Christopher
Columbus discovered America. The issuance of the Emancipation
Proclamation freed the slaves in the American South. The Order of Knights
Templar was exterminated in the early 14th century. Japan
initiated the war against the United States of America in 1941. The War
Between the States was not about slavery but about states’ rights.
These are
but a few of the historical misconceptions and outright deceptions with which I
and many like me grew up. The truth of these four “facts” is more like this:
Columbus
and crew were lost, on their way to what they believed were the East
Indies. Up to 145 million natives may have lived in the so-called New
World in 1492; by 1600 that number had been reduced to 1.5 million, largely due
to pandemics.
The Emancipation
Proclamation was a propaganda exercise that actually freed no one, not the
slaves in the Union states but only those in territory still in Confederate
hands. Like if the USA has announced during the Cold War that all those
behind the Iron and Bamboo Curtains were now free from Communist rule.
The
Templars were never persecuted in Portugal and survive to this day as the
Military Order of Christ. In fact, the afore-mentioned Columbus was a member of
that order and therefore a Templar. In the kingdom of Aragon, the
Templars were converted into the Order of Montessa. In Scotland, after
the Order was dissolved in England, English and Scottish Templars merged with
the Scottish Hospitallers to become the joint Order of St. John and the Temple
that lasted until the Reformation.
The United States declared an oil embargo against the Empire of Japan in 1941 and set about enforcing it, the first blood drawn, so to speak. Such an embargo is a very provocative act of war.
The United States declared an oil embargo against the Empire of Japan in 1941 and set about enforcing it, the first blood drawn, so to speak. Such an embargo is a very provocative act of war.
States’
rights were but one argument of many that the elite in the South used to
justify continuation of human slavery. Anyone who doubts that the
secessions in 1860 and 1861 were to preserve slavery needs only to read the
proclamations.
I’ll never
forget my first day in Marvin Cousins’ American Government class my senior year
in high school. He began the course by listing several myths of American
history one-by-one, after which he would rip it apart, beginning with the
phrase, “YOU HAVE BEEN LIED TO!”
The Roman
Empire, or Imperium Romanum, fell in 476 CE.
Well, not
exactly. The empire continued to exist until 1453, with the fall of its
seat, Constantinopolis. Vestiges of the empire survived well into the
modern era. So, what fell in in 476 CE was merely the fall of the Western Roman
Empire with its last emperor. Only that’s not entirely true either.
Imperator Caesar Flavius Romulus Augustus did have a successor and
Roman institutions were maintained for quite some time. The Senate of
Roma, in fact, lasted into the 7th century.
So here’s
what really happened.
In 285 CE,
Imperator Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Augustus (Diocletian) divided
the Imperium Romanum into Eastern and Western halves under himself at Nicodemia
in the east and Imperator Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius
Augustus, the lesser of two equals, in the west at Roma.
Emperors
in the Late Roman Empire had Imperator (and later also Caesar) as their
pronomen with Augustus as their cognomen.
In 293
Diocletianus divided the Imperium Romanum into four parts, known as the
Tetrarchy, two of which fell under an Imperator Augustus, and two smaller under
Caesars. He further moved the capital of the West from Roma to Meliandum
(Milan) and reduced the size of the empire’s provinces and groups them into twelve
dioceses, each under a vicarius.
The
Tetrarchy system fell apart in 313, though the system of smaller provinces
grouped into twelve dioceses remained. In 324 Imperator Caesar Flavius
Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus (Constantine) of the West defeated his
opposite in the East, Imperator Caesar Gaius Valerius Licinianus Licinius
Augustus, to become sole imperial ruler, choosing to rule from the East.
Constantine
moved his seat from Nicodemia to Byzantium in 330, establishing Nova Roma,
later called Constantinopolis, in its place, making it the capital of the whole
Imperium Romanum.
After his
death in 337, the Imperium Romanum was divided into three praetorian
prefectures: the western Prefecture of Galliae (including Britanniae,
Hispaniae, Germaniae); the central Prefecture of Italiae (including the Balkans
and Africa); and the eastern Prefecture of the Orient (Thracia, Anatolia,
Syria-Palestina, Aegyptus, Libya). The Imperium carved the Prefecture of
Illyricum (Illyria, Dalmatia, Graecia, and Dacia) largely out of that of
Italiae in 356.
The
Praetorian Prefects of these units were subordinate to the Imperator Caesar
Augustus and had authority only over their civil administration. Each
prefecture had its own Magister Militum, head of military, each of whom
reported to the Magister Militum of the Imperium, who answered to the emperor.
In the
mid-4th century, the military of the empire was
reorganized. In the Diocese of Britanniae, the military was divided into
three commands, those of the Comes Litoris Saxonici, Dux Britanniarum, and
Comes Britanniarum, who reported to the Magister Militum of the Prefecture of
Galliae. Across the Oceanus Britannica (the English Channel), the Dux
Belgicae Segundae and the Dux Tractus Armoricani et Nervicani, along with the
Classis Britannica at Bononia Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer), fell under the
overall command of the Comes Litoris Saxonici.
These
commands on the outskirts of the empire are relevant to later events.
In 366,
Damasus I, Bishop of Rome, convinced Imperator Caesar Flavius Valentianus
Augustus in the West to give him the title Pontifex Maximus, previously held by
the emperor, becoming the first Pope in the modern sense of the word.
Following
the death of Imperator Caesar Flavius Theodosius Augustus in 395, the Imperium
Romanum was once again split into Eastern and Western halves, only this time
the division was permanent.
In 402,
Flavius Stilcho, Magister Militum of the West, withdrew some legions from
Britanniae to face the Gothi in Italiae. Meanwhile, Imperator Caesar
Flavius Honorius Augustus moved his seat from Meliandum to Ravenna purposes.
In 409,
the Vandali, Buri, Suevi, and Alani ravaged the Diocese of Galliae until they
being driven into Iberia by the Visigothi. Cut off by the chaos, the
people of Britanniae and of Armorica (Britanny) armed themselves and overthrew
their civilian magistrates. Imperator Caesar Flavius Honorius Augustus
told them to attend their own affairs from thenceforth.
The
following year, the Visigothi invaded Italiae and sacked Roma.
The
revolts in Armorica and Britanniae were suppressed in 417, followed by the
return of some level of imperial presence in both regions. A year later,
Imperator Caesar Flavius Honorius Augustus granted his Visigothi allies land in
Aquitania to settle as foederati.
Flavius
Aetius, sometimes referred to as the “last of the Romans” became Comes and
Magister Militum of the Prefecture of Galliae in 425. He was to become the last
of the great Roman generals in the West.
Four years
later, largely due to Comes Aetius’ campaigns, the Vandali and their client
Alani crossed from Hispaniae into North Africa, and within ten years conquered
all of Roman Africa.
The same
year, Pope Celestine I dispatched Bishops Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of
Troyes to Britanniae to combat the Pelagian heresy at the request of Palladius,
a British deacon. While in Britanniae, Germanus, in his former life a Roman
military officer, led the Britons to victory in battle against the Scotti
(Irish) near the later Welsh border.
In 435, a
local named Tibatto successfully led the Armorican movement for independence
from the Diocese of Galliae.
After
conquering Africa Proconsularis in 439, completing his conquest of Roman
Africa, Genseric adopted the title King of the Vandals and Alans, making his
seat at Cartago, the former seat of Roman government.
In 446,
the Britons appealed to Comes Aetius for military assistance in their struggle
against the Pictii and the Scotti who were raiding their lands from both land
and sea, but he had his hands full with Attila the Hun. Instead, German of
Auxerre returned the next year, accompanied by Severus, Bishop of Trier.
After expelling the Scotti from the mountain territory of the Cornovii, he
established Paganes (Powys), with Catellius, son of Categirn (Cadell
Ddernllwg), son of Vortigern, as Tribune, later succeeded by Bruttius, another
grandson of Vortigern.
In 451,
the armies of Comes Aetius, Magister Militum of Galliae, and of the Visigoth
king Theodoric I, which include Alani, Francii, and Burgundones, turned back
the army of Attila the Hun in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.
The
Vandali sacked Roma again in 455. Comes Aetius was not around to prevent
this because he had been assassinated in Roma on orders of Imperator Caesar
Flavius Placidius Valentinianus Augustus.
Aegidius,
Magister Militum per Galliae, established the Ducatas Noviodunum over the same
territory as the later Nuestria (Galliae north of the Loire River) the
following year, 456, after being cut off from the rest of the empire.
Both its citizenry and Ravenna considered it an exclave of the western empire,
and it may well have been in regular contact with pro-Roman elements in the
Diocese of Britanniae.
Historians
estimate that it is around this time, possibly up to twenty five years later,
that Ambrosius Aurelianus, whom Gildas refers to as the “last of the Romans”
(in Britanniae), is active as the foremost leader of what remains of Roman
Britain.
The
Visigothi acquired Septimania, also called Gallia Narbonensis, in 462, leaving
them in control of the entire south of the Diocese of Galliae.
Dux
Aegidius died in 464 at the Battle of Orleans against the Visigoths as ally of
Childeric I of the Francii to his immediate east, and was succeeded by his
second-in-command, Paulus, Comes of Angers, who subsequently also died in
battle against the Visigoths to be succeeded as Dux by Syagrius, son of
Aegidius.
* * * *
*
In the
fateful year 476, Odoacer of the Scirii, head of the foederati (non-native,
mostly Germanic, troops) in the Prefecture of Italiae whose ranks included
Heruli, Ostrogothi, Franci, and Lombardi, captured Ravenna and overthrew
Flavius Orestes, Magister Militum in the West, and Imperator Caesar Flavius
Romulus Augustus.
He then
invited Imperator Caesar Flavius Zeno Augustus in Constantinopolis to become
sole ruler of the reunited Imperium Romanum and recognize him as King of Italy
under imperial authority. Zeno granted Odoacer the pronomen Patricius and the
title Dux Italiae, while recognizing Imperator Caesar Flavius Julius Nepos
Augustus as ruler of the West. Patricius Odoacer maintained all of the
imperial institutions, including the Senate at old Roma.
The
Visigothi destroyed the last remnants of the Prefecture of Galliae the next
year, except for the Ducatas Noviodunum in the north.
In 480,
Imperator Caesar Nepos Augustus was murdered in Dalmatia in the Balkan
peninsula where he had made his residence, after which Patricius Odoacer moved
to take over Sicilia and Dalmatia.
The
Ducatas Noviodunum was finally conquered by Clovis I, king of the Francii, in
486, leaving him in control of all Gaul north of the River Loire. Dux
Syagrius fled to the protection of the Visigothi to the south, only to be
executed by Alaric II.
Theodoric,
Consul of the Imperium Romanum at Constantinopolis and now king of the
Ostrogothi, invaded the Prefecture of Italiae in 488 at the behest of Imperator
Caesar Flavius Zeno Augustus after Patricius Odoacer became too independent.
In 493,
the Ostrogothi under Consul Theodoric completed their conquest of Odoacer’s
domain, and now Patricius Theodoric, like his predecessor, ruled as viceroy to
Zeno with the title Dux Italiae.
In 500,
the Romano-British commander Agricola reconquered Dyfed, formerly known as
Demetia, from the Irish Deisi and became its governor as Tribune. Such Roman
imperial titles are attested to well into the 6th century.
Imperator
Caesar Flavius Anastasius Augustus raised Clovis of the Franci to the rank of
Consul of the Imperium Romanum after he conquers the Visigothic kingdom of
Toulouse under Alaric II in the Battle of Vouille in 507, leaving only Septimania
(Gallica Narbonensis) and Hispaniae in Visigothic hands.
The same
year Theodoric, commander of the Classis Britannica (probably then based in
Britanniae), campaigned in Armorica.
Patricius
Theodoric, Dux Italiae, re-established the Prefecture of Galliae in its former
capital of Arelate (Arles) in 510.
Flavius
Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus (Justinian), who would become very significant to
the remains of the Imperium in the West, became Imperator Caesar Augustus
of the Imperium Romanum in 527.
In 534,
his Magister Militum, Flavius Belisarius, brought an end to the Kingdom of the
Vandals and Alans and established the Prefecture of Africa, which included
Corsica and Sardinia, with its seat at Cartago.
From 535
to 554, Belisarius conducted the Gothic War with the Ostrogothi for control of
the Prefecture of Italiae.
The
revived Prefecture of Galliae fell to the Francii in 536. In the same
year, Magister Belisarius finished reconquering Sicilia and established what
became the Thema of Sicilia.
In 552,
the Imperium Romanum had reconquered enough of Hispaniae to establish the
autonomous province of Spania in Iberia, under a magister militum.
In 554,
imperial forces under Magister Militum Narses, a scion of the Arsacid dynasty
of Armenia, finally completed the conquest of the Prefecture of Italiae.
In 580,
the Senate of Roma sent two ambassadors to the court of Imperator Caesar
Flavius Tiberius Constantinus Augustus at Constantinopolis.
Imperator
Caesar Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus transformed the western holdings of
the empire in 584, creating two exarchates, with governors combining civil and
military powers.
The
Prefecture of Africa became the Exarchate of Africa, adding to it the formerly
autonomous province of Spania and the Islas Baleares.
The
Prefecture of Italiae became the Exarchate of Italiae, with its constituent
parts being the Ducatas Romanus, the Ducatas Pentapolis, the Ducatas Perusia,
the Ducatas Neapolitanus, and the Ducatas Bruttium (Calabria).
In 603,
the register of Pope Gregorius, Bishop of Roma and Pontifex Maximus, recorded
the acclamation by the Senate of Roma of new statues of Imperator Caesar
Flavius Phocas Augustus and his wife Leonitia Augusta, the last to be erected
in the Roman Forum.
With the
succession of Imperator Caesar Flavius Heraclius Augustus in 610, Greek became
the official language of the Imperium Romanum.
The
province of Spania fell to the Visigothi in 624.
In 629,
Heraclius assumed the title Basileus tuv Basileuv (Shahanshah or King of
kings) in honor of his defeat of the Sassanids, ending the long-running
Romano-Persian Wars, two years previously. He also changed the pronomen
from Imperator Caesar to Basileus and the cognomen from Augustus to Sebastos,
with the empire now called the Basilea Rhomaion.
In 637,
Muslim Arab armies invaded the Basilea Rhomaion and conquered
Syria-Palestina. Two years later they conquered Aegyptus and Armenia.
Basileus
Konstantinos Pogonatos Sabastos moved the seat of the Basilea Rhomaion from Konstantinopoulis
to Siracusa in Sicilia in 663, but it returned to the former after his death in
668.
In 697,
Basileus Leontios Sebastos established the Ducatas Venetia in northeastern
Italiae, under the Exarchate at Ravenna, with Paolo Lucio Anafestom as Doux
(Dux) and Hypatos (Consul).
The
Exarchate of Africa fell to the Muslim armies of the Umayyads the following
year, except the city of Septum (Ceuta), which remained in the Basilea Rhomaion
as an autonomous entity under a comes.
In 710,
Julian, last Comes of Septum, switched his loyalty from the Basilea Rhomaion to
the Umayyad dynasty when he needed closer allies in his fight against the
Visigothi, leading to the invasion of Hispaniae.
The
Exarchate of Italiae came to an end in 751 when it was conquered by the
Lombards. The holdings of the Basilea Rhomaion in Italia were reduced to
the Themas of Sicilia, Calabria, and Lucania, along with the Ducatas Venetia.
Themata
were the administrative divisions of the Basilea Rhomain, which had replaced
the system of provinces in the mid-7th century.
In 754,
Pope Zachary, Bishop of Roma and Pontifex Maximus, anointed Pepin the Short
king of the Francii and bestowed on him the title of Patricius Romanorum.
A portion of the Ducatas Neapolitanus secedes in 758 as the independent Ducato di Amalfi.
A portion of the Ducatas Neapolitanus secedes in 758 as the independent Ducato di Amalfi.
In 763,
the Ducatas Neapolitanus switched its allegiance from Konstantinopoulos to
Roma, becoming part of the Papal States.
Charlemagne
of the Franci conquered the Lombard Kingdom of Italy in 774.
The
Ducatas Romanus disappeared in 781 when Charlemagne granted it to Pope Benedict
VII as part of his temporal domains, the Papal States.
In 800,
Pope Leo I crowned Charlemagne as Imperator Romanorum, nominally subordinate to
Basilissa Irene Sebastos. Charlemagne and his successors used the less
presumptuous title Imperator Romanum gubernans Imperium. Basileus Michael I
Rangabe Sebastos recognized Charlemagne as Imperator in the West in 812.
In 811,
the former Ducatas Venetia of the Basilea Rhomain became independent as the
Republic of Venice.
Arab
armies captured the realm of the Lombards in southern Italiae in 847, and the
region became the Emirate of Bari.
In 871,
the Basilea Rhomaion retook its lost lands in southern Italiae and formed them
into the Thema of Longobardia.
Berengar
I, King of Italy and last successor of the imperial line of Charlemagne, died
in 924 with no successor appointed or crowned.
In 962,
Pope John XII crowned Otto I, Duke of Saxony, as Imperator Romanorum, founding
the Imperium Romanum Sacrum, or Holy Roman Empire.
In 965,
Sicilia fell to Muslim invaders, who established the Emirate of Sicily. In
response, the Basilea Rhomaion united the themata of Calabria, Lucania, and
Longobardia under the Strategos of Bari as Kapetan and Patricius, forming the
Katepenate of Italia.
The Great
Schism of the Christian Church took place in 1054 when the Patriarch of Roma
and the Patriarch of Konstantinoupolis excommunicated each
other. Since religion and government were deeply entertwined in both the
Basilea Rhomain and the West, the split was political as well.
The
Katepanate of Italiae came to an end in 1071 when the forces of the Basilea
Rhomaion were ousted from the territory by the Normans. With its exit,
the last vestiges of the old Imperium in the West are gone.
* * * *
*
In 1077,
the Seljuk leader Suleyman bin Kutalmish established the Sultanate of Rum in
Anatolia in territory taken from the Basilea Rhomain.
The First
Crusade began in 1095 when Basileus Alexios I Komnenos Sebastos in Konstantinoupolis asked
Pope Urban II, as a fellow Roman, for assistance against the Seljuk Turks, and
he responded with the Council of Clermont to call up volunteers.
At the end
of the war 1099, the Crusaders established the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Principality
of Antioch, County of Edessa, and County of Tripoli.
A couple
of crusades later, the Treaty of Ramla between Richard the Lionheart and Salah
al-Din in 1192 effectively ended the rule of the Crusaders, except for a tiny
portion of the Mediterranean coast around the city of Acre, which maintained
the title of Kingdom of Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the French established the
Kingdom of Cyprus the same year.
The Fourth
Crusade began in 1202 with the intention of reconquering the Holy Land, but
instead attacked the Basilea Rhomain.
After the
capture of Konstantinoupolis in 1204, the western Crusaders divided
the conquered territory into the possessions of the Republic of Venice
(primarily Crete) and those of the Imperium Romaniae (Latin Empire) and its
vassel states: Kingdom of Thessalonika, Principality of Achaea, Duchy of
Athens, and Duchy of Naxos. Rhodes became the headquarters of the Knights
Hospitaller.
The
surviving “Greek” portions of the empire include the Empire of Nicaea, the
Empire of Trebizond, and the Despotate of Epirus.
The
“Greek” Despotate of Epirus conquered the “Latin” Kingdom of Thessalonika in
1224, while in 1261 the “Greek” Empire of Nicaea reconquered the “Latin”
Imperium Romaniae and reestablished the Basilea Rhomaion.
In 1291, the
Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt captured Acre, the last territory of the Crusaders in
the Levant, ending the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1302, the island of Arwad
off the coast of Syria, the very last stronghold of the Knights Templar in the
Levant, fell.
The Sultanate
of Rum fell to the Ottomans in 1307.
In 1340,
the Basilea Rhomaion reabsorbed the “Greek” Despotate of Epirus, and in 1432
reconquered the “Latin” Principality of Achaea.
The
Council of Florence which met 1431-1445 defined
Papal Supremacy and attempted to resolve differences between the Patriarchate
of Rome and those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem to affect
a reunion, but it ultimately failed. The
chief sticking points were the Filioque clause in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan
Creed, Purgatory, and Papal Primacy, the first being the question on which
agreement was never reached.
Konstantinoupolis fell
to the armies of the Ottoman Empire in 1453 and the Basilea Rhomain, or
Imperium Romanum, finally came to an end. Mehmed II, Sultan of the
conquering Ottomans, assumed the title Kaysar-I Rum (Caesar Romanus), which all
his successors carred.
The
Ottomans conquered the “Latin” Duchy of Athens three years later.
In 1461,
the “Greek” Empire of Trebizond, fragment of the Basilea Rhomain independent
since 1204, fell to the Ottoman Empire.
The French
sold the Kingdom of Cyprus to the Republic of Venice in 1489. The Ottomans
conquered it in 1570. The Ottomans annexed the “Latin” Duchy of Naxos,
last remaining vassal state of the former “Latin” Imperium Romaniae, in 1579.
In 1669,
the Republic of Venice lost Crete, its last major overseas outpost, to the
Ottoman Empire.
The last
Doge of the Republic of Venice, founded as the Ducatas Venetia of the Exarchate
of Italiae of the Basilea Rhomain in 697 and independent since 814, abdicated
in 1797 after surrendering to Napoleon Bonaparte of France. It had lasted
longer than the empire which spawned it.
Napoleon
conquered the Imperium Romanum Sacrum (Holy Roman Empire) in 1806 and ordered
it to dissolve. It reorganized as the Confederation of the Rhine.
Following
the Great War, Mustafa Kemal Attaturk overthrew the Ottoman Empire, ending both
the Sultanate and the Caliphate, replacing it with a secular Republic of Turkey
in 1922. The title of Kaysar-I Rum (Caesar Romanus), the last vestige of
the old Imperium Romanum/Basilea Rhomain, was abolished with the other titles.
The name of Constantinople was changed to Istanbul, which means The City in
Turkish, the name by which it had commonly been designated even when the
Basilea Rhomain was still called the Imperium Romanum.
The Bishop
of Rome, or Pope, still carries the title of Pontifex Maximus.
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