Byzantine Empire: Decline & The Crusades Timeline

Byzantine Empire: Decline & The Crusades 13

1025 – 1261 Byzantine Empire: Decline & The Crusades (1025–1261) The period from the death of Basil II (1025) to the Nicaean reconquest of Constantinople (1261) is the most catastrophic in Byzantine history after the Arab conquests. A generation of civilian misgovernment squanders Basil II's treasury and military system; the catastrophic defeat at Manzikert (1071) opens Anatolia to the Seljuk Turks; the desperate appeal for Crusader help produces the First Crusade (1095-1099) and a complex, often dangerous relationship with the Latin West; the Fourth Crusade's sack of Constantinople (1204) installs a Latin Empire on the ruins of Byzantium; three successor Greek states survive in exile until Michael VIII Palaiologos's reconquest of 1261.
1025 – 1071 The civilian emperors -- squandering Basils legacy The decade after Basil II's death (1025) sees rapid deterioration: civilian emperors favoured by the Constantinople aristocracy systematically dismantle the military thematic system, reduce the army's size and quality, and spend Basil's 200,000-pound gold reserve on court luxury. Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-1055) is the most damaging -- he disbands the Armenian frontier army, replacing it with a cash payment, and reduces military spending to fund his building programme. The army that faces the Seljuks at Manzikert (1071) is a pale shadow of the force Basil II commanded.
1054 The Great Schism -- East and West divided On 16 July 1054, papal legates under Cardinal Humbert place a bull of excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia, excommunicating Patriarch Michael Keroularios and his supporters. Keroularios responds by excommunicating the legates. The immediate cause is a dispute about papal authority and the filioque clause (whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone or from the Father and the Son). The deeper causes are centuries of cultural divergence, political rivalry and mutual incomprehension. The Great Schism divides Christianity into Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy -- a division unhealed to this day.
1071 Battle of Manzikert -- the catastrophe The Battle of Manzikert (26 August 1071) in eastern Anatolia is the most consequential Byzantine military defeat since Yarmouk (636). Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes leads an army to retake the fortress of Manzikert from the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan. The Byzantine army is betrayed mid-battle by Andronikos Doukas, who withdraws his reserve; Romanos is captured. Alp Arslan treats his prisoner generously and releases him for a ransom -- but Romanos returns to find himself deposed and blinded by his political enemies. The real disaster is not the battle but its aftermath: with no frontier army, Anatolia is open to Seljuk settlement.
1081 – 1118 Alexios I Komnenos -- the recovery begins Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118) takes power amid catastrophe -- the Normans have taken Thessaloniki, the Pechenegs are raiding to the walls of Constantinople, and most of Anatolia is in Seljuk hands. Over 37 years he reverses most of these losses by a combination of military skill, diplomatic genius and ruthless pragmatism. He defeats the Normans with Venetian naval help (granting Venice sweeping trade privileges in exchange), defeats the Pechenegs, and reconquers western Anatolia. His appeal to Pope Urban II for mercenary help against the Seljuks triggers the First Crusade -- producing both massive aid and massive complications.
1082 Venice granted trading privileges -- a fateful deal In 1082, Alexios I grants Venice extraordinary trading privileges throughout the Byzantine Empire -- lower customs duties than Byzantine merchants pay, their own quarter in Constantinople, and exemption from all trade taxes -- in exchange for Venetian naval assistance against the Normans. The Chrysobull of 1082 creates a Venetian commercial empire within the Byzantine state. Venetian merchants flood into Byzantine cities; their wealth and privileges breed resentment. The Fourth Crusade of 1204, which sacks Constantinople, is directed by the Venetian Doge Enrico Dandolo -- the 1082 deal creates the economic interests that make 1204 possible.
1095 – 1099 The First Crusade -- useful allies, difficult guests Pope Urban II launches the First Crusade at Clermont (November 1095) in response to Alexios I's appeal. The Crusaders -- far larger and less controllable than Alexios expected -- pass through Constantinople, swear oaths to return conquered territory to the empire, and capture Nicaea (1097) and Antioch (1098) before taking Jerusalem (15 July 1099). Antioch is not returned to Byzantium; the Crusader states are established without Byzantine consent. The First Crusade is from the Byzantine perspective simultaneously a great success (it relieves Seljuk pressure on Anatolia) and the beginning of a complicated, increasingly hostile relationship with the Latin West.
1118 – 1185 The Komnenian dynasty -- military aristocracy restored The Komnenian emperors -- John II (1118-1143), Manuel I (1143-1180) and Alexios II (1180-1183) -- restore Byzantine military power and extend imperial influence from Hungary to the Crusader states. John II is arguably the most admirable Byzantine emperor after Basil II -- just, personally brave, militarily gifted and entirely free of the vanity and cruelty that mark many Byzantine rulers. Manuel I pursues an ambitious western policy -- allying with the Crusaders, intervening in Italy, attempting to regain a foothold in the West -- that exhausts Byzantine resources without achieving lasting results. The Komnenian dynasty ends in a series of palace coups.
1176 Battle of Myriokephalon -- Manuels dream ends Manuel I Komnenos's attempt to reconquer the Anatolian interior from the Seljuks ends catastrophically at the Battle of Myriokephalon (17 September 1176). A Byzantine army marching through the Sultan Dağı pass is ambushed by the Seljuk sultan Kilij Arslan II and destroyed. Manuel himself barely escapes. He writes to Henry II of England comparing his defeat to Manzikert. The defeat confirms that the Anatolian interior cannot be reconquered and that the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum is a permanent feature of the landscape. Byzantine Anatolia is reduced to the coastal fringes.
1185 – 1204 Anarchy and the road to 1204 After Manuel I's death (1180), the empire descends into a period of palace coups, massacres of Latin residents (1182), Norman sacks of Thessaloniki (1185) and accelerating fragmentation. Isaac II Angelos (1185-1195) and Alexios III Angelos (1195-1203) are among the most incompetent rulers in Byzantine history. Isaac II is overthrown by his own brother, who blinds him; his son Alexios IV appeals to the Fourth Crusade for help recovering his throne, offering a union of the churches and support for the Crusade -- an offer that redirects the Crusade to Constantinople.
1204 – 1261 Three Byzantine successor states in exile After 1204, three Greek successor states maintain Byzantine traditions in exile: the Empire of Nicaea (in northwestern Anatolia, the most powerful and the one that eventually reconquers Constantinople), the Empire of Trebizond (on the Black Sea coast, survives until 1461) and the Despotate of Epirus (in northwestern Greece). The three states compete with each other and with the Latin Empire; the Nicaean state under the Laskaris dynasty is the most coherent, rebuilding Byzantine administrative and military structures with remarkable efficiency.
1204 The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople The Fourth Crusade (1202-1204), diverted by Venetian commercial interests and Byzantine dynastic intrigue, sacks Constantinople on 13 April 1204. The three-day sack is one of the great cultural catastrophes of the Middle Ages: the imperial treasury is looted; the great library is burned; the relics of Christendom are stolen (the horses of San Marco in Venice are from the Hippodrome); the Hagia Sophia is desecrated. The Latin Empire of Constantinople (1204-1261) is established. Pope Innocent III, who had forbidden the attack, writes: 'These defenders of Christ... have dipped their swords in Christian blood.'
1261 Michael VIII reconquers Constantinople Michael VIII Palaiologos, Emperor of Nicaea, reconquers Constantinople on 25 July 1261 -- through a fortunate accident: the Latin garrison is away on a military expedition when a small Byzantine force finds the city gates unguarded and opens them. Michael enters the city in triumph, walking barefoot to Hagia Sophia. He has the Latin Patriarch's eyes gouged out. He is crowned emperor in Hagia Sophia, restoring the Orthodox liturgy for the first time in 57 years. The restoration is celebrated as a miracle -- but the empire he restores is a diminished fragment of its former self.