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UNIVERSITY OF EOFRIC TERMINAL IV ASKS:

What was the effect of the Leontine Plague on Rhomania?

SAINT MICHAEL COLLEGE TERMINAL I ANSWERS:

In the late-7th Century, the Rhomanian Empire was at the height of its power. It had smashed the Sassanid Persians, utterly breaking their Empire. The “barbarian” Kingdoms of the West were quiet, thanks to concerted diplomatic and religious efforts, as well as the decisive Rhomanian military intervention in the Vandal civil war in 612. Economic prominence made Rhomania the wealthiest of all European nations, with trade contacts as far away as Ireland.

However, that would change with the Leontine Plague. Likely a strain of the Blue Plague, the Leontine Plague swept through the Empire from East to West, from there spilling into the rest of Europe. Within the Empire, it devastated the Army as well as the civilian population, reducing the Empire’s economic power. The Crisis of 695, caused by plague deaths among the Imperial family, would see the long-ruling Leonid Dynasty overthrown by the influential General Mauricius (who established the Maurician Dynasty), which in turn weakened the Empire by a short but violent civil war.

All of this, in turn, kept the Empire from dealing with the Ismaili threat, resulting in the triumphant campaigns from the South, shattering Rhomanian authority in the East outside of Asia Minor, as well as the Onogur Invasion of the Haemus. While Mauricius was able to prevent the Ismailis from driving into Asia Minor and held the Onogurs off, thus ensuring Rhomanian survival, the Empire had been badly weakened.