The Battle of Manzikert 1071 | Part One: Wolves At The Door

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome back to Anthology Of Heroes, a podcast sharing stories of epic figures

[00:00:04] and events that changed the course of history.

[00:00:07] Anthology Of Heroes is part of the Evergreen Podcast Network and I'm your host, Elliot Gates.

[00:00:12] Not too long ago I came across this quote that I thought was really thought provoking.

[00:00:16] I'm paraphrasing but the gist of the message was that we're currently living in one of

[00:00:21] the only periods in history where the Asian step isn't important.

[00:00:27] For anyone unaware the Asian step is the planes that make up Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan

[00:00:33] and Mongolia.

[00:00:34] They're not exactly tourist hotspots are they?

[00:00:37] This sleepy region of the world flies under the radar in national news.

[00:00:41] We don't really hear much about what goes on there and when we do it's usually a

[00:00:45] special interest story about some weird Soviet-esque dictator's cult of personality.

[00:00:51] But throughout world history this was not the norm.

[00:00:55] Since the beginning of recorded history the sprawling grass plains of Central Asia have

[00:00:59] been home to some of the wildest, most terrifying troublemakers the world has ever known.

[00:01:05] Men who learnt to ride a horse before they could walk and draw a bow before lacing their

[00:01:09] shoes.

[00:01:11] When China was first unified in the 3rd century BC one of the first things the emperor

[00:01:15] did was build the Great Wall of China to keep out the people he referred to as

[00:01:20] the fierce slaves, the Shungnu.

[00:01:23] 800 years later the mighty emperor of Rome trembled behind his walls as the scourge of

[00:01:28] God Attila the Hun burned, raped and looted his way through the empire.

[00:01:34] In 1258 AD when the prideful Abbasid Caliph dared to defy the grandson of Chinggis Khan

[00:01:41] he got a warning in the form of a letter that read quote,

[00:01:43] I will not leave a single person alive in your country.

[00:01:47] I will turn your city lands and empire into flames.

[00:01:51] Listen carefully to my advice, if you refuse to accept it I will show you the meaning of

[00:01:57] the will of God.

[00:01:59] Refuse he did and Baghdad one of the most beautiful cities in the Islamic world was

[00:02:04] reduced to a smoking ruin.

[00:02:06] The Shungnu, the Mongols, the Huns all these people have one thing in common, they all

[00:02:12] began life on the steplands of West Asia.

[00:02:16] This area was the Wild West, a lawless wasteland where only the strongest and meanest lived long

[00:02:23] enough to carry on their bloodline.

[00:02:25] Its inhabitants were too wild to conquer but too dangerous to ignore and so every king,

[00:02:31] sa or emperor heeded the same warning, never take your eyes off the step.

[00:02:38] Because all it took was one man with a bit of charisma and a few loyal soldiers to

[00:02:42] convince the tribes to stop killing each other and unite.

[00:02:47] And when that happened, empires crumbled.

[00:02:50] In this series we're going to see exactly that.

[00:02:54] Today that unlucky civilization is the Eastern Roman Empire, sometimes called Byzantium.

[00:03:00] In this episode we're journeying back to the 11th century when the Roman Empire

[00:03:04] was riding high.

[00:03:06] Its old rival, the Abyssin Caliphate had been in decline and slowly but surely

[00:03:10] it was reconquering many of the provinces lost to Islam centuries ago.

[00:03:15] But as the tendrils of Rome crept west, another power moved east.

[00:03:20] A dynasty of Turkic stepp warriors called the Seljuks.

[00:03:25] The Roman Empire had fought its share of stepp warriors but none with the kind of

[00:03:30] enterprising mindset these Seljuks had.

[00:03:33] Battle after battle was lost to them and those hard won gains looked like they

[00:03:37] were as good as gone.

[00:03:39] Not to be deterred, a brave but rather unlucky emperor, Romanus IV would raise an

[00:03:45] army intent on sending these scruffy Turkmen back to Asia for good.

[00:03:50] On a little known plain in Western Anatolia, modern Turkey, the two armies

[00:03:54] would clash and result in what historian Sir Stephen Rusman called the most

[00:03:59] decisive disaster in Byzantine history.

[00:04:03] He is not being overly dramatic.

[00:04:05] The consequences of this battle will haunt every emperor from this point on

[00:04:09] forwards until the fall of the Roman Empire around 300 or so years later.

[00:04:15] You're about to hear the story of one of the most decisive battles in history,

[00:04:19] widely celebrated in Turkey, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan and just as widely mourned

[00:04:25] in Greece as the moment their great empire had its kneecaps broken.

[00:04:30] There are a few battles we've covered that have had as many long-lasting

[00:04:33] consequences as the Battle of Manzacert.

[00:04:36] If this battle had gone another way, the sky's the limit in terms of what could have happened.

[00:04:41] Perhaps Greece lives on as a European superpower into the present day.

[00:04:45] Maybe Islam doesn't make its way down into Europe or spread into Indonesia.

[00:04:50] Modern Turkey, maybe it doesn't even exist, who knows?

[00:04:53] And if you've ever wondered why the Roman Empire fell,

[00:04:56] the Battle of Manzacert in 1071 is where all the dominoes began to fall.

[00:05:02] This is going to be a two-part series.

[00:05:04] This episode is going to be a lead up to the battle.

[00:05:07] We're going to follow Emperor Constantine IX, who ruled the Roman Empire

[00:05:11] from 1042 to 1055 AD during one of the most tumultuous periods in the empire's history.

[00:05:18] With Normans in the east, Petchnegs in the north and Seljaks in the west,

[00:05:22] along with internal rebellions, bankruptcy and a major religious shism,

[00:05:27] the emperor will be facing crises at every turn.

[00:05:30] While you're listening, please remember to give the show a five-star review

[00:05:33] on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

[00:05:35] And afterwards, check out our website and Patreon.

[00:05:37] Both links are in the bio.

[00:05:39] Let's get started, shall we?

[00:05:45] On the 11th of June, 1042,

[00:05:48] the people of Constantine, Obol got their first glimpse at their new emperor.

[00:05:52] The streets bustled with a lively crowd.

[00:05:55] Merchants mingled with labourers and Catholics with Jews

[00:05:58] as the royal entourage made its way towards the towering Aya Sophia Church.

[00:06:03] Waving and grinning was their new ruler.

[00:06:06] Their autocrat, their Augustus.

[00:06:08] Emperor Constantine IX.

[00:06:11] Towering and lean, the 40-year-old emperor's strawberry blonde hair

[00:06:14] blew carelessly in the wind as he beamed at the crowd.

[00:06:18] Spectators pointed out that lights seemed to radiate from him

[00:06:22] and others whispered about his uncanny resemblance

[00:06:24] to the mythical Greek figure Achilles.

[00:06:27] Whatever way you cut it, the emperor was undeniably an incredibly handsome man.

[00:06:32] And he knew it too.

[00:06:33] His chiseled jaw and silver tongue had led many wealthy dowagers

[00:06:37] to forsake their marriage vows.

[00:06:39] Only a few weeks back, he was stuck in exile on the Greek island of Lesbos,

[00:06:44] banished for catching the eye of the Roman emperor's Zoe.

[00:06:47] Unable to keep his wife and this serial womanizer apart,

[00:06:51] the then-emperor had banished him.

[00:06:53] Now that emperor was dead and Zoe, unable to forget Constantine,

[00:06:58] had summoned him back to the capital and married him

[00:07:00] before her husband's body was even cold.

[00:07:03] These were strange times in Rome,

[00:07:05] but even stranger was the situation Constantine had married into.

[00:07:10] He was entering the imperial palace as a threesome.

[00:07:13] There was now one emperor and two empresses.

[00:07:17] His new wife Zoe had a younger sister, Theodora.

[00:07:21] And wouldn't you know it, the two sisters despised each other.

[00:07:25] Zoe, the older and prettier, was an old hand at court politics.

[00:07:29] She'd been a choice bride back in her youth

[00:07:31] and realizing a woman's shelf life was tied to her beauty,

[00:07:35] had created her own perfumes and creams to keep her looking young.

[00:07:39] She was now in her 60s, but with a long blonde hair

[00:07:42] and flawless complexion, the empress looked not a day over 40.

[00:07:46] Shrewd and determined, Zoe had outplayed and outlived

[00:07:49] many empress and courtesans who underestimated

[00:07:52] what a woman was capable of.

[00:07:53] Constantine was now the third emperor she'd been wed to.

[00:07:57] Her younger sister, Theodora, was a different story.

[00:08:02] Raised in Zoe's shadow, she'd grown accustomed

[00:08:04] to a quiet, almost aesthetic lifestyle.

[00:08:07] She was a plain girl who really just wanted to be left alone.

[00:08:11] Today we'd probably call her a spinster.

[00:08:14] Though the sisters were very different,

[00:08:15] they shared one personality trait.

[00:08:18] Neither allowed themselves to be pushed around.

[00:08:21] Theodora had been caught plotting to overthrow her sister

[00:08:24] and just like a Disney film had been locked away

[00:08:26] in some far-off tower, Zoe hoping to never hear from her again.

[00:08:31] But the citizens of Eastern Rome and the Senate

[00:08:34] never forgot Theodora.

[00:08:36] The younger sister's quiet yet forceful personality

[00:08:39] had made her many friends in high society.

[00:08:41] So a decade later when Zoe found herself alone on the throne,

[00:08:45] the roaring crowds of Rome wanted, no,

[00:08:48] insisted Theodora return and the two sisters rule jointly.

[00:08:53] Zoe would have begged, pleaded with the Senate anything but that.

[00:08:57] But the people had spoken

[00:08:58] and Theodora who had grown accustomed to her life as a nun

[00:09:02] resisted vehemently as she was dragged back to the capital.

[00:09:05] She had to be physically restrained

[00:09:07] as a nun's habit was torn off

[00:09:09] and the imperial purple dress forced over her head.

[00:09:12] Zoe, desperate to reduce the power of her sister

[00:09:14] back at the capital, quickly began the hunt

[00:09:16] for a new husband

[00:09:18] and that is how Constantine the Ninth came to be.

[00:09:21] Waving and smiling at the crowd beneath his strong jawline

[00:09:24] and muscular frame,

[00:09:25] an unfamiliar sense of apprehension Nordidim.

[00:09:29] He had no experience in government nor military matters.

[00:09:32] Was he up to the task of running an empire?

[00:09:35] He was right to be nervous.

[00:09:37] Little did he know he was taking the reins

[00:09:40] at one of the most turbulent periods

[00:09:42] in the empire's long history.

[00:09:44] The new emperor's first challenge was factionalism.

[00:09:48] The two sisters had been there so long

[00:09:50] that factions had calcified around them.

[00:09:52] Cortizans were split between team Zoe or team Theodora

[00:09:56] and for the government to function,

[00:09:57] everyone needed to be pulling in one direction.

[00:10:00] The emperor charismatic and generous

[00:10:02] eased tensions wherever he could

[00:10:04] letting his checkbook do the talking.

[00:10:06] Quickly became clear that he was no cheapskate.

[00:10:09] The treasury opened and money flowed out like water.

[00:10:12] To celebrate his coronation,

[00:10:14] the emperor gave expensive gifts to anyone and everyone.

[00:10:17] A subtle way to secure support for a later day.

[00:10:20] This was not unusual in itself.

[00:10:23] Part of the reason everyone looked forward

[00:10:24] to a coronation was thanks to the money they were expecting,

[00:10:27] but Constantine really stepped things up.

[00:10:31] As far as gifts went, money was good,

[00:10:33] but titles were what court aristocrats

[00:10:35] craved above all else.

[00:10:37] There were all kinds of titles

[00:10:39] and while many had real duties attached to them,

[00:10:42] others were honorific.

[00:10:44] The doorkeeper, the hand washer or the ink keeper,

[00:10:47] there weren't much duties involved in these,

[00:10:49] but they came with a yearly salary.

[00:10:51] Because they effectively gave passive income,

[00:10:53] they were highly sought after

[00:10:55] and could be sold to aristocrats for a sizable fee.

[00:10:58] It was a trade-off.

[00:11:00] The empire's operating cost rose

[00:11:02] in exchange for immediate cash and political loyalty,

[00:11:05] but in many cases Constantine the ninth

[00:11:07] waived the upfront cost to acquire these titles.

[00:11:11] He simplified the deal.

[00:11:12] If you support me, I'll pay you each year.

[00:11:16] This quickly made him lots of allies

[00:11:18] but was financially very reckless.

[00:11:20] The impure debt list grew exponentially

[00:11:23] and someone, maybe not him,

[00:11:25] but an emperor further down the line

[00:11:27] would have to pay the piper.

[00:11:29] Following this extensive spending spree,

[00:11:31] Constantine seemed to assume his position was secure,

[00:11:34] but the new emperor forgot.

[00:11:36] It wasn't just the rich that needed to be placated.

[00:11:39] Just two years into his reign,

[00:11:40] a single stupid decision almost unraveled everything.

[00:11:45] Constantine had been married twice before Zoe

[00:11:48] and based on what we know about him,

[00:11:49] it's a pretty safe bet to imagine

[00:11:51] he probably wasn't faithful.

[00:11:53] For a provincial bureaucrat in the outer regions,

[00:11:56] an extramarital affair probably wouldn't incite riots

[00:11:58] in the streets, but when you were the emperor,

[00:12:01] it was a different story.

[00:12:03] In 1044, Constantine moved another woman

[00:12:06] into the Imperial Palace.

[00:12:08] This mistress of his seems to be in around

[00:12:10] since the beginning,

[00:12:11] but moving her into the palace

[00:12:13] and giving her an allowance,

[00:12:14] well that was really stepping things up, wasn't it?

[00:12:17] There were now three empresses living with him.

[00:12:21] And, strange as it may seem,

[00:12:22] his wife Zoe didn't seem to mind.

[00:12:25] In fact, the two women became friends

[00:12:28] and for a brief, blissful moment of time,

[00:12:30] there was finally peace in the Imperial Palace.

[00:12:33] A source claims that the feud between Zoe and Theodora

[00:12:36] even calmed down and the four of them,

[00:12:38] the mistress, the two sisters and Constantine, quote,

[00:12:42] settled into relax, pursue their hobbies

[00:12:44] and have a good time.

[00:12:46] Constantine's marital affair

[00:12:47] may not have bothered the two sisters,

[00:12:50] but the public were incensed.

[00:12:52] The people of Constantinople

[00:12:53] had quite a unique relation with their monarch,

[00:12:56] one that wasn't really replicated

[00:12:57] anywhere else in the world.

[00:12:59] Constantinople was one of the most populist

[00:13:01] and highly urbanized cities in the world at the time.

[00:13:04] Consequently, its citizens had a sense of familiarity

[00:13:07] with their monarchs who were regularly seen

[00:13:09] going about their business in the city.

[00:13:11] As a result, citizens could and did

[00:13:13] harangue the emperor as he passed them in the street.

[00:13:16] They would shout out to him,

[00:13:18] whether to cheer, to complain or anything in between.

[00:13:21] After too many ails at the chariot races,

[00:13:23] teasing chance could quickly spiral into all-out riots.

[00:13:28] And that's exactly what happened

[00:13:29] on the 9th of March, 1044.

[00:13:32] Flanked by a squad of bodyguards,

[00:13:34] the emperor left the safety of the palace

[00:13:36] and marched out into the streets of Constantinople.

[00:13:40] Perhaps from the beginning,

[00:13:42] he knew something wasn't right.

[00:13:43] The citizens looked at him sideways

[00:13:45] and whispered as his entourage passed.

[00:13:48] The people were angry.

[00:13:49] They hated his new mistress

[00:13:51] and the special treatment she'd received.

[00:13:53] A rumour had also spread that the two of them

[00:13:55] were planning to poison their beloved Zoe and Theodora.

[00:14:00] As the emperor's retinue passed,

[00:14:01] a few men began to boo and jeer,

[00:14:04] a small crowd formed following the monarch.

[00:14:07] The emperor kicked the spurs into his horses

[00:14:09] but around every corner there seemed to be more people,

[00:14:12] a mob growing angrier by the minute.

[00:14:15] The emperor's guards beat a few of them

[00:14:17] and carved a path through,

[00:14:18] but still the mass grew

[00:14:20] and soon blocked the emperor's path completely.

[00:14:23] Rocks flew and the energy of the crowd grew darker.

[00:14:26] Before he knew what was happening,

[00:14:28] the emperor was cornered

[00:14:29] and the crowd began to push and heckle his guards

[00:14:32] as they formed up around him.

[00:14:33] Soon their lines buckled under the weight of the crowd.

[00:14:36] In the commotion, bakers and labourers

[00:14:38] clambered over the shields and spears of his men,

[00:14:41] shouting and hurling rocks at the emperor,

[00:14:43] grabbing his purple robes in a fury ready to tear him apart.

[00:14:47] Constantine had finally found himself in a situation

[00:14:50] that neither his good looks nor his charisma could get him out of.

[00:14:53] Just as the crowd got their hands on him,

[00:14:55] Zoe, hearing the commotion,

[00:14:57] rushed to the viewing window outside the palace

[00:14:59] and talked the crowd down,

[00:15:01] insisting that there was no truth to the rumour

[00:15:03] that she and her sister were being poisoned.

[00:15:06] The crowd dispersed slowly

[00:15:08] and the badly shaken emperor breathed a sigh of relief.

[00:15:11] Little did he know, his troubles were just beginning.

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[00:16:57] Zoe and Theodora weren't just crowd favourites

[00:17:00] because of how long they'd been around.

[00:17:02] Through the veins of these forceful women ran old blood.

[00:17:06] These sisters were the last of the Macedonian dynasty.

[00:17:10] Founded by a peasant in the ninth century,

[00:17:12] the Macedonian dynasty were an unbroken chain

[00:17:15] of emperors and emperors that had slowly reversed

[00:17:18] the Muslim conquest of Muhammad and his successors.

[00:17:21] There had been setbacks, big ones are that,

[00:17:24] but through this family over the centuries,

[00:17:27] the Roman Empire was recovering.

[00:17:29] Among the Macedonian emperors and all Roman emperors,

[00:17:33] one figure emerged as the epitome of leadership,

[00:17:36] a figure so exceptional that none could surpass him.

[00:17:40] Emperor Basil II.

[00:17:42] Many of the policies and decisions

[00:17:44] that Basil put in place have a direct impact on our story

[00:17:47] so it's important to spend a few minutes getting to know him.

[00:17:50] Basil II ascended to the throne

[00:17:52] about 70 years prior to this point

[00:17:54] and began a transformative period in Byzantine history.

[00:17:58] Government reforms, conquest and above all, glory.

[00:18:03] Basil was an astute man.

[00:18:04] He went against the grain of almost everything it was

[00:18:07] to be a Byzantine.

[00:18:08] He hated luxuries and ceremonies, he hated music

[00:18:11] and if science couldn't make his arrows fly faster

[00:18:14] or his armor harder, he was interested.

[00:18:16] He had no sexual interest in women or men

[00:18:19] and conversations with him were short and gruff.

[00:18:22] There was only one thing Basil cared about

[00:18:25] and that was Rome.

[00:18:26] He had no interests beyond expanding his empire

[00:18:29] and restoring glory to Rome.

[00:18:31] When Basil took the throne, the empire was besieged

[00:18:34] by external threats and internal discord

[00:18:36] and he quickly emerged as a strong and incorruptible force

[00:18:40] and after training the recruits himself,

[00:18:42] he soon extended Roman influence far beyond its borders

[00:18:45] and bought Roman boots to areas

[00:18:47] that had been lost for centuries.

[00:18:49] Loved by his army who saw him as one of their own,

[00:18:52] Basil began the custom of importing Viking soldiers

[00:18:55] for imperial service.

[00:18:56] These Nordic shock troopers would go on

[00:18:59] to serve the empire for many centuries.

[00:19:01] Riding off the coattails of his success abroad,

[00:19:04] he took aim at the mega rich, the landowners

[00:19:07] and the court elites who for centuries

[00:19:09] had been sucking the imperial tea dry.

[00:19:12] Some weren't willing to accept this

[00:19:13] but always two steps ahead, Basil mauled any rebel leaders

[00:19:17] before they could gain momentum.

[00:19:19] Emperor Basil II reigned for just shy of 50 years.

[00:19:24] He is one of the longest serving monarchs in all history

[00:19:27] and was one of the greatest emperors in all of Roman history.

[00:19:31] As his body was laid to rest,

[00:19:32] the wealth and conquest he left behind were vast.

[00:19:36] Land-barrens were neutered

[00:19:38] and court rivals cowering in the shadows.

[00:19:41] It was a reign that could never and would never be topped.

[00:19:45] This quote by John Julius Norwich will summarize, quote,

[00:19:49] no lonely a man ever occupied the Byzantine throne

[00:19:53] and it's hardly surprising.

[00:19:54] Basil was an ugly, coarse, dirty, boorish Philstein

[00:19:58] and almost pathologically mean.

[00:20:01] He was in short deeply unbizantine.

[00:20:03] He cared only for the greatness of his empire.

[00:20:06] No wonder that it was in his hands

[00:20:08] that it reached its apogee.

[00:20:11] It was this man who Constantine the Ninth

[00:20:14] had to live up to.

[00:20:15] He had to prove quickly he was more than a pretty face.

[00:20:19] But since Basil's death about 20 years prior,

[00:20:22] Crown authority had been slowly but surely degraded.

[00:20:25] Power had been reconsentrated

[00:20:27] into the hands of a few wealthy families.

[00:20:30] The two most prominent were the Dukas family

[00:20:33] and the Komnemnoi family.

[00:20:35] Constantine had to pay very close attention

[00:20:37] to these families

[00:20:39] because the biggest threat to a sitting emperor

[00:20:41] was by far court rivals.

[00:20:44] External enemies may raid, sack and pillage

[00:20:46] but they just lacked the staying power

[00:20:48] to rival the oldest, wealthiest

[00:20:50] and strongest Christian empire on earth.

[00:20:54] But there was a sign that things were changing.

[00:20:56] In the year 911, thousands of kilometers away

[00:21:00] in the little northern city of Paris,

[00:21:02] a particularly aggressive and cunning

[00:21:04] band of Vikings attacked the city.

[00:21:06] The Vikings were fought off just

[00:21:09] but both defender and attacker knew they'd be back.

[00:21:12] So the French king proposed a deal.

[00:21:14] He would allow these heathen Vikings

[00:21:16] to permanently settle on his northern border

[00:21:19] providing they would defend his kingdom

[00:21:21] and convert to Christianity.

[00:21:23] And just like that, the Normans,

[00:21:25] literally translating as the Northmen were born.

[00:21:29] Within a generation or two,

[00:21:31] the descendants of these original Normans

[00:21:34] outgrew the little patch of land

[00:21:35] the king had granted to them.

[00:21:37] France was full but no longer confined

[00:21:40] to the frigid wastes of Scandinavia,

[00:21:43] the world was their oyster.

[00:21:45] They were, after all, Vikings

[00:21:47] sailing off into the sunset in search of glory

[00:21:49] was in their DNA.

[00:21:52] Very quickly, little bands of Normans

[00:21:54] found employment at the hands of kings across Europe.

[00:21:57] It's not hard to see why either.

[00:21:59] They were a terrifying blend of French knights

[00:22:02] and Viking shock troopers.

[00:22:04] And a few years of gentrification

[00:22:06] had done nothing to dull their edge.

[00:22:08] One story tells of a Norman captain

[00:22:10] who after being told he needed to surrender

[00:22:13] walked over to the envoy's horse,

[00:22:15] patted it gently, drew back his fist

[00:22:18] and punched the animal in the face so hard

[00:22:21] that it killed it.

[00:22:22] Another witness describes a Norman cavalry charge

[00:22:25] as quote, irresistible.

[00:22:27] Even just 100 or so of these guys

[00:22:29] could be enough to turn the tide in battle.

[00:22:32] Their services were in high demand

[00:22:33] and they accordingly charged a high price.

[00:22:37] But there was one drawback of hiring Normans.

[00:22:40] Their word was certainly not their bond.

[00:22:43] If their enemies offered them a higher price

[00:22:45] they'd switch sides without a second thought.

[00:22:47] And if their original employers paid them to return

[00:22:50] they'd switch right back.

[00:22:51] Soon the Normans were fabulously wealthy

[00:22:54] but once their campaigns came to an end

[00:22:56] they returned home to their cramped,

[00:22:57] tiny home on the French coastline.

[00:23:00] There were too many people, too much money

[00:23:02] and not enough space.

[00:23:04] They needed their own land

[00:23:05] and soon realized just how to get it.

[00:23:08] More often than not the Normans were employed by empires.

[00:23:12] Powerful, yes, but also slow, old

[00:23:15] and usually facing many crises at once.

[00:23:18] A few particularly industrious Norman captains

[00:23:21] began to realize that after their service had ended

[00:23:24] instead of returning home to Normandy

[00:23:26] they could just take to the countryside

[00:23:28] of the empire they were defending.

[00:23:29] Storm a local castle and just set up shop.

[00:23:33] The ruler could complain, he could threaten

[00:23:35] or maybe he'd even send an army

[00:23:37] but if the Normans held their nerve for a year or two

[00:23:39] they'd usually be left alone and forgotten about.

[00:23:42] In the meantime, they robbed the civilians for money

[00:23:44] extorted land tax and took overhead from town markets.

[00:23:49] When they'd done this for long enough

[00:23:50] and felt confident enough

[00:23:52] they'd request official recognition of their rule

[00:23:55] from the same sovereign they'd stolen the land from

[00:23:58] and more often than not they'd get it.

[00:24:00] It was a strategy that was arrogant, bold

[00:24:02] and completely at odds with the gentry

[00:24:04] of European society but it worked.

[00:24:07] They were in essence termites.

[00:24:10] You started off with just a few of them

[00:24:11] and maybe a couple little weird marks

[00:24:13] on the outside of your house

[00:24:14] and before you knew it, the place was crawling with them

[00:24:16] and they were almost impossible to get rid of.

[00:24:19] Soon tens of these little Norman fiefdoms

[00:24:22] had sprung up all over Southern Italy.

[00:24:25] An area just barely being held onto by the Roman Empire.

[00:24:29] Previous emperors had been extorted into paying them

[00:24:32] just to maintain the land they'd already stolen

[00:24:35] and to keep them from harassing neighbouring Dutchies.

[00:24:38] But from the beginning, Constantine seems to have wanted

[00:24:40] to draw a line in the sand.

[00:24:42] The Normans were growing into a significant internal threat

[00:24:46] and he sent out several armies

[00:24:47] led by some of his best generals to flush them out.

[00:24:51] But the Normans were smarter than that.

[00:24:53] As good as they were in battle

[00:24:55] a few hundred Norman soldiers

[00:24:57] could never match tens of thousands of Roman soldiers.

[00:25:00] So when the emperor was watching

[00:25:02] they played by the rules.

[00:25:03] They swore that they were humble vassals

[00:25:06] of the illustrious emperor who served as bidding.

[00:25:09] Taxes were sent onwards to Constantinople.

[00:25:12] Gifts were given and loyalty was assured.

[00:25:14] A few skirmishers were fought against Normans

[00:25:16] who wouldn't tow the line,

[00:25:18] but Constantine's options were limited.

[00:25:21] Aside from leaving behind an expensive standing army

[00:25:24] permanently in Italy, what was he to do?

[00:25:27] As soon as his troops had departed

[00:25:29] the Normans resumed their plundering

[00:25:31] and by the end of 1043

[00:25:33] Roman control of the area had receded

[00:25:36] to the very edges of the heel of Italy.

[00:25:43] While the Norman advance in Italy was gradual

[00:25:45] and calculated reports came in thick and fast

[00:25:48] of a new power emerging on the eastern flank of the empire.

[00:25:52] An area where cattle wrestling had turned into raiding

[00:25:55] and raiding had turned into battles.

[00:25:58] During the last few centuries

[00:25:59] it had been the Shia Fatimid Caliphate

[00:26:02] that sat on the empire's eastern flank.

[00:26:04] But for the past few decades it had become clear

[00:26:07] that the Fatimid Caliphate was in terminal decline.

[00:26:10] Basil II's conquests had gobbled up

[00:26:12] the Caliphate's territory from the west,

[00:26:15] but another previously unknown entity

[00:26:17] ate away at it from the east.

[00:26:20] In the emperor's council room

[00:26:21] they were known by a few different names,

[00:26:23] barbarians, Turkmen, Mamluks,

[00:26:26] but more often than not, Seljuks.

[00:26:29] Though the Seljuks make up a core part of this story

[00:26:32] their origins are pretty murky.

[00:26:34] The Seljuks were Turkmen,

[00:26:36] ethnic stepwires who inhabited the wide open plains

[00:26:39] of Central Asia.

[00:26:41] Many were slave soldiers,

[00:26:43] men who had been captured during raids

[00:26:45] by Muslim Caliphates and trained for combat.

[00:26:49] The Roman Empire had actually fought Turkmen

[00:26:51] on at least one occasion about 200 years back.

[00:26:54] On that occasion the Turkmen fought

[00:26:56] in service of the Islamic Caliph.

[00:26:58] Now they fought for themselves and they fought hard.

[00:27:02] Their step homeland was one big swirling battlefield

[00:27:06] where only the strongest survived.

[00:27:09] Darwinism, law of the jungle, survival of the fittest,

[00:27:12] whatever you call it,

[00:27:13] there was no room for rants on the step.

[00:27:16] The Seljuks were hardy, innovative

[00:27:18] and freakishly talented warriors

[00:27:20] whose simple life meant they spent almost all of their time

[00:27:23] riding horses and firing bows.

[00:27:26] Like so many other step warriors

[00:27:28] these guys were freaks of nature with their bows.

[00:27:32] They used a different type of bow to the Byzantines,

[00:27:35] a bow that was entirely step in design,

[00:27:38] the composite bow.

[00:27:40] The composite bow was short, stout and very portable,

[00:27:43] perfect for lengthy journeys on horseback.

[00:27:46] Unlike the European bow

[00:27:48] which was usually crafted from a single piece of wood,

[00:27:51] the Seljuk bow was constructed

[00:27:53] from multiple layers of flexible wood and animal horn.

[00:27:56] While time consuming to create and demanding an upkeep

[00:28:00] was a small price to pay for wielding

[00:28:02] the ancient equivalent of a Desert Eagle.

[00:28:04] The multiple layers of wood and glue in this bow

[00:28:07] gave it a huge amount of flex.

[00:28:09] I mean you can pull one of these things back

[00:28:11] to the point where the ends are almost touching,

[00:28:13] storing up an incredible amount of energy

[00:28:15] for such a small weapon.

[00:28:17] Put one of these in the hands of someone who is

[00:28:20] well almost like a trick rider

[00:28:21] in terms of skill on horseback

[00:28:23] and you have yourself a very, very deadly foe.

[00:28:27] These guys would gallop in,

[00:28:28] stop short in front of the enemy lines,

[00:28:30] let loose one arrow every five seconds,

[00:28:33] wheel around,

[00:28:34] steer the horse with their knees

[00:28:37] and fire backward from the saddle as they retreated,

[00:28:40] allegedly retaining accuracy to around 350 yards, 320 meters.

[00:28:45] Although Byzantine archers never matched

[00:28:47] this level of skill,

[00:28:49] Byzantine scholar and historian Walter Amil Kagey Jr.

[00:28:53] states that in earlier centuries,

[00:28:55] mounted horse archers were a core element

[00:28:57] of the Byzantine army

[00:28:59] and almost wholly responsible

[00:29:01] for the empire's earlier reconquests.

[00:29:03] But over the centuries,

[00:29:04] that skill set slowly dissipated

[00:29:07] and by the 10th century it was well and truly gone.

[00:29:10] Emperor Leo IV spelled it out explicitly

[00:29:13] writing in his combat manual quote,

[00:29:15] "'Archery has been wholly neglected

[00:29:17] "'and fallen into disuse among the Romans.'"

[00:29:20] Using bows, especially on horseback

[00:29:23] was a skill that required constant practice

[00:29:25] throughout life.

[00:29:26] You couldn't just stick a peasant on a step pony

[00:29:28] and hand him a compass and bow.

[00:29:30] Because of this, the Islamic Caliphs

[00:29:32] like the Fatimans or the Abyssids

[00:29:34] found themselves in a situation remarkably similar

[00:29:37] as did Europe with the Normans,

[00:29:39] an addiction to foreign mercenaries,

[00:29:42] completely reliant on lethal foreign soldiers

[00:29:44] to fight their battles.

[00:29:46] After a few centuries of taking orders and money

[00:29:49] from pompous overindulged Caliphs,

[00:29:51] bands of Turkmen began to assert themselves

[00:29:53] as the power behind the Caliph,

[00:29:56] the Seljuks were merely the latest band of Turkmen

[00:29:59] who'd rallied and organized a few thousand step archers

[00:30:02] into some shabby resemblance of a political entity,

[00:30:05] a horde the Emperor's advisors would have called them.

[00:30:08] But Constantine IX had his own answer

[00:30:11] to these grumblings in the east.

[00:30:13] If his Roman soldiers couldn't fight the Seljuks,

[00:30:15] he had ones that could.

[00:30:17] They were called the Petchnegs.

[00:30:19] The Petchnegs were step warriors too,

[00:30:22] at least they had been.

[00:30:23] They'd been bouncing around the Roman borders

[00:30:25] near modern Ukraine for the best part of 200 years.

[00:30:28] Early on in his rule,

[00:30:29] Constantine IX had defeated them, disarmed them,

[00:30:32] removed them from their chiefs

[00:30:34] and scattered them across the frontiers.

[00:30:36] This was the classic Roman strategy,

[00:30:39] conquer the barbarian,

[00:30:41] break down his cultural identity

[00:30:42] and rebuild him as a Roman citizen with a barbarian edge.

[00:30:46] But that took time, a generation or so at least.

[00:30:50] Barely a year after disarming them,

[00:30:52] Constantine IX gathered all 15,000 Petchneg warriors.

[00:30:56] He paid them, gave them good horses, weapons and supplies

[00:30:59] and sent them east in preparation

[00:31:01] for the Seljuq invasions.

[00:31:03] Play one barbarian against another,

[00:31:05] another time-ordered Roman strategy.

[00:31:07] But as soon as the men had left the capital,

[00:31:10] their chieftains came to an obvious conclusion.

[00:31:13] They had all their old warriors, new horses, new armor.

[00:31:16] Why go east and fight people they had no quarrel with?

[00:31:20] Maybe it was time for round two with the Romans.

[00:31:23] And so, spurring their horses back into the Bosphorus River,

[00:31:26] the Petchnegs swung back and headed north.

[00:31:30] Constantine IX now had three wars to fight at once.

[00:31:39] Hello everyone.

[00:31:40] My name is Tom Kearns

[00:31:41] and I host the Anglo-Saxon England podcast

[00:31:44] where I cover the history and culture of England

[00:31:46] from the departure of the Romans in the fifth century

[00:31:49] to the Norman conquest in 1066.

[00:31:51] So far we've surveyed the collapse of Roman rule in Britain,

[00:31:54] the migration of the Anglo-Saxons

[00:31:56] and the history of Northumbria from its beginnings

[00:31:58] in the mists of legend to its destruction

[00:32:01] at the hands of Viking raiders in the ninth century.

[00:32:03] I hope you'll come and give it a go.

[00:32:08] Hello, this is Gary Chahot

[00:32:10] welcoming you to check out the French History podcast.

[00:32:13] Our main show covers the history of France

[00:32:15] from the first humans until present.

[00:32:17] If you like Mike Duncan's The History of Rome

[00:32:20] and wanted a similar program

[00:32:22] covering the land of beauty, culture and love,

[00:32:25] we are exactly that.

[00:32:27] We also host world-renowned scholars

[00:32:29] who have delivered guest episodes on their specialties

[00:32:32] including 18th century pirates,

[00:32:35] revolutionary booksellers in 20th century Paris,

[00:32:39] the special friendship between the Marquis de Lafayette

[00:32:41] and Thomas Jefferson and numerous others.

[00:32:45] Learn what you love

[00:32:46] and listen to the French History podcast today.

[00:32:54] By the seventh year of his reign,

[00:32:56] Constantine the Ninth faced a slew of problems.

[00:33:00] His health was failing.

[00:33:01] Riddled with gout,

[00:33:02] the tall handsome emperor now winced with every step he took.

[00:33:06] Yet more urgent than his personal health

[00:33:08] was his empire that seemed to be collapsing around him.

[00:33:12] With each day, the Normans pushed his Roman soldiers

[00:33:14] closer and closer to the heel of Italy.

[00:33:17] His garrisons begged for reinforcements

[00:33:19] but he had little to give.

[00:33:21] The Petchnecks armed and supplied by him

[00:33:24] were rampaging through the Balkans

[00:33:26] and every general he sent there came back in a coffin.

[00:33:29] And the Seljuks, though thankfully occupied

[00:33:32] with securing their own backyard

[00:33:33] would soon turn their attention to his empire too.

[00:33:37] The constant military defeats loss of taxable land

[00:33:40] and breakdown of trade was causing severe financial stress

[00:33:43] leading to the emperor taking the highly unpopular move

[00:33:46] of debasing the currency

[00:33:47] reducing the gold portion of his coins

[00:33:49] so he could make more.

[00:33:52] Remember all those court titles he had to pay?

[00:33:54] Paying the salary of so many bloated, pointless government roles

[00:33:58] was slowly bankrupting the empire.

[00:34:01] But the emperor knew if he cut these salaries

[00:34:03] his head would likely go with him.

[00:34:05] The historical record is a bit murky here

[00:34:07] but it seems like at this point

[00:34:09] the emperor did the unthinkable.

[00:34:11] He demobilized the Eastern army.

[00:34:14] With the Seljuks massing on the border

[00:34:16] he stood the troops down

[00:34:18] told them to go home so he didn't have to pay them.

[00:34:22] This decision seems so boneheaded

[00:34:24] so utterly stupid.

[00:34:26] It's usually highlighted as the worst decision made

[00:34:29] by Constantine the Knife

[00:34:31] and many say that this moment virtually guaranteed

[00:34:34] the disaster that would follow a few years later at Manzacurt.

[00:34:37] But why did he do it?

[00:34:39] Primary sources talk of the emperor's greed

[00:34:41] in trying to save money.

[00:34:43] One even says that he blew the money on prostitutes

[00:34:46] all of it.

[00:34:47] But Byzantine historian Anthony Caldellus

[00:34:49] has a different theory.

[00:34:51] He theorized that perhaps the Eastern army

[00:34:54] was serving instead of paying taxes.

[00:34:57] In other words, doing army duty instead of paying.

[00:35:00] This was a common arrangement in some parts of the empire

[00:35:03] and considering the Imperial army

[00:35:04] had never performed well against the Seljuks

[00:35:07] the emperor disbanded it, took the tax dollars

[00:35:09] and instead paid for mercenaries

[00:35:11] mostly Normans or Varangian Vikings.

[00:35:14] The records show posting of these soldiers

[00:35:16] on the border provinces

[00:35:17] so this could have well been the case.

[00:35:19] It sounds counterintuitive for the leader of a nation

[00:35:22] to stand down his armies while the wolves gathered at the door

[00:35:25] but we've got to remember

[00:35:26] the greatest threat to a sitting emperor

[00:35:28] was internal strife.

[00:35:30] Some hotshot general taking his place.

[00:35:33] For 200 years at least

[00:35:34] there had been no external power equal to the empire.

[00:35:38] Raids from neighboring states would mess up things

[00:35:40] in the short term

[00:35:41] but civil wars, Romans against Romans

[00:35:44] while the aftershocks of these

[00:35:46] could be felt for decades

[00:35:48] and this is exactly what happened in 1047.

[00:35:51] Since Constantine had taken the throne

[00:35:53] the Balkan army had seen their ranks thinned

[00:35:55] their generals replaced and their pay cut.

[00:35:58] The men were raging

[00:36:00] and clamouring to replace the miserly emperor Constantine IX

[00:36:03] with someone more amenable to their needs.

[00:36:06] Leo Tornicius was the emperor's second cousin

[00:36:10] according to a primary source

[00:36:11] he was short, crafty, proud and ambitious.

[00:36:14] He was also disloyal

[00:36:16] and Constantine knew it.

[00:36:18] Having already caught him plotting against him

[00:36:20] the emperor shaved his head

[00:36:22] forced him to become a monk

[00:36:23] and ordered him to return to the capital

[00:36:25] so he could keep an eye on him

[00:36:26] but Tornicius never took to life in a monastery

[00:36:29] and when the disgruntled Balkan troops

[00:36:31] asked if he wanted to become an emperor

[00:36:33] he gladly accepted and threw the habit aside.

[00:36:35] This was the exact situation

[00:36:37] Constantine IX had been trying to prevent.

[00:36:40] Barrelling towards Constantinople came

[00:36:42] most of his Balkan field army

[00:36:44] with Tornicius at the helm.

[00:36:47] Tornicius' plan was to take Constantinople

[00:36:49] before the emperor could summon the western armies to assist.

[00:36:53] Time was of the essence.

[00:36:55] With his usual vigor, Constantine leapt into action.

[00:36:58] The western army was summoned

[00:36:59] but he'd have to hold on until they got there.

[00:37:02] In trusting the overall defence of the city

[00:37:04] to a palace unique

[00:37:05] emperor Constantine IX took his place on the walls

[00:37:07] alongside his convicts and mercenaries.

[00:37:10] The mammoth walls of Constantinople

[00:37:12] were the greatest of the ancient world.

[00:37:15] Because of them, no man had ever taken the city by force.

[00:37:18] But if Leo could convince the citizens to turn on him

[00:37:21] it was all over.

[00:37:23] When the rebel army reached the outskirts of the city

[00:37:25] they crowned Leo Tornicius as a new emperor

[00:37:28] in a mock coronation

[00:37:29] as they yelled insults at Constantine from the ground.

[00:37:33] The theatrical performance was undertaken

[00:37:35] in full view of the city's defenders.

[00:37:37] Tornicius and his rebels knew that

[00:37:39] they could avoid bloodshed entirely

[00:37:41] if they could make the population turn on Constantine.

[00:37:44] As the drums and fanfare died down

[00:37:46] the ceremony came to an end.

[00:37:48] Perhaps an eerie silence fell over no man's land

[00:37:51] as the two armies waited to see what would happen next.

[00:37:55] Constantine knew from first hand experience

[00:37:57] how fickle the population of Constantinople could be.

[00:38:01] His heart pounding in his chest

[00:38:02] he waited to see which way public opinion would blow.

[00:38:05] Then it came.

[00:38:07] Relief flattered over him

[00:38:08] as a man standing next to him

[00:38:09] began booing the pretender.

[00:38:12] The rest of his defenders joined in.

[00:38:14] Insults and rocks broke the silence

[00:38:16] as the defenders yelled abuse

[00:38:17] at the stocky pretender emperor outside the walls.

[00:38:20] Constantine breathed a sigh of relief

[00:38:22] as Tornicius retreated back to his lines

[00:38:24] under the cover of his men's shields.

[00:38:26] While the defenders blood was up

[00:38:28] Constantine's unique general advised

[00:38:30] that they should capitalize on the energy of the crowd

[00:38:33] and sally out to meet the rebels in open battle.

[00:38:36] The emperor agreed.

[00:38:38] It was a stupid idea.

[00:38:39] Regardless of their energy

[00:38:41] convicts and civilians were no match for trained army.

[00:38:45] Almost as soon as they were out the gate

[00:38:47] the militia were butchered by Tornicius's army.

[00:38:50] The terrified recruits fled from the walls

[00:38:52] in such a panic that they actually left the gate open.

[00:38:55] It seemed all was lost

[00:38:56] but for an inexplicable reason, Tornicius held back.

[00:39:01] Everything he'd wanted was within his grasp

[00:39:03] but perhaps remembering the reaction from the crowds

[00:39:05] he didn't advance.

[00:39:07] Michael Sellas our primary source insists that quote

[00:39:11] he was confidently awaiting our invitation

[00:39:13] to assume the throne.

[00:39:15] He assumed that he would be led to the palace

[00:39:17] by flaming torches in a procession worthy of a sovereign.

[00:39:21] If that was the case he'd be sorely disappointed.

[00:39:23] The emperor desperately rallied his deserting conscripts,

[00:39:26] barred the gate and by nightfall the city was secure.

[00:39:30] Over in Tornicius's camp support was melting away.

[00:39:33] Many troops had joined his rebellion

[00:39:35] because Tornicius had lied to them

[00:39:37] saying that Constantine the ninth was dead.

[00:39:40] So the next morning when the sun rose over the walls

[00:39:42] the rebels were greeted by the sight of the emperor

[00:39:44] dressed in full imperial regalia.

[00:39:47] His tall broad frame and all its majesty

[00:39:49] caught the eyes of his adversaries and allies alike.

[00:39:52] Shining like a jewel,

[00:39:53] his gold purple cloak shimmered with gold.

[00:39:56] Despite his worsening gout and intestinal problems

[00:39:59] Constantine though not a general

[00:40:01] displayed unwavering energy and courage

[00:40:03] throughout the siege.

[00:40:05] The fighting was intense but after a week

[00:40:07] of little progress Tornicius's support

[00:40:09] had all but melted away.

[00:40:11] After retreating to a monastery

[00:40:13] the would-be emperor was dragged back to Constantinople

[00:40:16] and blinded on the spot.

[00:40:19] And with this act the rebellion was over.

[00:40:22] As far as civil wars went Constantine the ninth

[00:40:24] had gotten off lightly

[00:40:26] but the stress of ruling was clearly getting to the emperor.

[00:40:29] Following the siege the emperor's gout

[00:40:31] had worsened to the point of him needing to be carried.

[00:40:34] Unfortunately there was no time to rest.

[00:40:37] As one crisis ended another began.

[00:40:44] When the western portion of the Roman Empire fell

[00:40:47] in the fifth century

[00:40:48] two different flavours of Christianity began to emerge.

[00:40:53] This was no real surprise.

[00:40:54] I mean think about it if you took two people

[00:40:56] from one city and supplanted one in the mountains

[00:40:59] and one in the desert

[00:41:00] if you checked back on their descendants 500 years later

[00:41:04] they'd be different wouldn't they?

[00:41:05] That have different foods, tradition, practices

[00:41:08] maybe even languages that were unique to them

[00:41:10] and the environment they lived in.

[00:41:13] Sometimes this was called cultural drift

[00:41:15] and this is exactly what happened

[00:41:16] in the early Christian church.

[00:41:18] Constantinople had been founded as a Christian city

[00:41:21] and when the western and eastern Roman Empire were united

[00:41:24] it was unquestionably the head of church authority

[00:41:28] but after the Roman Empire lost control

[00:41:30] of the western portions of its empire

[00:41:32] the major cities like Paris, Ark and Venice

[00:41:35] or Winchester began to look to Rome

[00:41:38] and the Pope as the spiritual leader of their religion.

[00:41:42] The patriarch, the leader of the church in Constantinople

[00:41:45] continued to dictate how church liturgy should be performed

[00:41:49] and how scripture should be interpreted

[00:41:51] but far away in the cities of western Europe

[00:41:54] his orders began to fall on deaf ears.

[00:41:56] As time went on some popes began to challenge

[00:41:59] the accepted norm that Constantinople

[00:42:01] and its patriarch held supreme authority

[00:42:04] on church affairs.

[00:42:05] The way they saw it, it was Rome

[00:42:07] where every king and queen of Europe looked,

[00:42:10] paid homage to or took pilgrimage to.

[00:42:13] Who souls did the patriarch speak for?

[00:42:15] A couple of Greek islands

[00:42:17] and some scruffy half frozen slabs.

[00:42:20] In the past when difficult theological questions arose

[00:42:23] the emperor with support of the patriarch

[00:42:26] called a council of influential figures

[00:42:28] across the Roman Empire.

[00:42:29] A theological debate took place

[00:42:31] and once an answer to a question had been agreed upon

[00:42:34] that answer was added to the long codex of Christianity.

[00:42:37] It became orthodoxy.

[00:42:39] But as the power of Constantinople declined

[00:42:42] successive popes in Rome decided

[00:42:44] that they were no longer happy

[00:42:45] being another participant in these debates.

[00:42:48] For centuries now the western Catholic church

[00:42:51] and the eastern orthodox church

[00:42:52] have been growing more resentful

[00:42:54] of the power the other held

[00:42:56] but it would be now during the reign

[00:42:58] of Constantine the ninth

[00:42:59] that a perfect storm of coinciding events

[00:43:02] would lead to what we still refer to today

[00:43:04] as the great schism.

[00:43:07] A day when the two churches east and west

[00:43:09] stopped looking at the other

[00:43:11] as a wayward brother in need of guidance

[00:43:14] and instead viewed them as dangerous heretics

[00:43:17] beyond redemption.

[00:43:19] It all started with a letter

[00:43:20] from the pope to the patriarch

[00:43:22] scolding him for the use of yeast in church bread.

[00:43:26] Silly as it sounds

[00:43:27] the use of yeast in church bread

[00:43:29] had been and continues to be

[00:43:31] a long standing quarrel between the two churches

[00:43:34] owing to the Bible being translated

[00:43:36] into different languages.

[00:43:37] To sort this out

[00:43:38] the pope sent a delegation to Constantinople

[00:43:41] and the delegation was led by a man called Humbert.

[00:43:44] Humbert didn't like the eastern church

[00:43:47] he didn't like the Greek language they used

[00:43:49] he didn't like how they performed their ceremonies

[00:43:51] and he especially didn't like having

[00:43:52] to debate theological matters with them.

[00:43:55] In fact, he planned to spend not a moment longer

[00:43:57] than he had to in this stinking

[00:43:58] hedonistic city of the east.

[00:44:01] Upon his arrival with a scowl of disapproval on his face

[00:44:04] he hitched up his cloak and walked briskly

[00:44:06] for his meeting with the head of the eastern church

[00:44:09] patriarch Michael Carolarius.

[00:44:12] Carolarius was a character in himself.

[00:44:15] Opinionated and egotistical

[00:44:17] he had played kingmaker for a number of emperors

[00:44:20] and enjoyed an almost celebrity status in the city.

[00:44:23] Needless to say

[00:44:24] he too was not pleased with outsiders questioning

[00:44:27] his authority on church affairs.

[00:44:29] It's important to know that by the time Humbert's entourage

[00:44:32] arrived at Constantinople

[00:44:34] the pope who'd sent him had died

[00:44:37] meaning that Humbert was technically no longer authorized

[00:44:39] to conduct the business of the church.

[00:44:42] There is debate about what happened next.

[00:44:44] Traditionally, Carolius is blamed for getting in a half

[00:44:47] and derailing the meeting

[00:44:48] but Byzantine historian Anthony Caldellus asserts

[00:44:52] that this couldn't have been the case

[00:44:54] because by the time the pope's letters were delivered

[00:44:56] Humbert and Carolius hadn't actually met yet.

[00:44:59] To keep the story moving

[00:45:00] and to keep my email free of hate mail

[00:45:02] I'm not going to speculate on who was to blame

[00:45:04] but what happened next was clear.

[00:45:06] On Saturday the 16th of July 1054

[00:45:10] Humbert and his delegates entered the Iesofia church.

[00:45:14] Noses held high they walked brusquely past the attendants

[00:45:17] and the pews to the high altar

[00:45:19] and dropped on it a rolled sheet of paper.

[00:45:23] Without a word they turned around

[00:45:24] walked back to the entrance

[00:45:26] and stopped only to dust off their boots

[00:45:28] and departed back to Rome.

[00:45:30] Written on that paper was an order of excommunication

[00:45:34] against patriarch and his followers.

[00:45:37] Excommunication was like being kicked out of a club.

[00:45:41] For the recipient it was a formal severance

[00:45:43] and exclusion from the church of God.

[00:45:46] Leaders from both churches

[00:45:47] had excommunicated each other in the past

[00:45:50] and disagreements had fled up before

[00:45:52] but this time there would be no going back.

[00:45:55] When Humbert dropped that scroll

[00:45:57] on the altar of the Iesofia

[00:45:59] the fraying rope that connected the two churches

[00:46:01] was cut this time for good.

[00:46:04] From this day onwards the two churches

[00:46:06] would go their own way.

[00:46:08] Any feelings of brotherhood were over.

[00:46:11] This was a heavy blow to the empire

[00:46:13] because the delegates weren't just there

[00:46:15] to bicker over church bread

[00:46:17] they were supposed to discuss

[00:46:18] a mutually beneficial alliance

[00:46:20] against the Norman threat in Southern Italy.

[00:46:23] The greatest hope the empire had

[00:46:25] in holding onto their Italian possessions was gone.

[00:46:29] The delegates abrupt exit all but confirmed

[00:46:31] the emperor would get no help

[00:46:33] from the Pope in dealing with the Normans.

[00:46:35] From this point onwards successive Popes

[00:46:38] would take the opposite approach

[00:46:39] cosying up to Norman lords

[00:46:41] and officially recognizing their conquests.

[00:46:44] To this day nearly a thousand years later

[00:46:47] the debate between Orthodox and Catholic Christians

[00:46:50] as to who was to blame for the great schism continues.

[00:46:58] In 1055 AD

[00:47:00] Constantine the 9th lay on his deathbed.

[00:47:03] His 13 year reign had come to an end

[00:47:06] both his body and his empire

[00:47:08] bore the marks of a stressful and difficult life.

[00:47:11] Once strong, handsome and full of energy

[00:47:14] the challenges he'd faced

[00:47:15] had taken their toll leaving him broken and tired.

[00:47:19] The Seljuks in the east had bashed their way

[00:47:21] through the outer Muslim buffer states

[00:47:23] through the Christian buffer states

[00:47:25] and were now raiding deep into the Roman heartland.

[00:47:28] Bari, the last Roman stronghold in Italy

[00:47:30] was nearing surrender to the Normans

[00:47:33] and the Pope who would have made a perfect ally against them

[00:47:35] was now cowering in their shadow.

[00:47:38] The Petchnegs though they'd finally settled down

[00:47:41] were now a semi-hostile power

[00:47:42] sitting dormant within the borders of the empire.

[00:47:46] Things were bad

[00:47:47] but how many of these issues

[00:47:49] were actually Constantine the 9th's fault?

[00:47:52] Most historians hold harsh opinions

[00:47:54] on the rule of Constantine the 9th

[00:47:56] and it's not hard to see why.

[00:47:58] Lost Italy to the Normans

[00:47:59] re-armed the Petchnegs leading to widespread rebellion

[00:48:02] weakened the army and let the Seljuks raid with impunity

[00:48:05] upset the Pope

[00:48:06] and throughout it all spent money like a man possessed.

[00:48:10] But did he cause these problems?

[00:48:12] The fact of the matter is that the reign of Constantine the 9th

[00:48:15] saw more challenges than the Roman empire had seen

[00:48:17] in the last 200 years at least

[00:48:20] most of them happening at the same time.

[00:48:23] The addition of the Normans and Seljuks

[00:48:25] had changed the game permanently.

[00:48:27] These two powers were experts in styles of warfare

[00:48:30] that the empire had no prior experience with

[00:48:33] age old Roman tactics like bribery, divide and conquer

[00:48:36] or playing one barbarian against the other

[00:48:38] weren't gonna work anymore.

[00:48:40] The Roman army had been in decline long before Constantine's rule

[00:48:43] and while his choice to re-arm the Petchnegs

[00:48:45] was a failed gamble

[00:48:47] this was really the only option he had.

[00:48:49] The only thing that beat step archers were more step archers.

[00:48:53] Likewise the great shism with the western church

[00:48:56] had been a long time coming.

[00:48:57] If the emperor had more time

[00:48:59] perhaps he could have mended the relationship

[00:49:01] but the two churches had been diverging for centuries.

[00:49:04] For whatever he'd done or not done

[00:49:07] as emperor Constantine the 9th closed his eyes

[00:49:09] for the final time

[00:49:10] he could take solace in the fact that his empire

[00:49:13] shaky as it was was still standing.

[00:49:16] The men that followed him would not be so lucky.

[00:49:19] Just 16 years later his successor would meet a horrific demise.

[00:49:24] Screaming in agony he would die alone

[00:49:26] on the filthy floor of some distant monastery.

[00:49:29] The excruciating pain from his festering ice sockets

[00:49:32] was nothing compared to the guilt he felt for his role

[00:49:35] in the empire's greatest catastrophe.

[00:49:39] His name was Romanus IV

[00:49:41] and his tragic tale awaits us in the next episode.

[00:49:47] Thanks for listening guys.

[00:49:48] Just like Constantine relying on his generous benefactors

[00:49:51] to hold the Byzantine empire together

[00:49:53] I, a humble indie podcaster, rely on you, the listener

[00:49:57] to help keep this show humming along.

[00:49:59] This podcast is fueled by my passion to entertain, educate

[00:50:02] and share these important stories

[00:50:03] that you may not have heard elsewhere

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[00:50:07] Your support on Patreon is so important

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[00:50:50] Thanks for listening guys

[00:50:51] and catch you on the next one.

[00:50:58] History is complicated.

[00:50:59] The story of human progress is long, messy

[00:51:03] and riddled with controversies big and small.

[00:51:06] On conflicted we dive head first

[00:51:09] into history's most infamous events

[00:51:10] and contentious figures.

[00:51:12] We try and untangle the good from the bad,

[00:51:15] the fact from the fiction

[00:51:17] and the monsters from the misunderstood.

[00:51:19] Was Jengus Khan a murderous butcher or a civic pioneer?

[00:51:24] Did the Allied powers go too far

[00:51:27] in firebombing the German city of Dresden

[00:51:29] at the twilight of World War II?

[00:51:31] And how did the Marquis de Sade

[00:51:34] acquire such a sinister reputation

[00:51:36] and was any of it true?

[00:51:38] These are just a few of the tough questions

[00:51:41] we wrestle with and investigate on conflicted.

[00:51:44] So if you love history or just enjoy a good story,

[00:51:47] please join me, your host Zach Cornwell

[00:51:50] for a fascinating new topic each and every month.

[00:51:53] Conflicted History podcast is available on Spotify,

[00:51:57] Apple or wherever else you get your podcasts.

[00:52:00] I hope to see you soon.

[00:52:13] I'm Allison Holland, host of the Kennedy Dynasty podcast.

[00:52:16] Equipped with a microphone

[00:52:18] and a long-term fascination of the Kennedy family

[00:52:20] I am joined by an incredible cast

[00:52:22] of experts, friends and guests

[00:52:24] to take you on a fun, relaxed, yet informative journey

[00:52:27] through history and pop culture.

[00:52:28] From book references to fashion to philanthropy

[00:52:31] to our modern expectations of the presidency itself

[00:52:34] you'll see that there is so much more to Kennedy

[00:52:36] than just JFK or conspiracy theories.

[00:52:39] Join me for the Kennedy Dynasty podcast.