Chapter I: The latter reign of Emperor Michael II the Amorian[/B
Now Michael II was the founder of the great Amorian dynasty. What separated him from many other rulers was the fact that he was initially a simple soldier. He couldn’t read or write but was very enthusiastic and clever. As we know in the 820s Thomas the slav launched a revolt aided by the calip. Thomas was from Asia Minor and proclaimed himself the champion of the iconouludes. He
soon won the favor of the masses due to the fact that he played on their burdens of crushing taxation, economic want, and exactions of government officials. Thus he won their support and this rebellion relying on the use of racial, religious, and social antagonisms soon spread over asia minor. All the themes except the opskillion and Armeniakon deserted Michael for Thomas.
To make matters worse the patriarch of Antioch crowned Thomas. He also received a fleet from the caliph and soon besieged Constantinople in 823. Michael was desperate. He knew Constantinople couldn’t hold out for long but
he made one last gamble in a time of despair. He sent word to the khan of the bulgars Omurtag who lead his forces and crushed Thomas armies lifting the siege of Constantinople that spring and putting an end to the so called rebbelious movement.
News soon traveled fast in Constantinople and the Balkans of this revolt. The
emperor played to his advantage by proclaiming that the revolt was done by a bunch of fanatics who supported Icons. He claimed it was the icons that had caused many themes and people to go mad. Soon propaganda was spread across the Romans western territories demonizing the iconoludes. This lead to many people looking towards Iconoclasm as a viable alternative but in Asia minor many were outraged and continued to follow the iconolude movement.
Thus by 824 the iconoclasts had the support of the west while the iconoludes drew support from the east polarizing the empire.
Realizing this Michael cleverly backed off and passed an imperial edict that said that all citizens of the empire were free to choose which they wanted to practice and be free if being persecuted. With this edict passed the tensions between the iconoclasts and iconoludes soon started to ease. Thus a major crisis was averted by Michael.
In 825 Michael had grown tired of the generals in Sicily who were always complaining and fighting with each other. He soon sacked these generals and replaced them with better generals who got along with each other. Michael also started to realize that the navy has to be rebuilt. With the fall of the naval minded Ummayid calphite the Roman fleet had deteriorated.
He soon spent some of the treasury on refitting the fleet so that by early 826 it was in a relatively good condition. This move payed off, In 826 adventurous arab pirates from Spain who had taken Egypt in 816 soon launched an attack on Crete. Crete was a very strategic island that could not be lost. At the great
naval battle for crete the arab pirate fleet was decimated by the roman navy which was in good condition due to Michal’s efforts. With the pirate fleet destroyed the threat was over.
With the caliph in a position to do little against the Romans. Michael turned his attention west. The slavs had overrun much of Bulgaria and the Balkans Michael was eager to gain it back. On may 5th 827 Michael dissolved his treaty with Omurtag and declared war upon him and the bulgars. He dissolved their alliance and soon raised an army of 15000 form all the themes and marched into Bulgarian territory with the purpose of retaking it. In response Omurtag soon drew the Bulgar forces and attacked the byzantines. A series of fierce battles followed as Michael’s army was harassed and whittled by the Bulgars.
At the same time the romans were taking village after village and city after city. Many skirmishes broke out all ending in stalemate. Finally on the outskirts of Nesebar Omurtags forces of 16000 confronted Michale’s advancing army. The battle was fiercely fought. The bulgars opened up by launching arrays of arrows at the Roman soldiers who immediately set up a shield wall against the arrows. Immediately after Michael ordered his cataphrats to charge directly at the enemy infantry, the cataphrats soon charged right into the Bulgarian army. Anticipating this Omurtag ordered a spear defensive formation. Michael had
been duped and soon many cataphrats lost their lives but so did the spearmen. However Michael counterattacked by soon having his archers open fire onto the exposed spearmen who were busy slaying the roman cataphrats massacring many. With this moment seized Michael's swordsmen soon charged. With the spearmen unit weakened an opening was made in the Khans armies that were utilized by the Roman soldiers who soon broke through. Omurtag tried desperately to rally his troops but to no avail. Suddenly a large
war cry was heard and soon Omurtag saw a sight that scared the wits out of him.
A khazar army had arrived. Just before the battle a deal was made between Michal and the Khazar Khan to partition the Bulgarian Khanate. This was done with the khazars invading from the north while Byzantium hit the south. This
occurred due to the khazars fearing the overtly powerful Bulgars and wanting to end them as a threat. So shortly after the roman declaration of war so too did the Khazars declare war. They soon overran the Northern fortresses of the bulgars.
Soon with the Khazar troops arrival the bulgar soldiers fell. The combined Roman-Khazarian armies brought an end to the Bulgarian forces and lead to the death of Omurtag.
From there the roman soldiers marched and with the Bulgars in chaos besieged the Bulgar capitol of Pro slav in 829. In a fierce and costly siege in which thousands of Romans and Khazars lost their lives the city fell after
withholding for six months. Form there the other bulgar capitol Pliska fell. On December 5th 829 the treaty of Varna was signed.
The bulgars sized to exist. The borders between Khazaria and the romans were set at the river Danube with the farthest extent of Roman territory up to Peryslav. The Khazars took the rest of Bulgar territory. With the treaty done
Michael had put an end to one of the most terrifying enemies =the romans ever faced..
However Michael was not satisfied in 830 he soon turned his forces toward Italy. In may 830 he declared war upon the duchy of Beneveto. He soon used
the superior roman fleet to land a force of 12000 men at the coast of the city. This force soon decisively destroyed Benevetos King and soon the duchy was taken much to the displeasure of the franks who did not move due to
cautiousness in dealing with the romans. With the fall of Beneveto, Naples was secured by the Romans.
Michael had married Euphrosyne in 826 shortly after his first wife thekla died. At first the marriage was barren but soon Euprhosyne became pregnant and in 827 a healthy son named Manuel was born. To show his support for the
iconoclasts Manuel was put under the teachings of John Grammaticus. But at the same time prominent Iconolude tutors also tutored Manuel. Thus Manuel grew up experiencing both Iconoclasm and iconoludism. However this was a major setback for Michale’s first son Theophlis who viewed the birth as a disaster. Due to the birth of Manuel he was deprived of the throne. TO placate Theophiles Michael offered to make him the Domestics of the west once the
current domestics died and sent him to be tutored by the current domestics for that position.
Thus by 831 the romans held a strong position in the Balkans and in Southern Italy and Sicily. They also controlled Crete. To add on to Michaels achievements in 830 a great Roman fleet captured cyprus that had been taken shortly before by arab pirates returning it to Roman hands. The rift between
Iconoluds and iconoclasts was slowly healing, a major civil war had been averted, and strategic locations were safe. But soon Michael died in 833.
With his death Euphrosyne became empress regent for her young son Manuel. The reign of Euphrosyne would see the rise of one of the romans most prominent generals. The young Theophles and first son of Michael who would under Euprhosyne reign accomplish many victories for the empire. Although she did little directly the events that happened would change the empire forever.
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