Very few people have ever heard of the term: Byzantine Commonwealth. Even fewer hear the rebuttal term of Byzantine Ideal. However, I do think this term and the history behind it is important to understanding European Diplomacy in the high and late middle ages from the 9th century to the 14th century. Today, I plan to showcase the cultural and religious supremacy of the Eastern Roman Empire, the diplomacy used in order to strengthen the eastern roman state and a final word on how this “commonwealth” isn’t unique but certainly the most prominent.
The easiest explanation of the Byzantine Commonwealth is the religious supremacy that formed in Eastern Europe in which the Eastern Roman Church began to expand and persuade the european kingdoms of Bulgaria, Kievan Rus, Serbia, Georgia, Anatolia. To a lesser extent Moravia/Bohemia, Hungary and Lithuania. Upon further inspection, we see the style of monk diplomacy in which monks from the Eastern Roman realm are sent abroad to convert and persuade the people that the Eastern Roman Empire is the center of the world. This form of Monk Diplomacy was replicated in the Frankish Empire, but importantly it is Roman ideas of hierarchy and divine ordained power in which most new christian nations drew from. An easy example is the holy crown of Hungary which was originally a eastern roman crown. This also feeds into Constantiople was the envy of the world not only do many elements of kingdoms borrow from Eastern Rome but there has always been a influx of migrants and converts moving into the lands of New Rome.
The Byzantine Commonwealth isn’t just limited to the Eastern Orthodox world, it can be further expanded upon in other realms. Let’s take a look towards Western Europe, specifically Italy and the Holy Roman Empire. It is still widely known of Empress Theophanu, an Eastern Roman Princess serving as Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. She herself would import a lot of roman elements, especially the idea of female empress in her own right, familial ties to strengthen her empire, and of course the imports of the Eastern Roman Courts. Her lineage as daughter of the Eastern Roman Emperor would further legitimize the Holy Roman Empire. Italy is also another instance of this occurring, if you look at Norman Sicily which emulates a lot of Eastern Roman culture and governance however, arguably it is due to Greek people living there at the time but it still should not be understated. Venice itself is a prominent example of the commonwealth for the west with the eastern romans founding and further influencing Venice well until the fall of Eastern Rome. Finally, even their greatest rivals such as the Turks through both the Sultanate of Rum and the Ottoman empire, both sought to legitimize themselves and emulate the Romans with both taking on the Turkish name of Roman Emperor. The muslims through the abbasids would be introduced and kept many Eastern Roman cultural and intellectual pieces. The golden house of wisdom itself held so many greek works it could rival the libraries of Constantiople. There are other countless examples especially of the Komnenos and Palaiologos dynasties but this is just an introduction to this commonwealth.
Is this commonwealth unique? Oh absolutely not, the most obvious counterpart would be the Western Roman Empire or the Carolingian Empire. Roman law was used throughout medieval europe, and the usage of vulgar latin would be used to create their own romance languages. Importantly the influence of the Catholic Church was because of the western roman empire. The issue is that the western roman empire collapsed before seeing all of this fruit of cultural influence and legacy. You could argue that the Caroingians had the same influence but again that premature death is what keeps it away from the Eastern Romans. A proper example would be the Umayyads and the ideas of a caliphate which was replicated after their death and their influence spread far beyond their own borders. The changing from Umayyads to Abbasids however early on would muddle it slightly as you would have to really scrutinize if it came from Umayyad or Abbasid influence. Of course there are probably other examples outside of Europe but I’m not very familiar under it but arguably this cultural-religious supremacy is best displayed with the Byzantine Commonwealth.
Thank you for reading my opinions about the Byzantine Commonwealth, I hope you enjoy this article and I’ll see you all later in another UTEP piece -Arleat