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Tobias I (871-913)
Give me your eyes. Now.
The long reign of Tobais I is one of the golden periods of Byzantine history. For most of his forty-two year long reign--the second longest in Roman history--the Empire was at peace on all fronts (except Italy), and the peasantry enjoyed an usually high quality of life. Literature and artwork were produced into droves, while the church oversaw the conversions of Bulgaria and Russia.
However, Rome was still a state that required military prowess from her master, and so it was that Tobias embarked upon his first campaign in 872, only a few months after wrestling the crown away from his cousin. He gathered the eastern themes and raided in force into the lands of the Caliphate, which was going down in flames under the weight of the Saffarids and the Zanj. He swiftly overran the frontier zone and battered aside the Jaziran emirs before moving into Iraq, advancing as far as Tikrit which he sacked and burned. The road to Samarra was now open but rather than attacking the Caliphal capital he instead treated with the Caliph’s brother, creating an agreement by which the tribute established by Konstantinos would be cancelled but the Arabs still wouldn’t raid. The fortresses of Melitene, Taranton, Sozopetra, Adata and Arabissos were also ceded. Tobias sent the next year raiding northern Syria before retiring back over the mountains in early 875. He awarded himself two triumphs, one for triumphing over the Arabs and one for triumphing over the Muslims.
However, in 878 the Emir of Tarsus launched a large raid into Anatolia, breaking through the Cilician Gates. Tobias was furious and once again gathered the eastern armies, retaliating with a raid into Tarsus the next year. He ravaged Cilicia, then embarked on a much greater offensive the next year. Once again he plunged into Mesopotamia and once again he took Tikrit, but this time he didn’t stop. He moved south and laid siege to Samarra, lobbing firebrands over the walls until the Caliph surrendered on the condition that the Romans would not harm him. Tobias had him dumped into a pond filled with Mugger Crocodiles, because, and I quote, “True, I said no Roman would harm you. But these, my friend, are Indian creatures.” Samarra was then sacked, after which the Romans moved on to Baghdad. Tobias allowed the city’s governor to ransom his territory for all the books and scholars of the House of Wisdom as well as their families and servants, after which he turned north. He wintered in eastern Jazira, during which period he took an Assyrian woman as a lover, before finally returning to Byzantium in the summer of 881. He ordered the fortresses guarding the passes to be heavily reinforced, with new walls and new towers being raised. The garrisons of these hardpoints were to be supplemented with men who’d lost their families to the Arab raiders, ensuring that they would fight to the last man. This overhaul of the eastern defenses occurred over three years, finally being finished in 884.
With the east secured, Tobias turned his attention to his true passion; Books. Prior to going medieval on the Arabs, he had spent most of his time in the pursuit of knowledge. Now that he had some degree of freetime, he resumed indulging his passion. After returning from the east he had a magnificent building called the Sophiakastron constructed at the peak of the city’s third hill between 884 and 889, safely removed from any besieging force. A tunnel was dug from the Great Palace to the Sophiakastron, so that he could access it at all times and in all weather. The Muslim scholars and their families were settled on the rise’s northern slope, while scholars from across the known world were invited to take up residence there. The world’s largest copying center was also erected, dedicated to the preservation of ancient texts. The Sophiakastron still stands today, its beautiful and ornate structure a testimony to the resources of Byzantium’s Golden Age.
While Tobias spent most of his days with his fellow intellectuals in the Sophiakastron, this did not mean that he was derelict in his duties. In 886 he issued a reformed tax code that lightened the burdens of many peasants, winning him their loyalty, and he didn’t stop there. He also issued a new legal code, the Lex Tobaeum, in three stages from 889 to 895. One of the more notable elements of the Lex Tobaeum was the Periorismós tou megéthous ton ktimáton pou katéchoun idiótes kai oi oikogéneiés tous, shortened to periorismos, which established an upper threshold on the land that could be possessed by any one family, making sales or inheritance of more to this family illegal. This helped curb the decline of small farmers, as well as limiting the potential of rebellion of the nobility. This massive legal reform earned Tobias the cognomen of “the Lawgiver,” by which he is known today.
His other major reform, and by far the longest-lasting, was the adoption of Hindu-Arabic numerals in official state correspondence. The motivations behind this alteration are unknown, but its usage did help acclimate many illiterates and foreigners to the Byzantine writing system, which had previously used a mind-bogglingly complex system of letters and pen marks to indicate numbers.
Accessibility for outsiders would soon prove to be very important, as the final victory of the Orthodox faction in the long and bloody Bulgarian Civil War in the 890s caused a sharp rise in demand for priests, monks and scholars. By using the clergy to spread his influence within the Bulgarian realm Tobais weakened his rivals, and thus increased his own power. However, there was likely a genuine philanthropic motive behind this to some degree, as missionary expeditions went beyond their immediate neighbors and into the lands of the Kievan Rus’ and Pannonia, which had recently been conquered by the nomadic Magyars. The expeditions to the Rus’ succeeded in convincing the Grand Prince, Oleg, to convert to Eastern-rite Chalcedonianism in 899 in exchange for a marriage between his son and one of Tobias’ daughters. However, this conversion was only skin deep, and there are several letters from the Metropolitan of Kiev complaining about ongoing sacrifices to the ecumenical Patriarch. Meanwhile, the missionaries to the Magyars made a surprising amount of headway, successfully converting Zolta, the son of the Magyar gyula, in 904, who would go on to lead the mass baptism of the Magyars in the Danube in 919.
While Tobias’ reign was a golden period in Roman history, things soon went sour because of his two marriages. His first wife, Zoe the Paphlagonian, had borne him three sons, one of whom, Konstantinos, had lived to adulthood and commanded the European armies. However, Tobias’ three surviving sons by Maria the Assyrian, Khristophoros, Adrianos and Tobias, were all born-in-the-purple and thus technically more legitimate than their half-brother. Khristophoros commanded the eastern defenses, while Tobias the Younger was in charge of the Crimean garrisons. Three of them (Adrianos having taken the cloth) had designs on the throne, and it was only their father’s life between them in the throne. Tobias the Elder, whose mind had begun to go in the mid 900s, was blissfully unaware of this and living out his last days of senility absorbed in his books.
On 11 January 913, Tobias passed quietly, with his wife and youngest son by his side. As word of his passing spread across Byzantium, the three claimants raised their war banners; The second Year of the Four Emperors had begun.
....Did you just insinuate that blinding is bad?
Give me your eyes. Now.
Tobias I
(871-913)
(871-913)
The long reign of Tobais I is one of the golden periods of Byzantine history. For most of his forty-two year long reign--the second longest in Roman history--the Empire was at peace on all fronts (except Italy), and the peasantry enjoyed an usually high quality of life. Literature and artwork were produced into droves, while the church oversaw the conversions of Bulgaria and Russia.
However, Rome was still a state that required military prowess from her master, and so it was that Tobias embarked upon his first campaign in 872, only a few months after wrestling the crown away from his cousin. He gathered the eastern themes and raided in force into the lands of the Caliphate, which was going down in flames under the weight of the Saffarids and the Zanj. He swiftly overran the frontier zone and battered aside the Jaziran emirs before moving into Iraq, advancing as far as Tikrit which he sacked and burned. The road to Samarra was now open but rather than attacking the Caliphal capital he instead treated with the Caliph’s brother, creating an agreement by which the tribute established by Konstantinos would be cancelled but the Arabs still wouldn’t raid. The fortresses of Melitene, Taranton, Sozopetra, Adata and Arabissos were also ceded. Tobias sent the next year raiding northern Syria before retiring back over the mountains in early 875. He awarded himself two triumphs, one for triumphing over the Arabs and one for triumphing over the Muslims.
However, in 878 the Emir of Tarsus launched a large raid into Anatolia, breaking through the Cilician Gates. Tobias was furious and once again gathered the eastern armies, retaliating with a raid into Tarsus the next year. He ravaged Cilicia, then embarked on a much greater offensive the next year. Once again he plunged into Mesopotamia and once again he took Tikrit, but this time he didn’t stop. He moved south and laid siege to Samarra, lobbing firebrands over the walls until the Caliph surrendered on the condition that the Romans would not harm him. Tobias had him dumped into a pond filled with Mugger Crocodiles, because, and I quote, “True, I said no Roman would harm you. But these, my friend, are Indian creatures.” Samarra was then sacked, after which the Romans moved on to Baghdad. Tobias allowed the city’s governor to ransom his territory for all the books and scholars of the House of Wisdom as well as their families and servants, after which he turned north. He wintered in eastern Jazira, during which period he took an Assyrian woman as a lover, before finally returning to Byzantium in the summer of 881. He ordered the fortresses guarding the passes to be heavily reinforced, with new walls and new towers being raised. The garrisons of these hardpoints were to be supplemented with men who’d lost their families to the Arab raiders, ensuring that they would fight to the last man. This overhaul of the eastern defenses occurred over three years, finally being finished in 884.
With the east secured, Tobias turned his attention to his true passion; Books. Prior to going medieval on the Arabs, he had spent most of his time in the pursuit of knowledge. Now that he had some degree of freetime, he resumed indulging his passion. After returning from the east he had a magnificent building called the Sophiakastron constructed at the peak of the city’s third hill between 884 and 889, safely removed from any besieging force. A tunnel was dug from the Great Palace to the Sophiakastron, so that he could access it at all times and in all weather. The Muslim scholars and their families were settled on the rise’s northern slope, while scholars from across the known world were invited to take up residence there. The world’s largest copying center was also erected, dedicated to the preservation of ancient texts. The Sophiakastron still stands today, its beautiful and ornate structure a testimony to the resources of Byzantium’s Golden Age.
While Tobias spent most of his days with his fellow intellectuals in the Sophiakastron, this did not mean that he was derelict in his duties. In 886 he issued a reformed tax code that lightened the burdens of many peasants, winning him their loyalty, and he didn’t stop there. He also issued a new legal code, the Lex Tobaeum, in three stages from 889 to 895. One of the more notable elements of the Lex Tobaeum was the Periorismós tou megéthous ton ktimáton pou katéchoun idiótes kai oi oikogéneiés tous, shortened to periorismos, which established an upper threshold on the land that could be possessed by any one family, making sales or inheritance of more to this family illegal. This helped curb the decline of small farmers, as well as limiting the potential of rebellion of the nobility. This massive legal reform earned Tobias the cognomen of “the Lawgiver,” by which he is known today.
His other major reform, and by far the longest-lasting, was the adoption of Hindu-Arabic numerals in official state correspondence. The motivations behind this alteration are unknown, but its usage did help acclimate many illiterates and foreigners to the Byzantine writing system, which had previously used a mind-bogglingly complex system of letters and pen marks to indicate numbers.
Accessibility for outsiders would soon prove to be very important, as the final victory of the Orthodox faction in the long and bloody Bulgarian Civil War in the 890s caused a sharp rise in demand for priests, monks and scholars. By using the clergy to spread his influence within the Bulgarian realm Tobais weakened his rivals, and thus increased his own power. However, there was likely a genuine philanthropic motive behind this to some degree, as missionary expeditions went beyond their immediate neighbors and into the lands of the Kievan Rus’ and Pannonia, which had recently been conquered by the nomadic Magyars. The expeditions to the Rus’ succeeded in convincing the Grand Prince, Oleg, to convert to Eastern-rite Chalcedonianism in 899 in exchange for a marriage between his son and one of Tobias’ daughters. However, this conversion was only skin deep, and there are several letters from the Metropolitan of Kiev complaining about ongoing sacrifices to the ecumenical Patriarch. Meanwhile, the missionaries to the Magyars made a surprising amount of headway, successfully converting Zolta, the son of the Magyar gyula, in 904, who would go on to lead the mass baptism of the Magyars in the Danube in 919.
While Tobias’ reign was a golden period in Roman history, things soon went sour because of his two marriages. His first wife, Zoe the Paphlagonian, had borne him three sons, one of whom, Konstantinos, had lived to adulthood and commanded the European armies. However, Tobias’ three surviving sons by Maria the Assyrian, Khristophoros, Adrianos and Tobias, were all born-in-the-purple and thus technically more legitimate than their half-brother. Khristophoros commanded the eastern defenses, while Tobias the Younger was in charge of the Crimean garrisons. Three of them (Adrianos having taken the cloth) had designs on the throne, and it was only their father’s life between them in the throne. Tobias the Elder, whose mind had begun to go in the mid 900s, was blissfully unaware of this and living out his last days of senility absorbed in his books.
On 11 January 913, Tobias passed quietly, with his wife and youngest son by his side. As word of his passing spread across Byzantium, the three claimants raised their war banners; The second Year of the Four Emperors had begun.
- Eparkhos
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