East and West Roman Emperors 330-455
In 330, Constantine moved the seat of the Empire to Constantinople. It remained the capital of the east until its demise. During the decades of the Constantinian (307-361) and Valentinian (364-392) dynasties, the Empire was divided along an east-west axis, with dual power centers in Constantinople and Rome.
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Succession
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Reign
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Death
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Son of Constantius I Chlorus, proclaimed emperor by his father's troops; accepted as Caesar (west) by Galerius in 306; promoted to Augustus (west) in 307 by Maximian after death of Severus II; refused relegation to Caesar in 309.
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July 306 - May 337
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May 337. Natural causes.
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Son of Maximian, seized power in 306 after death of Constantius I Chlorus, in opposition to Severus and Constantine I; made Caesar (west) by Maximian in 307 after the death of Severus.
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Oct 306 - Oct 312
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Oct 312. Died at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, against Constantine I.
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Nephew of Galerius, adopted as Caesar and his heir in 305; succeeded as Augustus (shared with Licinius I) in 311.
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May 311 - July/Aug 313
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with Valerius Valens Martinian |
Son-in-law of Constantius Chlorus, appointed Augustus in the west by Galerius in 308, in opposition to Maxentius; became Augustus in the east in 311 after the death of Galerius (shared with Maximinus II); defeated Maximinus in civil war to become sole eastern Augustus in 313 AD; appointed Valerius Valens in 317, and Martinian in 324 as western Augustus, in opposition to Constantine.
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Nov 308–Sept 324
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325. Defeated in civil war against Constantine I in 324; and captured; both executed on the orders of Constantine the next year.
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Son of Constantine I; appointed Caesar in 317, succeeded as joint Augustus with his brothers Constantius II and Constans I
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May 337–340
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340. Died in battle against Constans I.
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Son of Constantine I; succeeded as joint Augustus with his brothers Constantine II and Constans I; sole emperor from 350.
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May 337 - Nov 361
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361. Natural causes.
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Son of Constantine I; succeeded as joint Augustus with his brothers Constantine II and Constantius II
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May 337–350
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350. Assassinated on the orders of the usurper Magnentius. |
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General of Constans I, proclaimed Caesar against Magnentius and temporarily accepted as Augustus of the west by Constantius II
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Mar–Dec 350
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356. As a private citizen, after abdication.
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Cousin of Constantius II; made Caesar of the west in 355; proclaimed Augustus by his troops in 360; sole emperor after the death of Constantius.
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Feb 360–June 363
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June 363. Mortally wounded in battle.
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General of Julian's army; proclaimed emperor by the troops on Julian's death
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June 363– Feb 364
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Feb 364. Natural causes (suffocated on fumes).
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Valentinian Dynasty 364-392
In 364, the role of choosing a new Augustus fell again to army officers. Pannonian officer Valentinian I was elected Augustus in Nicaea. The army had been left leaderless twice in less than a year and Valentinian chose his own younger brother Valens as co-ruler. The two new Augusti parted the Empire in the pattern established by Diocletian: Valentinian would administer the Western Empire, while Valens took control over the Eastern Empire.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Empire faced its own problems with Germanic tribes. The Goths were East Germanic tribe on the Danube River frontier known to the Romans from the 1st century. The Goths split into two groups as they migrated south across Central Europe. The Tervingi (Visigoths) settled in west of the Dneister River in modern Moldavia during the 2nd century. The Greuthungi (Ostrogoths) settled farther east of the Dneister and on the northwest coast of the Black Sea. Around 260, they broke through the limes and the Danube frontier into Roman-controlled lands.
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Succession
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Reign
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Death
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Elected to replace Jovianby the army |
Feb 364 - Nov 375
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Nov 375. Natural causes.
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Brother of Valentinian I, appointed co-Augustus (for the east) by him. |
Mar 364 -
Aug 378
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Aug 378. Killed in Battle of Adrianople against the Goths.
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Son of Valentinian I, appointed 'junior' Augustus by him in 367, became 'senior' Augustus (for the west) after Valentinian's death. |
Aug 367 –
Aug 383
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Aug 383. Murdered by rebellious army faction.
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Son of Valentinian I, proclaimed emperor by Pannonian army after Valentinian's death; accepted as co-Augustus for the west by Gratian |
Nov 375 - May 392
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May 392. Unclear; possibly murdered or committed suicide.
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Huns, Alans and Goths 370-380
The Huns, who were nomads from the Central Asian Steppes, headed westward and simulated the German migration. Their exact origins remain a mystery, it is often said that they were remnants of the Xiong Nu, which were driven west by the Chinese, only due to the facts that the Huns appeared right after the Xiong Nu disappeared.
They show up north of the Black Sea around 370, crossed the Volga River and attacked the Alans, whom they subjugated. The Huns, together with the Alans, were moving along the lower valleys of the Donets and Don rivers and the Azov seashore. Some of them remained for centuries in their new settlements, whereas others moved on towards Central Europe. As early as 380 CE, a group of Huns were given Foederati status and allowed to settle in Pannonia by Roman governors.
The Goths, whom the Huns met as they invaded the rich lands of the modern Ukraine and Romania starting 376, were stunned by the fierc horde of the Huns. The Tervingi and some of the Greuthungi, who had fled west, were allowed to enter the empire. Emperor Valens allowed them to settle as foederati on the southern bank of the Danube. The newcomers (called Visigoths and Ostrogoths respectively) faced problems from allegedly corrupted provincial commanders and a series of hardships. Their dissatisfaction led them to revolt against their Roman hosts.
In August 378, the Battle of Adrianople resulted in the crushing defeat of the Romans and the death of Valens and end of Valentinian dynasty in the East Romans.
The battle had far-reaching consequences. Veteran soldiers and valuable administrators were among the heavy casualties. There were few available replacements at the time, leaving the Empire with the problem of finding suitable leadership. In the following century much of the Roman army would consist of Germanic mercenaries.
Theodosian dynasties 379-457
The replacement of Augustus for the Eastern Empire was Theodosius I. The new emperor made peace with the rebels, and this peace held essentially unbroken until he died in 395.
He was the last Emperor who ruled over the whole Empire. After his death in 395, he gave the two halves of the Empire to his two sons Arcadius and Honorius; Arcadius became ruler in the East, with his capital in Constantinople, and Honorius became ruler in the West, with his capital in Milan and later Ravenna.
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Succession
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Reign
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Death
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Son-in-law of Valentinian I, appointed as
Augustus for the east by Gratian after the death of Valens; became sole 'senior' Augustus after death of Valentinian II
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Jan 379 - Jan 395
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Jan 395
Natural causes |
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Son of Theodosius I; appointed as 'junior' Augustus for the east by Theodosius in 383 (after the death of Gratian); became 'senior' Augustus for the east after his father's death
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Jan 383 - May 408
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May 408
Natural causes |
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Usurper in the West; legitimized along with
his son Victor by Theodosius I as emperors of Britannia and Gaul.
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383/384 – Aug 388
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Aug 388
Executed by Theodosius I in Aquileia after the Battle of the Save; Victor killed by Arbogast |
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Son of Theodosius I; appointed as 'junior' Augustus for the west by Theodosius in 393 (after the death of Valentinian II); became 'senior' Augustus for the west after his father's death
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Jan 393 – Aug 423
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Aug 423
Natural causes |
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Son of Arcadius; appointed as 'junior' Augustus for the east by Arcadius in 402; became 'senior' Augustus for the east after his father's death
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Jan 402 - July 450
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July 450
Natural causes |
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Usurper who declared himself emperor in the west in 407, recognized as co-emperor by Honorius in 409. Elevated his son Constans II to co-emperor in 409, who was not recognized by Honorius.
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407/409 - Aug or Sept 411
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Married to Theodosius I's daughter Galla Placidia, elevated to co-Augustus for the west by Honorius
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Feb 421 - Sept 421
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Sept 421
Natural causes |
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Aug 42 –
May 425
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Son of Constantius III, appointed Caesar for the west by Theodosius II after the death of Honorius, in opposition to the Johannes; became Augustus for the west after the defeat of Johannes
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Oct 424 –
March 455
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Nominated as successor (and husband) by Pulcheria, sister of Theodosius II
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Summer 450 - Jan 457
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Jan 457
Natural causes |
Barbarian invasions of Roman Empire 380-476
The Migration Period (380-750) or the Barbarian invasions, was a period of intensified human migration in Europe within the Roman Empire. The migrants were Germanic tribes such as the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Suevi, Vandals, Burgundians, Lombards, Saxons and Franks; they were pushed westwards by the Huns and Alans.
At the same time, there was a process of "Romanization" of the Germanic and Hunnic tribes settled on both sides of the limes (the fortified frontier of the Empire along the Rhine and Danube rivers). The Visigoths, for example, were converted to Arian Christianity around 360, even before they were pushed into imperial territory by the expansion of the Huns.
In 395 the Huns began their first large-scale attack on the East Empire. Huns attacked in Thrace, overran Armenia, and pillaged Cappadocia before the East Romans were forced to sign a treaty.
It is no surprise that the Romans chose to pay off the Huns for peace rather than face them on the field. Ammianus' description of the Hun's tactics is cited below:
"they fight in no regular order of battle, but by being extremely swift and sudden in their movements, they disperse, and then rapidly come together again in loose array, spread havoc over vast plains, and flying over the rampart, they pillage the camp of their enemy almost before he has become aware of their approach."
Ammianus Marcellinus (330- 391/400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity (preceding Procopius). His work, known as the Res Gestae, chronicled in Latin the history of Rome from the accession of the Emperor Nerva in 96 to the death of Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378, although only the sections covering the period 353–378 survive.
Hunnic Empire 434-455
The Huns then invaded the unoccupied part of present Germany by the 4th century. They stimulated the Great Migration, a contributing factor in the collapse of the Western Empire. They formed a unified Hunnic Empire under Attila the Hun (r. 445-453).
In 443, Constantinople again failed to deliver the tribute and war resumed. Attila and his armies came alarmingly close to Constantinople, sacking Sardica, Arcadiopolis and Philippopolis along the way. The Eastern Emperor Theodosius II gave in to Hun demands and signed the Peace of Anatolius.
In 450 Honoria, sister of the Western Emperor Valentinian III, sent Attila a ring and requested his help to escape her betrothal to a senator. Attila claimed her as his bride and half the Western Empire as dowry. In 451, Attila's forces entered Gaul, accumulating contingents from the Franks, Goths and Burgundian tribes en route.
In 452, Attila renewed his claims to Honoria. Leading his horde across the Alps and into Northern Italy, he sacked and razed the cities of Aquileia, Vicetia, Verona, Brixia, Bergamum and Milan. To avoid the sack of Rome, Valentinian III sent three envoys, the high civilian officers as well as Pope Leo I, who met Attila at Mincio in the vicinity of Mantua, and obtained from him the promise that he would withdraw from Italy.
In 453, however, Attila married a girl with the Germanic name Ildico, and died of a haemorrhage on his wedding night.
After the death of Attila, former subjects soon united under the Gepids and Ostrogoths against the Huns and the Hunnic Empire collapsed in 455. The Pannonian basin then was occupied by the Gepids. Many of the remaining Huns were often hired as mercenaries by Constantinople.
As the Huns were illiterate and thus kept no records, all surviving accounts were written by their enemies, and none describe them as attractive either morally or in appearance.
Jordanes, a Goth writing in Italy in 551, a century after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire, describes the Huns as a "savage race, which dwelt at first in the swamps, a stunted, foul and puny tribe, scarcely human and having no language save one which bore but slight resemblance to human speech".
Jordanes also recounted how Priscus (a Byzantine diplomat) had described Attila the Hun, as: "Short of stature, with a broad chest and a large head; his eyes were small, his beard thin and sprinkled with grey; and he had a flat nose and tanned skin, showing evidence of his origin.
Huns and Burglars
According to archaeological evidence, modern people discovered that the Bulgars were inextricably linked with the Huns.
The origin of the Bulgars and their homeland are still subjects of research generating many hypothesis. They were one of the ethnic ancestors of modern Bulgarians, mentioned for the first time in 354 by Anonymous Roman Chronograph as people living north of the Caucasus mountain and west of the Volga River.
Bulgars invaded Europe with the Huns about 370, and retreating with the Huns about 460, they resettled in the area north and east of the Sea of Azov. As we learn from Jordanes, groups of Huns returned to their "inner" territory on the river Dnieper (Ukraine) where they reorganized on a smaller scale.
From the 460s to the 480s onward, the Huns began to intermarry with other nomadic horsemen nations that lived in the northern Balkans through the Pontic Steppes and into the lands of the north Caucasus. The youth of Attila's people were to mix with the Bulgars and the Sarmatians giving rise to a new breed of culture and identity, thus beginning the emergence of the Hunno-Bulgars.
Germanic Invasion 405-476
The Suevi along with the Vandals and Alans crossed the Rhine in 405. Their entrance into the Western Empire was at a moment when the empire was experiencing a series of invasions and civil wars. The Kingdom of the Suebi (409-585) was one of the first kingdoms to separate from the empire and based in the former Roman Gallaecia provinces.
The Burgundians crossed the Rhine in 406, settled in the Roman province along the Middle Rhine. They started several campaigns into neighboring Gallia Belgica, which led to a crushing defeat by joined Roman and Hunnic troops in 436. The remaining Burgundians settled in the Sapaudia (today Savoy) region in the Roman Maxima Sequanorum province.
In 409, the Visigoths marched into Italy and sacked Rome under their first king Alaric (r. 395-410). For want of food, they moved north into southwestern Gaul. In 410 the Aquitanian province was given to the Visigoths in exchange for their support against the Vandals.
The Vandals and Alans crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into the North Africa in 429. They advanced eastward, conquering the coastal regions of what is now Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. In 439 the Vandals renewed their advance eastward and captured Carthage, the most important city of North Africa. The Vandal kingdom (435-534) then conquered the Roman-ruled islands of Mallorca, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica in the western Mediterranean.
In the 460s, the Romans launched two unsuccessful military expeditions by sea in an attempt to reclaim North Africa. The conquest of North Africa by the Vandals was a blow to the beleaguered Western Empire as North Africa was a major source of revenue and a supplier of grain to the city of Rome.
Hunnic hegemony of Germany lasted until 469 after the collapse of the empire. The Ostrogoths and Lombards broke away from Hunnish rule and toward Italy late in the 5th and 6th century respectively.
Fall of Western Empire 455-476
Throughout the final years of the Western Empire (395-476) the Eastern emperor was considered the senior emperor, and a Western emperor was only legitimate if recognized as such by the Eastern emperor. Western Emperors were usually figureheads, while the actual rulers were military strongmen who took the title of Magister militum.
Furthermore, after 455 the Western emperor ceased to be a relevant figure and there was sometimes no claimant at all. The Western empire faced increasing economic and political crisis and frequent barbarian invasions. After the Milan city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna.
The year 476 is generally accepted as the formal end of the Western Empire. That year, Orestes, having stolen power from the emperor Julius Nepos the year before, refused the request of Germanic mercenaries in his service for lands in Italy. The dissatisfied mercenaries revolted.
The revolt was led by the Germanic chieftain Odoacer. Odoacer and his men captured and executed Orestes; weeks later they captured Ravenna and deposed Orestes' usurper son, Romulus Augustus. They quickly conquered the remaining provinces of Italy.
Kings of Italy 476-750
King of Italy was the title given to the ruler who ruled part or all of the Italian Peninsula after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
After the deposition of the last Western Emperor in 476, Odoacer was appointed Dux Italiae ("Duke of Italy") by the reigning Byzantine Emperor Zeno. Later, the Germanic foederati, the Scirians and the Heruli, as well as a large segment of the Italic Roman army, proclaimed Odoacer Rex Italiae ("King of Italy") .
Ostrogothic Kingdom 493-553
Odoacer's rule came to an end when the Ostrogoths, under the leadership of Theodoric (king of modern Switzerland and the Balkans already and was encouraged to invade Italy by the Eastern emperor), conquered Italy and killed Odoacer in 493.
The Ostrogothic Kingdom reached its zenith under Theoderic the Great (r. 493-526), stretching from modern France in the west into modern Serbia in the southeast. Under Theoderic's rule, Italy for thirty years enjoyed peace. While at Ravenna, he built the finely decorated church of S. Apollinare Nuovo.
Kings of the Ostrogoths:
Theodoric the Great (493-526)
Athalaric (526-534)
Theodahad (534-536)
Witiges (536-540)
Ildibad (540-541)
Eraric (541)
Totila (541-552)
Teia (552-553)
During the period of Ostrogothic rule in Italy, eminent Catholic writers wrote works which were to resonate through the centuries. Boethius (c.480-524), representing the full flower of Christian Rome, the scion of a senatorial family, was appointed magister officiorum by Theodoric in 522. His imprisonment in the following year on charges of conspiring with the Byzantine emperor against the king (which he strongly denied) gave the world the classic Consolations of Philosophy, which would later be found in virtually every medieval library.
In general, he tolerated Catholic Christianity. Although he himself was of the Arian sect, he nevertheless made no assault on the Catholic religion. The Goths were settled mostly in northern Italy, and kept themselves largely apart from the Roman population. Unlike the Visigoths and the Vandals, where there was considerable religious tolerance.
The deaths of Theodoric, his nephew and heir, and his daughter had left her murderer, Theodahad, on the throne in 534, despite his weakened authority. This led to Byzantine Emperor Justinian attempted to reassert imperial authority in the territories of the Western Roman Empire.
Byzantines Reconquers 540-568
In the resulting Gothic Wars (535–554) waged against the Ostrogothic Kingdom, Byzantine hopes of an early and easy triumph evolved into a long war of attrition that resulted in mass dislocation of population and destruction of property. Problems were further exacerbated by widespread famine (538–542) and a devastating plague pandemic (541–542).
During the second phase (541–553) of the war, the Goths' resistance was reinvigorated under Totila of Ostrogoth and put down only after a long struggle by Byzantines. Although the Byzantine Empire eventually prevailed, the triumph proved to be a pyrrhic victory, as the conquered territories were severely under populated and impoverished. Rome itself was besieged three times in 546 and Milan was almost entirely levelled.
At war's end a Pragmatic Sanction was imposed by Justinian: Italy become a province of the empire ruled from Constantinople by an exarch at Ravenna (not Rome). Before the details of this settlement could be worked out, the Lombards took over much of Italy, establishing themselves in the north and in the two southern duchies.
Kings of the Lombards 568-750
In 568, the Lombards, a Germanic people that had been allied with the Byzantines, migrated from Pannonia and quickly overwhelmed the small Byzantine army to guard Italy.
King Alboin ventured to recreate the barbarian Kingdom of the Lombards (568-774) in opposition to the Byzantine Empire and established his seat in Pavia (modern northern Italian region of Lombardy) in 572.
The Lombard arrival broke the political unity of the Italian peninsula since the Roman conquest. They also conquered much of southern and central Italy by 570. The peninsula was now torn between the Lombards and Byzantines. the Byzantine-ruled Exarchate of Ravenna and Duchy of Rome separated the northern Lombard duchies, collectively known as Langobardia Maior, from the two large southern duchies of Spoleto and Benevento, which constituted Langobardia Minor.
The southern duchies were more autonomous than the smaller northern duchies. A decade of interregnum after the death of Alboin's successor in 574 left the Lombard dukes well settled in their new territories and independent of the Lombard kings at Pavia.
The Lombards gradually adopted Roman titles, names, and traditions. By the late 8th century, the Lombardic language, dress and hairstyles had all disappeared Lombardic, a Germanic language, made a large contribution to the formation of the Italian language in the sense that it hastened the population's detachment from vulgar Latin, causing it to take on autonomous forms known as Neo-Latin.
Kings of the Lombards:
Alboin (568–572)
Cleph (572–574)
Rule of the dukes (ten-year interregnum)
Authari (584–590)
Agilulf (591–c. 616)
Adaloald (c.616–c. 626)
Arioald (c.626–636)
Rothari (636–652)
Rodoald (652–653)
Aripert I (653–661)
Perctarit and Godepert (661–662)
Grimoald (662–671)
Garibald (671)
Perctarit (671–688), restored from exile
Alahis (688–689), rebel
Cunincpert (688–700)
Liutpert (700–701)
Raginpert (701)
Aripert II (701–712)
Ansprand (712)
Liutprand (712–744)
Hildeprand (744)
Ratchis (744–749)
Aistulf (749–756)
Desiderius (756–774)
Initially the Lombards were Arianist Christians, at odds with the Papacy both religiously and politically. However, by the end of the 7th century, their conversion to Catholicism was all but complete. Nevertheless, their conflict with the Papacy continued.
King Liutprand exploited the disputes between the pope and Constantinople over iconoclasm to take possession of many cities of the Exarchate and of the Pentapolis, posing as the protector of Catholics. In order not to antagonize the Pope, he gave up the occupation of the village of Sutri to "the apostles Peter and Paul", as Paul the Deacon related in his Historia Langobardorum.
This donation, known as the Donation of Sutri in 728, provided the legal precedent for attributing a temporal power to the papacy, which finally produced the Papal States.
Byzantine Emperors 480-711
The Eastern Roman Empire enjoyed a period of peace after the fall of Hunnic Empire in 455. After the fall of Western Empire, the Eastern Emperor Zeno abolished the division of the Empire, making himself sole Emperor in 480. The Eastern Empire survived the 5th century fragmentation and continued to exist for an additional thousand years centered at Byzantium (also known as Byzantine Empire).
| Name | Reign | Comment |
| Leo I "the Great", "the Thracian" and "the Butcher" | February 457 –January 474 | Born in Dacia ca. 400, and of Bessian origin, Leo became a low-ranking officer and served as an attendant of the Gothic magister militum, Aspar, who chose him as emperor on Marcian's death. He was the first emperor to be crowned by the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the first one to legislate in Greek. Initially a puppet of Aspar, Leo began promoting the Isaurians as a counterweight to Aspar's Goths, marrying his daughter Ariadne to the Isaurian leader Tarasicodissa (Zeno). With their support, in 471 Aspar was murdered and Gothic power over the army was broken. |
| Leo II "the Younger" | January –November 474 | Born 468, he was the grandson of Leo I by Leo's daughter Ariadne and her Isaurian husband, Zeno. Leo ascended the throne after the death of his grandfather, on 18 January 474. He crowned his father Zeno as co-emperor and effective regent on 29 January. He died shortly after. |
| Zeno | November 474 - January 475 August 476 - April 491 | Born ca. 425 in Isauria, originally named Tarasicodissa. As the leader of Leo I's Isaurian soldiers, he rose to comes domesticorum, married the emperor's daughter Ariadne and took the name Zeno, and played a crucial role in the elimination of Aspar and his Goths. He was named co-emperor by his son and became sole ruler upon the latter's death, but had to flee to his native country before Basiliscus in 475, regaining control of the capital in 476. Zeno concluded peace with the Vandals, saw off challenges against him by Illus and Verina, and secured peace in the Balkans by enticing the Ostrogoths under Theodoric the Great to migrate to Italy. |
| Basiliscus | January 475 –August 476 | General and brother-in-law of Leo I, seized power from Zeno and crowned himself emperor on January. Zeno was restored soon after. |
| Anastasius I "Dicorus" | April 491 - July 518 | Born ca. 430 at Dyrrhachium, he was a palace official (silentiarius) when he was chosen as her husband and Emperor by Empress-dowager Ariadne. He was nicknamed "Dikoros" (Latin: Dicorus), because of his heterochromia. Anastasius reformed the tax system and the Byzantine coinage and proved a frugal ruler, so that by the end of his reign he left a substantial surplus. His reign was also marked by the first Bulgar raids into the Balkans and by a war with Persia over the foundation of Dara. He died childless. |
Justinian dynasty 518-602
The borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence. During the Justinian dynasty (518-602), the Empire reached its greatest extent after reconquering much of the historically Roman western Mediterranean coast, including North Africa and Italy.
The western conquests began in 533, as Justinian the Great sent his general Belisarius to reclaim the former province of Africa from the Vandals who had been in control since 429 with their capital at Carthage, it was not until 548 that the major local tribes were subdued.
In Italy, a small Byzantine expedition to Sicily in 535, met with easy success. The Goths soon stiffened their resistance, and victory did not come until 540, when Belisarius captured Ravenna, after successful sieges of Naples and Rome.
By the mid-550s, Justinian had won victories in most theatres of operation, with the notable exception of the Balkans, which were subjected to repeated incursions from the Slavs and the Gepids.
After Justinian died in 565, the Germanic Lombards invaded Italy; by the end of the century only a third of Italy was in Byzantine hands. His successor, Tiberius II, choosing between his enemies, awarded subsidies to the Avars while taking military action against the Persians. By 602, a series of successful Byzantine campaigns had pushed the Avars and Slavs back across the Danube.
| Name | Reign | Comment |
| Justin I | August 527 - November 565 | Born at Bederiana, Dardania. Officer and commander of the Excubitors bodyguard under Anastasius I, he was elected by army and people upon the death of Anastasius I. |
| Justinian I "the Great" | January –November 474 | Born at Tauresium, Macedonia. Nephew of Justin I, possibly raised to co-emperor on 1 April 527. Succeeded on Justin I's death. Attempted to restore the western territories of the Empire, reconquering Italy, North Africa and parts of Spain. Also responsible for the corpus juris civilis, or the "body of civil law," which is the foundation of law for many modern European nations. |
| Justin II | November 565 - October 578 | Nephew of Justinian I, he seized the throne on the death of Justinian I with support of army and Senate. Became insane, hence in 573–574 under the regency of his wife Sophia, and in 574–578 under the regency of Tiberius Constantine |
| Tiberius II Constantine | October 578 - August 582 | Born c. 535, commander of the Excubitors, friend and adoptive son of Justin. Was named Caesar and regent in 574. Succeeded on Justin II's death. |
| Maurice | August 582 - November 602 | Born in 539 at Arabissus, Cappadocia. Became an official and later a general. Married the daughter of Tiberius II and succeeded him upon his death. Named his son Theodosius as co-emperor in 590. Deposed by Phocas and executed on 27 November 602 at Chalcedon. |
Heraclian dynasty 610-695
Under the reign of Heraclius (610–641), the Byzantine Empire adopted Greek for official use instead of Latin. Thus, although it continued the Roman state and maintained Roman state traditions, modern historians distinguish Byzantium from ancient Rome insofar as it was oriented towards Greek rather than Latin culture, and characterized by Orthodox Christianity rather than Roman polytheism.
At that time, the empire was still recognizable as the Eastern Roman Empire, dominating the Mediterranean and harboring a prosperous Late Antiquity urban civilization. By the dynasty's end, however, a very different state had emerged: medieval Byzantium, a chiefly agrarian, military-dominated society that was engaged in a lengthy struggle with the Muslim Caliphate.
Following the Byzantine-Sasanian War of 602-628, the Sassanid advance pushed deep into the Levant, occupying Damascus and Jerusalem and removing the True Cross to Ctesiphon. The war had exhausted both the Byzantines and Sassanids, and left them extremely vulnerable to the Muslim forces that emerged in the following years.
The Byzantines suffered a crushing defeat by the Arabs in 636. By 650, it had lost all of its southern provinces (Syria, Levant, Egypt). The Byzantine victory at the First Arab Sieges of Constantinople in 674-678 was of major importance for the survival of the Byzantine state, as the Arab threat receded for a time.
The first Arab siege of Constantinople was the first culmination of the Umayyad Caliphate's expansionist strategy towards the Byzantine Empire, led by Caliph Mu'awiya I. Mu'awiya had emerged in 661 as the ruler of the Muslim Arab following a civil war, renewed aggressive warfare against Byzantium and hoped to deliver a lethal blow by capturing the Byzantine capital, Constantinople.
| Name | Reign | Comment |
| Heraclius | October 610 - February 641 | Born c. 575 as the eldest son of the Exarch of Africa, Heraclius the Elder. Began a revolt against Phocas in 609 and deposed him in October 610. Brought the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602–628 to successful conclusion but was unable to stop the Muslim conquest of Syria. Officially replaced Latin with Greek as the language of administration. |
| Constantine III formally Heraclius New Constantine | February - May 641 | The eldest son of Heraclius by his first wife Fabia Eudokia. Named co-emperor in 613, he succeeded to throne with his younger brother Heraklonas following the death of Heraclius. Died of tuberculosis, allegedly poisoned by Empress-dowager Martina. |
| Heraklonas formally Constantine Heraclius | November 565 - October 578 | Born in 626 to Heraclius' second wife Martina, named co-emperor in 638. Succeeded to throne with Constantine III following the death of Heraclius. Sole emperor after the death of Constantine III, under the regency of Martina, but was forced to name Constans II co-emperor by the army, and was deposed by the Senate in September 641. |
| Constans II | September 641 - September 668 | Born in 630, the son of Constantine III. Raised to co-emperor in summer 641 after his father's death due to army pressure, he became sole emperor after the forced abdication of his uncle Heraklonas. Moved his seat to Syracuse, where he was assassinated, possibly on the orders of Mizizios. |
| Constantine IV "the Bearded" | September 668 - September 685 | Born in 652, he succeeded following the murder of his father Constans II. Erroneously called "Constantine the Bearded" by historians through confusion with his father. He called the Third Council of Constantinople which condemned the heresy of Monothelitism, repelled the First Arab Siege of Constantinople, and died of dysentery. |
| Justinian II | September 685 - 695 | Born in 669, son of Constantine IV, he was named co-emperor in 681 and became sole emperor upon Constantine IV's death. Deposed by military revolt in 695, mutilated (hence his surname) and exiled to Cherson, whence he recovered his throne in 705. |
In 687-688, the last Heraclian emperor, Justinian II, led an expedition against the Slavs and Bulgarians, the fact that he had to fight his way from Thrace to Macedonia demonstrates the degree to which Byzantine power in the north Balkans had declined.
Justinian II attempted to break the power of the urban aristocracy through severe taxation and the appointment of "outsiders" to administrative posts. He was driven from power in 695, and took shelter first with the Khazars and then with the Bulgarians. In 705, he returned to Constantinople with the armies of the Bulgarian khan Tervel, retook the throne and instituted a reign of terror against his enemies. With his final overthrow in 711, supported once more by the urban aristocracy, the Heraclian dynasty came to an end.
Germanic Tribes in Western Europe 476-750
In northern Europe, an influx of new migrants and settlers, mostly Saxons and Angles, who were migrated from what is now the Danish/German border area and the Jutes from the Jutland peninsula to the Britain Islands.
The Angles merged with Saxons and Jutes, as well as absorbing some natives, to form the Anglo-Saxons. Britain had been abandoned by the Roman legions in around 410, and its native Celtics Britons were left with little defence against invading Anglo-Saxons. The Battle of Deorham was a critical battle that established the Anglo-Saxon rule in 577.
The Frisians (later the Dutch) and the Saxons, Bavarii, Alemanni, and Thuringii (later the Germans) settled in present day northern Netherlands and Germany, before they were conquered by the Carolingian Franks by 800.
The Bavarii emerged in a region north of the Alps, which had been part of the Roman provinces of Raetia and Noricum. Unlike other Germanic groups, they probably did not migrate from elsewhere. Rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by the Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century, included the Boii, Scirians, Rugians, Heruli.
The Alemanni were a confederation on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned when they captured the Agri Decumates in 260, and later expanded into present-day Alsace and northern Switzerland, leading to the establishment of the Old High German language in those regions.
The Thuringii appeared late during the Migration Period in the Harz Mountains of central Germania. Some have suggested that they were the remnants of the Suebic Hermanduri.
Germanic Kings in Western Europe
From 476 there was no emperor in the West, where the Germanic kings ruled and the Eastern Emperors had only nominal authority west of the Adriatic.
Latin, its classical purity now well in decline, was still the dominant tongue, and the languages spoken today in these places, with only minor exceptions, are Romance languages, offsprings of Latin (Italian in Italy, French in France, Spanish and Portuguese in Iberia).
The coming of the Germanic tribes posed serious issues for the Catholic church. When these peoples entered the empire, none of them was Catholic: they were either Arian or pagan. Crucial in the first stage of their conversion to Christianity was the mission of Ulfilas (c.311-383). He was part Greek and part Goth, and on his Greek side he was Christian. Ulfilas accomplished two remarkable feats: he created the written Gothic language by inventing its alphabet and then he translated the Greek Bible into Gothic.
Thus, the Ostrogoths in Italy practised what the native Christians considered a heretical form of Christianity. And so it was in North Africa that the Arian Vandals harshly persecuted Catholics. The Visigoths, while in southern Gaul and later in Spain, were long faithful to the religion of Ulfilas.
In Gaul, Aquitania was abandoned to the Visigoths. The Burgundians claimed their own kingdom, and northern Gaul was practically abandoned to the Franks.
Kingdoms of the Franks 486-750
The Franks emerged in the 3rd century as a confederation of smaller tribes, such as the Sicambri, Bructeri, Ampsivarii, Chamavi and Chattuarii, in the area north and east of the Rhine.
Franks appear in Roman texts as both allies and enemies. By about 320, they were raiding the Channel, disrupting transportation to Britain. Roman forces pacified the region, but did not expel the Franks, who continued to be feared as pirates along the shores at least until the time of Julian the Apostate (358), when Salian Franks were allowed to settle as foederati in Toxandria, according to Ammianus Marcellinus.
Ripuarian Franks were one of main groupings of early Frankish people. The Ripuarii originally lived on the right bank of the Rhine and their capital was Cologne, in later years they were also called Franconia. During the Roman Era, they managed to occupy the lower and middle Rhineland in present day Saarland, Luxemburg and Limburg.
The other main group of Franks was the Salii, Salian Franks, who originated in present day the western part of the Netherlands and Belgium. Before the collapse of West Roman Empire in 476, the Frankish tribes were united under the Salian Merovingians, who succeeded in conquering most of Gaul by 486 and the Frankish Kingdom was founded by the Merovingians.
Merovingians
The Merovingian dynasty was founded by Childeric I (r. 457–481), the son of Salian Franks leader Merovech. But it was his son Clovis I (r. 481–511) who united all of Gaul under Merovingian rule. In 486, Clovis I defeated Syagrius (the last Roman military commander in Gaul) at Soissons and subsequently united most of northern and central Gaul under his rule.
In 496, pagan Clovis adopted Catholicism, which gave him greater legitimacy and power over his Christian subjects and granted him support against other Arian Germanic Tribes. He conquered Alamanni in 502 and defeated Visigoths at Vouillé in 507, thus annexed Aquitaine and Toulouse, into his Frankish kingdom.
Clovis made Paris his capital in 508. He and his successorsbuilt a host of churches; a basilica on Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, near the site of the ancient Roman Forum; the cathedral of Saint-Étienne, where Notre Dame now stands; and several important monasteries, including one in the fields of the left bank which later became the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Before his death in 511, Clovis I divided his realm between his four sons, who united to defeat Thuringii in 531 and Burgundians in 534. Three distinct sub-kingdoms emerged: Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy, each of which developed independently and sought to exert influence over the others.
King Chlothar I (r. 558–561) ruled the greater part of what is now Germany and made expeditions into Saxony, while the Southeast of modern Germany was still under influence of the Ostrogoths. Saxons inhabited the area down to the Unstrut River.
Name
|
King From
|
King Until
|
Relationship with Predecessor(s)
|
Title
|
481
|
511
|
Son of Childeric I
|
King of the Franks
|
|
511
|
December 558
|
Son of Clovis I
|
King of Paris
|
|
Chlothar I the Old
|
December 558
|
November 561
|
Son of Clovis I, Younger brother of Childebert I
|
King of the Franks
|
November 561
|
567
|
Son of Chlothar I
|
King of Paris
|
|
567
|
584
|
Son of Chlothar I, Younger brother of Charibert I
|
King of Paris
King of Neustria |
|
Chlothar II the Great, the Young
|
584
|
October 629
|
Son of Chilperic I
|
King of Neustria, King of Paris (595–629) of Franks (613–629)
|
October 629
|
January 639
|
Son of Chlothar II
|
King of the Franks
|
|
Clovis II the Lazy
|
January 639
|
October 657
|
Son of Dagobert I
|
King of Neustria and Burgundy
|
October 657
|
673
|
Son of Clovis II
|
King of Neustria and Burgundy,
King of the Franks (657–663)
|
|
673
|
675
|
Son of Clovis II, Younger brother of Chlothar III
|
King of the Franks
|
|
675
|
691
|
Son of Clovis II, Younger brother of Childeric II
|
King of Neustria
King of the Franks (687–691) |
|
691
|
695
|
Son of Theuderic III
|
King of the Franks
|
|
Childebert III the Just
|
695
|
April 711
|
Son of Theuderic III, Younger brother of Clovis IV
|
King of the Franks
|
April 711
|
715
|
Son of Childebert III
|
King of the Franks
|
|
715
|
February 721
|
Probably son of Childeric II
|
King of Neustria and Burgundy
King of the Franks (719–721) |
|
721
|
737
|
Son of Dagobert III
|
King of the Franks
|
|
743
|
November 751
|
Son of Chilperic II or of Theuderic IV
|
King of the Franks
|
French and Dutch Languages
The Franks who expanded south into Gaul settled there and eventually adopted the Vulgar Latin of the local population. However, Germanic languages were spoken as a second tongue by public officials in western Austrasia and Neustria as late as the 850s. A widening cultural divide grew between the Franks remaining in the north and the rulers far to the south in what is now France.
Though the Frankish leaders controlled most of Western Europe, the Salian Franks themselves were confined to the Northwestern part of the Empire. Eventually, the Franks in Northern France were assimilated by the general Gallo-Roman population, and took over their dialects (which became French), whereas the Franks in the Low Countries retained their language, which would evolve into Dutch.
The current Dutch-French language border has (with the exception of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais in France and Brussels and the surrounding municipalities in Belgium) remained virtually identical ever since.
Carolingians
After the reign of the last capable Salian Frankish king, Dagobert in 639, the Ripuari Carolingians gradually took over power, who transforming the Ripuarian area of Austrasia into the heartland of the Frankish Empire.
By this time Muslim invaders had conquered Hispania and were threatening the Frankish kingdoms. Duke Odo of Aquitaine defeated a major invading force at the Battle of Toulouse (721), the first major battle lost by the Muslim Umayyad forces in their military campaign northwards. In order to help secure his borders against the Umayyads, he married his daughter to the Muslim Berber rebel lord Uthman ibn Naissa, called "Munuza" by the Franks, the deputy governor of what would later become Catalonia.
In 732, Umayyads troops raided Vasconia, advanced towards Bordeaux and ransacked the city. Odo engaged them but was defeated by the Umayyads. Following the defeat, Odo re-organised his scattered forces, and ran north to warn the Carolingian Charles Martel, Mayor of the palaces of Neustria and Austrasia, of the impending threat and to appeal for assistance in fighting the Arab-Berber advance, which he received in exchange for accepting formal Frankish overlordship.
The alliance of Odo and Charles Martel defeated the Umayyads at the Battle of Tours in 732, and expelled them from Aquitaine. Charles Martel earned respect and power within the Frankish Kingdom.
The last Merovingian kings did not hold any real political power. When Theuderic IV died in 737, Charles Martel left the throne vacant and continued to rule until his own death in 741. His sons Pepin and Carloman briefly restored the Merovingian dynasty by raising Childeric III to the throne in 743.
In Italy, when the Exarchate of Ravenna finally fell to the Lombards in 751, the Duchy of Rome was completely cut off from the Byzantine Empire. The popes renewed earlier attempts to secure the support of the Franks.
The Merovingian dynasty, which had ruled the Franks by right, was deprived of this right with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy in 751, and the Carolingian Pepin the Short (son of Charles Martel) was crowned King of the Franks.
Anglo-Saxons in England 400-700
Seven Kingdoms are traditionally identified as being established by the Saxon migrants in England. Three were clustered in the South east: Sussex, Kent and Essex. The Midlands were dominated by the kingdoms of Mercia and East Anglia. The Monarchs of Mercia's lineage was determined to reach as far back as the early 500's. To the north was Northumbria which unified two earlier kingdoms, Bernicia and Deira. The development of these kingdoms led to the eventual domination by Northumbria and Mercia in the 7th century, Mercia in the 8th century and then Wessex in the 9th century.
Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England began around in 600, influenced by Celtic Christianity from the northwest and by the Roman Catholic Church from the southeast. Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, took office in 597. In 601, he baptised the first Christian Anglo-Saxon king, Aethelbert of Kent.
The Celtic tribes are pushed westwards out of England, surviving only in the western extremity of Cornwall and in Wales. The same westward pressure in Gaul confines the Celtic culture to the northwest tip of the region, Brittany. This area also becomes a refuge in the 6th century for Celts migrating from southwest England to escape the advancing Saxons. In these various regions Celtic languages survive through the centuries. There are two main groups: Gaelic, spoken in Ireland and Scotland; and Brythonic, the language in differing forms of the Welsh, the Cornish and the Bretons.
Gothic Hispania 415-720
As the Roman Empire decayed, the Visigoths, Suebi, Vandals and Alans arrived in Spain by crossing the Pyrenees mountain range, leading to the establishment of the Suebi Kingdom in Gallaecia, the Vandal Kingdom of Vandalusia (Andalusia), and the Visigothic Kingdom in Toledo.
The Kingdom of the Suebi (409-585) was based in the former Roman provinces of Gallaecia and northern Lusitania, during the 6th century it became a formally declared kingdom identifying with Gallaecia. As the Suebi quickly adopted the local language, few traces were left of their Germanic tongue, but for some words and for their personal and land names, adopted by most of the Galicians.
Visogothic Kingdom
The Romanized Visigoths entered Hispania in 415. After the conversion of their monarchy to Roman Catholicism and after conquering the Suebic territories in the northwest and Byzantine territories in the southeast, the Visigothic Kingdom eventually encompassed a great part of the Iberian Peninsula at the expense of the Vandals and Alans, who moved on into North Africa without leaving much permanent mark on Hispanic culture. The Visigothic Kingdom shifted its capital to Toledo and reached a high point during Leovigild(r.568-586).
Kings of the Visogoths:
These kings were Arians (followers of the theological teaching of Arius). They tended to succeed their fathers or close relatives on the throne and thus constitute a dynasty, the Balti.
Alaric I (395–410)
Athaulf (410–415)
Sigeric (415)
Wallia (415–418)
Theodoric I (418–451)
Thorismund (451–453)
Theodoric II (453–466)
Euric (466–484)
Alaric II (484–507)
Gesalec (507–511)
Theodoric the Great (511–526), regent
Amalaric (526–531)
The Visigothic monarchy took on a completely elective character with the fall of the Balti, but the monarchy remained Arian until Reccared I converted in 587. Only a few sons succeeded their fathers to the throne in this period.
Theudis (531–548)
Theudigisel (548–549)
Agila I (549–554)
Athanagild (554–568)
Liuva I (568–572), only ruled in Narbonensis from 569
Liuvigild (569–586), ruled only south of the Pyrenees until 572
Hermenegild (580–585), sub-king in Baetica
Reccared I (580–601), son, sub-king in Narbonensis until 586, first Catholic king
Segga (586–587), rebel
Argimund (589–590), rebel
Liuva II (601–603), son
Witteric (603–610)
Gundemar (610–612)
Sisebut (612–621)
Reccared II (621), son
Swinthila (621–631)
Reccimer (626–631), son and associate
Sisenand (631–636)
Iudila (632–633), rebel
Chintila (636–640)
Tulga (640–641)
Chindaswinth (641–653)
Recceswinth (649–672), son, initially co-king
Froia (653), rebel
Wamba (672–680)
Hilderic (672), rebel
Paul (672–673), rebel
Erwig (680–687)
Egica (687–702)
Suniefred (693), rebel
Wittiza (694–710), son, initially co-king or sub-king in Gallaecia
Roderic (710–711), only in Lusitania and Carthaginiensis
Agila II (711–714), only in Tarraconensis and Narbonensis
Oppas (712), perhaps in opposition to Roderic and Agila II
Ardo (714–721), only in Narbonensis
His successor, Recared I (r.586-601), was converted to Christinanity shortly after his succession, and he then summoned bishops, Catholic and Arian, to a meeting at Toledo. There at the Third Council of Toledo (589) Catholicism became the official religion of the Visigothic state. Although some Arians refused conversion, the Visigoths quickly adopted the Catholic faith. Spanish Catholic religion also coalesced during this time.
Eastern Europe Tribes 550-900
Avars
The Avars of Europe enter the historical scene in the 550, having formed as a mixed band of warriors in the Pontic-Caspian steppe wishing to escape Western Göktürk rule. Their linguistic affiliation may be deduced from a variety of sources, betraying a variety of languages spoken by ruling and subject clans, Oghur.
In 567 the Avars signed an alliance with the Lombards, enemies of the Gepids, and together they destroyed much of the Gepid Kingdom. The Avars then persuaded the Lombards to move into northern Italy, an invasion that marked the last Germanic mass-movement in the Migration Period.
The Avar Khagan, Bayan, established supremacy over majority Slavic, Hunno-Bulgars, and Germanic tribes by 580. When the Byzantine Empire was unable to pay subsidies or hire Avar mercenaries, the Avars raided their Balkan territories. Bayan commanded an army of 10,000 Kutrigur Bulgars and sacked Dalmatia. They had captured Sirmium, an important fort in the former Roman province of Pannonia by 582.
Volga Bulgars and Slavic Bulgarians
In the middle of the 6th century, war broke out between the two main Bulgars (Hunno-Bulgars before 550) tribes, the Kutrigur and Utigur. The western Kutrigurs fell under Avar dominion. The eastern Utigurs fell under the western Göktürk Empire in 568. In 630, the Utigur Khan Kubrat defeated the Avars in alliance with Byzantium and reunited the Utigurs and Kutrigurs into a single Crimean Bulgar confederation in Patria Onoguria renamed as "Old Great Bulgaria" (630-668) until it was absorbed by the Khazar Khanate after Kubrat's death.
The Bulgars of Kubrat's son and appointed heir Batbayan Bezmer moved from the Azov region in about 660. They reached Idel-Ural in the eighth century, where they became the dominant population at the end of the 9th century, uniting other tribes of different origin which lived in the area, known as Volga Bulgaria (670-1223). Volga Bulgars preserved their national identity well until the Mongol attacks in 1223. They adopted the Kipchak language and became the Volga Tatars of the Khanate of Kazan and later modern Tatarstan.
The other sons, however, carried the Utigur name to the Balkans and Pannonian Sirmium by 677. In 680 Khan Asparukh conquered Scythia Minor, opening access to Moesia, and established the First Bulgarian Empire (681-1018), which was later mixed with the Slavic population, adopting what eventually became the Slavic Bulgarian language by the 10th century.
East, West and South Slavs
The first mention of the name Slavs dates to the 6th century, by which time the Slavic tribes inhabited a vast area of central-eastern Europe, occupying territory around the Vistula River, in present day Poland.
Over the following two centuries, the Slavs expanded further, towards the Balkans and the Alps in the south and west, and the Volga in the north and east.
The East Slavs (today Russians and Ukrainians) have origins in early Slavic tribes who mixed with the local Sarmatian tribes (Alans) and Hellenic colonies, as well as Uralic peoples. The Rus' are the ancient Slavic people who gave their name to the lands of Russia and Belarus. In the 750s, the Rus' had relocated "from over sea", to northeastern Europe, finally came under the leadership of Rurik. Later Rurik's relative Oleg captured Kiev, founding the Kievan Rus' (882-1240).
The West Slavs (today Poles, Czechs, Slovak and Sorbs) have origins in early Slavic tribes that settled in Central Europe after the Germanic tribes had left this area during the migration period. The area (Slovakia, Carinthia and Moravia) became border zone separating Avars and the Frankish Kingdoms. Tribal Slavs settled the region in the late fifth and early sixth centuries and they enjoyed a short-lived period of independence with the Empire of Samo (623–658).
Samo, a former Franconian merchant, trades with the Slavs of Bohemia, Hungary, Moravia, Slovakia and Carinthia. They recognise his leadership abilities and the latter elect him as king. With his help they defeat their greatest enemy, the Asiatic Avars. The Slav kingdom does not last after Samo's death. Instead, a Slav principality is formed from the kingdom's remnants in Carinthia (Austria), while the Avars resume control of Hungary.
Poland is rooted in the arrival of the Slavs, who gave rise to permanent settlement and historic development on Polish lands.
The South Slavs (Serbs, Croats, Bosnian and Slovenes) have origins in early Slavic tribes who mixed with the local Proto-Balkanic tribes (Illyrian, Dacian, Thracian, Pannonian, Paeonian and Hellenic tribes), as well as Romans (Romanized remnants of the former groups), and also temporarily settled invading East Germanic, Asiatic or Caucasian tribes such as Gepids, Huns, Avars and Bulgars.
The South Slavs arrived in the early 7th century in what is Croatia today. No contemporary written records about the migration have been preserved. Instead, historians rely on records written several centuries after the facts, and even those records may be based on oral tradition.
Khazars
The Khazars emerged from the breakup of the Western Göktürk Empire, known as the Khazar Khanate (650–1048). Once the Khazars emerged as a power, the Byzantines also began to form alliances with them.
During the 7th century, the Khazars fought a series of wars against the Umayyad. Arab armies poured across the Caucasus and in 737 defeated a Khazar army. The Khazar was forced to accept terms involving conversion to Islam, and to subject himself to the Caliphate.
However, the accommodation was short-lived as internal instability among the Umayyads and Byzantine support undid the agreement within three years, and the Khazars re-asserted their independence. The adoption of Judaism by the Khazars, which in this theory would have taken place around 740, may have been part of this re-assertion of independence.
Magyars and Hungarians
History of the Hungarian people, or Magyars was started with the separation of the Hungarian language from other Finno-Ugric languages around 800 BC.
In the early 8th century, some of the Hungarians moved from the west of the Ural Mountains to an area between the Volga, Don and the Seversky Donets rivers. They were subordinates of the Khazar khaganate. A rebellion broke out in the Khazar khaganate in around 830. As a result, three Kabar tribes of the Khazars joined the Hungarians and moved to the territory between the Carpathians and the Dnieper River, called Etelköz in todays Ukraine.
From 862 onwards, the Hungarians along with the Kabars, started a series of looting raids from the Etelköz into the Carpathian Basin, mostly against the Eastern Frankish Empire and Great Moravia.
Under the leadership of Árpád, some Hungarians entered the Carpathian Basin in 895. The Magyars was the leading tribe of the Hungarian alliance that conquered the whole Carpathian Basin by 907.
Muslim conquests 629-732
Muhammad was a man from Mecca who unified Arabia into a single religious polity under Islam. Believed by Muslims to be a messenger and prophet of God Muhammad. He spent his last ten years, (622-632), as the leader of Medina in a state of war with pagan Mecca. Through raids, sieges, and diplomacy, Muhammad and his followers allied with or subdued the tribes and cities of the Arabian peninsula in their struggle to overcome the powerful Banu Quraish of Mecca.
Caliphate is an Islamic state led by a supreme religious and political leader known as a caliph (successor) to Muhammad and the other prophets of Islam. The subsequent Rashidun (632-661) and Umayyad Caliphates (661-750) saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power. They grew well beyond the Arabian Peninsula in the form of a Muslim empire with an area of influence that stretched from the Central Asia, Middle East, North Africa, Sicily, and the Iberian Peninsula.
Muslim conquests of the Byzantines 629-698
The prolonged Byzantine-Sassanid wars of the 6th and 7th centuries left both empires exhausted and vulnerable in the face of the sudden emergence and expansion of the Arabs. In late 620s Muhammad had already managed to conquer and unify much of Arabia under Muslim rule, and it was under his leadership that the first Muslim-Byzantine skirmishes took place.
Just a few months after Heraclius and the Persian agreed on terms for the withdrawal of Persian troops from occupied Byzantine eastern provinces in 629, Arab and Byzantine troops confronted each other at the Mu'tah.
Their conquests brought about the collapse of the Sassanid Empire and a great territorial loss for the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines suffered a crushing defeat by the Arabs in 636. By 698 it had lost all of its southern provinces of Syria, Levant, Egypt and the Exarchate of Africa.
Muslim conquests of the Iberian Peninsula 711-732
The Arab Islamic proceed to conquered most of North Africa by 710. In 711, an Islamic Berber raiding party, led by Tariq, was sent to Iberia to intervene in a civil war in the Visigothic Kingdom. Tariq's army contained about 7,000 Berber horsemen. Crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, they won a decisive victory in the summer of 711 when the Visigothic King Roderic was defeated and killed at the Battle of Guadalete.
Tariq's commander quickly crossed with 5,000 Arab reinforcements, and by 718 the Muslims were in control of nearly the whole Iberian Peninsula. The advance into Western Europe was only stopped in what is now central France by the West Germanic Franks under Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732.
Following the Muslim conquest, Emirates of Al-Andalus were established (718-1492). For much of its history, it existed in conflict with Christian kingdoms to the north, with the beginning of the Battle of Covadong in 718, in which a small army defeated an Umayyad army in northern Iberia Mountains and established a small Christian principality in Asturias.
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