This is my first TL, so it stands to reason that it will need considerable improvement. Any constructive criticism would be appreciated. If I have made any glaring errors, I will revise them. I’ve only just started to learn about this period in the last week or so, so if anyone who knows much about it could give me some advice, I would be very much obliged.
I should note that this first post is here mainly to set the stage for things to come; this is not going to be a typical Byz-wank. If you would like a hint of what future events will be like, I can tell you that the crusades will not be against the Muslims.
By the way, particular thanks goes to Basileus Giorgios who gave me some excellent advice on the time period.
The Turning of the tide
June 18, 780 Leo IV recovers from a fever, which many had thought would kill him. He attributes his miraculous recovery to God, and his wife Irene convinces him that it is a sign. She says that he was stricken by the disease because of his increased Iconoclastic activities. She tells him that he was spared so that he might repent of his wicked ways. Still being weak, and in a state of extreme gratitude to God, he believes his wife. As soon as he was fully recovered he set about finding allies with which he might pursue an Iconodule policy. Three years later a new Ecumenical council found the use of images to be Orthodox. This helped to reunify the Church, as the Pope in Rome had felt particularly alienated by the Iconoclastic controversy.
However, during this time, theology was not the only change in the Empire. For the first time in centuries, the Imperial army had won a decisive victory against the Arabs. In 781, an Arab army had pushed deep into Imperial territory, but was decisively defeated in the Threcesion Theme. The invading army was routed and expelled from Anatolia. Another army was similarly defeated the following year. Suitably chafed, the Abbasids were forced to come to terms. The Byzantines demanded that the Abbasids abandon any claims to Anatolia. In addition, the Arabs were forced to return the city of Antioch to Empire. Lastly they were required to pay a heavy tribute for forty years
Funded largely by the annual Abbasid tribute, Leo was able to conduct extensive campaigns in the West. The Bulgars were given a sound thrashing in 782, and again in 785. During the 785 campaign they were actually pushed across the Danube and forced to pay annual tribute. In 784, an Arab army made an attempt to retake the city of Antioch, but were turned back. The Abbasids faced additional fines after this event.
In 787, Leo transported his now veteran army to Sicily. Using the Island as a base of operations, he was able to increase the Empire’s hold on Southern Italy Unfortunately, while the Emperor was successful in the west, the Arabs had made yet another stab into Anatolia, this time they were successful in taking Antioch. By September they had raided the city of Caesarea. From now on, it would be the Romans who would be paying an annual tribute. To compound the problem, the Bulgars were becoming a serious trouble again on the Northern frontier. In 791, they had captured territory as far as Adrianople. They too would begin getting a heavy annual tribute.
Leo attributed this string of defeats to his new Iconophyle faith. In 792, a new Ecumenical council ruled in favour of Iconoclasm. Leo began a new campaign in Italy, and won several major battles against the Franks. By 793, all of costal Italy was under Imperial authority. The Bulgars were beaten back in 794 by one of Leo’s promising young generals, and in 796 Antioch was once again retaken. In order that there should be no bad feelings, Leo demanded no annual tribute from the Abbasids, merely a one-time payment, and a formal end to any claims on Antioch. The Abbasids were only too willing to agree. They were having problems of their own in Mesopotamia, where a new militant Heresy had emerged.
It was in this year that Leo’s second son, Justinian who had been born in 781, was banished from the Empire. He fled to Rome, which along with all of northern Italy had been conquered by the Franks the previous year. During his exile he built up a strong friendship with the Pope. This friendship would prove to be one of the most important in all of Roman history.
By this point in his life Leo had convinced himself that with his Iconoclastic faith he was invincible. He attributed the losses in Northern Italy to the Pope’s own heretical beliefs concerning images. He decided that once he had regained control over Rome, he would find a new Pope who would be less trouble. In the year 800, Leo launched a final campaign in Italy. His army this time was notably smaller. His campaigns had emptied the imperial treasury, and with no annual tribute he had had to demand money from the wealthy nobles in order to fund his expedition. From the start, the Frankish campaign was a disaster. Though Rome was retaken, the cost was such that there was little hope of holding it. In October of that same year, a great Frankish army converged on the city. Unwilling to stand a long siege, Leo met them on the open field. It was here that he died, killed by a Frankish throwing-axe. The army fled back to the city in disarray, under the none to competent leadership of the Leo’s son Constantine. The Romans fully expected to withstand a siege, but it was at this point that events would once again shift in the Roman’s favour.
Pope Leo III, along with his friend Justinian III commanded the Charles, king of the Franks not to take the city. He would be aloud to keep all of Northern Italy, but he would be excommunicated if he dared enter Rome. Charles, a man of great piety, grumpily agreed. In return for his this act of diplomatic wizardry, Pope Leo III made one demand of Constantine; he must refuse the crown in favour of his younger brother Justinian.
On Christmas day 800, Justinian III was crowned Holy Roman Emperor.