Literature and Music in the Golden Age of Muslim World

Literature and Music in the Golden Age of Muslim World

Arabic literature developed and dominated the Islamic cultural scene during the eighth to the 13th century and beyond, from Baghdad to Córdoba in the Andalus. Arabic language, the youngest and the most widely spoken of the ancient Semitic languages, is the language of the Qur’an—the sacred book of Islam that culturally unified not only the Arab people, but also non-Arab Muslims.

Islamic teaching presented in the text of the Qur’an and the Hadith, the sayings of the prophet Muhammad, encouraged learning and praised learned people and the quest for knowledge. The Arabic language has a peculiar regularity and coherent grammatical and structural system that lend to it the ability to express in creative and diverse literary forms such as Shir (poetry), Nathr (prose), Adab (a genre of socioethical literature), Balaghah (eloquence), and Maqamah (assembly).

In pre-Islamic times the Arabic language was the medium of communication especially in the transmission of oral tradition, poetry, and stories. As early as the fifth century, odes or Qasidah (plural Qasaid) were composed and the most celebrated were called Al-Muallaqat (the suspended), for they were honored and recognized by being displayed on the walls of the Ka’aba in Mecca.


Famous among the pre-Islamic poets are Imru al-Qays, Tarafa ibn al-Abd, Zuhayr ibn abi Salma, Labid, Amr ibn Kulthum, Antara, and al-Harithah ibn Hillizah. During the early Umayyad dynasty celebrated poets emerged with diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds who composed masterpieces of Arabic poetry such as Al-Akhtal, Jarir, and al-Farazdaq.

With the expansion of the Islamic empire during the Umayyad and throughout the Abbasid dynasty, Arabic became the literary language of the era, the liturgy language of Islam, and a powerful literary vehicle to disseminate Arabic culture. Many talents contributed to the legacy of Arabic literature; scholars, linguists, writers, and poets of Arab and non Arab descent wrote in the Arabic language.

During the Umayyad and Abbasid periods scholars gathered and collected the sources for Qur’anic studies and the collections of the Hadith. Ibn Ishaq (d. 767) wrote Sirat Rasul Tuhan (Life of the messenger of God), which was later revised by Ibn Hisham (d. 834).

Umayyad Period Literature

With the expansion of Islam the Arabic language was refined, first during the Umayyad kala with Abu al-Aswad al Duali (d. 688), who founded the Arabic grammar and diacritical color-coded points Tashkeel. The dotting system and vowels signs developed by AlKhalil ibn Ahmed al-Farahidi (d. 786) soon replaced that system.

Al-Farahidi was the first Arab philologist who compiled the first Arabic dictionary; he was credited with the formulation of the rules of Arabic prosody. His major work was Kitab al-Arud (Book of prosody). His student Sibawayh (d. 793) codified grammatical rules. Later Al-Mubarrad (d. 898) wrote al-Kamil fi al-Lughah wa al-Adab, which was an invaluable collection of references to Arabic philology through poetic quotations.

His rival al-Thaalibi also contributed to this field with his major work Yeteemat al-Dahr, a bibliography of poets and writers of Arabic. Another outstanding scholar in this field was the Andalusian linguist Ibn Malik (d. 1274), who composed the famous Alfiyah in which he compiled and analyzed all Arabic grammatical rules in 1,000 verses of poetry composed in a single poetical masterpiece.

Other scholars worked on the subjects of jurisprudence, theological discourse, fundamentals of Arabic grammar, lingual terminology, rhetoric, and adab. Bayt al-Hikmah in Baghdad was the departing center for the quest of Hellenistic and Eastern knowledge in science, mathematics, philosophy, geography, astronomy, and literature.

Historians and biographers worked diligently on documenting the history of the Islamic state, pre-Islamic period, and ancient civilizations. Early transmitters of accounts are Kab al-Ahbar, Hammad al-Rawiyah, and Wahb ibn Munabbih from the eighth century.

The list of important early historians includes Ibn al-Kalbi (d. 820) and his major work Kitab al-Asnam (Book of idols) Al-Waqidi (d. 823), who was affiliated with the Abbasid court in Baghdad and who wrote Kitab al-Maghaz (Book of the raids of the prophet); Ibn Sad (d. 845) was al-Waqidi’s secretary and wrote a major biographica dictionary called Kitab al-Tabaqat (The book of classes [of persons]); Al-Azraqi (d. 865), a native and historian of Mecca, wrote an extensive history of Mecca Akhbar Mecca. Al-Bukhari (d. 870) was a historian and the famous Hadith compiler and interpreter.

His major work was the collection of the sayings of the prophet Muhammad known as al-Jami al-Sahih; Al-Baladhur (d. 892) was a great historian and companion of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil and wrote many treaties; the most famous was Futuh al-Buldan (History of the Muslim conquests).

Al-Yaqubi (d. 897), a historian and geographer, wrote a history of the world known as Tarikh al-Yaqubi, and Kitab al-Buldan (Book of countries). Al-Tabari (d. 923) was another noted historian, lexigrapher, and scientist. His major work is Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk (History of the world); Al-Masudi (d. 956) was born and lived in Baghdad and traveled widely; most of his works were lost and only one survived: Muruj al-Dhahab wa Maadin al-Jawhar (Fields of gold and mines of jewels), which was a short history of the world down to the end of the Umayyad period; Ibn al-Nadim (d. 990) was the son of a book dealer born in Baghdad.

His massive work al-Fihrist was intended to be an index of all books written in Arabic from early Islam up to Ibn al-Nadim’s time. The vast majority of the books mentioned in his Fihrist are given with information on the authors and subjects.

Ibn Khaldun was perhaps the most famous Arab historian and sociologist, who changed the course of interpreting historical events and set the mode for modern methodology in historiography with his influential book al-Muqaddimah (Introduction).

Arabic prose flourished in Baghdad with Ibn al-Muqaffa (d. 757), who translated many Pahlavi works and was famous for his Kalila wa Dimna, a collection of didactic fables in which two jackals offered moral and practical advice. Originally derived from the Sanskrit Fables of Bidpai, Kalila wa Dimna was the inspirational source for La Fontaine’s Fables.

From Basra came Al-Jahiz (d. 869), who developed Arabic prose into a literary vehicle of precision and elegance and was one of Baghdad’s leading intellectuals. He wrote over 200 works; the most famous of them were Kitab al-Hayawan (Book of animals), al-Bayan wa alTabyeen, and al-Bukhala.

Equally important was Abu al-Faraj al-Isbahani (d. 967), also called al-Isfahani, who was an Arab historian, intellectual, and poet. His monumental book Kitab al-Aghani (Book of songs) is an anthology of songs and poems from the earliest epoch to the author’s own time. These were especially those were popular in Baghdad during Harun al-Rashid’s reign.

Abbasid Period Literature

The early Abbasid period witnessed the birth of new genres in poetry where politics, eroticism, and blasphemy mingled. The emergence of a political demam isu geared toward undermining the dominant Arab culture in what came to be called Shuubism, or anti-Arabism, led to a new genre of literature.

An adamant leader in this demam isu was the renowned blind poet Bashshar ibn Burd (d. 783). Other poets also excelled in various genres such as Muti ibn Iyas (d. 787), Abbas ibn al-Ahnaf (d. 808), Muslim ibn Walid (d. 823), Abu Nuas (d. 813), and ibn al-Rumi (d. 896).

Many poets revived classical Arabic poetry such as Abu Tammam (d. 843), al-Buhtari (d. 897), al-Mutanabbi (d. 956), and al-Maarri (d. 1057). The art of the genre Maqamat, an assembly of rhymed prose of amusing anecdotes narrated by a vagabond who made his living by his wit, was associated with two famous names, al-Hamadhani (d. 1008), who invented the genre, and al-Hariri (d. 1122), who elaborated on the style and excelled in composing linguistic virtuosity where the literary form was more important than the content. The talented visual artist Mahmoud bin Yehya al-Wasiti, who established a distinct and influential artistic style in 13th century Baghdad, illustrated al-Hariri’s Maqamat.

Storytelling literature had flourished since the early period of Islam. Storytellers were street preachers who used old Arab folk tales mixed with religious flavor; they spoke to enthusiastic and attentive audiences in mosques and other public places. Remains of this folk art are found in the form of al-Hakawati in present-day Cairo, Damascus, and Marrakesh. A favorite literary subject of these storytellers was the epic tale of Arab bravery presented in such work as Sirat Antara.

Out of this type of oral tradition and sometime around the 15th century evolved the most famous Arabic literary work in the West: Alf laylah wa Laylah (Thousand and One Nights, or Arabian Nights). It revealed a blend of legends, fables, and fairy tales derived from many cultures such as the Mesopotamian, Persian, Greek, Indian, Chinese, Turkish, and Arabic, traditions integrated and reintroduced through tales and legacies correlated with Abbasid times.

In the western part of the Islamic state al-Andalus, a similar cultural revolution took place and built widely on the eastern Islamic prototype. One particular form of literature was distinctly Andalusian, al-Muwashshahat, which was a love poem performed with singing and music.

Among the brilliant names associated with this art are Ibn Sahl, Ibn al-Khatib, and Ibn Hazm. As early as the 12th century Muslim Spanish academies, similar to Bayt al-Hikmah in Baghdad, were opened for translating Arabic into Latin. Scholars from France, England, Germany, and northern Europe converged in the Andalus to study Arabic literature and other subjects.

As early as the second half of the ninth century a new type of literary work emerged throughout the Abbasid Empire, that is, geohistorical writing accentuated with traveler observations and accounts. Major examples of this type were Ibn Fadhlan, Abbasid ambassador to the Viking kingdom, and his account Rihlat ibn Fadhlan (Travels of Ibn Fadhlan) in 922; in Baghdad, Ibn Hawqal (d. 969) wrote Surat al-Ardh (Description of the Earth), where he described Spain, Italy, and the Byzantine territories. In 1154 Al-Idrisi was commissioned by the Norman king Roger II in Palermo and composed a geographical account of the world called Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq also known as Kitab Rodjar.

Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1229) wrote a major geographical dictionary, Mujam al-Buldan, which contained significant biographical, cultural, and historical data on the known world. Al-Qazwini (d. 1383) wrote in Baghdad his cosmographic work Ajaib al-Makhluqat wa Gharaib al-Mawjudat (Marvels of things created and miraculous aspects of things existing).

The book was very popular and was translated into Farsi and Turkish and was often illustrated lavishly. Al-Qazwini also wrote an important geographical account. Ibn Batuta traveled extensively through Africa, Europe, and Asia and recorded his accounts in his Rihlat Ibn Batuta (Travels of Ibn Batuta), a classic in Arabic literature.

The Arabs learned papermaking technology from the Chinese in the eighth century and substituted mulberry bark and other organic matter with linen as raw materials, and the first papermaking factory was established in Baghdad in 793.

This was a turning point in the spread of education and the development of Arabic literature throughout the Islamic world. Expensive parchment and fragile papyrus were replaced by paper that was affordable, practical, and durable. Libraries were common and were open to the public.

Booksellers gathered around major mosques and markets with their shops stocked with volumes of desirable works; shops became popular gathering places for scholars and writers. Specialized workshops of manuscript copying were manned with professional and efficient copyists, calligraphers, illustrators, and linguists.

The fall of Baghdad to the Mongols in 1258 marked the beginning of the decline of the golden age of Arabic literature as well as other scientific activities. However the massive destruction of books by the invading armies of Genghis Khan, Hulagu Khan, and later Timurlane (Tamerlane) prompted Arab scholars to compile, digest, codify, and abridge major encyclopedic and collection works, hence preserving Arabic literary heritage with such authors as Al-Qazwini, Yaqut, Ibn Malik, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Batuta, Abu al-Fida, and Al-Zabidi.

Venice

Old Map of Venice

The city of Venice with its famous canals traces its origins back to a small settlement in the Venetian lagoon where St. Mark, one of the authors of the Gospels and a friend of St. Paul, landed on his way to Rome.

With the collapse of the Roman Empire, and the sacking of Rome by Alaric and the Visigoths in 410, many people fled into remote parts of the countryside, and some found refuge in the islands in the lagoon. This led to the founding of Venice in 452. It and neighboring settlements grew, and by the sixth century there was a type of federation formed by which the communities elected a regional authority.

In 697 Paolo Zucio Anafesto was elected as the first doge, and he ruled the area under the nominal control of the Byzantine Empire. In 726 Venice founded its navy under Doge Oro Ipato, and in 787 this navy helped in the overthrow of the Lombards.


In 810 at the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne ceded the control over Venice to Byzantium, and in the following year the seat of government in Venice was moved from Malamocco to the Rialto.

The main church in Venice, St. Mark’s Basilica, was originally built in 828 after the body of St. Mark was taken to Venice from Alexandria. It was said that an angel had foretold that the saint would be buried in the place he had landed when he was brought to Italy.

The doge who was responsible for the first basilica was Giustiniano Participazio, and the building was consecrated in 832. However this structure was destroyed by fire in 976, in an uprising against the doge.

Venice nowdays

The rebuilt basilica was demolished in 1063 and Doge Domenico Contarini had a much larger one constructed. This was finally consecrated in 1094 and was officially the private chapel of the doge until 1807, when it became the city’s cathedral.

Venice grew as a naval power but in 839 was defeated by the Turks at the Battle of Taranto. In 932–939 they managed to conquer lands in Istria, and in 999–1000, the doge Pietro Orseolo II conquered Dalmatia (modern-day Croatia). In 1081 Byzantium was forced to cede sovereignty over Venice with the signing of a commercial and political treaty.

Evening in Venice

The next threat to Venice came from the Normans, but the Venetians were able to defeat them at Butrint in modern-day Albania in 1085. By the 10th and 11th centuries Venice had emerged as an important trading port, prospering greatly during the First Crusade of 1095.

Further crusades and trade with the Holy Land led to massive wealth flowing to the merchants of Venice, who had gained exemption from tolls from the Byzantines. The city was rapidly emerging as a challenge to the authority of Constantinople. In 1124 the Venetians took the city of Tyre, a port in the Holy Land.

Doge Enrico Dandolo persuaded the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade to attack Constantinople, and they captured the city in April 1204. Many great treasures and pieces of art were brought back to Venice, including the four horses that have been displayed in St. Mark’s Square, with the exception of the period when Napoleon Bonaparte took them to Paris.

Much of the Byzantine lands was occupied by Venice, which established an empire occupying the eastern coast of the Adriatic— modern-day Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, as well as parts of Greece. Venetian castles built during this period can still be seen on Corfu, along the coast of modern-day Croatia, at Durrës (Albania), and at Iraklion, Crete.

Venetian merchants also opened up trade with the Turks, and in 1271 Marco Polo set off from Venice to China, returning 20 years later. Venetian ambassadors were prominent at the court of many kings and rulers throughout Europe. In several cases their reports provide extensive accounts of life in those countries.

Although the doge of Venice was elected, ruling through the Consiglio dei Dieci (Council of Ten)— introduced as an emergency measure, and then made permanent in 1334—control of the city ended up with a handful of families who made up a formidable oligarchy.

This was confirmed by a decree in 1297 that limited membership of the Maggior Consiglio (Great Council) to those whose births and marriages were recorded in the Venetian Libro d’oro (Golden book), which was held at the Palazzo Ducale. The wealth of the city was measured in gold coins known as sequins, first minted in 1284 and quickly recognized as a mode of exchange throughout the Mediterranean.

During the 13th and 14th centuries Venice was involved in battles with Genoa for control of trade in the Mediterranean. The Venetians destroyed the Genoese fleet at the Battle of Chioggia in 1380, giving them supremacy for the next 100 years.

At this point the Venetians turned their attention to establishing a greater presence in the north of the Italian peninsula, taking Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. In 1406 the Venetians captured Padua, and in 1441 controlled Ravenna.

It was the Ottoman Turks who finally led to the decline of Venice. In 1453 they captured Constantinople and closed off Venetian access to the east, in order to lead Portuguese sea expeditions around the coast of Africa, in search of spices previously obtained by the Venetians.

In 1470 the Venetians lost control of Negropont (Euboea) in Greece, to the Turks. In 1499 the Turks captured Morea in Greece from the Venetians, and this gave them control of the southern Adriatic. Although Venice started to decline as a maritime power, it remained a formidable political power during the Italian Renaissance.

Shi’ism

Husayn meet Yazid army

Shi’ism is the belief that Ali and his descendants are the rightful Muslim leaders. Over the centuries a separate body of Shi’i law and practices has also developed. The Shi’i argued that Ali should have been selected as the first caliph following the prophet Muhammad’s death.

After having been rejected as caliph three times, Ali finally became the caliph only to have his claim immediately questioned by Muaw’iya, the governor of the powerful and wealthy Syrian province, his family the Umayyads, A’isha (the Prophet’s widow), and many other Muslims. Mediation failed to resolve the dispute and for a time there were two claimants to the caliphate.

After Ali’s death in 661, his son Hasan renounced any claim to the caliphate and Muaw’iya became the undisputed leader. However after Muaw’iya’s death in 680, Ali’s younger son Husayn claimed he was the legitimate caliph not Yazid, Muaw’iya’s son.


As Husayn and his supporters were moving to confront Yazid, they were attacked by a far bigger force at Karbala in present-day Iraq. Vastly outnumbered and taken by surprise, Husayn and his men were killed and their heads were severed and presented to Yazid. However several of Husayn’s children managed to survive and carried on the family claim to leadership.

Husayn and his followers became martyrs in Shi’i tradition and their deaths are mourned and commemorated with displays of self-flagellation and passion plays on the day of Ashura during the month of Muharram. Husayn’s tomb in Karbala became a major Shi’i site of pilgrimage and his memory elicted profound sadness over the believers’ failure to save him.

However subsequent disputes over the rightful imam or heir to Husayn and his family led to the creation of a number of different sects among Shi’i followers.

Twelver Shi’i accepted the line of rule from Ali to Muhammad al-Muntazar al-Mahdi. He died in 878 but Shi’i believed he merely disappeared into “occulation” where he observed life but was invisible to humans. Twelvers believed that he would return as the Mahdi, or “rightly guided one,” to announce the Day of Judgment.

He continued to communicate through ayatollahs, who became the intercessors between the imam and the believers. In the contemporary era, Iran remained a Twelver Shi’i nation and large numbers of Twelvers lived in Iraq, Lebanon, and Bahrain.

Zaydi Shi’is were also known as Fivers, who split off in the eighth century. They supported Zayd, the grandson of Husayn, as the rightful imam. In the late ninth century, the Zaydis founded a kingdom in Yemen where they ruled from safe-holds in remote mountainous regions. In 1891 Imam Muhammad ibn Yahya Hamid ad Din established a hereditary Zaydi dynasty that lasted until the 1962 revolution in Yemen.

The Isma’ilis, established in 765, were another offshoot of Shi’ism. They established the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt and survived in India and scattered elsewhere around the world. In the contemporary age, they were led by the Aga Khan, a hereditary position.

The Alawites broke off from the Twelvers in the ninth century, following the eleventh imam, Hasan al Askari (d. 873), and his student Ibn Nusayr (d. 868). They were sometimes, rather prejoratively, referred to as Nusayris.

Karbala nowdays

The Alawites venerated Ali as an incarnation of God and also assimilated a number of Christian influences. Alawites ruled Aleppo in northern Syria for a short period but were attacked by both the Isma’ilis and ethnic Kurds and were persecuted as a religious minority by the Mamluks and Ottomans.

Alawite practices seemed to deviate so far from orthodox Sunni practice that some Muslims claimed they were not true believers. Under the Ottomans they were disaffected socially and economically.

The coastal area of northern Syria around Latakia remained an Alawite region and in the second half of the 20th century they used positions in key army posts to become the long-term rulers of Syria.

The Druze were another Shi’i splinter group, who broke off under the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim in the 11th century. Some of al-Hakim’s supporters, including Muhammad al-Darazi, taught that he was the incarnation of God.

Al-Darazi was assassinated in 1019 and his followers became known as the Druze. Al-Hakim disappeared in 1021 and the Druze took refuge in the remote mountains of Lebanon. They developed an elaborate secret ritual and belief system known only to adult male members of the sect.

The secrecy surrounding Druze beliefs gave rise to numerous speculations about their practices. Although the Druze are historically an offshoot of Islam, their belief system seemed so far from general Muslim practice that they were generally considered to practice a separate religion.

Tight knit Druze communities and their reputation for military prowess, coupled with the fragile confessional nature of the modern Lebanese state, enabled the Druze to exercise political power in excess of their actual population in the contemporary era. Small Druze populations are also found in modern-day Syria and Israel.

The Shi’i often composed the lower social and economic strata in Muslim states. Throughout most of Muslim history, the rulers have generally been orthodox Sunnis, even in areas such as Iraq or Bahrain where the Shi’i made up a large part or even the majority of the population. After the 1979 revolution in Iran there was a resurgence of Shi’i activism that spread throughout much of the Muslim world.

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc), the national heroine of France, was born at Domrémy village on January 6, 1412, to Jacques Darc and Isabelle. Joan exhibited a pious character and was often absorbed in her prayers. At 13 years old, she started hearing inner voices calling upon her to drive the English out of France. A civil war was going on in France and the English were supporting the Burgundians.

The assassination of Louis of Orléans by the agents of Burgundy had escalated the conflict. Domrémy was with the Orléanist (or Armagnacs), the party of Charles of Ponthieu (later known as King Charles VII, r. 1422–61). Joan supposedly received heavenly commands from St. Margaret, St. Catherine, and the Archangel Michael to rescue Orléans.

The English ruler Henry VII (r. 1422–61), claimant to the French throne, occupied Paris in 1418. The major cities of northern France ceased to be under Charles VII’s control. The situation was becoming critical after the English lay siege to Orléans, the last Armagnac stronghold, on October 12.


Joan, with her mandate from God, saved the situation for the French king. Dressed in male attire, she rode for 11 days with her escorts to meet Charles. Joan called herself as La Pucelle (the Maiden or Virgin) as she had promised the saints to keep her virginity. She believed that Charles was the true heir to the French throne.

An ecclesiastical commission headed by the archbishop of Rheims, Reginald of Chartres, supported her cause after thorough interrogation. Joan had shown remarkable calmness before the theologians and her reputation as another saint was spreading. Charles was convinced of her simplicity, honesty, and intuition.

Joan dressed as a knight, commanding a large force against the English and Burgundians. With her piety and simplicity, Joan restored the confidence of the French. She advised the English to leave France per the desire of the son of Saint Mary. Joan entered into Orléans in May 1429 and defeated the English. Some of the English soldiers deserted, thinking that they were being opposed by the supernatural prowess of Joan.

She portrayed the Orléanists as patriots, the Burgundians as traitors, and the English as the enemy of France. In June the towns of Jargeau and Beaugency fell. Joan defeated the troop led by Sir John Fastolf of Meung in the battle of Patay. The archbishop of Embrun declared in June that she was divinely inspired and requested Charles to seek her advice pertaining to war.

Battle of Patay

Joan urged Charles to declare himself as the legitimate ruler of France. Reginald of Chartres performed the coronation ceremony on July 17, 1429, at Rheims, place of traditional crowning of the French kings. She began her second mission as inner voices urged her to take back Paris from Burgundians.

Charles and his adviser the archbishop did not support her. The king was more interested in a political rapprochement with the Burgundians. Joan and the duke of Alençon, along with new recruits, marched toward Paris on August 23. The vacillating policy of the king and advisers had given enough time for the English and Burgundians to regroup.

Meanwhile Joan was trying to persuade the inhabitants of many towns to rally behind the king. The stories of her miracles came in March and April 1430 amid war. At Lagny-sur-Marne, she and the virgins of the town revived the dead body of a baby temporarily to be baptized.

On Easter Day of April 22 she had visions from the saints that the enemy would capture her before Saint John’s Day, on June 24. She also had the premonition of her inevitable demise on the day of her capture on May 23 at Compiègne. She was imprisoned and sold to the English for a sum of 10,000 livres by the Burgundians.

A sham trial began at the headquarters of the English at Rouen. Pierre Cauchon was in charge of the trial, and the bishop of Beauvais was the presiding officer. The former had the reputation of bribing officials, and the latter had lost his bishopric because of Joan. Anybody speaking in favor of the defendant was imprisoned. The trial by inquisitorial tribunal increased the reputation of Joan because of her brilliant answers to the accusation that her voices were inspired by the devil.


She was pronounced a relapsed heretic and burned at the stake on May 30, 1431. In her last breath Joan forgave the accusers and uttered the name of Jesus. Jean Tressard, secretary to the king of England, commented that they had burned a holy person. The executioner, Geoffroy Theragew, was apprehensive that he was damned because he had burned a saint.

The unification of France came after her death. Charles restored her name and declared the trial illegal. Even dispensing with the supernatural factors associated with her, the fact remains that she became a living symbol of French nationalism. Her role was a major contributing factor for separating the English from Burgundians, reviving confidence among the French, and driving out the English from France. The papacy declared in 1456 that Joan was wrongly convicted.

It pronounced her as martyr and the trial judges as heretics. She was beatified on April 11, 1909, and canonized as a saint 11 years afterward on May 16. The feast day of St. Joan falls on the second Sunday in May. The spirit of St. Joan lived on. During World War I, the Allied soldiers paid tribute to her. Both the World War II.

Celtic Christianity

Celtic Christianity

A variety of modern sectarian and special interest groups, from New Age cults to Irish nationalists to feminists to independent Christians, claim Celtic roots for their drive and inspiration. With so many competing claims it is difficult to clear away the partisan fervor from the historical realities surrounding Celtic spirituality and cultural identity.

Among the giants in this tradition are the likes of Patrick (d. 461 c.e.), Brendan the Navigator (d. 577 c.e.), Columban (d. 615 c.e.), and Brigid (legendary). Among its gigantic achievements are the Book of Kells and a corpus of ballads and stories that make it one of the earliest European vernacular literatures.

Celtic spirituality is an inexact term reflecting the identity of an emigrating and outgoing people who adapted well wherever they wandered. It is usually applied to the native peoples of Ireland, Britain, and Brittany, bound by the language of Gaelic and (later) Hiberno-Latin.


These people spread into ancient Gaul (France), Spain, Italy, and even Galatia in present-day Turkey; their religious pilgrims were known in the ancient world for their visits throughout the lands of the Middle East. Eventually Christian preachers from Celtic lands were known for re-Christianizing and recivilizing Europe after the so-called Dark Ages, so it is no wonder that Celtic spirituality is claimed by many groups.

No one is sure when Christianity reached western Celtic parts, but some Christian presence must have been established by 431 c.e. when Pope Celestine I sent a bishop to Ireland. Perhaps shortly thereafter the Western Latin Church commissioned the legendary Patrick for missionary work on the island. Thus, though Celtic spirituality shows some native distinctiveness, it was from the beginning associated with the ecclesial structure and faith of the Western Church and not just an indigenous and autonomous Christianity.

In fact the earliest artifacts discovered show Irish Christianity to be found among the wealthy classes, who used typical icons and conventional symbols to show their spirituality. Most likely they owed their faith to the fervor of the Western Church to spread Christianity, even if most of their land never was under the Roman Empire.

After the mid-400s c.e. when the Romans retreated from Britain to the European continent, contacts with the Western world diminished. The Celts were forced more wholly to reconnect with their native roots. This tendency was intensified when the Saxons arose in Britain and threatened to take Celtic lands. Meanwhile the minority Christian population repudiated residual Western Church influences because of the worldliness and corruption of many of its institutions and personnel.

The church did not respond to the alienation of the Celtic Christians until 605 c.e. when Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine of Canterbury to parley with the Irish. The pope recognized the need for a council, showing that Celtic Christianity was a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, the talks completely broke down. Finally in 640 c.e. the Irish Church acceded to some of the pope’s requests.

Celtic spirituality developed in a window of time from the mid-fifth century to the mid-seventh century c.e. Its features included a different religious calendar (meaning that the Irish celebrated Easter on a different date), a different pastoral structure (meaning that the Irish had their own pastors and pastoral jurisdictions), and a different popular piety (meaning that native Irish myths became incorporated into Celtic Christianity).

The pastoral system of the Irish recognized the authority of pious monks and their monasteries and did not pay attention to formal boundaries of parish and diocese as the Western Church normally did. Instead of bishops and theologies they esteemed abbots and superiors, both men and women, who proved that they could preserve cosmic order through their personal sanctity and mystical powers.

The Celtic Church never rejected the office of the pope and institutions of the Western Church, but it tended to downplay their role and effectiveness in true spirituality. Its pastoral system bears remarkable similarity to that of the Desert Fathers and Oriental Orthodox churches (of the Copts, Syrian Orthodox, and others). There may have been limited and organic exchanges based on Celtic wanderings and pilgrimages.

The popular piety of the Irish shows the incorporation of mythic Celtic heroes into Christian stories. The story of St. Brigid, for example, founder of Kildare Abbey, may well be based on Brigid, daughter of the Celtic god Dagda, whose name graces so many places in Ireland. St. Brigid is not based on the traditional Mary, mother of Jesus, but on her namesake, who was a healer and creative force for the gods.

Celts also had less a sense of the Latin notion of original sin. The world is not cursed with the fall of the human parents Adam and Eve, as the great Western Church thinker Augustine said. It is rather a place for humans to steward and show personal discipline so as to go to heaven.

There is a heightened sense of the nearness of the divine to the created order. The ideal Christian in Celtic spirituality is the monk in the monastery who lives a life of self-control and prayer: The monk shows that his or her life can be disciplined and the world can be civilized and ordered.

If nothing else, Celtic spirituality shows an alternative to the logic-driven and doctrinal approach of the West. It values independence of thought and the Power of personal sanctity. However, it is hardly nonstructured or spontaneous or wholly unique.

It is not separate from the Christian religion, and probably is best viewed as a hybrid of Latin theology and native beliefs. By the 11th–12th centuries the special characteristics of Celtic spirituality were completely submerged in the Western Church, much as the Desert Father spirituality is a part of the Eastern Greek Church.

Carolingian Dynasty

Carolingian Dynasty

The Carolingian dynasty was a family of Frankish tribe nobles who came to rule over much of western Europe from 751 to 987. The dynasty’s most prominent member was Charlemagne. The family originally served as hereditary mayors of the palace of Austrasia, the northeastern section of the kingdom of the Franks comprising modern-day eastern France, western Germany, Netherlands, under the ruling Merovingian dynasty.

Pepin (or Pippin) I of Landen (580–640) assumed the position of mayor of the palace during the reign of the Merovingian king, Clotaire II (584–629). The post of mayor of the palace, known in Latin as maior domus, came to hold decision-making authority, while the king served as a reigning figurehead.

Pepin I’s daughter married the son of Saint Arnulf, bishop of Metz (582–640), uniting two of the most prominent Frankish noble families. Their son, Pepin II of Heristal (c. 635–714), continued the family’s dominance, conquering Neustria, the western section of the kingdom of the Franks comprising most of present-day northern France, in 687.


He became mayor of the palace in Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy. The names used to identify the family (Pippinid or Arnulfing) derived from one of Pepin II’s grandfathers. Later known as the Carolingian family, the Pippinid family made the post of mayor of the palace hereditary. The most famous Carolingian mayor of the palace was Charles Martel (686–791)—known variously as Carolus Martellus in Latin or Charles “the Hammer” in English—who served as mayor of the palace of the three Frankish kingdoms.

In 732 he won the Battle of Tours, which halted an advancing Muslim army from overrunning western Europe. According to Frankish custom, following Charles Martel’s death, his position was divided between his two sons, Pepin III (714–768), known as “the Short,” in Neustria, and Carloman (710–754) in Austrasia.

Pepin III secured papal and noble support to seize power. Pepin III, reuniting Austrasia and Neustria into one kingdom, usurped the Crown of the Merovingians to become the ruling king in 751. He became the founder of the Carolingian dynasty as King Pepin I. The pope anointed Pepin I, also granting him the title of Roman Patrician.

Pepin I also created the Papal States out of conquered territory in central Italy, giving it to the pope to administer. Following Pepin I’s death, his kingdom was divided equally among his two sons, Carloman (755–771) and Charlemagne (c. 742–814). Following Carloman’s death in 771, Charlemagne became sole ruler.

Charlemagne (known as Carolus Magnus in Latin, Charles the Great in English, and Karl der Grosse in German) expanded the Frankish empire toward the south, conquering much of southern Germany, including Bavaria and Saxony, and northern and central Italy, to reunite most of the former Western Roman Empire. Charlemagne’s empire came to include present-day France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Italy and Spain.

He continued his alliance with the pope in Rome, promoting religious reform and cultural growth. Consequently Pope Leo III (d. 816) crowned Charlemagne Roman emperor on December 25, 800. The coronation solidified the alliance between the Carolingian emperors and the pope, who provided his blessing on Frankish conquests, which resulted in the spread of Christianity.

In 806 Charlemagne created a plan for the division of his empire among his sons. However on Charlemagne’s death in 814, his sole surviving son, Louis I (778–840), known as “the Pious,” came to the throne. Both Charlemagne and Louis I worked to centralize authority throughout the empire. They appointed nobles as administrators, leading to the development of a feudalistic society under the emperor.

After Louis I’s death, his three sons, Lothair (795–855), Louis “the German” (804–876), and Charles “the Bald” (823–877), fought for control of the Treaty of Verdun divided the empire into three segments (West Francia, Middle Francia, and East Francia) among each of Louis I’s sons.

Under Carolingian rule, cultural and linguistic divisions occurred within the Frankish Empire. The eastern Frankish people retained their Germanic dialects, while the western Franks spoke a language that developed into Old French, an amalgam of Gallo-Latin and Germanic dialects. The division of the Frankish Empire was not only a political delineation, but also a cultural and linguistic one.

Following Lothair I’s death in 855, Middle Francia was divided among his sons and renewed tensions arose between the various factions of the Carolingians. The Carolingians maintained control of Middle Francia, which became the kingdoms of Lotharingia and Provence, and Lombardy, the eldest retaining the empty title of emperor until 899.

Despite ensuing rivalries and invasions, the Carolingians retained control of the eastern portion of the Frankish Empire until 911. East Francia served as the nucleus for the later Holy Roman Empire, sometimes referred to as the First Reich (First Empire). Over time East Francia’s political centralization dissolved into regional duchies, which operated as petty kingdoms. Such fragmentation continued, with local rulers promoting their own interests and autonomy within the kingdom as a whole.

Following the death of Louis “the Child” (893–911), the last Carolingian ruler, nobles eventually elected Henry the Fowler (876–936), duke of Saxony, to succeed. Sometimes referred to as the Ottonians, after Henry I’s son Otto I (912–973), who was crowned first Holy Roman Emperor in 962, the dynasty presented themselves as continuous successors to the Carolingians.

The duchies’ powers increased as the Holy Roman Emperors did not assume their position through a blood link, but rather by election from the rulers of the most prominent kingdoms within the empire. Consequently they ruled over a confederation of sovereign territories, rather than a feudal empire.

West Francia (known variously as Francia Occidentalis and the Kingdom of the West Franks), the western portion of the former Frankish Empire, was dominated by several feudal lords, who elected the count of Paris, Hugh Capet (938–996), as king of France in 987 following the death of the last Carolingian ruler. He became the founder of the French royal house, the Capetians (987–1328), which included the later cadet branches: the Valois (1328–1589), the Bourbons (1589–1792, 1814, 1815–30), and the Bourbon-Orléans (1830–48).

Charlemagne

Charlemagne

Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, was born the eldest son of Pepin the Short, king of the Franks (751–768), and his wife, Bertrada of Laon. Upon his father’s death the Frankish kingdom was divided between Charlemagne and his younger brother Carloman in 768. When Carloman died suddenly in 771, Charlemagne seized control of his brother’s lands and reunified the Frankish realm.

Charlemagne’s kingdom grew to an empire under his relentless and resourceful military campaigns. Beginning in 772 he initiated a campaign to subdue the Saxons, a task he would only complete in 804. Soon after becoming sole ruler of the Franks, he invaded Italy and crushed the Lombard Kingdom, taking the Crown of the Lombards for himself (773–774).

An initial foray against the Muslims into Spain in 778 ended in disaster when Charlemagne’s rearguard was ambushed and destroyed at Roncesvalles, while returning home from this expedition. But by 811 Charlemagne had extended his sway south of the Pyrenees down to the Ebro River and had created the Spanish March to act as a buffer zone between the Moors in Spain and his own lands north of the Pyrenees.


On his eastern front Charlemagne deposed his onetime ally the duke of Bavaria (787), and incorporated his territory into his own lands. This brought him into contact with the fierce Slavic people known as the Avars, who held sizable lands in the areas of modern day Austria and Hungary.

Charlemagne inflicted a massive defeat on these people in 796 and created another heavily defended march known as the Ostmark (Austria), to protect his eastern border against marauding Avars. In helping him overcome and rule such disparate foes and lands, Charlemagne was fortunate in having three capable and loyal sons.

His son Charles (d. 811) ruled the northwest part of Charlemagne’s Frankish lands known as Neustria, while Pepin (d. 810) administered Italy, and Louis (d. 840) ruled over Aquitaine. The latter two in particular fought long, hard campaigns either with their father or on his behalf.

The strength of Charlemagne’s empire depended in part upon his reputation and success as a warlord, together with the tight bonds of personal loyalty that existed between him and his chief administrators. In addition to his three sons who ruled as cadet kings, Charlemagne also relied heavily upon the margraves who ruled over the marks/marches that he created along volatile border areas.

In less troublesome areas in the interior of his lands Charlemagne posted counts to keep the peace, administer imperial laws, and protect the realm. To ensure the loyalty of these and other top officials Charlemagne created the office of the missi dominici, whose duty it was to ride circuit throughout the realm inquiring as to the honesty and efficiency of his royal officials.

Another reason for Charlemagne’s success was his approach to justice throughout his realm. Religion aside, he respected the traditions, tribal laws, and rights of the various Germanic peoples under his authority, and rather than replace tribal laws, he sought to codify them in writing.

He did however issue a number of imperial laws called capitularies, which laid out regulations for his own royal officials or administrators or which touched upon religious issues. Historians have long acknowledged the important role that Christianity and the institutional church played in enabling Charlemagne to maintain a firm hold on both his throne and his empire. His conquest and eventual integration of Saxony into his empire are illustrative in this regard.

Charlemagne relied upon a combination of military offensives against the Saxons and the missionary activities of Benedictine monks finally to pacify this belligerent tribe. In 782 he issued a series of laws forbidding the practice of pagan religion among the Saxons, with harsh penalties for those caught transgressing. The overall effect of these measures was slowly to saturate Saxon tribal culture with the religion and culture that Charlemagne endorsed.

Charlemagne also engaged in a vigorous attempt to improve the level of morality and education among the clergy throughout his realm. To this end he utilized the talents of Alcuin of York (735–804), who, beginning in 781, undertook the arduous process of bringing discipline to the monastic houses throughout the empire and introducing the classical Roman aktivitas of the liberal arts as the educational curriculum used throughout the Carolingian monastic schools.

For 15 years Alcuin himself oversaw a school at Charlemagne’s palace at Aachen. The results of this educational aktivitas were impressive and produced a flourishing of culture and learning that has been termed the Carolingian Renaissance.

A number of Carolingian Benedictine monasteries became vibrant centers of learning, such as Fulda, St. Gall, and Reichenau. Monks at these institutions assiduously set about learning classical Latin grammar and rhetoric and in the process copied and preserved for posterity numerous works from classical Rome. Scholarship and literature flourished in this era, as is evident from such works as Paul the Deacon’s History of the Lombards and Einhard’s Life of Charlemagne.

On Christmas Day in the year 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Roman emperor (Imperator Romanorum). Historians have long quarreled over the significance of the coronation, and even whether Charlemagne himself approved. The Roman Empire at the time of Charlemagne’s coronation referred to the Greek or Byzantine Empire, which was under the control of the empress Irene (797–802). Through his actions the pope may well have been seeking to curry favor with Charlemagne and ensure his aid in maintaining the pope’s temporal control over recently annexed lands in Italy.

Or, absent a male ruler on the Byzantine throne, he may actually have thought he was creating a legitimate emperor who could unite the Carolingian territories in the west with the Byzantine lands in the east. If so, he seriously miscalculated, for initial overtures between Charlemagne’s court and that of the empress Irene created an uproar among the people of the Byzantine Empire. Charlemagne himself actually disliked the title of emperor, and it certainly added nothing to his power or ability to rule over his own lands.

At the same time, the fact that the pope felt emboldened enough to proclaim this Germanic king a Roman emperor provides clear evidence of the spectacular political, military, religious, and cultural achievements Charlemagne realized during his rule over western Europe. In 813 Charlemagne designated his son Louis I as coemperor and his successor and crowned him at Aachen.

Political History of Byzantine Empire

Roman empire in 460 AD

The city of Constantinople, or Byzantium, was founded, according to legend, in 667 b.c.e., by Greeks from Megara and gradually rose in importance during the Roman Empire. Its initial importance was its position on the trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean, especially its close access to the land routes to Persia, Central Asia, India, and China, as well as guarding the entrance to the Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea).

During the second century the Roman Empire had grown so substantially that there were moves to split it into an eastern and a western empire. This concept was introduced by Diocletian, who looked to the past for ideas to resolve the problems facing the Roman Empire.

His idea was that two emperors (each known as an augustus) would rule the two halves of the Roman Empire. Each augustus would then nominate a younger man, known as a caesar, to share the ruling of the empire and succeed to the post of augustus. This reduced the Roman emperors to the equivalent of chief executive officers who nominated their successors.

Diocletian then moved his capital to Nicomedia in modern-day Turkey. The idea did work briefly, but there were enormous problems, and it was left to Emperor Constantine the Great to rework the system. In 330 Constantine established the eastern capital at Byzantium, which he called Constantinople. He also reintroduced a hereditary succession to try to stop the strife caused by contending caesars.

Although his successors ruled over what became known as the Byzantine Empire, those living in Constantinople never saw themselves as Byzantines, the name coming from the Thracian-Greek name for the city. Instead they regarded themselves as Romans (or Romaioi), and direct lineal descendants of the power, traditions, and prestige of the Roman Empire.

Origins of the Byzantine Empire

Essentially the Byzantine Empire owes its origins to Constantine the Great who ruled from 324 to 337. The emperor drew up plans for enlarging his city with the building of a large palace, a forum, a hippodrome, and government departments. To protect the city from attack, Constantine also supervised the building of large walls across the isthmus.

constantinople

Constantine died at Ancyrona, near Nicomedia, and his body was brought back to Constantinople, where it was buried. He was then succeeded by his eldest son, Constantius (or Constantine II), who reigned from 337 to 340. He was succeeded by his brother Constantius II, who ruled until his death in 361 and as sole emperor from 353 to 361. He died of fever near Tarsus in modern-day Turkey.

The next emperor was Julian the Apostate, (r. 361–363). He was the son of Julius Constantius, half brother of Constantius II. The last pagan emperor, he tried to restore religious traditions of Rome in an effort to try to restore his empire to its former glory.

When Julian died in a battle against the Sassanid Persians, a prominent Roman general, Flavius Iovianus, was elected Roman emperor, becoming the emperor Jovian. He was a Christian and is best remembered for being outmaneuvered in a peace agreement with the Sassanids. He died on February 17, 364, after a reign of only eight months.

Byzantine flag

His successors were Valentinian I, another successful general, and his younger brother Valens, Valens becoming emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. Valens reigned for 14 years, and his first task was to withdraw from Mesopotamia and parts of Armenia, which Jovian had ceded to the Sassanids. However, Valens also had to deal with a revolt by Procopius, a maternal cousin of Julian.

Procopius managed to raise two army legions to support his proclamation as emperor, and Valens considered abdicating to prevent a civil war. When Valens sent two legions against Procopius, both mutinied and joined the rebellion. However, by the middle of 366 Valens had managed to raise a large enough army to defeat the forces of Procopius at the Battle of Thyatira. Procopius was captured soon afterwards and executed.

Battle of Adrianople

The revolt of Procopius encouraged the Goths to attack the Eastern Roman Empire. This meant that Valens had to lead his successful army north, and after defeating a Goth army, he concluded a peace treaty that allowed Roman traders access to the lands controlled by the Goths. War with Sassanid Persia broke out, forcing him to lead his armies back toward Persia.

His campaign was cut short when the Visigoths threatened the northern frontier. They had lost lands to the Huns and were anxious to compensate themselves with Roman lands. Eventually the Visigoths allied with the Huns, and along with the Ostrogoths, attacked the Romans. A massive Byzantine army moved against them, leading to the Battle of Adrianople, August 9, 378.

The Goths and their allies destroyed the Roman army, and Valens was killed during the battle. It left the Byzantines exposed, and with Gratian, the 19-year-old nephew of Valens, as the emperor of the Western Roman Empire, there was the need for a strong ruler to save the empires.

Theodosius I

Theodosius I, born in Galicia, in modern-day Spain, was the son of a senior military officer who was executed after being involved in political intrigues. Theodosius was made commander of Moesia, on the Danube (in modern-day Serbia and Bulgaria). After Adrianople, Gratian appointed him as the co-augustus for the East, and he co-ruled with Gratian and Valentinian II.

Emperor Theodosius I

On a political level, Theodosius was a Christian and made Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire. In 381 he helped convene the second general council of the Christian Church, held at Constantinople, where some of the decisions of the Council of Nicaea in 325 were confirmed.

The main task of Theodosius was to ensure the military survival of the Roman Empire, and he immediately went to war in the Balkans with the Sarmatians. He had defeated them six years earlier, and another victory led to his being proclaimed as co-emperor on January 19, 379.

He was given the provinces of Dacia (modern-day Romania) and Macedonia, both areas having been attacked many times in the previous decades. Living at Thessalonica, Theodosius built up his army. To raise more soldiers, he allowed for Teutons to be recruited, rewarding many of them with senior administrative positions.

Theodosius also sought a compromise with the Visigoths and assigned lands to the Goths in the Balkans in return for peace. It was the first time that an entire people were settled on Roman soil and able to maintain their autonomy. It avoided war with the Goths, many of whom converted to Christianity.

These moves were unpopular with some in Rome, and later historians have blamed these positions on making Rome vulnerable to attack. However, Theodosius was able to use this newfound military force to great effect. When a usurper, Maximus the Confessor, gained support in the Western Roman Empire and invaded Italy, Theodosius was the only commander with enough soldiers to check his advances.

In 378 he defeated Maximus and, later, the forces of another usurper, Eugenius. Theodosius crushed his rebellion at the Battle of Frigidus on September 5–6, 394. By this time Theodosius was sole emperor. He was subsequently known to history as Theodosius the Great.

When Theodosius I died, his younger son, Honorius, succeeded him in the West, and his eldest son, Arcadius, succeeded him in the East. Arcadius appears to have been a weak ruler, and for much of his reign, a minister, Flavius Rufinus, a politician of Gaulish ancestry, made the decisions.

With Honorius being dominated by his minister Flavius Stilicho, the position of emperor was in danger of becoming symbolic. According to some accounts, it was rivalry between the ministers that led to Stilicho having Rufinus assassinated by Goths.

However, a new minister, Eutropius, took over for Rufinus until, in 399, the wife of Arcadius persuaded her husband to remove Eutropius, who was later executed. The Praetorian commander, Anthemius, took over, with Arcadius retreating from the political scene until his death on May 1, 408. His son Flavius Theodosius, who became Theodosius II, succeeded him.

Theodosius II was only seven when he became emperor, but on the reputation of the military builtup by his grandfather, the boy had a trouble-free minority, and the empire remained safe from attack through his long reign, which ended with his death on July 28, 450.

His older sister, Pulcheria, whose interpretation of Christianity was anti-Jewish, heavily influenced Theodosius. Under Pulcheria’s influence, the Christian Church condemned the Nestorian viewpoint of the dual nature of Christ as heretical, and Nestorius, its proponent, was exiled to Egypt.

In 425 the University of Constantinople was founded as a center for Christian learning. Theodosius II is best remembered for his codification of the laws of the Roman Empire. In 429 he ordered that copies of all laws be brought to Constantinople, and nine years later the Codex Theodosianus was published.

Although the Eastern Roman Empire was safe, the Western Roman Empire crumbled during this period, resulting in much power reverting to Constantinople. During the last years of the reign of Theodosius II, the Byzantine Empire came under attack from Attila the Hun, and the Byzantines responded by paying large tribute to the Huns to stop the attacks.

On the death of Theodosius II in 450, Pulcerhia chose as her brother’s successor Flavius Marcianus, her husband, who became Emperor Marcian. Marcian stopped the payments to the Huns, who, by this time, were more concerned with attacking Gaul and Italy. Marcian also fortified Syria and Egypt to prevent attacks and was thought to have distanced himself from events in the Western Roman Empire.

It appears that Marcian may have been involved in the death of Attila in 452, even though he did not send aid to Rome, which was sacked by the Vandals in 455. Marcian and his wife are both recognized as saints by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Marcian died in 457, and Flavius Valerius Leo Augustus (Leo the Thracian) became the new emperor. He was a successful general who had led campaigns in the Balkans and against the Goths. Leo I sent a large army against the Vandals, under the command of his brother-in-law Basilicus, but it was decisively defeated in 468.

He died in 474 and was succeeded by his seven-year-old grandson, Leo II, who died 10 months later. Leo II’s father, Zeno, became emperor. Initially he had success leading his armies against the Vandals and the Huns in the Balkans.

In January 475 he was deposed by Basilicus, who took control of Constantinople for his reign, which lasted 19 months. In August 476 Zeno took over again, exiling Basilicus and his wife and son to Cappadocia, where they died from exposure. Zeno managed to build up the Byzantine finances. When he died in April 491, his widow, Ariadne, chose an important courtier, Anastasius, to succeed him.

Anastasius was involved in the Isaurian War from 492 to 496, where forces loyal to Longinus of Cardala, a brother of Zeno, revolted. Many rebels were defeated at the battle of Cotyaeum, and although guerrilla war continued for some years, Anastasius was never in serious danger from them again. From 502 to 505 he was involved in a war with the Sassanid Empire of Persia.

Initially the Sassanids were victorious, but the war ended in a stalemate. Anastasius then spent much of the rest of his reign building defenses. These included the Anastasian Wall, which stretched from Propontis to the Euxine, protecting the western approaches to Constantinople. Anastasius died on July 9, 518, the last Roman or Byzantine emperor to be deified.

Justin I was nearly 70 when he became emperor. He was illiterate but was a successful career soldier. The last years of his reign saw attacks by Ostrogoths and Persians. In 526 he formally named Justinian, his nephew, as co-emperor and his successor.

Justinian I

Justinian I was one of the most famous Byzantine rulers and is best remembered for his legal reforms that saw the establishment of a new legal code. He gained a reputation for working hard, being affable but unscrupulous when necessary. His early military moves were to try to regain the lost lands of Theodosius I. He failed in this but quickly gained a reputation for surrounding himself with advisers who achieved their status through merit.

One of these was Tribonian, who had the task of codifying the law—the first time all of Roman law was written down in one code. At the same time Justinian’s general Belisarius decided to launch an attack on the Sassanid Persians and against the Vandals in North Africa, recapturing Carthage. In what became known as the Gothic War, Belisarius retook Rome in 536, and four years later he took the Ostrogoth’s capital, Ravenna. The 540s saw parts of the Byzantine Empire ravaged by bubonic plague.

In 565 Justinian I died and his nephew Flavius Iustinius became Emperor Justin II. The Byzantines lost land to the Sassanids in a disastrous war with Persia. Justin II became troubled by mental problems and may have been going senile. He appointed a general named Tiberius as his successor.

Tiberius II Constantine was the first truly Greek emperor, and he continued the war with the Persians in Armenia. He was succeeded in 582 by a prominent general, Mauricius, who subsequently married the daughter of his predecessor.

The Emperor Maurice reigned from 582 to 602, a time when the empire was constantly attacked. When the Romans intervened in a dynastic war in Persia, they were amply rewarded by the return of eastern Mesopotamia and Armenia. However, while the Byzantines were involved in Persia, the Slavs took control of much of the Balkans. In 602 a mutiny by troops led to a general called Phokas (Phocas) entering Constantinople and killing Maurice, after forcing the deposed emperor to watch the execution of five of his sons.

Phokas was from Thrace and was a successful general of obscure origins before he seized the throne. The seizing of power by Phokas was the first bloody coup d’état since Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Phokas was initially popular because he lowered taxes and introduced reforms that benefited the Christian Church. However, on a military front, the Eastern Roman Empire faced invasion, especially in the northern Balkans, and raiders did reach as far as Athens.

In addition, King Khosrow II of Persia, installed by Maurice, started to conspire against the man who overthrew him. The Persians championed a young man whom they claimed was a son of Maurice, taking over some of Anatolia. In addition, trouble brewed in Egypt and Syria. In 610 Heraclius, the exarch (proconsul) of Africa, staged a rebellion that ended with Phocas being put to death.

Heraclius I was emperor from 610 to 641 and tried to reunite the empire that was still under attack in the Balkans and from the Persians. The latter managed to capture Damascus in 613, Jerusalem in the following year, and in 616 invaded Egypt. Their raids deep into Anatolia caused Heraclius to consider moving the capital from Constantinople to Carthage, but his reorganization of the military allowed him to stop the invading forces.

Much of this centered on land grants to families in return for having them serve in the military when the empire was in danger. In 626 Constantinople itself was attacked, but in the following year at the Battle of Nineveh, the Byzantines defeated the Persians, leading to the deposing of Khosrow II of Persia and the Byzantines gaining all the land they had lost.

Heraclius started to use the Persian title king of kings, and no longer used the term augustus, preferring basileus, Greek for “monarch.” During the 630s the Arabs proved to be a major threat to the Byzantines, who were decisively defeated in the Battle of Yarmuk in 636. Heraklonas’s two sons succeeded him, Heraklonas Constantine (Constantine III) and Constantine Heraklonas (Heraclius).

The former ruled for only four months before succumbing to tuberculosis. His younger half brother became the sole emperor; however, there were rumors that Constantine III had been poisoned, and a rebellion led to the deposing of Heraklonas four months later, and the son of Constantine III became Emperor Constans II.

Under Constans II, the Byzantines were on the retreat, having to withdraw from Egypt with the Arabs quickly capturing parts of North Africa. The Arabs also destroyed much of the Byzantine fleet off Lycia. Later the Arabs split into what became the Sunni and Shiite factions, and were unable to carry out their plan of attacking Constantinople.

Constans II was assassinated by his palace chamberlain in 668, and a usurper, Mezezius, was emperor for a year until Constans II’s son became Constantine IV and reigned until 685. By now the Arabs attacked Carthage, Sicily, and captured Smyrna and other ports in Anatolia. The Slavs also used the opportunity to attack Thessalonica. The Byzantines were able to successfully use Greek Fire against the Arabs at the sea battle of Syllaeum.

Constantine was worried that his two brothers, crowned with him as coemperors, would pose a threat to him, and he had them both mutilated. This allowed his son Justinian II to succeed to the throne (r. 685–695 and 705–711). In the interval two successful generals, Leontios and Tiberios III, were briefly emperors.

Justinian became increasingly unpopular and was killed by rebels, with Philippikos becoming emperor 711–713. He managed to stabilize the political situation and was succeeded by his secretary Artemios, who became Emperor Anastasius II. After two years a rebel leader and former tax collector deposed him, capturing Constantinople and proclaiming himself Emperor Theodosius III. He only lasted two years; a rebel commander took control of Constantinople and forced Theodosius to abdicate. He later become bishop of Ephesus.

Leo III

The new emperor, Leo III, was able to stabilize the Byzantine Empire, and he remained emperor from 717 until his death in 741. He immediately set about a reorganization of the empire’s administration. Much of this centered on the elevation of serfs to become tenant farmers.

Making alliances with the Khazars and the Georgians, he was able to defeat the Arabs. Leo III, however, is best known for his iconoclasm when, from 726 to 729 he ordered the destruction of the worshipping of images. His son, who became Emperor Constantine V, succeeded him at his death.

He reigned until 775, managing to continue with the reforms and iconoclasm of his father and also defeat the Arabs and the Bulgars. He died while campaigning against the latter and was succeeded by a son who became Emperor Leo IV. Although Leo IV only reigned for five years, he managed to send his soldiers on several campaigns against the Arabs. When he died, his son, aged only nine, became Emperor Constantine VI.

Scheming led to him being taken prisoner and blinded by his mother, who succeeded as Empress Irene, the widow of Leo IV. Her finance minister deposed her in 802. He became Emperor Nikephoros I and continued the wars against the Bulgars and the Arabs until he was killed in Bulgaria in 811.

The son of Nikephoros I became Emperor Staurakios, but he reigned only for just over two months until he was forced to abdicate. He went to live in a monastery, where he died soon afterwards. His brother-in-law then became Emperor Michael I. Eager to become popular, Michael reduced the high levels of taxation imposed by Nikephoros I. He also sought a compromise with Charlemagne.

Abdicating, he retired to a monastery, and Leo V, an Armenian, became the next emperor. He was assassinated in 820, leading to the Phrygian dynasty of Michael II coming to power. Michael II was emperor from 820 to 829, and his son Theophilos succeeded him, ruling until 842. His wife then ruled, and then his son Michael III “The Drunkard,” who was assassinated in 867, ushering in Basil I and the Macedonian dynasty.

Basil I was believed to have been of Armenian ancestry, and he lived in Bulgaria, leading an expedition against the Arabs in 866. He helped in the assassination of his predecessor and became one of the greatest Byzantine rulers. Apart from codifying the laws, he also built the Byzantines into a major military power.

His reign also coincided with the Great Schism, in which Basil determined that Constantinople should remain the center of Christianity, not Rome. Basil allied the Byzantines to the forces of Louis II, the Holy Roman Emperor.

Their combined fleets were able to defeat the Arabs, and although the Byzantines lost much of Sicily, the eastern frontier was heavily reinforced, and Arab attacks against the Byzantines were unsuccessful. When Basil died in 886, his son Leo VI succeeded him, although some accounts identify Leo VI as a son of Michael III.

Leo VI, who was the son of a mistress of Michael III and later mistress of Basil I, ended up at war with the Bulgarians, although his tactical alliance to the Magyars was successful for a period. The Byzantine defeat in 896 was a reverse that was followed by the Arabs capturing the last Byzantine-held bases on Sicily.

A Byzantine expedition tried to recapture Crete but failed, and Leo VI died in 912, succeeded by his younger brother Alexander. Emperor Alexander was extremely unpopular, and his death after a polo match ended his reign of 13 months. Leo VI’s illegitimate son then succeeded as Constantine VII in 913, inheriting a war with Bulgaria.

Constantine was deposed in 920 by Romanos I, the son of a member of the Imperial Guard who was deposed in 944, leading to Constantine VII returning as emperor. He then reigned for 14 years, and when he died, his son Romanos II became the next emperor.

As soon as Romanos II took over, he purged the court of his father’s friends, and allegations were made that he had poisoned his father to gain the throne. Although Romanos II was indolent and lazy, he left the army in the command of capable generals. He died after a reign of four years, succeeded initially by his five-year-old son, Basil II.

Nikephoros II quickly deposed Basil, reigning for six years until he was assassinated. It was during his reign, in 961, that the famous monastery complex on Mount Athos was founded. The next emperor was John I, who reigned for six years, until he died. During his reign he trained ex-emperor Basil to rule, and Basil II became emperor again, reigning for 49 years.

Basil II formed a strong alliance with Prince Vladimir I of Kiev, and together they managed to stabilize the northern borders of the Byzantine Empire. Basil II also took back large parts of Syria, although he did not manage to retake Jerusalem. War in Thrace against the Bulgarians saw the Byzantines destroy their opponents at the battle of Kleidion on July 29, 1014. Basil II was succeeded by his younger brother, Constantine VIII, who reigned for only three years, being succeeded by Romanos III, a great-grandson of the usurper Romanos I.

As the first in a new dynasty Romanos III tried to change many aspects of Byzantine rule. He financed many new buildings, including monasteries. He abandoned plans by Constantine VII to curtail the privileges of the nobles but faced many conspiracies, which led to his overthrow after a reign of fewer than six years. Michael IV, a friend of the daughter of Constantine VIII, ascended the throne. Military reforms were pressing, with the Byzantines under attack from Serbs, Bulgarians, and, more menacingly, the Arabs.

It was also a period when the Normans were a rising military power. Michael IV defeated the Bulgarians and died in 1041, succeeded by his nephew Michael V, who only ruled for four months. Deposed, blinded, and castrated, Michael V was succeeded by Zoe, his adoptive mother.

Constantine IX, the son of a senior civil servant, ruled from 1042 until 1055. A patron of the arts, he was subject to scheming and internal revolts. He was succeeded briefly by Michael VI and then by Isaac I Komnenos. In 1059 Constantine X became emperor and inaugurated the Doukid dynasty. After his reign of eight years, his son Michael VII ruled for 11 years.

For three of those years, Romanos IV, the second husband of Constantine X’s widow, was also emperor. In 1081 Alexios Komnenos, nephew of Isaac I, restored the Komnenid dynasty. Alexios was worried about the Turks controlling the Holy Land and decided to ask Pope Urban II for some military help from western Europe, resulting in the launching of the First Crusade.

Over the next two centuries, as battles with Turks continued over Asia Minor, the empire’s relationship to the West deteriorated. During the Crusades the empire’s lands were meant to be used as a staging ground for the war to “reclaim” the Christian holy lands, but bored, undisciplined crusaders frequently wound up sacking and pillaging Byzantine cities when they were too impatient to wait for their arrival in Muslim territories.

The Byzantine renaissance of the 12th century was an artistic and economic one—an inward-facing revival rather than a return to the sort of diplomatic fervor that had marked the empire’s earlier centuries. At the turn of the very next century, the soldiers of the failed Fourth Crusade were hired by Alexios IV, the son of the deposed Byzantine emperor Isaac II, to restore his father’s throne. Constantinople fell to the crusaders in 1204, and the Latin Empire was established to govern formerly Byzantine lands, with many territories apportioned to Venice.

The Byzantine Empire was officially dissolved, though its culture remained much the same for the next 200 years—through shifting governments, as the Latin Empire never stabilized and was followed by brief-lived successors—until 1453, when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople and all its lands.