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Rome. Pope Nicolas, hearing of their activity in Moravia, and deeming it imperative to inquire into the matter, had addressed to them an apostolic letter, couched in friendly terms and summoning them to Rome. They had doubtless discovered for themselves that their position would be soon impossible unless they came to terms with the Pope. The accession of Basil and the deposition of Photius changed the situation. A Patriarch who was under obligations to the Roman See was now enthroned, and Constantine and Methodius, coming from Constantinople and bearing as a gift the relics of St. Clement, could be sure of a favourable reception. They found that a new Pope had succeeded to the pontifical chair.1 Hadrian II., attended by all the Roman clergy, went forth at the head of the people to welcome the bearers of the martyr's relics, which, it is superfluous to observe, worked many miracles and cures.

The Pope seems to have approved generally of the work which Constantine had inaugurated. Methodius and three of the Moravian disciples were ordained priests; 2 but Moravia was not made a bishopric and still remained formally dependent on the See of Passau. Hadrian seems also to have expressed a qualified approval of the Slavonic books. The opponents of the Greek brethren urged that there were only three sacred tongues, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, appealing to the superscription on the Cross. The Pope is said to have rejected this "Pilatic" dogma in its extreme form, and to have authorized preaching and the reading of the Scriptures in Slavonic; but he certainly did not, as was afterwards alleged, license the singing of the service of the Mass in the strange tongue, even though it were also chanted in Latin, nor did he cause the Slavonic liturgy to be recited in the principal churches of Rome.

At this time, the most learned man at Rome was the librarian Anastasius, who knew Greek, kept himself in contact with the Greek world, and translated into Latin the Chronicle

1 Nicolas died A.D. 867, Nov. 13, Hadrian succeeded Dec. 14.

2 Vit. Meth. c. 6. The addition to the Translatio (c. 9 ad fin.) states that both Constantine and Methodius were consecrated bishops, and this is accepted by Snopek, op. cit. 126 sqq.

Methodius became bishop of Pannonia at a later period (Vit. Meth. c. 8 ad fin.).

See the spurious letter of Hadrian in Vit. Meth. c. 8.

4 Vit. Const. c. 17.

of Theophanes. He made the acquaintance of Constantine, of whose character and learning he entertained a profound admiration. Writing at a later time to the Western Emperor, Anastasius mentions that Constantine knew by heart the works of Dionysios the Areopagite and recommended them as a powerful weapon for combating heresies.1 But the days of Constantine the Philosopher were numbered. He fell ill and was tonsured as a monk, assuming the name of Cyril. He died on February 14, A.D. 869,2 and his body was entombed near the altar in the church which had been newly erected in honour of St. Clement.3

The subsequent career of Methodius in Moravia and Pannonia lies outside our subject. He was in an untenable position, and the forces against him were strong. He was determined to celebrate mass in Slavonic, yet he depended on the goodwill of the Roman See. His disciples, soon after their master's death, were compelled to leave the country, and they found a more promising field of work in Bulgaria, the land for which, as we have seen reason to think, Cyril's literary labours were originally intended.

1 Ep. ad Car., apud Ginzel, Anhang, p. 44. Anastasius is mentioned in Vit. Const. c. 17-one of the details which show that the writer (who also knew that Constantine's disciples were consecrated by bishops Formosus and Gauderic) had some good information.

2 Vit. Const. c. 18; Translatio, c. 10. 3 It was built by Gauderic, bishop of Velletri, who was interested in St. Clement, to whom the Church of Velletri was dedicated (Anastasius, Ep. ad Gaudericum). On old frescoes

discovered close to the place where Constantine was buried, representing the translation of the saint's relics into the church, the inscription ACIRIL occurs (apparently referring to their discovery and restoration by Cyril). Rossi dates the frescoes to the tenth century. See Bullettino di archeologia cristiana, i. 9 sqq., 1863; ii. 1 sqq., 1864; and G. Wilpert, Le pitture della basilica primitiva di San Clemente (1906). Cp. Pastrnek, op.

cit. 91.

CHAPTER XIII

THE EMPIRE OF THE KHAZARS AND THE PEOPLES

OF THE NORTH

§ 1. The Khazars

AT the beginning of the ninth century the Eastern Empire had two dependencies, remote and isolated, which lived outside the provincial organization, and were governed by their own magistrates, Venice and Cherson. We have seen how Venice, in the reign of Theophilus, virtually became independent of Constantinople; under the same Emperor, the condition of Cherson was also changed, but in a very different sense-it was incorporated in the provincial system. The chief value of both cities to the Empire was commercial; Venice was an intermediary for Byzantine trade with the West, while Cherson was the great centre for the commerce of the North. And both cities lay at the gates of other empires, which were both an influence and a menace. If the people of the lagoons had to defend themselves against the Franks, the Chersonites had as good reason to fear the Khazars.

In the period with which we are concerned, it is probable that the Khan of the Khazars was of little less importance in the view of the Imperial foreign policy than Charles the Great and his successors. The marriage of an Emperor to the daughter of a Khazar king had signalised in the eighth century that Byzantium had interests of grave moment in this quarter of the globe, where the Khazars had formed a powerful and organized state, exercising control or influence over the barbarous peoples which surrounded them.

Their realm extended from the Caucasus northward to the Volga and far up the lower reaches of that river; it included

the basin of the Don, it reached westward to the banks of the Dnieper, and extended into the Tauric Chersonese. In this empire were included peoples of various race-the Inner Bulgarians, the Magyars, the Burdas, and the Goths of the Crimea; while the Slavonic state of Kiev paid a tribute to the Chagan. The Caucasian range divided the Khazars from Iberia and the dependencies of the Caliphate; towards the Black Sea their neighbours were the Alans and the Abasgi; the Dnieper bounded their realm on the side of Great Bulgaria; in the north their neighbours were the Bulgarians of the Volga, and in the east the Patzinaks. All these folks came within the view of Byzantine diplomacy; some of them were to play an important part in the destinies of the Eastern Empire.

The capital of the ruling people was situated on the Caspian Sea, at the mouths of the Volga, and was generally known as Itil.1 It was a double town built of wood. The western town was named Saryg-shār, or Yellow City, in which the Chagan resided during the winter; over against it was the eastern town of Chamlich or Khazaran, in which were the quarters of the Mohammadan and the Scandinavian merchants. Chamlich seems to have lain on the eastern bank of the eastern branch of the river, while Saryg-shār was built on the island and on the western shore of the western mouth, the two portions being connected by a bridge of boats; so that Itil is sometimes described as consisting of three towns.2 The island was covered with the fields and vineyards and gardens of the Chagan.

Three other important towns or fortresses of the Khazars lay between Itil and the Caspian gates. Semender was situated at the mouth of the Terek stream at Kizliar.3 It was a place rich in vineyards, with a considerable Mohammadan population,

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three towns are mentioned: in the largest of them is the Queen's palace, in the smallest the King's palace, beween (? around) whose walls flows the river. See Marquart, Streifzüge, xlii. Saryg-shar was called al-Baidhā ("the white") by older Arabic writers (Westberg, op. cit. ii. 14). Westberg has shown that the later name of Itil was Saksin (ib. 37 sqq., and Beiträge, ii. 288 sqq.).

3 Westberg, K analizu, ii. 41 sqq.

The fortress

who lived in wooden houses with convex roofs.1 of Belenjer, which lay on the lower course of the Sulek, on the road which leads southward from Kizliar to Petrovsk,2 seems to have played some part in the earlier wars between the Khazars and the Saracens.3 Further south still was the town of Tarku, on the road to Kaiakend and the Caspian gates.1

5

The Arabic writers to whom we owe much of our knowledge of Khazaria suggest a picture of agricultural and pastoral prosperity. The Khazars were extensive sheep-farmers; their towns were surrounded by gardens and vineyards; they were rich in honey and wax; and had abundance of fish. The richest pastures and most productive lands in their country were known as the Nine Regions, and probably lay in the modern districts of Kuban and Ter." The king and his court wintered in Itil, but in the spring they went forth and encamped in the plains." According to one report, the Chagan had twenty-five wives, each the daughter of a king, and sixty concubines eminent for their beauty. Each of them had a house of her own, a qubba covered with teakwood, surrounded by a large pavilion, and each was jealously guarded by a eunuch who kept her from being seen.8 But at a later period a Chagan boasts of his queen, her maidens, and eunuchs, and we are left to wonder whether polygamy had been renounced or was deliberately concealed.9

The Chagan himself seems to have taken no direct share in the administration of the state or the conduct of war. His sacred person was almost inaccessible; when he rode abroad, all those who saw him prostrated themselves on the ground and did not rise till he had passed out of sight. On his death, a great sepulchre was built with twenty chambers, suspended

1 Ibn Haukal and Istachri describe it; see Marquart, Streifzüge, xlii. n. 3, and 1-2. Istachri says that it was governed by a prince who was a Jew and related to the Chagan. This refers to a period after the conversion to Judaism.

2 Westberg, ib.

3 For the evidence see Marquart, op. cit. 16-17. He wrongly identifies Tarku with Semender.

4 Westberg, ib."

5 Westberg, op. cit. ii. 13.

6 τὰ ἐννέα κλίματα τῆς Χαζαρίας, from which was derived ἡ πᾶσα ζωὴ καὶ ȧplovía Tîs X.; they were on the side towards the land of the Alans (see below). Const. De adm. imp. 80.

7 Cp. Gurdizi, p. 96 (tr. Barthold). See also der chaz. Königsbrief, 80.

8 Cp. Ibn Fadhlan (Vet. Mem.), 592; Marquart, xlii. n. 2. When the Chagan wished to embrace one of his consorts, her eunuch took her in an instant to his qubba, waited outside, and then reconducted her.

9 Der chaz. Königsbrief, 79.

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