Middle Byzantine Period

The first phase of the Middle Byzantine period (632–867) is marked by instability and the struggle of the empire to survive. The spread of the Arabs and Islam deprived Byzantium of extensive lands in North Africa, Egypt and Syro-Palestine. Areas rich in raw materials and grain were lost, and intellectual centres of great importance (Alexandria) changed hands. The Arabs threatened Constantinople twice. At the same time, Slavic populations were settled in mainland Greece, and the Bulgars arrived in the Balkans, from where they posed a constant threat to the empire.

Domestically, the Byzantine Empire was rocked for nearly a century by Iconoclasm, a theological, social and political dispute over whether God should be represented in art or not. The conflict came to an end in 843 with victory for the pro-icon faction. At the same time, urban centres started to decline, as a result of growing insecurity, continuous wars, looting and epidemics. Once large cities turned into small fortified settlements, whose main concern was the protection of their inhabitants.

The Macedonian dynasty (867–1081) marked a Byzantine counter-attack on all fronts. It was a period of intellectual flowering and a revival of arts and letters, manifested in the copying of manuscripts with classical writings, their study and commentary (first phase of Byzantine Humanism).

During the 9th and 10th centuries, the Moravians, Bulgars, Serbs and Russians were converted to Christianity and brought within the sphere of Byzantine cultural influence. The Byzantine state reached a peak of its power in the reign of Basil II (976–1025). Peace and prosperity enabled economic growth in both cities and rural areas. A period of crisis followed, which was marked by the settlement of Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor (1071) and the appearance of the Norman threat in the west.

The final phase of the Middle Byzantine period (1081–1204) saw new developments in the empire’s relations with Western Europe. On the economic level, the commercial city-states of Italy started penetrating Byzantine territories. On the ecclesiastical level, tense relations between the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Roman Catholic Church became the norm. Militarily, the period was dominated by the Crusades and by Norman invasions. The army of the Fourth Crusade conquered Constantinople (1204) dealing a heavy blow to the empire and dissolving the Byzantine state.