The Byzantine Empire: The Dark Ages

The Dark Age’s of Europe were a pivotal point of time in European history; however, we do not know much about the Dark Ages, which gives the Dark Ages it’s name. Major events include the Black Plague, the decline of western civilization and the end of the Western Roman Empire, all of this which made this a dark time in European history. I wanted to read this book, in particular, because the dark ages of Europe were a particularly black spot in history (there is much less information on Europe during this period), and it’s also a key period to explain the fall of the western Roman Empire, and what happened immediately afterward.

This particular blog post spans 550-850 AD and covers the Byzantine Empire.

The Byzantine Empire, in the later part, of the greater Roman Empire 250AD-450AD was much wealthier, stronger, and more populated than the Western Roman Empire’s half. The Roman Empire was split into four parts by Constatine. Their were the Western and Eastern halves of the Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire’s capital was Rome and the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantium’s capital was Constantinople. The Eastern Roman Empire lasted until ~1450 AD while the Western Roman Empire fell in approximately 450AD. The Western Roman Empire fell to the barbarians, the Huns, the Vandals, the Ostrogoth’s and the Goth’s which were the main barbarian tribes that were responsible for the Western Roman Empire’s fall. The Eastern Roman Empire fell to the Ottoman Empire in ~1450. However, it was severely weakened after getting sacked by the Crusaders between 1050-1200 AD. The Eastern Roman Empire’s church had a schism with the Western Roman Empire’s Catholic church which caused the two churches to split into the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek or Eastern Orthodox church; a split that still exists and is relevant today.  The Eastern Roman Empire was a split off of the Roman Empire, it faced major difficulties in the early 7^th century, and finally its economy was in a major crisis in the 7^th century.

The Eastern Roman Empire, and all of Europe, struggled heavily between the 5^th-8tth centuries; it was considered the Dark Ages. The Eastern Orthodox or Greek Church was based in the Hagia Sophia.[1]

The 5^th-8^th centuries in Europe were considered the dark ages because there is little written knowledge left, even in the Eastern part of the Empire that was much stronger. The Western Roman Empire lost control over the Eastern Roman Empire during the catastrophic events between 609-642 AD.[2] Wickham wrote, “Between 602-820, however, only five out of twenty-one emperors died naturally in office.”[3] This shows a large culture of coups in the Eastern Roman Empire, which were very common. An example of one of these coups was the emperor Maurice: he was overthrown in a military coup by his own army in 602AD.[4] This is a large issue for long-term stability of an Empire, Kingdom, or Country. Stable, peaceful and effective leadership is critical for a government entity to succeed. The Eastern Roman Empire’s main enemies were the barbarian raiders, the Persian’s, the Ottomans, the Seleucids and the Mamluks.

The Eastern Roman Empire’s enemies included, the Crusaders, the Mamluks, the barbarian raiders, the Seleucids, the Ottomans, the Persian’s and internal enemies. The frontiers of the Eastern Roman Empire in the North were the Danube River the South, Egypt, the West, Greece and the East, Syria. The Persians between 608 AD-651 AD conquered the Byzantine territories of (Anatolia was only raided in 611AD) Anatolia 611AD,(these were conquered) Syria was conquered in 613AD, Palestine in 614AD, they started (raided) the Aegean in 616AD- 617 AD, Egypt in 619AD, and even worse in 626 AD, a Slavic army besieged the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, It looked like all of the Roman Empire could be completely conquered and taken by 627 AD; a sad end of a once magnificent and dominant European Empire.

The Eastern Roman Empire faced a major economic crisis in the 7^th century. After the Eastern Roman Empire split from the Roman Empire in 284 AD, the Eastern Roman Empire had an extremely strong economy.[5] The Eastern Roman Empire had extremely profitable agricultural regions in Egypt, the Anatolia and the Levant which produced 30% of its total revenue/ tax base.[6] Over time the land in the Byzantine Empire was increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few major land owners: by the 10^th century the Byzantine Emperor’s started to pass laws that tried to protect the small landowners.[7]

The Byzantine Empire shows the modern American: the consequences of extreme inequality, the consequences of violent leadership change, and the pitfalls of poor military leadership. The extreme inequality in Byzantium (at least in the rural and suburban areas) was a major issue for the Byzantium Empire that caused their economy to weaken. The Palestine region is mentioned in these sources which is important because it demonstrated for how long that the Palestine region, and Jerusalem has been a major flashpoint. Between 605AD -650AD Palestine had changed hands over three times; showing the vast amount of violence that plagued the area. It has been a major issue for at least 1,500 years! It shows that Palestine isn’t a solvable problem. This period is also important because it is the time period that the Catholic Church split between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. This is a terrible dark age for Europe, it is also an important period for examining the church, economic inequality, coups and how to deal with existential military threats.

Citations:

Wickham, Chris. 2009. The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000. New York: Viking.

Duncan, Mike. The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic. New York, NY: PublicAffairs, 2017.

Crawford, Jack. “Understanding Byzantine Economy: The Collapse of a Medieval Powerhouse.” TheCollector, December 28, 2020. Accessed September 26, 2025. https://www.thecollector.com/byzantine-economy-collapse-medieval-times/.

[1] Chris Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 (New York: Viking, 2009). Pg 255.

[2] Chris Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 (New York: Viking, 2009). Pg. 256.

[3] Chris Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 (New York: Viking, 2009). Pg. 257.

[4] Chris Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 (New York: Viking, 2009). Pg. 258..

[5] Jack Crawford, “Understanding Byzantine Economy: The Collapse of a Medieval Powerhouse,” TheCollector, December 28, 2020, accessed September 26, 2025, https://www.thecollector.com/byzantine-economy-collapse-medieval-times/

[6] Jack Crawford, “Understanding Byzantine Economy: The Collapse of a Medieval Powerhouse,” TheCollector, December 28, 2020, accessed September 26, 2025, https://www.thecollector.com/byzantine-economy-collapse-medieval-times/

[7] Jack Crawford, “Understanding Byzantine Economy: The Collapse of a Medieval Powerhouse,” TheCollector, December 28, 2020, accessed September 26, 2025, https://www.thecollector.com/byzantine-economy-collapse-medieval-times/