In the last post I told of how the empress Irene overturned iconoclasm only
to be consumed by her lust for power. Following Irene’s deposition and exile in
802 the reins of power in Constantinople had been taken up by a one-time
treasury official named Nicephorus. Having been driven to take action by the
empress’ fiscal abuses, the new emperor swiftly found himself having to put
aside his ledger and take up his sword in defence of the empire against a
potent new threat.
 |
| Krum is brought the skull of Nicephorus |
The rise of the Bulgars under their charismatic and warlike leader Krum
would prove to be the greatest challenge for the house of Nicephorus and would
ultimately bring about its downfall. Krum had succeeded in uniting his people as never before, bending petty warlords
to his will in order to assemble an unprecedented level of military might. Nicephorus
had faced the challenge head on, but his pre-emptive strike against the Bulgars
had ended in the slaughter of his army and the sack of the imperial city of
Serdica. Nicephorus soon struck back, leading his armies in person against the
Bulgar capital Pliska and razing it to the ground. Two years later in 811 he
returned with a greater army still and repeated the exercise, pursuing Krum’s
forces into the mountains. As he encamped in the pass of Verbitza however, the
emperor found his army entrapped and encircled by the Bulgars who then fell
upon them with great slaughter. Nicephorus was killed in the fighting and Krum
later had the emperor’s skull fashioned into a drinking cup in celebration of
his victory. His son and successor Stauracius lingered on for six months,
paralysed by his wounds until he too succumbed. The empire then passed to
Nicephorus’ son in law Michael who proved an incapable ruler. Having failed to
inspire his troops to follow him against Krum, Michael returned to Constantinople
following a mutiny. He nevertheless rejected peace terms from the Bulgar Khan, but
then vacillated as Krum laid siege to and captured the city of Messembria on
the Black Sea.
It seemed
that the military fortunes of the empire were at an all-time low. The
depredations of Harun al Rashid had been ended only by that great Caliph’s
death and now a barbarian chieftain was rampaging across imperial territory with impunity, swigging his wine
from a dead emperor’s skull. It was to their sins that the people of the empire
must look for the reason for their misfortune and many concluded that it was
the resumption of the veneration of icons that had so displeased the almighty
and caused him to turn his face from the Romans. During a service in the Church
of the Holy Apostles a mob surrounded the tomb of Constantine V; loudly
imploring the iconoclast emperor to rise from his tomb and lead them in battle
against the Bulgars.
In the
absence of the risen Constantine, Michael would have to do and the emperor duly
led his armies out once more to meet the Bulgars on the plain of Versinicia in
the summer of 813. At first the battle seemed to be going well but then the
entire Byzantine right wing, which consisted of the iconoclastically minded
Anatolian troops, turned tail and fled the field, leaving the emperor with
little choice but to follow them. This left the Byzantine left wing, who had
been making good progress, to be slaughtered by the Bulgars. In the aftermath
Michael, convinced that he had lost the backing of both God and his people, was
persuaded to abdicate and was succeeded on the throne by Leo, the commander of
the treacherous right wing.
Having
escaped a Byzantine assassination attempt, Krum embarked on a campaign of
devastation right up to the walls of Constantinople but with no hope of
breaching them he was forced to return home and within a year he was dead.
What
further proof could be needed of the support of the Almighty for the regime of
Leo than this change in imperial fortunes? Iconoclasm was firmly back on the
agenda and Leo, finding that the Patriarch refused to cooperate with his plans,
had him arrested. Leo then summoned a synod dominated by iconoclastically
minded bishops who deposed the Patriarch and condemned the findings of the
Second Council of Nicaea. Those who sought to oppose the motion were beaten up
and spat upon. The emperor let it be known that any holy image could be
destroyed with impunity, sparking another orgy of destruction as more precious
artwork was reduced to firewood. Irene was no doubt turning in her grave.
Thomas the Slav is brought before Michael II
Leo
himself fell victim to a coup on Christmas day 820; cut down in the palace
chapel in the midst of the service whilst desperately defending himself from
his attackers with a golden cross which he had seized from the altar. His fate however
did not presage a change in religious policy and the usurper Michael II
maintained an iconoclast stance. He soon faced rebellion led by a charismatic
rabble rouser known as Thomas the Slav who raised a large force against him and
marched on the capital. Thomas succeeded in gathering his immense support
through endevouring to be all things to all people; at times claiming to be the
murdered emperor Constantine VI back from the dead and promising social
revolution. He also promised the restoration of the icons. Thomas’ revolt was
ultimately unsuccessful. This would-be champion of the cause of icon worship
was defeated beneath the walls of Constantinople, run to ground and beheaded.
Under
Michael II and his son and successor Theophilus, iconoclasm remained the
entrenched position of the rulers of Byzantium but they did not prosecute it
with the fervour of their predecessors and generally displayed tolerance to
those who chose to worship icons in the privacy of their own homes. Examples
were none the less made when they needed to be. A monk named Methodius who
attempted to secure the support of the Pope for the restoration of the icons
was scourged and imprisoned during the reign of Michael and under Theophilus
the celebrated icon painter and future saint Lazarus had his hands branded with
white-hot horseshoes after refusing to destroy an icon he had painted.
The iconoclasts by Morelli shows the punishment of Lazarus
That for
the most part the second succession of iconoclast emperors practiced a greater
degree of tolerance towards their icon venerating subjects than had Leo III and
Constantine V is perhaps an indication that they had little choice. If the
first iconoclastic movement was a crusade against idolatry, the second was far
more a reaction to prevailing public opinion and as a result the iconoclasts
trod more carefully amongst a population which still harboured a great many
icon lovers. The cause of the icons was championed by the venerable Abbot
Theodore of the Studium who, having endured torture and imprisonment under Leo
V, was at liberty to appeal for their restoration under his successors.
Slowly
but surely, the tide began to turn in favour of the veneration of images once
more.This may in part have been due to the resurgence in the east of the forces
of Islam. Under Michael II, Sicily and Crete had fallen to freebooting Arab
invaders. Theophilus had been obliged throughout his reign to wage war against
the Abbasid Caliphs Mamun and Mutasim who led their forces deep into imperial
territory. The emperor had celebrated his modest victories over the Saracens
with great pomp, triumphal processions and races in the hippodrome in which he
himself took part. It was an inescapable fact however that the empire was on
the back foot, brought home in 838 when the emperor’s ancestral city of Amorium
fell to the armies of Mutasim and was brutally sacked, with the terrorised
citizens burned alive in the church where they had sought refuge. Another group
of prisoners were later beheaded beside the Tigris for refusing to convert to
Islam and are celebrated as the 42 Martyrs of Amorium. At such a time, with
rumours of a great fleet being gathered against Constantinople, the people of
the empire looked increasingly towards the familiar comfort of their icons and
their saints for their salvation. They doubtless remembered how, in times of
peril, the precious icon of the Virgin had been carried around the walls of the
city and her divine protection had seen the terrible designs of Persians and
Avars, Saracens and Bulgars brought to destruction and ruin.
The siege of Amorium
Meanwhile
within the palace itself, under the emperor’s very nose, his wife and mother
made little secret of their practice of venerating icons. Theophilus died in 842,
leaving his widow Theodora as regent for the young emperor Michael. With power
in her hands the empress swiftly convened a council which deposed the
iconoclast patriarch, electing in his place that Methodius who had suffered
torture and imprisonment for his beliefs in the reign of Michael II and
upholding the findings of Irene’s Second Council of Nicaea. The age of
iconoclasm was ended and in a great outpouring of thanksgiving icons were
carried high in procession through the streets to the great church of St Sofia.
In time the image of Christ above the palace gate first destroyed on the orders
of Leo III and torn down once more by Leo V was replaced a final time, crafted
anew by the brand-scarred hands of St Lazarus.
St
Lazarus
The 42
Martyrs of Amorium
To continue the story go to the Enemies at the Gate Series
No comments:
Post a Comment