Byzantium: Eastern Roman Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the successor of the Roman Empire in the East. While the Western Roman Empire fell in 476 AD, the Byzantine Empire in the East lasted another 1,000 years.

The son of the Roman general Constantius Chlorus, Constantine I (“the Great”) is usually held to be the founder of the Byzantine Empire. Constantine was moving the capital of the Roman Empire to the city of Byzantium (the origin of the word “Byzantine”), which he re-founded as the city of Constantinople.

After Constantine, few emperors ruled the entire Roman Empire. It was too big, and under attack from too many directions. The Western Roman Empire crumbled in the fifth century as it was overrun by invading Germanic tribes, while Constantinople became the largest city in the empire and a major commercial center.

With its magnificent palaces, churches, forums filled with sculptures and works of art, universities, and a countless building of great beauty, Constantinople was the cradle of civilization.

In 527, a high-ranking Byzantine nobleman named Justinian succeeded his uncle to the throne of the Eastern Empire. In an effort to regain Rome’s fading glory, Justinian in 533 sent his best general, Belisarius, to recover North Africa from the invading Germanic tribes.

Byzantium was overthrown in the fifteenth century, following the fall of Constantinople the Ottoman Turks on 29 May 1453.
Byzantium: Eastern Roman Empire

Swords in Medieval time

Swords have fascinated people for centuries. The reason for that is perhaps the romantic light that has been cast on them by authors through the years or perhaps by the power associated with them. Swords have been a symbol of power and strength throughout the world from ancient times and this did not change until swords became militarily redundant with the advent of more advanced firearms.

The spatha, the long sword of the Romans, was in essence similar to the swords used throughout the Middle Ages. Longsword is a sword especially favored by early medieval barbarian soldiers usually of simple broad shape. These swords could be single or double edged with a rounded point made for slashing and cutting rather than thrusting.

It was a weapon that was useful on foot and on horseback, against unarmored or heavily armored opponents. The longsword could be held with one or two hands on the hilt to slash, or held at the half-sword for thrusting. It could even be turned around and swung as a hammer.

Viking warriors took justifiable pride in their swords. They were expensive and well made, some crafted by smiths who signed their work down the middle of the blade. They were made from iron welded together and then twisted and remade, and then twisted and remade again, over and over until the strongest blade was achieved.

The sword was the close-combat weapon of choice for almost all barbarian soldiers, both cavalry and infantry. While the Romans preferred the short gladius, which was used primarily for thrusting, the barbarians chose the longer spatha, which was both a slashing and a thrusting weapon.

The Viking swords, which evolved from the Roman long double-edged sword ( spatha) and whose evolution stages are nowadays relatively well-known, the different types of swords had been in use in the eastern Mediterranean and Byzantium.

The swords in Byzantium until the 12th century were of more diverse forms as a result of various influences and traditions meeting there. In addition to the Roman tradition, which resulted in using the long sword (spatha) and short sword (gladius) mentioned in the armament of the Byzantine cavalry in the beginning of the 10th century various sword types were also the result of influences from the west, of the barbarian tribes during Great Migration (Herules), the Slavic and Viking mercenaries in the Early Middle Ages and also from the east, rst of all from Persia and sometime later from Syria.

Swords in Medieval time

The fall of Bulgaria to Byzantine in 1018

Byzantine rule lasted for nearly two hundred years with the Empire founded from the Greeks speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages based in Constantinople.

From the time of Khan Krum (802-14) Bulgaria threatened Byzantine military while at the same time, falling increasingly under Byzantine ecclesiastical and cultural influence. The Byzantines under Basil II invaded Bulgaria but were defeated by the Bulgars under Czar Samuel near Sofia in 981.

Basil II

Basil’s army overwhelmed Samuel’s army at Balathista in 1014, and about 15,000 Bulgarian soldiers were captured. Blinding virtually the entire Bulgarian army, Basil sent it back to Samuel, who thereupon died from the shock of seeing his blinded soldiers.

Much of Bulgaria’s existing empire was gradually infiltrated and encompassed by the Byzantines. Its finally succumbed in 1018 with the entire nation of Bulgarian under Byzantine rule of Bail II who was nicknamed Slayer of the Bulgars’. However, he allowed the country practical autonomy.

Members of the royal family and great nobles were co-opted in the Byzantine ruling class. The Byzantine emperor introduced a tax system in the Old Bulgarian kingdom and ordered the Bulgarian patriarchy to be downgraded although may of the Bulgarian aristocrats retained their position as landlord.
The fall of Bulgaria to Byzantine in 1018

Cyrillic script

Cyrillic script was officially adopted by the Bulgarians in 893. It was derived from the Glagothic script invented by Saint Cyril, a monk from Byzantium. Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius are credited with spreading Christianity among the Slavs in southern Europe in the ninth century.

A disciple of Methodius invented Cyrillic, which was easier than Glagothic script to learn and was more like the Greek alphabet.

Glagothic and Cyrillic script co-existed for several centuries. The Cyrillic alphabet, like its Latin counterpart has Greek roots, being based on the ninth-century uncial script.

Through the ages, it has been modified several times and what is use now in Russian differs from its earlier forms.

The Cyrillic alphabet originally consisted of 43 letters. Various smaller version of this alphabet are currently used in Russia (32 letters), Ukraine (33 letters), Serbia (30 letters) and Bulgarian (30 letters).
Cyrillic script