Subject to Change Byzantium and the First Crusade
The ever excellent Professor David Parnell (of Belisarius and Antonina fame) came on to talk about the First Crusade. And given his interest in the Eastern Roman Empire we spent a lot of time talking about it from that angle. When Emperor Alexius I found his thousand-year-old empire crumbling under Turkish advances in the late 11th century, he asked the West for help. He got more than he could have expected!
What followed was extraordinary. Pope Urban II's call at the Council of Clermont in 1095 unleashed an avalanche of armed pilgrims, knights, and nobles who descended upon Constantinople with a mixture of religious zeal and worldly ambition. From this magnificent but now vulnerable city Alexius faced the delicate task of channeling this unpredictable Western force toward his enemies while maintaining control over his own destiny.
We started by talking about the history written by Alexius's daughter Anna Komnene (the first long-form narrative by any European woman) who was at pains to show the brilliance of her father. We followed the crusade to Antioch and talked about Alexius's fateful decision not to come to the aid of the crusade when it most needed him. A decision that would eventually bear bitter fruit in the catastrophic Fourth Crusade a century later.
The Byzantine perspective on the First Crusade reveals a sophisticated diplomatic dance that initially saved the empire, restoring significant territories and ushering in a period of stability known as the Komnenian Restoration. Yet it also set in motion forces that would eventually contribute to Constantinople's downfall.