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 Christendom, 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 of the ancient Greek city 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. It seemed that Constantine's administrative and financial policies had inspired new life into a united 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 after the accession to the throne of Justin I (reigned 518-527), an unshakable orthodox, but Rome and Constantinople continued to move away 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.
Fall of Constantinople (1453) - the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Turks, which led to its final fall.
Day May 29, 1453 , undoubtedly, is a turning point in human history. It means the end of the old world, the world of Byzantine civilization. For eleven centuries there stood a city on the Bosphorus where deep intelligence was admired and the science and literature of the classical past were carefully studied and treasured. Without Byzantine researchers and scribes, we would not know much about literature today ancient Greece. It was also a city whose rulers for many centuries encouraged the development of a school of art that has no parallel in the history of mankind and was a fusion of the unchanged Greek common sense and deep religiosity, which saw in the work of art the embodiment of the Holy Spirit and the sanctification of material things.
In addition, Constantinople was a great cosmopolitan city, where, along with trade, the free exchange of ideas flourished and the inhabitants considered themselves not just some people, but the heirs of Greece and Rome, the enlightened Christian faith. There were legends about the wealth of Constantinople at that time.
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Until the 11th century. Byzantium was a brilliant and powerful power, a stronghold of Christianity against Islam. The Byzantines courageously and successfully fulfilled their duty until, in the middle of the century, a new threat from Islam approached them from the East, along with the invasion of the Turks. Western Europe, meanwhile, went so far that it itself, in the person of the Normans, tried to carry out aggression against Byzantium, which found itself involved in a struggle on two fronts just at a time when it itself was experiencing a dynastic crisis and internal turmoil. The Normans were repulsed, but the price of this victory was the loss of Byzantine Italy. The Byzantines also had to permanently give the Turks the mountainous plateaus of Anatolia - lands that were for them the main source of replenishing human resources for the army and food supplies. In the best times of its great past, the well-being of Byzantium was associated with its dominance over Anatolia. The vast peninsula, known in ancient times as Asia Minor, was one of the most populated places in the world during Roman times.
Byzantium continued to play the role of a great power, while its power was already virtually undermined. Thus, the empire found itself between two evils; and this already difficult situation was further complicated by the movement that went down in history under the name of the Crusades.
Meanwhile, the deep old religious differences between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches, fanned for political purposes throughout the 11th century, steadily deepened until, towards the end of the century, a final schism occurred between Rome and Constantinople.
The crisis came when the Crusader army, carried away by the ambition of their leaders, the jealous greed of their Venetian allies and the hostility that the West now felt towards the Byzantine Church, turned on Constantinople, captured and plundered it, forming the Latin Empire on the ruins of the ancient city ( 1204-1261).
The Fourth Crusade was organized by Pope Innocent III to liberate the Holy Land from infidels. Original plan The Fourth Crusade involved the organization of a naval expedition on Venetian ships to Egypt, which was supposed to become a springboard for an attack on Palestine, but was then changed: the crusaders moved to the capital of Byzantium. The participants in the campaign were mainly French and Venetians.
Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople on April 13, 1204. Engraving by G. Doré
April 13, 1204 Constantinople fell . The fortress city, which withstood the onslaught of many powerful enemies, was captured by the enemy for the first time. What was beyond the power of the hordes of Persians and Arabs, the knightly army succeeded. The ease with which the crusaders captured the huge, well-fortified city was the result of the acute socio-political crisis that the Byzantine Empire was experiencing at that moment. A significant role was also played by the fact that part of the Byzantine aristocracy and merchant class was interested in trade relations with the Latins. In other words, there was a kind of “fifth column” in Constantinople.
Capture of Constantinople (April 13, 1204) by the Crusader troops was one of the epoch-making events medieval history. After the capture of the city, mass robberies and murders of the Greek Orthodox population began. About 2 thousand people were killed in the first days after the capture. Fires raged in the city. Many cultural and literary monuments that had been stored here since ancient times were destroyed in the fire. The famous Library of Constantinople was especially badly damaged by the fire. Many valuables were taken to Venice. For more than half a century, the ancient city on the Bosphorus promontory was under the rule of the Crusaders. Only in 1261 did Constantinople again fall into the hands of the Greeks.
This Fourth Crusade (1204), which evolved from the "road to the Holy Sepulcher" into a Venetian commercial enterprise leading to the sack of Constantinople by the Latins, ended the Eastern Roman Empire as a supranational state and finally split Western and Byzantine Christianity.
Actually, Byzantium after this campaign ceased to exist as a state for more than 50 years. Some historians, not without reason, write that after the disaster of 1204, actually two empires were formed - the Latin and the Venetian. Part of the former imperial lands in Asia Minor was captured by the Seljuks, in the Balkans by Serbia, Bulgaria and Venice. However, the Byzantines were able to retain a number of other territories and create their own states on them: the Kingdom of Epirus, the Nicaean and Trebizond empires.
Latin Empire
Having established themselves in Constantinople as masters, the Venetians increased their trading influence throughout the territory of the fallen Byzantine Empire. The capital of the Latin Empire was the seat of the most noble feudal lords for several decades. They preferred the palaces of Constantinople to their castles in Europe. The nobility of the empire quickly became accustomed to Byzantine luxury and adopted the habit of constant celebrations and cheerful feasts. The consumer nature of life in Constantinople under the Latins became even more pronounced. The crusaders came to these lands with a sword and during the half-century of their rule they never learned to create. In the middle of the 13th century, the Latin Empire fell into complete decline. Many cities and villages, devastated and plundered during the aggressive campaigns of the Latins, were never able to recover. The population suffered not only from unbearable taxes and levies, but also from the oppression of foreigners who disdained the culture and customs of the Greeks. The Orthodox clergy actively preached the struggle against the enslavers.
Summer 1261 Emperor of Nicaea Michael VIII Palaiologos managed to recapture Constantinople, which entailed the restoration of the Byzantine and destruction of the Latin empires.
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After this, Byzantium was no longer the dominant power in the Christian East. She retained only a glimpse of her former mystical prestige. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Constantinople seemed so rich and magnificent, the imperial court so magnificent, and the piers and bazaars of the city so full of goods that the emperor was still treated as a powerful ruler. However, in reality he was now only a sovereign among his equals or even more powerful ones. Some other Greek rulers have already appeared. To the east of Byzantium was the Trebizond Empire of the Great Comnenos. In the Balkans, Bulgaria and Serbia alternately laid claim to hegemony on the peninsula. In Greece - on the mainland and islands - small Frankish companies arose feudal principalities and Italian colonies.
The entire 14th century was a period of political failures for Byzantium. The Byzantines were threatened from all sides - Serbs and Bulgarians in the Balkans, the Vatican in the West, Muslims in the East.
Byzantium, which had existed for more than 1000 years, was in decline by the 15th century. It was a very small state, whose power extended only to the capital - the city of Constantinople with its suburbs - several Greek islands off the coast of Asia Minor, several cities on the coast in Bulgaria, as well as the Morea (Peloponnese). This state could only be considered an empire conditionally, since even the rulers of the few pieces of land that remained under its control were actually independent of the central government.
At the same time, Constantinople, founded in 330, was perceived as a symbol of the empire throughout the entire period of its existence as the Byzantine capital. For a long time, Constantinople was the largest economic and cultural center of the country, and only in the XIV-XV centuries. began to decline. Its population, which in the 12th century. together with the surrounding residents, amounted to about a million people, now there were no more than one hundred thousand, continuing to gradually decline further.
The empire was surrounded by the lands of its main enemy - the Muslim state of the Ottoman Turks, who saw Constantinople as the main obstacle to the spread of their power in the region.
The Turkish state, which was quickly gaining power and successfully fought to expand its borders in both the west and the east, had long sought to conquer Constantinople. Several times the Turks attacked Byzantium. The offensive of the Ottoman Turks on Byzantium led to the fact that by the 30s of the 15th century. All that remained of the Byzantine Empire was Constantinople and its surroundings, some islands in the Aegean Sea and Morea, an area in the south of the Peloponnese. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Ottoman Turks captured the richest trading city of Bursa, one of the important points of transit caravan trade between East and West. Very soon they captured two other Byzantine cities - Nicaea (Iznik) and Nicomedia (Izmid).
The military successes of the Ottoman Turks became possible thanks to the political struggle that took place in this region between Byzantium, the Balkan states, Venice and Genoa. Very often, rival parties sought to enlist the military support of the Ottomans, thereby ultimately facilitating the expanding expansion of the latter. Military strength The strengthening of the Turkish state was especially clearly demonstrated in the Battle of Varna (1444), which, in fact, also decided the fate of Constantinople.
Battle of Varna - battle between the Crusaders and the Ottoman Empire near the city of Varna (Bulgaria). The battle marked the end of the unsuccessful crusade against Varna by the Hungarian and Polish king Vladislav. The outcome of the battle was the complete defeat of the crusaders, the death of Vladislav and the strengthening of the Turks on the Balkan Peninsula. The weakening of Christian positions in the Balkans allowed the Turks to take Constantinople (1453).
Attempts by the imperial authorities to receive help from the West and to conclude a union with the Catholic Church for this purpose in 1439 were rejected by the majority of the clergy and people of Byzantium. Of the philosophers, only admirers of Thomas Aquinas approved the Florentine Union.
All neighbors were afraid of Turkish strengthening, especially Genoa and Venice, who had economic interests in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, Hungary, which received an aggressively powerful enemy in the south, beyond the Danube, the Knights of St. John, who feared the loss of the remnants of their possessions in the Middle East, and the Pope Roman, who hoped to stop the strengthening and spread of Islam along with Turkish expansion. However, at the decisive moment, Byzantium's potential allies found themselves captive to their own complicated problems.
The most likely allies of Constantinople were the Venetians. Genoa remained neutral. The Hungarians have not yet recovered from their recent defeat. Wallachia and the Serbian states were vassals of the Sultan, and the Serbs even contributed auxiliary troops to the Sultan's army.
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Turkish Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror declared the conquest of Constantinople as his life's goal. In 1451, he concluded an agreement beneficial for Byzantium with Emperor Constantine XI, but already in 1452 he violated it, capturing the Rumeli-Hissar fortress on the European shore of the Bosphorus. Constantine XI Palaeologus turned to the West for help and in December 1452 solemnly confirmed the union, but this only caused general discontent. The commander of the Byzantine fleet, Luca Notara, publicly stated that he “would prefer that the Turkish turban dominate the City rather than the papal tiara.”
At the beginning of March 1453, Mehmed II announced the recruitment of an army; in total he had 150 (according to other sources - 300) thousand troops, equipped with powerful artillery, 86 military and 350 transport ships. In Constantinople there were 4973 inhabitants capable of holding weapons, about 2 thousand mercenaries from the West and 25 ships.
The Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, who vowed to take Constantinople, carefully and carefully prepared for the upcoming war, realizing that he would have to deal with a powerful fortress, from which the armies of other conquerors had retreated more than once. The unusually thick walls were practically invulnerable to siege engines and even standard artillery at that time.
The Turkish army consisted of 100 thousand soldiers, over 30 warships and about 100 small fast ships. Such a number of ships immediately allowed the Turks to establish dominance in the Sea of Marmara.
The city of Constantinople was located on a peninsula formed by the Sea of Marmara and the Golden Horn. The city blocks facing the seashore and the shore of the bay were covered by city walls. A special system of fortifications made of walls and towers covered the city from land - from the west. The Greeks were relatively calm behind the fortress walls on the shores of the Sea of Marmara - the sea current here was fast and did not allow the Turks to land troops under the walls. The Golden Horn was considered a vulnerable place.
View of Constantinople
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The Greek fleet defending Constantinople consisted of 26 ships. The city had several cannons and a significant supply of spears and arrows. There were clearly not enough fire weapons or soldiers to repel the assault. The total number of eligible Roman soldiers, not including allies, was about 7 thousand.
The West was in no hurry to provide assistance to Constantinople, only Genoa sent 700 soldiers on two galleys, led by the condottiere Giovanni Giustiniani, and Venice - 2 warships. Constantine's brothers, the rulers of the Morea, Dmitry and Thomas, were busy quarreling among themselves. The inhabitants of Galata, an extraterritorial quarter of the Genoese on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, declared their neutrality, but in reality they helped the Turks, hoping to maintain their privileges.
April 7, 1453 Mehmed II began the siege. The Sultan sent envoys with a proposal to surrender. In case of surrender, he promised the city population the preservation of life and property. Emperor Constantine replied that he was ready to pay any tribute that Byzantium was able to withstand, and to cede any territories, but refused to surrender the city. At the same time, Constantine ordered Venetian sailors to march along the city walls, demonstrating that Venice was an ally of Constantinople. The Venetian fleet was one of the strongest in the Mediterranean basin, and this should have influenced the Sultan's resolve. Despite the refusal, Mehmed gave the order to prepare for the assault. The Turkish army had high morale and determination, unlike the Romans.
The Turkish fleet had its main anchorage on the Bosphorus, its main task was to break through the fortifications of the Golden Horn, in addition, the ships were supposed to blockade the city and prevent aid to Constantinople from the allies.
Initially, success accompanied the besieged. The Byzantines blocked the entrance to the Golden Horn Bay with a chain, and Turkish fleet could not approach the walls of the city. The first assault attempts failed.
On April 20, 5 ships with city defenders (4 Genoese, 1 Byzantine) defeated a squadron of 150 Turkish ships in battle.
But already on April 22, the Turks transported 80 ships overland to the Golden Horn. The attempt of the defenders to burn these ships failed, because the Genoese from Galata noticed the preparations and informed the Turks.
Defeatism reigned in Constantinople itself. Giustiniani advised Constantine XI to surrender the city. Defense funds were embezzled. Luca Notara hid the money allocated for the fleet, hoping to pay off the Turks with it.
May 29 started early in the morning final assault on Constantinople . The first attacks were repulsed, but then the wounded Giustiniani left the city and fled to Galata. The Turks were able to take the main gate of the capital of Byzantium. Fighting took place on the streets of the city, Emperor Constantine XI fell in the battle, and when the Turks found his wounded body, they cut off his head and hoisted it on a pole. For three days there was looting and violence in Constantinople. The Turks killed everyone they met on the streets: men, women, children. Streams of blood flowed down the steep streets of Constantinople from the hills of Petra into the Golden Horn.
The Turks broke into men's and women's monasteries. Some young monks, preferring martyrdom to dishonor, threw themselves into wells; the monks and elderly nuns followed the ancient tradition of the Orthodox Church, which prescribed not to resist.
The houses of the inhabitants were also robbed one after another; Each group of robbers hung a small flag at the entrance as a sign that there was nothing left to take from the house. The inhabitants of the houses were taken away along with their property. Anyone who fell from exhaustion was immediately killed; the same thing was done with many babies.
Scenes of mass desecration of sacred objects took place in churches. Many crucifixes, adorned with jewels, were carried out of the temples with Turkish turbans dashingly draped over them.
In the Temple of Chora, the Turks left the mosaics and frescoes untouched, but destroyed the icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria - her most sacred image in all of Byzantium, executed, according to legend, by Saint Luke himself. It was moved here from the Church of the Virgin Mary near the palace at the very beginning of the siege, so that this shrine, being as close as possible to the walls, would inspire their defenders. The Turks pulled the icon out of its frame and split it into four parts.
And here is how contemporaries describe the capture of the greatest temple of all Byzantium - the Cathedral of St. Sofia. "The church was still filled with people. The Holy Liturgy had already ended and Matins was underway. When noise was heard outside, the huge bronze doors of the temple were closed. Those gathered inside prayed for a miracle that alone could save them. But their prayers were in vain. Very little time passed, and the doors collapsed under blows from outside. The worshipers were trapped. A few old people and cripples were killed on the spot; The majority of the Turks were tied up or chained to each other in groups, and shawls and scarves torn from women were used as fetters. Many beautiful girls and boys, as well as richly dressed nobles, were almost torn to pieces when the soldiers who captured them fought among themselves, considering them their prey. The priests continued to read prayers at the altar until they were also captured..."
Sultan Mehmed II himself entered the city only on June 1. Escorted by selected troops of the Janissary Guard, accompanied by his viziers, he slowly rode through the streets of Constantinople. Everything around where the soldiers visited was devastated and ruined; churches stood desecrated and looted, houses uninhabited, shops and warehouses broken and plundered. He rode a horse into the Church of St. Sophia, ordered the cross to be knocked off it and turned into the largest mosque in the world.
Cathedral of St. Sofia in Constantinople
Immediately after the capture of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II first issued a decree “providing freedom to all who survived,” but many residents of the city were killed by Turkish soldiers, many became slaves. To quickly restore the population, Mehmed ordered the entire population of the city of Aksaray to be transferred to the new capital.
The Sultan granted the Greeks the rights of a self-governing community within the empire; the head of the community was to be the Patriarch of Constantinople, responsible to the Sultan.
In subsequent years, the last territories of the empire were occupied (Morea - in 1460).
Constantine XI was the last of the Roman emperors. With his death, the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist. Its lands became part of the Ottoman state. The former capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, became the capital of the Ottoman Empire until its collapse in 1922 (at first it was called Constantine and then Istanbul (Istanbul)).
Most Europeans believed that the death of Byzantium was the beginning of the end of the world, since only Byzantium was the successor to the Roman Empire. Many contemporaries blamed Venice for the fall of Constantinople (Venice then had one of the most powerful fleets). The Republic of Venice played a double game, trying, on the one hand, to organize a crusade against the Turks, and on the other, to protect its trade interests by sending friendly embassies to the Sultan.
However, you need to understand that the rest of the Christian powers did not lift a finger to save the dying empire. Without the help of other states, even if the Venetian fleet had arrived on time, it would have allowed Constantinople to hold out for a couple more weeks, but this would only have prolonged the agony.
Rome was fully aware of the Turkish danger and understood that all of Western Christianity might be in danger. Pope Nicholas V called on all Western powers to jointly undertake a powerful and decisive Crusade and intended to lead this campaign himself. From the moment the fatal news arrived from Constantinople, he sent out his messages calling for active action. On September 30, 1453, the Pope sent a bull to all Western sovereigns declaring a Crusade. Each sovereign was ordered to shed the blood of himself and his subjects for the holy cause, and also to allocate a tenth of his income to it. Both Greek cardinals - Isidore and Bessarion - actively supported his efforts. Vissarion himself wrote to the Venetians, simultaneously accusing them and begging them to stop the wars in Italy and concentrate all their forces on the fight against the Antichrist.
However, no Crusade ever happened. And although the sovereigns eagerly caught reports of the death of Constantinople, and writers composed sorrowful elegies, although the French composer Guillaume Dufay wrote a special funeral song and it was sung in all French lands, no one was ready to act. King Frederick III of Germany was poor and powerless because he had no real power over the German princes; Neither politically nor financially he could participate in the Crusade. King Charles VII of France was busy rebuilding his country after a long and ruinous war with England. The Turks were somewhere far away; he had more important things to do in his own home. For England, which suffered even more than France from the Hundred Years' War, the Turks seemed an even more distant problem. King Henry VI could do absolutely nothing, since he had just lost his mind and the whole country was plunging into the chaos of the Wars of the Roses. None of the kings showed any further interest, with the exception of the Hungarian king Ladislaus, who, of course, had every reason to be concerned. But he had a bad relationship with his army commander. And without him and without allies, he could not dare to undertake any enterprise.
So although Western Europe and was shocked that the great historical Christian city was in the hands of infidels, no papal bull could motivate her to action. The very fact that the Christian states failed to come to the aid of Constantinople showed their clear reluctance to fight for the faith if their immediate interests were not affected.
The Turks quickly occupied the rest of the empire. The Serbs were the first to suffer - Serbia became a theater of military operations between the Turks and Hungarians. In 1454, the Serbs were forced, under the threat of force, to give up part of their territory to the Sultan. But already in 1459, all of Serbia was in the hands of the Turks, with the exception of Belgrade, which remained in the hands of the Hungarians until 1521. The neighboring kingdom of Bosnia was conquered by the Turks 4 years later.
Meanwhile, the last vestiges of Greek independence gradually disappeared. The Duchy of Athens was destroyed in 1456. And in 1461, the last Greek capital, Trebizond, fell. It was the end of free Greek world. True, a certain number of Greeks still remained under Christian rule - in Cyprus, on the islands of the Aegean and Ionian seas and in the port cities of the continent, still held by Venice, but their rulers were of a different blood and a different form of Christianity. Only in the south-east of the Peloponnese, in the lost villages of Maina, into the harsh mountain spurs of which not a single Turk dared to penetrate, was a semblance of freedom preserved.
Soon all Orthodox territories in the Balkans were in the hands of the Turks. Serbia and Bosnia were enslaved. Albania fell in January 1468. Moldavia recognized its vassal dependence on the Sultan back in 1456.
Many historians in the 17th and 18th centuries. considered the fall of Constantinople to be a key moment in European history, the end of the Middle Ages, just as the fall of Rome in 476 was the end of Antiquity. Others believed that the mass flight of Greeks to Italy caused the Renaissance there.
After the death of Byzantium, Rus' remained the only free Orthodox state. The Baptism of Rus' was one of the most glorious acts of the Byzantine Church. Now this daughter country was becoming stronger than its parent, and the Russians were well aware of this. Constantinople, as was believed in Rus', fell as punishment for its sins, for apostasy, having agreed to unite with the Western Church. The Russians vehemently rejected the Union of Florence and expelled its supporter, Metropolitan Isidore, imposed on them by the Greeks. And now, having preserved their Orthodox faith unsullied, they found themselves the owners of the only state surviving from the Orthodox world, whose power was also constantly growing. “Constantinople fell,” wrote the Metropolitan of Moscow in 1458, “because it retreated from the true Orthodox faith. But in Russia this faith is still alive, the Faith of the Seven Councils, which Constantinople handed over to the Grand Duke Vladimir. On earth there is only one true Church - Russian Church."
After marriage to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor from the Palaiologan dynasty Grand Duke Ivan III of Moscow declared himself heir to the Byzantine Empire. From now on, the great mission of preserving Christianity passed to Russia. “The Christian empires have fallen,” the monk Philotheus wrote in 1512 to his master, the Grand Duke, or Tsar, Vasily III, “in their place stands only the power of our ruler... Two Romes have fallen, but the third still stands, and there will never be a fourth... You are the only Christian sovereign in the world, ruler over all true faithful Christians."
Thus, in the entire Orthodox world, only the Russians derived some benefit from the fall of Constantinople; and for the Orthodox Christians of the former Byzantium, groaning in captivity, the consciousness that in the world there was still a great, albeit very distant sovereign of the same faith as them, served as consolation and hope that he would protect them and, perhaps, someday come save them and restore their freedom. The Sultan-Conqueror paid almost no attention to the fact of the existence of Russia. Russia was far away. Sultan Mehmed had other concerns much closer to home. The conquest of Constantinople certainly made his state one of the great powers of Europe, and henceforth it was to play a corresponding role in European politics. He realized that Christians were his enemies and he needed to be vigilant to ensure that they did not unite against him. The Sultan could fight Venice or Hungary, and perhaps the few allies the pope could muster, but he could fight only one of them at a time. No one came to the aid of Hungary in the fatal battle on the Mohacs Field. No one sent reinforcements to the Johannite Knights to Rhodes. No one cared about the loss of Cyprus by the Venetians.
Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK
Byzantium is an amazing medieval state in southeastern Europe. A kind of bridge, a relay baton between antiquity and feudalism. Its entire thousand-year existence is a continuous series of civil wars and with external enemies, riots of the mob, religious strife, conspiracies, intrigues, coups d'état carried out by the nobility. Either soaring to the pinnacle of power, or falling into the abyss of despair, decay, and insignificance, Byzantium nevertheless managed to preserve itself for 10 centuries, serving as an example for its contemporaries in government, army organization, trade, and diplomatic art. Even today, the chronicle of Byzantium is a book that teaches how to and should not govern subjects, the country, the world, demonstrates the importance of the role of the individual in history, and shows the sinfulness of human nature. At the same time, historians are still arguing about what Byzantine society was - late antique, early feudal or something in between*The name of this new state was the “Kingdom of the Romans”; in the Latin West it was called “Romania”, and the Turks subsequently began to call it the “State of the Rums” or simply “Rum”. Historians began to call this state “Byzantium” or “Byzantine Empire” in their writings after its fall.
Around 660 BC, on a cape washed by the waters of the Bosphorus Strait, the Black Sea waves of the Golden Horn Bay and the Sea of Marmara, immigrants from the Greek city of Megar founded a trading outpost on the way from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, named after the leader of the colonists, Byzantine. The new city was named Byzantium.
Byzantium existed for about seven hundred years, serving as a transit point on the route of merchants and sailors traveling from Greece to the Greek colonies of the northern shores of the Black Sea and Crimea and back. From the metropolis, traders brought wine and olive oil, fabrics, ceramics, and other handicrafts, and back - bread and furs, ship and timber, honey, wax, fish and livestock. The city grew, became richer and therefore was constantly under the threat of enemy invasion. More than once its inhabitants repelled the onslaught of barbarian tribes from Thrace, Persians, Spartans, and Macedonians. Only in 196-198 AD the city fell under the onslaught of the legions of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus and was destroyed
Byzantium is perhaps the only state in history that has exact dates of birth and death: May 11, 330 - May 29, 1453
The ceremony was accompanied by Christian and pagan religious rites. In memory of the founding of the city, Constantine ordered a coin to be minted. On one side of it the emperor himself was depicted wearing a helmet and holding a spear in his hand. There was also an inscription here - “Constantinople”. On the other side is a woman with ears of corn and a cornucopia in her hands. The Emperor granted Constantinople the municipal structure of Rome. A Senate was established in it, and Egyptian grain, which had previously supplied Rome, began to be directed to the needs of the population of Constantinople. Like Rome, built on seven hills, Constantinople is spread over the vast territory of the seven hills of the Bosphorus cape. During the reign of Constantine, about 30 magnificent palaces and temples, more than 4 thousand large buildings in which the nobility lived, a circus, 2 theaters and a hippodrome, more than 150 baths, approximately the same number of bakeries, as well as 8 water pipelines were built here
Byzantium included the eastern half of the Roman Empire along a line running through the western part of the Balkans to Cyrenaica. Located on three continents - at the junction of Europe, Asia and Africa - it occupied an area of up to 1 million square meters. km, including the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Cyrenaica, part of Mesopotamia and Armenia, islands, primarily Crete and Cyprus, strongholds in the Crimea (Chersonese), in the Caucasus (in Georgia), some areas of Arabia, islands of the Eastern Mediterranean. Its borders extended from the Danube to the Euphrates. The territory of the empire was quite densely populated. According to some estimates, it had 30-35 million inhabitants. The main part were Greeks and the Hellenized population. In addition to the Greeks, Syrians, Copts, Thracians and Illyrians, Armenians, Georgians, Arabs, Jews lived in Byzantium
Justinian's 38-year reign was the climax and period of early Byzantine history. His activities played a significant role in the consolidation of Byzantine society, the major successes of Byzantine weapons, which doubled the borders of the empire to limits never reached in the future. His policies strengthened the authority of the Byzantine state, and the glory of the brilliant capital, Constantinople, and the emperor who ruled there began to spread among the peoples. The explanation for this “rise” of Byzantium is the personality of Justinian himself: colossal ambition, intelligence, organizational talent, extraordinary capacity for work (“the emperor who never sleeps”), perseverance and perseverance in achieving his goals, simplicity and rigor in his personal life, the cunning of a peasant who knew how to hide his thoughts and feelings under a feigned external dispassion and calmness
To ensure the continuation of hostilities, Justinian had to increase the tax burden, introduce new emergency levies, natural duties, turn a blind eye to the increasing extortion of officials, as long as they ensured revenues to the treasury, he had to curtail not only construction, including military construction, but also sharply reduce army. When Justinian died, his contemporary wrote: (Justinian died) “after filling the whole world with murmurs and turmoil.”
She ruled Byzantium from 867 to 1056, which became the heyday of Byzantium. Its borders expanded almost to the limits of early Byzantium (1 million sq. km). It again belonged to Antioch and Northern Syria, the army stood on the Euphrates, the fleet off the coast of Sicily, protecting southern Italy from attempts at Arab invasions. The power of Byzantium was recognized by Dalmatia and Serbia, and in Transcaucasia by many rulers of Armenia and Georgia. The long struggle with Bulgaria ended with its transformation into a Byzantine province in 1018. The population of Byzantium reached 20-24 million people, of which 10% were townspeople. There were about 400 cities, with the number of inhabitants ranging from 1-2 thousand to tens of thousands. The most famous was Constantinople
Magnificent palaces and temples, many thriving trade and craft establishments, a bustling port with countless ships moored at its piers, a multilingual, colorfully dressed crowd of townspeople. The streets of the capital were teeming with people. The majority crowded around the numerous shops in the central part of the city, in the rows of Artopolion, where bakeries and bakeries were located, as well as shops selling vegetables and fish, cheese and various hot snacks. The common people usually ate vegetables, fish and fruits. Countless taverns and taverns sold wine, cakes and fish. These establishments were a kind of clubs for the poor people of Constantinople.
Commoners huddled in tall and very narrow houses, in which there were dozens of tiny apartments or closets. But this housing was also expensive and unaffordable for many. The development of residential areas was carried out in a very disorderly manner. The houses were literally piled on top of each other, which was one of the reasons for the enormous destruction during the frequent earthquakes here. The crooked and very narrow streets were incredibly dirty, littered with garbage. High buildings did not let in daylight. At night, the streets of Constantinople were practically not illuminated. And although there was a night watch, the city was dominated by numerous gangs of robbers. All city gates were locked at night, and people who did not have time to pass before they closed had to spend the night in the open air.
An integral part of the picture of the city were the crowds of beggars huddled at the foot of the proud columns and at the pedestals of beautiful statues. The beggars of Constantinople were a kind of corporation. Not every working person had their daily earnings
The reign of Vasily the Second, endowed with extraordinary tenacity, merciless determination, administrative and military talent, was the pinnacle of Byzantine statehood. 16 thousand Bulgarians blinded by his order, who brought him the nickname “Bulgarian Slayers” - a demonstration of determination to mercilessly deal with any opposition. The military successes of Byzantium under Vasily were its last major successes
The Byzantine economy experienced a boom. In the 12th century. it became completely feudal and produced more and more marketable products, expanding the volume of its exports to Italy, where cities in need of grain, wine, oil, vegetables and fruits grew rapidly. The volume of commodity-money relations increased in the 12th century. 5 times compared to the 9th century. The Komnenos government weakened the monopoly of Constantinople. In large provincial centers, industries similar to those in Constantinople developed (Athens, Corinth, Nicaea, Smyrna, Ephesus). Privileges were granted to the Italian merchants, which in the first half of the 12th century stimulated the rise of production and trade, crafts in many provincial centers
The townspeople burned and robbed the houses of the Venetians and Genoese, who competed with local merchants, and killed, regardless of age or gender. When some of the Italians attempted to escape on their ships in the harbor, they were destroyed by “Greek fire.” Many Latins were burned alive in their own homes. Rich and prosperous neighborhoods were reduced to ruins. The Byzantines destroyed the churches of the Latins, their charities and hospitals. Many clergy were also killed, including the papal legate. Those Italians who managed to leave Constantinople before the massacre began began to destroy Byzantine cities and villages on the banks of the Bosphorus and on the Princes' Islands in retaliation. They began to universally call on the Latin West for retribution.
All these events further intensified the hostility between Byzantium and the states of Western Europe.
The city was subjected to pogrom. Its destruction was completed by fires that raged until the fall. The fires destroyed the rich trade and craft districts and completely ruined the merchants and artisans of Constantinople. After this terrible disaster, the city's trade and craft corporations lost their former importance, and Constantinople lost its exclusive place in world trade for a long time. Many architectural monuments and outstanding works of art were destroyed.
The treasures of the temples made up a huge part of the Crusaders' loot. The Venetians took many rare monuments of art from Constantinople. The former splendor of Byzantine cathedrals after the era of the Crusades could only be seen in the churches of Venice. The repositories of the most valuable handwritten books - the center of Byzantine science and culture - fell into the hands of vandals who set up bivouac fires from scrolls. The works of ancient thinkers and scientists, religious books, were thrown into the fire.
The catastrophe of 1204 sharply slowed down the development of Byzantine culture
The conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders marked the collapse of the Byzantine Empire. Several states arose from its ruins.
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The Crusaders created the Latin Empire with its capital in Constantinople. It included lands along the shores of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, part of Thrace and a number of islands of the Aegean Sea
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Venice received the northern suburbs of Constantinople and several cities on the coast of the Sea of Marmara
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the head of the Fourth Crusade, Boniface of Montferrat, became the head of the Kingdom of Thessalonica, created on the territory of Macedonia and Thessaly
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The Principality of Morea arose in Morea
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The Empire of Trebizond was formed on the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor
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The Despotate of Epirus appeared in the west of the Balkan Peninsula.
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In the northwestern part of Asia Minor, the Nicaean Empire was formed - the most powerful among all the new states
The invention of the Constantinople architect Kalinnik (late 7th century) is an incendiary mixture of resin, sulfur, saltpeter, and flammable oils. Fire was thrown out from special copper pipes. It was impossible to put it out
*books used
Yu. Petrosyan " Ancient city on the banks of the Bosphorus"
G. Kurbatov “History of Byzantium”
The Byzantine Empire got its name from the ancient Megarian colony, the small town of Byzantium, on the site of which in 324-330. Emperor Constantine founded the new capital of the Roman Empire, which later became the capital of Byzantium - Constantinople. The name "Byzantium" appeared later. The Byzantines themselves called themselves Romans - "Romans" ("Ρωματοι"), and their empire - "Roman". The Byzantine emperors officially called themselves "Emperors of the Romans" (ο αυτοχρατωρ των "Ρωμαιων), and the capital of the empire was called "New Rome" for a long time om" ( Νεα "Ρωμη). Having arisen as a result of the collapse of the Roman Empire at the end of the 4th century and the transformation of its eastern half into an independent state, Byzantium was in many ways a continuation of the Roman Empire, preserving the traditions of its political life and political system. Therefore, Byzantium IV - VII centuries. often called the Eastern Roman Empire.
The division of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western, which entailed the formation of Byzantium, was prepared by the peculiarities of the socio-economic development of both halves of the empire and the crisis of slave society as a whole. The regions of the eastern part of the empire, closely connected with each other by a long-established commonality of historical and cultural development, were distinguished by their originality, inherited from the Hellenistic era. In these areas, slavery was not as widespread as in the West; in the economic life of the village, the main role was played by the dependent and free population - the communal peasantry; in the cities there remained a mass of small free artisans, whose labor competed with slave labor. Here there was not such a sharp, impassable line between slave and free as in the western half of the Roman state - various transitional, intermediate forms dependencies. In the management system in the village (community) and city (municipal organization), more formal democratic elements were retained. For these reasons, the eastern provinces suffered much less than the western ones from the crisis of the 3rd century, which undermined the foundations of the economy of the slave-owning Roman Empire. It did not lead to a radical break in the previous forms of the economic system in the East. The village and the estate retained their connections with the city, whose large free trade and craft population provided the needs of the local market. Cities did not experience such deep economic decline as in the West.
All this led to a gradual shift of the center of economic and political life of the empire to the richer eastern provinces, which were less affected by the crisis of the slave society.
Differences in the socio-economic life of the eastern and western provinces of the empire led to the gradual isolation of both halves of the empire, which ultimately prepared their political division. Already during the crisis of the 3rd century. The eastern and western provinces were under the rule of various emperors for a long time. At this time, in the East, local Hellenistic traditions, suppressed by Roman rule, revived and strengthened again. Temporary recovery of the empire from the crisis at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 4th century. and the strengthening of central power did not lead to the restoration of state unity. Under Diocletian, power was divided between two Augusti and two Caesars (tetrarchy - tetrarchy). With the founding of Constantinople, the eastern provinces had a single political and cultural center. The creation of the Constantinople Senate marked the consolidation of their ruling elite - the senatorial class. Constantinople and Rome became two centers of political life - the “Latin” West and the “Greek” East. In the storm of church disputes, a demarcation between the Eastern and Western churches has emerged. By the end of the 4th century. all these processes became so clear that the division in 395 of the empire between the successors of the last emperor of the united Roman state, Theodosius - Honorius, who received power over the West, and Arcadius, who became the first emperor of the East, was perceived as a natural phenomenon. From that time on, the history of each of the formed states went its own way 1 .
The division of the empire made it possible to fully reveal the specifics of the socio-economic, political and cultural development of Byzantium. Constantinople was built as a new, “Christian” capital, free from the burden of the old, obsolete, as the center of a state with stronger imperial power and a flexible administrative apparatus. A relatively close union of imperial power and the church developed here. Constantinople arose on the verge of two eras - the receding antiquity and the emerging Middle Ages. Engels wrote that “with the rise of Constantinople and the fall of Rome, antiquity ends” 2 . And if Rome was a symbol of dying antiquity, then Constantinople, although it adopted many of its traditions, became a symbol of the emerging medieval empire.
Byzantium included the entire eastern half of the collapsed Roman Empire. It included the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, the islands of the Aegean Sea, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Cyrenaica, the islands of Crete and Cyprus, part of Mesopotamia and Armenia, certain areas of Arabia, as well as strongholds on the southern coast of Crimea (Kherson ) and in the Caucasus. The border of Byzantium was not immediately determined only in the northwestern part of the Balkans, where for some time after the partition the struggle continued between Byzantium and the Western Roman Empire for Illyricum and Dalmatia, which were ceded in the first half of the 5th century. to Byzantium 3.
The territory of the empire exceeded 750,000 square meters. km. In the north, its border ran along the Danube until it flows into the Black Sea, 4 then along the coast of the Crimea and the Caucasus. In the east, it stretched from the mountains of Iberia and Armenia, adjoined the borders of Byzantium's eastern neighbor - Iran, led through the steppes of Mesopotamia, crossing the Tigris and Euphrates, and further along the desert steppes inhabited by North Arab tribes, to the south - to the ruins of ancient Palmyra. From here, through the deserts of Arabia, the border reached Ayla (Aqaba) - on the coast of the Red Sea. Here, in the southeast, the neighbors of Byzantium were those formed at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 4th century. Arab states, South Arab tribes, Himyarite kingdom - “Happy Arabia” 5. The southern border of Byzantium ran from the African coast of the Red Sea, along the borders of the Kingdom of Aksum (Ethiopia), areas bordering Egypt, inhabited by semi-nomadic tribes of the Vlemmians (they lived along the upper Nile, between Egypt and Nubia), and further to the west, along the outskirts of the Libyan deserts in Cyrenaica, where the warlike Mauretanian tribes of the Ausurians and Models bordered on Byzantium.
The empire covered areas with diverse natural and climatic conditions. The mild Mediterranean, in places subtropical, climate of the coastal regions gradually transitioned into the continental climate of the interior regions with its inherent sharp temperature fluctuations, hot and dry (especially in the south and east of the country) summers and cold, snowy (Balkans, partly Asia Minor) or warm, rainy (Syria, Palestine, Egypt) in winter.
Most of the territory of Byzantium was occupied by mountainous or mountainous regions (Greece, including the Peloponnese, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine). Relatively vast flat spaces were represented by some Danube regions: the Danube delta, the fertile South Thracian plain, the hilly plateau of inland Asia Minor covered with sparse shrubs, the semi-steppe-semi-desert of the east of the empire. Flat terrain prevailed in the south - in Egypt and Cyrenaica.
The territory of the empire consisted mainly of areas with a high agricultural culture. In many of them fertile soils allowed to grow 2-3 crops per year. However, farming almost everywhere was possible only with additional watering or irrigation. Wherever conditions permitted, grain crops were grown - wheat and barley. The remaining irrigated or irrigated lands were occupied by horticultural crops, and the drier ones were occupied by vineyards and olive plantations. The date palm culture was widespread in the south. On floodplain meadows, and mainly on mountain slopes covered with shrubs and forests, on alpine high-mountain meadows and in the semi-steppes and semi-deserts of the east, cattle breeding was developed.
Natural-climatic and water conditions determined certain differences in the economic appearance of different regions of the empire. The main grain production area was Egypt. From the 4th century Thrace became the second breadbasket of the empire. The fertile river valleys of Macedonia and Thessaly, hilly Bithynia, the Black Sea region, the lands of Northern Syria and Palestine irrigated by the Orontes and Jordan, as well as Mesopotamia also provided a significant amount of grain.
Greece, the Aegean islands, the coasts of Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine - these were areas of horticultural crops and grapes. Even mountainous Isauria was rich in luxurious vineyards and fields sown with grain. One of the largest centers of viticulture was Cilicia. Viticulture also reached significant proportions in Thrace. Greece, Western Asia Minor, and the interior of Syria and Palestine served as the main centers of olive growing. In Cilicia and especially Egypt in large quantities flax was grown, as well as legumes (beans), which constituted the food of the common people; Greece, Thessaly, Macedonia and Epirus were famous for their honey, Palestine for date palms and pistachio trees.
In the western regions of the Balkans, in Thrace, in the interior of Asia Minor, in the steppe spaces of Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and Cyrenaica, cattle breeding was widely developed. On the low, bush-covered slopes of the mountains of Greece and the coast of Asia Minor, fine-haired goats were bred. The interior regions of Asia Minor (Cappadocia, the steppes of Chalkidiki, Macedonia) were sheep-raising areas; Epirus, Thessaly, Thrace, Cappadocia - horse breeding; The hilly regions of Western Asia Minor and Bithynia with their oak forests were the main pig-raising areas. In Cappadocia, in the steppes of Mesopotamia, Syria and Cyrenaica, the best breeds of horses and pack animals - camels and mules - were bred. Along the eastern borders of the empire there were widespread various shapes semi-nomadic and nomadic cattle breeding. The glory of Thessaly, Macedonia and Epirus was the cheese made here - it was called “Dardanian”. Asia Minor was one of the main areas for the production of leather and leather goods; Syria, Palestine, Egypt - linen and woolen fabrics.
Byzantium was also rich in natural resources. Waters of the Adriatic, Aegean Sea, Black Sea coast Asia Minor, especially Pontus, Phenicia, and Egypt abounded in fish. Forest areas were also significant; Dalmatia had excellent combat and ship timber 6 . In many areas of the empire there were huge deposits of clay used for production. ceramic products; sand suitable for making glass (primarily Egypt and Phenicia); building stone, marble (especially Greece, islands, Asia Minor), ornamental stones (Asia Minor). The empire also had significant mineral deposits. Iron was mined in the Balkans, Pontus, Asia Minor, the Taurus Mountains, Greece, Cyprus, copper - in the famous Fennian mines of Arabia; lead - in Pergamon and Chalkidiki; zinc - in Troas; sodium and alum - in Egypt. The Balkan provinces were a real storehouse of minerals, where the bulk of the gold, silver, iron and copper consumed in the empire was mined. There were a lot of minerals in the region of Pontus, in Byzantine Armenia (iron, silver, gold) 7 . The empire was significantly richer in iron and gold than all neighboring countries. However, she did not have enough tin and partly silver: they had to be imported from Britain and Spain.
On the Adriatic coast, salt was obtained from the salt lakes of Asia Minor and Egypt. There were sufficient quantities in Byzantium and different types mineral and plant raw materials from which dyes were made and aromatic resins were distilled; here were the now extinct silphium plant, saffron, licorice root, and various medicinal plants. Off the coast of Asia Minor and Phenicia, the murex shell was mined, which was used to prepare the famous purple paint.
Egypt - the delta and banks of the Nile - was the main region of the Mediterranean, where a special reed grew (nowadays rarely found in the upper reaches of the river), from which the most important writing material of that time was made - papyrus (it was also made in Sicily).
Byzantium could meet its needs for almost all basic products, and even export some of them in significant quantities to other countries (grain, oil, fish, fabrics, metal and metal products). All this created a certain economic stability in the empire and made it possible to conduct fairly wide foreign trade in both agricultural products and handicrafts, importing mainly luxury goods and precious oriental raw materials, oriental spices, aromas, and silk. The territorial position of the empire made it in the IV-VI centuries. monopoly intermediary in trade between the West and the East.
The population of the huge Byzantine Empire in the 4th-6th centuries, according to some researchers, reached 50-65 million. 8 Ethnically, Byzantium was a motley union of dozens of tribes and nationalities at different stages of development.
The largest part of its population were Greeks and Hellenized local residents of non-Greek areas. The Greek language became the most widespread, and the Greeks actually became the dominant people. In addition to the south of the Balkan Peninsula, the islands and most of the coast of Byzantine Africa and Western Asia Minor were purely Greek in population. The Greek element in Macedonia and Epirus was very significant.
Quite a lot of Greeks lived in the eastern half of the Balkans, on the Black Sea coast in Asia Minor, in Syria, Palestine, Egypt, where they constituted the predominant percentage of the urban population.
The Latin population in the eastern half of the former Roman Empire was comparatively small. It was significant only in the northwestern regions of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Adriatic coast of the Balkans and along the Danube border - up to and including Dacia. Quite a lot of Romans also lived in the cities of Western Asia Minor. In the remaining areas of the eastern half of the empire, Romanization was very weak, and even the most educated part of the local nobility usually did not know Latin. Small groups of Romans - several dozen, rarely hundreds of families - were concentrated in the largest administrative, trade and craft centers. There were somewhat more of them in Palestine.
The Jewish population was significant and widely scattered throughout the most important areas of the empire. Jews and Samaritans who lived in a large compact mass on the territory of Palestine, close in life and faith to Jews, were also numerous in the neighboring provinces of Syria and Mesopotamia. There were large Jewish communities in Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and other cities. Jews retained their ethnic identity, religion, and language. During the period of the Roman Empire, a huge Talmudic literature developed in Hebrew.
A large group of the Byzantine population were Illyrians living in the northwestern Balkans. They were largely subjected to Romanization, which led to the spread and establishment of the dominance of the Latin language and writing. However, even in the 4th century. The Illyrians retained certain features of their ethnic identity, especially in rural, mountainous areas. The majority of them retained freedom, a strong community organization, and a spirit of independence. The warlike tribe of the Illyrians provided the best contingents of the late Roman and early Byzantine armies. The Illyrian language, used in colloquial speech, subsequently played a significant role in the formation of the Albanian language.
The Macedonians lived on the territory of Macedonia - a fairly numerous people who had long been subjected to intensive Hellenization and Romanization.
The eastern half of the Balkan Peninsula was inhabited by the Thracians - one of the largest ethnic groups on the Balkan Peninsula. The numerous free peasantry of Thrace lived in communities, in which remnants of clan relations were often still maintained. Despite the strong Hellenization and Romanization of Thrace, its population in the 4th century. was so different from the population of the Hellenized regions of the East that Eastern Roman writers often called Thrace a “barbarian country.” Free Thracian farmers and cattle breeders, tall, strong and hardy, enjoyed a well-deserved reputation as perhaps the best warriors of the empire.
After the empire lost all of Transdanubian Dacia, very few Dacians remained on the territory of Byzantium: they were resettled to the border regions of Mysia.
Starting from the middle of the 3rd century. Significant changes occurred in the ethnic composition of the Danube provinces. From that time on, barbarian tribes neighboring the empire began to settle here: Goths, Carps, Sarmatians, Taifals, Vandals, Alans, Pevki, Borans, Burgundians, Tervingi, Greutungi, Heruli, Gepids, Bastarnae 9 . Each of these tribes numbered tens of thousands of people. In the IV-V centuries. the influx of barbarians increased noticeably. Already before this, in the 3rd-4th centuries, the tribes of the Germans and Sarmatians surrounding the empire, who were at various stages of disintegration of primitive communal relations, had noticeably developed productive forces, powerful tribal alliances began to take shape, which allowed the barbarians to seize the border regions of the weakening Roman Empire.
One of the largest was the Gothic union, which united at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 4th century. many of the most developed, agricultural, sedentary and semi-sedentary tribes of the Black Sea region, moving from a primitive communal system to a class one. The Goths had their own kings, numerous nobility, and slavery existed. Eastern Roman writers considered them the most advanced and cultured of the northern barbarians. From the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 4th century. Christianity begins to spread among the Goths.
By the middle of the 4th century. The alliances of the tribes of the Vandals, Goths, and Sarmatians became stronger and stronger. As agriculture and crafts developed, their campaigns against the empire were undertaken not so much for the sake of booty and captives, but to seize fertile, cultivable lands. The government, unable to contain the pressure of the barbarians, was forced to provide them with devastated border territories, then entrusting the defense of state borders to these settlers. The pressure of the Goths on the Danube borders of the empire especially intensified in the second half of the 4th century, mainly from the 70s, when they began to be pressed by semi-wild nomads - the Huns - who were advancing from Asia. The defeated Goths, Sarmatians, and Alan nomads moved closer to the Danube. The government allowed them to cross the border and occupy empty border areas. Tens of thousands of barbarians were settled in Mysia, Thrace, and Dacia. Somewhat later, they penetrated into Macedonia and Greece, and partially settled in the regions of Asia Minor - in Phrygia and Lydia. The Ostrogoths settled in the western Danube regions (Pannonia), the Visigoths in the eastern (Northern Thrace).
In the 5th century The Huns reached the borders of the empire. They subjugated many barbarian peoples and created a powerful alliance of tribes. For several decades, the Huns attacked the Balkan provinces of the empire, reaching as far as Thermopylae. Thrace, Macedonia and Illyricum were devastated by their raids.
Massive invasions and settlement of the Balkan lands by barbarians led to a significant reduction in the Greek, Hellenized and Romanized population of these provinces of Byzantium, and to the gradual disappearance of the Macedonian and Thracian peoples.
The Hunnic tribal union, torn apart by internal contradictions, collapsed in the 50s of the 5th century. (after the death of Attila). The remnants of the Huns and the tribes under their control remained on the territory of the empire. The Gepids inhabited Dacia, the Goths inhabited Pannonia. They occupied a number of cities, of which the closest to the empire was Sirmium, and the most distant was Vindomina, or Vindobona (Vienna). Many Huns, Sarmatians, Sciri, and Goths were settled in Illyricum and Thrace.
From the end of the 5th century. Other tribes that approached the borders of the empire began to penetrate into the Byzantine possessions - the Proto-Bulgarian Turks - nomads who were experiencing the process of disintegration of primitive communal relations, and the agricultural tribes of the Slavs, whose settlements at the end of the 5th century. appear at the Danube borders of the empire.
By the time of the formation of Byzantium, the process of Hellenization of the indigenous population in the inner eastern regions of Asia Minor was still far from complete. Authors of the IV-V centuries. they describe with disdain the primitive village life of the inhabitants of these areas. Many local languages retained a certain meaning. The Lydians, who had a developed civilization and statehood in the past, had their own written language. Local languages were widespread in Caria and Phrygia. Phrygian language back in the 5th-6th centuries. existed as a colloquial one. The inhabitants of Galatia and Isauria also preserved their ethnic identity, the population of which was only in the 4th-5th centuries. was subordinated to the authority of the Byzantine government. In Cappadocia, Hellenization seriously affected only the upper strata of the local population. The bulk of rural residents in the 4th century. continued to speak the local Aramaic language, although official language served Greek.
In the eastern part of Pontus, in Lesser Armenia and Colchis, various local tribes lived: Tsans (Laz), Albans, Abazgians. Many tribes inhabiting the border Balkan regions and areas of Asia Minor retained vestiges of tribal relations.
Back in the IV-V centuries. The warlike tribe of the Isaurians lived in clans, obeying their clan and tribal leaders and paying little regard to the authority of the government.
After the division of the Armenian state of the Arsacids in 387, approximately a fourth of its part became part of Byzantium: Western (Little) Armenia, Inner Armenia and autonomous principalities. The Armenians, who had traveled a centuries-long journey by this time historical development, experienced in the IV-V centuries. the period of decomposition of slaveholding and the emergence of feudal relations. At the end of the 4th century. Mesrop Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet, and in the 5th century. There was an active development of Armenian literature, art, and theater. Taking advantage of the spread of Christianity in Armenia, Byzantium sought to take possession of all the Armenian lands for which it fought with Iran. In the IV-V centuries. The Armenian population appeared in other regions and cities of the empire. At the same time, Byzantium, relying on some points of the Caucasian coast, sought to strengthen its influence in Georgia, where from the 4th century. Christianity also spread. Georgia was divided by the Likhi ridge into two kingdoms: Lazika (ancient Colchis) in the west and Kartli (ancient Iberia) in the east. Although Iran in the IV-V centuries. strengthened his power in Iberia, the Laz state, associated with Byzantium, strengthened in Western Georgia. In the Ciscaucasia, on the coast of the Black and Azov Seas, Byzantium had influence among the Adyghe-Circassian tribes.
The regions of Mesopotamia adjacent to Cappadocia and Armenia were inhabited by Arameans, and the regions of Osroene by Aramaic-Syrian and partly Arab nomads. The population of Cilicia was also mixed - Syrian-Greek. On the borders of Asia Minor and Syria, in the mountains of Lebanon, lived a large tribe of Mardaites.
The overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of Byzantine Syria were Syrian Semites, who had their own language and established cultural and historical traditions. Only a very small part of the Syrians underwent more or less deep Hellenization. The Greeks lived here only in large cities. The village and smaller trade and craft centers were almost entirely inhabited by Syrians; They also comprised a significant stratum of the population of large cities. In the 4th century. the process of formation of the Syrian nationality continued, the Syrian literary language, a bright and original literature appeared. Edessa became the main cultural and religious center of the Syrian population of the empire.
In the southeastern border regions of Byzantium, east of Syria, Palestine and southern Mesopotamia, starting from Osroene and further south, lived Arabs who led a semi-nomadic and nomadic lifestyle. Some of them more or less firmly settled within the empire and were influenced by Christianity, while others continued to roam around its borders, occasionally invading Byzantine territory. In the IV-V centuries. There was a process of consolidation of Arab tribes, the Arab nation was taking shape, and the development of the Arabic language and writing was underway. At this time, more or less large tribal associations emerged - the states of the Ghassanids and Lakhmids; Iran and Byzantium fought for influence over them.
In Cyrenaica, the dominant stratum, concentrated in the cities, were the Greeks, the Hellenized local elite and a small number of Romans. A certain part of the traders and artisans were Jews. The absolute majority of the rural population belonged to the indigenous inhabitants of the country.
The population of Byzantine Egypt was also ethnically extremely diverse 10 . Here one could meet Romans, Syrians, Libyans, Cilicians, Ethiopians, Arabs, Bactrians, Scythians, Germans, Indians, Persians, etc., but the bulk of the inhabitants were Egyptians - they are usually called Copts - and the Greeks, who were very inferior to them in number and Jews. The Coptic language was the main means of communication of the indigenous population; many Egyptians did not know and did not want to know Greek. With the spread of Christianity, Coptic literature, religious in content, arose, adapted to popular tastes. At the same time, original Coptic art developed, which had a great influence on the formation of Byzantine art. The Copts hated the exploitative Byzantine state. In the historical conditions of that time, this antagonism took a religious form: first, Christian Copts opposed the Hellenized population - pagans, then Monophysite Copts - Greek Orthodox.
The diverse composition of the population of Byzantium had a certain influence on the nature of the socio-political relations that developed here. There were no prerequisites for the formation of a single “Byzantine” nation. On the contrary, large compact ethnic groups who lived in the empire were themselves nationalities (Syrians, Copts, Arabs, etc.) who were in the process of their formation and development. Therefore, as the crisis of the slave-owning mode of production deepened, along with social contradictions, ethnic contradictions also intensified. Relations between the tribes and nationalities inhabiting the empire were one of the most important internal problems in Byzantium. The dominant Greco-Roman nobility relied on certain elements of the political and cultural community that had developed during the Hellenistic period and the existence of the Roman Empire. The revival of Hellenistic traditions in social, political and spiritual life and the gradual weakening of the influence of Roman traditions were one of the manifestations of the consolidation of the Eastern Roman Empire. Using the common class interests of the ruling strata of different tribes and nationalities, as well as Hellenistic traditions and Christianity, the Greco-Roman aristocracy sought to strengthen the unity of Byzantium. At the same time, a policy was pursued of inciting contradictions between different nationalities in order to thus keep them in subjection. For two to two and a half centuries, Byzantium managed to maintain its rule over the Copts, Semites-Syrians, Jews, and Arameans. At the same time, in the Greek and Hellenized territories, which were constantly part of the Eastern Roman Empire, the main ethnic core of Byzantium gradually took shape.
The Byzantine Empire in the middle of the 12th century fought off the invasion of the Turks and the attacks of the Venetian fleet with all its might, while suffering enormous human and material losses. The fall of the Byzantine Empire accelerated with the beginning of the Crusades.
The Crusades against Byzantium accelerated its collapse. After the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204, Byzantium was divided into three independent states - the Epirus, Nicaean and Latin empires.
The Latin Empire, with its capital Constantinople, lasted until 1261. Having settled in Constantinople, yesterday's crusaders, the bulk of whom were French and Genoese, continued to behave like invaders. They mocked the shrines of Orthodoxy and destroyed works of art. In addition to introducing Catholicism, foreigners imposed exorbitant taxes on the already impoverished population. Orthodoxy became a unifying force against the invaders who imposed their own orders.
Rice. 1. Our Lady at the Crucifixion. Mosaic in the Church of the Assumption in Daphne. Byzantium 1100..
The Emperor of Nicaea, Michael Palaiologos, was a protégé of the aristocratic nobility. He managed to create a well-trained, maneuverable Nicene army and capture Constantinople.
Rice. 2. Map of the Byzantine and Trebizond empires, 1453.
The Ottoman Empire had long sought to capture Byzantium. By the beginning of the reign of Constantine XI, Byzantium only had Constantinople, several islands in the Aegean Sea and Morea.
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After the occupation of Hungary, Turkish troops under the leadership of Mehmed II came close to the gates of Constantinople. All approaches to the city were taken under control by Turkish troops, all transport sea routes were blocked. In April 1453, the siege of Constantinople began. On May 29, 1453, the city fell, and Constantine XI Palaiologos himself died fighting the Turks in a street battle.
Rice. 3. Entry of Mehmed II into Constantinople.
May 29, 1453 is considered by historians to be the date of the death of the Byzantine Empire.
Western Europe was stunned by the fall of the center of Orthodoxy under the blows of the Turkish Janissaries. At the same time, not a single Western power really provided assistance to Byzantium. The treacherous policies of Western European countries doomed the country to death.
Economic and political reasons The fall of Byzantium was interconnected:
Not the least role in the fall of the Byzantine Empire was played by the treacherous policies of large feudal lords, as well as the penetration of foreigners into all cultural spheres of the country's way of life. To this it is worth adding the internal split in society, and the disbelief of various strata of society in the rulers of the country, and in the victory over numerous external enemies. It is no coincidence that many big cities The Byzantines surrendered to the Turks without a fight.
Byzantium was a country doomed to extinction due to many circumstances, a country incapable of change, with a thoroughly rotten bureaucracy, and, moreover, surrounded by external enemies on all sides. From the events described in the article, you can briefly learn not only the chronology of the collapse of the Byzantine Empire until its complete absorption by the Turkish Empire, but also the reasons for the disappearance of this state.
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