconoclast emperors of the Isaurian (Syrian) dynasty, confiscating the property of the mountains. nobles and rebellious monasteries, significantly strengthened the femme nobility and supported the free cross. community and mountains artisans. However, the femme nobility began to use their privileges to attack the peasants, which caused discontent among the peasants and thereby narrowed the social base of the iconoclasts. This led to a lot of narcotics. uprising at hand Thomas the Slav (820-823) - the first anti-feudal. movement. In the early period of feudalization, ethnicity intensified in Vietnam. diversity of the population. Slavs joining the ranks of the Byzantine nobility assumes special significance. and Armenian know: a number of emperors and major politicians come out of the Armenians. and cultural figures. Vietnam's foreign policy was aimed at the struggle to maintain independence. Having lost Syria, Palestine, Egypt, huge territories. on the Balkan Peninsula, V. repelled the onslaught of the Arabs and Bulgarians and in the middle. 8th century went on the offensive. Feudalization of V. during the period of dominance of the city dignitaries (mid 9th - late 11th centuries). Two centuries of dominance of the free cross. communities have had a positive impact on the development of production. strength: empty lands were populated, water mills spread more widely, and the profitability of the village increased. x-va. In the 9th century free cross. the community became the target of an attack by landowners. nobility, especially after the defeat of the uprising of Thomas the Slav. Social struggles intensified; part of the peasantry joined the Paulicians, who founded a military force on the borders of the caliphate. center of Tefrik. Duration The wars ended in 872 with the defeat of the Paulicians, who were partially exterminated and partially resettled to the Balkan Peninsula. Violent The resettlement was intended to weaken the resistance of the masses in the East and create a military. barriers from the alien population to counter the Bulgarians in the West. Massa cross. the lands were seized by the military. nobility. Further attack on the cross. The community was carried out by purchasing the lands of impoverished peasants with the subsequent provision of plots of the acquired land to the villagers on the “Parichian right” (see Pariki). The feud spread widely. dependence of the peasants: a wig, rarely found in monuments of the 9th century, is made ch. figure in the village at the end. 11th century Slavery to con. 11th century almost disappeared, although isolated cases were observed, for example. sale of children during the years disasters. In the process of feudalization, the military changed. organization of the population. Nar. the militia lost its importance. Consist. Some peasants were included in the stratiot lists (see Stratiots) with the announcement of a definition. inalienable part of the land. The sizes of these areas are to gray. 10th century were increased in connection with the introduction of heavy cavalry and reached the size of an estate (cost 12 liters, approx. 4 kg of gold). There was differentiation among the stratiots: those who were economically weakened lost their plots and fell into a dependent state, at the same time becoming a politically unreliable element; the wealthier stratiots tended to join the privileged military-landowning nobility. The vast territories confiscated during the Paulician wars served as the basis for the power of the Asia Minor nobility, which in the 10th-11th centuries. makes attempts to seize state power. From ser. 9th century There is a rapid development of cities, especially large coastal ones (“emporia”). Concentration of wealth as a result of the formation of feuds. property in the province, rapid growth of external. trade with the countries of the East. Europe, the restoration of maritime power in the Aegean and the Adriatic - all this contributed to the development of the craft. Commodity relations were strengthened. Citizenship was restored. Justinian's right (see Prochiron, Epanagoga, Vasiliki). Were codified (i.e. n. Book of the Eparch) regulations on trade and crafts. corporations, in which, along with the free owners of the ergasters, there could also be slaves (as figureheads for the masters). Corporations were provided with benefits - advantages. the right to production and trade, purchasing goods from foreigners. The ergasteria employed hired workers who had little connection with the corporation, as well as slaves and apprentices. Both the types of products and the rate of profit were regulated by the mayor (eparch). Builds. workers were outside the corporations and worked hand in hand. contractors. Standard of living basic the mass of artisans was extremely low. The government's policy boiled down to encouraging associations in order to facilitate government. control and regulation. Despite the presence of remnants of slave ownership. relations, which hindered the development of technology, the craft was mainly of the Middle Ages. nature: small-scale production, associations by profession, regulation. To avoid people unrest, the government sought to ensure the supply of the capital and large cities with necessary goods; to a lesser extent the state was interested in exporting it abroad. Traders and artisans who became rich, by purchasing positions and titles, became part of the high-ranking nobility, abandoning direct participation in trade and craft. activities, which weakened the position of the Byzantines. merchants in their competition with the Italian. Int. politics of V. in the 9th-10th centuries. was carried out in the main in the interests of the mountains. dignitary, united around a synclite of nobility, striving to maintain a leading position in the state and through taxes, adm. and the judiciary exploit the population. Enslavement of the rural population of the provinces. landowners (dinates) and the development of private power locally harmed the influence of the capital's nobility, in the interests of which the Macedonian dynasty began to support the free cross. community against the Dinats, forbidding them to buy the cross. land, and the poor were given benefits for the repurchase of sold land. Peasant relatives and neighbors were given the right of preference when purchasing a cross. plots. This policy was persistently pursued throughout the 10th century. However, the rules of preference created such advantages for the wealthy village elite that patrimonial estates began to emerge from among the peasants themselves, who later merged with the feudal estate. nobility. From 2nd quarter 11th century Byzantine The government increased tax oppression by transferring in kind. cash contributions. The importance of the synclite and local courts has increased. institutions, the influence of crafts and trade has increased. corporations, the intervention of people has become more frequent. masses (especially in the capital) in politics. life. At the same time, typical forms of exploitation of the peasantry through feudal rule were implanted in the provinces. rent. Submission center. state city ​​institutions the nobility did not correspond at all to the established power of the provinces. feud. land ownership, in connection with this the struggle between the capital and the provinces intensified. layers of the nobility, and the government maneuvered between them. After the defeat of iconoclasm and the restoration of icon veneration (843), the importance of monasticism and politics increased. the role of the patriarch. Patriarch Photius came up with the theory of the strong (equal to the imperial) power of the patriarch (Epanagogus). The Church actively intervened in the struggle of various layers for power, hence a number of conflicts with the emperor. Leo VI, Nikephoros II Phocas, Isaac Komnenos. But Byzantine. The (Orthodox) Church failed to create strong centralization. organization, like the papacy in the West: and state. The system, legislation, and education in Britain were less dependent on the church than in the West. Differences between Byzantine. feudalism and feudalism in the West led to disagreements between the East. and zap. churches. In the 9th-10th centuries. disagreements between churches intensified in the struggle for influence in glory. countries and in South. Italy. The discord between the hierarchs was fueled by the hatred of trade and crafts. circles of Constantinople to Italian. competitors. In 1054 the “division of churches” followed. In the 10th-11th centuries. large monasteries were created. feud. possessions, which received special privileges in the field of taxation and rights over the dependent population. Vietnam's foreign policy of this period was characterized by feudalism. expansion. In the 10th century A number of victories were won over the Arabs. In the Balkans, Vladimir captured Bulgaria in 1018 and strengthened its influence in Serbia; fought to maintain positions in the South. Italy and for dominance over the Adriatic and the Aegean. In the 9th century. V. established contact with Kievan Rus. In 860, after repelling the first Russian campaign against Constantinople, V. managed to achieve the baptism of part of the population of Rus'. In 907, as a result of a successful campaign, Prince. Oleg V. had to conclude a mutually beneficial bargain on the basis of equality of the parties. contract, basic the positions of which were consolidated as a result of the campaigns of 941, 944 and the visit of Princess Olga to Constantinople in 957. In 967, a struggle for Bulgaria began between Eastern Europe and Russia, which ended, despite the initial plans. successes of the book Svyatoslav Igorevich, victory of V. In 987 V. entered into an alliance with Prince. Vladimir Svyatoslavich, who helped Vasily II deal with the rebellious feudal lords. With the adoption (c. 988) of the book. Vladimir of Christianity according to Byzantium. According to the ritual, relations between V. and Russia became even closer. However, V. failed to use Christianization for political purposes. subjugation of Rus'. To the east parts of M. Asia, V. continued its expansion, pursuing a policy of oppression of the Transcaucasian peoples. In 1045 Armenia was conquered with the center of Ani. The resistance of the oppressed peoples made Vietnam's position in the East precarious. All R. 11th century in the East there was a danger from the Seljuks. The conquered population of Byzantium was not inclined to support the Byzantines. domination. The result was the defeat of the Byzantines. army at Manazkert (Manzikert) 1071 and the loss of most of M. Asia, conquered by the Seljuks. At the same time, V. loses his possessions in Italy as a result of the offensive of the South Italian Normans. At the same time, the resistance of the masses in conquered Bulgaria intensifies. V. during the period of domination of the military-feudal (provincial) nobility (late 11th - early 13th centuries). In 1081, using heavy international. V.'s position, the throne was seized by a provincial representative. The nobility Alexey I Komnenos, who managed to repel the dangerous offensive of the Normans, Pechenegs, and Seljuks, and from 1096 used the crusades to reconquer part of Asia. By the end of the 11th century. large provincial landowners (Komnin, Duki, Angeli, Palaiologi, Cantacuzene, Vrani, etc.) became the main. domination political force in the state. During the 12th century. Byzantine institutions are being formalized. feudalism: charismatic, pronia, excussion. The progressive ruin of the peasantry led (from the 11th century) to the formation of a special category of “poor people” - actimons. Monastic centers (especially Athos) became semi-independent churches. Mr. you. On the contrary, political the influence of the white clergy declined. Despite the decline of the political influence of the city dignitaries, V. remained bureaucratic. monarchy: remained numerous. staff of financial and judicial officials; citizen the right (Vasiliki) extended to the entire territory. empires. There are still many preserved. layers of independent peasantry, which can also include settlements around the military. fortifications (kastra). Cross. the community fought against pressure from the feudal lords: sometimes it used legal forms, filing complaints in court or to the emperor, and sometimes it took the path of arson of the master's estates. Unlike its predecessors. period, main The way to enslave peasants during this period was no longer the purchase of land by feudal lords, but government measures. authorities. Usually k.-l. the person in the form of a grant was given the right to collect taxes from the defined. settlements. Under Manuel the cross. lands were widely distributed to foreign knights and small Byzantines for management. feudal lords These actions, which caused indignation among contemporaries, were in fact an expropriation of the cross. property of the region, having become the object of a grant, passed into the conditional possession of the feudal lord. Formed in the 12th century. Byzantine feud. institutions grew organically on local soil, however, since the Komnenos dynasty relied partly on Western Europeans. mercenary knights, in Byzantium. feud. apparitions began to appear on the right. concepts and terms. Transfer of power into the hands of the provincials. the nobility somewhat limited its privileges. the position of Constantinople, which generally had a positive effect on the economy of the provinces, where crafts and trade were on the rise, and money was revived. appeal. Many agrarianized in the 7th-8th centuries. the centers again became cities in the economy. sense. The silk industry developed in the cities of Hellas. However, the Komnenos dynasty did not take into account the importance of the mountains. economy and often when concluding international agreements sacrificed the interests of the townspeople. Italian privileges merchants had a detrimental effect on the cities: bargaining gained predominance in the economy of V. capital of the Latins. Thus, the process of creating an internal structure, which was developing favorably for V., was stopped. market and the beginning of the economic was determined. decline B. Unsuccessful external politics under Manuel I undermined the military. the power of V. (in 1176, after the Battle of Myriokephalon, V. forever lost most of M. Asia). After the death of Manuel, a riot broke out in Constantinople. movement against his "Western" policies. A pogrom of the Latins was carried out. Andronicus Komnenos took advantage of this, who, having seized power, tried to revive centralization through terror. state apparatus and thereby prevent the collapse of the empire. However, Andronicus failed to create support for his government and, under the influence of time and failures in the war against the Normans, was overthrown from the throne. The collapse of V. Dept. began. feudal lords and cities sought to gain complete independence. Rebels against the Byzantines. domination, the Bulgarians and Serbs revived their states. The weakened empire was unable to withstand the onslaught of the French. knights and crown. fleet - Constantinople in 1204, as a result of the 4th Crusade, fell into the hands of the crusaders, who were created on the territory. the regions they conquered into the Latin Empire. V. during the period of feudal fragmentation, the heyday of feudalism (early 13th - mid 15th centuries). Greece was divided into a number of independent feudal regions, some of which at different times were under the rule of the French knights, Venetians, Genoese, and Catalans, some fell into the hands of the Bulgarians, Serbs, and Turks, and some remained under the rule of the feudal lords of Greece (see. map); however, the uniformity of economic and social life, linguistic and cultural community, preserved history. traditions allow us to interpret V. as a single state, which is in the feudal stage. fragmentation. Feud. the estate was the main household unit. In the 13th-15th centuries. it was drawn into market relations, sending products from buyers through buyers. x-va on the outside. market. The master's plowing, especially on monastery lands, meant that pastures for the master's herds were occupied. part of the land and were served by dependent wigs, elefthers (free, not included in the tax lists), some of which settled, merging with the dependents. Deposits and virgin lands were given to newcomers from “persons unknown to the treasury”, who also joined the dependent population (proskafimen). Scribe books reflected the strong turnover of the dependent population of the feud. estates. Cross. the community that fell under the power of the feudal lord survived (for example, sources testify to the intense struggle of the peasant communities against the monasteries, which sought to expand their holdings at the expense of the peasant land). In the village, social stratification deepened even more: those with little power worked as farm laborers (dulevts). Cross. plots, so-called Stasi, were in inheritance. possession of the cross. families State The peasants had their own land and could sell it or give it away. However, in the 13th-15th centuries. state peasants were the object of grants and easily turned into dependents. Pronia in the 13th-15th centuries. turned into inheritance. conditional possession with military responsibilities. character. Secular feudal lords usually lived in cities, where they had houses and workshops for rent. In rural areas, purgoi were built - piers, fortification castles - strongholds of the feudal lords. Mining resources, salt mines, and alum mines were usually state-owned. property, but were farmed out or ceded to individual nobles, monasteries, and foreigners. Late Byzantine. the city was an agricultural center. territory drawn into the external agricultural trade products (grain, olive, wine, and in some areas raw silk). Economically, Ch. arr. seaside cities. Leading role in external trade belonged to bargaining. Italian capital cities. V. from a country that sold in the 4th-11th centuries. luxury goods, has become a country that sends products abroad with. products and raw materials. Each district that participated in the external trade, was economically isolated from other regions of the country. This prevented the creation of a single internal market. Economical disunity hindered the national reunification of the country. Constantinople, although it was no longer the economic, administrative, cultural center of the entire country, retained an important place in the international. trade. Sources distinguish in the cities archons (land-owning nobility), burgesis, or mesoi (prosperous trade and craft stratum), plebeian masses. Inside the city trade and crafts. circles and the plebeian masses fought against the patriciate, which they sought using the feud. unrest, to strengthen the independence of the city in their own interests. At the same time, the population, in the form of support for Orthodoxy, opposed the dominance of the Italians. merchants and Westerners feudal lords Cultural, linguistic and religious. unity, history traditions determined the presence of tendencies towards unification. The leading role in the fight against Lat. empire was played by the Nicene Empire, one of the most powerful Greek. state-in, formed in the beginning. 13th century on the territory V., not captured by the crusaders. Its rulers, relying on small and medium-sized landowners and cities, managed to expel the Latins from Constantinople in 1261. However, this victory did not lead to the reunification of V. Foreign Policy. situation and centrifugal forces, weakness and lack of unity in the mountains. class made it difficult to unite. The Palaiologan dynasty, fearing the activity of the people. the masses have not taken the path to decide. struggle against large feudal lords, preferring dynastic. marriages, intrigues and feud. wars using foreign mercenaries. Foreign policy V.'s position turned out to be extremely difficult: the West did not stop trying to recreate Lat. empire and extend the power of Rome to Europe. dads; economic growth intensified. and military pressure from Venice and Genoa; Serbian offensive from the north-west. and the Turks from the East became more and more successful. Exaggerating the influence of Rome. popes, Byzantine emperors repeatedly sought to obtain military help by subordinating the Greek. churches to the pope (Union of Lyons, Union of Florence), but the dominance of Italian. bargain. capital and spare parts The feudal lords were so hated by the population that the government could not force the people to recognize the union. As a religious feuds and internecine wars were an expression of internal. contradictions in the country: produces. forces developed, certain economic ones appeared. conditions for the introduction of capitalist. relationships. However, if excluded. the weakness of the townspeople and the complete dominance of the feudal lords. orders, any strengthening of external. trade in the department centers (Mystras, Monemvasia, etc.) only strengthened (economically) the feudal lords. Overcome the feud. fragmentation was impossible without revolutionaries. speeches of the masses and followers. fight center government versus feudal fragmentation. The decisive period was the 40s. 14th century, when, during the struggle of two cliques for power, the cross flared up. movement. Having taken the side of the “legitimate” dynasty, the peasantry began to destroy the estates of the rebellious feudal lords, led by John Cantacuzene. The government of Apokavka and Patriarch John began to pursue progressive policies, sharply opposing the feudal rule. aristocracy (confiscation of the estates of the nobility) and against the reaction. mystical hesychast ideology. The townspeople of Thessalonica, organizing the plebeian masses, supported Apokavkos. The movement was led by the Zealot party, whose program was soon adopted by the anti-feud. character. The Constantinople government was afraid of the activity of the masses and did not use the planks. movement. Apokavkos was killed in 1345, and the government’s struggle against the rebellious feudal lords virtually ceased. In Thessalonica the situation became aggravated as a result of the crossing of the mountains. the nobility (archons) sided with Cantacuzene. The plebs who came forward destroyed most of the mountains. nobility However, the movement, having lost contact with the center. pr-vom, acquired a local character and was suppressed. The collapse of the policy of centralization and the defeat of the people. movements in Thessalonica marked the final victory of the reaction. strength Exhausted V. could not resist the onslaught of the Turks, to