In the era of the Crusades, the East became the «fiend of hell» instead of Byzantium. There were many reasons to hate Muslims. It turns out that they also revered the cross, Jesus Christ (Isa), Moses (Musa), St. George (Girgis)…. It was difficult to come to terms with this «injustice». The West felt hurt.
It should be noted that East and West were not very different from each other then. They just seemed different: both continued the Tengri tradition. The Turkic worship of God lived both there and there!
No, it’s not religion, but politics that has divorced people.…
The Pope, standing at the head of Christians, wanted to be at the head of the universe. He was called no other than the Mediator between God and men, the Vicar of Christ. But the Caliphate had a different view of the future: it did not want to turn into a colony again. And the East, knowing the mores of the Roman Catholic Church, began to stay away from it.
Before, when both Catholics and Muslims had a common enemy, Byzantium, they did not seek differences between themselves. Sultan Seljuk, the founder of the new dynasty of the Caliphate, having conquered Eastern Byzantium, came almost close to Constantinople, but did not touch the city.
In the XI century, under Sultan Alp Arslan, the best lands of Asia Minor were actually subordinated to the Caliphate, and again the Arabs did not touch Byzantium.… Why did they let their luck slip out of their hands? A country hanging by a thread could become an easy prey for war. But the Muslims did not take it, because they gave the Byzantines themselves the right to choose their faith. And that means fate.
Almost all Christians of the eastern provinces of Byzantium, having learned Islam, accepted it. And voluntarily. Of course, this had consequences in the country: the power of the emperor became an empty phrase. Palace intrigues and coups began. Byzantium was weakening before our eyes.
But the Caliphate still did not interfere. He waited.
The Catholics took advantage of the lull by launching a new crusade. The fourth in a row, the Holy Land was no longer thought of then. In 1203, their fleet anchored near Constantinople. Almost twenty thousand Crusaders landed and set up camp. The pope’s army, the knights, stood in front of the city, wishing to decide the fate of the Byzantine throne alone.
But they didn’t solve anything. The Greeks deceived them in the negotiations. And the deceived crusaders began to prepare for the assault.
From the outside, the assault seemed completely absurd. The huge city had a gigantic army: one hundred thousand soldiers from Norman and Kipchak mercenaries in Eastern Europe. But they were not paid money, and they did not want to fight. So there was an army, and it didn’t seem to be there.…
Time served the knights: their courage shackled the enemy. And she’s not the only one. The Pope knew that the Greek empire had come to an end. It has become dilapidated: people are at the crossroads of faith, there is no unity among them. And if so, you can take it with your bare hands — with little effort. And this time, his calculation was accurate.
Finally, an order was given. The banners of the Crusaders rose to the deafening beat of drums on April 9, 1204. The assault began, or rather, the battle of David and Goliath. The small fleet rushed towards the huge giant. The attack was repulsed. But three days later there was a new assault. And the giant fell.
The feast of the victors began. It lasted a long time: Christians killed Christians for two weeks. Women and children were tortured. Piles of corpses littered the streets. They didn’t have time to bury them. Constantinople, where no enemy had ever set foot, had surrendered itself to the papal sword.
There was enough loot for everyone. The jewelry was loaded in bags. As an eyewitness wrote, «since the world has stood, there has not been so much captured in any city… those who were hitherto poor have become rich and possessed.»
Pope Innocent III, upon learning of the capture of the Greek capital, rejoiced. But he wrote an angry letter to the Crusaders. It was a trick. Scolding, he praised. And he boasted.
The Crusaders gave Byzantium a new name — the Latin Empire. In honor of the pope! On May 9, 1204, Baldwin of Flanders was elected emperor. However, the new country did not work out. She soon perished from her own weakness: she broke up into states and principalities. And its ports went to the Templars, the new masters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Gold from trade with the East has since flowed into the papal storerooms.
Of course, Muslims could have intervened in those events. The army of the Caliphate was standing nearby, the squad of knights was not a hindrance to it. But she didn’t take a step. The treasures of Byzantium did not appeal to the Arabs. They remained strangers to the East. Cold.
The star of Enlightenment still illuminated the medieval East. Gold has not yet become his main goal. The Muslim rulers devoted themselves to architecture, art, and science. Whether this is good or bad is not for us to judge. But clearly not the golden rule there.
…The Trebizond and Nicene Empires declared themselves the heirs of Byzantium. However, the word «empire» may be too loud for them. It was about two small countries. In the first, relatives of the Georgian tsars were in power, in the second— the Greeks.
Trebizond was supported by the cavalry of Queen Tamara, and she installed her distant relatives, the brothers Alexei and David, who took the name «Great Komnenos» as rulers here. It was rumored that their family came from the steppe Cumania (Lebedia), and this is between the Don and the Dnieper, in the heart of Desht-i-Kipchak. They called everyone there «Cumans» or «Comans.» Their patron spirit was the swan.
A relative of the Komnenos brothers became famous for founding the Bachkovsky Monastery. Here — and this is again in the Great Steppe! — Georgian young men from noble families were brought up… the ruling brothers themselves were blue-eyed, blond-haired and very beautiful, like all Kipchaks.
And Komnenos did not appear in Transcaucasia by chance.
In the 11th century, King David the Builder invited forty thousand families from Desht-i-Kipchak to live in Transcaucasia. The Turks formed the backbone of his army, they gathered small principalities into a single state of Georgia. Or rather, Gyurji, as they called him and the blue—eyed Georgians, who radiated the power and warmth of the Great Steppe. It was the golden age of Transcaucasia, the neighbors found out about the new country… Every second princely family there was of Turkic origin.
In 1118, King David himself remarried the sister of the famous Kipchak Khan Konchak, the one who captured the Russian Prince Igor… And the husband who gave happiness to Queen Tamara was also the Turkic Khan Utamysh.…
With the arrival of the Turks in Georgia, the letter «mkhedruli» appeared — «the writing of warriors». As in the Turkic script, there were thirty-eight letters in it. Outwardly, it closely resembled the writing of the ancient Turks. It is possible that the kings of the Trebizond Empire wrote decrees and commands on it.
These two brother rulers turned out to be too impatient politicians. They were brave but inept. They could have won, but they didn’t. Because in life it is impossible without faith and without allies… in short, in 1215 they became tributaries of the Caliphate. How the birds got into the cage.
Alexey paid the sultan 12,000 gold coins a year, 500 horses, 2,000 cows, 10,000 sheep, and 50 packs of various goods. And most importantly, he was obliged to hold his stirrup when he went for a walk.…
Trebizond has ingloriously left the orbit of world politics. Like a comet, it flared up and went out in the sky.
The Seljuks would have decided the fate of all the heirs of Byzantium even then. But… a new force had appeared in the world, it was growing menacingly, like a thundercloud on the horizon.
Her name is «Genghis Khan».