Tag Archives: Byzantine Empire

First (Princes’) Crusade: Victory at Nicaea, 1097

Posted on December 3, 2022 by Ruth

Around the same time that Peter the Hermit and Walter Sans Avoir were arriving in Constantinople, four official organized armies left Europe. As these armies traveled, the disorganized Peoples’ Crusade met thorough defeat in Anatolia. Only a few weeks after their 3000 … Continue reading →

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End of the People’s Crusade, 1096

Posted on December 3, 2022 by Ruth

About five waves of disorganized pilgrims set out to cross Hungary on foot in 1096. In the first wave, they split up as they reached the Danube, some going by boat, some walking to a better ford. Walter Sans-Avoir was … Continue reading →

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Gypsies from Sind?

Posted on October 21, 2021 by Ruth

Hugh Kennedy in Great Arab Conquests says that there’s one more ethnic footnote to the Muslim conquest of Sind. It may be the origin of some of Europe’s gypsies. The Zutt tribesmen, who joined Muhammad ibn Qasim’s upriver invasion, also … Continue reading →

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The Outside World in Muhammad’s Time

Posted on November 27, 2020 by Ruth

The nearest neighbors to Muhammad’s Arabia (circa 600) were Abyssinia (modern Somalia and Ethiopia), “Rome,” and the Sasanian Empire of Persia. I put “Rome” in quotes because at that time, it included Egypt, some of North Africa, Palestine/Syria, Anatolia (modern … Continue reading →

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Gerbert as Pope Sylvester

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Ruth

I had trouble writing this entry because writerly discipline suggests I should stick with my main subject: the early Pope who attempted to introduce Arabic numbers, but failed. However, he was appointed Pope by his pupil, whom he was apparently … Continue reading →

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More about Byzantium

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Ruth

Constantinople, or Byzantium, was a city unlike any other in the medieval world. Modern equivalents don’t spring to mind, though perhaps readers will spot one. The city was walled and inbred to a high degree. Geography shaped its character. Surrounded … Continue reading →

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Byzantine clothing fashion

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Ruth

We know the culture of Constantinople mainly through its own art, especially wall and floor mosaics that lasted through time. We don’t seem to have many images, certainly not as many as from later medieval Europe, but what we have … Continue reading →

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