Byzantium at War AD 600-1453（战争中的拜占庭：公元600-1453年）

作者：John Haldon约翰·哈尔顿

出版商：Routledge Taylor & Francis Group

Introduction

        The Byzantine empire was not called by that name in its own time, and indeed the term ‘Byzantine’ was used only to describe inhabitants of Constantinople, ancient Byzantion on the Bosphorus. The subjects of the emperor at Constantinople referred to themselves as Rhomaioi, Romans, because as far as they were concerned Constantinople, the city of Constantine 1, the first Christian ruler of the Roman empire, had become the capital of the Roman empire once Rome had lost its own pre-eminent position, and it was the Christian Roman empire that carried on the traditions of Roman civilisation. in turn, the latter was identified with civilised society as such, and Orthodox Christianity was both the guiding religious and spiritual force which defended and protected that world, but was also the guarantor of God's continuing support. Orthodoxy means, literally, correct belief, and this was what the Byzantines believed was essential to their own survival. Thus, from the modern historian's perspective, 'Byzantine' might be paraphrased by the more long-winded 'medieval eastern Roman' empire, for that is, in historical terms, what 'Byzantium' really meant.

        In its long history, from the later 5th century, when the last vestiges of the western half of the Roman empire were absorbed into barbarian successor kingdoms, until the fall in battle of the last eastern Roman emperor, Constantine XI (1448-53), the empire was almost constantly at war. Its strategic situation in the southern Balkans and Asia Minor made this inevitable. It was constantly challenged by its more or its less powerful neighbours - at first, the Persian empire in the east, later the various Islamic powers that arose in that region - and by its northern neighbours, the Slays, the Avars (a Turkic people) in the 6th and 7th centuries, the Bulgars from the end of the 7th to early 11th centuries and, in the later 11th and 12th centuries, the Hungarians, later the Serbs and finally, after their conquests in Greece and the southern Balkans, the Ottoman Turks. Relations with the western powers which arose from what remained of the western Roman empire during the 7th century were complicated and tense, not least because of the political competition between the papacy and the Constantinopolitan patriarchate, the two major sees - Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem were far less powerful after the 7th century Islamic conquests - in the Christian world. Byzantium survived so long partly because internally it was well-organised, with an efficient fiscal and military system; and partly because these advantages, rooted in its late Roman past, lasted well into the 11th century. But as its western and northern neighbours grew in resources and political stability they were able to challenge the empire for pre-eminence, reducing it by the early 13th century to a second- or even third-rate rump of its former self, subordinated to the politics of the west and the commercial interests of Venice, Pisa and Genoa, among others, the greatest of the Italian merchant republics. In this hook, we will look at some of the ways in which the medieval east Roman empire secured its long eXIstence.

（在其悠久的历史中，从公元5世纪后期，当罗马帝国西半部的最后残余被并入蛮族继任王国时，直到最后一位东罗马皇帝君士坦丁十一世（1448-53）在战斗中失败，帝国几乎一直处于战争状态。它在巴尔干南部和小亚细亚的战略形势使其不可避免。它不断地受到其或多或少强大邻国的挑战——首先是东部的波斯帝国，后来是该地区兴起的各种伊斯兰势力——以及它的北部邻国，6-7世纪的阿瓦尔人（突厥人），7世纪末-11世纪早期的保加利亚人，以及在11世纪和12世纪后期的匈牙利人，以及后来的塞尔维亚人，在他们征服希腊和巴尔干南部之后，出现了奥斯曼帝国土耳其人。7世纪西罗马帝国遗留下来的东西帝国的关系复杂而紧张，尤其是因为罗马教皇和君士坦丁堡牧首区之间的政治竞争，两个主要的领地——亚历山大、安条克和耶路撒冷。 7世纪伊斯兰征服之后——在基督教世界里，它的力量远没有那么强大。拜占庭之所以能存活这么久，部分是因为它内部组织严密，拥有高效的财政和军事体系；这些优势植根于罗马晚期的历史，一直持续到11世纪。但随着它的西部和北部邻国在资源优势和政治稳定方面的提升，他们能够挑战拜占庭帝国卓越的地位，在 13 世纪初期将其削弱到以前的二流甚至三流的地位，从属于西部的政治以及威尼斯、比萨和热那亚等最大的意大利商业共和国的商业利益。在这个部分中，我们将研究中世纪东罗马帝国确保其长期存在的一些方式。）

未完待续