Story of Monarchy: The Byzantine Empire

Although it is a subject of great interest to me, I have been put off from talking about the Byzantine Empire because, in the past, it has invariably aroused bitter partisan vitriol that is completely unhelpful at best and detrimental at worst. Nonetheless, I can refrain no longer because this is an extremely important subject that people really need to know more about. Obviously, this post will only be a very general overview of the Byzantine Empire but I think it is necessary and anyone can look up particular items in greater detail on your own. Western civilization would likely not exist at all were it not for the Byzantine Empire and an important point to make at the outset is to emphasize that the Byzantine Empire is simply another word for the continuation of the East Roman Empire and the Roman Empire is absolutely essential and foundational for the entirety of western civilization. Certainly, Eastern Europe owes the most to the Byzantine Empire but Western Europe likewise owes an immense debt to the Eastern Roman Empire and neither would be what they are today without it.

Byzantine throne room

The Byzantine Empire, formally the East Roman Empire, was also known as the Later Roman Empire and, occasionally, the Greek Empire but it is important to note that the Byzantines themselves did not refer to themselves as “Byzantines” but as “Romans”. The name comes from the city of Byzantium on the Bosporus which dates to the 500’s BC. Originally Greek, when it was conquered by the Romans in the 100’s BC it became a relatively prosperous trading center until it was leveled and partially rebuilt by Emperor Septimius Severus. One could date the birth of the Byzantine Empire as far back as 293 AD when Emperor Diocletian first divided the Roman Empire into eastern and western halves, making his capital in the east at Nicomedia in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). However, the “Founding Father” of the Byzantine Empire is not usually considered to be Diocletian but Emperor Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor, who moved the imperial capital to Byzantium, renaming it Constantinople. Although the city of Rome would remain important for some time to come, from this point on Rome was eclipsed by Constantinople as the center of Roman wealth and power.

Tim Curry as Emperor Theodosius II

Emperor Constantine I ruled the entire Roman Empire and was succeeded by his three sons but the division between east and west returned. However, Emperor Theodosius I again ruled the whole empire himself, the last monarch to do so. It was also Emperor Theodosius who made Christianity the sole and official religion of the empire. After his death, Emperor Honorius ruled the west and Emperor Arcadius ruled the east. During this period, the West Roman Empire was repeatedly attacked by barbarian tribes, Alaric the Goth sacking Rome itself in 410 but the East Roman Empire carried on secure and prosperous by comparison. Emperor Arcadius was not the best monarch one could hope for but he was succeeded by a more able man, his son Emperor Theodosius II. From 408 to 450 Emperor Theodosius II ruled and ruled quite well, all things considered. He had wars in the east and rampaging Huns to deal with but he built immensely strong fortifications around Constantinople that proved invaluable, built a university there and established the Theodosian Code by reforming the existing laws. In his reign the East Roman Empire began to look like the united Roman Empire of old and seemed the more worthy successor to it than the battered west. Not long after his time, in 476, the West Roman Empire ceased to exist altogether, leaving the Byzantine Empire as the last Roman Empire standing.

This is important to remember, particularly for people in the west, because so many of the east-west, Catholic-Orthodox problems really date back to this point in history. People in the west need to understand, setting aside the religious disputes, that it was at this point that the Pope in Rome became much more significant and eventually a political as well as religious figure. However, all too often religion was used as cover for what were basically political disputes and the fact is that the Byzantine Emperors understandably considered themselves the legitimate rulers of the entire Roman world once the last Western Roman Emperor was forced from power. The religious differences between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches are what they are but people in the west really should understand that it was not an illegitimate or unreasonable position for the Eastern Roman Emperor to consider himself the rightful monarch of the west as well once the west no longer had an emperor at all (in fact the Byzantines regarded Julius Nepos as the last Western Emperor as they had never recognized Romulus Augustulus). Many of the east-west tensions really come down to this basic, political and non-religious point; that there were people in the west with newly conquered lands and subjects who did not want the Emperor in Constantinople telling them what to do.

Emperor Justinian

The final, east-west religious break would not happen for some time, which is well enough as the religious situation was, by all accounts, frankly, a confusing mess with both sides having plenty of fashionable heresies to deal with. However, what is generally recognized as the “Golden Age” of the Byzantine Empire came with the ambitious reign of Emperor Justinian I, starting in 527. He was an able man and determined to see the Roman Empire restored to its former glory even if that mean reconquering the west entirely. It helped that he was an able military leader and it helped even more that he had one of the greatest military geniuses of the time to call upon in the person of his general Belisarius. Ever present threats remained to the east such as the Persians and the Arabs but Emperor Justinian fought battles to re-take the western empire, winning against the Vandals in Africa, the Ostrogoths in Italy and the Visigoths in Spain. Emperor Justinian had just about made the Mediterranean a ‘Roman lake’ once again while at the same time driving back the Persians on the eastern frontier.

Justinian & Theodora

Emperor Justinian had his problems with the Church of course but, in all fairness, the Church was having plenty of problems with itself at this time, the empire was wealthy and prosperous and the Emperor published a new, more complete, edition of the Roman law code which has since been known as the Justinian Code. The Emperor also oversaw the construction of the magnificent Church of Saint Sophia or Hagia Sophia in Constantinople which was one of the architectural wonders of Christendom. It may not seem quite so impressive from the outside but the interior, particularly in its former glory days, was astonishingly magnificent. There had never been a church like it before. Unfortunately, such building projects and unending military campaigns also left the Byzantine treasury basically empty by the end of the reign of Justinian. His passing was, in a way, the end of an era as he was the last Byzantine emperor to speak Latin and this, as well as his preservation of many old, Roman traditions, has caused some in the east to take a rather negative view of him as their hatred for anything western, Latin and/or Roman dominates their entire thinking. Justinian was not perfect as no mere mortal can be but he undoubtedly came closer than any other Eastern Emperor to restoring the entirety of the Western Roman Empire to Byzantine rule. Nonetheless, by the time he died, the government was bankrupt and the public rather put off, particularly regarding the many schemes of his ambitious wife Empress Theodora.

Emperor Maurice

The period which followed was one of seemingly constant crisis for the Empire. From 565 to 578 Emperor Justin II had to deal with barbarian invasions from practically every direction. The Germans were invading in the west, the Lombards were charging into Italy, the Avars, Slavs and Bulgars were attacking into the Balkans while in the east the Persians were back on the offensive as well. However, internal power struggles would remain a problem and this is why the very word “Byzantine” has become synonymous with devious plots and palace intrigue. Emperor Maurice, for example, had great success in fighting back against the Persians and against the Avars in the Balkans, pushing beyond the Danube for the first time in centuries and took steps to maintain footholds in Italy and Africa. However, he was assassinated in 602 along with all six of his sons by an ambitious general after which disastrous war with Persia broke out anew. They made repeated advances until finally being stopped by Emperor Heraclius who reigned from 610 to 641. However, a new threat arose which changed everything when Islam sprang up among the Arabs and a wave of Muslim conquests assailed the Byzantine Empire. Palestine and Syria fell in 636, Egypt in 640 and Armenia in 654. Muslim forces besieged Constantinople itself from 673 to 678 and from 717 to 718 but were held off thanks to the immense fortifications ringing the city which previous emperors had wisely invested in. Around Constantinople, however, Muslim conquests continued with Crete and Sicily falling in the 820’s.

St Olga enters the Church of Holy Wisdom

Constantinople remained the center of classical culture but these setbacks have also given rise to some confusion with many of the medical, scientific and other advances often attributed to the Arabs actually being the product of classical Greek and Roman scholars preserved by the Byzantines but seized by the Muslims during their conquests of East Roman centers of learning such as Alexandria, Egypt. Even in these troubled times, the Byzantine Empire also still had a civilizing, cultural influence in the east, just as the West Roman Empire had done on barbarians in their neighborhood. Christianity as today practiced in the Eastern Orthodox Churches was the most visible part of the East Roman culture spread by the Byzantine Empire throughout Eastern Europe. The South Slavs and Bulgarians were converted but the most significant was the conversion of Russia in the 800’s. St Olga, Princess and Regent of the Kievan-Rus converted to Christianity and was received into the church in Constantinople during the reign of Emperor Constantine VII. She took the faith back to her home and her grandson, Vladimir the Great, would make Christianity the official religion of the Russians which it remained up until the downfall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917.

The Byzantine Empire stands as rather persuasive proof that the fall of the Western Roman Empire was not inevitable as the Eastern Roman Empire carried on, seemed more than once on the brink of collapse but revived again. This occurred in the 800’s as the Byzantine Empire started to recover its old prosperity, fighting spirit and began to take back her conquered territories. The Muslim invaders were driven back, the Balkans was brought back under imperial rule and Constantinople was once again the center of great wealth and opportunity. Trade boomed and Italian merchants began making alliances with the Byzantine Empire because friendship and trade with them was so much more profitable than in the west. The peak was probably reached under Emperor Basil II, known as “the Bulgar-Slayer” who made a marriage alliance with the Russians, conquered Bulgaria, recovered Armenia and halted Muslim incursions. Art, religion, learning all seemed to have their best flowerings in Constantinople during this time. It was a sad occasion when Basil II passed away in 1025. Leadership problems followed, fights over the throne and this, of course, gave an opportunity for the enemies of the empire to advance. Some measure of stability was recovered with the rise of the Komnenos Dynasty but they had huge problems to deal with.

Godfrey de Bouillon pledges allegiance to Emp. Alexius

A major new problem, that ultimately would never go away, was the appearance of the Seljuk Turks riding in from central Asia. They quickly surpassed the Arabs as the primary Islamic threat to the Byzantine Empire. In 1071 at the pivotal Battle of Manzikert the Byzantine army was smashed by the Turks and Asia Minor completely laid open to them. Faced with overwhelming enemy forces, Emperor Alexius decided to look to the west and call on the Latin Christians for help. Pope Urban II answered by calling the First Crusade for the knights of western Europe to rush to the defense of Christendom against the Muslim invaders. The primary leader of the First Crusade was Godfrey de Bouillon and, while passing through Constantinople, Emperor Alexius had Godfrey and the leaders of the other crusader armies as they came, pledge allegiance to him and to reiterate than all lands they took back from the Muslims would belong to the Byzantine Empire. Not all of the Crusaders took kindly to this, which is understandable as they did the fighting and so expected to receive something in return for their efforts. The result was the establishment of Crusader states, primarily the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, who might nominally do obeisance to the Byzantine Emperor and who tended to adopt Byzantine style for their court life but who basically operated according to the western, feudal system as masters of their own lands with plenty of acrimony and accusations between the Latin Crusaders and their nominal Byzantine overseers.

Emp. John II & Irene of Hungary

The truth is that neither side was perfect in keeping their agreements but this period did see the most east-west cooperation in years. Emperor Alexius was succeeded, in 1118, by his son Emperor John II who married Princess Irene of Hungary. His reign was dominated with trying to repair the damage inflicted on the empire since the disaster at Manzikert. He dealt with the Serbs and Hungarians to the north, part of the settlement of which was his marriage to Irene who converted to the Orthodox Church and has since been recognized as a saint. He was known for his patronage of the church and for taking to the field himself to deal with the Turkish threat from the east, fighting and winning many battles and establishing fortified towns and outposts along the way to prevent future incursions. He succeeded in taking back the initiative in this war, reaching as far as Tarsus. The empire prospered during his reign and the population grew remarkably. However, when he determined to march into the Islamic occupied area of Syria he met only frustration as cooperation with the western Crusader forces failed to materialize. He also had problems with the Italians of Venice and all of these problems were to reemerge as far larger problems in the future.

Emperor Manuel I

For the time being, however, things seemed to be going much better. John II was succeeded by his youngest son Emperor Manuel I in 1143. He made an alliance with the Pope, oversaw the passage of the Second Crusade, joined them in an invasion of Egypt, managed to keep control of the Balkans and made Hungary and the Crusader states Byzantine protectorates. In that regard, he had succeeded where his father had failed, was referred to as “Manuel the Great” by the Greek population and even earned considerable praise from the Latin west as the “most blessed emperor of Constantinople”. This is, again, important to keep in mind because it shows that the Byzantine Empire was not just hanging by a thread or stumbling toward its inevitable doom after the western collapse. It had its periods of crisis but, under able leadership, was shown repeatedly to be capable of coming back and rising again to prominence. The reign of Emperor Manuel also shows that the introduction of the Crusaders into the equation was not something that was completely unmanageable and that the Latins and the Byzantines were capable of putting aside their differences and making common cause for the greater good of Christendom. Emperor Manuel took advantage of the rebellions against the Normans in Sicily to launch an invasion of southern Italy which initially had great success despite being too late to take part in a joint venture with German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa as he had planned. He made an alliance with Pope Adrian IV against the Normans and for a time saw hope of restoring the old Roman Empire, reuniting east and west. Unfortunately, this did not happen as the Emperor would not agree to accept papal supremacy over the eastern Christians nor would the Pope accept imperial political control over the west.

Divine Liturgy in Hagia Sophia

By the time of his death, the Byzantine Empire was prosperous, larger than before, more respected than before and one of the major world powers of the time. However, factions and conspiracies at court remained, enemies on the frontier looked for their chance and relations with Venice, the most important Byzantine ally in the west, had again broken down. It would take a strong monarch to carry on and, unfortunately, his son was a minor when raised to the throne, the regency was unpopular and soon court intrigue brought about the downfall of the boy and another period of political instability followed. The next seven emperors all met unhappy ends, six being murdered and one dying in captivity. Everything came to ruin with the Fourth Crusade of 1203, called by Pope Innocent III who wanted to invade Egypt, seeing it as the ‘soft underbelly’ of the Islamic domains. However, the Crusaders were diverted to retake a city on the Adriatic by the Republic of Venice as payment for ferrying them to Africa. Unfortunately, they never made it to Africa as they met with the deposed Byzantine Emperor Alexius IV Angelus who promised to pay for their ships, religiously reunite east and west and contribute large forces to the Crusade if they would restore him to his throne. They agreed and instead of going to Egypt attacked Constantinople.

This turned out to be a very brutal affair, partly because of the earlier “Massacre of the Latins”, longstanding east-west disputes and the discovery that none of the money or men the Crusaders had been promised existed. In 1204 Constantinople was ransacked on a large scale and quite devastated. Baldwin of Flanders was chosen to be Latin Emperor of the East by his fellow Crusaders, the east-west schism was declared over and the lands of Asia Minor were divided among various Greek rulers with the Crusaders becoming feudal lords of the more choice remnants of the Byzantine Empire. This was a very traumatic event and something that many if not most Eastern Orthodox Christians have yet to get over. The Latin Empire of Constantinople did not last too long with the Greeks, Turks and Bulgars all rising up against it on various fronts. It is, frankly, rather remarkable that it lasted for 57 years under such circumstances. The ideal of the Byzantine Empire as it had been was also not forgotten and in 1261 the last Imperial Dynasty came to power when Michael Palaeologus, a general and imperial relative in the employ of the Greek ruler at Nicaea, overthrew the Latin Empire and reclaimed Constantinople, banning all Latin and restoring the previous Byzantine traditions and ceremonies. Efforts by the Crusaders to restore their domains failed and the Byzantine Empire was once again a force to be reckoned with.

Emperor Constantine XI

Unfortunately, though Emperor Michael VIII, began to rebuild and repopulate Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire, having been broken up, was hard to put back together and would never be as strong as it had been before. Likewise, once the western enemy was gone, the eastern Christians soon began warring against each other again as well, all of which served the interests of the Turks quite nicely. In Asia Minor the Turks were on the advance while in the Balkans the Serbians were attacking and taking ground. The fact that the Christians did not stick together allowed the Turks to gain their own foothold in the Balkans and soon the city of Constantinople was an island in a Turkish sea. It was only thanks to the impressive, monumental, double fortifications around the city and her ingenious naval defenses that kept Constantinople out of enemy hands even though, eventually, the Byzantine Empire included very little beyond the walls of the city itself. There was also a sense of apathy that seemed to take hold of the populace as when the city was again besieged by massive Islamic armies led by Sultan Mehmed II, nicknamed “the Blood Drinker” which doesn’t make him sound like the nicest fellow, only 5,000 men, about 5% of the population could bestir themselves to take up arms in their own defense. This meant that nearly half of the defenders, about 3,000 of them, were western mercenaries, predominately Italian and Spanish with Giovanni Giustiniani (an Italian obviously) named top military commander by Emperor Constantine XI.

Emperor Constantine XI did the best he could under the most hopeless of circumstances. When the Turkish artillery finally breached the walls on May 29, 1453 and the end was eminent, he hurled himself into the enemy ranks and was never seen again, giving rise to a popular legend that he was rescued by an angel, turned to stone and hidden away to be brought back to life later and retake the city for Christendom. It is a story reminiscent of those of King Arthur in England or Frederick Barbarossa in Germany and shows just how much of an impact his heroic sacrifice had on his people. Despite repeated calls for a crusade to retake the city by a number of popes, this proved to be the end of the Byzantine Empire. The Turks turned the Hagia Sophia into a mosque and, initially, made the city the capital of their Ottoman Empire. Eventually, the Ottoman Empire would fall as well but the Turks still maintain control of Asia Minor, the “Golden Horn” and the city of Constantine. Today this is so taken for granted that few even think about it.

14th Century Byzantine flag

The Eastern Roman Empire, however, is something everyone should think about, in the west as well as the east. It certainly had many problems and was notorious for its conspiracies and palace intrigues, however, while the Western Roman Empire fell in 476, the Eastern Roman Empire survived until 1453 and that is something that cannot be shrugged off or dismissed out of hand. For Eastern Europe, the Byzantine Empire was the source of faith, culture and, originally at least, royal legitimacy. For the west, it was the bulwark on the frontier of Christendom that kept very powerful and highly organized enemies from ravaging the continent. Does anyone think that the Persians would not have continued on into Greece as their ancient forefathers had done if the Byzantine Empire had not stopped them? The initial Arab Islamic conquests that swept across north Africa could have easily reached Germany, even Britain or Scandinavia if the Byzantines had not stood in the way. The Turks ultimately gained control of much of the Balkans in their conquests but consider how much more they could have gained without Constantinople blocking their path.

Constantinople as an imperial capital

Western Civilization would likely not exist without the Byzantine Empire and not only because it stood as a barrier against invasion. The Christian religion of the empire, the Roman laws, the Greek culture that came together there served as a gateway from the classical world to the modern world. The Eastern Orthodox Churches and those of the Byzantine-rite of the Catholic Church come down to us from the empire, its learning and the learning it preserved was rediscovered during the Renaissance leading to many advances and its famous artistic style was copied early on and into the Italian Renaissance with numerous churches in Ravenna, Italy and St Mark’s Cathedral in Venice as obvious examples. Byzantine art and architecture also had a tremendous impact on Russia which can still be seen today. The Byzantine Empire was one half and the longer lived half of the Roman Empire which was the foundation of European civilization as we know it. As the kingdoms of France, Spain or Germany looked to Rome, so too did those of Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Russia look to Constantinople. We cannot allow it to be forgotten.

Soldier of Monarchy: Captain-General Giovanni Giustiniani

The fall of Constantinople must rank as one of the most tragic events in the history of Western Civilization and, contrarily, there were few if any greater and more symbolic victories for the forces of the Ottoman Empire. On the Christian side, the most famous defender of the city was, of course, the great Emperor Constantine XI. However, the commander of his army which defended the last citadel of the old East Roman Empire was an Italian, and from a republic no less; a condottiero from Genoa named Giovanni Giustiniani Longo. It is not known exactly when he was born but he was the son of one of the most prominent Genoese families, related to the famous Doria family. When Constantinople was imperiled by the Ottoman forces of Sultan Mehmed II, Giovanni Giustiniani used his own fortune to recruit and equip some 700 soldiers and a naval armada to carry them. When he arrived at Constantinople, he so impressed the Emperor that Constantine XI named him commander of his land forces. It was a wise decision given that, we are told, Giustiniani was an expert at siege warfare and the defense of fortified places.

His were not the only non-Greek forces to arrive to help. About 3/5 of the defenders of Constantinople were westerners, most of them Italians. Alvise Diedo was the commander of the Venetian naval forces and he and his men decided that they would stay and help defend the city. Another was the Venetian ambassador Girolamo Minotto who was determined, in his diplomatic capacity, to maintain the neutrality of the Republic of Venice yet, in his personal capacity, he was no less determined to prevent the Turkish capture of Constantinople and fought on the walls alongside the other defenders of the city. Cardinal Metropolitan Isidore of Kiev, the Papal Legate, also recruited about 200 soldiers in Naples, with funds provided by the Pope, to aid in the defense of Constantinople. There were also numerous other brave individuals who participated such as Maurizio Cattaneo and the Bocchiardo brothers, Paolo, Antonio and Troilo. All of these men were ultimately under the command of Giovanni Giustiniani and, not surprisingly, he had to prove himself an able diplomat as well as a soldier in prevailing upon the Greeks and the Italians to work together in their common goal of repelling the Turks. Even getting the Italians alone to cooperate was not always easy given the long-standing rivalry between Venice and Genoa at that time.

The courage of Giustiniani and his skill at the art of siege warfare were instrumental in Constantinople holding out as long as it did against the hopelessly large odds against them. When the final attack came on May 29, 1453 Giustiniani was wounded while fighting on the wall to repel the invaders. The exact circumstances remain unknown and sources differ as to whether he was wounded by a crossbow bolt or debris from a cannon shot as well as whether his wound was in the arm, leg or torso but whatever the case may be it was sufficient to put him out of action. This caused morale to drop among the hard-pressed soldiers on the wall and eventually panic began to set in. Giustiniani was helped out of the combat area and as the men began to waver following his absence, Sultan Mehmed II took notice and ordered an all-out assault. The defenders were finally overwhelmed, Emperor Constantine XI falling in the attack as he rushed headlong into the Turkish column pouring into the city. Cardinal Isidore of Kiev was able to escape only by dressing a dead man in red robes and he watched as the Turks decapitated the corpse and carried the severed head through the streets thinking they had killed the Churchman.

Meanwhile, Giustiniani was helped back to his ship by a handful of his men who had survived but he died of his wounds at sea sometime early the next month. His loyal troops took his body back to the island of Chios (a Greek island which then belonged to Genoa) and buried him in the village of Pirgi. Giustiniani and his men were among the most well armed, trained and disciplined that the small garrison had and most were posted at the St Romanos Gate. He, and those with him, played a critical part in the historic battle that saw the city of Constantine, the Roman Emperor who envisioned a great capital city there on the banks of the Bosporus, fall to a non-European foe; irretrievably so it seems. Given east-west tensions, men like Giustiniani and his soldiers who fought to defend Constantinople often seem forgotten. They should not be and deserve to be remembered for their courage and sacrifice alongside Emperor Constantine XI and the thousands of others who lost their lives in the battle for the last citadel of Eastern Rome.

*Note: I have been unable to find any pictures of Giustiniani, those above are images of Condottieri of roughly the same period.

Monarch Profile: Emperor Constantine XI

Monarchy is full of symbolism and monarchs are partly symbolic things and there are few better illustrations of this than the life and death of Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos. How is this? From his rise to his fall he was never effectively much more than the over-titled commander of a single city surrounded by a sea of foreign enemies. The world did not change much because of his downfall, but it had a significance out of all proportion due to the fact that it was a tragedy that had been so long in coming. He was the last Eastern Roman Emperor and that mattered, that gave him and his tragedy great significance. For all intents and purposes the East Roman Empire had fallen long before with Byzantine greatness being reduced to the city of Constantinople and a few isolated enclaves. However, just as the fall of Rome was significant to the west even though the Emperor resided primarily at Ravenna, so too did the fall of Constantinople send shock waves across the Christian world. As long as that city and its emperor remained all did not seem lost. Therefore, when it was lost, it was a crushing blow to the moral of the western world and an unparalleled triumph for the still rising Ottoman Empire.

Constantine was born on February 8, 1405 in Constantinople, the son of Emperor Manuel II and a Serbian princess. He did not venture much from the city during his youth and became intimately aware of the workings of the city and the political situation. During the reign of his elder brother, Emperor John VIII, it was Constantine who acted as regent on his behalf when the Emperor was in Rome working out a (temporary) reunion of the eastern and western churches. Constantine received a greater trial by fire when he became Despot of Morea (the Peloponnesus). Always an active and zealous ruler he built up the fortifications of the area and expanded it, to the consternation of the Ottoman Turks who were the overlords of the area. Sultan Murad II led an army in a punitive expedition against Constantine, devastating his fortifications with their new, heavy bombards and Constantine only narrowly escaped. He had seen first hand the metal of his primary foe.

In 1449 he succeeded to the throne as Emperor Constantine XI but it was, as usual in the Byzantine Empire, not an entirely smooth transition. His brother Prince Demitrios opposed him, standing against the reunion of the Catholic and Orthodox Christians as his base of popular support. Ironically enough it was Sultan Murad II who was called upon to arbitrate the dispute and, despite their earlier conflict, he took the side of Constantine who was finally crowned East Roman Emperor in 1449 but not in Constantinople. Patriarch Gregory III, seeing Constantinople surrounded by an Ottoman sea, supported the Catholic-Orthodox reunion and this made him very unpopular with most of the clergy who seemed to prefer risking Islamic rule over Constantinople rather than joining hands with Rome once again. This made a grand coronation in the capital rather impolitic. Constantine XI came to his city and began to rule but it was an isolated position, personally as well as politically. He had married twice but both wives died not long into their respective marriages, a third attempt fell through and there would not be time to arrange another. Without a wife and without children, all hopes for Constantinople rested solely on the shoulders of their new Emperor alone.

With little time to settle in to the role a massive threat was soon confronting the new emperor. Sultan Mehmed II came to the throne of the Ottoman Empire and, despite his youth, made it clear that he was a force to be reckoned with and vowed to at last conquer Constantinople and make the Hagia Sophia a mosque. In the spring of 1452 the Sultan took the first steps of besieging the city and Constantine XI was faced with a nearly hopeless position. He had only a relative handful of soldiers with which to defend a massive city against a Turkish army possibly numbering over a hundred thousand. Moreover, the decline of Byzantine civilization was very noticeable in the lackluster nature of the defending force. The fact that only as few as 5,000 men from a city as populous as Constantinople, upwards of 100,000, does not speak well for the fighting spirit of the public at this stage -and three-fifths of those men were soldiers from the Latin west, largely Italian -from Genoa and Venice. Many seemed to have viewed the empire as a lost cause and refused to make much of an effort to defend themselves and many were also more concerned with carrying on the Catholic-Orthodox/west-east feud than they were with defending against the Muslim invasion.

Emperor Constantine, unlike others, made defending the city his paramount concern, reaffirming the Catholic-Orthodox reunion and calling upon the Latin west for help. He was extremely energetic in seeing to the provision of his army and the populace, overseeing the defenses of the city and the distribution of his meager military forces. The Sultan, at the outset, offered the Emperor his life if he would surrender the city but the Emperor bravely refused and fought courageously throughout the siege. He constantly exposed himself to the enemy, defending the walls alongside his soldiers, fighting alongside them, encouraging them and inspiring them. He also showed himself to be an able diplomat and a clear-minded leader in smoothing over the bickering between the Genovese, Venetian and Greek factions of his army and their proud commanders. In this ultimate trial he proved himself worthy to the overwhelming task that confronted him.

However, it was, of course, ultimately a lost cause. The Ottomans, with their modern artillery of German design, battered down the walls and swamped the tiny band of defenders. Emperor Constantine remained true to form. In the final attack on May 29, 1453 legend has it that he stripped off the symbols of his imperial rank, grabbed his sword and led the last desperate charge into the onrushing enemy horde. The exact nature of his death remains unknown. Some say he was so mutilated in battle that his body was never identified. Others say that his body was found and that his head was cut off and carried back to the Ottoman court as a trophy. In any event, his heroic fall marked the final end of the ancient East Roman Empire, with no wife and no heirs there would be no continuation of the Palaiologos dynasty in his line. Constantinople was taken, eventually becoming the Ottoman capital and true to his word the Sultan turned the Hagia Sophia into a mosque, which it remained until fairly recently when it was converted to a museum. The recovery of Constantinople would become the unobtainable goal for western Christendom (at least the Catholic powers) for centuries to come.

Today the legacy of Constantine XI remains in Eastern Europe. Many Orthodox Christians and Greek Catholics regard him as a saint. His name was invoked in the Greek war for independence and the numerous Balkan conflicts. Also, much like King Arthur in England, Emperor Frederick I in Germany or Genghis Khan in Mongolia, Emperor Constantine XI became the great legendary monarch of history for the Greeks with the same story emerging that an angel had rescued him from death and turned him into marble, preserving him so that when his people most needed him, the Emperor could rise again to lead them to glory. The legend of the “Marble Emperor” is itself a testament to what an impression he made on his people during his short reign and his heroic downfall.

Centrality of the Roman Empire

I have often been asked (usually by those quickly sorry they did) just what is so significant about the Roman Empire. Some monarchists have even argued (hard to believe I know) that the Roman Empire was not really a monarchy anyway and so is unworthy of much consideration. Perish the thought! The Roman Empire is, of course, significant to everyone in the western world and any part of the globe touched by western civilization. The legacy of Rome permeates modern society to this very day in everything from language to politics to architecture to sports to religion and on and on. However, restricting myself to addressing monarchists here, I could easily argue that, not only was the Roman Empire a monarchy but it was, in a way, the monarchy of the western world. Throughout the vast majority of the history of western civilization the central institution, in one form or another, has been the Roman Empire. Referring to Rome as the “Eternal City” is no idle boast.

Consider just how long the Roman Empire has endured. The Western Roman Empire came to an end in 476 AD when Emperor Romulus Augustus was deposed. At the same time, the Eastern Roman Empire managed to endure, even briefly retaking much of the west, until the fall of Constantinople and the death of Emperor Constantine XI in 1453. However, that was still not really the end. In 800 AD the Roman Empire in the west was revived as the Holy Roman Empire when Charlemagne, King of the Franks, was crowned Emperor of the Romans in the Eternal City by Pope St Leo III. This upset the East but, at the time, Constantinople had only an Empress and no Emperor and the West was going to have none of that. Besides which, the East Roman or Byzantine Empire simply could not be an effective force in the west. So, the Imperial Roman title fell to Charlemagne of the Franks, ruler of most of western Europe. After passing from his family the title went in a German direction, eventually settling on the Archdukes of Austria.

The Holy Roman Empire was the central core of western Christendom and the Holy Roman Emperor, though he certainly did not rule all of the west, was viewed as the preeminent monarch amongst the royal hierarchy of the Christian nations. Based out of Aachen originally, finally ending up in Vienna, the Holy Roman Emperors never ruled from Rome (which was the domain of the Pope) nor did they very frequently visit it. Focused largely on Germany the Emperors did rule much of Italy for lengthy periods of time but never permanently. Nonetheless, they represented the heirs of the Caesars of old and carried on the legacy of the Roman Empire. Otto the Great reestablished the empire that had broken up somewhat after the death of Charlemagne and he campaigned far into southern Italy. There was Emperor Henry II whose piety was so remarkable that he was later declared a saint and there was Emperor Frederick I who, for a time at least, forced the loose confederation of German states to become a more centralized empire. Emperor Charles V, also King of Spain, ruled the first empire upon which it was said that the sun never set.

In 1806 the Holy Roman Empire officially came to an end when Emperor Francis II of the Romans became simply Emperor Francis I of Austria. Thus, with one major and one minor interruption, there had been a Roman Emperor from Augustus in 27 BC to Francis II in 1806 AD. And yet, once again, it did not totally end there. In the east, Imperial Russia, and later even Bulgaria and others, claimed to be the heirs of Constantinople, taking the title of “Tsar” or “Caesar” for their monarchs. Moscow was declared to be the “third Rome” (Constantinople itself being the second) but it was never quite the same with Constantinople being in the hands of a different people, a different culture and a different religion; a fact which remains unchanged. In the west, the Holy Roman Empire may have ended but others were still determined to carry on the legacy of Imperial Rome. Napoleon Bonaparte imitated ancient Rome in a big way in building up his Empire of the French. Classical styles were revived, imperial eagles topped French standards, Napoleon referred to his soldiers as his legions and even wore a laurel crown like the Caesars of old.

The centrality of the Roman Empire and the Roman imperial legacy is impossible to ignore. For Catholic monarchies it is absolutely central, for Orthodox monarchies probably even more so. In the west the empire was revived by the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor was the special protector of the pontiff. There was, in fact, no Catholic monarchy that was not at some point a part of the Holy Roman Empire or in some lesser way united to it. Likewise, in Great Britain, which was not part of the Holy Roman Empire and eventually not Catholic, the legacy of the Roman Empire (of which Britain was a part) can still be seen today and the influence was extensive. It can be seen in everything from architecture to traditional Anglican vestments to the style of the monarchy and numerous symbols. The coronation, the sword, the orb and so many other symbols and traditions come down, ultimately, from the Roman Empire. Even monarchies in Scandinavia, which were never part of the Holy Roman Empire or even hardly known by the original Roman Empire, have still been heavily influenced by the Roman cultural legacy.

The ties may not always be direct or unbroken but there is a discernable line in western history from Augustus to Constantine to Charlemagne to Otto the Great to Charles V to Francis II and then from the successor states down to some extent to Archduke Otto of Austria today. Much of the importance of this for monarchists, and certainly Christian monarchists, is because of religion, whether Catholic or Orthodox and even, though to a much lesser extent, Protestant Christians. Christ was born in the Roman Empire (which we must accept as intentional), early Christians were commanded by the apostles to ‘honor the emperor’ and the Roman Empire was the vehicle by which Christianity spread throughout the entire known world of the time. It would seem to be quite impossible, certainly for Catholics and the Orthodox, for a Christian monarchist not to understand the significance of the Roman Empire and just how much we owe to that empire and to fail to honor that legacy. The whole idea of church-state relations and what eventually became the concept of cross and crown or throne and altar goes back to the teaching of Christ, in the Roman Empire, to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s”. The Caesar spoken of, at that time, was the Emperor Tiberius and the role of Caesar, the Emperor, was always extremely important in the Latin Church and if anything even more important in the Eastern Church.

The whole concept of the social Kingship of Christ, of having a sacred monarchy, a society with Christ and Christian teaching at the center of it all goes back to when the Roman Empire first accepted Christianity (Emperor Constantine) and finally made Christianity the official religion of the empire (Emperor Theodosius). In fact, the first ecumenical councils of the Church, for a thousand years, were called by the Roman Emperor and presided over by the Roman Emperor. Many of these were in response to some divisive movement and it shows how, from the very beginning, in the Roman Empire, the Emperor was expected to defend the Church and defend the religion of the empire, just as later kings and princes were also expected to do.

It would be possible to go on at length but, again, the pervasiveness of the Roman legacy for all westerners and monarchists in particular (and certainly Christian monarchists) makes it rather hard to single out certain aspects from such a flood of possible examples. However, whether it was Emperor Justinian and his reform of Roman law which became the foundation of virtually all law in continental Europe up until the revolutionary era, or the inestimable significance of Charlemagne for Western Europe, the foundation of what became known as the Holy Roman Empire around which all Christian monarchies revolved (though not always closely or peacefully) we can see how central the Emperor of the Romans has always been from Augustus Caesar in 27 BC to the abdication of Francis II in 1806. You can still go and visit the Crown of Charlemagne in Vienna, based on the Roman imperial tradition and see paintings of the Holy Roman Emperors wearing their traditional vestments which were all Roman in origin. There is no getting away from it and that is why I say that, not only was the Roman Empire a monarchy, the Roman Empire was, in many ways, THE monarchy.

Monarch Profile: Emperor Justinian the Great

Emperor Justinian I of the Eastern Roman Empire (aka the Byzantine Empire) is known by a number of names from Justinian the Great for his accomplishments overall, Justinian the Lawgiver for his famous legal code, he is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and is one of those famous statesmen features in the House chambers of the U.S. Congress. He is, perhaps, best known in a historical sense as being the man who came the closest to restoring the former greatness of the old Roman Empire after the collapse of Rome in the west. Although his reign was shaky at times and he left large problems for his successors one would be hard pressed to find an area in which the Emperor Justinian was not a success. He left behind a great system of laws, he won numerous victories over his enemies, expanded the empire, built magnificent monuments and is still venerated as a saint.

Like many such emperors in the east his exact origins are unknown. He was born in the southern Balkans, sometime between 400 and 500 AD to the Latin-speaking family of the soldier-turned-monarch Emperor Justin I. As his father grew too old to rule Justinian became consul in 521, commander of the eastern Roman armies and in 527 succeeded as Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. Coming from humble origins he was known to be a rather open and easy-going man but distrustful of the nobility. He was extremely ambitious and energetic and granted a high degree of authority to his consort Empress Theodora. He appointed wise men to put the empire on sound financial ground and availed himself of the very talented general Belisarius.

In an unprecedented move he revised all of Roman law which would eventually become the foundation of civil and canon law with remnants lasting even till today. The infamous Nika riots almost ruined him but the quick-thinking of his wife saved the day. He continued the war with the Sassanid Empire with rather mixed results but finally secured peace with Persia in 532. Soon after he dispatched a large expedition to north Africa where his armies were triumphant, re-taking the old Roman provinces of Tunisia, Corsica, Gibraltar, the Balearic Islands, the southeast of Spain and other areas. Having dealt with the Vandals he then moved against the Goths in Italy where General Belisarius captured Sicily, Naples and finally recovered the Eternal City of Rome itself.

The campaign had to be halted when the Persians broke the peace and war with the Sassanid Empire resumed. Belisarius was sent east to deal with the attacks there, but he seemed to have lost the confidence of Justinian and for disputed reasons was recalled to Constantinople. As before the war between the Persians and Byzantines bogged down into a stalemate until both sides again agreed to make peace. However, in Italy, the Ostrogoths had marched down from the north and retaken many of the previous Byzantine conquests in the south of Italy. After the fighting surged back and forth in favor of one side and then the other the Goths were finally defeated in 552. Only a couple of years later Byzantine rule was tested by a large Frankish invasion but the Byzantines were victorious and at the cost of a great deal of blood and treasure Italy remained firmly in East Roman Imperial hands. At no other time was the dream of a restored Roman Empire, east and west, so close to realization.

On the religious front things were first left largely in the hands of Theodora, but following her death Emperor Justinian took a more active role and insisted on stressing imperial control but also enforced orthodoxy, protected the clergy and the monasteries. He strived for religious unity in his empire and came down hard on heretics. Justinian rebuilt the Hagia Sophia and truly made Constantinople the center of Orthodox Christianity, in terms of both authority and artistic grandeur. In his dealings with the Pope he tried to maintain unity between the two halves of the Church, often infuriating his clerics in the east. A tacit sort of unity was maintained but by trying to please everyone the typical result was that neither side was fully satisfied.

Emperor Justinian died in 565 after some hard final years for the empire and with the cost of his many building projects and military campaigns starting to be painfully noticed. His reign had been a meteoric period of success for the Byzantine Empire, but the very things that made it great also made it all the harder for those who came after him and the power and prestige of the East Roman Empire were soon in another period of decline.

Consort Profile: Empress Theodora

Empress Theodora, one of the most dynamic women of her time, remains to this day probably the most famous Byzantine empress in history. Like her husband, Justinian I, she is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and is venerated every year on November 14. Her origins are a mystery, probably being born sometime in 500 with her birthplace listed by various sources as Crete, Cyprus or Syria. In any event she was of humble origins and originally was a dancer in the circus. When business became bad she was forced onto the streets in Egypt where, hungry and penniless, she was taken in by the monks of a nearby monastery who she received care, accommodations and became converted to what is known in the west as the monophysite heresy.

Eventually she met Justinian, a general in the army of the Eastern Roman Empire, and became his mistress. Justinian loved her fiercely despite her background and raised her to patrician rank. He was drawn to her rustic simplicity, her pale, petite figure and her captivating eyes. He finally married her and showered her with affection and lavish gifts. In 527 Justinian became Augustus of the East Roman Empire and Theodora was crowned with him as Empress. While he was absorbed with his goal of regaining the entire Roman Empire she dealt with religious matters and was determined to promote a monophysite patriarch of Constantinople. Justinian was Orthodox of course but he gave Theodora considerable powers and neither was said to make a move without the consent of the other, ruling more as partners than sovereign and consort.

In relations with the Church in the west she helped orchestrate the elevation of Pope Vigilius on the understanding that he would favor her beliefs. However, once installed on the Petrine Throne he had a change of heart and refused to change anything. In a rage Empress Theodora had him arrested and brought to Constantinople, but he never gave in and eventually outlived the Empress. In the east her courage and decisiveness were instrumental. It is no exaggeration to say that by her leadership she saved the throne of her husband during the Nika riots which threatened to topple Emperor Justinian.

Together with her husband Empress Theodora oversaw the rebuilding of Constantinople into one of the most spectacular cities in history. She helped in the building of hospices, churches and refuges for the poor. She is also credited with influencing new laws to protect women, making rape and kidnapping capital offenses, no matter if the woman was noble or common born. Women could not be forced into the entertainment industry or prostitution and could not be put in prison for debts. Instead they were to be placed under the supervision of religious women to work off their debt. This was necessary because of the rape and abuse women often suffered in prison. She cracked down hard on prostitution, buying the freedom of many girls herself, meting out harsh punishment to their captors and setting up establishments to help them get back on their feet in legitimate ways.

Empress Theodora died of cancer on June 28, 548 and was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles. Emperor Justinian was extremely distraught by her loss and continued to work for religious unity between the monophysite and Orthodox camps. Her religious policy could be seen as damaging but her willingness to work within the established framework has also been pointed to as something which kept the east and west from separating sooner. Nonetheless, what can be said of her is that she was a pioneer of sorts in the fair treatment of women and it is largely thanks to her that women in the Eastern Empire had more rights than those in any other part of the world at the time. She was a beloved and valued consort to one of the greatest monarchs of the Byzantine Empire and during whose reign Constantinople came about as close as she ever did to fully recovering the glories of the old, united, Roman Empire.