European Kingdoms

Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire
Non-Dynastic (AD 813-820)

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From the start, the capital of the newly-created Eastern Roman empire was based at Constantinople, dedicated by Emperor Constantine 'the Great' in AD 330. In AD 395, the Roman empire finally suffered a permanent split, creating formal Eastern Roman and Western Roman empires within Europe and beyond, acknowledging what had existed in practise for many years.

The Eastern Roman empire in the eighth and early ninth centuries was riven by internal discord. Mainly this was driven by external pressures, especially the constant threat of complete conquest by the Islamic empire, but also by the formation of new states in Europe, and especially by the Bulgarian kingdom, sometimes friend, sometimes foe.

The eastern church also had its own internal disputes, most infamously the iconoclasm or 'destruction of images' of 726-787 during the 'Isaurian Dynasty', with a second round being visited between 814-843 and the crossover between this particular 'Non-Dynastic' period and the rise of the 'Phrygian / Amorian Dynasty'. The timing of its start matched precisely the Lombards taking control of the exarchate of Ravenna and therefore kicking out Eastern Roman controls there.

The Roman Papacy and many Eastern Romans supported the use of icons - representations of holy figures but especially those of Jesus Christ. Those who opposed icons believed they had become idols and that it was blasphemous to think that the single god of their religion could be represented in art.

The issue also reignited the debate over whether Christ had two natures or one and whether an icon could therefore only represent the human aspect. Defenders of icons were of the opinion that they were merely an artist's impression, and that they better helped the illiterate to understand the divine.

Principal author(s): Page created: Page last updated:

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Byzantine and Near Eastern History, AD 284-813, Cyril Mango & Roger Scott (1997), from the World Heritage Encyclopaedia, from An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples, Peter B Golden (1992), from The Bulgarians: from pagan times to the Ottoman conquest, David Marshall Lang (Westview Press, 1976), and from External Links: History of the Byzantine Empire (Live Science), and The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire, Jonathan Shepard (Ed, Revised Edition, Cambridge University Press, 2008, and available via the Internet Archive), and Byzantine Empire, CWC Oman (Fisher Unwin, 1892, and available via Heritage History).)

813 - 820

General. Successor to the Nicophoran dynasty. Killed.

813 - 814

Gaining the throne at a time of great need for a strong leader following the abdication of the Nicophorian Emperor Michael I Rhangabé, Leo V withstands the Bulgarian siege of Constantinople which is established within a week of his coronation.

Leo the Armenian standing on a shield with Michael the Amorian, Eastern Roman emperors Leo V and Michael II respectively at a time of consolidation for the reduced empire

The siege is soon lifted but Krum takes revenge for Leo's attempted assassination of him by ravaging towns outside the capital. The threat is only removed by Khan Krum's death by stroke in 814.

814 - 815

A second burst of iconoclasm is started when Leo informs his advisers of his opinion that recent Eastern Roman emperors have suffered defeat due to their veneration of icons, unlike iconoclast Isaurian emperors Leo III and Constantine V who had found success against the Islamic empire and Bulgars.

He is opposed by Patriarch Nikephoros I of Constantinople, but the more superstitious military backs Leo. At the beginning of Lent in 815 the patriarch refuses once again to discuss the issue so he is deposed and exiled.

The subsequent 'Acts of the Council of Constantinople (815)' do not charge iconodules with idolatry but do accuse them of 'folly' and 'recklessness'. Many iconodules are exited from Constantinople but Leo realises that a degree of compromise is inevitable.

Patriarch Theodotus I, shown here seated, was Leo V's replacement for the stubborn Patriarch Nikephoros I who refused to compromise with him in connection with the ongoing debate around icons

818

Following a short period of potential instability after the death of Khan Krum, Omurtag proves to be a capable leader of the Bulgarian kingdom. With a long-term peace agreement signed with Leo V at Constantinople, he is largely free to look to his northern and western borders.

c.820

Cyprus is taken by the Islamic empire whose forces sack and destroy Salamis, either in or about 820. It will take the Eastern Romans over a century to retake the island.

In the same year, Leo V is murdered in church by assassins of one of his most able former supporters, fellow general Michael the Amorian. The excuse is that his wife's sister had been divorced by Leo, but his plotting has already landed him in jail with a death sentence about to be carried out. He now succeeds Leo as Michael II of the Amorian / Phrygian dynasty.

Shown here are two bangles of dark glass which possibly were made in Palestine were discovered on Cyprus, dated between AD 200-300