The History of the Byzantine Empire in 565-800

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Table of Contents

The territory of the Byzantine Empire after Justinian I
Post-Justinian Political Life in the Byzantine Empire
Religion in the Byzantine Empire
Bibliography

The territory of the Byzantine Empire after Justinian I

Justinian was an ambitious politician who pursued an aggressive policy of conquering new territories for the Empire. During his reign, the territory of the Byzantine Empire expanded significantly; however, after Justinian’s death, it began to lose the conquered territories very quickly. The first political steps of Justine II, who had little experience and mediocre talent for governing, were not convincing.

As a result, the Empire went through a series of attacks: firstly, Justinian’s trophy of separate territories in Spain, Italy, and Africa was encroached on. In 567 Seville and Cordova (Spain) were attacked by Visigothic King Athanagild; soon the German troops entered Italy and occupied the greater part of Venetia’s and Liguire’s territory for 2 years. In 569 Byzantine Africa was also attacked by the Moorish king Garmul (Treadgold 221). In 571-572, Byzantine troops continued to concede the territories of Italy, Spain, and Africa.

In the VIIth century, the Byzantine Empire lost Egypt, Northern Africa, Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia (Treadgold 222). The emperors after Justinian were not able to retain the territories of 565. This can be explained by a range of factors: firstly, Justine II “inherited” the Empire exhausted and ravaged by permanent wars; secondly, many mistaken steps were taken in external policy and warfare by the emperors after Justinian; finally, the Empire was attacked by a huge number of contenders from every quarter.

Persian attacks were the most affecting for the Empire. However, there is no evidence to say that Islam exerted a strong influence upon Byzantines. The Empire struggled out of the crisis of the VIIth century more monolith and solidary, as most territories with other traditions in culture and religion were lost. By the end of the VII century, the territory of the Byzantine Empire did not exceed one-third of that during Justinian’s governing. Its core was the land populated by Greeks and Greek-speaking tribes.

Post-Justinian Political Life in the Byzantine Empire

The Byzantium Empire succeeded the Roman Empire in terms of the monarchical government and a complex system of bureaucracy. Military and civil powers were separated. During the VIIth and the VIIIth centuries, the model of government was evolving, reversing to the court-centered. Since the VII century, the emperor was usually called the Basileus. Certain competence was passed to the logothetes (equivalent to the ministers), domsetikoes, and strategoi (military governors), et al. The Empire had a complex hierarchy of bureaucrats (Stefoff 62).

It was difficult for Justinian’s successors to control the whole territory of the Empire. That is why the government looked more decentralized. For example, during the governance of Justine II, Tiberius II, and Maurice the attention was focused on the East. The experience of appointing vicegerents in the remote provinces was not always successful. Emperors practiced appointing exarchs who had competence in church, military, and civil affairs.

Religion in the Byzantine Empire

Eastern Orthodox Church was continually moving away from the Roman. Rome and Constantinople both claimed on gaining a leading position in the Christian world, which lead to dissidence. Unlike in Rome, where the Papacy managed to separate church and civil power, the emperor in Constantinople was at the head of church power. The head of the church in Constantinople was called the patriarch. East and West also differed in the questions of dogmas and rites. Although the emperors made various attempts to reconcile the church, their summary result was a failure. The phenomenon of Iconoclasm appeared in the Byzantine Empire in the VIIIth century, which split the Eastern Church into two opposite “camps” and alienated it from the Western Church.

The iconoclasts considered the icons to be the “idols”, the heretical depictions, referring to The Old Testament. The historians also define the following reasons for the Iconoclasm: it was a means for the Byzantine emperors to remove the main obstacle for reconciliation of Christians with Muslims and Jews; besides, this helped the emperors to weaken the power of the church, which tended to grow (Gregory 200). The struggle of Iconoclasm embodied in numerous repressions, such as destroying icons and churches, punishment and execution of the iconodules and icon painters.

Bibliography

Gregory, Timothy E. A History of Byzantium. Chichester, U.K.; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.

Stefoff, R. Monarchy. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2007. Print.

Treatgold, Warren T. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1997.

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