Border of the Byzantine Empire at the end of the 12th century. Byzantium at the end of the XI-XII centuries. Coins in the Byzantine Empire

04.01.2021

The Komnenos dynasty ruled from 1081 to 1185. Representatives of the dynasty were Alexey I, Isaac, Manuel II, Alexey II, Andronikos I. During the reign of the Komnenos, land grants became a rare occurrence. Lands were granted only to relatives; almost all important government posts ended up in the hands of the Komnenos clan. On the other hand, it was under Komnenov that pronia began to be inherited. The reign of the Komnenos became the heyday of the Byzantine city, crafts and trade. In order to increase the profitability of monastic estates, the practice of transferring unprofitable monastery lands into the private hands of secular individuals, who received part of the income for managing this estate, was introduced. The main foreign policy task of that period was the fight against the Turks. The most difficult situation developed under Alexei I in the winter of 1090-1091. Then the Turks, together with the Polovtsians and Pechenegs, besieged Constantinople from three sides. Alexei I turns to the West for help. Western help only arrived in 1096 in the form of the first crusade. Long before this, Alexei managed to quarrel with his enemies and deal with them in turn. Alexei I managed to get the crusaders to take a vassal oath and undertake to return to Byzantium all the territories captured from it by the Turks. With the help of the crusaders, he managed to recapture Asia Minor. In the fight against the Turks, the Komnenos also relied on the help of Venice. One of the enemies of the empire were the Normans. The Normans repeatedly ravaged the Adriatic coast of Greece. The Venetians took upon themselves the protection of the Greek coast from the Normans in exchange for the right to duty-free trade on Byzantine territory. Very quickly Byzantine trade comes under control Venetian merchants. Local producers were not able to compete with Venetian goods, which caused a wave of anti-Venetian sentiment in Byzantine society. In 1180, the young Justin II ascended the throne. His mother Mary of Antioch served as regent. She patronized Venetianism. In 1182, during another anti-Venetian uprising, Maria and Tsarevich Alexei II were killed. Power passes to his uncle Andronikos I. Andronikos began carrying out reforms. He lowered taxes and abolished their farming. Abolished coastal law. Banned the sale of government positions. He increased the salaries of governors, thereby trying to fight corruption. At the same time, he brutally suppressed any resistance. Andronikos's reforms caused discontent among the nobility, who managed to turn the population against Andronikos thanks to his extremely unsuccessful foreign policy. Andronicus was forced to restore the privileges of the Venetians. In 1183, the Magyars captured Dalmatia. In 1184 Cyprus became independent. At the end of Andronicus' reign, the Normans ravaged Thessalonia. In 1185, an uprising broke out, during which Andronikos was torn to pieces by a crowd. The Kamnin dynasty ends, the nobility enthrones a new dynasty of Angels. The angels reigned from 1185 to 1204. There were 3 rulers in this dynasty. The first was Isaac the Second (1185-1195). Isaac canceled all of Andronicus’s initiatives and patronized the large landed aristocracy. Control central government over large landholdings was reduced to a minimum. In 1195, Isaac the Second was overthrown by his own brother Alexei the Third. Isaac did not give up the fight for the throne and began to wait for an opportunity. In 1202 the fourth crusade began. Initially, the crusaders planned to cross the Mediterranean Sea on ships and land in Egypt to begin the fight against the Egyptian Sultan. The Venetians demanded a significant sum for the services of their fleet. The crusaders were unable to collect it and concluded a new deal with Venice, which, with the help of the crusaders, decided to deal with its competitor on the Adriatic Sea with the city of Zadar. The crusaders ravaged the Christian city of Zadar, turning the weapons of Christ's army against the Christians. The Pope excommunicated the Crusaders and Venice from the church. Isaac the Second sent his son, Tsarevich Alexei, to negotiate with the crusaders. Alexei, with the support of the pope, agreed that for 200 thousand marks in silver, the crusaders would help Isaac regain his throne. The army of the crusaders approaches Constantinople, Alexei the Third flees along with the treasury. Isaac the Second and his son Alexei the Fourth ascend the throne as co-rulers. However, the treasury was empty, and they were unable to pay the crusaders. To collect the required amount, the Angels sharply increase taxes. An uprising breaks out in Constantinople, Isaac and Alexei are overthrown, which leads to the siege of the city by the crusaders. The Constantinople tried to establish the defense of the city, but the forces were not equal. On April 13, 1204, Byzantium loses its capital and breaks up into a number of political entities.

BYZANTINE EMPIRE AT THE END OF THE 12th century. (1181-1204)

While Manuel Comnenus was alive, his intelligence, energy and dexterity ensured internal order and supported the authority of Byzantium outside the empire. When he died, the whole building began to crack. Just as in the era of Justinian, the ambitious imperial politicians of the 12th century. cherished too extensive plans. As then, the change in policy turned out to be difficult and ruinous. Intervening needlessly in the affairs of the West, nourishing reckless dreams of grandiose conquests that worried the Latins, Manuel at the same time did not notice imminent danger, rising from the East, and brought the empire to extreme exhaustion. As soon as power was in weaker hands, the terrible consequences of the feelings he aroused throughout the world were revealed: revenge, hatred and envy.

Alexei II, son of Manuel, was a child; his mother, regent Mary of Antioch, was of Latin origin and leaned on the Latins; as a result, she was not popular. Andronikos Komnenos used the general discontent to become emperor (1182-1185). This last representative of the Komnenos could have been a great sovereign. He realized that the powerful feudal lords were dangerous to the empire, and brutally suppressed them: the uprising of Isaac Angelos in Bithynia was drowned in blood (1185). He reformed the administration, cut expenses, eased taxes, in a word, took the right path to become popular when external events - the war with the Normans, which ended with their capture of Thessalonica (1185), the war with the Hungarians, which ended with the loss of Dalmatia (1185), led to his deposition. A new uprising (1185) placed Isaac Angelus on the throne and accelerated the ruin of the empire. Isaac (1185-1195) did not possess at all the qualities necessary to avert the impending crisis. His brother Alexei III (1195-1203), who overthrew him from the throne, was no better. The empire was ready to collapse.

The imperial power, shaken by a series of uprisings and constant conspiracies, was extremely weak. In the capital, the mob dictated their laws to the government; in the provinces the aristocracy was raising its head, the empire was gradually disintegrating. Isaac Comnenus declared himself independent in Cyprus (1184), Le Havre - in Trebizond; the large feudal families of Cantakuzinov, Vranov, and Sgurov carved out possessions for themselves from the scraps of the monarchy. Disorder and poverty reigned everywhere: taxes were exorbitant, the treasury was empty, trade was in decline. Demoralization spread everywhere, even in the church; the monks leaving the monasteries increased the disorder; During this period, monastic reform was needed more than ever. Everywhere Hellenic traditions weakened and the feeling of patriotism faded.

The external danger was even more serious. In the Balkans, the Slavs threw off the yoke of the empire. In Serbia, Stefan Nemanja extended his power to Herzegovina, Montenegro, the Danube part of Serbia and founded a large state. Under the leadership of Peter and John Asenei, the Bulgarians and Wallachs rebelled (1185); with the support of the Kumans and the help of Stefan Nemanja, they began to move forward quickly. Isaac was defeated at Verrey (1190) and at Arcadiopolis (1194). This is how the Wallachian-Bulgarian Empire was formed, which reached its peak under Tsar Ioannitsa, or Kaloyan (1197 - 1207). According to the treaty of 1201, Alexei III had to confirm all Bulgarian conquests - from Belgrade to the Black Sea and Vardar. A short time later, the Bulgarian ruler obtained from Innocent III the title of king and the establishment of an independent church (1204). This was the complete destruction of the work of John Tzimiskes and Basil II.

In the West the horizon was even darker. During the rebellion that brought Andronicus Comnenus to the throne, the massacre of 1182, the victims of which were the Latins living in Constantinople, started a war with the Normans. However, the capture of Thessalonica by the army of the King of Sicily did not lead to further successes, and Isaac managed to repel the invaders (1186). But as a result of these events, the ancient enmity between the West and Byzantium increased even more. This was also due to the political mistakes made in relation to Frederick Barbarossa during the Third Crusade (1189). There was a moment when the German emperor intended, together with the Serbs and Bulgarians, to capture Constantinople, and the crusaders moved into the empire as sworn enemies. Henry VI, the son of Barbarossa, was an even more dangerous opponent, especially after he inherited their ambitious plans along with the possessions of the Norman kings. He dreamed of conquering the East and demanded from Alexei the return of all territories once captured by the Normans (1196); in anticipation of this, he forced the emperor to pay him tribute.

But Venice was especially alarming. She, too, sought revenge for the massacre of 1182, and to appease her, Isaac had to compensate her for all losses and grant her extensive privileges in 1187. In 1198, Alexei III had to further increase these concessions, the effectiveness of which he, however, weakened by ceding similar rights to the Genoese and Pisans. In addition, the Venetians felt that the bitter hatred of the Greeks threatened both their trade and safety; when Enrico Dandolo became the Doge of Venice (1193), the idea arose that the best way to both resolve the crisis and satisfy the accumulated hatred of the Latins, and to ensure the interests of Venice in the East would be the conquest of the Byzantine Empire. The hostility of the pope, the harassment of Venice, the embitterment of the entire Latin world - all this taken together predetermined the fact that the fourth crusade turned against Constantinople. Exhausted, weakened by development in eastern Europe Slavic states Byzantium was unable to resist the onslaught of Western troops that threatened it.

Fourth Crusade. Alexei III, having overthrown and blinded his brother Isaac, in 1195 imprisoned his son, young Alexei, along with the fallen emperor. In 1201 the young prince fled and came to the West, asking for support against the usurper. This was precisely the moment when the troops of the Fourth Crusade gathered in Venice. The Venetians eagerly seized on the pretext presented to them to intervene in Byzantine affairs, and the generous promises that Alexei lavished easily prevailed over the remorse of the crusaders. Thus, the clever policy of Doge Dandolo turned the expedition that was preparing to liberate the Holy Land against Constantinople. At the beginning of 1203, an agreement was finally signed with the pretender to the Byzantine throne; On June 27, 1203, the Latin fleet dropped anchor before Constantinople, the city was taken by storm (June 18, 1203), and Isaac Angelus, together with his son Alexios VI, again took the throne. However, the agreement between the Byzantines and Latins did not last long. The new emperors were unable to fulfill their promises; the crusaders, especially the Venetians, made greater and greater demands. On January 25, 1204, a nationwide uprising overthrew the proteges of the West, and power passed into the hands of Alexius V Murzufla. Reconciliation became impossible. The Latins decided to destroy the Byzantine Empire. On April 12, 1204, Constantinople was again taken by storm and brutally plundered. And while the remnants of the Byzantine aristocracy and clergy hurried to take refuge in Nicaea in order to then try to restore the empire from there, the victors, in accordance with the partition agreement signed in March 1204, divided the spoils among themselves. Baldwin of Flanders became emperor and sat on the throne of the Komnenos (May 1204), Boniface of Montferrat began to rule in Thessalonica; the Venetian patriarch took the patriarchal throne in Constantinople; throughout the territory of the conquered empire arose feudal lords. The Venetians, clever businessmen, with particular diligence secured for themselves points throughout the East that were important for the development of their trade and colonial power. It seemed that the end of Byzantium had come; and indeed, the event of 1204 was a blow to the Byzantine Empire from which it could never recover.

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The last (third) stage of the Middle Byzantine period covers the time from the accession of Alexios I Komnenos (1081) to the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204. This was the era of the Komnenos (1081-1185). Four of them left a deep mark on the history of Byzantium, and after the departure of the last, Andronikos I (1183-1185), the empire itself ceased to exist as single state. The Comnenians were fully aware of the critical situation of their state and energetically, like zealous householders (they were blamed by their contemporaries for turning the empire into their fiefdom), took economic, social, and political measures to save it. They delayed the collapse of the empire, but were unable to strengthen its state system for a long time.

Agrarian relations. Economic and social politics Komnenov. For the history of Byzantium in the 12th century. characterized by the manifestation of two opposing trends that emerged already in the 11th century. On the one hand, there was a rise in agricultural production (in modern historiography this time is referred to as the “epoch of economic expansion”), on the other hand, the process of political disintegration progressed. The prosperity of the economy not only led to the strengthening of the state system, but, on the contrary, accelerated its further decomposition. The traditional organization of power in the center and in the provinces, the previous forms of relations within ruling class became an objective obstacle to further social development.

The Komnenians faced an insoluble alternative: to strengthen central power and ensure treasury revenues ( necessary condition for content strong army) they had to continue to protect small landownership and restrain the growth of large landownership, as well as the distribution of grants and privileges. But this kind of policy infringed on the interests of the military aristocracy, which brought them to power and remained their social support. The Komnenos (primarily Alexius I) tried to resolve this problem in two ways, avoiding a radical break in the social political system, considered an unshakable value. The thought of changes in “taxis” (the time-honored law and order) was alien to the mentality of the Byzantines. The introduction of innovations was considered a sin unforgivable by the emperor.

Firstly, Alexey I became less likely than his predecessors to grant individuals, churches and monasteries exemption from taxes and the right to settle peasants who were bankrupt and did not pay taxes to the treasury on their land as wigs. Grants of land from the state fund and from the estates of the ruling family into full ownership also became stingier. Secondly, Alexey I began to strictly condition the distribution of benefits and awards on personal connections and relationships. His favors were either a reward for service to the throne, or a guarantee for its performance, and preference was given to people who were personally devoted, first of all, to representatives of the vast Komnenos clan and families related to them.

The policy of the Komnenos could only bring temporary success - it suffered from internal contradictions: new forms of relations between representatives of the ruling class could become the basis for the revival of the state only with a radical restructuring of the centralized control system, but its strengthening remained the main goal. Moreover, the distribution of awards and privileges to comrades-in-arms was inevitable, no matter how this moment devoted to the throne, to the growth of large landownership, the weakening of the free peasantry, the fall in tax revenues and the strengthening of the very centrifugal tendencies against which it was directed. The military aristocracy overpowered the bureaucratic nobility, but, having retained the previous system of power and central administrative apparatus, it needed the services of “bureaucrats” and, when carrying out its reforms, found itself hostage to them, limiting itself to half measures.

By the turn of the XI-XII centuries. A significant part of the peasantry found themselves in parikia. A large fiefdom has strengthened. By granting her master excussion (full or partial exemption from taxes), the emperor removed his possessions from the control of the fiscus. Immunity similar to Western European immunity was established: the patrimony of the court within the limits of his possessions, excluding the rights of higher jurisdiction associated with especially serious crimes. Some patrimonial owners expanded the demenial economy, increased the production of grain, wine, and livestock, becoming involved in commodity-money relations. A considerable number of them, however, preferred to accumulate wealth, most of it from many noble persons and in the 12th century. they acquired not from the income of the estate, but from payments from the treasury and gifts from the emperor.

Wider Komnena began to grant favors to pronia, mostly on the terms of bearing military service. Contemporaries compared pronia with benefice. Under Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180), a fundamentally new type of pronia arose - not on the lands of the treasury, but on the private lands of free taxpayers. In other words, the emperors asserted the right of supreme ownership of the state to the lands of free peasants. Complained together with the right to appropriate state taxes, the right to manage the territory granted to the penitentiary contributed to the rapid transformation of a conditional land ownership into full, hereditary, and free taxpayers into wigs of the owner of the property, which in its social essence turned into private ownership.

In search of funds, Alexei I and his immediate successors resorted to a practice that was ruinous for free taxpayers - tax farming (having paid to the treasury an amount that exceeded the officially established amount from the tax district, the tax farmer more than compensated for the costs with the help of the authorities). Alexei I also encroached on the share of the clergy’s wealth. He confiscated the treasures of the church for the needs of the army and the ransom of prisoners, donated the possessions of those monasteries that were in decline to secular persons for management with the obligation to organize the management of the monasteries for the right to appropriate part of their income. He also carried out extraordinary audits of monastery lands, partially confiscating them, because the monks bought estates for next to nothing through corrupt officials and evaded paying taxes, not always having such a right.

Large patrimonies in the second half of the 12th century. began, in turn, to grant part of their possessions to their confidants, who became their “people.” Some magnates had large detachments of warriors, consisting, however, mainly not of vassals (fief relations in the empire remained poorly developed), but of numerous servants and mercenaries, strengthened their estates and introduced orders within them, similar to the capital's court. Deepening process of rapprochement social structure fiefdoms from Western Europe were also reflected in the morals of the nobility of the empire. New fashions penetrated from the West, tournaments began to be organized (especially under Manuel I), and the cult of knightly honor and military valor was established. If, of the 7 direct representatives of the Macedonian dynasty, only Vasily II was a warrior sovereign, then almost all of the Komnenos themselves led their army in battle. The power of the magnates began to extend to the territory of the surrounding area, often far beyond the borders of their own possessions. Centrifugal tendencies grew. An attempt to curb the willfulness of the magnates and the arbitrariness of officials was made by the usurper, Manuel I’s cousin, Andronikos I. He lowered taxes, abolished their tax farming, increased the salaries of provincial rulers, eradicated corruption and brutally suppressed the resistance of Manuel’s former comrades. The magnates rallied in hatred of Andronicus. Having taken away his throne and life as a result of a bloody coup, representatives of the landed aristocracy and the founders of the new Angels dynasty (1185-1204) practically eliminated the control of the central government over large landownership. Lands with free peasants were generously distributed throughout the country. The estates confiscated by Andronik were returned to their former owners. Taxes were raised again. By the end of the 12th century. a number of magnates of the Peloponnese, Thessaly, South Macedonia, and Asia Minor, having established their power in entire regions, refused to obey the central government. There was a threat of the collapse of the empire into independent principalities.

Byzantine city at the end of the 11th-12th centuries. Began in the 9th-10th centuries. the rise of crafts and trade led to the flourishing of provincial cities. The reform of the monetary system carried out by Alexei I, increasing the mass of small change coins necessary for retail trade turnover, and defining a clear relationship between coins of different denominations improved monetary circulation. Trade ties between the rural area and local city markets expanded and strengthened. In cities, near large monasteries and estates, fairs were periodically organized. Every autumn, merchants from all over the Balkan Peninsula and from other countries (including Rus') came to Thessalonica.

Unlike Western European ones, Byzantine cities were not under the jurisdiction of noble persons. They were ruled by the sovereign's governors, relying on garrisons, which then consisted mainly of mercenaries. With the fall in income from taxes from peasants, the importance of levies and duties from townspeople grew. Cities were deprived of any tax, trade, or political privileges. Attempts by the trade and craft elite to achieve more favorable conditions for their professional activities continued to be severely suppressed. Large patrimonial owners entered the city markets and started wholesale trade with other merchants. They acquired houses in cities for warehouses, shops, ships, piers, and increasingly traded without the mediation of city merchants. Foreign merchants, who received benefits from the emperor in exchange for military support, paid two to three times lower duties than Byzantine traders or did not pay them at all. The townspeople had to wage a difficult struggle with both the magnates and the state. The alliance of the central government with the cities against the rebellious magnates in Byzantium did not work out.

By the end of the 12th century. signs of impending decline were barely visible in the provincial centers, but clearly manifested themselves in the capital. The petty tutelage of the authorities, a system of restrictions, high taxes and duties, and conservative management principles stifled corporations. Crafts and trade in the capital of Hireli. Italian merchants found increasingly wider markets for their goods, which began to surpass Byzantine ones in quality, but were much cheaper than them.

International position of Byzantium. Alexei I seized power as a result of a military coup. From the first days of his reign, the new emperor had to overcome extreme difficulties. External enemies squeezed the empire in pincers: almost all of Asia Minor was in the hands of the Seljuk Turks, the Normans, having crossed from Italy to the Adriatic coast of the Balkans, captured the strategic fortress city of Dyrrhachium, and destroyed, defeating the troops of the empire, Epirus, Macedonia, and Thessaly. And at the gates of the capital there are Pechenegs. At first, Alexei I threw all his forces against the Normans. Only in 1085, with the help of Venice, whose merchants were granted rights

Duty-free trade in the Empire managed to push the Normans out of the Balkans.

Even more formidable was the danger from the nomads. The Pechenegs left after the raids across the Danube - they began to settle within the empire. They were supported by the Cumans, hordes of whom also invaded the peninsula. The Seljuks entered into negotiations with the Pechenegs on a joint attack on Constantinople. In desperation, the emperor turned to the sovereigns of the West, appealing for help and seriously seducing some circles of the West and played a role both in the organization of the First Crusade and in the subsequent claims of Western lords to the wealth of the empire. Meanwhile, Alexei I managed to incite hostility between the Pechenegs and the Cumans. In the spring of 1091, the Pecheneg horde was almost completely destroyed with the help of the Polovtsians in Thrace.

The diplomatic skill of Alexei I in his relations with the crusaders of the First Campaign helped him to return Nicaea with minimal costs, and then, after the victories of the Western knights over the Seljuks, mired in civil strife, to recapture the entire north-west of Asia Minor and the entire southern coast of the Black Sea. The position of the empire strengthened. The head of the Principality of Antioch, Bohemond of Tarentum, recognized Antioch as a fief of the Byzantine Empire.

The works of Alexios I were continued by his son John II Komnenos (1118-1143). In 1122, he defeated the Pechenegs, who again invaded Thrace and Macedonia, and forever eliminated the danger from them. Soon there was a clash with Venice, after John II deprived the Venetians who had settled in Constantinople and other cities of the empire of trade privileges. The Venetian fleet responded by ravaging the islands and coasts of Byzantium, and John II acquiesced, reaffirming the privileges of the republic. The Seljuks also remained dangerous. John II conquered the southern coast of Asia Minor from them. But the struggle for Syria and Palestine with the crusaders only weakened the empire. The power of Byzantium was strong only in Northern Syria.

In the middle of the 12th century. center foreign policy The empire moved again to the Balkans. Manuel I (1143-1180) repelled a new onslaught of the Sicilian Normans on the Adriatic coast, about. Corfu, Thebes and Corinth, islands of the Aegean Sea. But attempts to transfer the war with them to Italy ended in failure. Nevertheless, Manuel subjugated Serbia, returned Dalmatia, and made the kingdom of Hungary a vassal. The victories cost a huge amount of effort and money. The strengthened Iconian (Rum) Sultanate of the Seljuk Turks renewed pressure on eastern borders. In 1176 they completely defeated the army of Manuel I at Myriokephalos. The Empire was forced everywhere to go on the defensive.

The Empire on the Eve of the Catastrophe of 1204 The deterioration of the empire's position in the international arena and the death of Manuel I sharply aggravated the internal political situation. Power was completely seized by the court camarilla, headed by Maria of Antioch, the regent under the young Alexei II (1180-1183). The treasury was plundered. The arsenals and equipment of the navy were taken away. Maria openly patronized the Italians. The capital was seething with indignation. In 1182, an uprising broke out. The rebels dealt with the inhabitants of wealthy Italian neighborhoods, turning them into ruins. Both Maria and then Alexei II were killed.

Andronikos I, who came to power on the crest of the uprising, sought support among the craft and trading circles of Constantinople. He stopped the extortion and arbitrariness of officials, abolished the so-called “coastal law” - a custom that made it possible to rob shipwrecked merchant ships. Contemporaries report some revival of trade during the short reign of Andronikos. However, he was forced to partially compensate for the damage suffered by the Venetians in 1182 and restore their privileges. International situation the empire worsened year by year: back in 1183. The Hungarians captured Dalmatia in 1184. Cyprus was laid aside. The highest nobility incited the growing discontent of the capital's residents and weaved intrigues. The disgraced nobles appealed for help to the Normans, and they actually invaded the Balkans again in 1185, captured Thessalonica and subjected it to merciless destruction. Andronik was blamed for everything. A conspiracy was hatched. Andronikos was seized and literally torn to pieces by a crowd on the streets of the city.

During the reign of Isaac II Angelos (1185-1195, 1203-1204) and his brother Alexei III (1195-1203), the process of decomposition of the central government apparatus progressed rapidly. The emperors were powerless to influence the course of events. In 1186 The Bulgarians threw off the power of the empire, forming the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, and in 1190 the Serbs became independent and revived their statehood. The empire was falling apart before our eyes. In the summer of 1203, the crusaders approached the walls of Constantinople, and Alexei III, refusing to lead the defense of the city, fled from the capital, which was in chaos, giving the throne to Isaac, who had previously been overthrown by him, to his son Alexei IV (1203-1204).

The last (third) stage of the Middle Byzantine period covers the time from the accession of Alexios I Komnenos (1081) to the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204. This was the era of the Komnenos (1081-1185). Four of them left a deep mark on the history of Byzantium, and after the departure of the last, Andronikos I (1183-1185), the empire itself ceased to exist as a single state. The Comnenians were fully aware of the critical situation of their state and energetically, like zealous householders (they were blamed by their contemporaries for turning the empire into their fiefdom), took economic, social, and political measures to save it. They delayed the collapse of the empire, but were unable to strengthen its state system for a long time.

Agrarian relations. Economic and social policy of Komnenos. For the history of Byzantium in the 12th century. characterized by the manifestation of two opposing trends that emerged already in the 11th century. On the one hand, there was a rise in agricultural production (in modern historiography this time is referred to as the “era of economic expansion”), on the other, the process of political disintegration progressed. The prosperity of the economy not only led to the strengthening of the state system, but, on the contrary, accelerated its further decomposition. The traditional organization of power in the center and in the provinces, the previous forms of relations within the ruling class have objectively become an obstacle to further social development.

The Komnenians faced an intractable alternative: in order to consolidate central power and secure treasury revenue (a necessary condition for maintaining a strong army), they had to continue to protect small landownership and restrain the growth of large landownership, as well as the distribution of grants and privileges. But this kind of policy infringed on the interests of the military aristocracy, which brought them to power and remained their social support. The Komnenos (primarily Alexius I) tried to solve this problem in two ways, avoiding a radical breakdown of the socio-political system, which was considered an unshakable value. The thought of changes in “taxis” (the time-honored law and order) was alien to the mentality of the Byzantines. The introduction of innovations was considered a sin unforgivable by the emperor.

The policy of the Komnenos could only bring temporary success - it suffered from internal contradictions: new forms of relations between representatives of the ruling class could become the basis for the revival of the state only with a radical restructuring of the centralized control system, but its strengthening remained the main goal. Moreover, the distribution of awards and privileges to comrades-in-arms led inevitably, no matter how devoted they were to the throne at the moment, to the growth of large landownership, the weakening of the free peasantry, a fall in tax revenues and the strengthening of the very centrifugal tendencies against which it was directed. The military aristocracy overpowered the bureaucratic nobility, but, having retained the previous system of power and central administrative apparatus, it needed the services of “bureaucrats” and, when carrying out its reforms, found itself hostage to them, limiting itself to half measures.

By the turn of the XI-XII centuries. A significant part of the peasantry found themselves in parikia. A large fiefdom has strengthened. By granting her master excussion (full or partial exemption from taxes), the emperor removed his possessions from the control of the fiscus. Immunity similar to Western European immunity was established: the patrimony of the court within the limits of his possessions, excluding the rights of higher jurisdiction associated with particularly serious crimes. Some patrimonial owners expanded the demenial economy, increased the production of grain, wine, and livestock, becoming involved in commodity-money relations. A considerable number of them, however, preferred to accumulate wealth, most of it from many noble persons and in the 12th century. they acquired not from the income of the estate, but from payments from the treasury and gifts from the emperor.

Wider Komnenos began to grant favors to the provinces, mainly on the terms of military service. Contemporaries compared pronia with benefice. Under Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180), a fundamentally the new kind pronia - not on treasury lands, but on the private lands of free taxpayers. In other words, the emperors asserted the right of supreme ownership of the state to the lands of free peasants. Complained together with the right to appropriate state taxes, the right to manage the territory granted to the land contributed to the rapid transformation of conditional land ownership into full, hereditary, and free taxpayers into the wigs of the owner of the land, which in its own right social essence turned into private property.

Large patrimonies in the second half of the 12th century. began, in turn, to grant part of their possessions to their confidants, who became their “people.” Some magnates had large detachments of warriors, consisting, however, mainly not of vassals (fief relations in the empire remained poorly developed), but of numerous servants and mercenaries, strengthened their estates and introduced orders within them, similar to the capital's court. The deepening process of rapprochement between the social structure of the estate and that of Western Europe was also reflected in the morals of the nobility of the empire. New fashions penetrated from the West, tournaments began to be organized (especially under Manuel I), and the cult of knightly honor and military valor was established. If out of the 7 direct representatives of the Macedonian dynasty only Vasily II was a warrior sovereign, then almost all of the Komnenos themselves led their army in battle. The power of the magnates began to extend to the territory of the surrounding area, often far beyond the borders of their own possessions. Centrifugal tendencies grew. An attempt to curb the willfulness of the magnates and the arbitrariness of officials was made by the usurper, Manuel I’s cousin, Andronikos I. He lowered taxes, abolished their tax farming, increased the salaries of provincial rulers, eradicated corruption and brutally suppressed the resistance of Manuel’s former comrades. The magnates rallied in hatred of Andronicus. Having taken away his throne and life as a result of a bloody coup, representatives of the landed aristocracy and the founders of the new Angels dynasty (1185-1204) practically eliminated the control of the central government over large landownership. Lands with free peasants were generously distributed throughout the country. The estates confiscated by Andronik were returned to their former owners. Taxes were raised again. By the end of the 12th century. a number of magnates of the Peloponnese, Thessaly, South Macedonia, and Asia Minor, having established their power in entire regions, refused to obey the central government. There was a threat of the collapse of the empire into independent principalities.

Unlike Western European ones, Byzantine cities were not under the jurisdiction of noble persons. They were ruled by the sovereign's governors, relying on garrisons, which then consisted mainly of mercenaries. With the fall in income from taxes from peasants, the importance of levies and duties from townspeople grew. Cities were deprived of any tax, trade, or political privileges. Attempts by the trade and craft elite to achieve more favorable conditions for their professional activity were still severely suppressed. Large patrimonial owners entered the city markets and started wholesale trade with other merchants. They acquired houses in cities for warehouses, shops, ships, piers, and increasingly traded without the mediation of city merchants. Foreign merchants, who received benefits from the emperor in exchange for military support, paid two to three times lower duties than Byzantine traders or did not pay them at all. The townspeople had to wage a difficult struggle with both the magnates and the state. The alliance of the central government with the cities against the rebellious magnates in Byzantium did not work out.

Duty-free trade in the Empire managed to push the Normans out of the Balkans.

In the middle of the 12th century. the center of the empire's foreign policy again moved to the Balkans. Manuel I (1143-1180) repelled a new onslaught of the Sicilian Normans on the Adriatic coast, about. Corfu, Thebes and Corinth, islands of the Aegean Sea. But attempts to transfer the war with them to Italy ended in failure. Nevertheless, Manuel subjugated Serbia, returned Dalmatia, and made the kingdom of Hungary a vassal. The victories cost a huge amount of effort and money. The strengthened Iconian (Rum) Sultanate of the Seljuk Turks renewed pressure on the eastern borders. In 1176 they completely defeated the army of Manuel I at Myriokephalos. The Empire was forced everywhere to go on the defensive.

Andronikos I, who came to power on the crest of the uprising, sought support among the craft and trading circles of Constantinople. He stopped the extortion and arbitrariness of officials, abolished the so-called “coastal law” - a custom that made it possible to rob shipwrecked merchant ships. Contemporaries report some revival of trade during the short reign of Andronikos. However, he was forced to partially compensate for the damage suffered by the Venetians in 1182 and restore their privileges. The international position of the empire worsened year by year: back in 1183. The Hungarians captured Dalmatia in 1184. Cyprus was laid aside. The highest nobility incited the growing discontent of the capital's residents and weaved intrigues. The disgraced nobles appealed for help to the Normans, and they actually invaded the Balkans again in 1185, captured Thessalonica and subjected it to merciless destruction. Andronik was blamed for everything. A conspiracy was hatched. Andronikos was seized and literally torn to pieces by a crowd on the streets of the city.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 under the blows of the Germanic tribes, the Eastern Empire was the only surviving power that preserved the traditions of the Ancient World. The Eastern or Byzantine Empire managed to preserve the traditions of Roman culture and statehood over the years of its existence.

Foundation of Byzantium

The history of the Byzantine Empire begins with the founding of the city of Constantinople by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in 330. It was also called New Rome.

The Byzantine Empire turned out to be much stronger than the Western Roman Empire in terms of a number of reasons :

The slave system in Byzantium in the early Middle Ages was less developed than in the Western Roman Empire. The population of the Eastern Empire was 85% free.
In the Byzantine Empire there was still a strong connection between the countryside and the city. Small-scale farming was developed, which instantly adapted to the changing market.
If you look at the territory that Byzantium occupied, you can see that the state included extremely economically developed regions at that time: Greece, Syria, Egypt.
Thanks to a strong army and navy, the Byzantine Empire quite successfully withstood the onslaught of barbarian tribes.
IN major cities The empire retained trade and craft. The main productive force were free peasants, artisans and small traders.
The Byzantine Empire adopted Christianity as its main religion. This made it possible to quickly establish relationships with neighboring countries.

Rice. 1. Map of the Byzantine Empire in the 9th and early 11th centuries.

The internal structure of the political system of Byzantium was not very different from the early medieval barbarian kingdoms in the West: the power of the emperor rested on large feudal lords, consisting of military leaders, Slavic nobility, former slave owners and officials.

Timeline of the Byzantine Empire

The history of the Byzantine Empire is usually divided into three main periods: Early Byzantine (IV-VIII centuries), Middle Byzantine (IX-XII centuries) and Late Byzantine (XIII-XV centuries).

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Speaking briefly about the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, it should be noted that main city Byzantium rose even more after the absorption of the Roman provinces by barbarian tribes. Until the 9th century, buildings of ancient architecture were built, exact sciences. The first in Europe opened in Constantinople graduate School. The Church of Hagia Sophia became a real miracle of human creation.

Rice. 2. Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

Early Byzantine period

At the end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th centuries, the borders of the Byzantine Empire covered Palestine, Egypt, Thrace, the Balkans and Asia Minor. The Eastern Empire was significantly ahead of the Western barbarian kingdoms in the construction of large cities, as well as in the development of crafts and trade. The presence of a merchant and military fleet made Byzantium a major maritime power. The heyday of the empire continued until the 12th century.

527-565 reign of Emperor Justinian I.
The emperor proclaimed the idea or recornista: “Restoration of the Roman Empire.” To achieve this goal, Justinian led wars of conquest with barbarian kingdoms. The Vandal states in North Africa fell under the blows of Byzantine troops, and the Ostrogoths in Italy were defeated.

In the occupied territories, Justinian I introduced new laws called the “Justinian Code”; slaves and columns were transferred to their former owners. This caused extreme discontent among the population and later became one of the reasons for the decline of the Eastern Empire.

610-641 The reign of Emperor Heraclius.
As a result of the Arab invasion, Byzantium lost Egypt in 617. In the east, Heraclius abandoned the fight against the Slavic tribes, giving them the opportunity to settle along the borders, using them as a natural shield against the nomadic tribes. One of the main merits of this emperor is the return to Jerusalem of the Life-Giving Cross, which was captured from the Persian king Khosrow II.
717 Arab siege of Constantinople.
For almost a whole year, the Arabs unsuccessfully stormed the capital of Byzantium, but in the end they failed to take the city and rolled back with heavy losses. In many ways, the siege was repulsed thanks to the so-called “Greek fire”.
717-740 Reign of Leo III.
The years of the reign of this emperor were marked by the fact that Byzantium not only successfully waged wars with the Arabs, but also by the fact that Byzantine monks tried to spread the Orthodox faith among Jews and Muslims. Under Emperor Leo III, the veneration of icons was prohibited. Hundreds of valuable icons and other works of art related to Christianity were destroyed. Iconoclasm continued until 842.

At the end of the 7th and beginning of the 8th centuries, a reform of self-government bodies took place in Byzantium. The empire began to be divided not into provinces, but into themes. That's how they started to be called administrative districts, who were headed by the strategists. They had power and held court on their own. Each theme was obliged to field a militia-stratum.

Middle Byzantine period

Despite the loss of the Balkan lands, Byzantium is still considered a powerful power, because its navy continued to dominate the Mediterranean Sea. The period of the highest power of the empire lasted from 850 to 1050 and is considered the era of “classical Byzantium”.

886-912 Reign of Leo VI the Wise.
The emperor followed the policies of previous emperors; Byzantium, during the reign of this emperor, continues to defend itself from external enemies. A crisis was brewing within the political system, which was expressed in the confrontation between the Patriarch and the Emperor.
1018 Bulgaria joins Byzantium.
The northern borders can be strengthened thanks to the baptism of the Bulgarians and Slavs of Kievan Rus.
In 1048, the Seljuk Turks, led by Ibrahim Inal, invaded Transcaucasia and took the Byzantine city of Erzurum.
The Byzantine Empire did not have enough forces to protect the southeastern borders. Soon the Armenian and Georgian rulers recognized themselves as dependent on the Turks.
1046 Peace treaty between Kievan Rus and Byzantium.
Emperor of Byzantium Vladimir Monomakh married his daughter Anna to Prince of Kyiv Vsevolod. Relations between Rus' and Byzantium were not always friendly; there were many aggressive campaigns of ancient Russian princes against the Eastern Empire. At the same time, one cannot fail to note the enormous influence that Byzantine culture had on Kievan Rus.
1054 The Great Schism.
There was a final split between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.
1071 The city of Bari in Apulia was taken by the Normans.
The last stronghold of the Byzantine Empire in Italy fell.
1086-1091 The war of the Byzantine Emperor Alexei I with the alliance of the Pecheneg and Cuman tribes.
Thanks to the cunning policy of the emperor, the alliance of nomadic tribes disintegrated, and the Pechenegs were decisively defeated in 1091.

From the 11th century, the gradual decline of the Byzantine Empire began. The division into themes became obsolete due to the growing number of large farmers. The state was constantly exposed to attacks from the outside, no longer able to fight numerous enemies. The main danger was the Seljuks. During the clashes, the Byzantines managed to clear them from the southern coast of Asia Minor.

Late Byzantine period

Since the 11th century, the activity of Western European countries has increased. The Crusader troops, raising the flag of the “defenders of the Holy Sepulcher,” attacked Byzantium. Unable to fight numerous enemies, the Byzantine emperors used armies of mercenaries. At sea, Byzantium used the fleets of Pisa and Venice.

1122 The troops of Emperor John II Komnenos repelled the Pecheneg invasion.
There are continuous wars with Venice at sea. However, the main danger was the Seljuks. During the clashes, the Byzantines managed to clear them from the southern coast of Asia Minor. In the fight against the crusaders, the Byzantines managed to clear Northern Syria.
1176 Defeat of the Byzantine troops at Myriokephalos from the Seljuk Turks.
After this defeat, Byzantium finally switched to defensive wars.
1204 Constantinople fell under the attacks of the crusaders.
The core of the crusader army was the French and Genoese. Central Byzantium, occupied by the Latins, is formed into a separate autonomy and is called the Latin Empire. After the fall of the capital, the Byzantine Church was under the jurisdiction of the pope, and Tomazzo Morosini was appointed supreme patriarch.
1261
Latin Empire completely cleared of the crusaders, and Constantinople was liberated by the Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.

Byzantium during the reign of the Palaiologos

During the reign of the Palaiologans in Byzantium, a complete decline of cities was observed. The dilapidated cities looked especially shabby against the backdrop of flourishing villages. Agriculture experienced a boom caused by high demand for the products of feudal estates.

The dynastic marriages of the Palaiologans with the royal courts of Western and Eastern Europe and the constant close contact between them became the reason for the appearance of their own heraldry among the Byzantine rulers. The Palaiologan family was the first to have its own coat of arms.

Rice. 3. Coat of arms of the Palaiologan dynasty.

In 1265, Venice monopolized almost all trade in Constantinople.
A trade war broke out between Genoa and Venice. Often, stabbings between foreign merchants took place in front of local onlookers in city squares. By strangling the domestic sales market, the emperor's Byzantine rulers caused a new wave of self-hatred.
1274 Conclusion of Michael VIII Palaiologos in Lyon of a new union with the pope.
The union carried the conditions of the supremacy of the Pope over the entire Christian world. This completely split society and caused a series of unrest in the capital.
1341 Revolt in Adrianople and Thessalonica of the population against the magnates.
The uprising was led by zealots (zealots). They wanted to take land and property from the church and magnates for the poor.
1352 Adrianople was captured by the Ottoman Turks.
They made it their capital. They took the Tsimpe fortress on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Nothing prevented the further advance of the Turks into the Balkans.

By the beginning of the 15th century, the territory of Byzantium was limited to Constantinople with its districts, part of Central Greece and islands in the Aegean Sea.

In 1452, the Ottoman Turks began the siege of Constantinople. On May 29, 1453 the city fell. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine II Palaiologos, died in battle.

Despite the concluded alliance between Byzantium and a number of Western European countries, military assistance there was no need to count. Thus, during the siege of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, Venice and Genoa sent six warships and several hundred people. Naturally, they could not provide any significant help.

What have we learned?

The Byzantine Empire remained the only ancient power that retained its political and social system, despite the Great Migration. With the fall of Byzantium, a new era begins in the history of the Middle Ages. From this article we learned how many years the Byzantine Empire lasted and what influence this state had on the countries of Western Europe and Kievan Rus.

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