Byzantine Military: September 2016

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Sophia Palaiologina, The Last Byzantine Princess

Maria Andreeva as Sophia Palaiologina in
the Russian TV series "Sophia" (2016)

The Grand Duchess of Moscow

Zoe (Sophia) Palaiologina, Grand Duchess of Moscow, was a niece of the last

Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI and second wife of Ivan III of Moscow.

The fall of Constantinople in 1453 was not the total collapse of the Eastern Roman Empire. In southern Greece the Byzantine Despotate of the Morea continued on until 1460.

The title despotes should not be confused with the term of despotism. A Despot was a senior Byzantine court title. From the mid-fourteenth century on the title was given to Imperial princes to act as the local ruler of semi-autonomous provinces of the Empire.

So in 1453 we see the surviving members of the Palaiologos dynasty (Demetrios and Thomas) ruling over the Despotate of Morea. These were two brothers of the last Emperor Constantine XI.

Thomas Palaiologos
Despot of Morea

The brothers not only failed to send any troops to defend Constantinople, but their incompetence sparked a massive revolt by 30,000 Albanians and Greeks against their rule.

The situation was so bad the brothers invited the Muslim Turks in to kill their own people in order to retain power.

Morea became a vassalage of the Ottoman Empire. After falling behind in tribute, Sultan Mehmed II invaded in May, 1460. The Turks quickly breached the Hexamilion wall and put an end to this last shred of the Roman Empire.

Demetrios became a prisoner of the Ottomans. Thomas, his wife Catherine and children Zoe (Sophia), Andreas, Manuel and Helena a fled to Corfu and then Thomas went to Rome.

Thomas was already recognized as the legitimate heir to the throne by the Pope. Leaving his children behind in Corfu, in 1461 Thomas made a ceremonial entrance into Rome and the Byzantine Emperor.

Zoe and her brothers remained in Corfu until recalled to Rome by their dying father in 1465.

The Despotate of Morea in southern Greece was the last holdout
against the Turks when Constantinople fell in 1453.

Zoe (Sophia) Palaiologina

As the granddaughter of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, Zoe now became something of a political pawn of the Pope and the Catholic Church.

Zoe was born in 1440 or 49. So she could have been as young as 16 years old in 1465 when she came to Rome to see her father.

Upon her father's death Zoe and her brothers were adopted by the Pope Paul II. Her Greek name was changed to Sophia. Born to the Orthodox Church it is possible she was raised as a Catholic while living at the Court in Rome.

Care of the Imperial children was assigned to Cardinal Basilios Bessarion, the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. Letters show the Pope closely followed the care and education of the children.

Using the Byzantine eagle.
Reverse of Ivan III's seal from 1472,
after his marriage with Sophia Paleologue

Sophia and her brothers received 3,600 crowns a year, or about 200 crowns a month, to pay for clothes, horses and servants. An addition 100 crowns was provided to maintain a modest household staffed by a doctor, a Latin teacher and a Greek teacher.

In 1466 the Venetian Republic invited King James II of Cyprus but he refused. Around 1467 Pope Paul II offered Sophia's hand to a Price Caracciolo. They were betrothed but the marriage never took place.

In 1467 the wife died of Grand Prince Ivan III of Moscow. Pope Paul II viewed this as yet another opportunity to abolish the Orthodox Church and expand the influence of Rome.

Pope Paul proposed the marriage with Sophia in 1469. The Pope wanted to expand his power, but Ivan was no doubt looking at connecting to the status and rights of Byzantine royalty. The marriage negotiations went on for three years.

A marriage by proxy was held in Rome on June 1st, 1472. Queen Catherine of Bosnia was one of many who attended. As a dowry Sophia brought 6,000 ducats. There is no record where that money came from. Possibly from the Pope.

The entourage with Cardinal Bessarion, traveled north through Italy to Germany where she took a ship to Russia. She landed in Tallinn (in modern Estonia). At Pskov she was officially celebrated. It was noted that Sophia personally thanked the public for the celebration. On November 12, 1472 Sophia arrived in Moscow.

Ivan III
Grand Prince of Moscow

The Pope's plans fail. Once Sophia reached the safety of Russia she abandoned the Catholic Church and returned to her Orthodox faith. The Papal Legate carrying the Latin cross was not even allowed into Moscow.

The formal wedding between Ivan and Sophia took place on November 12.

Ivan had special palaces and gardens built for Sophia. It appears Sophia was not required to be isolated with other women as was common in Russia at the time. She even greeted representatives from Europe as Queens in western Europe did.

In 1472 Sophia was effected by the formal tributary gesture Ivan made to Mongolian representatives. It is believed she urged Ivan to break with the Mongols in 1480.

Russian nights being very cold saw Grand Princess Sophia give birth to eleven children, five sons and six daughters. Among her children was the future Grand Prince of Moscow Vasili III.

With Sophia at his side Ivan developed a complicated court ceremony patterned on the Byzantine model. Ivan also began using the title "Tsar and Autocrat." Both Ivan and his son Vasili started to use the term "Third Rome" when speaking of the Russian nation.

Sophia passed away April 7, 1503 and was buried in massive stone sarcophagus in the Ascension Convent in the Kremlin. Ivan passed two years later.

Ivan III. Note the Byzantine eagle on the shield.
With his marriage to Sophia Ivan began using the title
Tsar and calling Moscow the Third Rome.

Ivan III and Sophia Palaiologina at court.

Destruction of Sophia Palaiologina's grave by the Communists in 1929.

(Thomas Palaiologos) (Ivan III) (Sophia Palaiologina) (Ascension Convent)

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Justinian The Great and Theodora

Emperor 527 to 565. Justinian was the last Roman Emperor to speak Latin as a first language. Justinian's reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized renovatio imperii, or "restoration of the Empire". His general Belisarius conquered the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa, extending Roman control to the Atlantic Ocean. Subsequently Belisarius, Narses, and other generals conquered the Ostrogothic Kingdom, restoring Dalmatia, Sicily, Italy, and Rome to the Empire after more than half a century of barbarian control. The prefect Liberius reclaimed most of southern Iberia, establishing the province of Spania. Under his rule there was a uniform rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis, which is still the basis of civil law in many modern states. His reign also marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded such masterpieces as the church of Hagia Sophia.

Maurice

Emperor from 582 to 602. A prominent general in his youth, Maurice fought with success against the Sassanid Persians. Once he became Emperor, he brought the war with Persia to a victorious conclusion: the Empire's eastern border in the Caucasus was vastly expanded and for the first time in nearly two centuries the Romans were no longer obliged to pay the Persians thousands of pounds of gold annually for peace. Maurice campaigned extensively in the Balkans against the Avars – pushing them back across the Danube by 599. He also conducted campaigns across the Danube, the first Emperor to do so in over two hundred years. In the West, he established two large semi-autonomous provinces called exarchates, ruled by exarchs, or viceroys, of the Emperor. Maurice established the Exarchate of Ravenna, Italy in 584, the first real effort by the Empire to halt the advance of the Lombards. With the creation of the Exarchate of Africa in 590, he further solidified the empire's hold on the western Mediterranean.

Heraclius

Emperor 610 to 641. Heraclius' reign was marked by several military campaigns. The year Heraclius came to power the Empire was threatened on multiple frontiers. Heraclius immediately took charge of the ongoing war against the Sassanid Persians. The first battles of the campaign ended in defeat for the Byzantines; the Persian army fought their way to the Bosphorus. However, because Constantinople was protected by impenetrable walls and a strong navy, Heraclius was able to avoid total defeat. Heraclius drove the Persians out of Asia Minor and pushed deep into their territory, defeating them decisively in 627 at the Battle of Nineveh. Soon after his victory he faced a new threat of the Muslim invasions. In 634 the Muslims invaded Roman Syria, defeating Heraclius' brother Theodore. Within a short period of time the Arabs would also conquer Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Egypt.

Irene of Athens

Irene of Athens Byzantine Empress Regnant from 797 to 802. Prior to becoming Empress regnant, Irene was empress consort from 775 to 780, and empress dowager and regent from 780 to 797. It is often claimed she called herself basileus 'emperor'. In fact, she normally referred to herself as basilissa, 'empress', although there are three instances of the title basileus being used by her. Irene was born to the noble Greek Sarantapechos family of Athens. She married Leo IV in 769. Upon Leo's death she became regent for the future Constantine VI. Irene was almost immediately confronted with a conspiracy against her close to home and in Sicily. Irene withstood an invasion by a large Arab army. She subdued the Slavs of the Balkans and laid the foundations of Byzantine expansion and re-Hellenization in the area. Irene's most notable act was the restoration of the Orthodox veneration of icons (images of Christ or the saints). Pope Leo III, who needed help against enemies in Rome and who saw the throne of the Byzantine Emperor as vacant (lacking a male occupant), crowned Charlemagne as Roman Emperor in 800.

Nikephoros II Phokas

Emperor from 963 to 969. His brilliant military exploits resulted in the conquest of Cilicia and the re-conquest of the island of Cyprus from the Muslims. He conducted raids into Upper Mesopotamia and Syria. In the West he lost Sicily completely to the Muslims and faced Magyar raids deep into the Balkans. He was assassinated in his apartment on December 11, 969. On the night of the assassination the Empress Theophano suspiciously left the Imperial bedchamber, leaving the doors unbolted. General John Tzimiskes entered, killed the Emperor, and then declared himself Emperor. It was thought the General and the Empress had been lovers.

Basil II - The Bulgar Slayer

Emperor 976 to 1025. Basil oversaw the stabilization and expansion of the Byzantine Empire's eastern frontier, and above all, the final and complete subjugation of Bulgaria, the Empire's foremost European foe, after a prolonged struggle. For this he was nicknamed by later authors as "the Bulgar-slayer" by which he is popularly known. At his death, the Empire stretched from Southern Italy to the Caucasus and from the Danube to the borders of Palestine, its greatest territorial extent since the Muslim conquests four centuries earlier.

John II Komnenos and Irene of Hungary

Emperor from 1118 to 1143. The greatest of the Komnenian emperors. In the course of his twenty-five year reign, John made alliances with the Holy Roman Empire in the west, decisively defeated the Pechenegs in the Balkans, and personally led numerous campaigns against the Turks in Asia Minor. John's campaigns fundamentally changed the balance of power in the east, forcing the Turks onto the defensive and restoring to the Byzantines many towns, fortresses and cities right across the peninsula. In the southeast, John extended Byzantine control from the Maeander in the west all the way to Cilicia and Tarsus in the east. In an effort to demonstrate the Byzantine emperor's role as the leader of the Christian world, John marched into Muslim Syria at the head of the combined forces of Byzantium and the Crusader states.

Constantine XI Palaiologos

The Last Emperor of the Romans 1449 to 1453. Constantine faced the siege of Constantinople defending his city of 60,000 people with an army only numbering 7,000 men against an Ottoman army of over 80,000. He personally led the defense of the city and took an active part in the fighting alongside his troops in the land walls. At the same time, he used his diplomatic skills to maintain the necessary unity between the Genovese, Venetian and the Greek troops. When the city fell to the Turks he tore off his imperial ornaments so there would be nothing to distinguish him from any other soldier and led his remaining soldiers into a last charge where he was killed.