For a thousand years after the fall of the West,
the empire of Byzantium, centred on the great city of
Constantinople, perpetuated the living, unbroken legacy of the
Roman empire. It reached the peak of its latter-day power in 1025
under the Emperor Basil II, but a dozen weak and corrupt successors
squandered his accomplishments until the very existence of the
empire was under threat. In these circumstances, a dynamic, young
leader named Alexios Komnenos rose to the imperial throne from a
cabal of the powerful military families, and through hard-fought
campaigns and cunning diplomacy managed to reassert the strength
and glory of Byzantium. But he was not unopposed: Turks, Normans,
Bulgarians, Germans and Venetians constantly pressed at his
borders, while contenders from within his own and rival families
schemed recklessly to usurp his throne. With the Turks in
particular advancing ever further into the hinterland of Asia
Minor, Alexios was forced to beg the estranged Pope in Rome to
provide soldiers to buttress the faltering Byzantine armies. Much
to his surprise, and subsequent alarm, he got them: the Pope
preached the first crusade, and tens of thousands of western
knights mobilised to descend on Byzantium.
The language of Byzantium was Greek, but through
all its history its citizens referred to themselves as Romans. Any
peoples beyond the empire’s borders were considered
barbarians.