When did Byzantium emerge? Fall of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire

From the end of the 9th century. begins heyday of medieval Byzantium, which lasted with short interruptions until the beginning of the 13th century. The empire's borders were mainly limited to the Balkans and Asia Minor, but even within these boundaries it remained one of the strongest states in Europe. The time of the power of Byzantium also became an era of cultural upsurge.

At this time, old cities continue to develop and grow, especially. Athens and Corinth, which suffered from barbarian invasions in the 6th-8th centuries, are being revived again. The inhabitants of the Adriatic coast, once expelled by the Slavs, return to their native places and, together with the newcomers, build new urban centers - Split, Zadar, etc. are becoming more and more numerous, and many of the previously unimportant ones are turning into large centers of craft and culture.

Craft

In the craft of times heyday of Byzantium ancient traditions were maintained. The products of Byzantine jewelers were still highly valued in Western and Northern Europe. They also found demand in the East, where the artistic craft was not inferior in sophistication to the Roman one. Excavations in Byzantine cities show that in the XI-XII centuries. Many small craft workshops appeared, employing 5-10 people. Such workshops produced the lion's share of handicrafts of all kinds. Their products were used by city dwellers, merchants traveling overseas, and residents of rural areas. Often the emperor himself turned to urban individual artisans for help. However, for the manufacture of weapons and other products necessary for the state, for example, for minting coins, large state workshops were constantly working.

Some creations of Byzantine artistic craft not only won recognition in Europe at that time, but also entered the treasury of world culture. Byzantine masters achieved extraordinary grace in the technique of enamel, or, as they said in Rus', enamel. In Byzantium, the ancient technique of cloisonné enamel (cloison), inherited by Roman craftsmen from Ancient Egypt, dominated and was perfected. The enameller soldered the thinnest cells from gold wires onto the gold surface. The cells were filled with multi-colored glass and then fired. The resulting enamel was carefully polished. Byzantine cloisonne enamel was distinguished by its brilliant, literally and figuratively, execution, richness of colors, and undoubted artistic skill. It was the Byzantine masters became teachers of Russian enamellers and Western Europe.

Products made of multi-colored glass are very numerous among the archaeological finds in Byzantium.

They were also exported beyond its borders. Byzantine glass objects were discovered in Slavic countries and Transcaucasia; they were in great demand in the West. From this we can conclude that glassmaking was well developed, and, unlike Western Europe, already in the early Middle Ages. Not only jewelry was made from glass: beads, bracelets, rings, earrings, pendants, it was also used for domestic purposes - for making dishes, however, primarily for the nobility. The relative mass production led to some simplification of the appearance of the products. But still, the artistic skill of glassmakers in the X-XIII centuries. remained on top. Byzantine glass is characterized by an exquisite play of iridescent colors, a combination of severity and grace of any product - from a bead to a vessel.

The glory of the Roman craft was also achieved by Byzantine glyptics - the creations of stone cutters who worked with precious stones. Their products found in many European countries, and in Byzantium itself they were used to decorate the clothes of the imperial family and the highest clergy, and church utensils. The art of ivory carving also developed.

Fabrics

Throughout Europe they were also famous products of Byzantine weavers. The beginning of silkworm breeding in the 6th century had a truly revolutionary significance for weaving in Byzantium. The Eastern Empire had long established trade ties with Russia, the main supplier of silk, along the Great Silk Road stretching across all of Eurasia. And so one of the missionary monks managed to find out the secret of producing a wonderful fabric from silk threads secreted by the caterpillars of silkworm butterflies. He secretly exported several larvae to the West. Now Byzantium has become main supplier of silk fabrics for European countries. The leading center of silk production was Asia Minor.

Silk and brocade (silk base with metal threads) fabrics were made from silk. Both technologies were borrowed from the masters, but the Byzantines improved them, reaching unprecedented heights in gold weaving - weaving gold or metallic threads resembling gold into fabric. The most advanced of these fabrics, used for the imperial ceremonial costume, look like a solid sheet of pure gold. Brocade and other gold-woven materials were decorated with various images, sometimes entire paintings or at least rich ornaments.

Along with images of animals and birds, geometric figures, even on secular clothing there are Christian symbols - primarily crosses and images of angels. Methods of wool weaving, common in Europe, also continued to improve. Byzantine craftsmen inherited from the ancients the technique of making purple fabrics - dyed using a red-violet dye obtained from needle shellfish. Purple has been used for royal robes since ancient times and was in great demand far beyond the borders of Byzantium.

art

X-XII centuries became a time of prosperity Byzantine fine art. It was then that the finally established traditions of Byzantine icon painting found their full expression and were perceived by masters from other Orthodox countries. The creations of Roman icon painters combined the best traditions of Christian spirituality and secular art of antiquity. They sought to convey the inexhaustibility of divine love and the inner beauty of a person filled with faith.

The main thing in icon painting is the “face” - the image of the face of Christ or a revered saint. Moreover, the main attention was paid to the eyes fixed on the person praying. All images breathed the peace of true faith, wisdom and mercy. In the IX-XI centuries. Strict canons of icon painting are being developed. The best examples are accepted as iconographic “originals”, on which later masters must rely. Few genuine Byzantine icons have survived to this day. The turbulent events of the decline of the empire did not spare the creations of artists. However, the heights of their art can be judged by the numerous remaining mosaics and frescoes.

Fall of the Byzantine Empire

Meanwhile, the heyday of the empire was drawing to a close. In the 11th century Turks rushed from the depths of Asia to the west. By the end of the century they had conquered most of the Asia Minor peninsula. Beginning in 1097, partly with the help of Western crusading knights, emperors from the Komnenos family regained many lands in the east. The new rise of Byzantium is associated with Komnenos. But the allies turned out to be more dangerous than their previous enemies: already in the 12th century. they began to appropriate Byzantine lands. And in 1204, having intervened in the internal strife of the Romans, the Latins were not captured and Constantinople was plundered. Many cultural masterpieces and shrines of Orthodox Christianity were taken to the West or were irretrievably lost.

From now on there were three emperors in the East. The leader of the crusaders, the ruler of the Latin Empire, established himself in the former capital. Noble Romans (Byzantines) settled in Nicaea and Trebizond, laying claim to the imperial inheritance. Other independent Roman states also emerged (the largest was the so-called Despotate of Epirus in the western Balkans). In 1262, the Nicaean emperor expelled the crusaders from Constantinople and revived Byzantium. However, the new empire, ruled by the Palaiologan dynasty, turned out to be only a shadow of its former self. The capitals of the rival empires, Constantinople and Trebizond, still flourished, but most cities became impoverished and fell into decay. The craft almost stopped in its development, even the delightful products of jewelers lagged behind European fashion, which was dictated by the masters of Italy and France.

At the same time, the art of the empire during this period of its existence was experiencing its final rise - final powerful chord Byzantine civilization. True, small forms now predominate. Even the noble palaces erected at that time were relatively small in size, but they were richly and carefully decorated, with special attention to detail. Monumental mosaics on the walls of churches are increasingly giving way to wooden icons and frescoes. The images become more realistic, better conveying the feelings and observations of the icon painter. In secular painting, even more than in icon painting, one can feel the desire for realism - the influence of the Pre-Renaissance, which had already begun in Italy.

The new empire was weaker and poorer than its predecessor. She also did not have strong allies who would protect her from external enemies. In the XIV century. the decline becomes apparent. In the east, in Asia Minor, the Turks, led by the Ottoman family, gained strength. They invaded the Balkans and conquered the local Slavic states. Soon it was Byzantium's turn. In 1453, after a long siege, the Turks took Constantinople. The last emperor, Constantine XI, died defending the city. In 1460-1461 The Turks put an end to the last strongholds of the Romans - the fortresses of the Palaiologos in the Peloponnese and the Trebizond Empire. Byzantium ceased to exist.

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Less than 80 years after the partition, the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist, leaving Byzantium as the historical, cultural and civilizational successor to Ancient Rome for almost ten centuries of late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The Eastern Roman Empire received the name “Byzantine” in the works of Western European historians after its fall; it comes from the original name of Constantinople - Byzantium, where the Roman Emperor Constantine I moved the capital of the Roman Empire in 330, officially renaming the city “New Rome”. The Byzantines themselves called themselves Romans - in Greek "Romeans", and their power - the "Roman ("Roman") Empire" (in Middle Greek (Byzantine) language - Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων, Basileía Romaíon) or briefly "Romania" (Ῥωμαν ία, Romania) . Western sources throughout most of Byzantine history referred to it as the "Empire of the Greeks" due to its predominance of Greek language, Hellenized population and culture. In Ancient Rus', Byzantium was usually called the “Greek Kingdom”, and its capital was Constantinople.

The permanent capital and civilizational center of the Byzantine Empire was Constantinople, one of the largest cities of the medieval world. The empire controlled its largest possessions under Emperor Justinian I (527-565), regaining for several decades a significant part of the coastal territories of the former western provinces of Rome and the position of the most powerful Mediterranean power. Subsequently, under the pressure of numerous enemies, the state gradually lost its lands.

After the Slavic, Lombard, Visigothic and Arab conquests, the empire occupied only the territory of Greece and Asia Minor. Some strengthening in the 9th-11th centuries was replaced by serious losses at the end of the 11th century, during the Seljuk invasion, and defeat at Manzikert, strengthening during the first Komnenos, after the collapse of the country under the blows of the crusaders who took Constantinople in 1204, another strengthening under John Vatatz, restoration empire by Michael Palaiologos, and finally, its final destruction in the middle of the 15th century under the onslaught of the Ottoman Turks.

Population

The ethnic composition of the population of the Byzantine Empire, especially at the first stage of its history, was extremely diverse: Greeks, Italians, Syrians, Copts, Armenians, Jews, Hellenized Asia Minor tribes, Thracians, Illyrians, Dacians, South Slavs. With the reduction of the territory of Byzantium (starting from the end of the 6th century), some peoples remained outside its borders - at the same time, new peoples invaded and settled here (Goths in the 4th-5th centuries, Slavs in the 6th-7th centuries, Arabs in the 7th-9th centuries, Pechenegs, Polovtsians in the 11th-13th centuries, etc.). In the 6th-11th centuries, the population of Byzantium included ethnic groups from which the Italian nation was later formed. The predominant role in the economy, political life and culture of Byzantium in the west of the country was played by the Greek population, and in the east by the Armenian population. The official language of Byzantium in the 4th-6th centuries was Latin, from the 7th century until the end of the empire - Greek.

State structure

From the Roman Empire, Byzantium inherited a monarchical form of government with an emperor at its head. From the 7th century the head of state was more often called autocrat (Greek. Αὐτοκράτωρ - autocrat) or basileus (Greek. Βασιλεὺς ).

The Byzantine Empire consisted of two prefectures - East and Illyricum, each of which was headed by prefects: the Praetorian Prefect of the East and the Praetorian Prefect of Illyricum. Constantinople was allocated as a separate unit, headed by the prefect of the city of Constantinople.

For a long time, the previous system of government and financial management was maintained. But from the end of the 6th century significant changes began. The reforms are mainly related to defense (administrative division into themes instead of exarchates) and predominantly Greek culture of the country (introduction of the positions of logothete, strategos, drungaria, etc.). Since the 10th century, feudal principles of governance have spread widely; this process led to the establishment of representatives of the feudal aristocracy on the throne. Until the very end of the empire, numerous rebellions and struggles for the imperial throne did not stop.

The two highest military officials were the commander-in-chief of the infantry and the chief of the cavalry, these positions were later combined; in the capital there were two masters of infantry and cavalry (Strateg Opsikia). In addition, there was a master of infantry and cavalry of the East (Strategos of Anatolica), a master of infantry and cavalry of Illyricum, a master of infantry and cavalry of Thrace (Strategos of Thrace).

Byzantine emperors

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476), the Eastern Roman Empire continued to exist for almost a thousand years; in historiography from that time on it is usually called Byzantium.

The ruling class of Byzantium was characterized by mobility. At all times, a person from the bottom could make his way to power. In some cases it was even easier for him: for example, he had the opportunity to make a career in the army and earn military glory. Thus, for example, Emperor Michael II Travl was an uneducated mercenary, was sentenced to death by Emperor Leo V for rebellion, and his execution was postponed only because of the celebration of Christmas (820); Vasily I was a peasant and then a horse trainer in the service of a noble nobleman. Roman I Lecapinus was also a descendant of peasants, Michael IV, before becoming emperor, was a money changer, like one of his brothers.

Army

Although Byzantium inherited its army from the Roman Empire, its structure was closer to the phalanx system of the Hellenic states. By the end of Byzantium's existence, it became mainly mercenary and had a rather low combat capability.

But a system of military command and supply was developed in detail, works on strategy and tactics are published, a variety of technical means are widely used, in particular, a system of beacons is being built to warn of enemy attacks. In contrast to the old Roman army, the importance of the fleet, which the invention of “Greek fire” helps to gain supremacy at sea, greatly increases. Fully armored cavalry - cataphracts - was adopted from the Sassanids. At the same time, technically complex throwing weapons, ballistae and catapults are disappearing, replaced by simpler stone throwers.

The transition to the femme system of recruiting troops provided the country with 150 years of successful wars, but the financial exhaustion of the peasantry and its transition to dependence on the feudal lords led to a gradual decrease in combat effectiveness. The recruitment system was changed to a typically feudal one, when the nobility was obliged to supply military contingents for the right to own land.

Subsequently, the army and navy fell into ever greater decline, and at the very end of the empire’s existence they became purely mercenary formations. In 1453, Constantinople, with a population of 60 thousand inhabitants, was able to field only a 5 thousand army and 2.5 thousand mercenaries. Since the 10th century, the emperors of Constantinople hired Rus and warriors from neighboring barbarian tribes. Since the 11th century, ethnically mixed Varangians played a significant role in the heavy infantry, and the light cavalry was recruited from Turkic nomads.

After the era of Viking campaigns came to an end at the beginning of the 11th century, mercenaries from Scandinavia (as well as from Viking-conquered Normandy and England) flocked to Byzantium across the Mediterranean Sea. The future Norwegian king Harald the Severe fought for several years in the Varangian Guard throughout the Mediterranean. The Varangian Guard bravely defended Constantinople from the Crusaders in 1204 and was defeated when the city was captured.

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Start date: 395

Expiration date: 1453

Helpful information

Byzantine Empire
Byzantium
Eastern Roman Empire
Arab. لإمبراطورية البيزنطية or بيزنطة
English Byzantine Empire or Byzantium
Hebrew האימפריה הביזנטית

Culture and society

The period of reign of the emperors from Basil I of Macedon to Alexios I Komnenos (867-1081) was of great cultural significance. The essential features of this period of history are the high rise of Byzantinism and the spread of its cultural mission to southeastern Europe. Through the works of the famous Byzantines Cyril and Methodius, the Slavic alphabet, the Glagolitic alphabet, appeared, which led to the emergence of the Slavs’ own written literature. Patriarch Photius put barriers to the claims of the popes and theoretically substantiated the right of Constantinople to ecclesiastical independence from Rome (see Division of Churches).

In the scientific field, this period is characterized by extraordinary fertility and diversity of literary enterprises. Collections and adaptations of this period preserve precious historical, literary and archaeological material borrowed from writers now lost.

Economy

The state included rich lands with a large number of cities - Egypt, Asia Minor, Greece. In cities, artisans and merchants united into classes. Belonging to the class was not a duty, but a privilege; entry into it was subject to a number of conditions. The conditions established by the eparch (city governor) for the 22 estates of Constantinople were compiled in the 10th century in a collection of decrees, the Book of the Eparch.

Despite a corrupt management system, very high taxes, slave-owning and court intrigue, the economy of Byzantium was for a long time the strongest in Europe. Trade was carried out with all former Roman possessions in the west and with India (via the Sassanids and Arabs) in the east. Even after the Arab conquests, the empire was very rich. But the financial costs were also very high, and the country's wealth caused great envy. The decline in trade caused by the privileges granted to Italian merchants, the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders and the onslaught of the Turks led to the final weakening of finances and the state as a whole.

Science, medicine, law

Throughout the entire period of the existence of the state, Byzantine science was in close connection with ancient philosophy and metaphysics. The main activity of scientists was in the applied plane, where a number of remarkable successes were achieved, such as the construction of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople and the invention of Greek fire. At the same time, pure science practically did not develop either in terms of creating new theories or in terms of developing the ideas of ancient thinkers. From the era of Justinian until the end of the first millennium, scientific knowledge was in severe decline, but subsequently Byzantine scientists again showed themselves, especially in astronomy and mathematics, already relying on the achievements of Arab and Persian science.

Medicine was one of the few branches of knowledge in which progress was made compared to antiquity. The influence of Byzantine medicine was felt both in Arab countries and in Europe during the Renaissance.

In the last century of the empire, Byzantium played an important role in the dissemination of ancient Greek literature in early Renaissance Italy. By that time, the Academy of Trebizond had become the main center for the study of astronomy and mathematics.

Right

The reforms of Justinian I in the field of law had a great influence on the development of jurisprudence. Byzantine criminal law was largely borrowed from Rus'.

Fall of Constantinople (1453) - the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Turks, which led to its final fall.

Day May 29, 1453 , undoubtedly, is a turning point in human history. It means the end of the old world, the world of Byzantine civilization. For eleven centuries there stood a city on the Bosphorus where deep intelligence was admired and the science and literature of the classical past were carefully studied and treasured. Without Byzantine researchers and scribes, we would not know much about the literature of ancient Greece. It was also a city whose rulers for many centuries encouraged the development of a school of art that has no parallel in the history of mankind and was a fusion of the unchanged Greek common sense and deep religiosity, which saw in the work of art the embodiment of the Holy Spirit and the sanctification of material things.

In addition, Constantinople was a great cosmopolitan city where, along with trade, the free exchange of ideas flourished and the inhabitants considered themselves not just some people, but the heirs of Greece and Rome, enlightened by the Christian faith. There were legends about the wealth of Constantinople at that time.

The beginning of the decline of Byzantium

Until the 11th century. Byzantium was a brilliant and powerful power, a stronghold of Christianity against Islam. The Byzantines courageously and successfully fulfilled their duty until, in the middle of the century, a new threat from Islam approached them from the East, along with the invasion of the Turks. Western Europe, meanwhile, went so far that it itself, in the person of the Normans, tried to carry out aggression against Byzantium, which found itself involved in a struggle on two fronts just at a time when it itself was experiencing a dynastic crisis and internal turmoil. The Normans were repulsed, but the price of this victory was the loss of Byzantine Italy. The Byzantines also had to permanently give the Turks the mountainous plateaus of Anatolia - lands that were for them the main source of replenishing human resources for the army and food supplies. In the best times of its great past, the well-being of Byzantium was associated with its dominance over Anatolia. The vast peninsula, known in ancient times as Asia Minor, was one of the most populated places in the world during Roman times.

Byzantium continued to play the role of a great power, while its power was already virtually undermined. Thus, the empire found itself between two evils; and this already difficult situation was further complicated by the movement that went down in history under the name of the Crusades.

Meanwhile, the deep old religious differences between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches, fanned for political purposes throughout the 11th century, steadily deepened until, towards the end of the century, a final schism occurred between Rome and Constantinople.

The crisis came when the Crusader army, carried away by the ambition of their leaders, the jealous greed of their Venetian allies and the hostility that the West now felt towards the Byzantine Church, turned on Constantinople, captured and plundered it, forming the Latin Empire on the ruins of the ancient city ( 1204-1261).

4th Crusade and the formation of the Latin Empire

The Fourth Crusade was organized by Pope Innocent III to liberate the Holy Land from infidels. The original plan for the Fourth Crusade included organizing a naval expedition on Venetian ships to Egypt, which was supposed to become a springboard for an attack on Palestine, but was later changed: the crusaders moved on the capital of Byzantium. The participants in the campaign were mainly French and Venetians.

Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople on April 13, 1204. Engraving by G. Doré

April 13, 1204 Constantinople fell . The fortress city, which withstood the onslaught of many powerful enemies, was captured by the enemy for the first time. What was beyond the power of the hordes of Persians and Arabs, the knightly army succeeded. The ease with which the crusaders captured the huge, well-fortified city was the result of the acute socio-political crisis that the Byzantine Empire was experiencing at that moment. A significant role was also played by the fact that part of the Byzantine aristocracy and merchant class was interested in trade relations with the Latins. In other words, there was a kind of “fifth column” in Constantinople.

Capture of Constantinople (April 13, 1204) by the Crusader troops was one of the epoch-making events of medieval history. After the capture of the city, mass robberies and murders of the Greek Orthodox population began. About 2 thousand people were killed in the first days after the capture. Fires raged in the city. Many cultural and literary monuments that had been stored here since ancient times were destroyed in the fire. The famous Library of Constantinople was especially badly damaged by the fire. Many valuables were taken to Venice. For more than half a century, the ancient city on the Bosphorus promontory was under the rule of the Crusaders. Only in 1261 did Constantinople again fall into the hands of the Greeks.

This Fourth Crusade (1204), which evolved from the "road to the Holy Sepulcher" into a Venetian commercial enterprise leading to the sack of Constantinople by the Latins, ended the Eastern Roman Empire as a supranational state and finally split Western and Byzantine Christianity.

Actually, Byzantium after this campaign ceased to exist as a state for more than 50 years. Some historians, not without reason, write that after the disaster of 1204, actually two empires were formed - the Latin and the Venetian. Part of the former imperial lands in Asia Minor was captured by the Seljuks, in the Balkans by Serbia, Bulgaria and Venice. However, the Byzantines were able to retain a number of other territories and create their own states on them: the Kingdom of Epirus, the Nicaean and Trebizond empires.

Latin Empire

Having established themselves in Constantinople as masters, the Venetians increased their trading influence throughout the territory of the fallen Byzantine Empire. The capital of the Latin Empire was the seat of the most noble feudal lords for several decades. They preferred the palaces of Constantinople to their castles in Europe. The nobility of the empire quickly became accustomed to Byzantine luxury and adopted the habit of constant celebrations and cheerful feasts. The consumer nature of life in Constantinople under the Latins became even more pronounced. The crusaders came to these lands with a sword and during the half-century of their rule they never learned to create. In the middle of the 13th century, the Latin Empire fell into complete decline. Many cities and villages, devastated and plundered during the aggressive campaigns of the Latins, were never able to recover. The population suffered not only from unbearable taxes and levies, but also from the oppression of foreigners who disdained the culture and customs of the Greeks. The Orthodox clergy actively preached the struggle against the enslavers.

Summer 1261 Emperor of Nicaea Michael VIII Palaiologos managed to recapture Constantinople, which entailed the restoration of the Byzantine and destruction of the Latin empires.

Byzantium in the XIII-XIV centuries.

After this, Byzantium was no longer the dominant power in the Christian East. She retained only a glimpse of her former mystical prestige. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Constantinople seemed so rich and magnificent, the imperial court so magnificent, and the piers and bazaars of the city so full of goods that the emperor was still treated as a powerful ruler. However, in reality he was now only a sovereign among his equals or even more powerful ones. Some other Greek rulers have already appeared. To the east of Byzantium was the Trebizond Empire of the Great Comnenos. In the Balkans, Bulgaria and Serbia alternately laid claim to hegemony on the peninsula. In Greece - on the mainland and islands - small Frankish feudal principalities and Italian colonies arose.

The entire 14th century was a period of political failures for Byzantium. The Byzantines were threatened from all sides - Serbs and Bulgarians in the Balkans, the Vatican in the West, Muslims in the East.

Position of Byzantium by 1453

Byzantium, which had existed for more than 1000 years, was in decline by the 15th century. It was a very small state, whose power extended only to the capital - the city of Constantinople with its suburbs - several Greek islands off the coast of Asia Minor, several cities on the coast in Bulgaria, as well as the Morea (Peloponnese). This state could only be considered an empire conditionally, since even the rulers of the few pieces of land that remained under its control were actually independent of the central government.

At the same time, Constantinople, founded in 330, was perceived as a symbol of the empire throughout the entire period of its existence as the Byzantine capital. For a long time, Constantinople was the largest economic and cultural center of the country, and only in the XIV-XV centuries. began to decline. Its population, which in the 12th century. together with the surrounding residents, amounted to about a million people, now there were no more than one hundred thousand, continuing to gradually decline further.

The empire was surrounded by the lands of its main enemy - the Muslim state of the Ottoman Turks, who saw Constantinople as the main obstacle to the spread of their power in the region.

The Turkish state, which was quickly gaining power and successfully fought to expand its borders in both the west and the east, had long sought to conquer Constantinople. Several times the Turks attacked Byzantium. The offensive of the Ottoman Turks on Byzantium led to the fact that by the 30s of the 15th century. All that remained of the Byzantine Empire was Constantinople and its surroundings, some islands in the Aegean Sea and Morea, an area in the south of the Peloponnese. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Ottoman Turks captured the richest trading city of Bursa, one of the important points of transit caravan trade between East and West. Very soon they captured two other Byzantine cities - Nicaea (Iznik) and Nicomedia (Izmid).

The military successes of the Ottoman Turks became possible thanks to the political struggle that took place in this region between Byzantium, the Balkan states, Venice and Genoa. Very often, rival parties sought to enlist the military support of the Ottomans, thereby ultimately facilitating the expanding expansion of the latter. The military strength of the strengthening state of the Turks was especially clearly demonstrated in the Battle of Varna (1444), which, in fact, also decided the fate of Constantinople.

Battle of Varna - battle between the Crusaders and the Ottoman Empire near the city of Varna (Bulgaria). The battle marked the end of the unsuccessful crusade against Varna by the Hungarian and Polish king Vladislav. The outcome of the battle was the complete defeat of the crusaders, the death of Vladislav and the strengthening of the Turks on the Balkan Peninsula. The weakening of Christian positions in the Balkans allowed the Turks to take Constantinople (1453).

Attempts by the imperial authorities to receive help from the West and to conclude a union with the Catholic Church for this purpose in 1439 were rejected by the majority of the clergy and people of Byzantium. Of the philosophers, only admirers of Thomas Aquinas approved the Florentine Union.

All neighbors were afraid of Turkish strengthening, especially Genoa and Venice, who had economic interests in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, Hungary, which received an aggressively powerful enemy in the south, beyond the Danube, the Knights of St. John, who feared the loss of the remnants of their possessions in the Middle East, and the Pope Roman, who hoped to stop the strengthening and spread of Islam along with Turkish expansion. However, at the decisive moment, Byzantium's potential allies found themselves captive to their own complicated problems.

The most likely allies of Constantinople were the Venetians. Genoa remained neutral. The Hungarians have not yet recovered from their recent defeat. Wallachia and the Serbian states were vassals of the Sultan, and the Serbs even contributed auxiliary troops to the Sultan's army.

Preparing the Turks for war

Turkish Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror declared the conquest of Constantinople as his life's goal. In 1451, he concluded an agreement beneficial for Byzantium with Emperor Constantine XI, but already in 1452 he violated it, capturing the Rumeli-Hissar fortress on the European shore of the Bosphorus. Constantine XI Palaeologus turned to the West for help and in December 1452 solemnly confirmed the union, but this only caused general discontent. The commander of the Byzantine fleet, Luca Notara, publicly stated that he “would prefer that the Turkish turban dominate the City rather than the papal tiara.”

At the beginning of March 1453, Mehmed II announced the recruitment of an army; in total he had 150 (according to other sources - 300) thousand troops, equipped with powerful artillery, 86 military and 350 transport ships. In Constantinople there were 4973 inhabitants capable of holding weapons, about 2 thousand mercenaries from the West and 25 ships.

The Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, who vowed to take Constantinople, carefully and carefully prepared for the upcoming war, realizing that he would have to deal with a powerful fortress, from which the armies of other conquerors had retreated more than once. The unusually thick walls were practically invulnerable to siege engines and even standard artillery at that time.

The Turkish army consisted of 100 thousand soldiers, over 30 warships and about 100 small fast ships. Such a number of ships immediately allowed the Turks to establish dominance in the Sea of ​​Marmara.

The city of Constantinople was located on a peninsula formed by the Sea of ​​Marmara and the Golden Horn. The city blocks facing the seashore and the shore of the bay were covered by city walls. A special system of fortifications made of walls and towers covered the city from land - from the west. The Greeks were relatively calm behind the fortress walls on the shores of the Sea of ​​Marmara - the sea current here was fast and did not allow the Turks to land troops under the walls. The Golden Horn was considered a vulnerable place.

View of Constantinople

The Greek fleet defending Constantinople consisted of 26 ships. The city had several cannons and a significant supply of spears and arrows. There were clearly not enough fire weapons or soldiers to repel the assault. The total number of eligible Roman soldiers, not including allies, was about 7 thousand.

The West was in no hurry to provide assistance to Constantinople, only Genoa sent 700 soldiers on two galleys, led by the condottiere Giovanni Giustiniani, and Venice - 2 warships. Constantine's brothers, the rulers of the Morea, Dmitry and Thomas, were busy quarreling among themselves. The inhabitants of Galata, an extraterritorial quarter of the Genoese on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, declared their neutrality, but in reality they helped the Turks, hoping to maintain their privileges.

Beginning of the siege

April 7, 1453 Mehmed II began the siege. The Sultan sent envoys with a proposal to surrender. In case of surrender, he promised the city population the preservation of life and property. Emperor Constantine replied that he was ready to pay any tribute that Byzantium was able to withstand, and to cede any territories, but refused to surrender the city. At the same time, Constantine ordered Venetian sailors to march along the city walls, demonstrating that Venice was an ally of Constantinople. The Venetian fleet was one of the strongest in the Mediterranean basin, and this should have influenced the Sultan's resolve. Despite the refusal, Mehmed gave the order to prepare for the assault. The Turkish army had high morale and determination, unlike the Romans.

The Turkish fleet had its main anchorage on the Bosphorus, its main task was to break through the fortifications of the Golden Horn, in addition, the ships were supposed to blockade the city and prevent aid to Constantinople from the allies.

Initially, success accompanied the besieged. The Byzantines blocked the entrance to the Golden Horn Bay with a chain, and the Turkish fleet could not approach the walls of the city. The first assault attempts failed.

On April 20, 5 ships with city defenders (4 Genoese, 1 Byzantine) defeated a squadron of 150 Turkish ships in battle.

But already on April 22, the Turks transported 80 ships overland to the Golden Horn. The attempt of the defenders to burn these ships failed, because the Genoese from Galata noticed the preparations and informed the Turks.

Fall of Constantinople

Defeatism reigned in Constantinople itself. Giustiniani advised Constantine XI to surrender the city. Defense funds were embezzled. Luca Notara hid the money allocated for the fleet, hoping to pay off the Turks with it.

May 29 started early in the morning final assault on Constantinople . The first attacks were repulsed, but then the wounded Giustiniani left the city and fled to Galata. The Turks were able to take the main gate of the capital of Byzantium. Fighting took place on the streets of the city, Emperor Constantine XI fell in the battle, and when the Turks found his wounded body, they cut off his head and hoisted it on a pole. For three days there was looting and violence in Constantinople. The Turks killed everyone they met on the streets: men, women, children. Streams of blood flowed down the steep streets of Constantinople from the hills of Petra into the Golden Horn.

The Turks broke into men's and women's monasteries. Some young monks, preferring martyrdom to dishonor, threw themselves into wells; the monks and elderly nuns followed the ancient tradition of the Orthodox Church, which prescribed not to resist.

The houses of the inhabitants were also robbed one after another; Each group of robbers hung a small flag at the entrance as a sign that there was nothing left to take from the house. The inhabitants of the houses were taken away along with their property. Anyone who fell from exhaustion was immediately killed; the same thing was done with many babies.

Scenes of mass desecration of sacred objects took place in churches. Many crucifixes, adorned with jewels, were carried out of the temples with Turkish turbans dashingly draped over them.

In the Temple of Chora, the Turks left the mosaics and frescoes untouched, but destroyed the icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria - her most sacred image in all of Byzantium, executed, according to legend, by Saint Luke himself. It was moved here from the Church of the Virgin Mary near the palace at the very beginning of the siege, so that this shrine, being as close as possible to the walls, would inspire their defenders. The Turks pulled the icon out of its frame and split it into four parts.

And here is how contemporaries describe the capture of the greatest temple of all Byzantium - the Cathedral of St. Sofia. "The church was still filled with people. The Holy Liturgy had already ended and Matins was underway. When noise was heard outside, the huge bronze doors of the temple were closed. Those gathered inside prayed for a miracle that alone could save them. But their prayers were in vain. Very little time passed, and the doors collapsed under blows from outside. The worshipers were trapped. A few old people and cripples were killed on the spot; The majority of the Turks were tied up or chained to each other in groups, and shawls and scarves torn from women were used as fetters. Many beautiful girls and boys, as well as richly dressed nobles, were almost torn to pieces when the soldiers who captured them fought among themselves, considering them their prey. The priests continued to read prayers at the altar until they were also captured..."

Sultan Mehmed II himself entered the city only on June 1. Escorted by selected troops of the Janissary Guard, accompanied by his viziers, he slowly rode through the streets of Constantinople. Everything around where the soldiers visited was devastated and ruined; churches stood desecrated and looted, houses uninhabited, shops and warehouses broken and plundered. He rode a horse into the Church of St. Sophia, ordered the cross to be knocked off it and turned into the largest mosque in the world.

Cathedral of St. Sofia in Constantinople

Immediately after the capture of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II first issued a decree “providing freedom to all who survived,” but many residents of the city were killed by Turkish soldiers, many became slaves. To quickly restore the population, Mehmed ordered the entire population of the city of Aksaray to be transferred to the new capital.

The Sultan granted the Greeks the rights of a self-governing community within the empire; the head of the community was to be the Patriarch of Constantinople, responsible to the Sultan.

In subsequent years, the last territories of the empire were occupied (Morea - in 1460).

Consequences of the death of Byzantium

Constantine XI was the last of the Roman emperors. With his death, the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist. Its lands became part of the Ottoman state. The former capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, became the capital of the Ottoman Empire until its collapse in 1922 (at first it was called Constantine and then Istanbul (Istanbul)).

Most Europeans believed that the death of Byzantium was the beginning of the end of the world, since only Byzantium was the successor to the Roman Empire. Many contemporaries blamed Venice for the fall of Constantinople (Venice then had one of the most powerful fleets). The Republic of Venice played a double game, trying, on the one hand, to organize a crusade against the Turks, and on the other, to protect its trade interests by sending friendly embassies to the Sultan.

However, you need to understand that the rest of the Christian powers did not lift a finger to save the dying empire. Without the help of other states, even if the Venetian fleet had arrived on time, it would have allowed Constantinople to hold out for a couple more weeks, but this would only have prolonged the agony.

Rome was fully aware of the Turkish danger and understood that all of Western Christianity might be in danger. Pope Nicholas V called on all Western powers to jointly undertake a powerful and decisive Crusade and intended to lead this campaign himself. From the moment the fatal news arrived from Constantinople, he sent out his messages calling for active action. On September 30, 1453, the Pope sent a bull to all Western sovereigns declaring a Crusade. Each sovereign was ordered to shed the blood of himself and his subjects for the holy cause, and also to allocate a tenth of his income to it. Both Greek cardinals - Isidore and Bessarion - actively supported his efforts. Vissarion himself wrote to the Venetians, simultaneously accusing them and begging them to stop the wars in Italy and concentrate all their forces on the fight against the Antichrist.

However, no Crusade ever happened. And although the sovereigns eagerly caught reports of the death of Constantinople, and writers composed sorrowful elegies, although the French composer Guillaume Dufay wrote a special funeral song and it was sung in all French lands, no one was ready to act. King Frederick III of Germany was poor and powerless because he had no real power over the German princes; Neither politically nor financially he could participate in the Crusade. King Charles VII of France was busy rebuilding his country after a long and ruinous war with England. The Turks were somewhere far away; he had more important things to do in his own home. For England, which suffered even more than France from the Hundred Years' War, the Turks seemed an even more distant problem. King Henry VI could do absolutely nothing, since he had just lost his mind and the whole country was plunging into the chaos of the Wars of the Roses. None of the kings showed any further interest, with the exception of the Hungarian king Ladislaus, who, of course, had every reason to be concerned. But he had a bad relationship with his army commander. And without him and without allies, he could not dare to undertake any enterprise.

Thus, although Western Europe was shocked that a great historic Christian city had fallen into the hands of infidels, no papal bull could motivate it to action. The very fact that the Christian states failed to come to the aid of Constantinople showed their clear reluctance to fight for the faith if their immediate interests were not affected.

The Turks quickly occupied the rest of the empire. The Serbs were the first to suffer - Serbia became a theater of military operations between the Turks and Hungarians. In 1454, the Serbs were forced, under the threat of force, to give up part of their territory to the Sultan. But already in 1459, the whole of Serbia was in the hands of the Turks, with the exception of Belgrade, which until 1521 remained in the hands of the Hungarians. The neighboring kingdom of Bosnia was conquered by the Turks 4 years later.

Meanwhile, the last vestiges of Greek independence gradually disappeared. The Duchy of Athens was destroyed in 1456. And in 1461, the last Greek capital, Trebizond, fell. This was the end of the free Greek world. True, a certain number of Greeks still remained under Christian rule - in Cyprus, on the islands of the Aegean and Ionian seas and in the port cities of the continent, still held by Venice, but their rulers were of a different blood and a different form of Christianity. Only in the south-east of the Peloponnese, in the lost villages of Maina, into the harsh mountain spurs of which not a single Turk dared to penetrate, was a semblance of freedom preserved.

Soon all Orthodox territories in the Balkans were in the hands of the Turks. Serbia and Bosnia were enslaved. Albania fell in January 1468. Moldavia recognized its vassal dependence on the Sultan back in 1456.

Many historians in the 17th and 18th centuries. considered the fall of Constantinople to be a key moment in European history, the end of the Middle Ages, just as the fall of Rome in 476 was the end of Antiquity. Others believed that the mass flight of Greeks to Italy caused the Renaissance there.

Rus' - the heir of Byzantium

After the death of Byzantium, Rus' remained the only free Orthodox state. The Baptism of Rus' was one of the most glorious acts of the Byzantine Church. Now this daughter country was becoming stronger than its parent, and the Russians were well aware of this. Constantinople, as was believed in Rus', fell as punishment for its sins, for apostasy, having agreed to unite with the Western Church. The Russians vehemently rejected the Union of Florence and expelled its supporter, Metropolitan Isidore, imposed on them by the Greeks. And now, having preserved their Orthodox faith unsullied, they found themselves the owners of the only state that had survived from the Orthodox world, whose power was also constantly growing. “Constantinople fell,” wrote the Metropolitan of Moscow in 1458, “because it retreated from the true Orthodox faith. But in Russia this faith is still alive, the Faith of the Seven Councils, which Constantinople handed over to the Grand Duke Vladimir. On earth there is only one true Church - Russian Church."

After his marriage to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor from the Palaiologan dynasty, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III declared himself heir to the Byzantine Empire. From now on, the great mission of preserving Christianity passed to Russia. “The Christian empires have fallen,” the monk Philotheus wrote in 1512 to his master, the Grand Duke, or Tsar, Vasily III, “in their place stands only the power of our ruler... Two Romes have fallen, but the third still stands, and there will never be a fourth... You are the only Christian sovereign in the world, ruler over all true faithful Christians."

Thus, in the entire Orthodox world, only the Russians derived some benefit from the fall of Constantinople; and for the Orthodox Christians of the former Byzantium, groaning in captivity, the consciousness that in the world there was still a great, albeit very distant sovereign of the same faith as them, served as consolation and hope that he would protect them and, perhaps, someday come save them and restore their freedom. The Sultan-Conqueror paid almost no attention to the fact of the existence of Russia. Russia was far away. Sultan Mehmed had other concerns much closer to home. The conquest of Constantinople certainly made his state one of the great powers of Europe, and henceforth it was to play a corresponding role in European politics. He realized that Christians were his enemies and he needed to be vigilant to ensure that they did not unite against him. The Sultan could fight Venice or Hungary, and perhaps the few allies the pope could muster, but he could fight only one of them at a time. No one came to the aid of Hungary in the fatal battle on the Mohacs Field. No one sent reinforcements to the Johannite Knights to Rhodes. No one cared about the loss of Cyprus by the Venetians.

Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK

Introduction

Relevance of the study: The Byzantine Empire is one of the world powers of the Middle Ages, which was characterized by the features of a society on the border of East and West; its history plays a large role in the history of the Middle Ages. The Byzantine Empire had a significant influence on the development of world culture and politics. Byzantine civilization participated in the preservation of ancient knowledge and spread Christianity throughout the Slavic world and Asia Minor. Constantinople remained for many centuries the great city of Christian Europe.

The most tragic period in the history of the Byzantine Empire was the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries - the fall of a once powerful power that played a huge role in the political and religious life of the early Middle Ages. The question of the reasons for the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the internal and external factors that led the state to such a fatal end is debatable.

The purpose of this work is to identify, based on materials and primary sources, the main reasons for the fall of the Byzantine Empire. The object of study is the Byzantine history of the XII - XV Byzantine Empire; subject of study - the causes of the fall of the Byzantine Empire. The objective of the work is to determine the main reasons for the fall of the Byzantine Empire and their detailed analysis.

Historiography

Many domestic and Western authors have studied the history of late Byzantium. Gennady Litavrin, with his work “How the Byzantines Lived,” examines in detail various aspects of the life of various segments of the population of Byzantine society; as well as the changes that occurred in Byzantine society throughout the history of the state.

Helmut Koenigsberger, a British historian, analyzes the events that took place in the countries of both Western and Eastern Europe, closely linking them with the processes in social and cultural life that developed in Byzantium, the Islamic world and Central Asia in 400-1500.

Jean-Claude Cheinet, a French scientist in his “History of Byzantium” talks about the political, social and economic history of the Empire, without considering the culture and development of Byzantine civilization.

A special place in historiography is occupied by Stephen Runciman’s work “The Fall of Constantinople in 1453”, where the author examines in detail the development of events during the decline of the Byzantine Empire, its relations with Western Europe, the Ottoman Empire, and reveals the internal contradictions of the state.

It is also worth noting the works of famous Soviet and Russian historians Fyodor Ivanovich Uspensky, Sergei Danilovich Skazkin, Yulian Andreevich Kulakovsky, Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev. Their works are distinguished by their fundamental nature and detailed consideration of all stages of the development of the Byzantine Empire.

The work consists of four parts. The first part examines internal factors influencing the decomposition of the Byzantine Empire, undermining the power of the state from within. The second describes the religious side of life in Byzantium and its influence on the development of the empire. The third part is devoted to the foreign policy of the Byzantine Empire and its consequences for the state. In the last, fourth part, we get acquainted directly with the events of the mid-15th century, namely the fall of the Byzantine Empire.

Domestic politics and Byzantine society

Starting from the middle of the 11th century, Byzantium experienced a dynastic crisis, as a result of which the Macedonian dynasty was doomed to disappear. A difficult struggle for the throne began, which lasted from 1025 to 1081. No emperor could stay in power for long, with the exception of Constantine Monomakh (1042-1055). Finally, the young commander Alexei Komnenos seized power and founded a new dynasty. A period of stability and renewal of the empire began, marked by the last heyday of Byzantium, which occurred during the reign of Manuel Komnenos. Manuel paid great attention to foreign policy, which, according to Nikita Choniates, depleted the power of the empire: “The old people told us that then people lived as if in a golden age, glorified by poets. Those who came to the royal treasury to receive some kind of favor resembled a swarm of bees noisily flying out of the clefts of a rock, or like a crowd of people gathered in the square, so that they collided with each other at the door and crowded each other - some in a hurry to enter, and others hurrying out. However, we only heard about this. On the other hand, the state treasury at that time was distinguished by its generosity, overflowing like an overflowing collection of waters, and like a womb, close to the time of birth and oppressed by an excess of burden, willingly spewed out benefits to those in need... Having reached manhood, he began to manage affairs more autocratically, began to treat his subordinates not as free people, but as hired slaves; began to reduce, if not completely interrupt, the flow of charity, and even canceled such distributions that he himself had appointed. I think that he did this not so much out of a lack of kindness, but because he did not need the whole Tirsinian sea of ​​gold to cover his enormous expenses...” During the reign of Manuel, the aristocracy sharply emerged and took an active part in the political life of the empire; the social hierarchy began to be built on the degree of closeness to the emperor. Thus, we see the origins of the decomposition of the previous society already during the reign of the Komnenos dynasty - the ancient class of senators was dying out as a relic of the past, but at the same time, the active separation of the aristocracy led to a weakening of imperial power, because it was during the period of the dynastic crisis that aristocratic families took the most active participation in the internal politics of the state, and Alexei Komnenos came to power thanks to his connections through his wife with many aristocratic families. The rise of the Byzantine Empire was a consequence of demographic growth, which led to significant development of cities and, as a consequence, the economy, which in turn stimulated the development of culture and construction. However, political life did not have much growth and was characterized by relative stability.

According to contemporaries, 1180, the year of the death of Emperor Manuel Komnenos, marked the beginning of the decline of the Byzantine Empire. And one cannot but agree with this statement, since after the death of the emperor a bloody struggle for power began in the country (the murder of Andronikos Komnenos by an angry crowd). The instability of the central government caused separatist sentiments in some Byzantine provinces: Lydia, Cyprus, Peloponnese. Cyprus was soon lost to the Byzantine Empire and annexed to the Frankish state in 1191 by Richard the Lionheart.

The political struggle within the empire also had more serious consequences: during the Third Crusade, the son of the deposed Emperor Isaac II, Alexei, called on the crusaders to help restore him to power. The help of the crusaders did not lead to the triumph of the disgraced emperor, but only further inflamed the struggle, as a result of which the crusaders took Constantinople by storm on April 12, 1204. From that moment until 1261, the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist, and the Latin Empire was proclaimed in Constantinople. The Greeks founded the Nicaean Empire and fought a bitter struggle to restore Byzantium, with its capital in Constantinople. The main participants in the struggle for the Byzantine inheritance were four main political forces in the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor: the Latin Empire, Bulgaria, the Kingdom of Epirus and the Nicaean Empire. Many other countries of Europe and Asia - Serbia, Hungary, the Kingdom of Sicily, the Iconian Sultanate - were also at times drawn into a fierce rivalry that lasted more than half a century (1204-1261).

The rise to power of Michael VIII Palaiologos, the founder of the new dynasty, was marked by the restoration of the Byzantine Empire on August 15, 1261. The restored Byzantine Empire bore very little resemblance to the former great power. Its territory has shrunk sharply. In Europe, the emperor's power extended to parts of Thrace and Macedonia and some islands of the Aegean Sea. The north of Thrace and Macedonia was in the hands of the Bulgarians and Serbs, possessions in Central Greece and almost the entire Peloponnese remained in the hands of the Latins. In the East, Byzantium belonged only to the northwestern regions of Asia Minor. As you can see, very little remains of the former powerful state. Subsequently, the situation of the empire only worsened.

The first concern of the government of Mikhail Paleologus was the restoration of the city from ruins and the revival of normal life in the capital, the restoration of the state and administrative apparatus. Mikhail Paleologus entered into a close alliance with the military landowning nobility, making it the basis of his internal policy. The emperor was in a hurry to satisfy the demands of the feudal lords. State money was spent without account, tax revenues were depleted, which led to a severe economic and social crisis, a reduction in taxpayers among the peasants due to their ruin, which in turn caused the ruin of the state. A vicious circle developed, which was caused primarily by the growth of feudal privileges of land magnates and the expansion of immune rights. Immunity rights and tax excursions not only reduced the revenues of the fiscus, but gradually freed the estates of feudal lords more and more from the control of the state, thereby weakening the position of the central government.

Subsequently, the complete decline of the Byzantine Empire began, both in external and internal life. The contradictions tearing apart Byzantine society are exposed in a brutal political struggle for power between John Cantacuzenos and the opposition in the person of John Kalekos. This period of the empire's existence was characterized by the strengthening of the nobility, the dominance of the feudal aristocracy, which actively opposed the government, and the weakening of self-government in cities. The trade, merchant and craft circles became dependent on the feudal aristocracy, the stratum of the “middle” population in the city weakened, and social polarization arose between the rich feudal lords and the masses of the poor population. Byzantine society is plunged into a deep social and political crisis. As a result of the victory of the feudal aristocracy, centralized power was significantly weakened, the country began to be divided into fiefs, which were distributed to the management of relatives of the imperial family, and feudal fragmentation set in. John Cantacuzenus recklessly opened the road for the Turks to the Balkan Peninsula as a result of their involvement in internal struggle.

As we see, the internal struggle, which grew into a real civil struggle and a social movement, the largest in the entire history of Byzantium, reflects the trend of weakening the empire from within, the decline of centralized power, and feudal fragmentation in the state. It was at this time that a new and final period in the history of Byzantium began, the culmination of the development of the empire, after which a tragic denouement came.

The end of the 14th century is characterized by large territorial losses, as a result of which the landed aristocracy disappears, merges with the richest merchants and forms the last ruling elite. Those social strata of the population that could serve as the support of the state were greatly weakened. The last years of Byzantium were a protracted agony; no forces could bring the empire out of its deepest crisis. As Gennady Grigoryevich Litavrin writes, weakened by excessive oppression, the impoverished and desperate resident of Byzantium had no desire to defend the state of the emperor, which turned out to be his worst enemy.

“The period of civil wars in Byzantium ended, and with it its history as the history of an empire and a sovereign state ended. The western possessions of the country were dominated by the Serbs, the eastern provinces became victims of Turkish aggression. The Genoese and Venetians ruled the islands and Constantinople itself. But the tragedy of the situation consisted not so much in territorial losses, but in the defeat of those forces that were, perhaps, still capable of saving Byzantium. The bloodless masses could no longer provide decisive assistance to the Constantinople government in the fight against the powerful Ottoman hordes, and the government did not want to seek this help from the people. The history of the empire has entered its final phase. The existence of Byzantium for another century was in reality only a protracted agony.”

Economy of Byzantium

After the economic boom in the 10th century, when Constantinople occupied the position of a world trade and craft center, Byzantium entered a period of decline that lasted until the fall of the Byzantine Empire itself. One of the features of the economic development of Byzantium was the dominance of large feudal land ownership, as a result of which free peasant land ownership was greatly reduced. The state, in turn, only strengthened this process by distributing a huge amount of land with wigs to feudal lords and monasteries. In addition, the immunity rights of large feudal lords were expanded. Expanding the rights to the personality of peasants, to land, appropriating community rights, collecting taxes from peasants for former communal holdings, expanding judicial rights - all this characterized the position of large feudal lords in Byzantine society. In the Byzantine countryside, the stratum of poor peasants is increasing, while wealthy peasants practically do not stand out. Feudal lords actively used the labor of landless peasants, which increased the productivity of estates. But the peasants, losing their freedom, were no longer taxpayers, and the feudal lords, in turn, became independent from the state. That is, on the one hand, the economy of individual feudal households flourished, and on the other hand, the state was deprived of the ability to control the economic sphere of life. Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev examines the issue of feudalism in the Byzantine Empire in some detail: “Large land ownership is also one of the characteristic features of the internal structure of the Byzantine Empire. Powerful magnates were at times so dangerous for the central government that the latter was forced to begin a stubborn struggle with them, which did not always end in victory for the government.”

As for the decline of the economy, the main reason for it was the suppression of the economy by foreign merchants. Here we will consider only the economic influence of foreigners in Byzantium, the rest will be written later.

Already during the period of the Latin Empire, the Republic of Venice was the absolute master of Byzantium's trade relations at sea. For political and economic pressure, she repeatedly used an effective means: she stopped the import of goods into the possessions of the empire, as well as their export from there. The Venetians also had enormous rights and privileges in the Nicene Empire. Academician Sergei Danilovich Skazkin writes about this: “In 1219, Venice concluded an agreement with Theodore Lascaris, which granted the Venetians the right to duty-free trade. Merchants of the Nicaean Empire who traveled to Constantinople and other places subject to the Venetians, on the contrary, had to pay the duty established for foreigners.”

The feudal lords also contributed to the penetration of foreigners into the Byzantine market. Byzantine cities were taken over by the feudal nobility, who completely controlled the political and economic power in the cities. And it was the feudal lords who turned Byzantium into a place of sale of agricultural products and a supplier of raw materials for the Italian republics. The interest of feudal lords in purchasing luxury goods from Italian merchants hampered the development of crafts and a strong merchant class, as a result of which the Byzantine city could no longer resist the penetration of Italian merchant capital. After the restoration of the Byzantine Empire, the position of Italian merchants became even stronger, however, as a result of the political union with Genoa, the dominant position was no longer occupied by the Venetians, but by the Genoese. In the 14th century, the Italian merchants controlled not only the foreign trade of Byzantium, but also the internal one. Genoa, enjoying the right of duty-free trade in the Black Sea, controlled all trade in the Black Sea. The import of Italian goods into Byzantium increased sharply, which had an extremely negative impact on the handicraft production of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine merchants were forced out of foreign and domestic trade, as a result of which they became extremely poor. All this had consequences for the state itself: state revenues were reduced, since trade duties for Italians were reduced to a minimum, and the local merchants could no longer generate income for Byzantium.

The Byzantine coin lost its former importance not only in international trade, but also in domestic trade; it was actively replaced by Italian coins. The Byzantines themselves used foreign coins, florins or ducats in transactions concluded between themselves, and Italian ducats were often used in land transactions between peasants and monasteries.

Mineral deposits also came into the possession of foreigners, for example, in 1275, Michael Palaeologus transferred to the Genoese the right to own the development of deposits of alum stone in Phocea in Asia Minor and mastic in Chios.

The state, making only weak attempts to limit the monopoly of foreigners, pursued a policy that hampered the development of merchants in provincial cities and constrained them in metropolitan trade. The government strictly controlled the capital's crafts and trade, limited the activities of the Byzantine merchants within the boundaries of Constantinople, and provided enormous privileges to Italian merchants.

Byzantium turned into a kind of colony, a market for goods, a country that not only could not compete in international trade, but also lost its internal economic power.

Foreigners in Byzantium

Until the end of the 12th century, the Byzantine state was a multinational state. Foreigners, if they lived within the empire, were considered the same “Romans” as Greeks by birth. Only those subjects of the emperor who were not Christians were not recognized as “Romeans”, for example, Muslim Arabs in the border regions of Asia Minor, pagans in the Balkans, Jews in the Peloponnese, Armenians in Thrace.

However, from the end of the 10th century. in Byzantine society they began to pay attention to ethnic origin, this provided privileges in a career and gaining a strong position in society.

There were many foreigners in the cities: merchants, church leaders, monks who were in Greek monasteries, foreign mercenaries who served in the army and were stationed in cities and villages, foreigners who permanently settled in the empire, diplomats who lived in the capital for a certain time.

There were also colonies of foreign merchants: Russian, Arab, Georgian, which arose in the cities of Byzantium already in the 9th-10th centuries. From the 11th century Permanent merchant colonies of foreigners, especially Italians, began to grow rapidly: Venetians, Genoese, Amalfitians, Pisans. The privileged colonies of the Italians were practically completely independent. As a result, this caused discontent among local artisans and traders, who in the second half of the 12th century. raised uprisings and destroyed Italian neighborhoods.

However, the state provided foreigners with all possible support, since the empire needed military assistance from the Italian fleet. The emperors showed generosity towards those foreigners who settled permanently in the empire. These people quickly advanced in the ranks, became dignitaries, and sometimes commanded the main military forces of the state; After the pogroms, the emperors paid compensation to the Italians. “Genoese merchants received complete freedom of duty-free trade in all lands subject to the empire. The Genoese Republic obtained permission to have its own quarters in the most significant trading centers of the empire: in Constantinople, Thessalonica, Smyrna, Adramyttia, Ani, on the islands of Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Chios. In 1290, a colony of Catalans arose in Constantinople, and Catalan merchants received the right to free trade in the empire. In 1320, Andronicus II reduced duties for Spanish merchants from 3 to 2%, that is, he provided them with the same benefits as the Pisans, Florentines, Provencals, Anconans and Sicilians. In 1322, he renewed the old privileges of the Dubrovsk residents, and in 1324 - of the Venetians. Venice was also given the right to sell grain from the Black Sea region in the empire, in addition to the capital. At the same time, trade privileges for Byzantine cities (for example, the privileges of Monemvasia, granted in 1332) were a rare exception.”

Also, Gennady Grigorievich Litavrin informs us about the special privileged position of foreign mercenaries: Russians, Varangians. This was expressed in the fact that they surrounded the basileus, took advantage of his bounties, they were entrusted with the life of the emperor, they carried out some important actions, for example, the arrest of the patriarch. The new emperor felt uneasy if the palace guards did not recognize him; the very position of the basileus depended on their favor.

So, foreigners occupied a dominant position in the Byzantine Empire, which caused the strong dependence of centralized power on foreigners, the decline of the Byzantine economy, due to the displacement of local merchants and artisans by more successful foreigners, which provoked destabilization in the economy and society of Byzantium.

The relationship between the Eastern and Western churches and its influence on the development of Byzantium

Until the 11th century. Byzantium was a stronghold of Christianity against Islam. Byzantium continued to play the role of a great power, but its power was already undermined. The peculiarity and difference of the Byzantine church was the complete control of the patriarchs by the emperor, in contrast to the Western church. For example, Gennady Grigorievich Litavrin writes that the Patriarch of Constantinople was appointed by the emperor - sometimes the emperor himself proposed his candidate to the church, sometimes he chose anyone from the metropolitans proposed by the assembly, which was uncharacteristic for Rome. We can also learn from his work “How the Byzantines Lived” that a feature of the Byzantine church in the 10th-12th centuries was also the fact that it did not have the same wealth, did not have vassals, like the Western Christian church of that time.

So, we see that insurmountable contradictions, extreme differences in the status and financial situation of the Eastern and Western churches excluded the full possibility of unification and even aggravated the schism of 1054, which in turn led to tense relations between Byzantium and Western Europe and the weakening of the Byzantine church itself.

According to Stevenson Runciman, the difficult situation of Byzantium was further complicated by the Crusades. The Byzantines sympathized with the crusaders, being Christians, but the holy war in the form in which the West waged it seemed unrealistic and dangerous to them; political experience, as well as the peculiarity of the location of Byzantium, determined its characteristic tolerance towards representatives of other faiths.

“The Muslims, however, did not repay Constantinople with gratitude for the fact that it tried to restrain the warlike ardor of the liberators of the Holy Sepulcher; the crusaders, in turn, were offended by his not too zealous attitude towards the holy war. Meanwhile, the deep old religious differences between the Eastern and Western Christian churches, fanned for political purposes throughout the 11th century, steadily deepened until, towards the end of the century, a final schism occurred between Rome and Constantinople. The crisis came when the Crusader army, carried away by the ambition of their leaders, the jealous greed of their Venetian allies and the hostility that the West now felt towards the Byzantine Church, turned on Constantinople, captured and plundered it, forming the Latin Empire on the ruins of the ancient city. This Fourth Crusade of 1204 marked the end of the Eastern Roman Empire as a supranational state."

Despite the hostility, in the history of Byzantium there were still attempts to create a union between Rome and Constantinople. In particular, due to the tense foreign policy situation - the struggle with Charles of Anjou - Michael VIII, regardless of the mood in the empire, proposed to Urban IV to make peace with subsequent discussion of controversial issues about dogmas. However, as Skazkin writes, the new Pope Clement IV played a subtle diplomatic game in order to achieve a political gain for the Roman Church by weakening both opponents. This union caused a wide response among the Byzantine clergy, usually negative, as a result of which the emperor decided to resort to terror. The clergy was divided into two camps: opponents and supporters of the union, and a split occurred within the Byzantine church. However, as Sergei Danilovich Skazkin writes, the new Pope Clement IV played a subtle diplomatic game in order to achieve a political gain for the Roman Church by weakening both opponents. The papacy virtually ignored the political demands of Byzantium. It only sought new confirmation of their loyalty to the union.

In the 15th century, the influence of the Orthodox party in the political life of Byzantium fell, while the Latinophile current noticeably strengthened. In Byzantium, they increasingly returned to the idea of ​​​​renewing the union between the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Latinophiles considered union with the Catholic Church a lesser evil than the danger of Turkish conquest. Finally, on July 5, 1439, the union was signed, but alas, the political and military terms of the agreement remained only on paper; Byzantium did not receive real help from the West. The last Byzantine emperor, in despair, repeated the mistake of his predecessors and again moved towards rapprochement with the Western Church, and again a split arose among the Byzantine clergy, and again the conclusion of the union was in vain. The West could not or did not want, and most likely both, to provide Byzantium with real military assistance.

As we see, irreconcilable contradictions, the eternal rivalry between the Western and Eastern churches had very sad consequences for Byzantium: complex political relations with Western Europe, the crusaders; the complete failure of attempts to create a unified Christian church; weakening of the Byzantine church due to a split within the Byzantine clergy, which was the ideologist of the broad masses and a powerful support of the state.

External reasons for the fall of the Byzantine Empire

The international position of the Byzantine Empire in the mid-10th to 15th centuries was extremely unstable: Byzantium maneuvered between the West, represented by the crusaders and the papal curia, and the Turks.

According to Jean-Claude Cheinet, it was the First Crusade (1095) that created hostility between Byzantium and the crusaders. This was caused by the conflict of Alexius Comnenus, who did not fulfill his obligations to the crusaders. According to the agreement, the crusaders were supposed to return all the cities lost by Byzantium in exchange for material support and military support, but when taking Antioch, Alexei refused to come to the aid of the crusaders. Manuel Komnenos, unlike his predecessor, actively supported the crusaders in the East. Frederick Barbarossa also wanted to conquer Byzantium during the Third Crusade (1189 - 1192), and during the Fourth Crusade (1402 - 1204), the crusaders had an excellent opportunity to achieve what they wanted when the son of Emperor Isaac II Alexei called on the crusaders to help restore him to power. As a result, Constantinople was taken and the Latin Empire was formed. Further relations between Byzantium and the West were characterized by desperate attempts to regain the capital and restore Byzantium, which was done in 1261. This was possible mainly thanks to the treaty of Michael VIII with the Genoese, as a result of which they received the enormous rights in trade, which were mentioned earlier.

The founder of the state of the Ottoman Turks was the leader of the Turkmen tribe Ertogrul Bey, who began to expand his territory. After Ertogrul's death, power passed to his youngest son Osman. Osman also embarked on a broad policy of conquest. Within a short time, he managed to capture a number of Byzantine cities and fortifications. In 1291 he took possession of Melangia and began to consider himself an independent ruler.

In 1326, already under the ruler Orhan (1304-1362), the Ottoman Turks captured the city of Bursa, one of the important points of trade between East and West. Very soon they captured two other Byzantine cities - Nicaea and Nicomedia.

The Byzantine government to a certain extent contributed to the penetration of the Turks into the Balkans. The Turks carried out their conquests acting as allies of various claimants to the throne of Byzantium. They skillfully used the political situation in the Balkans and managed to take possession of most of the peninsula within 30 years. Also, the poor defense of the eastern borders contributed to the fact that the local population often preferred to enter into contacts with the Turks, and the Turks crossed the border of the empire with impunity and captured Byzantine cities. They managed to capture an important stronghold of the Byzantines - the city and fortress of Tralla. The Turks moved the capital from Asia Minor to the Balkans - to Adrianople and moved further north against the Serbs. The decisive battle took place on the Kosovo field in 1389, where the Turks were victorious. This battle decided the fate of Serbia, which lost its independence. In 1393, the Ottoman Turks captured the capital of Bulgaria - the city of Tarnov, and in 1396 they encountered a battle between the Turks and the combined forces of the Wallachians, Hungarians, Bulgarians and European crusading knights under the walls of Nikopol, in which the Turks were victorious.

The son of Murad I, who died in the Battle of Kosovo, Bayazid sought to transform the Ottoman state into an empire. He planned the conquest of Constantinople and began the siege. However, in 1402, Timur’s troops invaded Asia Minor. During the Battle of Ankara, Bayezid's army was defeated, and the Sultan himself and his two sons were captured. In 1404 Timur returned to Central Asia. A fierce struggle began between Bayezid's sons, each of whom tried to take the throne. In 1413, in a decisive battle, Mehmed (1413-1421) became the sole owner of the Ottoman possessions in Europe and Asia Minor. The Ottoman Empire again began its campaigns of conquest in the Balkans.

The Turkish army was not inferior to the European army in its organization and fighting qualities; moreover, the Turks had a noticeable numerical superiority over the armies of other countries, which often decided the outcome of battles.

The decline and disintegration of the Byzantine Empire facilitated its capture by the Ottoman conquerors. In the spring of 1453, Sultan Mehmed II concentrated his selected troops against Constantinople with a total number of up to 100 thousand people. There were ten times fewer city defenders. On May 29, 1453, the capital of Byzantium fell. The emperor was killed. Mehmed II renamed the city Istanbul and moved his residence here.

The capture of Constantinople worsened the situation of those Balkan peoples who maintained their independence. All Byzantine possessions were liquidated. Then it was the turn of Serbia, Moray, Bosnia, Albania. The rulers of Moldavia and Wallachia were also forced to pay heavy tribute in order to preserve the state and territorial integrity of their countries.

Byzantine Empire fall

Fall of the Byzantine Empire

In the middle of the 14th century, the Byzantine Empire was completely drained of blood by civil wars and civil strife; the capture of Byzantium by the Ottoman Turks was only a matter of time. The insignificant forces of Byzantium were opposed by a powerful enemy. Neither Byzantium, reduced to an insignificant size, nor the Italian republics could organize resistance to the Turks. The Ottoman wars of conquest were carried out under the slogans of the struggle for the Muslim faith against the “infidels.” Hatred towards Christians reigned among the troops. That is why Byzantium was the most convenient target for the Ottoman nobility. This was further aggravated by its military weakness.

Under Osman's successor, Urhan (1326-1362), the Turks conquered almost all Byzantine possessions in Asia Minor, which were the richest areas of the Byzantine Empire.

Sultan Murad I continued his policy of conquest and captured such large centers as Adrianople (which soon became the capital of the Turkish state) and Philippopolis and moved west towards Thessalonica. Soon after this, the Turks captured almost all of Thrace and began invading Bulgarian lands. The Byzantine Emperor John V began to repair the city walls and build fortifications, but the Sultan ordered him to destroy all the buildings, and in case of refusal he promised to blind the emperor’s son and heir Manuel, who was at the court of Bayezid at that time. John was forced to fulfill this demand. This humiliation hastened the death of the aged emperor. After his death, Manuel fled and, reaching Constantinople, was crowned emperor.

Soon after this, Byzantium had to endure a blockade. According to the Byzantine historian Duca, Bayazid’s ambassador presented the following demands to the new emperor: “If you want to carry out my orders, close the gates of the city and reign inside it; yet everything that lies outside the city belongs to me.” Manuel refused the Sultan and from that moment Constantinople was under siege. the surroundings of Constantinople were devastated, the city was isolated from land. The blockade lasted for seven years; communication with the outside world was maintained only by sea. Hunger and disease began in the city, and population discontent grew. Deliverance came from the army of Timur (Tamerlane), who defeated the army of Bayezid at the Battle of Ankara (1402). This circumstance delayed the death of the Byzantine Empire for another half century.

Bayezid I was succeeded by his son Mehmed I (1402-1421), who pursued a peaceful policy towards Byzantium. After the death of Mehmed I, fundamental changes took place: the new sultan, Murad II (1421-1451), returned to an aggressive policy. And again the Turks struck the Byzantine Empire: in the summer of 1422, the Sultan besieged Constantinople and tried to take the city by storm. However, the attack was repulsed by the heroic efforts of the population. The siege was unsuccessful, but it was a prelude to the events of 1453. For another thirty years, Constantinople awaited a tragic, inevitable death.

The empire fell apart into separate small fiefs, economic problems continued to grow: the decline of trade and commodity-money relations that arose as a result of constant wars. Under John VIII, the territory of the empire was quite modest. Shortly before the death of his father, he ceded some Thracian cities to the Sultan. John's power extended only over Constantinople and its immediate surroundings. Other parts of the state were under the control of his brothers in the form of separate independent fiefs. On October 31, 1448, John VIII died in Constantinople, depressed by the successes of his enemies and despairing of saving his state. His successor was Constantine Moray. He owned a territory that was limited to Constantinople and its immediate surroundings in Thrace. At this time, the son of Murad II, Sultan Mehmed II (1451-1481), came to power.

The reason that the Ottoman Empire was so passionate about conquering Byzantium cannot be attributed to religion or territorial expansion alone. The opinion of Georgy Lvovich Kurbatov on this issue is interesting: “In the new conditions, the Ottoman Empire faced an increasingly urgent task of connecting the Balkan and Asian regions of the empire. Constantinople became the main obstacle. The point was not only the fact of its existence. The reasons lay deeper, in the very development of the Ottoman Empire. It is believed that it was precisely with the perception of the Byzantine and Balkan heritage, its feudal basis, that more developed forms of Ottoman feudalism took shape. Only by relying on the Balkan possessions could it be possible to overcome the threatening gap between the more backward Asian part of the empire and the Balkan one. Therefore, a more rigid “coupling” between them was necessary. The connection of the two parts of the empire became increasingly necessary. The fate of Byzantium was decided."

On the European shore of the Bosphorus the fortress of Rumeli-Hissar was built, and on the Asian shore, somewhat earlier, Anatoli-Hissar. Now the Turks were firmly established on both banks of the Bosphorus and cut off Constantinople from the Black Sea. The struggle has entered its final phase.

Emperor Constantine began preparations for the defense of the city: he repaired the walls, armed the city’s defenders, and stockpiled food. In early April, the siege of Constantinople began. The army of Mehmed II consisted of 150 - 200 thousand soldiers, the Turks used bronze cannons that ejected cannonballs over a long distance. The Turkish squadron consisted of about 400 ships. Byzantium could only field defenders of the city and a small number of Latin mercenaries. George Sfrandzi says that with the beginning of the siege of the city, the lists of all residents of Constantinople capable of defending the city were checked. In total there were 4,973 people capable of holding weapons, in addition to about 2 thousand foreign mercenaries. The fleet of the defenders of Constantinople consisted of about 25 ships.

First, the Turks began to storm the walls from land. However, despite the enormous superiority, the besieged successfully repelled the attacks and the Turkish troops suffered setbacks for a long time. An eyewitness to the events, George Sfrandzi, wrote: “It was surprising that, having no military experience, they (the Byzantines) won victories, because, meeting the enemy, they courageously and nobly did what was beyond human strength.” On April 20, the first naval battle took place, ending in the victory of the Byzantines. On this day, four Genoese and one Byzantine ship arrived, carrying troops and food to Constantinople. Before entering the Golden Horn, they fought with the Turkish fleet. The victory was achieved thanks to the military experience and skill of the Byzantine and Genoese sailors, the best weapons of their ships, as well as “Greek fire.” But this victory, unfortunately, did not change the course of events.

Mehmed II decided to besiege the city not only from land, but also from the sea and ordered the Turks to drag about 80 ships overland to the Golden Horn in one night. This was a heavy blow for the besieged; a radical change occurred in favor of the Turks.

The general assault on the city was scheduled by the Sultan for May 29. Both sides spent the last two days before the battle in preparations: one for the final assault, the other for the final defense. Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev writes about this: “The ancient capital of the Christian East, anticipating the inevitability of a fatal outcome for itself and knowing about the upcoming assault, spent the eve of one of the greatest historical days in prayer and tears. By order of the emperor, processions of the cross, accompanied by a huge crowd of people singing “Lord, have mercy,” went around the city walls. People encouraged each other to show brave resistance to the enemy in the last hour of the battle.”

May 1453, Turkish troops moved to Constantinople. At first, the advantage was on the side of the besieged, but the forces were unequal, and, moreover, more and more new detachments of Turks arrived at the walls of Constantinople. Very soon the Turks broke into the besieged city. Nestor Iskander writes about this: “When Baltauliy arrived in time with large forces, the strategists met him at the destroyed place, but could not restrain him, and he made his way into the city with all his regiments and attacked the townspeople. And a battle broke out even more fierce than before, and the strategists, and megistani, and all the nobles died in it, so that of the many, few were able to later bring the news to the Caesar, and the dead townspeople and Turks could not be counted.” . The emperor himself died in a battle with the Turks. Having burst into the city, the Turks killed the remnants of the Byzantine troops, and then began to exterminate everyone who crossed their path, sparing neither the elderly, nor women, nor children. The Turks captured the population, killed old people and babies, destroyed palaces and temples, and monuments of art.

On May 1453, the famous and once richest city of Constantinople fell, and with its fall the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist.

Having analyzed the development trends of the Byzantine Empire in the late period, we can identify several main reasons for the decline, and subsequently the fall of the empire:

.The internal politics of the Byzantine emperors of the late period, as a rule, was characterized by a struggle for power and attempts to restore the former power of the empire. The last emperors Manuel II (1391-1425), John VII (1425-1448), Constantine XI (1449-1453) directed all their efforts towards finding allies in the fight against the Ottoman Empire and strengthening the military power of Constantinople.

.The economy of Byzantium fell into decline due to the strengthening of the large feudal nobility, the weakening of centralized state policies, the dominance of Italian goods and the seizure of a dominant position in the economic life of the empire by foreigners. All this caused the extreme weakening of Byzantine traders and artisans, the impoverishment of peasants, their inability to pay taxes and generate income to the state.

.The foundations of the Byzantine church were greatly shaken, which split into two warring camps: Latinophiles and opponents of the union with Catholics. For the first time in history, Byzantium, a stronghold of Christianity, was forced to ask Rome for union. The religious factor also had a huge impact on the relationship of Byzantium with the West, which manipulated Constantinople, did not fulfill obligations under treaties and in every possible way undermined the power of the Byzantine Empire.

.But external factors did not play such a significant role, since the main reasons for the fall of Byzantium were still internal. External ones are a consequence of internal problems that weakened the empire.

All of the above factors led to the fall of the Byzantine Empire, but it would be wrong to single out each of them separately, since they are all closely interrelated, one follows from the other. For example, internal strife caused the economic weakening of the empire. The dominance of foreigners in the economic and political sphere was caused by their involvement in the internal struggle for power. Economic instability made it easier for the Italian republics to take full control of Byzantium's trade.

There is a separate issue of religion, which nevertheless had a decisive influence on the international position of Byzantium, since irreconcilable contradictions and the eternal rivalry of the Western and Eastern churches made normal relations between Byzantium and Western European states impossible, and support was out of the question. Of course, religious differences had an important influence on Byzantium’s relations with the crusaders.

Historians who dealt with the problems of late Byzantium highlight certain reasons for its fall. For example, Sergei Danilovich Skazkin is of the opinion that the death of the Byzantine state was caused by a whole complex of internal and external reasons. He highlights the military factor, the superiority of the Turkish army. But the decisive role in the weakening of Byzantium is assigned to internal factors. He considers the main one to be the economic decline of Byzantium, caused by the penetration of foreign merchants into all spheres of the economic life of Byzantium. Skazkin considers an equally important factor to be the dominance of feudal lords in the economy and their unlimited dominance in government, as well as civil strife and palace coups in Byzantium.

Jean-Claude Cheinet considers the main reason for the fall of Byzantium to be the schism between the Western and Eastern churches, the contradiction between the Greek people and the Latin invaders.

Fyodor Ivanovich Uspensky places the blame on the highest circles of Byzantine society, which separated the power of the state from the people and forced the population to live in the old forms of political and social system.

So, the fall of the Byzantine Empire was due to various factors, which to varying degrees led to the weakening of the once powerful state, which, in turn, made Byzantium unable to repel the Turkish conquerors.

1.Nikita Choniates. History.- M, 1975

.Collection “History of Byzantium. Volume 3" \\Skazkin S.D. - Moscow: Science, 1967

.S. Runciman. The fall of Constantinople in 1453.-M.: Nauka, 1983

.G.I. Kurbatov. History of Byzantium.-M.: Higher School, 1984

.Georgy Sfranci. Great chronicle // Byzantine temporary book, volume 3. M., 1953

.A.A. Vasiliev. History of the Byzantine Empire: From the beginning of the Crusades to the fall of Constantinople. - St. Petersburg: Aletheia, 1998

.Nestor Iskander. The Tale of Constantinople (its founding and capture by the Turks in 1453), St. Petersburg, 1886 (Monuments of ancient writing and art, vol. 62).

List of used literature

1. Vasiliev A.A. History of the Byzantine Empire: From the beginning of the Crusades to the fall of Constantinople. - St. Petersburg: Aletheia, 1998. - 715 p.

2. Dil Sh. History of the Byzantine Empire. - M.: State Publishing House of Foreign Literature, 1948. - 167 p.

Nestor Iskander. The Tale of Constantinople (its founding and capture by the Turks in 1453), St. Petersburg, 1886 (Monuments of ancient writing and art, vol. 62). - 16 s.

Kulakovsky Yu.A. History of Byzantium, vol. 3. - St. Petersburg: Aletheia, 1996. - 454 p.

Kurbatov G.I. History of Byzantium. - M.: Higher School, 1984. - 207 p.

Litavrin G.G. How the Byzantines lived. - M.: Nauka, 1974. - 159 p.

Norwich J. History of Byzantium. - M.: AST, 2010, - 584 p.

Runciman S. The Fall of Constantinople in 1453. - M.: Nauka, 1983. - 200 p.

Collection History of Byzantium. T. 3 // Skazkin S.D. - Moscow: Science, 1967 - 508 p.

Georgy Sfrandzi. Great chronicle. Per. E.B. Veselago / Byzantine temporary book vol. 3. M., 1953. // http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus2/Sfrandzi/text.phtml?id=1371

Uspensky F.I. History of the Byzantine Empire. v. 4.5. M.: Mysl, 1997. - 829 p.

Nikita Choniates. History.- M, 1975 // http://www.hist.msu.ru/ER/Etext/Xoniat/index.html

Sheine J.K. History of Byzantium.: M.: Astrel, 2006. - 158 p.

Timothy E. Gregory. A History of Byzantium. - John Wiley and Sons, 2010. 455 pp.

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To understand the reasons for the fall of the Byzantine Empire, a brief excursion into history should be taken. In 395, after the death of the ruler Theodosius I and the collapse of the great Roman state, its western part ceased to exist. In its place the Byzantine Empire was formed. Before the collapse of Rome, its western half was called “Greek”, since the bulk of its population were Hellenes.

general information

For almost ten centuries, Byzantium was the historical and cultural follower of Ancient Rome. This state included incredibly rich lands and a large number of cities located in the territories of present-day Egypt, Asia Minor, and Greece. Despite the corrupt management system, unbearably high taxes, a slave-owning economy and constant court intrigues, the economy of Byzantium was for a long time the most powerful in Europe.

The state traded with all former western Roman possessions and with India. Even after the conquest of some of its territories by the Arabs, the Byzantine Empire remained very rich. However, the financial costs were high, and the country’s well-being aroused great envy among its neighbors. But the decline in trade, which was caused by the privileges granted to Italian merchants, (the capital of the state) by the crusaders, as well as the onslaught of the Turks, caused the final weakening of the financial condition and the state as a whole.

Description

In this article we will tell you the reasons for the fall of Byzantium, what were the prerequisites for the collapse of one of the richest and most powerful empires of our civilization. No other ancient state existed for such a long time - 1120 years. The fabulous wealth of the elite, the beauty and exquisite architecture of the capital and large cities - all this took place against the backdrop of the deep barbarism of the peoples of Europe in which they lived during the heyday of this country.

The Byzantine Empire lasted until the mid-sixteenth century. This powerful nation had a huge cultural heritage. During its heyday, it controlled vast territories in Europe, Africa and Asia. Byzantium occupied the Balkan Peninsula, almost all of Asia Minor, Palestine, Syria and Egypt. Her possessions also covered parts of Armenia and Mesopotamia. Few people know that she also owned possessions in the Caucasus and the Crimean Peninsula.

Story

The total area of ​​the Byzantine Empire was more than one million square kilometers with a population of approximately 35 million people. The state was so large that its emperors in the Christian world were considered the supreme overlords. Legends were told about the unimaginable wealth and splendor of this state. The peak of Byzantine art came during the reign of Justinian. It was a golden age.

The Byzantine state included many large cities in which a literate population lived. Due to its excellent location, Byzantium was considered the largest trading and maritime power. From it there were routes even to the most remote places at that time. The Byzantines traded with India, China, and Ceylon, Ethiopia, Britain, Scandinavia. Therefore, the gold solidus - the monetary unit of this empire - became an international currency.

And although Byzantium strengthened after the Crusades, after the massacre of the Latins there was a deterioration in relations with the West. This was the reason that the fourth crusade was already directed against herself. In 1204, its capital, Constantinople, was captured. As a result, Byzantium broke up into several states, including the Latin and Achaean principalities created in the territories captured by the crusaders, the Trebizond, Nicaean and Epirus empires, which remained under the control of the Greeks. The Latins began to suppress Hellenistic culture, and the dominance of Italian traders prevented the revival of cities. It is impossible to briefly name the reasons for the fall of the Byzantine Empire. They are numerous. The collapse of this once flourishing state was a huge blow for the entire Orthodox world.

Economic reasons for the fall of the Byzantine Empire

They can be presented point by point as follows. It was economic instability that played a decisive role in the weakening and subsequent death of this richest state.

A divided society

There were not only economic, but also other internal reasons for the fall of the Byzantine Empire. The ruling feudal and church circles of this once flourishing state failed not only to lead their people, but also to find a common language with them. Moreover, the government proved unable to restore unity even around itself. Therefore, at the moment when the consolidation of all internal forces of the state was required to repel the external enemy, enmity and schism, mutual suspicion and distrust reigned everywhere in Byzantium. The attempts of the last emperor, who (according to the chroniclers) was known as a brave and honest man, to rely on the residents of the capital turned out to be late.

The presence of strong external enemies

Byzantium fell due not only to internal but also external reasons. This was greatly facilitated by the selfish policy of the papacy and many Western European states, which left her without help at the time of threat from the Turks. The lack of goodwill of her long-time enemies, of whom there were many among Catholic prelates and sovereigns, also played a significant role. All of them dreamed not of saving the huge empire, but only of seizing its rich inheritance. This can be called the main reason for the death of the Byzantine Empire. The lack of strong and reliable allies contributed greatly to the collapse of this country. Alliances with the Slavic states located on the Balkan Peninsula were sporadic and fragile. This occurred both due to a lack of mutual trust on both sides and due to internal disagreements.

Fall of the Byzantine Empire

The causes and consequences of the collapse of this once mighty civilized country are numerous. It was greatly weakened by clashes with the Seljuks. There were also religious reasons for the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Having converted to Orthodoxy, she lost the support of the Pope. Byzantium could have disappeared from the face of the earth even earlier, even during the reign of the Seljuk Sultan Bayezid. However, Timur (Central Asian Emir) prevented this. He defeated the enemy troops and took Bayazid prisoner.

After the fall of such a fairly powerful Armenian crusader state as Cilicia, it was the turn of Byzantium. Many people dreamed of capturing it, from the bloodthirsty Ottomans to the Egyptian Mamelukes. But they were all afraid to go against the Turkish Sultan. Not a single European state started a war against him for the interests of Christianity.

Consequences

After the establishment of Turkish rule over Byzantium, a persistent and lengthy struggle of the Slavic and other Balkan peoples against the foreign yoke began. In many countries of the South-Eastern Empire, a decline in economic and social development followed, which led to a long regression in the development of productive forces. Although the Ottomans strengthened the economic position of some of the feudal lords who collaborated with the conquerors, expanding the internal market for them, nevertheless, the peoples of the Balkans experienced severe oppression, including religious oppression. The establishment of conquerors in Byzantine territory turned it into a springboard for Turkish aggression directed against Central and Eastern Europe, as well as against the Middle East.