#Byzantine history

[charlesoberonn]

Shout out to Porphyrios, the whale who terrorized the waters near Constantinople for more than 50 years during the 6th century.

You'd sunk more Roman warships than most of their human enemies.

[chainmail-butch]

I started reading Roland Betancourt's Byzantine Intersectionality because it has a chapter on transwomen, but it turns out that the book is heavily focused on transmasculinity and race in the Byzantine world.

Specifically I wanted to show you this discussion on artistic representation of top surgery and the likelihood that this actually represents top surgery.

Anyway this is really fucking cool

[blueiscoool]

Byzantine Gold Necklace with Amethyst Beads Byzantine, 6th century A.D. Gold and Amethyst

[gemsofgreece]

When the Varangians honoured the woman who killed her near-rapist

The Varangian Guard (Greek: Τάγμα τῶν Βαράγγων, Tághma tōn Varángōn) was an elite unit of the Byzantine Army from the tenth to the fourteenth century who served as personal bodyguards to the Byzantine emperors. The Varangian Guard was known for being primarily composed of recruits from northern Europe, including mainly Norsemen from Scandinavia but also Anglo-Saxons from England. The recruitment of distant foreigners from outside Byzantium to serve as the emperor's personal guard was pursued as a deliberate policy, as they lacked local political loyalties and could be counted upon to suppress revolts by disloyal Byzantine factions.

The Byzantines had mixed feelings about them, on one hand considering them barbarians and brutes with too much love for alcohol, on the other hand admitting their fierce loyalty to the emperor and their military prowress. They never fled a battle and they would fight to their death. They were also considered fair traders in their transactions between the Byzantine Empire and their northern homelands.

One incident which took place in 1034 helped soldify a positive image of the Varangians to the Byzantines' eyes, so much that the Byzantine Greek chronicler Ioannis Skylitzis, described it in his works as "αξιαφήγητον" (axiaphíyiton, worthy of mentioning / narrating).

According to Skylitzis, a group of Varangians were transferred in the Thracesian Theme (Greek: θέμα Θρᾳκησίων, thema Thrakēsiōn), a military division that at the time encompassed west Asia Minor (not Thrace). One of them once encountered a local woman in an uncrowded place. The man approached the woman suggestively but she rejected his advances. The man attempted to rape her and she seized his sword and killed him. His death was instant as she pierced him through his heart.

Art in Skylitzis' manuscript where the woman is erroneously depicted to kill the man with a spear instead of a sword.

Once the incident became known in the area, the Varangians made a gathering in which they agreed to honour the woman for killing their companion. They offered her all the valuable belongings of the killed Varangian, whom they left unburied. According to Varangian law, the rapists of married women were punished with execution, therefore the Varangians reasoned that the woman simply implemented the law by killing their companion.

The manuscripts of Skylitzis are kept in the National Library of Madrid.

Sources:

ΜΗΧΑΝΗ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΟΝΟΥ

www.in.gr

[city-of-ladies]

"The most notable players in Palaiologue politics were the empresses Yolanda-Irene of Montferrat and Anna of Savoy, and on the whole their record is woeful: Yolanda-Irene of Montferrat, second wife of Andronikos II, was unable to comprehend the succession rights of her eldest stepson, Michael IX, and since her husband remained obstinately unmoved by her representations she flounced off with her three sons to Thessalonika where she kept a separate court for many years from 1303 to her death in 1317. From her own domain she issued her own decrees, conducted her own foreign policy and plotted against her husband with the Serbs and Catalans: in mitigation, she had seen her five-year-old daughter married off to the middle-aged Serbian lecher Milutin, and considered that her eldest son John had been married beneath him to a Byzantine aristocrat, Irene Choumnaina. She died embittered and extremely wealthy.

When Yolanda’s grandson Andronikos III died early, leaving a nine-year old son John V and no arrangements for a regent, the empress Anna of Savoy assumed the regency. In so doing she provoked a civil war with her husband’s best friend John Kantakouzenos, and devastated the empire financially, bringing it to bankruptcy and pawning the crown jewels to Venice, as well as employing Turkish mercenaries and, it appears, offering to have her son convert to the church of Rome. Gregoras specifically blames her for the civil war, though he admits that she should not be criticised too heavily since she was a woman and a foreigner. Her mismanagement was not compensated for by her later negotiations in 1351 between John VI Kantakouzenos and her son in Thessalonika, who was planning a rebellion with the help of Stephen Dushan of Serbia. In 1351 Anna too settled in Thessalonika and reigned over it as her own portion of the empire until her death in c. 1365, even minting her own coinage.

These women were powerful and domineering ladies par excellence, but with the proviso that their political influence was virtually minimal. Despite their outspokenness and love of dominion they were not successful politicians: Anna of Savoy, the only one in whose hands government was placed, was compared to a weaver’s shuttle that ripped the purple cloth of empire. But there were of course exceptions. Civil wars ensured that not all empresses were foreigners and more than one woman of Byzantine descent reached the throne and was given quasi-imperial functions by her husband. 

Theodora Doukaina Komnene Palaiologina, wife of Michael VIII, herself had imperial connections as the great-niece of John III Vatatzes, and issued acts concerning disputes over monastic properties during her husband’s reign, even addressing the emperor’s officials on occasion and confirming her husband’s decisions. Nevertheless, unlike other women of Michael’s family who went into exile over the issue, she was forced to support her husband’s policy of church union with Rome, a stance which she seems to have spent the rest of her life regretting. She was also humiliated when he wished to divorce her to marry Constance-Anna of Hohenstaufen, the widow of John III Vatatzes.

Another supportive empress consort can be seen in Irene Kantakouzene Asenina, whose martial spirit came to the fore during the civil war against Anna of Savoy and the Palaiologue ‘faction’. Irene in 1342 was put in charge of Didymoteichos by her husband John VI Kantakouzenos; she also organised the defence of Constantinople against the Genoese in April 1348 and against John Palaiologos in March 1353, being one of the very few Byzantine empresses who took command in military affairs. But like Theodora, Irene seems to have conformed to her husband’s wishes in matters of policy and agreed with his decisions concerning the exclusion of their sons from the succession and their eventual abdication in 1354.

Irene and her daughter Helena Kantakouzene, wife of John V Palaiologos, were both torn by conflicting loyalties between different family members, and Helena in particular was forced to mediate between her ineffectual husband and the ambitions of her son and grandson. She is supposed to have organised the escape of her husband and two younger sons from prison in 1379 and was promptly taken hostage with her father and two sisters by her eldest son Andronikos IV and imprisoned until 1381; her release was celebrated with popular rejoicing in the capital. According to Demetrios Kydones she was involved in political life under both her husband and son, Manuel II, but her main role was in mediating between the different members of her family.

In a final success story, the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, owed his throne to his mother. The Serbian princess Helena Dragash, wife of Manuel II Palaiologos, in the last legitimating political manoeuvre by a Byzantine empress, successfully managed to keep the throne for her son Constantine and fend off the claims of his brother Demetrios. She arranged for Constantine’s proclamation as emperor in the Peloponnese and asserted her right to act as regent until his arrival in the capital from Mistra in 1449.

Despite the general lack of opportunity for them to play a role in politics, Palaiologue imperial women in the thirteenth century found outlets for their independent spirit and considerable financial resources in other ways. They were noted for their foundation or restoration of monastic establishments and for their patronage of the arts. Theodora Palaiologina restored the foundation of Constantine Lips as a convent for fifty nuns, with a small hospital for laywomen attached, as well as refounding a smaller convent of Sts Kosmas and Damian. She was also an active patron of the arts, commissioning the production of manuscripts like Theodora Raoulaina, her husband’s niece. Her typikon displays the pride she felt in her family and position, an attitude typically found amongst aristocratic women.

Clearly, like empresses prior to 1204, she had considerable wealth in her own hands both as empress and dowager. She had been granted the island of Kos as her private property by Michael, while she had also inherited land from her family and been given properties by her son Andronikos. Other women of the family also display the power of conspicuous spending: Theodora Raoulaina used her money to refound St Andrew of Crete as a convent where she pursued her scholarly interests. 

Theodora Palaiologina Angelina Kantakouzene, John Kantakouzenos’s mother, was arguably the richest woman of the period and financed Andronikos III’s bid for power in the civil war against his grandfather. Irene Choumnaina Palaiologina, in name at least an empress, who had been married to Andronikos II’s son John and widowed at sixteen, used her immense wealth, against the wishes of her parents, to rebuild the convent of Philanthropes Soter, where she championed the cause of ‘orthodoxy’ against Gregory Palamas and his hesychast followers. Helena Kantakouzene, too, wife of John V, was a patron of the arts. She had been classically educated and was the benefactor of scholars, notably of Demetrios Kydones who dedicated to her a translation of one of the works of St Augustine. 

The woman who actually holds power in this period, Anna of Savoy, does her sex little credit: like Yolanda she appears to have been both headstrong and greedy, and, still worse, incompetent. In contrast, empresses such as Irene Kantakouzene Asenina reflect the abilities of their predecessors: they were educated to be managers, possessed of great resources, patrons of art and monastic foundations, and, given the right circumstances, capable of significant political involvement in religious controversies and the running of the empire. Unfortunately they generally had to show their competence in opposition to official state positions. While they may have wished to emulate earlier regent empresses, they were not given the chance: the women who, proud of their class and family, played a public and influential part in the running of the empire belonged to an earlier age."

Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium AD 527-1204, Lynda Garland

[nanshe-of-nina]

Women’s History Meme || Empresses (5/5) ↬ Zoe Porphyrogénnētē (c. 978 – 1050)

When Michael V met his fate on Tuesday evening, 20 April 1042, the Empress Theodora was still in St Sophia. She had by now been there for well over twenty-four hours, steadfastly refusing to proceed to the Palace until she received word from her sister. Only the following morning did Zoe, swallowing her pride, send the long-awaited invitation. On Theodora's arrival, before a large concourse of nobles and senators, the two old ladies marked their reconciliation with a somewhat chilly embrace and settled down, improbably enough, to govern the Roman Empire. All members of the former Emperor's family, together with a few of his most enthusiastic supporters, were banished; but the vast majority of those in senior positions, both civil and military, were confirmed in office. From the outset Zoe, as the elder of the two, was accorded precedence. When they sat in state, her throne was placed slightly in advance of that of Theodora, who had always been of a more retiring disposition and who seemed perfectly content with her inferior status. Psellus gives us a lively description of the pair: Zoe was the quicker to understand ideas, but the slower to give them utterance. With Theodora it was just the reverse: she concealed her inmost thoughts, but once she had embarked on a conversation she would chatter away with an informed and lively tongue. Zoe was a woman of passionate interests, prepared with equal enthusiasm for life or death. In this she reminded me of the waves of the sea, now lifting a vessel on high, now plunging it down again. Such extremes were not to be found in Theodora: she had a calm disposition - one might almost say a dull one. Zoe was prodigal, the sort of woman who could dispose of a whole ocean of gold dust in a single day; the other counted her coins when she gave away money, partly no doubt because all her life her limited resources had prevented her from any reckless spending, but partly also because she was naturally more self-controlled In personal appearance there was a still greater divergence. The elder, though not particularly tall, was distinctly plump. She had large eyes set wide apart, with imposing eyebrows. Her nose was inclined to be aquiline, though not overmuch. She still had golden hair, and her whole body shone with the whiteness of her skin. There were few signs of age in her appearance … there were no wrinkles, her skin being everywhere smooth and taut. Theodora was taller and thinner. Her head was disproportionately small. She was, as I have said, readier with her tongue than Zoe, and quicker in her movements. There was nothing stem in her glance: on the contrary she was cheerful and smiling, eager to find any opportunity for talk. — Byzantium: The Apogee by John Julius Norwich

[newhistorybooks]

"Empresses-in-Waiting comprises case studies of late antique empresses, female members of imperial dynasties, and female members of the highest nobility of the late Roman empire, ranging from the fourth to the seventh centuries AD. Situated in the context of the broader developments of scholarship on late antique and byzantine empresses, this volume explores the political agency, religious authority, and influence of imperial and near-imperial women within the Late Roman imperial court, which is understood as a complex spatial, social, and cultural system, the centre of patronage networks, and an arena for elite competition."

[overlysarcasticpolls]

Round 1: Match 14

Video Links:

Anna Komnena

Ishtar

[wonder-worker]

"The second half of the 860s saw [...] a change in Angelberga’s status, as well as the introduction of several queenly titles, which were used more frequently for her than other queens before her.

During the period which Louis II spent in the south the empress received a considerable number of royal grants. The first one, which was mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, was issued in May 866, probably in Capua, and granted to Angelberga the “corticellam nostram Ibernam sitam non longe a corte Olonna”. For the first time, Angelberga was presented as consors imperii: “dilectam coniugem nostram atque consortem imperii nostri” […] In July 866 Louis II issued another charter for Angelberga. This time she was granted three properties in north-eastern Italy, Sesto in the comitatus of Cremona, Locarno in the comitatus of Stazzona (Como) and Aticianum in the area of Diano (Liguria). In this document Angelberga is not defined consors imperii, but rather “dilectae coniugi nostrae, clarissimae scilicet augustae Angilbergae” [...] Gauginus recognized another charter, on 28th April 868 in Venosa, granting San Salvatore to Angelberga, and in case of her death, to her daughter Ermengarda. Based on the 861 diploma, this charter was issued following the death of Gisla, who until then had directed the nunnery. This charter explicitly stresses Angelberga’s political role as “consors et adiutrix regni pariter dilectissime coniuge nostrae, clarissimae scilicet augustae Angilbergae”. Expressions such as adiutrix regni and augusta seem to suggest an increasing stress on the empress' political role, which cannot be found in the previous donation of 861 […] A diploma issued in Venosa on 25th May 869, granted to Angelberga five curtes situated in the northeast of Italy. The document presents Angelberga as “amantissimam coniugem nostram Angilbergam imperatricem augustam”; and requesting the grant of the curtes: “eiusdem dulcissimae coniugis nostrae petitioni serenitatis aurem libentissime accomodantes praescriptas res”.

What needs to be underlined is the introduction of several queenly titles, which were not particularly common before Angelberga. This must be related to the new situation of the chancery: to the freedom chancellors had to invent – or reinvent – the diplomatic lexicon. Secondly, these titles echoed imperial authority. Their use was related to the historical moment in which they were employed, a moment of complex negotiations with the Byzantine empire. The expedition in southern Italy intensified the relations between the two empires, as the Byzantines also had interests in that area. In 871 Louis II sent a letter, probably written by Anastasius Bibliothecarius, to Basil I, replying to a previous missive of the Byzantine emperor, which has not survived. Louis’ letter discusses various matters, namely the military campaign and the patriarchate. However, its core is represented by Louis II’s claim legitimately to call himself emperor, which the basileus was questioning. Louis argued that he had the right to be called emperor, as his father and grandfather were emperors, and most importantly, as he had been consecrated by the pope. The letter shows that Basil did not want to recognize the legitimacy of Louis’ imperial title and hence that the language of authority was a very significant issue in these years. The language we find in Louis II’s charters in this period – also with regard to his wife’s titles - can be related to these discussions. The use of consors imperii – a solemn title, both because of its Roman origin and its use in Carolingian diplomatics – and of other titles that echoed political significance can be seen as an attempt to use a more formalized political language. This language would have stressed imperial authority in a period in which the relations with the Byzantine empire were extremely significant for Louis II."

Roberta Cimino, Italian Queens in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries (PHD Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2014)

[memories-of-ancients]

Gold necklace, Byzantine, circ 500-550 AD

from The Penn Museum

[charlesoberonn]

Very fond of the new trend of calling the Later Eastern Roman Empire AKA the "Byzantine" Empire the New Roman Empire.

It differentiates it enough from the classical Roman Empire centered on Rome itself without denying its "romanness".

Also, the original name of Constantinople was Nova Roma (lit. New Rome) so its fitting to call the Roman Empire centered around the city the New Roman Empire.

[omnidistance]

In my upper level college Religious Studies classes there was a conversation that we at the start of every course. To the degree that it felt more like a ritualistic chant than a discussion. Over the years I’ve collected a few others of this type of academic chant.

1. Religious Studies

Teacher: “Does such a thing as religion really exist?”

Students: “No! It’s a label we put on a collection of beliefs and practices.”

2. Fashion History

Teacher: “Why has fashion history been a marginal part of art history?”

Student: “Misogyny!”

3. Byzantine History

Teacher: “When does Roman history end and Byzantine history begin?”

Students: “Trick question! There’s no difference.”

[blueiscoool]

Byzantine Amethyst Cameo of Christ Pantokrator Byzantine · 11th - 12th century A.D.

[gemsofgreece]

The Byzantine flag coincidence

You probably know that the term “Byzantine Empire” is coined academically recently in time to describe the (Eastern) Roman Empire after the split of the Roman Empire into West and East. Some say it was an attempt at deprecation, some say (and I fully agree) that it is an ultimately useful term which signifies the critically transformative (ethnically, culturally, linguistically, religiously) transitions between the ancient and the medieval empire. Besides, even if the term was later used in a derogatory fashion in the west, the name itself has nothing problematic about it. Byzantine means the empire which had the Ancient Greek city Byzantion as its centre, rebuilt and updated into the well-known Constantinople.

But given how the Byzantines would not call themselves as such (unless they were locals of Constantinople, then one would call themselves sometimes as “Byzantios”), it is funny that the one flag we know of the late period of the empire is full of Bs! (Or, as I should say, “Betas” but this has become unfortunate in English lately! Now that I think of it, y’all have made both Bs and Betas sound weird.)

That empire was sure begging to be called Byzantine.

However, was this a nod to the toponym of Byzantion / Constantinople?

Well, nope! This is a super convenient coincidence because the real reason was a super gigantic imperial flex.

This is the only flag we have from the empire (medieval and ancient states did not really have flags in the modern sense, more like emblems, symbols, labarums and crests) and it belongs to the very last dynasty, the Palaeologan dynasty.

The 4 Bs were the first letters from the words in their motto:

Βασιλεύς Βασιλέων Βασιλεύων Βασιλευόντων

which sounds like:

Vasiléfs vasiléon vasilévon vasilevóndon

and means:

“King of Kings, Reigning Over Those Who Reign”

[city-of-ladies]

"During the reign of her husband the primary function of an Augusta was the orchestration of ceremonial at the imperial court, a highly stylised and intricate affair given the ceremonial nature of imperial life, which was based primarily around the Great Palace, a huge complex extending from the hippodrome to the sea walls, with its own gardens, sporting grounds, barracks, audience halls and private apartments; the Great Palace was the official residence of the emperor until 1204, though under Alexios Komnenos the imperial family usually occupied the Blachernai Palace in the north-west of the city, while there were other residential palaces in and outside of the capital. Empresses’ public life remained largely separate from that of their husbands, especially prior to the eleventh century, and involved a parallel court revolving around ceremonies involving the wives of court officials. For this reason an empress at court was considered to be essential: Michael II was encouraged to marry by his magnates because an emperor needed a wife and their wives an empress. 

The patriarch Nicholas permitted the third marriage of Leo VI because of the need for an empress in the palace: ‘since there must be a Lady in the Palace to manage ceremonies affecting the wives of your nobles, there is condonation of the third marriage…’ While the empress primarily presided over her own ceremonial sphere, with her own duties and functions, she could be also present at court banquets, audiences and the reception of envoys, as well as taking part in processions and in services in St Sophia and elsewhere in the city; one of her main duties was the reception of the wives of foreign rulers and heads of state. Nor were empresses restricted to the capital: both Martina and Irene Doukaina accompanied their husbands on campaign.

The empress was also in charge of the gynaikonitis, the women’s quarters in the palace, where she had her own staff, primarily though not entirely composed of eunuchs, under the supervision of her own chamberlain; when empresses like Irene, Theodora wife of Theophilos, and Zoe Karbounopsina came to power they often relied on this staff of eunuchs as their chief ministers and even their generals. Theodora the Macedonian was unusual in not appointing a eunuch as her chief minister, perhaps because her age made such gender considerations unnecessary. The ladies of the court were the wives of patricians and other dignitaries: a few ladies, the zostai, were especially appointed and held rank in their own right. The zoste patrikia was at the head of these ladies (she was usually a relative of the empress),and dined with the imperial family."

Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium AD 527-1204, Lynda Garland