All Things Medieval

The empires of Byzantium and Persia had been fighting over the territory between them since about 570. By 630, many of cities on the front had suffered destruction of walls and crops, and many of the men of fighting age had been drafted for one of the armies or otherwise killed. The area of the front was generally called Syria, covering some of what we now call Iraq, as well as Jordan and Palestine.

It was under Byzantine control when Caliph Umar set out to attack. Between 634 and 636, the Arab army conquered Damascus and won some pitched battles that left all of Syria in their control. At the same time, another army headed into Persia and conquered its capital, Ctesiphon.

The Byzantine bishop of Jerusalem, Patriarch Sophronius, surrendered after a long siege, in 637. Arabs conquered Gaza, and while negotiating a one year cease-fire with Byzantium, incidentally took Antioch. Damascus, Antioch and Jerusalem were the chief cities of Syria, and were the original centers of Christianity. As soon as the truce expired, they finished occupying all of the Holy Land, Mesopotamia, and much of Egypt. Alexandria fell in 642, and the Byzantine Empire was pretty much over.

Umar was the second Caliph, and he died in 644. He had led his armies in all this conquest, but he hadn’t directly participated in the fighting. His focus was on political structure. He kept it minimal, setting up a taxation system and appointing a governor, but otherwise leaving each locality to do things its own ways. His first priority for tax money was to give the other Companions of Mohammed a pension so that they could focus on organizing the Koran and hadiths. His death ended the political unity of Islam, though. More on that later. Conquest continued, under various generals.

Byzantium had controlled North Africa, which was now open for rapid conquest. It was only loosely governed to begin with, and the inhabitants had never felt much allegiance to Constantinople. This was a problem everywhere; Byzantine taxes had been high, and the Byzantine Orthodox church had suppressed local religious sects, Jew and Christian. It wasn’t immediately obvious that new masters would be worse, and they may have been better at first. Muslim histories record the Christian and Jewish residents coming to them freely and swearing allegiance, promising to help dislodge Byzantine rule.

Once Byzantine troops in Tripoli and Carthage were disposed of, the residents didn’t resist conquest at all. In North Africa, the Berber tribes welcomed Islam and joined their armies.

Sicily was invaded in 652; Crete and Cyprus were Arab by 653. Muslims now held much of the former breadbasket of Byzantium, resulting in food shortages there.

By the time the Companions of Mohammed were splitting into factions, they were receiving tribute and taxes from most of the ancient world: Syria, Palestine, Persia, Egypt, Arabia, and North Africa. A lot of money and power was at stake. The Companions agreed that they’d keep power within their own tribe, the Quraysh. But they couldn’t agree on which individual: Ali, Mohammed’s cousin and son-in-law, or Uthman, another influential man. And from this dispute the world has never quite recovered.

Mohammed reported his first vision in the year 610. By 640, his followers had a small, growing empire. Before we trace this explosive growth, let’s look at the world that the Muslims challenged.

The map of Europe in 600 shows mostly scattered tribal homelands, with a few exceptions. If you look at the island of Britain, you can see that the Anglo-Saxons have begun to settle, but for the most part they’re only on the coast, in Kent (Cantware, they called it; here, Cantia). The Frisians, Saxons and Jutes are mostly still on the continent. The Picts, the original residents of Northern Europe, have already been pushed into the margins by the previous invasion of Celts. You can see the Picts only in the north of Scotland, while most of the two islands has Celtic labels. Over the next century, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes will push the Celts into the margins where they’ll merge with the dwindling Picts, but it hasn’t really happened yet.

The Celts in Britain are Christians, but by 600, the Roman Empire’s outposts are ruins. Hadrian’s Wall still runs across the north, marking where the Picts used to carry out raids a few centuries earlier. Some Roman roads are still in working condition, but the buildings at Bath and other settlements are lending building blocks to Celtic projects as they crumble.

The Celts themselves were pushed to the margins of the European continent by Franks. Frankia is one of the largest zones in 600; by this time, the Frankish kings have been ruling since Clovis united them by conquest in 481. In 600, the dynasty is still strong; Chlothar II began ruling as a young teenager. The Franks are officially Christians, converted by Latin missionaries.

Spain is dominated by Visigoths, a related tribe. King Reccared I converted to Catholic Christian (the Visigoths had been previously converted by Arian Christians) as the original Gothic language was dying out. After this time, Catholic bishops held much of the political power, including the right to select a king, whose capital was at Toledo.

The remnants of the Roman Empire are scattered around the eastern rim of the Mediterranean. Since the Goths came to Rome, much of Italy has been settled by Goths or Huns (Attila the Hun fought against Goths). Roman roads are definitely still functioning, as are Roman baths and aqueducts. Many of the towns continue to rule themselves by Roman customs, too. The invading Goths had a weaker culture than the Romans, so apart from names, most Gothic words are no longer used. (The exact opposite happened with the invading Anglo-Saxons in Britain.) Rome is “ruled,” to the extent that it is, from Constantinople. The rule becomes much more effective as you get closer to the city itself, and merchants would tell you the taxes are quite real and very heavy. Constantinople is opulent, crowded, and deep in its “Byzantine” period of kings poisoning each other. Craftsmanship is very fine: silver, gold, jewels, embroidery, painting and sculpture.

To the east of the Byzantine-controlled lands, there is a vast Persian empire. The inhabitants call their Sassanid-ruled land Eran; they are Zoroastrians who worship fire (more or less—let’s not get into theology). Persia is also a place of fine crafts and learning, like Constantinople. In particular, around this time they developed the art of making soft rugs covered with flowers. Persia gets its silk from trading with China, but has a rich vein of minerals to mine.

The first wave of Huns were absorbed into the Goths, and their related tribe, the Avars, have settled at the margins of the map. The large white areas of Eastern Europe are No Man’s Land, occupied by migrants and ruled by no central power.

And far to the south, Arabia is populated by pagan Arabs, with some Byzantine Christians and a strong presence of Jews.