Vasily 2 Emperor of Byzantium. WITH

A. VENEDIKTOV: The extraordinary interest in Byzantium over the last 2 weeks has pushed Natalya Ivanovna and I to one of the emperors, although we have already worked on just one emperor - Justinian, now we have Vasily Macedonian in front of us. By the way, I’ll start with the fact that a question came over the Internet, Sergei asks: “I would like to know, during the existence of the Empire, could representatives of other nationalities come to power in Constantinople and occupy high positions in the state? And how was this perceived in the Greek environment? Just got it!
N. BASOVSKAYA: Good afternoon. And today the answer to this question will certainly be in the life story of that same Vasily the Second Bulgarian fighter. The reason that interests listeners is why you chose him, one of the brightest on the Byzantine throne. And it is considered a generally accepted fact that it was under him that the Byzantine Empire reached its maximum prosperity. He lived from 958 to 1025, reigning from 976 to 1025. Such a flourishing, such a huge territory, which he almost returned all of, has never happened since the times of Ancient Rome, the eastern part of the Roman Empire. And, in fact, this alone attracts attention. And as for his nickname, Bulgar-Akton or Bulgarian-fighter in the Russian version, then, of course, he was distinguished by a ferocity that was somewhat out of place even from those cruel times. But why, how, when this happened - we will talk about this later. But to choose him is to choose a moment of prosperity that has never been repeated in this form.
His biography is very typical for the rulers of Byzantium.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Sergei just says: “He’s not Greek.”
N. BASOVSKAYA: The fact is that, firstly, during the time of Vasily the Second they just stopped calling this Empire the Empire of the Rameans, the Romans. This is a turning point, it has not yet established itself like the Greek Empire. And the expression “Greeks” is also quite figurative. Greeks, Syrians, Copts, Thracians, Illyrians, Armenians, Georgians, Arabs, and Jews lived on the territory of Byzantium. Most of the named peoples could be called Hellenized for that time, because the majority spoke Greek. Latin gradually disappeared. But still this is a huge ethnic diversity and it was also manifested on the imperial throne. This will be voiced by one of the predecessors of Vasily the Second, who seized the throne, was from Armenia. And this could happen because there were no strict rules of succession to the throne, legally formalized, for a very long time. Byzantium is an incredible state, as half-jokingly, but in general, sometimes even historians say seriously, it is a state whose exact date of birth and death is strictly known. This is May 11, 330, so to speak, the opening of Constantinople. Today they would say – the presentation of the new eastern capital. And May 29, 1453, the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks. Arithmetically, 1123, but there were breaks, there were moments when it completely fell apart, it seemed not to be revived, in a conversation about Justinian they seemed to rightly hint to me that why am I looking so critically at the history of this strange medieval, or not quite medieval state.
Moreover, I expressed a critical view long before the sensational film. What died and died, it lived for more than 1 thousand years. I repeat. In a sense, all these thousand years it did not move forward, but as if it was either trying to stop life... I came across an expression in the literature about Basil the Second: “This Macedonian ruler wanted to consolidate the 10th century in Byzantium forever” or disintegrated. Yes, such a long-term, in a sense, dying. Therefore, I am far from idealizing Byzantium and in my view of it I adhere to the meaning of the famous Latin catchphrase “Non progradi est regradi” [lat. Non progredi est regredi] - not to go forward means to go backward. In the traditions of this particular society and state, there were many attempts to stop and consolidate what had been achieved, not allowing new relations to develop, at least in the very important agricultural sphere and in the relationship between parts of the elite.
A. VENEDIKTOV: But it was Vasily the Second who tried to do something there.
N. BASOVSKAYA: He also tried to ensure that there was no large land ownership, so that it would not be sufficiently independent, at least somewhat independent of the central government. This means that there should not be those dangerous, large lords who in France, in Germany, for example, began to behave independently of the central government in Rus', because this is like a disaster, feudal fragmentation, but it also contains a grain of truth that is very important for the future . The temporary isolation of the relative parts of this growing state formation allows, internally, to achieve significant economic success and create military squads that will come to fight. But Byzantium, nevertheless, relied more on mercenaries, among whom were our ancestors, but more on that later.
So, already at the beginning of Byzantine history there were more than 30 million inhabitants, and the population was growing. Numerous. Territories from the 5th century - the Danube region, Macedonia, the north of the Balkan Peninsula, the northern part of Thrace, Asia Minor, the countries of the Middle East, Egypt. Amazing diversity! Ethnic, geographical, geopolitical, in fact, it was difficult to keep such a colossus located in Constantinople under a single strong government. And here is our character today, our hero, seemingly very difficult, very painful, achieved in a painful way what he holds, he is victorious, he wins a lot, he has been on the throne for more than 40 years. And then, immediately after it, such a collapse!
A. VENEDIKTOV: Collapse!
N. BASOVSKAYA: Which, as even narrow specialists say today, is difficult to explain. I will try to express my version, but at the end of the program. So, from the age of two.
A. VENEDIKTOV: He has been on the throne since he was two years old.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Since 960, little Vasily has been called co-ruler of his father, Emperor Roman II. Together with his brother Konstantin. From the age of five, from 963, he was legally emperor, together with his brother Constantine, who after his death would rule for a very short time, a very elderly man, Constantine the Eighth. Under Vasily, he did not interfere in anything. And only from 976 he actually ruled, from the age of 18, spending 49 years on the throne. And at the beginning he very firmly relied on a certain eunuch Vasily Nof, only after 9 years he exiled him, and began to truly, completely independently rule. And, it would seem, with his successes, which were indisputable, in the international arena he expanded and restored the borders of the Empire, much was lost. In his inner life - two, he carried out a strict inventory of property, achieved clearer taxation, enriched the treasury, he left untold treasures in this treasury to his dissolute brother, and dissolute heirs proved how quickly all this can be lost.
His life, first as a human being, as a child, and then as a potential ruler, was very difficult, because he had very difficult preliminary circumstances, one cannot help but mention them. His grandfather was the famous Emperor Constantine the Seventh, Porphyrogenet, Porphyrogenitus. Bagryanitsa was the room where the legitimate heirs to the throne were to be born. His father, Romanus II, was the son of Parthirogenet and emperor since 945, in fact, since 959. Married in 956, his father shocked the Byzantine court with his marriage to the daughter of a tavern owner. There was something here, these Byzantine emperors. It is known that Justinian married Theodora, a woman from the lower classes. And here, Anastasia is the daughter of a tavern owner, who received the throne name Feofano. Again the resemblance to Theodora is amazing. What is preserved about her in the sources? There are a lot of sources. It was a very writing civilization, for all that. Greek was predominantly written and there was a small but very educated elite of this society who wrote it, in extremely detail, although very biased.
A. VENEDIKTOV: In different ways.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Of course, everyone saw as he saw and many were afraid. The court was fierce and its morals were fierce. Amazing beauty, combined with cruelty and lust for power. They literally write the same thing about Theodore, so sometimes it seems to me that there may even be an element of some kind of literary cliché present here.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Judging by her life, what she did after the death of Roman II, her husband, confirms the opinion of Byzantine historians.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Didn’t she poison her husband?
A. VENEDIKTOV: It could! Easily!
N. BASOVSKAYA: There were rumors that his sudden and irresistible illness was very reminiscent of poisoning and in fact the rise to power of another person, the commander Nicephorus Phocius, about whom they said that he was burning with an unprecedented passion for this very Empress Feofano, all these circumstances suggest these thoughts. The boy grew up in such an environment. After the sudden death of his father, neither he nor his co-ruler brother, but a certain Nicephorus the Second Phocas, a commander, becomes emperor.
A. VENEDIKTOV: And marries their mother.
N. BASOVSKAYA: This is a normal bloody coup. The mother was sent away, she was offended, Vasily the Second would return her, but would not give her any political role. Bloody coup. Fighting on the streets of Constantinople. Usurper Emperor. There are, of course, people who say that there are legitimate boys. He established himself on the throne by force, became famous for his cruelty, he had such glory that he won on this fear. In particular, the famous story, when he fought in Crete, in the name of the interests of Byzantium, fought with the Arabs, he shocked the pirates there, in fact, i.e. hard-hearted people who have seen a lot of cruelty. He collected the heads of the dead, ordered them to be cut off, some to be displayed in front of his camp, and some of the heads of the killed enemies to be fired at the city, and to throw the heads of the enemies into the city using stone throwers. Even there, in this city of Khandaki, there was an impression that he was somehow cruel beyond measure, although in the spirit of the time all this seemed to be nothing. There were persistent rumors that he wanted to castrate these boys so that they would have no offspring and so that the Macedonian dynasty would not return and establish itself on the Byzantine throne. That is, Vasily the Second lived in cruel conditions.
The end of Nikephoros II was also terrible. A palace coup, narrow, this time, not battles on the streets of the city, a palace coup, a secret murder, not without some tragicomic details described, the conspirators burst into the bedroom and did not find the emperor. They were panicked that he had run away and hid. And suddenly they look - he fell asleep on the floor, near the fireplace. You can guess under what circumstances. As sources say, after short bullying, they killed him. But then the guards were knocking on the doors, then these guards were shown his severed head. That is, there is something bloody in this dawn. They showed their heads - the guards calmed down. So the next one was established on the throne, again not our boy. He waits and waits, he has been waiting for his legal rights for what seems like 13 years. During this time, such legal heirs usually become very angry. This is roughly known from the times of Ancient Egypt, when Queen Hatshepsut [Maatkara Hatshepsut Henemetamon (1490/1489-1468 BC, 1479-1458 BC or 1503-1482 BC) - female pharaoh of the New kingdom of Ancient Egypt from the XVIII dynasty.] pushed aside the rights of her stepson Tutnos the Third, the future great conqueror and pharaoh, for many years. And this also had a very bad effect on his nature. He waits, and the illegal ruler John the First Tzimiskes, from the Armenian nobility, came to power again. And again a major commander. That is, a system of military coups, military regimes, his funny nickname, from the Armenian word shoe, due to his short stature. But a brilliant commander. In domestic policy, he outlined a line that Vasily the Second would take up - to clamp down on large landholdings, subordinate them to a rigid single central authority, exiled the Empress Theophana to a monastery, for several months she was a regent, and then nothing at all. She was so shocked by his brazen capture that the scene in the church of St. Sofia, where Feofana burst out with such abuse that immediately reminded her that she was the daughter of a tavern owner. And she tried to pluck out this John’s eyes.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Here’s the story.
NEWS
A. VENEDIKTOV: Before we go further, I want to name our winners, those who won. Of course, the correct answer was Tsar-Grad, it was not necessary to read the chronicles, you could read “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg.” And here is the one who receives the books - Remal (490), Ekaterina (278), Oleg from St. Petersburg (250), Dmitry (135), Alexander (054), Konstantin (454), Andrey from Volgograd (381), Badri (757), Tatyana (531), Alexey (464). The next 10 winners are Katerina (442), Sasha (911), Andrey (592), Natalya from St. Petersburg (552), Irina from Vladikavkaz (422), Yuri (708), Maria (705), Svetlana (692), Nikolay (078) and Polina (055). Tsar-Grad.
So, Vasily the Second, not yet Vasily the Second, still a boy Vasya, with his brother Kostya, they live in a palace where bloody coups are carried out and before their eyes their teachers are killed, their mother is glorified, their friends are tonsured into monks and all this happens in change of the bloody emperor.
N. BASOVSKAYA: There are rumors that they want to castrate them.
A. VENEDIKTOV: In general, a good childhood.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Childhood, of course, was difficult. Another thing is that not everything can be explained and justified, but you need to know this. It must be said that the next step on the path to the formation of the painful traits of this nature, and he had not only painful traits, he was not stupid, not sophisticatedly educated, but not stupid, everyone emphasizes this. He is simple-minded in behavior, but completely gifted with the ability to lead, but his very first steps, his first minutes on the throne, were overshadowed in the first years by two major internal rebellions. And the suppression of these rebellions, also exquisitely complex and cruel, apparently forever left some kind of imprint on his nature, on his further behavior. The first rebellion immediately after the death of John the First.
A. VENEDIKTOV: They were elevated to the throne with Constantine.
N. BASOVSKAYA: They were recognized. And finally everything is brought into line with reality. They really are emperors. But they are not yet capable of really ruling. And young Vasily does not yet pretend at all and cannot do this himself; in fact, the previously known court figure Vasily Nov, a eunuch, really rules, this was often accepted. And Vasily has not yet seized real power from him; he will show himself personally in the second rebellion, but not in the first. What kind of rebellion was it? A certain Dominist to the East, Bardas Skleros, was displaced and sent into virtual exile, as in Byzantine history he was considered the strategist of Mesopotamia. In response, this Skler, together with another commander, raised a military rebellion, rebelled almost all of Asia Minor, plus Bulgaria rebelled, which wanted to defend its independence. The imperial army is defeated, everyone is in despair, in reality Vasily is still no one and such a commander Varda Foka was called to defeat this rebellion. Phocas is the nephew of Emperor Nicephorus, who was killed.
And he rebelled back in 970, i.e. he believes that he also has rights to the throne and in a sense this is true. And he was exiled to a monastery. But the situation was so hopeless that they called in this disgraced, suspicious man, and he showed himself again as a commander; Byzantium was not short of talented military leaders. Fire ships, the famous Greek fire, played a very important role, they burned the fleet of this Skler and the rebellion was suppressed. Sklerus himself was the leader of the rebellion; he was wounded in a duel with Phocas; there is something very ancient in these events. Here the Middle Ages and antiquity are absolutely intertwined into a single traditional society. And after that he fled to Baghdad. It would seem that he was forgotten forever. But after 9 years, the already very elderly Vardas Klir reappeared within the borders of the state. Varda Foka again opposes this Clear. Now we will achieve victory! But Foka, this oppositionist, suddenly proclaimed himself emperor. Not so suddenly. We have the year 987, this is the second rebellion, and since 970 he has been fighting for his rights. Not at all suddenly. By cunning he captured Skleros, who was rebelling, united his troops, his army, as if on behalf of the emperor, with the rebellious army, things were bad. All this forced Emperor Vasily II to turn to the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir Svyatoslavovich for help.
A. VENEDIKTOV: To the future Saint Vladimir.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Why there? He will not become a saint entirely voluntarily, because the terms of the agreement were certain. Even before him, Nikifor II used the Prince of Kyiv Svyatoslav Igorevich in the fight against the Bulgarian kingdom. There is rather vague information that Svyatoslav took the money, captured Pliska, but refused to leave there. They fought well, it was a Russian-Varangian army, with excellent Varangian traditions.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Let us remember that the main governor’s name was Svineld.
N. BASOVSKAYA: This is how I wrote under John the First, they also encountered Svyatoslav’s army in Bulgaria. Leo the Deacon, a Byzantine writer, writes in his history: “The dews, guided by their innate rage, rushed in a furious outburst, roaring like those possessed, towards the ramia. And the Rami advanced, using their experience and military art.” That is, they clashed as allies and as opponents, and it was known that these knew how to fight. And then Vasily the Second was forced to ask for help from Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. He agreed on the condition that Vasily the Second would give him as a wife, his own half-sister Anna, the daughter of that very Empress Theophan, the daughter of a tavern owner, a scolder who almost tore out the eyes of the pretender to the imperial throne. Consent was not given easily. The fact is that the Byzantines at that time looked at Rus' precisely as a barbarian periphery, for sure. And they had no tradition of giving their princesses to barbarians. But the situation is difficult. And he agreed that his sister, Anna, Vasily’s sister, would arrive in Rus' and marry the Kyiv prince.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Under two conditions.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Yes. The prince will accept Christianity. The condition was accepted. Well, there was money involved here. And a detachment of 6 thousand people, Russian-Varangian, powerful, skillful, entered Constantinople in the winter of 988; they defeated a significant part of Phocas’s army, saving Vasily the Second in a very difficult critical military situation. And Vasily the Second, who was not distinguished by the highest moral qualities, was in no hurry to fulfill his promise and send his sister Anna to Russian lands. Then, angry, Vladimir with his army besieged and took Tauride Chersonese.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Crimea.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Which then belonged to Byzantium. She was immediately put on a ship, Anna, and sent north.
A. VENEDIKTOV: By that time she was already very old, for that time she was 25 years old.
N. BASOVSKAYA: And it was assumed that she would not have any dynastic marriage, but these are the special political circumstances. A wedding and the supposed Baptism of Rus' took place, an event of which there are no eyewitnesses and even the date is questionable, either 988 or 989. But, of course, he will be baptized alone, he will be accompanied by his squad. This begins a large, long process of the arrival of Christianity in Russian lands. It, of course, cannot be a one-time thing, it cannot be the act and decision of one person. Everywhere and everywhere, all over the world, the arrival and strengthening of Christianity was a long and difficult process. But this was exactly the starting point.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Wedding of a Byzantine princess.
N. BASOVSKAYA: Yes. And the fulfillment of a contract concluded in exceptional, difficult, critical circumstances, a forced appeal to a barbarian.
A. VENEDIKTOV: By the way, this detachment of 6 thousand people remained the guard of Vasily the Second and accompanied him all his life.
N. BASOVSKAYA: And he served very well.
A. VENEDIKTOV: That is, he actually sold them. He received money for this. These were mercenaries.
N. BASOVSKAYA: The end of the rebellion was associated with the personal intervention of Vasily. Here he begins to become himself, he intervened in the fight personally, on April 13, 989, at Avedos, on the banks of the Dardanelles, he gave the last battle, Varda Foka during this battle desperately made his way to Emperor Vasily himself in order to engage in a duel with him. Again we see the face of time, let the duel decide, as in Ancient Rome, who is the best warrior. And then there is an amazing incident. He suddenly turned his horse back, rushed towards Vasily and turned his horse back, got off his horse, lay down on the ground and died. And now the version...
A. VENEDIKTOV: Poison!
N. BASOVSKAYA: ...that Vasily the Second managed to come to an agreement with his cupbearer. And before the fight, how could I not drink a glass! Thus ended the second rebellion. So, Vasily the Second began - the ruler. Vasily the Second, as a strong figure, who changed dramatically, together all Byzantine writers close to his time, some who saw the end of his era, write how much the emperor changed, how everyone paid attention to the huge changes in his nature. He lived that desperate, difficult life in childhood, in his youth, waiting 13 years for power. And it began so difficult, so bad, with severe riots and rebellions. He suddenly changed. He stopped binge drinking, which he was quite capable of, and gave it its due. He carried out a thorough census of the property of landowners, very carefully stopped the growth of large land holdings of magnates, strengthening, figuratively speaking, Byzantine absolutism. The Byzantine political system is trying, as if continuing the line of late Rome and anticipating what would come at the end of the Middle Ages, absolutism in Western Europe, it is trying to jump through these phases and create an absolutist system right now, in close union with the Christian Church.
In an alliance much stronger than between the Christian Church and secular rulers in the West. And yet, all these measures produced results. Moreover, he constantly proved that he was also a commander and annexed new lands. The riots are not over for good. It must be said that there were always reasons for the gloom that set in his nature, the severity, the harshness that he began to show. Three years before the end of his reign, in 1022 there was again a riot. The emperor was in the Caucasus, and his longtime ally, Nicephorus Xiphius, rebelled, joining forces with the son of Bardas Phocas. Foka handed over his rebel son. They, however, quarreled with each other, Xiphius killed Phocas, he himself was arrested, tonsured as a monk, and the eunuch who helped them was given to the lions. And the lions had a very good dinner that day. This is Vasily II.
He was not only cruel, but he became progressively more and more cruel. And we have come to the point at which he received his amazing and quite unique nickname. There are many nicknames for rulers. Traditionally, the Great, the Saint, there are funny ones - Fat, Stutterer, Birdcatcher. And someone like this – a Bulgarian fighter – is unique. He fought with the Bulgarians for 13 years. And this irritated him. But this was not a record. Charlemagne conquered the Saxons for more than 30 years, although he also showed cruelty. The scale is different. Hundreds of hostages were killed by Charlemagne on his orders, that was all. Here, after the battle, the battle took place at the foot of Mount Belasitsa, 1014. At this point, Tsar Samuil, the Bulgarian king who led the Bulgarians' attempts to maintain their independence, was absent. And his commanders, seeing how poorly the battle was going, how helpless they were in front of the stone-throwing machines of the Byzantines, that the army was simply being exterminated, ordered their troops to surrender. 15 thousand Bulgarian soldiers surrendered. And here Vasily the Second gave an amazing order, which was carried out. He ordered these 15 thousand prisoners to have their eyes gouged out. Every hundred has both eyes, and 101 has one. And just like that, led by one-eyed centurions, they returned to the king of the Bulgarians, Samuel.
A. VENEDIKTOV: That is, he blinded 15 thousand people.
N. BASOVSKAYA: This is incredible, fantastic. I remember the ideas of the ancient Greeks that it was somewhere here, between Bulgaria, Macedonia, in the north of the Balkan Peninsula, that there was an exit from Tartarus. And very often warriors came from there, some dark ideas, this is one of the brightest. He achieved victory, after 4 years, not instantly. This ferocious cruelty did not immediately serve its purpose.
A. VENEDIKTOV: It is very important to say that he did not hide it, he was proud of it, and the Bulgarian fighter was nicknamed the Byzantines, not the Bulgarians. This is an established fact.
N. BASOVSKAYA: He liked it.
A. VENEDIKTOV: There was another story, a little earlier. The fact is that the Egyptian caliph, there was also a war there, at that moment tried to destroy the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, this was in 1009. Destroy the Temple of the Lord and the Sepulcher. And he began to destroy it and destroyed most of it. And then the Christians of Jerusalem turned to the great Emperor Basil. And he refused to protect them from the Holy Sepulcher. He fought with the Bulgarians, Christians. They were not pagans, they were baptized. This was a Christian army.
N. BASOVSKAYA: And therefore he is not nicknamed a saint, like Louis the Ninth in France.
A. VENEDIKTOV: He simply refused to defend the Holy Sepulcher. Political calculation.
N. BASOVSKAYA: This is not ideology, these are not heretical thoughts, at that moment it was difficult and difficult for him. So, only after 4 years the Bulgarians finally surrendered completely. And for 170 years Bulgaria found itself under the rule of Byzantium. That is, he achieved his goal, but this was a ferocious, incredibly cruel trick, it did not change the course of events. He probably counted on this, or perhaps that he, with such an aura of open, accepted evil, would become terrible for all his enemies, external and internal. But he still could not know, but in 1022 there would be that same rebellion, and maybe he felt that he had to return from each military campaign not only as a winner, but as a formidable one for his enemies. In this sense, these traditions of the ruler’s formidability, making decisions about blinding, wheeling, here there could be mutual influence between Byzantium and Russia, in the sense of such traditions. It is very tempting to judge them from the standpoint of today's morality, but it is impossible.
A. VENEDIKTOV: This is not a position of morality, but a position of efficiency. With such actions he practically put an end to the dynasty. Less than 5-7 years after his death, the dynasty collapsed and the Arabs came, took Alep, and threw the Byzantines out of there. It was all built on sand; you cannot save or build a state on cruelty and blood alone.
N. BASOVSKAYA: On sand soaked in blood. And he thought it was good. And being afraid of these riots, just knowing his biography, you understand that he always dreamed of these conspiracies, severed heads, poisoned rulers, he always prevented, took very serious measures against the rise of large feudal rulers, with their squads, and laid the foundation that absolutism, in which mercenaries are the main support of the emperor. And how unreliable this support is, he should have understood, but he did not fully understand. The Russian-Varangians came up, showed themselves well, and, probably, there was an idea that it was good that the support of the throne would be just like that, but, of course, could he? Could not! To see through the centuries that when in Constantinople in the 15th century it is necessary to defend this city from the Turks, there will not be those same mercenary squads, there will not be those who will defend their homeland, in some sense, such a natural one, the point is, that from the 10th century, the century of Vasily the Second, Bulgarian fighters in France established the concept of France. In England - England, in the German lands, with all their disunity, the concept of Germany, this German country, is growing stronger. The same thing happens on the Iberian Peninsula, in the Scandinavian Peninsula, but here something is united by the political power of a single ruler, ruling there from God, by the will of the Divine, etc. Surrounded by a close crowd of courtiers, whom he feeds from the palm of his hand, and having a huge treasury, which can hire any army. In fact, this is a big mistake that he did not understand. How did he end his life? Yes, like all these successful rulers and successful conquerors.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Let us emphasize that it was successful from the point of view of photography. He expanded the borders, strengthened the personal power of the emperor, and created a huge treasury. This is true. It would seem that everything is correct! It laid down stability and, it would seem, restored it. Nothing like this!
N. BASOVSKAYA: He needs to endlessly prove that he is quite fit and capable of the next conquests. Therefore, he died during the preparation of the next conquest expedition to Sicily, against the Arabs who had captured this island, an eternal object of contention. The landing party was already boarding Byzantine ships when the emperor fell ill and died on December 15, 1025. His body did not receive peace. In 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, troops of the Latins, knights from the West, pillaged Constantinople for the sole purpose of booty. And they violated the body of Emperor Vasily II. Many graves were desecrated. And in 1261, the soldiers of Michael the Eighth Poleologos [Michael VIII Palaeologus (Greek: Μιχαήλ Η΄ Παλαιολόγος) (1224/1225 - December 11, 1282) - Byzantine emperor from 1261 (like the Nicene emperor - from 1259), founder of the Palaiologan dynasty.] when The Byzantine state was restored, the body of Vasily the Second was found, as it is believed, I hope that this is so, they believe that this is his body. Based on the attire it was possible. In a dilapidated temple, with bagpipes in his hands, and this is an outrage, and a whistle inserted into withered jaws. Abuse! Mockery! We probably cannot restore the exact thoughts that they had in their heads, but it was some kind of challenge, probably to the highest flowering, a challenge to the idea that the Byzantine emperor, under him, was superior to others and claimed to to be Western rulers.
A. VENEDIKTOV: And the Byzantine historian Michael Psellus summed up his personality in this way: “He always showed neglect towards his subjects. And to tell the truth, he asserted his power more through fear than through mercy. Having grown older and gained experience in all matters, he completely ceased to need wise people, he made all the decisions himself, he managed the army, civil affairs, he ruled not according to written laws, but according to the unwritten regulations of his unusually gifted soul.” This reminds us of something, right? According to the concepts!
N. BASOVSKAYA: This is really an attempt to establish a super strong central individual power. She is outwardly so seductive, but, as always, the consequences are very sad. After the death of Vasily II, the throne passed to his very brother Constantine, who was considered emperor from infancy. Konstantin was already 68 years old, but he was a slave to his own pleasures. The old man tirelessly caroused, feasted, gave away money and squandered what his brother, who conscientiously tried in this field, had acquired. Troubles began. For 66 years, 14 rulers were on the throne. And it continued, this turmoil, until 1081 and the accession of the Komnenos dynasty.
A. VENEDIKTOV: Therefore, we need to build institutions, and not strengthen our own power and our own treasury.
N. BASOVSKAYA: How right you are, Alexey Alekseevich!
A. VENEDIKTOV: And this is the “That’s So” program.

The accusations of Tzimisces regarding the involvement of Augusta Theophano in the murder of Nikephoros II were quite enough for the synclite, together with the patriarch, to decide to remove her from the regency and exile her to one of the remote monasteries. Having learned about her fate, the enraged empress in the Church of St. Sophia rushed at John and tried to scratch out his eyes, and when she was dragged away with difficulty, she began to scold him and Vasily Nof in a way that no other man could have done - the youth spent in the tavern had an effect.

Feofano remained in the monastery until the removal of Vasily Nof - only then did Emperor Vasily II dare to return to court a woman with such a gloomy reputation. The tsar settled his mother in the palace, but she, apparently, no longer had much influence on the course of real politics.

The image of Feofano served as a source of inspiration for many novelists. However, in fairness, it should be noted that her characterization as a poisoner and another Messalina is questionable, and much is attributed to Theophano.

Vasily II Bulgarokton (Bulgaro-Slayer) (958 - 1025, resp. from 960, imp. from 963, fact. from 976)

Vasily, the son of Roman II, for the ferocity shown in the wars with Bulgaria, nicknamed Bulgarokton or the Bulgarian Slayer, is the most significant emperor of the Macedonian dynasty. Not under any ruler after him did Byzantium achieve such power - neither economic, nor military, nor territorial.

Formally, Vasily and his younger brother Constantine VIII ascended the throne immediately after the death of their father, in which a group of synclitists led by Patriarch Polyeuctus played a significant role. For thirteen years, until the death of John Tzimiskes, Vasily II did not take any real part in governing the country. Even after 976, Vasily Nof continued to patronize the young sovereign (Constantine VIII, during the life of his elder brother, withdrew from state affairs). In 985, the emperor managed to get rid of a powerful eunuch relative by exiling him.

The reign of Vasily the Bolgaro-Boytsy is characterized not only by the successes achieved under him, but also by the colossal difficulties that the basileus had to overcome. The main danger to imperial power came from within. Two largest in the history of Byzantium in the 10th century. rebellion of the military-landowning nobility - the so-called. apostasies, which followed at intervals of several years, almost destroyed the country.

The first of them broke out almost immediately after the death of Tzimiskes. Vasily Nof, fearing the power of the famous Varda Skler, removed him from the post of Domestic of the Schools of the East and sent him, in fact, into honorable exile - strategist of Mesopotamia. In response, Sklir and another prominent commander of the empire, Mikhail Wurza, rebelled their troops in the summer of 976. The authority of both of them was very great, and a year later almost all of Asia Minor was outside the control of the Constantinople government. In addition, Bulgaria rebelled, and the Romans quickly lost most of the conquests of John Tzimiskes there. The imperial army, sent against the eastern rebels, was defeated in two battles by Skleros. After much deliberation, it was decided to return the disgraced Varda Phokas (son of the Kuropalat Leo) and entrust him with the salvation of the state.

At first he suffered a series of defeats, and Vardas Sklir had already taken Nicaea, Avidos and Attalia. But then fire ships from the capital burned Sklir's fleet in the Avydos bay, and on March 24, 978 Sklir lost the decisive battle to Phocas, was wounded in a duel with the latter and fled far abroad - to Baghdad.

Nine years later, Varda Sklir, by that time already a very old man, again appeared within the Roman Empire. The domestic Bardas Phocas set out to meet his troops, but in August 987 he suddenly proclaimed himself emperor, captured Sklerus by cunning and, uniting both troops, went to Antioch, which he captured by the end of the year.

The situation was critical - the majority of the Roman army fought against the sovereign! Vasily II was forced to turn for help to the “barbarian” - the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir Svyatoslavich. He agreed to allocate part of the squad, but set a counter condition - to marry Vasily and Konstantin’s sister, Anna, to him. The demand was unheard of - Roman princesses were not married to “despicable” foreigners! The exceptions were the granddaughter of Roman I Maria (see “Roman I”) and the niece of John Tzimiskes Theophano, who became the wife of Emperor Otto II, but neither of them was porphyritic, and most importantly, Vladimir was a pagan. However, there was no choice, since the wave of rebellion was rolling towards the capital with terrifying speed - and the emperor agreed. A 6,000-strong detachment of Russian-Varangian mercenaries arrived in Constantinople, and the government army reinforced by it in the winter of 988 defeated part of Phocas’ troops at Chrysopolis. The cunning Greeks at first were not going to fulfill their obligations under the agreement with Vladimir, and he, tired of waiting for the bride, as a warning, besieged and took Tauric Chersonese (Korsun). They were in a hurry in Constantinople, Anna Porphyrogenita was put on a ship and sent to the North. However, the prince also pledged to become a Christian. The marriage of Vladimir and Anna took place, after which Chersonesos was returned to the Romans, and the Grand Duke himself returned to Kyiv, where, according to legend, he baptized his subjects. However, the details of the baptism of Rus' are legendary, and the date (988 or 989) is still controversial.

The war against the rebels was led personally by the emperor. On April 13, 989, the last battle took place at Avidos, on the banks of the Dardanelles. The battle was stubborn, both sides suffered heavy losses. Varda Foka decided to make his way to the emperor and kill him in a duel, but suddenly turned back, got off his horse, lay down on the ground and died. Either the master had a stroke, or he received poison before the battle. Having learned about the death of the chief, the rebels stopped the battle and retreated. Varda Sklir was again at the head of the rebellion, but Vasily was able to convince him to stop wasting the power of the state in civil strife, and Sklir submitted, negotiating honorable terms of surrender for himself and his supporters.

The stormy vicissitudes of his reign changed and strengthened the character of the emperor, who was distinguished by some frivolity in his youth. Mikhail Psell, who was born a little over forty years after the accession of the Bulgarian Slayer and who still found many of his dignitaries alive, wrote about him: “To most of my contemporaries who saw Vasily, the tsar seemed to be a gloomy man, of a rude disposition, quick-tempered and stubborn, and in life modest and completely alien to luxury. But from the works of historians who wrote about him, I learned that at first he was not like that and from licentiousness and effeminacy moved to severity under the influence of external circumstances, which seemed to strengthen his character, made the weak strong, the soft strong, and changed his whole way of life. . If at first he indulged in carousing without embarrassment, often indulged in love pleasures... he considered rest as his destiny... then since the famous Sklerus began to aspire to royal power... Vasily set off with full sails away from the pampered life ..." Having single-handedly headed the state after 985 (the resignation of Vasily Nof), the emperor "...began to abstain from all licentiousness, abandoned jewelry, did not wear necklaces around his neck, a tiara on his head, or luxurious dresses trimmed in purple ..." (Psellus, )

The autocrat had a bright and impressive appearance: “Vasily on foot could still be compared with something, but sitting on a horse, he presented an incomparable spectacle; his chased figure towered in the saddle, like a statue sculpted by a skilled sculptor... in his old age, his cheeks were thickly overgrown with a beard, so that it seemed to be growing everywhere” (Psellus, ).

“He always showed disregard for his subjects and, in truth, asserted his power more through fear than mercy. Having become older and having gained experience in all matters, he completely ceased to need wise people, he made all the decisions himself, he managed the army, civil affairs, he ruled not according to written laws, but according to the unwritten regulations of his unusually gifted soul. That's why he doesn't
The treasury under this emperor accumulated colossal wealth, which even his unlucky successors did not immediately squander.

Vasily II, like his predecessors, directed his domestic policy towards strengthening the decrepit Byzantine absolutism and its basis - the feminine system. It was the Bulgarian Slayer who became the most furious oppressor of the Dinates in favor of the stratiots and small cataphract fiefdoms in the entire history of the Macedonian dynasty. This trend especially intensified after the defeat of Varda Sklir. To begin with, the emperor made allelage a duty for the rich dinats, forcing them to pay taxes for incapable peasants, and so that no one could evade, in the spring of 995 the authorities carried out a general census of the property of landowners. In 996, the novel abolished the forty-year statute of limitations, which was used as a cover for magnates who illegally owned land. Now each owner was obliged to confirm the right to own the plot either with documents or with the testimony of respected witnesses, otherwise the land would be taken away. First of all, the dinats, who once illegally profited from peasant plots, suffered from this measure.

The emperor generously paid officials and troops, built a lot in the cities of the empire and the capital. During the crop failure of 1023 - 1025. throughout Byzantium, taxes on agricultural products were abolished for two years, which, of course, reduced treasury income, but saved thousands of people from starvation.

Popular unrest during the reign of Basil II occurred mainly on the outskirts of the empire (in 992 - 93 - Laodicea, in 1009 - Bari, in 1016 the government fleet pacified the unrest in Tauride Chersonese) and in semi-independent possessions such as Iviria or Aleppo. The internal, Byzantine regions proper remained (after the rebellions of Phocas and Skleros were suppressed) calm.

The discontent of the nobility was openly expressed only at the very end of Bulgarokton’s reign, when in the summer of 1022, during the emperor’s absence to the Caucasus, his longtime comrade Nikephoros Xiphius and the son of Varda Phocas, also Nikephoros, outraged the subordinate troops. The leaders of the rebellion quarreled at the very beginning, Xiphius killed Phocas, but he himself was soon captured, arrested and tonsured as a monk. The court eunuch, who helped Xiphius, ended up as a dinner for the lions of the Constantinople menagerie.

The biggest troubles for the Romans were caused by the revolts in Bulgaria, which over time turned into a long and ruinous war for both sides. They began with the above-mentioned uprising in the territories conquered by John I. At the end of the 970s. Four brothers gained power over western Bulgaria (the Greeks called them komitopuli, “sons of komita,” after the title of their father Nikita). The most efficient among them was Samuel, in the early 980s. took control of Thessaly and South Macedonia. Roman Thrace became the target of Samuel's robberies. On August 17, 986, Vasily II himself, trying to curb his violent neighbors, was defeated and barely escaped the battlefield. In 991, the emperor organized a second campaign, won a victory and even captured Tsar Roman. But the latter was only considered the ruler - the real king of Bulgaria was Samuel. He did not lay down his arms: until 995, a strong Greek army under the command of Gregory Taronite barely held back the frantic attacks of Samuel, but in the summer of 996, the brave Taronite fell in battle near Thessalonica, Samuel broke through the border and reached the middle of the Peloponnese. On the way back, near the Sperkhey River, his army, burdened with gigantic booty, met with a detachment of the West Nicephorus Uranus sent in pursuit. The reluctance to part with the loot on time did the Bulgarians a disservice - the presence of a clumsy convoy in the army limited maneuverability, and Uranus inflicted a terrible defeat on them. Samuel barely managed to cross Sperchei and fled, leaving his dying army to the mercy of fate. Vest drove fifteen thousand prisoners to the capital. Soon, in 997, the empire returned Dyrrhachium.

Due to the transfer of all the Roman forces to Europe, the Egyptian Muslims recaptured Aleppo in 996, and the Byzantines could no longer return it.

After the death of Roman, Samuel easily took the crown for himself and de jure. The war continued, Vasily II vowed to crush the powerful enemy. In 1001, he made peace with the Fatimids, brought the king of the Ivirs, David, to the obedience and began almost annually to carry out military expeditions to Paristrion (beyond the Danube), striking his contemporaries with cruelty. Almost immediately Pliska, Preslava, and Vidin were taken and plundered. Samuel, wanting to distract the emperor, attacked Adrianople and even captured the city, but the Romans continued to move deeper into Bulgaria, leaving the desert behind them.

For thirteen years, with the growing superiority of the Byzantines, this war dragged on. In the summer of 1014, the troops of the Romans and Bulgarians met in Strimonia, near the “zaseks” - wooden fortresses in the Kampulunga gorge, at the foot of Mount Belasitsa. On July 29, the decisive battle took place. Skillfully maneuvering, Vasily II surrounded the Bulgarian army from the flanks, and Nicephorus Xiphius entered their rear, making a desperate rush through the gorges. The Bulgarians were unable to break through the ring of cataphracts clad in steel armor, and when the Roman stone throwers came into play, the battle turned into a beating. To stop the senseless destruction of hundreds of people, Samuel’s commanders (the king was not with the army) decided to lay down their arms. More than fifteen thousand people surrendered. The next day, the most Christian emperor of the Romans ordered every one hundred and first prisoner to gouge out one eye, the rest - both. The execution was completed, and fifteen thousand blind men, in chains of one hundred people each, led by one-eyed guides, stretched, gaping with bloody eye sockets, towards Samuel’s camp. They say that he could not stand such a spectacle and poisoned himself in October. For decades after the Battle of Belasitsa, in the cities and villages of Thrace, unfortunate blind people lived out their lives, a living reminder that it was unsafe to fight the Roman Empire.

After the death of Samuil, Bulgaria was engulfed in unrest, and Vasily II, with the persistence of a hammer, rained down powerful blows on the enemy. At the end of 1018, the formidable Bulgarian Slayer led his cataphracts, heavy infantry and artillery from Adrianople to the enemy capital - Ohrid. But it was not the army that came out to meet the Romans, but Queen Maria with the keys to the capital gates and the treasury. A year later, the military leader Constantine Diogenes captured Sirmium, the last center of Bulgarian resistance. For one hundred and seventy years, Bulgaria fell entirely under the scepter of the Byzantine monarchs.

Vasily fought not only with the Bulgarians. In 990 and 1001 Byzantium was in conflict with Iviria, in 1016 with the Khazars, and in 1021 - 1024. the emperor, already an old man, led his armies to Abkhazia and Armenia.

In Italy, the active king brought all the possessions of Constantinople under a single authority, creating a cathepanate with its center in Bari. In 1018, the Katepan destroyed the invading Normans at Cannes, three years later the Greeks besieged Garigliano, and only the intervention of Emperor Henry II did not allow them to develop their success.

At the end of 1025, Bulgarokton conceived a powerful expedition to Sicily occupied by Muslims. The landing party was already boarding the ships, the emperor was preparing to take direct command, but suddenly he unexpectedly fell ill and died a few days later, on December 15.

The Latins, who captured Constantinople in 1204, removed his corpse from the grave and violated him. The soldiers of Michael VIII Palaiologos (q.v.) in 1261 discovered the remains of the once formidable monarch lying in a dilapidated temple with bagpipes in his hands and a whistle inserted into his withered jaws.

According to the law of Roman Lekapin, after forty years of use by the landowner of the land, even if it was acquired illegally, all claims on it were terminated, and he became, “by statute of limitations,” its owner.

At the end of July 1014, the stocky and slovenly 56-year-old warrior Vasily II began to take cruel revenge on the Bulgarians, who had been rampant in his empire for more than two centuries.

The Bulgarians were descended from the warlike Turkic tribes of Central Asia, who appeared in the European steppes west of the Volga at the end of the 4th century. One of the tribes, or "horde", settled on the plain between the Danube and the Balkan Mountains, and by the 7th century. The newcomers became related through marriages both with the indigenous Vlachs and with the Slavs who had recently appeared there. In 811, Krum, Khan of Bulgaria (802-814), killed the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus I, and then besieged Constantinople. During the reign of Tsar Boris I (852-889), the Bulgarians converted to Christianity, which gave them a sense of deep cultural unity, but did not at all reduce their willingness to kill Greeks and ravage the Byzantine lands to the south.

Military campaigns of Vasily II in 1000-1004. had already returned to Byzantine control most of the Eastern Balkans from Thessaloniki to the Iron Gate on the Danube, the gorge separating Serbia from Romania. Now, in July 1014, he advanced to the Klidion chasm, which led into the valley of the Strumitsa River near the city of Serei, and found that the army of the Bulgarian king Samuil had occupied this pass and blocked the entrance by erecting a wooden palisade. A Byzantine force was sent up the wooded hillside to attack the Bulgarians from the rear, while the emperor himself led his troops directly into the stockade. The victory was complete. Vasily captured 15 thousand prisoners and divided them into hundreds. Then he ordered everyone to be blinded in both eyes, but to leave in each hundred a leader blinded in only one eye, after which he sent this “army” to King Samuel, who escaped death.

By the time they reached the royal castle in Prespa, October had arrived. At the sight of them, the king had a stroke, and two days later he died without regaining consciousness. After another three and a half years of war, Vasily triumphantly entered the Bulgarian capital Ohrid (now in Macedonia). All the Balkans again belonged to Byzantium. The emperor received oaths of allegiance from everywhere, and earned the nickname Bulgaroctonus - “Bulgar Slayer.”

Early years and reign of Nikephoros

Vasily received his first lessons in cruelty in his early years. His father Romanus II died in March 963, and his mother Theophano called upon the general Nikephoros Phocas to protect her and her two sons, Basil and Constantine. This ascetic Anatolian aristocrat, who in 961 conquered the island of Crete for the empire, defeating the Saracens who had captured it, was at that time camped with his army near Caesarea in Cappadocia and was already heading back to Constantinople after his victories over the Arab emir Seif ad- Daula in the Syrian campaign of 961-962. As proof of his piety and valor, he carried the tattered tunic of St. John the Baptist, captured in Aleppo. His army took the city in 944, after which they burned the emir's magnificent palace to the ground. This tunic was carried before Nikephoros upon entering Constantinople and during the solemn procession to the hippodrome, where his triumph was officially celebrated. After Nikephoros returned to Cappadocia, soldiers, according to ancient Roman custom, raised him on their shields and proclaimed him emperor. He was crowned on August 16 in the Hagia Sophia, where the patriarch placed the emperor's crown on the head of Nicephorus II Phocas.

The new emperor became regent under two young heirs to the throne, but the dynastic principle was violated, and the marriage of Nicephorus with Theophano further strengthened his position. In his role as emperor, however, he displeased powerful factions. The Church was outraged by the edict, which prohibited it from accepting donations of lands to add to its already extensive holdings. By giving lands to those who offered the highest price for them, Nikephoros put at a disadvantage those small owners who previously, by law, had the first right to purchase neighboring lands. Taxes increased greatly, and Nikephoros refused to pay an annual cash subsidy to the Bulgarians, whom he had been “feeding” since 927, considering Bulgaria a useful buffer state between Byzantium and Kievan Rus. This new force, which arose in the middle of the 9th century, quickly consolidated, and Nikephoros' decision to help the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav, who was fighting with the Bulgarians, with money, turned out to be disastrous. At the head of an army consisting of Russians, Hungarians and Pechenegs, Svyatoslav defeated the Bulgarians and in the fall of 969 began to threaten Byzantium on its border with Thrace.

John Tzimiskes and the assassination of the emperor

On the morning of December 11, 969, Nikephoros was found dead: he was killed at night by John Tzimiskes, another Anatolian commander and Theophano's new lover. John went to the throne room of the palace, put on the purple imperial buskins and, supported by Theophano, Basil and Constantine, was proclaimed the new emperor by the palace nobility. Feofano was sent into exile, and anti-church measures were canceled. Bardas Skleros, a relative of John, together with the former emperor's nephew Peter Phocas (a eunuch and therefore not a rival for the throne), led an army that defeated the invading Russian forces at the Battle of Arcadiopolis in the spring of 970. By 971 Svyatoslav admitted defeat and began to retreat through Bulgaria, where he was killed by disgruntled Pechenegs, former allies, who made a cup from his skull. John forced Tsar Boris to abdicate, and the Bulgarian crown was placed triumphantly on the altar of Hagia Sophia, symbolizing the country's loss of independence. In addition, he repulsed the Egyptian Fatimid caliphate, which in 971 attacked Antioch through the Sinai Peninsula. By 974, John's army had restored Byzantine control over Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

Vasily takes the throne

After the sudden death of John, Basil ascended the throne in 976. Vasily needed to strengthen dynastic power, and in 985 he expelled the court manager, a eunuch also named Vasily, from the palace, and confiscated his vast estates. Varda Sklir, who considered himself the true heir of John Tzimiskes and led the eastern armies, began a three-year civil war. At one time, Bardas Phocas, another nephew of Emperor Nicephorus, was sent into exile in Pontus on the Black Sea as punishment for the rebellion he raised against John Tzimiskes. Vasily convinced him to take an oath of allegiance and lead a military campaign, which ended with the flight of Sklerus to Baghdad. In 987, Sklerus nevertheless resumed his struggle for the imperial throne and entered into an alliance with Phocas. However, Phocas betrayed him and threw him into prison, after which he set off at the head of an army on a campaign through Asia Minor to attack Constantinople. Then the Bulgarian problem arose again. The recent war almost did not affect Western Bulgaria, and it was there that the new Bulgarian Tsar Samuel appeared, who led the popular uprising. In 986, the city of Larissa in Byzantine Thessaly fell to Samuel's army, and the Greeks were defeated.

Vasily turned to the Kyiv prince Vladimir for military assistance, and in December 988, 6 thousand Varangians arrived in Constantinople, who played an important role in the military successes of the Kyiv state. The emperor was forced to agree to Vladimir’s demand to give him his sister Anna as his wife if he accepted the Christian faith. The new Russian Church became part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and Orthodox culture gained new breath.

The Varangians of Vladimir crossed the Hellespont in February 989 and defeated the forces of Phocas at the Battle of Chrysopolis. Following this, Phocas died of a massive heart attack, and the freed Skleros, by this time almost blind, expressed his submission to Basil and advised him to impose taxes on the Anatolian nobility and cut down their land holdings in order to keep them in obedience. Basil announced an edict on January 1, 996, which returned to the previous owners all property acquired over sixty-one years, and no compensation was provided. In doing so, he destroyed the economic base of large landowners like Foca, strengthened the position of the small ones who formed the backbone of the imperial army, and returned the lands to the possession of the emperor.

In April 995, Basil's well-trained army crossed Anatolia in just sixteen days, covering a distance of a thousand kilometers. And 17 thousand soldiers appeared in front of the city walls of Aleppo, besieged by the Fatimids. Aleppo was saved, and with it Northern Syria, while a ten-year truce concluded with the Egyptian Caliphate made it possible to secure the eastern Syrian border of Basil's empire. In the west, the Bulgarians, led by Samuel, invaded the Byzantine province of Hellas, went to Corinth and occupied the port of Dyrrachium, and then moved through Dalmatia to Bosnia. Also in 1000, Basil defended his western front by turning the Dalmatian coast into a protectorate of Venice under Byzantine suzerainty.

In the same year, Prince David Kurapalat was killed in Georgia, which was very opportune, since the punishment of David for supporting Bardas Phokas implied the return of his lands to the empire after the death of the owner. Among these lands were extensive possessions north of Lake Van, the rights to which Byzantium had previously transferred to David and which were added to his own ancestral lands.

Territorial expansion of Byzantium

Byzantine rule over Bulgaria was not too burdensome, and taxes were low. The Bulgarian Empire became two parts of the Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria and Parisria, while in the west - Croatia, Dioclea, Serbia and Bosnia - ruled by local princes under the suzerainty of the empire. The archbishop of the Bulgarian church was appointed by Vasily, but otherwise the church retained its autonomy.

There were still enough military troubles. King George of Abkhazia annulled the agreement concluded by his father, and after the death of Bagrat in 1014, he occupied David's possessions by force. In 1021-1022 Vasily restored his power over Georgia, after which, as a result of a diplomatic agreement, he also extended it to the Armenian region of Vaspurakan and part of Azerbaijan. Immediately before his death, he was preparing for the invasion of Sicily, which was conquered for the empire by Belisarius in 535, but from the end of the 9th century. occupied by the Arabs.

Basil completely identified himself with Byzantium, and during his reign the empire expanded more than ever. However, he was not married and had no heir. Ahead was defeat in the battle with the Seljuk Turks at Manzikert (1071), after which Byzantium lost Anatolia. Taking advantage of the war between Byzantium and the Seljuks, the Bulgarians in 1185 raised a popular uprising, which ended with the birth of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. In the first half of the 13th century. it became the main force in the Balkans, after which it was conquered by the Tatar-Mongols, then the Serbs, and at the end of the 14th century. conquered by the same force that destroyed Byzantium itself - the Ottoman Empire.

As a result of a military rebellion, he achieved power, married Feofano, etc. became stepfather and guardian of V.B. and Konstantin. In 969, after the murder of Nikephoros Phocas and the coming to power of the emperor. John I Tzimisces, the position of the young emperors formally remained almost unchanged. The independent rule of V.B. began in 976, after the death of Tzimiskes, but for almost 10 years (until 985) the state. the affairs were in charge of parakimomen Vasily Nof, castrated in childhood, the illegitimate son of the emperor. Romana I Lecapina. Constantine VIII was formally considered co-ruler of V.B., but ceded all power to his brother and actually became emperor only after his death in 1025.

Civil wars

During the first 15 years, the V.B. government was forced to focus its main attention on combating military rebellions within the empire and uprisings on its outskirts. Already in the spring of 976, the strategist of Mesopotamia, Bardas Skleros, who, under Tzimisces (his relative), occupied the highest military post in the empire - the Domestic School of the East, rebelled. Enjoying great popularity among the troops and relying on his vast possessions in Anatolia, he soon brought most of Asia under his control and defeated government troops in a number of battles. Sklir managed to maintain power over the central regions of Asia for 2 years, but his attempts to create a threat to the K-field were unsuccessful. In 978, another influential commander Varda Foka, nephew of the emperor, was summoned to the capital from exile. Nikephoros II (in 970 he tried to rebel against John Tzimiskes, for which he was imprisoned in a monastery on the island of Lesbos). He was appointed Domestic of the School of the East, gathered forces loyal to the emperor around himself, and in March 979 defeated Skleros. The latter fled to the Muslims. possessions and sought support from the Baghdad Sultan Khosrow (Adud ad-Daula Buid, 977-983). An embassy was sent from K-field to Baghdad with an appeal not to provide assistance to the rebel; the sultan imprisoned both Skler and his companions, and the emperor. ambassador.

After V.B.’s major defeat from Samuel of Bulgaria (986), a rebellion in the East was raised by Vardas Phocas (Aug. 987), and Vardas Sklir, who returned from captivity, soon joined Krom. Phocas brought almost all of M. Asia under his control, took possession of part of the fleet and was preparing to capture the capital. However, V.B. entered into an agreement with the Kyiv prince. Vladimir Svyatoslavich and received military assistance from him. In the spring of 989, in the battles of Chrysopolis (a suburb of K-field on the Asian side of the Bosphorus) and Avidos (a port in the Dardanelles Strait) Russian. the squad defeated the army of Varda Phokas, and he himself died in the last battle. After this, V.B. managed to come to an agreement with Varda Sklir, who, in exchange for his loyalty, was forgiven and received the title of Kuropalat.

Baptism of Rus'

Bulgarian War

From the first years of V.B.'s reign, anti-Byzantineism developed. movement in the Balkans, led by the so-called. Komitopuls, sons of Komit Nikolai Shishman David, Aaron, Moses and Samuel - Bulgarian. a noble family that declared itself the heir to the kings of Bulgaria. The uprising began in the last years of the reign of the Emperor. John Tzimiskes, and after his death in 976, Peter, Boris and Roman, the sons of the late Bulgarian, were sent from K-pol to Bulgaria. Tsar Peter Perhaps V.B.’s government hoped to oppose the relatives of the legitimate king to the rebels, but this plan failed. In the first years of his reign, due to rebellions in the East, V.B. was unable to fight the comitopuli, and by the end. 70s X century almost the entire western part was already under their control. part of the Balkan Peninsula (modern Western Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Northern Greece), and here Western Europe was formed. Bulgarian state (980-1018) with capitals in Ohrid and Prespa. OK. 980, power was concentrated in his hands by the youngest of the Comitopuli, Samuel (crowned in 997). In the summer of 986, V.B. undertook the 1st campaign against the Bulgarians; his army unsuccessfully besieged Serdika (modern Sofia), and during the retreat it was defeated in the Ihtiman Gorge. After this, for several years V.B. was again busy with the civil war, and the Byzantines undertook a new major campaign only in 991-994. Subsequently, the war was fought with varying success, was accompanied by large casualties among the civilian population and caused great economic damage to the region. Both sides organized mass relocations: the Slavs settled in Greek. areas of the Balkans, the Greeks in Macedonia and Epirus, the Slavs were evicted to Anatolia, and their lands were distributed to immigrants from the Caucasus - Armenians and Georgians. Since 1001, when peace was concluded in the East, all the forces of V.B. were aimed at fighting the Bulgarians. For several years, the largest fortresses of Preslav, Vidin, Skopje, etc. were occupied. In July 1014, V.B. inflicted a decisive defeat on the Bulgarians in the battle of Mount Belasitsa (Rhodope). By order of the emperor, 14 thousand Bulgarian prisoners were blinded. warriors After the death of Tsar Samuel (October 1014), his heirs Gabriel Radomir and then John Vladislav were no longer able to provide V.B. with significant resistance. In Feb. 1018 last Western Bulgarian. Tsar John Vladislav died during the siege of Dyrrhachium, his widow Maria renounced her rights to the kingdom. the throne in favor of the emperor. The almost 40-year war ended with the triumphant entry of V.B. into Ohrid.

Foreign policy in other areas

With the involvement of the main forces of the empire in the fight against internal rebellions, and then in the conquest of Bulgaria, Italy, West. Europe, Bl. The East and the Caucasus were considered by the K-Polish government as secondary areas of activity. In all these regions at the turn of the X-XI centuries. The Byzantines limited themselves mainly to the defense of their possessions.

The main principles of V.B.'s policy in Italy at that time were the defense of the south. parts of the peninsula (Apulia and Calabria, centered in Bari) from Arab attacks, expanding influence among the local nobility. Despite regular trips to Italy by the Germans. emperors from the Ottonian dynasty, the influence of the Germans here was not yet perceived as a direct threat to Byzantium. Relations between the two empires were more of an allied nature, which was confirmed by the regular exchange of embassies; imp. Otto III (983-1002) was the son of a representative of the Byzantine ruling house, Theophano, and his marriage to the Byzantine Empire was being prepared. princess, which did not take place due to the death of the emperor. In addition, the Byzantines relied on an alliance with the large maritime trading cities of Venice and Pisa, on the support of part of the patrimonial aristocracy of Rome; in the beginning. XI century the alliance with the Lombard princes of Capua and Benevento was strengthened. Byzantine. the fortresses were subject to regular raids by Muslims. Emir of Sicily Abul-Qasim. The fortresses of Gerace and Cosenza passed from hand to hand; in 988 and 1003-1004. The Arabs besieged Bari. In the last years of V.B.'s reign, the Byzantines switched to more active actions against the Arabs. In 1025, the expedition of the katepan Vasily Bojoyan landed in Sicily and began the siege of Messina, but was soon returned due to the death of V.B.

During the reign of V.B., the Byzantines abandoned their previous course of conquest in Bl. East. In 980, Emir Saad ad-Daula suddenly captured Aleppo (Aleppo) - one of the most important cities on the outskirts of Antioch. As a result of the siege of Aleppo, undertaken the following year by Varda Foka, Saad recognized vassal dependence on Byzantium, and subsequently for some time an alliance with the emirs of Aleppo was in effect. The city was finally lost in 1016. Some intensification of V.B.’s actions in the east occurred in the last years of the 10th century. In 995 V.B. undertook a campaign in Syria; forced Egypt. Fatimid troops abandon the siege of Aleppo. In 999, V.B. again moved to Syria and devastated it. and central regions, reached Damascus and launched a demonstrative siege of Tripoli. Nevertheless, these events did not lead to k.-l. changes in the general situation in the region. In 1001, a truce was concluded between the empire and the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim, which lasted until 1016.

Since the last years of the 10th century. the empire intensified its attack on the states of Transcaucasia. During the civil period During the wars, the government of V.B. enjoyed the support of the ruler of Tao-Klarjeti (province of Eastern Georgia) David, who received Byzantium. title of Kuropalat. However, during the rebellion of Bardas Phokas, David supported him, as a result of which he lost the trust of K-field. After David's death in 1000, V.B. put forward claims to inherit his possessions. In 1000-1001 he moved troops to Transcaucasia and captured the region. Tao. The local kings of Abkhazia, Kartli and Ani, as well as the Kurdish emir Marwan, recognized themselves as vassals of Byzantium and received high court titles. The 2nd campaign in Transcaucasia was organized in 1021-1022. By this time, a united Georgian kingdom had been formed here from the regions of Abkhazia, Klarjeti, Kartli and Kakheti under the control of King George I. It was defeated and recognized itself as a vassal of the empire; the king of Vaspurakan, Hovhannes Senakerib, transferred his possessions to the empire in exchange for estates in Cappadocia; The king of Ani, Hovhannes Smbat (John Simvatius), concluded an agreement on the transfer of possessions to the empire after his death. Thus, V.B.’s activities in Transcaucasia made this region an object of Byzantine expansion, which continued later, in the 11th century.

Domestic policy

In the first 10 years of his reign, V.B.’s power was actually limited by the position of the influential Parakimomen Vasily Nof, who was the uncle of V.B.’s father, imp. Roman II and acted as the head of the ruling clan of the Macedonian dynasty and the Lecapini. However, in 985 V.B. managed to remove his relative. From that time on, V.B., throughout his reign, sought to gradually strengthen the regime of personal power. According to the testimony of historians Michael Psellus and Yahya of Antioch, he delved into all matters in the state and tried to keep everything under control. First of all, this concerned several. the families of the most powerful military feudal lords (dinates), who owned vast lands mainly in Anatolia and already had personal armies of their vassals (Phoki, Sklira, Maleina, Wurtsy, Uranus, etc.). In the 70-80s. X century anti-government movements of these families resulted in long civil wars. After the reconciliation, V.B. tried in every possible way to weaken these clans and prevent the expansion of their possessions and resources. In 996, he published a novella that abolished the statute of limitations for the return of illegally acquired lands. All land holdings of the Dinats that appeared after 927 were declared illegal. It is difficult to assess the extent to which this law was implemented, but it is likely that land confiscations that took place contributed to the decline of the clans. Most of the powerful families find themselves in secondary roles already in the next century. V.B. managed to stop the growth of feudal land ownership for several years. decades, and in the last years of his reign the emperor had unlimited capabilities in all areas of government. The resources of the possible military opposition were not comparable to those of the state. machine V.B., which is confirmed by the history of the failed rebellion of the strategists Nikephoros Xiphia and Nikephoros Phocas in 1022.

Church politics

at the turn of the X-XI centuries. was largely aimed at developing and consolidating successes in the Baptism of Glory. peoples, as well as for the support of Byzantium. rule in conquered Bulgaria. After the conquest, everything was the lands (most of the interior regions of the Balkans) were included in the autocephalous Ohrid archdiocese, the primates of which were appointed directly by the emperor, i.e., they were actually removed from the jurisdiction of the K-Polish Patriarch. Under V.B., the archbishop was a Bulgarian, but then the empire followed the path of Greekization of the Bulgarians. church hierarchy. A symbiosis of Greeks has been established. and Russian clergy in Kievan Rus: most of the highest hierarchs appointed in the K-field were Greeks, but at the same time the clergy gradually became Russified.

The board of V.B. accounts for the so-called. uncertain decades in the relationship between the Polish and Roman Churches. In an effort to counteract the influence in Rome of the Roman-German Ottonian Empire, Byzantium fought to establish its proteges on the Papal throne - with the support of a significant part of the Italians. nobles, especially the powerful Crescentii clan. During the reign of V.B., this was the antipope John XVI (John Philagat of Rossano in Southern Italy; 997-998). There is very little reliable information about direct contacts between the K-field and Rome during that period. It is possible that the K-Polish Patriarch Sisinius II (996-998) again published the encyclical of Patriarch Photius, as evidenced by the Moscow list of his “District Epistle” demanding the abolition of the Filioque, but nothing is known about the reasons for this or about the reaction of Rome. It is also possible that Patriarch Sergius II (1001-1019) demanded from Rome the unification of the Creed. At the same time, according to the testimony of Patriarch Peter III of Antioch, at least in 1009, in Polish churches the name of the pope was commemorated during the liturgy (PG. 120. Col. 800). The chronicle of Radulf Glabra (mid-11th century) contains information that in 1024, at the request of V.B., Patriarch Eustathius sent a message to the pope with a proposal to recognize the primacy of the Roman throne over the entire Church in exchange for the approval of the right of the K-Polish Patriarchate to have the title “Ecumenical” and its primacy over the Churches of the East. Nothing is known about the pope's response either.

Source: Leo Diaconus. Historia; Michel Psellos. Chronographie/Ed. E. Renauld. P., 1926 (Russian translation: Mikhail Psell. Chronography / Translated by Ya. Lyubarsky. M., 1978); Chronicle of the priest Duklyanin / Ed. F. Shishe. Beograd; Zagreb, 1928; Nic é tas St é thatos. Vie de Syméon le Nouveau Théologien / Ed. I. Hausherr. R., 1928. (OrChr.; 12); Yahya ibn Sa"id al-Antaki. Histoire / Ed. I. Kratchkovsky, A. Vasiliev // PO. 1932. T. 23. Fasc. 3; Rosen V. R. Emperor Basil the Bulgarian Slayer: Extracted from the chronicle of Yahya of Antioch. SPb., 1883; PVL; Aristakes Lastiverzi. Narration / Transl. K. N. Yuzbashyan. M., 1968; Ioannis Skylitzae. Synopsis historiarum/Rec. I. Thurn. B.; N.Y., 1973; Leo, metropolitan of Synada. The Correspondence/Ed. M. P. Vinson. Wash., 1985; Kekawman. Tips and stories / Prepared by. text by G. Litavrin. St. Petersburg, 20032.

Lit.: Darrouz è s J. Épistoliers byzantines du Xe siècle. P., 1960; Abragi M. The Сelibacy of Basil II // Byzant. Studies. 1975. Vol. 2. P. 41-45; Poppe A. The Political Background to the Baptism of the Rus // DOP. 1976. Vol. 30. P. 196-244; Felix W. Byzanz und die islamische Welt im früheren 11. Jh. W., 1981; Beck. Geschichte. S. 126-128, 132 ff.; Cutler A. The Psalter of Basil II // Imagery and Ideology in Byzantine Art. Aldershot, 1992; Crostini B. The Emperor Basil II "s Cultural Life // Byz. 1994. Vol. 64. P. 53-80; Uspensky. History. T. 2. P. 397-453; Kazhdan A. P., Litavrin G. G. Essays on the history of Byzantium and the South Slavs. St. Petersburg, 1998; Obolensky D. Byzantine Commonwealth of Nations. M., 1998; Christianity in the countries of the East, South-East. and Center. Europe on the threshold of the 2nd millennium / Ed. B. N. Flory. M., 2002.

I. N. Popov

VASILY II THE BULGARIAN Slayer
960 (actual from 976) - 1025

"Cheap victories are worthless. T
Only those victories that deserve anything are those that are the result of hard struggle."
G. Beecher

Vasily was born in 958 and at the age of two was proclaimed emperor. But he began to rule only in 976, after the death of John Tzimiskes. And it should be noted that under none of the rulers who occupied the Byzantine throne after him, the empire never again achieved the power and prosperity to which Vasily II led the country.

His co-ruler was his younger brother Konstantin, who was not actually involved in government affairs until the death of the Bulgarian Slayer. And the basileus had to entrust most of the issues to Vasily Nof, who had real power, for the first decade of his independent rule. Vasily decided to free himself from his powerful relative, depriving him of power and exiling him, only when he was sure that he had gained sufficient experience in political, economic and military affairs.

The reign of the Bulgarian Slayer (or Bulgarokton), despite the stunning successes, cannot be called easy: it was filled with both grueling, numerous wars and internal unrest and rebellions.
Vasily had not yet had time to get used to the idea that he was already a full-fledged ruler when Vartan Sklir raised an uprising. The reason for his rebellion lies in a secret and overt confrontation with Vasily Nofa.
The latter, who had a royal origin (the illegitimate son of Roman Lekapen), but being a eunuch, which deprived him of the right to the imperial throne, feared the glory and power of Skler, who was related to the emperor (Vasily in his first marriage was married to Vardan’s sister), who, having popularity and finances, could continue the series of guardian emperors. Basil removed Skler from the post of Domestic of the Schools of the East, sending him as a strategist to Mesopotamia. This, in fact, meant exile. But Nof’s mistake was also in the fact that he exiled Vardan to a province located next to Armenia, where Sklerus had great family connections and influence.

In the summer of 976, Vardan and Mikhail Wurtz, who joined him, opposed the emperor with their troops. Their authority was so great that a year later all of Asia Minor was under their control. Well-armed warriors and their commanders from the eastern themes grouped around two generals.

At the same time, the rebellious Bulgarians deprived Byzantium of almost all the conquests of Tzimiskes.
The emperor did not know what to do and had almost no hope for a successful ending to his reign. Especially after the rebels, led by Vardan, twice managed to defeat the troops sent by Vasily.
Feeling that he could no longer hesitate, the Bulgarian Slayer decided to send the disgraced nephew of Nicephorus II Vardan Phocas against Skler.
After several defeats, on March 24, 978, Foka managed to defeat the rebel army. The wounded Sklir managed to escape to Baghdad.

Phocas was received with honor by the emperor and at first received considerable honors. But gradually they began to move him away from the court again, and Vardan felt a new approach of disgrace. Therefore, when the restless Vardes Sklera appeared on the territory of Byzantium, Phocas, aimed at pacifying him, taking the old rebel prisoner, united both armies and in August 987 proclaimed himself emperor.

Most of the Byzantine army was under the command of Phocas, and Vasily was forced to turn to the Kiev prince Vladimir for help. Vladimir Svyatoslavovich agreed to help the emperor, but in return demanded that Vasily’s sister Anna be married to him. Although against his wishes, the Bulgarian Slayer still agreed.

The emperor's army, reinforced by the Russian army, inflicted several defeats on Phocas, and in April 988, in the decisive battle near the city of Avidos, it completely defeated the rebel troops. The battle was stubborn, and it remains to be seen how it would have ended if not for the sudden death of Vardas Phokas, the real reason for which was never revealed.
installed. Seeing the basileus on the battlefield, Foka rushed towards him, trying to engage in single combat. But, suddenly feeling bad, he got off his horse, lay down on the ground and died. There were rumors that he was poisoned by a cupbearer bribed by the emperor.
Having learned about the death of the leader, the troops retreated. The rebels were again led by Ward Sklira. But Vasily managed to convince him to stop the civil strife, promising various benefits to him and his supporters.

All these internal troubles turned the pampered, frivolous and prone to debauchery young man into a gloomy, rude, hot-tempered, suspicious and cruel person.

Having abandoned pleasures and an idle life, Bulgarokton made his main task the strengthening of the empire, its thematic structure. Strictly monitoring all expenses, clearly organizing the collection of taxes, and conducting a general inventory of property, he was able to quickly replenish the treasury. Basil shifted part of the burden of taxes from the stratiots to the ikhdinats, and when the country was struck by a bad harvest, he abolished all taxes existing on the sale of products.

Throughout the country, during the reign of Vasily II, construction was carried out, fortresses and houses, palaces and temples were erected.
The emperor generously paid the work of officials and soldiers, which allowed him to reduce bribery and strengthen the army.
As for military operations, Vasily waged a stubborn struggle against Bulgaria for 20 years, making campaigns across the Danube almost every year.
In these campaigns, the brave commander Grigor Tarontsi (Grigory Taronit) became famous, who fell in one of the countless battles. His son Ashot, captured by the Bulgarians, married Samuel's daughter.
Throughout all the wars, Byzantium's advantage continued to grow from year to year. All attempts by the formidable Tsar of Bulgaria Samuel to defeat Vasily were unsuccessful, and his troops suffered crushing defeats.
July 29, 1014 One of the decisive battles took place, in which the Bulgarians were completely defeated. And the Bulgarian Slayer ordered all the prisoners (over 15,000 people) to be blinded either completely or in one eye, sending a chain of unfortunate blind people to Samuel. Unable to bear the sight he saw, Samuel poisoned himself in October of the same year.

Year after year, like a hammer, Vasily continued to hammer Bulgaria (for which he received the nickname Bulgarokton), completely
and conquering her. And for another 170 years this country remained under the rule of the Byzantine emperors.

In the East, in 996, the Arabs managed to capture Aleppo, which Byzantium lost forever.
During the years of his reign, Vasily had to conduct military operations not only against the Bulgarians and Arabs, but also lead troops against Armenia, Abkhazia, Iberia, conflict with the Khazars, and strengthen the power of Byzantium over Italy in battles. Only the death of the emperor prevented the prepared campaign against Sicily.

Vasily II the Bulgarian Slayer, one of the most talented and significant emperors of the Macedonian dynasty, died on December 15, 1025.
Armenians on the Byzantine throne. R.V. Ter-Ghazaryan