For in contrast to other middle ages societies both in the West and amongst the Muslims, Byzantium was old, numerous centuries old by the time of Charlemagne and Harun al-Rashid in AD 800 … Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Middle Ages Empire, by Judith Herrin
I have actually been wanting for a long time to find out something more about Byzantium, its history, the Church that established in and through and around this empire, and, ultimately, its demise. This book has been sitting on my shelf enough time, and as I am coming to a close on other subjects, it appeared time to pick it up.
Byzantium conjures many images– sometimes exaggerations and caricatures, in some cases deserved (however not special to it). Regardless of modern views, the Byzantines had no monopoly on complexity or treachery or hypocrisy. They were not special in pursuing riches and wealth. They typically avoided burning people at the stake and never established what might be described as an Inquisition.
Further, per Herrin:
… I desire you to understand that the modern western world, which established from Europe, could not have actually existed had it not been shielded and motivated by what taken place even more to the east in Byzantium.
A mix of pagan, Christian, Greek and Roman impacts, the empire would wax and wane, however is normally acknowledged as including the eastern Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Anatolia. Constantinople was the grandest of cities, its roots returning to the start of the decrease of Rome.
It nurtured the earliest Christian monastic customs on mountains such as Sinai and Athos. It transformed the Bulgarians, Serbs, and Russians. It kept contact with much of the Christian centers that fell under Muslim guideline throughout the seventh century– consisting of Jerusalem, Antioch and Alexandria, and, in differing degrees (and at some times much better than other times) Ethiopia, Persia and Armenia.
Hagia Sophia held the title of the biggest dome for a thousand years, from the sixth century till the conclusion of St. Peter’s in Rome. Constantinople considered itself the center of the world, and the replacement for fallen Rome.
Up until the Muslim intrusions, it encompassed regions stretching from western North Africa to Mt. Ararat, southern Italy, Greece and the Balkans. In the early years of the Church, it was the Church– protecting the Christian West in the early Middle Ages.
Had Byzantium not halted their growth in 678, Muslim forces charged by the extra resources of the capitol city would have spread out Islam throughout the Balkans, into Italy and the West throughout the seventh century, at a time when political fragmentation decreased the possibility of organized defence.
Hence, a Christian Europe was enabled. Simply over half-a-century later on, Charles Martel would win the definitive fight over the Muslims near Poitiers in central France.
Fast forward to the Crusades, with, one would state, combined outcomes for the Byzantines. the First Crusade would establish the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem; the Fourth Crusade would turn against Constantinople and sack the city in 1204. From 1261 up until its fall in 1453, Constantinople was essentially a city-state.
However arguably its influence on the West grew more powerful during this period. With the sacking of the city, numerous artworks and books of learning were taken from Constantinople to the West. Later, Byzantine instructors of Greek were selected to Italian universities. Following the fall of the city in 1453, much more artworks and other treasures were brought west, definitely adding to the Italian Renaissance.
… Byzantine items have actually been scattered throughout Europe and are maintained in unexpected museums.
Bavaria and Wolfenbüttel (in contemporary north-central Germany) are pointed out as 2 examples.
And, as if to demonstrate the to and fro of Christian custom, the early Reformers would rely on the Byzantine critics of the 8th and ninth centuries in defense of their Protestant condemnation of religious art.
Conclusion
In Rome, Sicily, Moscow, and obviously most plainly in Constantinople, all over Turkey, Greece and the Balkans, you can see Byzantium preserved.
It is this story the Herrin will inform. Hers is not necessarily a basic, sequential account. Each chapter will concentrate on a particular theme, occasion, or historic figure. I will follow along.