The Dark Ages: Anno Domini 476-1459
Eurasia
Barbarian Europe (500s A.D.)
While the east continued to prosper as it always had, the west had been enveloped by barbarian darkness, which had settled over Europe in the years following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Beginning in the A.D. 520s, the "second wave" of barbarian invasions began and millions of refugees from northern Europe and Asia made their way southwards, raiding and pillaging through Eurasia. After traveling hundreds of miles on both foot and horseback to escape the now uninhabitable north, the invaders began to settle throughout Western Europe, particularly in the Frankish and Ostrogothic Kingdoms. During the early stages of the second invasion the invaders typically arrived in groups of up to a few thousand people and were generally bought off with bribery. As this trickle became a flood, however, the invaders began to attack, conquer and settle large portions of Europe. These invasions triggered the final collapse of the old order, for while the newcomers frequently abandoned many aspects of their former lives and adopted the language, culture and even religion of the region they conquered, the conquered regions were often permanently changed as well. Cities and towns began to shrink, trade was disrupted and a feudal darkness slowly engulfed the world.
The patterns emerging in the shattered Western portion of the Roman Empire closely resembled a continuation of those from Imperial times, although with the collapse of Roman authority, there was no longer any strong Roman Army to protect the fragmented Western Empire from attack. Instead, the barbarian hordes from the north descended upon the divided kingdoms of the day, terrorizing half the civilized world before being gradually absorbed by the culture of their former victims. As the Roman Empire in the West gave way to the new Germanic and Slavic states, a number of calamities befell Europe. Cities and towns shrunk and disappeared, land was left untilled and wild, mortality rates rose while population declined, trade and large scale industries collapsed, slavery declined, government authority was greatly weakened, and a series of plagues befell the known world.
As the organized world of the Roman Empire collapsed, many formerly prosperous bustling cities and towns began to shrink and disappear. This was caused by the decline of both the middle class and the knowledgeable, the disappearance of a strong centralized government as well as the repeated invasions and the resulting sacking of many cities and towns. Additionally, many of the great public buildings built in the previous centuries that were not converted into churches or palaces for the rich and powerful, were left in abandonment, to be gradually be broken down for their parts, by the elements, or by both. The invasions not only resulted in the decimation of the urban landscape, however, but of the countryside as well. Much of the land, formerly inhabited by prosperous farmers, was now left abandoned and gradually the wilderness expanded once again to areas formerly cultivated. Even the well built Roman roads fell into disrepair, in some cases reverting to nearly impassible dirt tracks. The Mediterranean was no different, as soon after the Imperial Navy ceased to control crime, pirates began to prey on merchants shipping goods by sea. The population was also affected by the chaos, as although it had been declining for some time, this was greatly sped up by the decay of the cities and towns and the return of much of the populace to the fields. The average life span was greatly shortened while the infant and maternal mortality rates rose.
This destruction of the Roman world was important, as it led to a shift in social structure. The wealthy aristocrats had already lived in their magnificent rural villas for centuries, but as time passed and the cities began to shrink, many peasant farmers turned their lands over to the wealthy. As they were unable to defend their properties from invasion or robbery, or to afford to maintain themselves, they soon became landless peasants or serfs, living in a number of humble shacks clustered around the landlord's villa. As it became unsafe and difficult to travel or transport goods over even moderate distances, both trade and large scale manufacturing collapsed. The former Roman world, which had been interconnected for centuries, was split apart and isolated. Shortages resulted around the entire region, as food, material and luxury items suddenly became scarce or disappeared altogether. It was, however, not only the flow of material items that was halted, but of ideas and knowledge as well, which resulted in the gradual breakdown of law, culture and learning. This contributed to the further decline of urban life, as cities functioning as centers of commerce could not long survive in a world without it. The decline of the cities and towns and the retreat of much of the population to the countryside resulted in the growing power of the landed aristocracy and the ebbing power of the Germanic or Slavic warrior king. These were not the only problems of the period, however, for with the invaders came new and deadly diseases and several times during the sixth century much of Eurasia was devastated by plagues. These plagues, which reached a crescendo towards the end of the sixth century, devastated the continent leaving over a fourth of the population dead.
Further east and northwards, beyond the frontiers of the Roman Empire, much of the land was sparsely populated and underdeveloped, with few cities or towns and most people subsisting as simple farmers, herders or hunters. It was here, in the dark forests and plains of Northern and Eastern Europe, far from the light of civilization, that many unrecorded events would come to pass, for writing was completely alien to the region. The "second invasion" was to begin here, as many thousands of people, including entire tribes began to shift around. The expansion of the Gokturks in Central Asia to the west, south and east may have been the ultimate cause, which pushed such tribes as the Avars and Bulgars later the Pechenegs and Magyars westwards into Europe. Further northwards, the Norse and Turko-Finns invaded and settled throughout Northern Europe mixing with the local populations and creating a completely new and unique set of cultures.
The period in time stretching from the early seventh century to the mid-fifteenth was, for the former Western Roman Empire, a period of stagnation and decay. Although the manifold problems of the previous century; plague, famine and barbarian invasions had faded away, much of the region was left devastated, a mere shadow of what it had been only a few centuries before. As the centuries passed, the region was continually plagued by many of the trends prominent during the sixth century such as the decline of cities and towns, the reversion of formerly developed and cultivated land into wilderness, the continued decay of the old social order and the weakening of government authority. Beginning in the seventh century, however, these signs of decay were coupled with new problems such as the growth of feudalism, the decline of the monetary economy and the continued divisions within the Christian Church, which would, within the space of a few decades, complete the rebarbarization of the continent. Beginning during the fifth century with the collapse of Imperial authority in the West, the Greco-Egypt centered world abandoned fragmented Western Europe to decadence and barbarism. Of the Germanic Kingdoms, or successor states of the Roman Empire, those of the Britons, Burgundians, Franks, Ostrogoths, Vandals and Visigoths were the most important, with many more inhabiting the uncivilized regions on the periphery of the Empire.
The above map was compiled in the Year of Our Lord 818 by the Eastern Roman historian and cartographer Andronicus the Wise and details the lands of Europe in that year. It uses the standard font of the era and region.
The British Isles were, in the fifth and sixth centuries, home to a vast multitude of different peoples. In the south, inhabiting the former Roman province of Britannia were the Romano-British, still enjoying the afterglow of Roman civilization. Further northwards, in the wilds of Caledonia, the Picts made their homes, eking out a living via farming and herding, which they did in small communities. To the west in Hibernia, the five tribes of the Celts survived just as they had for centuries. Then too, invaders from the mainland; Anglos, Saxons and Jutes pillaged, raided and finally settled on the eastern coast of both Britannia and Caledonia. With the evacuation of the last Roman legions from the British Isles in A.D. 407 and the expulsion of the civilian administration in A.D. 409, Roman Britain ceased once and for all to be a province of the Empire. The final end of the province arrived with a peasant revolt against the large land owning class, whose prosperity for some centuries had largely been at the expense of the lower classes. After this, law and order gradually broke down and the province slowly splintered into many different, small, usually autonomous units. Government was left to local authorities and a number of warlords soon emerged all across the countryside, though Roman culture and ways of life continued to persist. Economic problems became widespread with a resulting decline in urban life, coinage circulation and industry. The threat of barbarian invasion also increased as Anglos, Saxons and Jutes migrated to the Britain. Repeated attempts to secure assistance from the mainland proved futile and so it was by A.D. 518 that half the country had been subdued by the invaders. Even up until this time, however, Romano-British civilization was not extinguished; rather the invaders were but a minority living amongst the substantial population of the conquered.
As large tracts of arable land in Caledonia became unproductive due to the eruption of the super-volcano and the resulting climactic change, tens of thousands of Picts began to march southwards, crossing over the now defunct barrier of Hadrian’s Wall and into Northern Britannia. There, they attacked and seized land from the Romano-British and Anglos who dwelt in that part of the country, plunging the Britannia into general war. It was not long after this too, that another faction emerged upon the scene. In A.D. 541 seven strange ships were sighted off of the coast of Eastern Britain. These were the first of many migrating southwards from Scandinavia to flee the advancing glaciers. These new invaders ravaged the coastline and eventually settled along its shore, creating a string of prosperous colonies along land which had formerly belonged to the Anglos and Saxons. Facing attacks from the West by the Romano-British, the north by the Picts and the east by the Dani and Suiones, the Anglos, Saxons and Jutes began their long retreat into oblivion. Near Eboracum in A.D. 577, the Anglos were soundly defeated by a united force of Romano-British and Picts. Whereas the severe defeat of the invaders in the Battle of Mount Badon had resulted in the stalling of their advance, this new victory enabled the Romano-Britons to begin to reclaim their lost lands. The turning point of the long struggle had finally been reached. The Anglos were overwhelmed and gradually lost ground to the natives of the British Islands, becoming slowly assimilated into their culture and way of life. By the early seventh century, the situation had stabilized somewhat. The new invasions had for the most part subsided and had resulted in the scattering of some several thousand Scandinavians along much of the coast of Eastern Britain. Apart from the northern portions held partly by the Picts, the rest of Britain was held by the Roman-British who had triumphed at last. The Anglos had been defeated and destroyed over the course of the previous century and the Saxons and Jutes had also been absorbed into the greater conglomeration of Britannia over the next few decades. After a period of disorganization, which lasted for much of early and mid seventh century, Britannia was once again unified, this time under the leadership of King Johannes, who proceeded to rebuild the Britannia as it had been under Roman leadership.
Another Germanic tribe originating from beyond the borders of the Roman Empire, the Burgundians were said to have emanated from the cold, frozen wilds of Scandinavia. After their near destruction by the Huns in A.D. 436, which was arranged in part to halt their continued destructive transgressions upon Roman territory and property, the Burgundians were resettled by the general Aëtius in A.D. 443 in the region of Southeastern Gaul. From their resettlement until the Great Eruption and afterwards, the Burgundians were ruled by the House of Gundahar. As the Western Roman Empire neared its end, the Burgundians fought alongside both the Romans and the Visigoths against Attila the Hun, finally defeating him in the Battle of Chalons in A.D. 451. For the next few decades the Burgundians and Romans would be politically entangled and more than one emperor would be made and unmade by ambitious tribesmen. Under their great king Gundobad, who quickly consolidated his rule, drowning one of his brothers and being deserted by the other to the Franks, the Burgundians began the ascent to the zenith of their power. During his reign which lasted until A.D. 516 the Burgundian King formulated two great law codes and encouraged the growth of his kingdom. Gundobad was peacefully succeeded by his eldest son Sigismund who, a mediocre king at best, ruled for no more than a year before retreating to a monastery a broken man, overcome with remorse for his murder of his son. With the eruption of the super-volcano in A.D. 518, Sigismund was deposed as king by his younger brother Godomar, although he was allowed to live out his remaining days in a monastery.
After becoming King of the Burgundians, Godomar successfully steered his new kingdom through the great period of turmoil, which was so devastating to his larger neighbors. Recognizing the distraction of the two much more powerful, much larger adjacent states, the Burgundians were able to fully take advantage of the resulting period of peace and Godomar began to rebuild the kingdom, continuing his fathers work until the kingdom shown nearly as brightly as the light of Roman Gaul had in better centuries. Taxes exacted from the populace were used in the rebuilding and restoration of many great public works and it was not long before Latin and Greek dramas were once again great sources of amusement to the people. Roads and bridges were rebuilt and maintained and a lively trade sprang up between the region’s growing cities. Godomar furthered the prosperity of the countryside by adding to and editing the great two law codes created by his father and encouraging able Burgundians to take over the administration of the kingdom. The military was expanded as well and a system of fortifications built along the frontiers. By the time of his death in A.D. 550, Godomar had created a prosperous state, successfully fusing both Roman and Germanic culture. His son Gundothar persisted in extending the legacy of his father, continuing to fight against expanding feudalism and to preserve the achievements of the classical era. After a reign of some 45 years, he too finally passed on and the Burgundian state began to weaken, as his successors were neither as able nor as competent as he. Additionally, both the Kingdom of the Franks and the Empire of the Romans, which up to this point had been kept relatively divided and/or non-threatening via internal troubles and the crafty diplomacy of the two previous kings, began to take an aggressive stance once more. While the Romans were bought off with a large annual tribute which would later prove disastrous for the economy, the Franks attempted a series of invasions and were repulsed, but with heavy losses on both sides. The cost of survival was great, as the state was greatly weakened and the seventh and eighth centuries saw the rise of many feudal fiefdoms, a necessity for regional defense. Feudal darkness was spreading, wrapping the land in its thick cloak of ignorance.
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes who had made their homes in the dark towering forests and wide open plains of northern Europe, gradually encroaching upon the dying Roman Empire. While the Franks remained but a minor power throughout Rome’s decline, with the ascension of Clovis I in A.D. 481, they quickly became feared and respected throughout the former Western Empire. Clovis’s reign marked a turning point for the Franks, as they quickly expanded from a relatively small area on the frontier of the civilized world to engulf most of the former province of Gaul. In A.D. 486 Clovis defeated a “Roman Army” under the command of Syagrius, the last Roman official in northern Gaul. Throughout the A.D. 490’s he won several stunning victories against other Germanic tribes; the Thuringians and Alemmani, and by A.D. 507, had seized Aquitaine in the Battle of Vouillé from the Visigoths. Clovis made progress in many other areas in addition to territorial gains, securing alliances with many of the neighboring kingdoms and converting to Nicene Christianity (at the urgings of his Burgundian wife Clotilde), granting him favorable relations with both the Pope and the Roman population. Perhaps the sole failing of Clovis was that he had too many sons and no concept of primogeniture. Upon his death in A.D. 511, the kingdom he had labored so hard to build was divided between them inviting in a period of disunity, which would plague the Franks over the course of the following years. Due to the periodic internecine feuding between the sons of Clovis; Clodomir, Theuderic, Childebert and Clothar, the Kingdom of the Franks was ill equipped to deal with the aftermath of the super-volcano eruption in A.D. 518 and the resulting global cooling.
The climate change resulting from the great eruption in the earlier portion of the sixth century signaled the start of a period of misfortune for the Franks. Their position on the edge of the civilized world and the strength of their neighbors resulted in the Franks taking the brunt of the "Western Invasion." Within the first few years following the eruption, a trickle of peoples began to migrate through the wilds of northern Europe to encroach upon the territories of the Franks. This trickle quickly became a flood, as thousands of wandering peoples, in some cases entire tribes, invaded and conquered large portions of the Frankish domain. Divided as they were, the four sons of Clovis could not adequately rally to the defense of the nation. Within a few years of each other, two of Clovis' four sons had died in battle against the invaders and one, Clodomir, had retired to a monastery and so it was by the early 530s that the Frankish Kingdom was once again united, this time under the youngest son of Clovis, Clothar. Clothar, though a competent leader, was not able to repel the now tens of thousands of barbarians who had invaded his kingdom. In the early years of his reign, Clothar led annual campaigns to liberate his lands from the invaders, but was met with only mixed success. Large portions of land were reconquered, although these were now generally full of foreign peoples with alien customs. On the other hand, his draining wars soon exhausted the Frankish treasury and heavy taxation led to the weakening of the state. Towards the end of his life, Clothar retreated into theological study, leaving his ministers to do the best they could with the resources available. The successors of Clothar were met with similar levels of success, although by their time the second barbarian invasion had for the most part abated. New problems, however, such as the growth in power of the aristocracy and the resulting decentralization of the state, as well as the devastation caused by the invasions had reduced the Kingdom of the Franks to one of Europe’s weakest nations. Gaul, formerly one of the most advanced regions in the Western Empire had been reduced to barbarism.
The Kingdom of the Ostrogoths, or Eastern Goths, was established by Theodoric the Great in A.D. 493 after the king, with the encouragement of the Emperor Zeno, led his people to their new homeland in the Italian Peninsula and deposed the usurper Odoacer. The Ostrogoths then quickly consolidated their hold over the peninsula and surrounding territories, creating a new Italo-Gothic state, where, for a while, it seemed the Germans and Romans might finally live in peace in a stable kingdom. Throughout his reign, Theodoric encouraged the development Roman culture, which resulted in the blossoming of law, art, literature and philosophy. Theodoric, though himself an Arian, enforced religious toleration, which allowed the growth of the Catholic Church. With the eruption of the super-volcano in A.D. 518 and the global cooling that resulted, the kingdom faced its first real problems, as northern peoples such as the Eastern Franks, Alemanni, Thuringians, Gepids, Lombards and Slavs attempted to invade and conquer large swaths of land. Summoning his people, Theodoric was able to crush the invaders in several decisive battles, but still allowed many newcomers to settle within the kingdom. Finally, well into his eighties, he died, his reign having been nothing but a success for the Ostrogoths.
Following the death of Theodoric the Great in A.D. 536 and the ascension of his successor and grandson Athalaric, the fortunes of the Italo-Gothic nation began to decline. Firstly, it soon became clear that Athalaric was neither as competent nor as ambitious as his grandfather and that he would be dominated throughout his reign by his mother Amalsuintha. Upon realizing this, the Gothic nobles were able to take advantage of their weak king by exercising more power than they had been able to previously. Eventually, after it became clear that Athalaric was going to neglect the kingdom, he was deposed and confined to one of his villas under virtual house arrest. Always the indecisive, Athalaric was content to remain in his villa throwing himself into excesses. His mother, however, was not and so she entered a secret correspondence with the Emperor Justinian who had motives of his own. Justinian promised to send aid in the form of Belisarius who with the support of Amalsuintha, and at her prompting Athalaric, was able to gain the allegiance of the majority of the Goths and so to seize control of the kingdom with little fighting. Afterwards, Amalsuintha was married to a Roman official who proceeded to govern the new province, thus resulting in the creation of a new Gothic-Roman Dynasty which served to produce viceroys (and later exarchs) for the emperors in Constantinople. Thus, the Ostrogothic Kingdom remained under the control of the Eastern Roman Empire for a period of almost three centuries.
The Kingdom of the Vandals was, from the time of the Great King Geiseric, situated in the fertile plains of North Africa, which for centuries had served as the breadbasket of the Western Roman Empire. When Geiseric died in A.D. 477, he was succeeded by other, less capable kings, whose ascension to the throne led to the weakening of the kingdom and ultimately to its eventual incorporation within the Eastern Roman Empire. From A.D 477 to the eruption of the super-volcano in A.D. 518, the Vandals stagnated and weakened, losing large tracts of lands to both the Berbers in Northern Africa and to the Ostrogoths in the Mediterranean. Thus, as the world began to cool and the kingdom was beset by a number of climactic and other disasters, the largely ineffectual ruler Thrasamund was deposed in a revolt led by his cousin Gelimer, who was proclaimed king. Gelimer, realizing that his reign ultimately depended upon him being an effective ruler, immediately set out to fix the troubles, which had been largely neglected since the death of the legendary Geiseric. By A.D. 518, the Kingdom of the Vandals was besieged by a number of problems, including the prejudice between the Arian Vandals and the Catholic Romans, the laziness and decadence of the Vandal population, the unwillingness of the Romans to cooperate with their Germanic overlords, the encroachment of the Berbers upon Vandal territory and the depleted Vandal military. Firstly, the Vandals were a tribe of zealous Arians, while much of their subject populace were Catholics. Traditionally, the Vandals had persecuted the Catholics and though Gelimer himself was fanatically Arian, he realized that to survive, his people needed to secure the allegiance of the local population. Therefore, Gelimer ended the persecution of the Catholics and allowed religious toleration, which temporarily angered several of the Vandals. Next, Gelimer issued an edict requiring the Vandals to participate in military service, as well as to take over the administration of the kingdom from the Romans. By rebuilding many of the public works destroyed by the invasion and arranging frequent games and plays, as well as lowering taxes and ending religious persecution, Gelimer was finally able to secure the allegiance of the populace. Lastly, Gelimer dealt with the problem of the Berbers, who had been encroaching upon Vandal territory. In a series of campaigns, he annihilated the Berber attackers and incorporated them into the kingdom.
After reigning for 18 years and dedicating much of his life to rebuilding his kingdom, it hardly seems fair that Gelimer’s work was undone within the course of a few months. In the period of tranquility following the unsuccessful barbarian incursions across the Danube, the peace with Persia and the Nika Riot, the Roman Emperor Justinian was able to return his attention to his plans of reconquering the West for the Empire. Under the pretense of delivering the Roman population from the control of heretical Germanic barbarians, Justinian declared war upon the Kingdom of the Vandals in A.D. 536 and sent his best general, Belisarius, to return Northern Africa to the control of the Empire. After the routing of the Vandal army near Carthage and the subsequent loss of several battles near Hippo, Gelimer surrendered and entered captivity. With their surrender, the Kingdom of the Vandals was officially destroyed; however, as the entire administration of North Africa had been controlled by Vandals and the large estate owners and wealthiest citizens were all Vandals, they were in most cases allowed to retain their positions. As the king had been captured and sent to Constantinople where he was granted an estate and an annual annuity by Justinian, the position of the head of the North African government was taken by a Roman (Greek), who oversaw the day to day tasks of governing the province for the Empire. By A.D. 544, however, this viceroy had died and Justinian then allowed Gibamund, a nephew of Gelimer and a leading member of the government within North Africa, to take control of the province. Gibamund was a wise ruler and ensured that the Vandals would survive as a people throughout the next few centuries of occupation. Eventually, shortly before the former king’s death, Justinian allowed Gelimer to return to Africa, where he quietly lived out his remaining years.
The Visigoths, or Western Goths, settled throughout the fertile plains, lush forests and mountain valleys of Gaul and Iberia even before the fall of the Western Roman Empire, but it was not until A.D. 475 that they received full independence. The early Kingdom of the Visigoths was ruled from Toulouse in Aquitaine, but following the battle of Vouillé in 507, they lost this territory and much of Gaul to the Franks. Before this disastrous defeat, however, the Visigoths had become the masters of the Iberian Peninsula, dominating all of Iberia, with the exception of the Suebi Kingdom in the northwest and the Pyrenees Mountains, which were held by the native Basques. It did not take them long to recover, however, as they quickly developed a spectacular civilization ruled from their new capital of Toledo. Literature and the arts flourished, as did many other elements of Roman culture. Public works were kept in good repair and both the Germanic Visigoths and the native Romans prospered. From A.D. 511 until the eruption of the super-volcano in A.D. 518, Theodoric the Great ruled as a regent (through his vice-regent Theudis) for the young prince Amalaric, the son of Alaric II. From then until A.D. 522, Theudis became regent, as Theodoric was forced to fight the invaders of his kingdom, due to the effects of the global cooling. Although Theudis ceased to be regent in A.D. 522, he was to serve as one of Amalaric’s most trusted advisors in the period which was to follow.
When Amalaric ascended to the throne of the Visigothic Kingdom in 522, the Visigoths did not gain a mighty leader like Theodoric of the Ostrogoths or Justinian of the Romans, but one who nevertheless was quite competent and intelligent. In the beginning of his reign, Amalaric consolidated his hold over the Iberian Peninsula conquering both the Suevi Kingdom in the northwest and the Basques in the Pyrenees. Taxes from the population and gold from the treasury helped to pay for the construction of a series of large public works, the promotion of Roman culture and of a string of defensive fortifications along the borders. Contrary to what was occurring in the rest of Europe, Toledo and other Visigothic cities grew into major metropolises becoming centers of regional trade and commerce. After his death in the A.D. 560’s, the Kingdom of the Visigoths declined somewhat, as his descendants were not quite as capable. They were, however, able to resist an incursion from the Eastern Roman Empire and so to maintain their independence, something not shared with the Ostrogoths or Vandals. As the sixth century drew to a close, the Visigoths entered the Dark Ages along with the rest of Europe. The landed aristocracy grew in power and influence holding nearly as much authority as the king, while the arts and learning slowly declined. Secular buildings began to fall into disuse and disrepair while the priestly class began to exert its power over the kingdom. Independence was retained, however, both from the Franks in the north and the Romans in the south.
Like frost collecting on a blade of grass in the early morning, the Khazars appeared from the swirling masses of tribes present in the Caucasus region and quickly formed an ordered and organized state. One of the multitudes of Turkic tribes inhabiting Central Asia, the Khazars were able to secure their independence from the Gokturks in the years following the eruption of the super-volcano. Forced into the Caucasus region by the spreading Gokturk Empire, the Khazars settled around the Volga river and there established their capital, Küiev, in A.D. 535, or thereabouts. Throughout most of the early sixth century, however, the Khazars remained relatively disorganized; their true rise to greatness would not begin until A.D. 541, for it was in this year that the Khazar armies were able to inflict a stunning defeat on the much larger and more experienced armies led by one of the leading generals of Khosrau I. It was then that this motley collection of small villages connected by unpaved muddy tracts, began to develop into one of the most powerful and enlightened state of the Dark Ages, in some cases rivaling the civilizations of Rome and Persia. Villages expanded to become cities with the growth of population and land that had lain fallow was irrigated and brought under cultivation. Küiev became one of the greatest commercial centers of the region and all of the cities of the Khanate of the Khazars were famed for their bustling markets, busy streets and clever merchants. Situated along the northern trade route of the Roman Empire, the Khazars were able to trade with both Rome as well as the diverse civilization of the Far East and their merchants quickly became among the most skilled in the world, their cities famous for their bustling market places.
Wedged in between a Christen and a Zoroastrian Empire, the Khazars opted for Judaism as their religion of choice, their kings and upper classes converting in the early seventh century. The lower classes, however, and the majority of the population, remained a mixed collection of faiths as Christianity, Judaism, Paganism and Zoroastrianism were all widespread. The Khazar state famous for its justice and tolerance received the immigration of persecuted peoples from everywhere and quickly became a learned and enlightened state. As time passed and the Khanate became a major force in the Caucasus region, it would also become a powerful ally of the Roman Empire and an important enemy of Sassanid Persia. As the Southern Trade Route controlled by Sassanid Persia were often unreliable due to high tolls, piracy and seizure of goods by the state, all of the Roman Empire’s and Western Europe’s goods passed through the land of the Khazars, which quickly grew quite wealthy in the process. With prosperity, however, came external attack, as the various Turkic tribes inhabiting the steppes to the north descended upon the Khanate of the Khazars in a variety of hordes; the Pechenegs, the Cumans and others; while from the south came renewed attacks from Sassanid Persia. The strong military of the Khazars, however, prevailed in defending the state and was even able to make gains, subjugating the Cumans and forcing the Pechenegs back to the northern shores of the Caspian. A trading state noted for its fairness in an age where this was none to common, the Khanate of the Khazars administered from Küiev, was one of the most significant states of its time.
Far to the East and North of the Mediterranean World inhabited by the Romans and their Germanic successors and hidden amongst the frozen swamps and towering forests, dense woodlands and grassy clearings, windswept plains and craggy steppes, the Rusuns, a large multitude of Slavic tribes made their homes. While those in the northern region, which was unsuitable for agriculture, survived as simple hunters and trappers, those living in the woodlands further south existed as farmers raising a variety of crops and supporting themselves with both foods gathered from the forests and fields as well as the products of their domesticated animals. Here they clustered in small villages for protection from the fierce wandering nomads inhabiting the plains to the south. Little else is known about these early Slavs, for writing was utterly unknown and all known knowledge had to be passed down through the generations orally. For many centuries this lifestyle remained unchanged until the eruption of the super-volcano in A.D. 518 and the resulting climactic change added a new element to this diverse region, as many thousands of different peoples fled the freezing north for new homes further south. At first this small trickle of migrating peoples was felt only along the major rivers, which they made use of to travel and was quickly assimilated into the general Slavic population. As time passed, however, and more and more peoples began to migrate to the region, conquering large swaths of land and subjugating the native Slavs, the land of the Rusuns began to take on a distinct Scandinavian character.
In the years following the eruption, the Norse raiders settled down, founded cities and towns and became the masters of the larger native Slavic population; governing their cities, towns and villages, protecting them from attack and developing a sophisticated code of law, the origins of which may be traced to many of the nearby civilizations. With the growth of cities and towns a lively trade sprang up and the region became loosely bound into a thriving commercial and political empire. The regions wide navigable rivers became widely traversed by both traders and merchants and were soon linked by a network of canals and roadways. The surplus of furs, honey, wax, amber, slaves, timber and foodstuffs found its way to a number of markets from Toledo and Carthage in the West to Küiev and the Hindu cities of India in the East. With such a profits procured from trade, the land of the Rusuns began to grow wealthy and soon a dozen centers of commerce, the most important being Aldeigjuborg, Holmgard, Ladoga, Liubech, Murom, Palteskja, Rostov, Smolensk, Turaŭ and Vitebsk rose to prominence. Though united linguistically and culturally as well as through trade, the land of the Rusuns was in actuality balkanized into a number of small princedoms and city states. Order, however, would come in the name of the Swedish prince Stígandr who, as the fourth son of the king, would not inherit the throne. He therefore made his way South and East with two companions to the land of the Rusuns and landing at Ladoga, proceeded to carve out a new state. This new state, legendarily founded in A.D. 554, was still weak and divided, but under the competent leadership of Stígandr and his successors, would gradually grow in power and influence. In A.D. 648, the upper classes accepted Christianity and gradually, the Rusuns were transformed from a pagan collection of primitive tribes to a modern state basking in the orbit of Rome.
Beyond the frontier of civilization, in the uncharted wilds of Northern and Eastern Europe, many different tribes made their homes, eking out a living among the deep forests, wind-swept steppes and frozen mountains of Europe and Asia. Here dwelt farmers and herders, hunters and raiders, usually gathered together in small clusters of a few dozen to a few hundred people. Such signs of civilization as cities, towns, writing and industry were completely unknown and undeveloped. For centuries, these various tribes had made this region their home and life had remained relatively unchanged throughout that time. With the eruption of the super-volcano, however, this would all change. The global cooling caused by the eruption triggered the gradual buildup and steady advance of glaciers to the north, as well as the destruction of much of the region’s arable land. Forests died back or grew with increase rapidity, formerly cultivated fields were washed away by intensive rains or dried up from the lack thereof and many important crops simply ceased to grow. Swamps became frozen and the ground hardened, stoically resisting the plow, while the migration patterns of fish, game and birds were altered. Additionally, formerly prosperous harbors and bays became chocked with silt, while rivers became flooded with excess water or else dried up completely. The world was changing and for many hundreds of thousands of people, it was too much. Faced with famine and the obliteration of their ancestral homes, many tribes began to migrate southwards, first in a trickle and then in a flood. Entire peoples packed up and simply left in huge hordes. The world would undoubtedly never be the same.
As can be expected, among the first peoples to be affected by the change in climate were those settled in the Far North; the Suiones, the petty tribes of Norway, the Dani, the Jutes and the Finns among others. These peoples, who until now had been on the very periphery of civilization, were soon quite immersed within it. By A.D. 519, in response to crop failures and a decline in the success of hunting and fishing, several thousand Scandinavians migrated southwards in an attempt to find a better home. Over the course of the following decade, tens of thousands more would follow their footsteps. Those tribes inhabiting lands further to the south; the Esths, Livs, Letts, Borussians, Polabian Slavs, Poles and the minor Germanic Kingdoms, were also affected, as the abrupt change in climate could be felt in their domains as well and soon hundreds of thousands of invaders had amassed on their doorsteps. In many cases, these peoples too would flee or be forced southwards, or else be absorbed by their conquerors. Like a stone thrown into a tranquil pond, Europe had been deeply shaken and the effects would be felt to its very edges. Further to the East, the climate change was also taking its toll. The steppes and forests of Eastern Europe and Asia were home to the Turks; many tribes of which were scattered across the thousands of miles devoid of civilization. This wide open expanse had been the birthplace of the Huns, fierce warriors who had ridden out of the sunrise to terrify the Romans two centuries before. Here too, one of the Hun’s successors, the Gokturks, also made their homes. Following the global cooling triggered by the eruption, the Gokturks migrated southwards, conquering and assimilating the various formerly independent tribes of the region into their growing empire. They then allied with the Sassanid Persians to defeat the Hephthalites, or White Huns, who consequently fled into India. The Hephthalites brought an end to the tottering Indian Gupta Empire and established a new state, which would in turn be overthrown by the expanding Sassanid Persians only a few years later. The wars of these titans, in addition to the climactic change, would send a multitude of other peoples into new lands, among them the Avars, Bulgars, Pechenegs and Magyars. The first of these, the Avars swept into Europe sometime around the A.D. 540, and finding the Romans had established a powerful client kingdom in Dacia to their south, built up a large Confederation stretching from the Dneiper to the Elbe. The migrations, however, were not yet over and within the space of a couple of decades a new horde descended upon Central Europe. The Magyars had been pushed westwards by the Pechenegs and the Gokturks and were determined to settle in the fertile plains of Central Europe. This land, however, was fiercely contested by the Avars who, after several long years of fighting, were able to defeat the Magyars. This came at a cost though, as the Confederation was weakened to the point where the Bulgars were able to obtain their independence and establish a new state near Crimea. The Second Great Age of Migrations had finally reached a close. The Baltic Sea had become a Scandinavian Lake, while Central and Eastern Europe had become a swirling ocean of Germanic and Slavic barbarian darkness.
The above map was compiled in the Year of Our Lord 1225 by the Briton, Lord of the Court, Aiden the Learned and details the lands of Europe in that year. It uses the standard font of that era and region.
At the beginning of the ninth century the British Isles could be partitioned into roughly three major divisions; to the South, Briton, to the North, Pictland and to the West, the Celtic kingdoms of Ireland. Though each shared the same two islands, by the middle of the Dark Ages their histories and cultures would greatly diverge as each nation pursued its own separate and unique path. In Britain, the dynasty of King Johannes ruled with competence and ability, creating an advanced and organized state in the middle of a sea of darkness. During the period stretching from A.D. 818 to 1225, Briton was arguably one of the most advanced European kingdoms; politically, economically and culturally. The period was not without conflict, however, for as the ninth century progressed, the Britons entered a period of strife with the growing Norse Empire, which would last for centuries. Since the sixth century, the Norse had maintained colonies along the Eastern shore of the island, just as the Picts had invaded and settled some of the land to the south of Hadrian’s Wall. Beginning in the ninth century, however, the British, in a series of great campaigns, which would restore Briton to its borders under the Roman Empire, reconquered these territories, expelling and/or assimilating the settlers. Though relations with the Picts would grow more favorable, even coalescing into an alliance in later centuries, those with the Norse would never become more than unpleasant at best. Norse raids on British towns and villages continued and intensified throughout the ninth and tenth centuries, while pirates roamed the seas, preying on those ships that dared to leave the security of the coasts. Even the fisherman who ventured out into the Atlantic for the fertile fishing grounds found far the West, and thereby discovered the New World, were occasionally subjected to Norse pirates. Nevertheless, Briton continued to flourish as, unlike most of the continent, the majority of the population was made up of free landowning peasants who, in the light of their success, were quite prosperous. As a result, urban areas such as Londinium and Eboracum became bustling centers of trade, quickly swelling into large cities of nearly one hundred thousand people. Learning helped to keep darkness at bay as a large scattering of monasteries were founded throughout the remote areas of the country and libraries were maintained in many of the major cities and towns, which helped to preserve the works of the classical days of Greece and Rome. In stark contrast to this urban and monastic opulence, however, the countryside was still mostly covered by wilderness; the home of many wild beasts. The steady fight of plow and axe against swamp and forest continued though and so it was that farmland and pastures gradually expanded into the countryside. In the fight against darkness, light was making steady progress.
The civilizations beyond Britain, while lacking an illustrious history as part of the Roman Empire, were just as important. Pictland in the ninth century was sparsely populated and largely underdeveloped; its people retaining their tribal culture well into the 800’s. The majority of the populace practiced subsistence agriculture and for this reason trade developed slowly and uncertainly, regardless of the existence of the Britons to the south. Despite the their conquest of the lands of the Romano-British in the sixth century due to the global cooling, their disorganization and balkanization into many factions resulted in the destruction or assimilation of the Pictish peoples below Hadrian’s Wall. The Britons were loath to go beyond this barrier, however, due partly to the fearsome warrior spirit of the Picts, but mostly because of the lack of any development of the lands to the north. Therefore, the Picts were left alone during much of the Dark Ages, with the occasional exception of a British king requesting the aid of a Pict leader in a campaign against the Norse or Celts, or even more rarely, another foe. The Picts were not, however, primitive Neolithic savages; they did gradually abandon their tribal warfare and clan system to adopt the garb of statehood and, within the space of a few centuries, developed towns and a lively trade with their southerly neighbor. The organization of Pictland gradually developed from small pockets of territory held by individual clans, to a loose feudal system whereby the nobility, the former warrior class, possessed much of the arable land of the kingdom and the peasants worked the land as serfs. To the West, Ireland remained throughout the Dark Ages united only by its common culture and religious enthusiasm. Politically it lacked the unity of the more advanced kingdoms to the East and so, weak and divided, was easily subjugated by the spreading British Empire. By the 810’s British and Pictish settlements could by found along the Eastern coast and as time passed, these settlers gradually propagated into the interior, conquering and mixing with the local Celtic population. Resistance was at first isolated and limited, but by the 850’s the Celts had won several small battles, enough to secure two independent kingdoms on the Western coast of the island. Here, they would hold off the British and Picts for centuries, prospering off of the ideas and learning of the invaders and developing a unique, but still Celtic culture. By contrast, the conquered peoples, while retaining the Celtic influences of their forefathers, were gradually assimilated into the cultures of their ruling populations.
By the ninth century the Kingdom of the Burgundians had evolved into a fully decentralized and feudal state. Like the other surviving Germanic kingdoms of the time, the large landholding aristocracy of the previous centuries had gradually gained more and more power as the influence of the monarch weakened. A highly ordered feudal system soon evolved, growing out of the social system of the old Roman Empire. The House of Gundahar continued to reign during this period, but was forced to rely increasingly upon the aid of the aristocracy, and by the eleventh century had ceased to levee taxes or enact new laws for the entire realm. Instead, only the major cities as well as the heartland surrounding the capital remained under the direct control of the king and his governors, the rural hinterlands falling to the control of the various nobles. The aristocracy wasn’t the only faction to grow at the expense of the king; however, for the Catholic clergy became quite powerful as well and was responsible for governing the ecclesial regions of the state just as the nobles were responsible for the secular regions. Monasteries abounded and as their wealth and prestige grew, hundreds of people became monks living in isolation from the world and its troubles. Gradually, the realm was partitioned into hundreds of feudal fiefs, both great and small. These fiefs would greatly aid in helping the state to maintain its integrity against attackers such as the Franks, the Alemanni and the Bavarians.
Throughout the period in time ranging from A.D. 818 to A.D. 1225, the Burgundians fought five major wars with the Franks, Alemanni and Bavarians (A.D. 853, A.D 922, A.D. 1018, A.D. 1096 and A.D. 1121), but with the aid of their allies, the Visigoths, they were able secure victory, repel the invaders and even expand their borders. As the Franks were attempting to recover from the seemingly deadly blows, which had fallen upon them in the centuries before, the Alemanni and the Bavarians, like their cousins further towards the north, were once again eager for the expansion of their realms. Burgundy, sitting in the heart of Gaul and rich with the wealth of monasteries and noble castles, was the obvious target. The first war was one of only two (the second occurring in A.D. 1096), which was declared by the Merovingian king. The others were the products of ambitious and powerful feudal lords eager to expand their lands and wealth through conquest. Though the Franks had greater numbers and more experience in the arts of war, they were unsuccessful in their campaigns due largely to the fact that they were fighting on foreign soil, were frequently undersupplied (the Franks used the outdated concept of war in which the army was expected to live off the loot of its conquests) and were outmatched by the Burgundians superior armor and weapons. Additionally, Frankish lords were frequently reluctant to cooperate and so they suffered for their lack of a united front as well. Burgundy was, however, not completely fortunate throughout this period, plague spreading from the East struck the nation in A.D. 884 and A.D. 1077 depopulating many formerly prosperous areas and resulting in a serious decline in available manpower. The nation was not as badly hit as many of its neighbors, however, and was able to make a slow if steady recovery.
The Franks of the ninth century were in clear contrast to those of the fifth; whereas those of the fifth lacked a large state, but possessed a certain unity, those of the ninth possessed a large state, but lacked unity. Unlike many of their neighbors, the Franks lacked a concept of primogeniture (with occasional exceptions among the royalty), which meant that the kingdom experienced a gradual balkanization into a number of small fiefdoms. The turmoil experienced in wars of succession as rival kings fought each other after the death of the former king(s) was only exceeded by the internecine feudal wars waged by the nobles themselves. As the power of the Merovingians dwindled and that of the aristocracy grew, such wars became more and more common. The kingdom of the Franks became relatively inefficient at governing itself and ceased to operate as a single nation. Instead, the politics of the region were determined in the castles of the lords rather than the court at Paris. Weak and divided, the Frankish state stagnated, becoming the playground of ambitious nobles. As in Burgundy, a highly ordered feudal system emerged and the aristocracy took over many of the former powers of the monarch. Because of the large number of nobles, however, they were not as efficient at governing the realm and squabbles frequently led to massive consequences. Of these the most significant were the disastrous wars with the Burgundians, which would end in defeat for the Franks and their allies; the Alemanni and Bavarians.
The growth of trade was greatly hampered throughout this period as agricultural estates became self sufficient and Roman merchants controlled what remained. The feudal system was not conducive to long distance trade as feudal lords lacked a motive for maintaining roads, which would be used mostly by foreign traders. Roads reverted to simple dirt tacks; overgrown and dusty in the summer and choked with mud in the winter, a far cry from the well maintained Roman roads of antiquity. The nation’s waterways were only slightly more favorable to traders than the roadways; heavy tolls were exacted upon merchants traveling by ship. With little importation of new items, news and ideas from the East, the Franks lapsed into relative poverty and ignorance. The great Roman buildings of the preceding centuries fell into neglect and were used as quarries for newer albeit inferior constructions. Paris, the largest city, was home to only slightly more than fifty thousand people, with other cities generally having much less. Towns and villages were even more sparsely populated, so that the population of Roman Gaul, once numbering some twenty million, was reduced by more than half. Some of the decline can be blamed upon the violence and high mortality rates of the time period, but a considerable amount must be charged to the periodic plagues, which swept through the region (the Franks were struck by plague spreading from the Kingdom of Burgundy in A.D. 885 and A.D. 1079). Despite this, the people found consolation in the Catholic Church, which greatly expanded in power and wealth during the ninth and tenth centuries. Though many Pagan beliefs and superstitions continued to persist, thousands of churches and monasteries were built as people sought shelter from a world enveloped by darkness.
Even though half of its provinces had fallen away with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in A.D. 476, what was left, the core, remained strong, sturdy and impervious to attack. While the Western half of the Empire saw the rapid succession of many weak, in numerous cases almost powerless emperors, the East remained stable, governed by two competent emperors, Zeno I (A.D. 474-491) and Anastasias I (A.D. 491-518) who did much to strengthen the Empire during their reigns. One of their few failings was grounded in religion; during Zeno’s reign a temporary schism between the Pope in Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople resulted in a bitter division between the East and West, while during the reign of Anastasias, the Monophysite heresy grew in power afflicting the Empire’s southern provinces. However, despite these problems, the Empire remained prosperous, treaties negotiating peace with the barbarians of the West were signed, dangerous revolts were crushed, a vast building program was undergone and the treasury was left richer by a total sum of 320,000 pounds of gold. Without a doubt when Emperor Justin I (A.D. 518-527) assumed the thrown in A.D. 518, the Roman Empire was still the superpower as it had been for the previous centuries. Justin I was born in Dalmatia of peasant origins, but by the age of twenty he would have fled the barbaric invasion of his homeland with two cohorts for the capital of Constantinople. Once there, he entered the Excubitors, or Palace Guard, and through merit, rose to the rank of Patrician and Commander of the Excubitors. By A.D. 518 with the death of the Emperor Anastasias, he had become well liked and respected enough to secure his election of the imperial office.
Justin I, though an illiterate soldier with little knowledge of the workings of government and the delicacies of politics, nevertheless surrounded himself with trusted and able advisors and so made an acceptable emperor. His abilities, however, would be put to the test with the eruption of the super-volcano in A.D. 518. Though in his sixties with declining health, Justin was able to successfully guide the Empire through the transition period. As reports of crop failures, the outbreak of plague, the encroachment of barbarians upon the Danube border and Persian aggression on traditional Roman allies reached Constantinople; Justin remained calm and prepared to deal with each of the problems. Aid in the form of food and wealth was distributed to the poor affected by the famine, while the bodies of those affected by plague were burnt and then thrown into the sea. Additional troops were sent to defend the borders and a detachment of both Roman and foreign troops were sent to help defend those client kingdoms, which were affected by Persian aggression. The Emperor Justin also helped to heal the religious breach between the East and the West. Unlike his predecessor who was inclined to Monophysitism, Justin I was profoundly Orthodox. He brought an end to the Acacian Schism which had troubled the Empire since A.D. 484, persecuted the Monophysites and, in A.D. 523, issued an edict against Arianism which would trigger the souring of relations between the Ostrogoths in Italy and the Romans. Justin also repealed a law forbidding the marriage of a member of the senatorial class with a member of a lower rank of society. This law, probably instigated by Justin’s nephew Justinian, allowed the latter to marry Theodora, a former actress, in A.D. 525. As Justin’s health began to decline he named his nephew and adopted son Justinian co-emperor and when the former died a few months later, Justinian i (A.D. 527-566) succeeded him at the age of 45.
The foremost adversary of the Eastern Roman Empire and the only other superpower to dominate the Western World at the beginning of the Dark Ages, Sassanid Persia thrived at a time when much of the globe was collapsing into decadence and barbarism. Founded by Ardashir I in A.D. 226, the Sassanid Empire evolved into one of the greatest, most influential states in Persian history. Rich in its own unique culture, the Sassanid Empire would influence both directly and indirectly the civilizations of Rome, Northern Africa, Arabia, India, China and the steppes of Asia. By the late fifth century, the Persians had created a strong centralized state stretching from Mesopotamia in the West to the borders of India in the East and from Armenia in the North to parts of Arabia in the South. Ruled from its capital at Ctesiphon, this diverse land was inhabited by a strong, vigorous people, who irrigated the desert to grow a variety of crops; wheat, dates and fruits. The Sassanids held as their creed the religion founded by Zoroaster and were as orthodox in their beliefs as the best of the Romans. The latter portion of the fifth century saw the Sassanid Empire governed by both substandard kings, at which times it weakened greatly and by those who governed with care and competence. Peroz I (A.D. 457-484), possessed little of the skill necessary to run such a complex institution as Persia, and as a result the state was much destabilized during his reign. During his regime, a large Persian army was annihilated by the Hephthalites and the Sassanid Empire was forced to seek a humiliating truce. Eventually, Peroz was replaced, first by Balash (A.D. 484-488) and then by Kavadh I (A.D. 488-531). Kavadh was an able and talented ruler and, a reformist at heart; he attempted to ease the plight of the poor through the support of a communist sect, the Madaki. This decision, however, would lead to his deposition and imprisonment and the ascension of his brother, Djamasp, (A.D. 496-498), to the throne. With the aid of the Hephthalites, however, Kavadh I managed to escape and begin the second and more enlightened half of his rule.
As Kavadh I ascended to the exalted throne of the Sassanid Empire for the second time in a century, Persia was poised on the edge of a new period of power and influence. This “Second Golden Age,” would see its successful competition with the Eastern Roman Empire and would be guided by the expert hands of such monarchs as Kavadh I himself, as well as his son Khosrau I. During this time, Persia would be restructured internally, its administration refined into an efficient system of governance capable of easily managing the sprawling territories and vast population of the Sassanid Empire. Kavadh began the second half of his reign with an unshakeable confidence, as seen by his renewal of the ancient war with Rome. In this, he was entirely victorious, capturing several Roman cities and recovering much of Armenia. In the end, the Romans were forced to pay tribute to Persia. This expert monarch, however, would have to use all of his skills to guide the state through the aftereffects of the super-volcano eruption in A.D. 518. The manifold consequences of the climactic change resulting from the eruption were to strike Persia particularly hard. Many areas, which had received only sporadic rainfall for millennia, were suddenly faced with torrential downpours, and this coupled with the cooling of the air, caused widespread crop failures. Plague, spreading via refugees and merchants, from both the Eastern Roman Empire and the half civilized tribes inhabiting the regions beyond the Sassanid Empire’s northern borders, would also ravage the land. Despite its triumphs under Kavadh, the Sassanid Empire was soon besieged by refugees fleeing the freezing north who attempted to conquer and settle its territories, advancing into Persian domains and pillaging many of the towns and villages within their reach. Then too, many rebellious territories tried to capitalize on the situation by attempting to break away. Kavadh, however, maintained a steady hand on the government. As in Rome to the West, aid was distributed to those affected by the famine and the bodies of those victims of plague were burnt and disposed of by sea. Invaders and rebels alike were both crushed, their attempts at insurrection quelled. By the time of his death in A.D. 531 at the age of 82, Kavadh had paved the way for the greater reign of his son, Khosrau. Subject for most of his life to the Hephthalites, Kavadh had nevertheless greatly strengthened the Sassanid Empire.
It was not long after the death of the Emperor Justin in A.D. 527 that the invasion of the northern frontier became dire. In fact, it was reported only a few months after the coronation of Justinian that many of the troops stationed along the Danube had been overwhelmed and thousands of different peoples, mostly Slavs, were raiding and settling the Balkan territories. What had earlier been thought to be just a few nomadic tribes wandering along the Danube in search of land and wealth, was now revealed to be a veritable ocean of refugees fleeing the freezing north. Justinian, who had dreams of reconquering the lost provinces of the West, was forced to postpone these in order to secure his northern and eastern borders. To eliminate the Balkan threat, he ordered approximately 60,000 troops northwards to reconquer Dacia under a newly appointed general, Belisarius. Belisarius, though only in his early twenties, was dramatically successful in this regard and was able to subdue the region in a little over a year. The newly conquered area was organized into a client state to serve as a future buffer between the Empire and the barbarians of Central Europe. The new state was established and governed under the continued leadership of Belisarius until the general was recalled to Constantinople to solve a new, more dangerous problem in A.D. 534. Up until that time, the Slavs inhabiting the region were organized into a kingdom, which received protectorate status from the Empire. In addition to this, Belisarius was also charged with the task of constructing a long string of fortifications and watchtowers along the Danube’s southern shore in order to serve as a secondary line of defense.
While his armies were occupied on the frontiers, Justinian remained busy in Constantinople as well. The Empire’s tax gathering system was streamlined by John the Cappadocian, while the Quaestor Tribonian proved invaluable in the recodification of Roman law. It was Tribonian who greatly aided Justinian in producing the Codex in A.D. 529 and the Digest (or Pandects in Greek) and Institutes four years later. Justinian would also embark on one of the greatest building campaigns the Empire had ever seen, both in the capital and without. Soon after becoming emperor, he began the construction of such wonders as cathedrals, public baths, palaces, markets, libraries, arenas, hippodromes and academes/universities, as well as the reconstruction of damaged roads, aqueducts and fortifications. Additionally, Justinian had ordered a large increase in the size of the army to combat the danger of invasion, but received little support from the populace. Thousands entered the monasteries to escape service and when he forbade the monasteries to accept new members, he angered not only the people, but the church as well. This coupled with the increased taxes and personal corruption of John the Cappadocian and Tribonian eventually triggered enormous resentment. When several members of the “Blues” and “Greens,” teams of chariot racers in the Hippodrome who received immense following, were arrested and executed for murder, the discontent of the populace reached new heights. The tension finally reached a climax with the outbreak of the Nika Riots, during which Justinian and his court was besieged in his palace for several days, while the mob declared a certain Hypatius to be the new Emperor. Justinian considered fleeing the capital with his entourage, but his wife, Theodora, convinced him to stay. Belisarius was recalled from the Dacian frontier and along with the generals; Mundus and Narses; the revolt was brutally crushed, with a death toll of around an estimated 30,000+ thousand. Emperors, it now appeared, could not be dethroned so easily.
In A.D. 536, with much of the Imperial Army returning from its successful conquests in Dacia, Justinian was able to return his thoughts to reconquest. War was declared on the Vandal Kingdom in the spring of that year and Belisarius was dispatched to North Africa at the head of an army of some 25,000 men (15,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry and 5,000 barbarian mercenaries). The army was able to land undetected and set up camp near Carthage before the Vandals were properly rallied. By the beginning of fall, Belisarius had won a stunning victory near Carthage and had followed this up with several more near Hippo, which together signaled the end of the Vandal Kingdom. The general also dealt with the invasion of the Berbers, soundly defeating the disorganized tribesmen. He was then recalled to Constantinople for a Triumph in the Roman fashion, during which he was celebrated as a hero. The thoughts of Justinian, however, had already returned to further conquests, this time his heart had settled upon Italy. By the end of the summer of A.D. 536, he had entered correspondence with the Queen of the Ostrogoths Amalsuintha. Amalsuintha and her weak son, King Athalaric, had been sentenced to house arrest, due to the latter’s poor governing and the ambition of several Gothic nobles. Justinian promised to send aid in the form of Belisarius and so it was by the winter of A.D. 536 that Belisarius arrived at the head of a much smaller army than he had used against the Vandals. It was, however, unnecessary as Belisarius, with the support of the Queen, was able to gain the grudging loyalty of the majority of the Ostrogoths and so secure the kingdom with very little fighting. Sporadic violence did, however, continue between those Ostrogoths who did not want to lose their independence or were ambitious enough to be desirous of the throne. For the most part, however, by the summer of A.D. 536 Italy (along with Dalmatia), had been returned to the Imperial fold. Belisarius was again duly awarded his seconded Triumph for his part in the war’s success.
Apart from the successful reconquest and annexation of Armenia, a territory long disputed between both Sassanid Persia and the Eastern Roman Empire and a vital part of the northern trade route to India and the Far East, the latter portion of Justinian’s reign was relatively uneventful. Persecution continued against the Monophysites in Egypt and Syria and many thousands fled or were exiled, in a lot of cases to Zoroastrian Persia. Revolts flared up in these provinces and elsewhere, but were quickly suppressed; the Empire had many able generals. North Africa and Italy were reincorporated into the Empire and an uneasy peace was maintained with the King of Persia, Khosru I. This is not to say, however, that nothing occurred during the later part of Justinian’s reign. In fact, several ambitious projects were carried out, including the general purging of pirates from the Mediterranean, the beautification of Constantinople and the Empire’s other great cities and general upkeep of the client state in Dacia, which served as a successful buffer to the hordes of barbarians, who were driven westwards. The Empire was restructured internally as well. The recent conquests of Africa and Italy were organized into exarchates, while the provinces were reorganized into larger and more easily ruled units. Lastly, an expedition was sent southwards down the Nile from Egypt into the mysterious land of Kush, which returned with gold, slaves and exotic goods. By the time of his death in 566 at the age of 84, Justinian had left the Empire stronger and more vigorous than it had been since the Pax Romana period, four centuries previously.
When the able and gifted monarch Khosrau I ascended to the throne of the Sassanid Empire, he found a state still troubled, both by the effects of the eruption some years previously and by its own poor administration. The Empire was vast, however, and possessed a multitude of resources. Additionally, its people were strong and vigorous, its culture rich and vibrant. Khosrau saw Persia the way a potter would see a chunk of unshaped clay, rich and full of opportunities, that, when molded into a vessel, would be strong, sturdy and powerful. One of the more significant events of the beginning of Khosrau’s reign was the signing of the “Eternal Peace” agreement between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanid Empire. This conclusion of hostilities was notable because it allowed both monarchs to recover from the natural disaster, which had afflicted their nations and to then pursue their individual goals. Of primary importance, Khosrau realized, was securing his northern borders from further invasion. To accomplish this, he would commit a large portion of his army to the frontiers, in an attempt to secure them. Unlike those of the Eastern Roman Empire, however, the borders of Sassanid Persia were long and difficult to defend, stretching for hundreds of miles across open plains and craggy hills. Consequently, the refugees and rebels scattered along the frontier took almost a decade to be completely subdued. Even then, a continuous force was necessary to garrison the reconquered areas.
While his generals were campaigning on the far flung borders, Khosrau applied his vast energy into reforming and streamlining his government. He refined the army into a disciplined and effective fighting force, a large improvement from the feudal levees of his predecessors. The Sassanid Empire’s system of taxation was also improved and based on a survey of landed possessions. Commerce and philosophy were both encouraged and Khosrau’s court at Ctesiphon was frequently crowded with men of all professions and from all parts of the globe. The administration was reformed, as men of ability were recruited to manage the various tasks of government rather than those whose only merit was a high social rank. Then too he embarked on one of Persia’s greatest construction campaigns; building dams, canals and highways, rebuilding bridges and roads and reclaiming wasteland. The Sassanid Empire’s cities and towns were beautified and enhanced with a number of wonderful buildings, among them; palaces, fire temples, orphanages, schools, universities, markets, theaters, public housing and great assembly areas. To increase the population available to work in the fields and fight in the army, marriages were encouraged, while the poor and orphaned were supported at the expense of the public. Zoroastrianism, the doctrine of the Sassanids, won converts as missionaries traveled to other regions. Persia, once a feudal patchwork of agricultural land and small towns, had been reorganized into a true cosmopolitan empire.
By A.D. 541, victory had finally been secured on the Sassanid Empire’s northern front, but with the Roman Empire now strong and on its guard against a potential Persian sneak attack, Khosrau decided against attacking Rome in what would surely turn into a long, costly war. Instead he decided to expand to the southwest, into Arabia, which was divided into a number of warring city-states and kingdoms and then into rich, fragmented India. The Arabian campaign would last a total of only four years, during which, Persia would gain further control of the sea trade routes to India and the Far East, as well as obtaining several valuable new provinces. Khosrau proved to be a crafty diplomat, as he secured alliances with each the various Arabian principalities, playing on old rivalries in a successful plan to gradually conquer the peninsula with very little bloodshed. With his final victory, however, the region was annexed and occupied. Khosrau, rather than treating the Arabians as a conquered people, welcomed them into his empire as equals and began to enhance the new provinces with his great building campaign, just as he had done his own capital. His ambitions, however, were not yet quenched and so it was with vigor that he selected prosperous and weakening India as his next target for expansion. In A.D. 545, Khosrau negotiated a treaty with the Gokturks against the Hephthalites, who were thereby defeated over the course of several years and who then fled into India bringing an end to the fading Gupta Empire. For several years thereafter, Khosrau prepared for the invasion of India, which not even the great Alexander had been able to accomplish. Nevertheless, Khosrau was determined and with the morale of his troops higher than ever, India was invaded and gradually overrun. This greatest king of Persia spent most of his remaining years in his newly conquered provinces, organizing and rebuilding them so that everywhere in his empire was rich and prosperous. The dream of Persia, free of the yoke of outside influences, wealthy and powerful, was no longer a dream, but a stunning reality.
While Western Europe settled into its long slumber and the Persians slowly decayed under the sun, the Romans treasured and extended the legacy of Justinian. It is without question that no man had ever worked as hard for his country, religion and people than had Justinian and it is doubtless that he, more than anyone else, deserved the title “The Great,” which was bestowed upon him in the years following his death in A.D. 566. He had restored to the Empire; North Africa, Italy, Dalmatia and Armenia, had decisively crushed those who would have destroyed it, set up a buffer state in Dacia, beautified Constantinople and the nation, increased the size of the army, restructured the Empire internally, attempted to crush the Monophysites in Egypt and Syria, set up a northern trade route that bypassed hostile Persia and raided the lands of Kush. His son Vespasian II (A.D. 566-598), who ascended the throne at the age of 32, was of a similar mold as his father. Vespasian spent much of his time traveling the Empire incognito, listening to both the ideas and the complaints of his subjects. Carrying on the work of Justinian, he continued to rebuild the infrastructure and to protect the borders by maintaining the fortresses, walls and watchtowers constructed along the borders. Vespasian was also one of the Empire’s greatest micromanagers, tweaking the imperial machine until his administration was as efficient as possible. In much the same way, the dynasty founded by Justin I, which included seven emperors in all, ruled the Empire with competence and intelligence and Rome prospered as it had done under Caesar. After 183 years, the Justin Dynasty would, at last come to an end, as Constantine III (A.D. 677-701) favored passing the imperial office to a leading general Maximus (A.D. 701-713), rather than his own mentally unbalanced son, Julius. For the next 117 years, the Empire would continue to enjoy its zenith under the leadership of seven more non-dynastic emperors, among them generals and peasants, court officials and merchant princes. Each would add his own unique style of governing and the Roman Empire would continue to thrive.
The period in time from A.D. 476-818 is widely regarded as the Byzantine Zenith, due to the sheer power and glory of the Empire that was Rome. While the light of civilization was all but extinguished among the Germans to the West and the Slavs to the North, the Roman Empire continued to maintain its complex culture and lifestyle. Latin, once an almost extinct language in the East, began to revive as the language of administration, due mostly to Justinian, Vespasian and their successor’s policies of recruiting large numbers of Westerners to serve the various offices in government. Poorly comprehended by the masses, Latin would nevertheless extend from the language of law and administration to that of poets, philosophers, historians and scientists. Emperors continued the fight against the expansion of feudalism through the breaking up the estates of large landowners and the resettlement of many of the Empire’s inhabitants. Rebellious communities and invaders alike were relocated en masse to different portions of the Empire, thus increasing productivity. Government monopolies were maintained on certain industries such as silk, which provided the government with an alternate source of revenue. The Empire was also charged with the task of helping to defend the Kingdom of Dacia from the various attacking hordes; the Avars, Bulgars and Magyars. Then too the Persians, whose northern borders had finally been secured due to an alliance with the Gokturks and whose armies were freed from the successful conquests of India and Arabia, attempted an invasion to reconquer Armenia and to obtain an outlet on the Mediterranean. Needless to say, with the well maintained fortifications built during this period and the well trained, experienced Roman army, they were everywhere defeated. Peace was at last secured towards the end of the eighth century, with the Empire receiving a notable portion of Eastern Mesopotamia as well as a large annual tribute. The great heresies of the previous epoch, which had so divided the Christian world; Monophysitism, Nestorianism and Pelagianism, at last began to decline, helping to strengthen the church. Additionally, the Empire basked in the success of its triumphs of conversion, which brought the Germans, Slavs and Turks to Christianity. Clearly, the golden age of Rome was an obvious contrast to the conditions prevailing elsewhere around the globe.
Like Justinian in Rome, Khosrau had left a Persia greater by far than any that had existed before. Formerly feudal and backwards, the Sassanid Empire had become a strong centralized state. The bureaucracy had been made efficient and well-organized, the tax system fair and just. The infrastructure had been rebuilt, the cities and towns beautified with a number of incredible buildings. Khosrau had expanded his empire’s borders, conquering the principalities of Arabia and the kingdoms of India. With his father’s death in A.D. 572, Hormizd IV ascended to the throne of the Sassanid Empire. Hormizd (A.D. 572-601) favored the commoners of his empire, expanding upon the reforms of his father to make their plight easier. The rich and powerful landed nobility was taxed, its wealth distributed amongst the poor or used to fund one of the multitude of construction projects, continued since the time of Khosrau. The empire’s already impressive network of roads was expanded, while a huge irrigation project in Mesopotamia, to increase the amount of land under cultivation, was begun as well. Hindu revolts in India were crushed and it was during Hormizd’s reign that significant numbers of people in both the new Arabian and Indian provinces would begin to convert to Zoroastrianism. His son, Khosrau II, (A.D. 601-646) was also an able and competent administrator. It was during his reign that the great construction projects of Arabia; the irrigation of the deserts, the construction of roads and the enhancement of the cities was completed. Improvements were also made in India as well, as the jungles were cut down, swamps were drained and canals were built to ferry produce from farming villages to the cities. From his death, until the ascension of Yazdegerd IV (A.D 777-782) in A.D. 777, Sassanid Persia enjoyed the apex of its power. During the reign of Yazdegerd, however, the Persians fought a disastrous war with the Roman Empire, which contributed greatly to their later decline.
Under Sassanid rule, Ctesiphon became one of the world’s greatest cities; a haven for philosophers and men of learning; a great center of trade and one of the terminuses of the Silk Road, as well as a huge metropolis filled with many awe-inspiring public buildings. The state of the capital too much reflected the rest of the Empire. Mesopotamia became one of the most densely populated regions in the world and, crisscrossed with canals and irrigation channels, produced huge volumes of food and other goods annually. The rest of the Sassanid Empire was also densely populated and dotted with cities and towns. Ships navigated the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, while caravans trekked overland trade routes. The construction campaign begun by Khosrau I was continued by his successors, until the Sassanid Empire began to take on a truly urban nature. Formerly barbarian tribes inhabiting the remote wastes of the frontier were settled and civilized, as boundary regions were transformed into productive portions of the nation. The Persians, like the Romans, maintained government monopolies on various trades, which provided an alternate source of revenue to taxes. Persian kings, like Roman emperors, fought against the expansion of feudalism, cherishing the heritage of Khosrau I and Hormizd IV. Apart from the occasional unsuccessful rebellions most of which had long since ceased, the Sassanid Empire was at peace, enjoying the pinnacle of its power. During the reigns of Hormizd VI (A.D. 711-746) and Bahram VII (A.D. 746-777), however, the military was allowed to decay and, in a state of disorganization, was unprepared to fight the wars of Yazdegerd IV. The Persian Golden Age was ended during his reign with the signing of the crushing peace treaty in A.D. 782. Though still a major power, the Sassanid Empire would gradually grow weaker over the course of the following years. The endgame was nearing.
Despite its long interlude of supremacy; anarchy, decay and stagnation would eventually overwhelm the Eastern Roman Empire as it had its counterpart in Western Europe. The Empire would enter its darkest hour with the murder of the enlightened Emperor Constans II (A.D. 804-818) and the subsequent usurpation of the throne by a member of the palace guard, Gallus I (A.D. 818-824). Beginning with his disastrous reign in A.D. 818, and lasting well into the mid-fifteenth century, the Eastern Roman Empire would deteriorate, surrendering its leadership over Europe. This “Byzantine Dark Age,” however, though beginning in the early ninth century, had its roots anchored some years previously. Since the Persians had been humiliated by the Roman “Eternal Peace” treaty towards the end of the previous century, the military had been allowed to decay, as the monasteries grew and funds from the treasury were redirected into literature and the arts and sciences. Therefore, the army was unable to suppress the revolts, which began to flare up as a direct result of the high taxes and brutality of Gallus. This extortion, coupled with the torturing and execution of many thousands of people suspected of furthering discontent, reduced the Empire to near anarchy.
To many then, it came as no surprise when, in A.D. 822, the Exarchates of Italy and Africa instigated a revolt against Gallus reducing the Empire to civil war. The Exarch of Africa, a Romanized Vandal, cut off the grain supply to Constantinople and the Eastern provinces, while a young half-Gothic nobleman raised a small army, traveled to Rome and, hailed as a liberator, was crowned Emperor of the West. Despite the widespread discontent, there were some whose loyalty to the Eastern Empire did not waver. The Exarch of Italy, a miserly Greek appointed by Gallus at the beginning of his reign, was one of the most influential of these. Soon after the beginning of the revolt, he, along with the few remaining loyal troops, boarded a small fleet of ships in Ravenna and fled to Constantinople. Meanwhile, much of the East was in chaos. Several smaller rebellions had flared up throughout Egypt and Syria, while the near disappearance of available grain triggered panic in many of the larger cities. Gallus quickly dispatched his generals to quell the rioting, but was unable to summon the forces necessary to reconquer the rebellious Western provinces. As the situation in the East was almost, if not equally, as unstable as that in the West, Gallus was eventually murdered by one of his generals. Thereafter, for many years, the Eastern Roman Empire would see only a rapid succession of a number of weak emperors to the throne with few exceptions. Though these emperors could not overpower the rebellious Western territories, they did usually manage to maintain their claims in the East and so would not recognize the new Western Emperors. Nevertheless, for all intents and purposes, the Roman Empire was once again split into East and West. This new state of affairs, however, was not destined to last. After some 39 years of independence from the East, tensions in the newly revived Western Empire would once again split it apart, a reorganized Vandal Kingdom emerging in North Africa, while a new Ostrogothic Kingdom took hold in Italy and Dalmatia. The West, it seemed, would have to wait still longer for unity.
With the loss of its Western provinces and the less than competent governing of its emperors, the Eastern Roman Empire began to gradually crumble. As the power of the emperors waned, the power of the aristocrats and landed noblemen began to grow and it was not long before much of the Empire’s land had been gathered in their hands, the farming population reduced to serfdom. With the collapse of the state controlled monopolies in many trades, the merchant class also began to grow in power, as trade and the manufacture of goods passed out of government hands. Outside of Constantinople, urban life began to decline as the population and commerce began to drop and cities began to shrink. Many of the great public buildings built during the reign of Justinian and his successors fell into disuse and disrepair and the construction of large magnificent buildings for the most part abated. As time passed, most cities became filled with a number of smaller, much more modest buildings, which replaced the larger grander constructions built in the previous centuries. Thousands flocked to the monasteries, opting for a form of life utterly useless to the Empire, while much of the treasury was drained away into the already swollen pockets of the aristocrats and powerful merchants. Due to the weakening and distraction of the military, pirates began to appear throughout the Mediterranean while highwaymen preyed on the Empire’s roads. Then too, plague swept through the Empire in A.D. 882 and again in A.D. 1074, the result of the movements of the Slavs and Turks. The light of Rome had faltered, but was not entirely put out.
Like the old mud brick ziggurats of the ancient Sumerians, the Sassanid Empire too would eventually crumble to dust. Following the assassination of King Yazdegerd IV in A.D. 782, Persia was plagued by chaos and civil war. The throne was usurped numerous times by ambitious generals and cold hearted courtiers, while those kings who did manage to retain their thrones were in many cases reduced to little more than puppets. Once a strong and centralized monarchy, the Sassanid Empire now became weak and feudal, the power of the monarch passing into the hands of his generals and the landed aristocrats. Ctesiphon ceased to become the center of all government decisions, as several roving centers of power gradually emerged. For a while, however, this internal weakness was well hidden; the trade networks continued to function, cities continued to bustle with activity and the people went about their daily lives. As the government became more and more inefficient, however, taxes were raised beyond the realms of reason, triggering economic decline. Then, beginning in A.D. 825, the first rebellions began to flare up and the Sassanid Empire, wracked by civil war, could only remain relatively helpless and watch as events unfolded. The first revolt occurred in Mesopotamia only a short distance from the capital itself. Though it was quickly crushed, other rebellions soon began to erupt elsewhere; Mesopotamia, Bactria, India and Arabia were all rebel hotspots during the Chaos Period (A.D. 825-875). When Ardashir IV (A.D. 838-866) ascended the throne as a boy of fourteen, he was little more than a puppet at the mercy of his court. His reign, however, would witness one of the most significant revolts in the Sassanid Empire’s later history. Since its conquest in A.D. 555, India had become one of the Sassanid Empire’s most valuable provinces. It had been subject, like the rest of Persia, to the great rebuilding campaigns of Khosrau I and his successors and since then had become prosperous and urbanized. Its Hindu culture had persisted, however, and though Hindu’s had been awarded toleration, this was to some, not enough.
The revolt of A.D. 840 began like all the others, a population simmering over taxes and resenting the rule of a foreign autocrat had finally risen up in an attempt to cast out their overlords. The generals, who by now held all of the real power in the nation, attempted to crush the rebellion, but due to their lack of cooperation, men and resources, were met with failure and India, for the first time in 285 years, gained independence. This uprising would prove devastating to the Sassanid Empire. Cut off from its breadbasket, massive food shortages would cripple the economy, while other rebellions erupted throughout the periphery. Arabia, whose ties to the Sassanid Empire were once so strong, revolted, collapsing, like India, into several warring states. By the time of Ardashir IV’s death in A.D. 866 and the ascension of his son Ardashir V (A.D. 866-902) only the heartland of their empire was left to the Sassanids. This “Imperial Remnant” would nonetheless continue to persist for several more decades as Persia’s enemies remained distracted by each other. Of these enemies, the warring states of Arabia would prove the most significant. During their years as part of the Sassanid Empire, the Arabians had embraced Persian Zoroastrianism as superior to their own idol worshipping, though they did combine their new religion with elements of their former paganism. Under the legendary warrior king Nassak, who united Arabia in A.D. 899, the Arabians would use this fanatical religion to build an empire.
Nassak led his armies into battle with the Romans and finding their borders impenetrable even in decay, turned instead to Sassanid Persia, which was, his generals reported, ripe for conquest. The Arabians then made their first incursions into Mesopotamia in A.D. 902, capturing Ctesiphon in the winter of that same year and ending the last remnants of the Sassanid Empire. With Ctesiphon as their new capital, the Arabians were able to mount successful attacks on the various Persian successor states. While the Romans watched warily from behind their colossal border fortifications, Nassak led his troops across much of Southwestern Asia, conquering and settling the lands that he found. The peoples of the defunct Sassanid Empire in many cases welcomed the Arabians as a relief from the high taxation and petty warlords of the previous epoch. Attributing each victory to the glory of his faith and the expansion of his empire as a sign of God’s favor, Nassak was remarkably successful in his conquests and was able to reconquer much of the Sassanid heartland within a little over a decade. Nassak, a deeply religious man himself, used his Zoroastrian faith to tie his huge empire together. Though the conquered peoples too usually followed Zoroastrianism, deviances were common and moral decay obvious. Within only a generation, Nassak and his followers were able to impose a new religious orthodoxy upon the conquered people and an explosion of faith was the result. By A.D. 922, with much of the rest of Persia as a part of his empire, Nassak too felt the allure of India and mounted his invasion. The various petty kingdoms in India, however, though used to Zoroastrian governors, did not covet another period of occupation and so it was in India that Nassak encountered the first true resistance to his armies. India was eventually conquered, but only after a long and draining war. This reconquest, which was completed in A.D. 935, however, finally restored the borders of the Sassanid Empire and with the success of several minor campaigns in Africa; it is arguable that Nassak constructed the greatest empire Persia had ever seen. When he finally died in A.D. 939, he left to his son a new superstate, Nassakid Persia.