European Kingdoms

Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire
AD 395 - 1453

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The Roman empire was unofficially created in the late first century BC when Octavian assumed the position of 'first citizen', essentially emperor by another name. The empire endured through thick and thin for three centuries after that until, by the early fourth century AD, it encompassed a huge volume of territory within and without Europe, from northern Britannia to Judea.

However, it had become difficult to govern and was rife with problems. In an attempt to deal with this and to fine-tune imperial governance, in AD 293 Emperor Diocletian introduced a system known as the 'tetrarchy'. This effectively split the empire into four regions, two of which were ruled by emperors (augustus), and two by each emperor's heir (caesar). This system began to collapse though, riven by personal ambition and clashes of personality.

One of the members of this administration, Emperor Constantius, was succeeded by his son, later known as Constantine 'the Great'. He gradually battled his way towards full and total control of the empire, reuniting it under a single command.

It was Constantine who, in AD 330, selected the Greek town of Byzantium to become his city of Constantinople, capital of the eastern portions of the empire (today's Istanbul in Turkey). Unfortunately for the empire, his immediate successors were not up to the task of replicating his successes.

Theodosius I was the last sole Roman emperor, following whom, in AD 395, the empire was split in two. This split acknowledged what had existed in practice for many years, creating the Western Roman empire on the western side of the Balkans, and the Eastern Roman empire beyond that.

As the western empire declined and faded in the face of increasing barbarian incursions and settlement, the eastern empire survived and, in some periods, actually thrived (notably under the Justinian and Macedonian dynasties). However, the initial rule of the young Arcadius and the subsequent dynasty of Theodosius began things on somewhat shaky ground.

The citizens of the Eastern Roman empire thought of themselves as the true survivors and inheritors of Rome's power and glory, and they referred to themselves as Romans until at least the end of the first millennium.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Slovenska zgodovina do razsvetljenstva, Peter Štih & Simoniti Vasko (1996, in Slovenian), from An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples, Peter B Golden (1992), from The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Byzantine and Near Eastern History, AD 284-813, Cyril Mango & Roger Scott (1997), from Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit, Volume 1, Ralph-Johannes Lilie, Claudia Ludwig, Thomas Pratsch, & Ilse Rochow, from the World Heritage Encyclopaedia, from Viking-Rus Mercenaries in the Byzantine-Arab Wars of the 950s-960s: the Numismatic Evidence, Roman K Kovalev, from The Russian Primary Chronicle (Laurentian Text), Samuel Hazzard Cross & Olgerd P Sherbowitz-Wetzor (Eds and translators, Mediaeval Academy of America), from the BBC series, Mary Beard's Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit, presented by Mary Beard and first screened between 27 April-18 May 2016, from Encyclopaedia of the Roman Empire, Matthew Bunson (1994), and from External Links: Turkic History, and History Extra, and Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Jewish Encyclopaedia, and History of the Byzantine Empire (Live Science).)