Justinian also has Hypatius executed and exiles the senators who had supported the riot.

Justinian is reported to have wanted to spare Hypatius's life, but his wife Theodora had prevailed upon him to see the punishment meted out, and the involuntary usurper was executed.

Now free to establish his rule, he is also free to pursue his ultimate dream of a united Roman Empire.

He begins the rebuilding of Constantinople and on February 23 orders the building of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople—the Hagia Sophia.

He chooses Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles as architects.

The material for the construction will be brought from all over the empire—such as Hellenistic columns from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and large stones from quarries in porphyry from Egypt.

More than ten thousand people will be employed.

Ancyra itself is left abandoned, and plundered by the Arab army on 27 July, after which …

…the united Abbasid army marches unopposed to Amorion, besieging the fortress for two weeks.

Just before its capture by the Arabs, fighting breaks out between Jews and Christians.

Included in the conflict is a Judaizing Christian sect that keeps Biblical Law (except circumcision) and allows both men and women to serve as spiritual leaders.

Rumors are spread that the late Emperor Michael II had come from this sect.

Out of its entire population of some seventy thousand, only about half survive the brutal sack, to be sold as slaves.

The fall of the city is to be one of the heaviest blows suffered by the Empire in the entire ninth century, both in material and symbolic terms.

Luckily for the Empire, news of a rebellion in the Caliphate forces al-Mu'tasim to withdraw soon after.

Tragic though they are for the Empire at the time, the defeat at Anzen and the subsequent sack of Amorion are militarily of no long-term importance to the Empire, since the Abbasids fail to follow up on their success.

They do, however, play a crucial role in discrediting iconoclasm, which has always relied on military success to maintain its validity.

Immediately after the sack, rumors reach the caliph that Theophilos was advancing to attack him.

Mu'tasim sets out with his army a day's march along the road in the direction of Dorylaion, but encounters no sign of an imperial attack.

According to al-Tabari, Mu'tasim now pondered extending his campaign to attack Constantinople, when news reached him of a rebellion headed by his nephew, al-Abbas ibn al-Ma'mun.

Mu'tasim is forced to cut short his campaign and return quickly to his realm, leaving intact the fortresses around Amorium as well as Theophilos and his army in Dorylaion.

Taking the direct route from Amorium to the Cilician Gates, both the caliph's army and its prisoners suffer in the march through the arid countryside of central Anatolia.

Some captives are so exhausted that they cannot move and are executed, whereupon others find the opportunity to escape.

In retaliation, Mu'tasim, after separating the most prominent among them, executes the rest, some six thousand in number.

East Europe (964 – 1107 CE): Kievan Rus’ Ascendancy, Khazar Eclipse, and Christianization of the Dnieper

Geographic and Environmental Context

East Europe includes Belarus, Ukraine, the European portion of Russia, and the sixteen Russian republics west of the Urals.

• Vast forest, forest-steppe, and steppe zones were organized by the great rivers: the Dnieper, Volga, Dvina, Don, and Oka.

• Northern Novgorod–Ladoga controlled access to Baltic and Volga routes; southern Kiev commanded the Dnieper trade to the Black Sea and Byzantium.

• Steppe frontiers were dominated by Pechenegs and later Cumans/Polovtsians, shaping politics and warfare.

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Climate and Environmental Shifts

• The Medieval Warm Period (c. 950–1250 CE) improved growing seasons in the forest-steppe, allowing agricultural expansion into river valleys and uplands.

• Longer ice-free navigation windows extended the transport season on the Dnieper and Volga.

• Yet steppe droughts could provoke nomadic incursions, intensifying frontier vulnerability.

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Societies and Political Developments

• Khazar Collapse:

  • Prince Sviatoslav of Kiev (r. 945–972) launched campaigns (964–969) that destroyed Khazaria’s capital Itil, ending its centuries-long dominance of the Volga–Caspian gateway.

  • This shifted hegemony over the Volga trade to Volga Bulgars and emerging Rus’ markets.

• Kievan Rus’:

  • Oleg had earlier forged Kiev as a Varangian–Slavic hub; after 964, Sviatoslav expanded east (Volga Bulgars), south (Khazars), and west (Balkans).

  • His successors consolidated Kiev as the metropolis of a riverine commonwealth.

  • Vladimir I (r. 980–1015) secured Dnieper routes, fought Poles and steppe tribes, and in 988 converted to Christianity, baptizing Kiev and aligning Rus’ with Byzantine Orthodoxy.

  • Yaroslav the Wise (r. 1019–1054) codified law (Russkaya Pravda), patronized cathedrals (St. Sophia in Kiev), and arranged dynastic marriages with Europe.

  • After 1054, Rus’ fragmented into princely appanages, though Kiev remained primate; Novgorod, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, and Smolensk rose as regional centers.

• Volga Bulgars: Islamized in 922, they prospered after Khazar decline, controlling Volga–Kama trade and mediating furs/slaves to Islamic markets.

• Steppe Nomads:

  • Pechenegs dominated the Pontic steppe through the 10th–11th c., repeatedly besieging Kiev (notably 968, 1017, 1036).

  • By mid-11th c., the Cumans (Polovtsians) displaced them, pressuring Rus’ frontiers and raiding Dnieper settlements.

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Economy and Trade

• Exports: furs, wax, honey, and slaves from Slavic and Finnic forests; falcons and horses from the steppe.

• Imports: Byzantine silks, wine, and liturgical objects via the Dnieper; Islamic silver, glassware, and textiles via the Volga.

• Monetization: Samanid dirham flows declined after c. 970; hack-silver economies persisted, supplemented by Byzantine coins and local bullion.

• Urban markets: Kiev became a transshipment emporium, Novgorod a northern hub linked to Baltic traders, and Smolensk a portage node.

• Agricultural surpluses grew with expansion into fertile steppe borderlands.

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Subsistence and Technology

• Agriculture: plow farming spread in fertile chernozem belts; rye, wheat, barley, and millet expanded.

• Stock raising: horses, cattle, and sheep herds flourished in forest-steppe zones.

• Crafts: smithies produced axes, swords, and armor; workshops turned out jewelry, glass beads, and church art.

• Architecture: from timber fortresses to stone cathedrals (Byzantine models) in Kiev, Novgorod, and Chernigov.

• Transport: Dnieper monoxyla and larger plank boats; winter sledges remained essential for bulk goods.

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Movement and Interaction Corridors

• Dnieper route: Kiev monopolized tolls and tribute along the “road to the Greeks,” funneling merchants to Black Sea markets.

• Volga route: Volga Bulgars mediated trade north to the Kama and south to the Caspian.

• Forest portages: Novgorod secured crossings linking Baltic and Dnieper–Volga basins.

• Steppe corridors: nomadic pressure forced princes to build alliances or pay tribute to Pechenegs and Cumans to safeguard caravans and rafts.

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Belief and Symbolism

• Slavic paganism: persisted until Vladimir’s baptism (988), with Perun (thunder god) as Kiev’s patron.

• Christianization: post-988, Byzantine Orthodoxy spread rapidly; churches, monasteries, and literacy (Cyrillic) transformed elite culture.

• Volga Bulgars: Islamic law and mosques anchored their trading state.

• Cumans and Pechenegs: maintained sky-god (Tengri) cults and steppe shamanism, influencing Rus’ through diplomacy, warfare, and intermarriage.

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Adaptation and Resilience

• Political duality: dynastic marriages and church alliances tied Kiev to Europe and Byzantium, while tribute diplomacy managed steppe threats.

• Economic redundancy: dual reliance on Dnieper–Byzantine and Volga–Islamic routes hedged against political instability.

• Urban resilience: Kiev, Novgorod, and Smolensk diversified crafts and garrisons, absorbing shocks from raids and succession crises.

• Cultural adaptation: integration of Byzantine law and ritual stabilized rule while retaining Slavic customary law (Russkaya Pravda).

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Long-Term Significance

By 1107 CE, East Europe had become a Christian, urbanizing riverine commonwealth:

• Kiev stood as a metropolitan capital, though its power was shared with rising regional principalities.

• Orthodoxy redefined Rus’ identity, aligning it with Byzantium rather than Latin Europe or the Islamic world.

• Steppe powers shifted from Pechenegs to Cumans, intensifying frontier challenges.

• Volga Bulgars thrived as Islamic intermediaries in fur and silver trades.

This age laid the foundations for the “Rus’ principalities” system, whose fragmentation and frontier exposure would shape its fate in the age of Mongol conquest two centuries later.

The Varangians eventually assimilate into the Slavic population and become part of the first Rus' dynasty, the Rurik Dynasty.

Kievan Rus' is composed of several principalities ruled by the interrelated Rurikid knyazes ("princes").

The Golden Age of Kievan Rus' begins with the reign of Vladimir the Great (980–1015), who turns Rus' toward Byzantine Christianity.

During the reign of his son, Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054), Kievan Rus' reaches the zenith of its cultural development and military power.

The state soon fragments as the relative importance of regional powers rises again.

The region of Kiev will dominate the state of Kievan Rus' for the next two centuries.

The grand prince of Kiev controls the lands around the city, and his theoretically subordinate relatives ruled in other cities and pay him tribute.

The zenith of the state's power comes during the reigns of Prince Vladimir (r. 978-1015) and Prince Yaroslav (the Wise; r. 1019-54).

Both rulers continue the steady expansion of Kievan Rus' that had begun under Oleg.

To enhance their power, Vladimir marries the sister of the East Roman emperor, and Yaroslav arranges marriages for his sister and three daughters to the kings of Poland, France, Hungary, and Norway.

Vladimir's greatest achievement is the Christianization of Kievan Rus', a process that begins in 988.

He builds the first great edifice of Kievan Rus', the Desyatinnaya Church in Kiev.

Yaroslav promulgates the first East Slavic law code, Rus'ka pravda (Justice of Rus'); builds cathedrals named for St. Sophia in Kiev and Novgorod; patronized local clergy and monasticism; and is said to have founded a school system.

Yaroslav's sons develop Kiev's great Peshcherskiy monastyr' (Monastery of the Caves), which functions in Kievan Rus' as an ecclesiastical academy.

Vladimir's choice of Eastern Orthodoxy reflects his close personal ties with Constantinople, which dominate the Black Sea and hence trade on Kiev's most vital commercial route, the Dnepr River.

Adherence to the Eastern Orthodox Church has long-range political, cultural, and religious consequences.

The church has a liturgy written in Cyrillic and a corpus of translations from the Greek that had been produced for the South Slavs.

The existence of this literature facilitates the East Slavs' conversion to Christianity and introduces them to rudimentary Greek philosophy, science, and historiography without the necessity of learning Greek.

In contrast, educated people in medieval Western and Central Europe learn Latin.

Because the East Slavs learn neither Greek nor Latin, they are isolated from Byzantine culture as well as from the European cultures of their neighbors to the west.

Central Europe (964 – 1107 CE): Christian Kings, Alpine Gateways, and the Imperial Heartland

Geographic and Environmental Context

Central Europe stretched from the Baltic and Elbe plains through the Carpathian and Alpine basins to the Rhine and Moselle corridors.
It comprised Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, forming a vast zone where northern forests, central uplands, and southern passes met.
The Carpathian Basin linked the steppe world with Christendom, while the Alpine and Rhine valleys served as Europe’s main north–south arteries between the North Sea and Italy.
Danube, Elbe, Oder, Rhine, and Moselle rivers provided transport routes that shaped settlement, pilgrimage, and trade.

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Climate and Environmental Shifts

During the Medieval Warm Period (c. 950–1250 CE), milder temperatures and reliable rainfall supported longer growing seasons, especially on the loess soils of Saxony, Bohemia, and Poland.
Forest clearance and three-field rotation expanded cultivation, while navigable rivers lengthened trading seasons.
In the south, Alpine pastures and vineyards flourished, and snow-line retreat eased passage over the Brenner, St. Bernard, and Julier Passes, binding the northern and Mediterranean economies more tightly than before.

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Societies and Political Developments

East Central Europe: Christian Monarchies and Frontiers

After the defeat of the Magyars at Lechfeld (955), the Ottonian Empire consolidated control across Germany and radiated eastward influence.

• Otto I (r. 936–973) crowned Holy Roman Emperor (962), anchored his rule in Saxony and Bavaria, and launched missionary bishoprics such as Magdeburg.

• Successors Otto II, Otto III, Henry II, and Henry IV balanced ducal and ecclesiastical powers, strengthening imperial institutions.

In the Carpathian Basin, the Árpád dynasty converted nomadic Magyar power into a Christian monarchy.
Géza (r. 972–997) initiated baptism and diplomacy with the empire; Stephen I (r. 997–1038) received a royal crown (1000/1001), founding the Kingdom of Hungary and embedding Latin law, counties, and bishoprics.

Poland’s Piasts followed similar paths:
Mieszko I (baptized 966) bound Poland to Latin Christendom; Bolesław I Chrobry (r. 992–1025) crowned king, hosted the Congress of Gniezno (1000) with Otto III, and created an archbishopric.
After dynastic turbulence, Casimir I the Restorer (r. 1034–1058) revived the realm.

Bohemia’s Přemyslids alternated between autonomy and imperial vassalage; Prague’s bishopric (973) anchored Christianization.
Slovakia and the Vienna basin formed shifting borderlands between Magyar and German rule, the latter organized as the Ostmark (Austria).

South Central Europe: Alpine Gateways and Imperial Leverage

Across the Alps, Carinthia, Tyrol, and Switzerland became vital corridors of imperial power.
Ottonian and Salian emperors relied on bishoprics and abbeys—Chur, Sion, Brixen, Trento, Geneva, and Sion—to police roads and collect tolls.
Carinthia guarded the Drava–Inn passes as a marcher duchy, while local lords in the Inn Valley (forerunners of the Counts of Tyrol) gained prominence.
Zürich and Geneva grew as markets; Bern began under the Zähringers.
Monastic reform (Cluny) invigorated Einsiedeln, St. Gall, Disentis, and Pfäfers, which offered pilgrim hospitality and maintained bridges and shelters.
Castles multiplied, marking the rise of a feudal–ecclesiastical order that kept the high routes open for merchants and armies.

West Central Europe: Imperial Core and Rhineland Cities

West of 10° E, the Rhine–Moselle basin became the empire’s political and economic center.
Ottonian and Salian rulers—Conrad II, Henry III, Henry IV—built palaces and cathedrals at Speyer, Mainz, Worms, and Trier.
The Investiture Controversy (1070s–1080s) between Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII turned the Rhineland into a crucible of imperial–papal politics; bishops of Cologne, Mainz, and Trier emerged as territorial princes.
The urban clergy and lay guilds of Cologne and Mainz financed cathedral construction and trade, while Basel tied Burgundy and Swabia into the imperial web.

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Economy and Trade

Agriculture expanded across all three zones.

• In the north and east, adoption of the heavy plow, horse collar, and three-field rotation boosted yields.

• Alpine and Rhine regions thrived on dairy, wine, and timber; Valais and Rheintal produced export cheese and wine.

• Mining centers in the Harz, Kraków, and Moravia supplied silver for imperial and regional mints.

• Transit trade through Alpine passes brought spices, silk, and papyrus north, while salt, metals, and livestock flowed south.

• Rhine shipping connected Cologne and Mainz to Flanders and England; Danube routes joined Vienna, Buda, and Byzantium.

Coinage proliferated—denarii from Cologne, Regensburg, and Zürich circulated beside early Hungarian and Polish issues—while fairs at cathedral towns regularized exchange.

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Subsistence and Technology

Technological diffusion underpinned prosperity:

• The carruca heavy plow transformed loess cultivation.

• Water-mills spread along Rhineland and Alpine streams; proto-windmills appeared.

• Stone fortifications replaced timber gords; Romanesque churches rose from Poland to Burgundy.

• Alpine engineers improved stone causeways, culverts, and bridge towers to secure mountain travel.

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Movement and Interaction Corridors

• Elbe–Oder marches advanced imperial settlement and Christian missions among the Polabian Slavs.

• Morava–Danube corridor linked imperial centers with Pannonian diplomacy.

• Carpathian passes tied Hungary to Poland and the Balkans.

• Brenner, Reschen, Julier, Splügen, and Great St. Bernard carried imperial and Venetian trade.

• Rhine–Moselle axis funneled goods from Alpine Italy to the North Sea ports.

These arteries made Central Europe both a crossroads of empires and a unified economic organism.

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Belief and Symbolism

Christianization unified the region culturally.

• Baptisms of Mieszko I (966) and Stephen I (1000) symbolized entry into Latin Christendom.

• Archbishoprics at Gniezno, Prague, and Esztergom institutionalized the faith; monastic reform spread Cluniac ideals.

• Cathedrals at Speyer, Mainz, and Worms, and pilgrimage shrines at Aachen and Trier, expressed the sacred authority of emperors and bishops.

• Pagan enclaves—Lutici, Obodrites, and Baltic tribes—persisted beyond the Elbe, preserving frontier contrast.

• In the Alps, devotion to St. Bernard and local hermit saints protected travelers through perilous cols.

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Adaptation and Resilience

• Dynastic alliances among Ottonians, Salians, Piasts, Přemyslids, and Árpáds stabilized borders through marriage and shared Christianity.

• Agrarian and mining growth buffered against famine and financed armies and churches.

• Feudal and monastic networks secured alpine and river corridors, ensuring passage despite wars or avalanches.

• Urban resilience grew through guilds, tolls, and self-governance; cathedrals anchored civic identity.

• Cultural adaptation—Latin literacy, Romanesque art, canon law—embedded local societies within a continental Christian order.

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Long-Term Significance

By 1107 CE, Central Europe had completed its transformation from a frontier of pagans and raiders to the Christian and commercial heartland of the continent.

• The Holy Roman Empire radiated authority from the Rhine–Danube core, linking imperial kingship, episcopal wealth, and monastic reform.

• Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary stood as enduring monarchies, mediating between Latin Christendom and the Slavic East.

• The Alpine corridors became Europe’s indispensable north–south hinge, and the Rhine axis its busiest artery.

• Across valleys and passes, cathedrals, monasteries, and castles symbolized a civilization knit together by faith, commerce, and imperial law.

Central Europe thus entered the twelfth century as the pivotal bridge between Western Europe and the Eurasian frontiers—a realm of kings and abbots, merchants and pilgrims, whose rivers and mountains defined the very structure of medieval Europe itself.

East Central Europe (964 – 1107 CE): Christian Monarchies, Ottonian Frontiers, and Magyar Transformation

Geographic and Environmental Context

East Central Europe includes Poland, Czechia (Bohemia and Moravia), Slovakia, Hungary (the Carpathian Basin), northeastern Austria, and the greater part of Germany (including Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg).

• Northern plains (Poland, Brandenburg, Saxony) opened into Baltic trade routes.

• Bohemian Massif and Morava corridor tied Prague and Olomouc to Bavaria and the Danube.

• The Carpathian Basin (Hungary) formed a steppe–agrarian arena linking to Byzantium and the Balkans.

• The Danube–Vienna basin integrated northeastern Austria with German and Hungarian frontiers.

• German lands east of the Rhine consolidated under Ottonian rule, anchoring expansion eastward.

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Climate and Environmental Shifts

• The Medieval Warm Period (c. 950–1250 CE) lengthened growing seasons and improved cereal yields, encouraging settlement expansion in loess uplands and forest clearings.

• Extended navigability of rivers (Elbe, Oder, Danube) enhanced trade.

• Steppe droughts occasionally spurred Magyar raids and nomadic unrest in the Carpathian frontier.

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Societies and Political Developments

• Germany (Ottonians → Salians):

  • Otto I (r. 936–973) crowned Holy Roman Emperor (962), after defeating the Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld (955), ending their raids.

  • Saxony, Bavaria, and Franconia became stabilized duchies; bishoprics like Magdeburg expanded missionary work eastward.

  • Successors Otto II, Otto III, Henry II, and Henry IV built imperial authority, balancing duchies and papacy.

• Hungary (Magyars → Christian Kingdom):

  • After Lechfeld, the Árpád dynasty turned toward state-building.

  • Grand Prince Géza (r. 972–997) initiated Christianization, forging alliances with the empire.

  • His son Stephen I (r. 997–1038) converted formally, crowned with the Holy Crown (1000/1001), founding the Christian Kingdom of Hungary.

  • The Árpád realm expanded bishoprics, counties, and fortresses, integrating the Carpathian Basin into Latin Christendom.

• Bohemia and Moravia:

  • The Přemyslid dukes alternated between autonomy and imperial suzerainty.

  • Boleslaus II (r. 972–999) expanded Prague’s influence; in 973, a bishopric was established there.

  • After conflicts with Poland, Bohemia secured its position as an imperial duchy.

• Poland (Piast dynasty):

  • Mieszko I (r. 960–992) consolidated Polans, baptized in 966, linking Poland to the Latin Church and Otto I’s empire.

  • His son Bolesław I Chrobry (r. 992–1025) crowned king in 1025, expanded into Lusatia, Bohemia, and Kiev; hosted the Congress of Gniezno (1000) with Otto III, elevating Gniezno’s archbishopric.

  • After his death, succession disputes weakened Piast power until restoration under Casimir I (r. 1034–1058).

• Slovakia and Northeastern Austria:

  • Incorporated into shifting frontiers: early Magyar domain, later divided between Hungary, Bohemia, and Ottonian influence.

  • The Vienna basin became a frontier march, the Ostmark, evolving into medieval Austria.

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Economy and Trade

• Agriculture: rye, wheat, oats, barley expanded; three-field rotation spread in Germany and Bohemia.

• Livestock: cattle and swine herding enriched manorial economies.

• Salt & silver mining: Kraków and Moravian mines fueled regional wealth; Harz silver powered Ottonian coinage.

• Trade routes:

  • Baltic corridor: amber, furs, and slaves exchanged at markets (Wolin, Gdańsk, Hamburg).

  • Elbe–Oder corridor: linked Saxony to Poland.

  • Danube corridor: Vienna–Pressburg–Buda connected Bavaria to Hungary and Byzantium.

• Monetization: denarii minted in Regensburg, Cologne, and Magdeburg circulated widely; Polish and Hungarian mints developed by the 11th century.

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Subsistence and Technology

• Heavy plow (carruca): spread widely, supporting deeper tillage of heavy loess soils.

• Horse collar & shoes: improved field traction and cavalry logistics.

• Fortifications: stone castles began to appear beside older timber–earth gords.

• Ecclesiastical architecture: stone Romanesque churches replaced wooden chapels in Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary.

• River craft: larger planked vessels supplemented dugouts; alpine passes carried mule trains.

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Movement and Interaction Corridors

• Elbe–Oder frontier: Ottonian marches pressed against Polabian Slavs.

• Morava–Danube route: corridor for Christian missions and Magyar–imperial diplomacy.

• Carpathian passes: strategic channels for Magyar and Piast campaigns.

• Baltic routes: connected Poland and Denmark to Norse and Rus’ markets.

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Belief and Symbolism

• Christianization:

  • Ottonian emperors promoted bishoprics and monasteries across Saxony, Thuringia, and Bohemia.

  • Poland (966), Hungary (1000), and Bohemia became Christian monarchies, with archbishoprics at Gniezno, Esztergom, and Prague.

• Paganism: Baltic and Polabian Slavs (Lutici, Obodrites) and residual Magyar clans retained traditional cults into the 11th c.

• Symbolism: Romanesque churches, reliquaries, and royal seals displayed integration into Christian Europe.

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Adaptation and Resilience

• Dynastic alliances: Piast, Přemyslid, and Árpád rulers used marriage with Ottonian and Salian houses to secure legitimacy.

• Military adaptation: Magyars transformed from raiders to defenders, adopting armored cavalry and fortresses.

• Economic resilience: silver mining and agricultural intensification stabilized revenues.

• Cultural adaptation: adoption of Latin literacy, diocesan structures, and royal coronation rituals embedded local dynasties in European Christendom.

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Long-Term Significance

By 1107 CE, East Central Europe was integrated into Latin Christendom as a region of Christian monarchies and imperial frontiers:

• Germany emerged as the Holy Roman Empire’s core, projecting power eastward.

• Hungary stood as a stable Christian kingdom under the Árpád dynasty.

• Poland and Bohemia had secured monarchic legitimacy within the Christian order.

• Pagan Polabian Slavs and Baltic tribes remained outside, setting the stage for future crusades.

This period transformed East Central Europe from a pagan–steppe frontier into a Christian heartland, aligned with Western Europe yet retaining its role as a frontier between empires, faiths, and cultures.