Oxford history of the christian church

4. Byzantium and South Italy.

Byzantine extension of its influence in the north-east, the subjugation of Bulgaria begun by John I Tzimisces and completed by 1014 by Basil II, and the successful drive against the Muslims in the eastern reaches and in the Aegean all combined to give Constantinople a commanding position. The next step was to consolidate the Byzantine position in South Italy and to win back Sicily from the Muslims, and this was the intention of the last great Macedonian ruler Basil II († 1025). It is understandable that the attitude of Constantinople towards the western powers was one of disdain. The Byzantines were quite unaware of rising forces in the West which were eventually to contribute to the downfall of the East Roman Empire in the later middle ages. This is particularly true of the many-sided reform movement stirring within the tenth-century Latin Church, though as yet not touching papal personnel to any great extent. It was to be a contributory factor in stimulating an upsurge of devotion which was one of the forces behind the fatal crusading movement from the late eleventh century onwards.

In the tenth century on the whole Byzantium controlled its south Italian provinces, though Sicily was lost to the Muslims and the mainland was still troubled by them. The Greek Church was strong in the south and Greek monasticism deep-rooted there, particularly on the 'Holy Mountain' up in the hills above Rossano whence came St Nilus in 1004 to found the still active house of Grottaferrata near Rome. There were Greeks and Greek monastic houses in Rome itself. ²² Latin houses such as Monte Cassino drew freely on Byzantine expertise in matters of craftsmanship and in other fields, and there were political links between Constantinople and Italian principalities, as for instance Capua. ²³ In Rome itself the political and ecclesiastical situation in the second half of the tenth century reflected little credit on the papacy and afforded opportunity for outside interference. Leading families were struggling for control and for the appointment of their own nominee as Pope. The situation also posed a problem for Byzantium by reason of the ambitions of the Saxon ruler Otto I, a mere 'rex' in the eyes of Constantinople. Otto took over the North Italian Lombard kingdom which was being misgoverned by his vassal Berengar and he then adopted the imperial policy of the Carolinglans. In 962 he was crowned Emperor in Rome by Pope John XII. He allied with the house of Tusculum against the Roman family of the Crescentii and was to exercise far stricter control over Pope and City than Charlemagne had done. Further, Otto I had designs on Byzantine South Italian lands. Had he succeeded these regions would no doubt have been withdrawn from the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople and returned to Rome. Though taken over at least 200 years earlier their transference to Constantinople had remained a permanent grievance with the Curia, as was evidenced in Liutprand's provocative anti-Byzantine propaganda piece, the Legatio. ²⁴

Otto I did attack South Italy, but with only temporary success. In 972 he achieved something of a truce by negotiating for his son Otto II, a Byzantine bride Theophano, not a 'born-in-the-purple' Macedonian princess as requested but probably a relative of the general and co-Emperor John I Tzimisces. Both Otto II and Otto III retained their interest in Italy as did their successors. The half Byzantine Otto III († 1002) even hoped to make Rome the centre of a western Empire in the East Roman tradition and he was betrothed to a genuine Byzantine princess, presumably Zoe, the niece of the powerful Emperor Basil II, but this came to nothing by reason of Otto's early death.

Intervention in Italian affairs and western imperial claims were from now onwards to be a permanent feature of German politics to the detriment of Byzantine interests. During the late tenth and first half of the eleventh centuries German attempts to control the papacy were resisted by the Roman Crescentii with whom the Byzantines had an understanding. From time to time 'Roman' popes dislodged by the German party appealed to Constantinople for help. Throughout this period Constantinople showed its determination to maintain its hold on South Italy. In 968 Patriarch Polyeuctus affirmed his right to control the South Italian Church when he elevated the archbishop of Otranto to the rank of metropolitan with one or more suffragans (the sources are not agreed as to the number). ²⁵ It is understandable that the see-saw of politics in Rome made it difficult for Constantinople always to be sure who was in possession of the papal throne at any given time and therefore there may have been gaps in the registration of the current papal name in the diptychs. This intermittent absence of the usual recognition was not necessarily an indication of formal schism and there is indeed no reason for thinking that any such state of affairs existed at this time. Polemic on the procession of the Holy Spirit attributed to Patriarch Sisinnius II has now been shown to belong to a later period. ²⁶ Likewise Sergius II's alleged use of Photius's encyclical against the Latin Church addressed to the eastern patriarchs and his supposed concern with the filioque and schism have been discounted. ²⁷

Far from being unduly troubled by the relations with the Latins, the Byzantines in 1025 could look with some satisfaction on the extent of their influence. In conquered Bulgaria the patriarchate had been suppressed and an archbishopric dependent on the Byzantine Emperor set up. The Kievan ruler and his subjects had been won for Orthodoxy and the higher ecclesiastics in Russia were Greek appointed, though the lower clergy were native using the Slavonic vernacular in their services. The conquests on the eastern borders had added to prestige but had also certainly created ecclesiastical problems by bringing closer contact with the separated monophysites, though there was also compensation in the restoration of Byzantine control over the deeply venerated Christian city of Antioch. Both within and without the Empire the Orthodox tradition was being greatly enriched by an upsurge of monastic foundations, particularly on Mount Athos, the Byzantine Holy Mountain. Confident in its widespread influence and growing prestige the Empire might well consider that it was equipped to extinguish heresies, such as the dualism deep-rooted in the newlyformed Bulgarian themes, or the tenacious monophysitism of the Armenian immigrants, or even to exact recognition of their position from Rome. It was reported by the western Rudolf Glaber that in 1024 the Emperor Basil II and the Patriarch Eustathius sent an embassy to Pope John XIX asking him to recognize the Church of Constantinople as universal in its own sphere (in suo orbe) as the Pope was in the world (in universo). ²⁸ Presumably the Byzantine 'sphere' would have included the disputed South Italian dioceses. To judge from sharp criticism of him from north of the Alps the Pope appeared to have considered granting the request, ²⁹ but nothing further seems to be known about this, except that it was wholly unpalatable to the western church reformers. It does however reflect the spirit of Constantinople at this time, confident, but mistakenly so.