vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
Byzantine Empire
The Ostrogoths were soon reunited under the command of King Totila and captured Rome in 546 . Belisarius , who had been sent back to Italy in 544 , was eventually recalled to Constantinople in 549 . The arrival of the Armenian eunuch Narses in Italy ( late 551 ) with an army of 35,000 men marked another shift in Gothic fortunes . Totila was defeated at the Battle of Taginae and his successor , Teia , was defeated at the Battle of Mons Lactarius ( October 552 ) . Despite continuing resistance from a few Gothic garrisons and two subsequent invasions by the Franks and Alemanni , the war for the Italian peninsula was at an end . In 551 , Athanagild , a noble from Visigothic Hispania , sought Justinian 's help in a rebellion against the king , and the emperor dispatched a force under Liberius , a successful military commander . The empire held on to a small slice of the Iberian Peninsula coast until the reign of Heraclius .
Byzantine Empire
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Byzantine law
In Western Europe , following the fall of the Roman Empire , the influence of Roman / Byzantine law became more indirect though always significant during much of the Middle Ages . During the European Renaissance , Western scholars embraced Justinian 's Code as a basis for jurisprudence , shunning many of the later legal developments of the Byzantine Empire such as the Ecloga . This was to a great extent affected by the East / West ( Roman Catholic vs. Eastern Orthodox ) split in the Church . The perception in the West was that Roman law that was recorded in Latin was truly Roman whereas later laws written in Greek was distinct and foreign .
Eastern Orthodox Church
The missionaries to the East and South Slavs had great success in part because they used the people 's native language rather than Greek , the predominant language of the Byzantine Empire or Latin as the Roman priests did . Today the Russian Orthodox Church is the largest of the Orthodox Churches followed by the Romanian Orthodox Church .
Byzantine Empire
In the field of law , Justinian I 's reforms had a clear effect on the evolution of jurisprudence , with his Corpus Juris Civilis becoming the basis for revived Roman law in the West , while Leo III 's Ecloga influenced the formation of legal institutions in the Slavic world . In the 10th century , Leo VI the Wise achieved the complete codification of the whole of Byzantine law in Greek with the Basilika , which became the foundation of all subsequent Byzantine law with an influence extending through to modern Balkan legal codes .
Byzantine Empire
The borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence , as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery . During the reign of Justinian I ( r . 527 -- 565 ) , the Empire reached its greatest extent after reconquering much of the historically Roman western Mediterranean coast , including North Africa , Italy , and Rome itself , which it held for two more centuries . During the reign of Maurice ( r . 582 -- 602 ) , the Empire 's eastern frontier was expanded and the north stabilised . However , his assassination caused the Byzantine -- Sasanian War of 602 -- 628 , which exhausted the Empire 's resources and contributed to major territorial losses during the Muslim conquests of the seventh century . In a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces , Egypt and Syria , to the Arabs .
Byzantine Empire
Constantine XI died without producing an heir , and had Constantinople not fallen he might have been succeeded by the sons of his deceased elder brother , who were taken into the palace service of Mehmed II after the fall of Constantinople . The oldest boy , re-christened as Has Murad , became a personal favorite of Mehmed and served as Beylerbey ( Governor - General ) of the Balkans . The younger son , renamed Mesih Pasha , became Admiral of the Ottoman fleet and Sancak Beg ( Governor ) of the Province of Gallipoli . He eventually served twice as Grand Vizier under Mehmed 's son , Bayezid II .
Byzantine Empire
At the same time , the Empire was faced with new enemies . Provinces in southern Italy faced the Normans , who arrived in Italy at the beginning of the 11th century . During a period of strife between Constantinople and Rome culminating in the East - West Schism of 1054 , the Normans began to advance , slowly but steadily , into Byzantine Italy . Reggio , the capital of the tagma of Calabria , was captured in 1060 by Robert Guiscard , followed by Otranto in 1068 . Bari , the main Byzantine stronghold in Apulia , was besieged in August 1068 and fell in April 1071 . The Byzantines also lost their influence over the Dalmatian coastal cities to Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia ( r . 1058 -- 1074 / 1075 ) in 1069 . The
Byzantine Empire
Having achieved stability in the West , Alexios could turn his attention to the severe economic difficulties and the disintegration of the Empire 's traditional defences . However , he still did not have enough manpower to recover the lost territories in Asia Minor and to advance against the Seljuks . At the Council of Piacenza in 1095 , envoys from Alexios spoke to Pope Urban II about the suffering of the Christians of the East , and underscored that without help from the West they would continue to suffer under Muslim rule .
Western Roman Empire
With Emperor Zeno having juridically reunified the Empire into one imperial court , the remaining Eastern Roman Empire continued to lay claim to the areas previously controlled by the Western court throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages . Though military campaigns had been conducted by the Western court prior to 476 with the aim of recapturing lost territory , most notably under Majorian , the reconquests , if successful at all , were only momentary . It was first under the campaigns of the generals Belisarius and Narses on behalf of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I from 533 to 554 that long - lasting reconquests of Roman lands were witnessed .
Byzantine Empire
The reign of Isaac II , and more so that of his brother Alexios III , saw the collapse of what remained of the centralised machinery of Byzantine government and defence . Although the Normans were driven out of Greece , in 1186 the Vlachs and Bulgars began a rebellion that led to the formation of the Second Bulgarian Empire . The internal policy of the Angeloi was characterised by the squandering of the public treasure and fiscal maladministration . Imperial authority was severely weakened , and the growing power vacuum at the center of the Empire encouraged fragmentation . There is evidence that some Komnenian heirs had set up a semi-independent state in Trebizond before 1204 . According to Alexander Vasiliev , `` the dynasty of the Angeloi , Greek in its origin , ... accelerated the ruin of the Empire , already weakened without and disunited within . '' Fourth
Byzantine Empire
In 1054 , relations between the Eastern and Western traditions within the Christian Church reached a terminal crisis , known as the East -- West Schism . Although there was a formal declaration of institutional separation , on July 16 , when three papal legates entered the Hagia Sophia during Divine Liturgy on a Saturday afternoon and placed a bull of excommunication on the altar , the so - called Great Schism was actually the culmination of centuries of gradual separation . Unfortunately the legates did not know that the Pope had died , an event that made the excommunication void and the excommunication only applied to the Patriarch who responded by excommunicating the legates .
History of the Roman Empire
Odoacer then sent the Imperial Regalia back to the emperor Zeno . Zeno soon received two deputations . One was from Odoacer requesting that his control of Italy be formally recognised by the Empire , in which case he would in turn acknowledge Zeno 's supremacy . The other deputation was from Nepos , requesting support to regain the throne . Zeno granted Odoacer the title Patrician . Zeno told Odoacer and the Roman Senate to take Nepos back ; however , Nepos never returned from Dalmatia , even though Odoacer issued coins in his name . Upon Nepos 's death in 480 , Zeno claimed Dalmatia for the East ; J.B. Bury considers this the real end of the Western Roman Empire . Odoacer attacked Dalmatia , and the ensuing war ended with Theodoric the Great , King of the Ostrogoths , conquering Italy under Zeno 's authority .
Byzantine Empire
The official state Christian doctrine was determined by the first seven ecumenical councils , and it was then the emperor 's duty to impose it to his subjects . An imperial decree of 388 , which was later incorporated into the Codex Justinianus , orders the population of the Empire `` to assume the name of Catholic Christians '' , and regards all those who will not abide by the law as `` mad and foolish persons '' ; as followers of `` heretical dogmas '' .
Byzantine Empire
Even after the Christianisation of the Rus ' , however , relations were not always friendly . The most serious conflict between the two powers was the war of 968 -- 971 in Bulgaria , but several Rus ' raiding expeditions against the Byzantine cities of the Black Sea coast and Constantinople itself are also recorded . Although most were repulsed , they were often followed by treaties that were generally favourable to the Rus ' , such as the one concluded at the end of the war of 1043 , during which the Rus ' gave an indication of their ambitions to compete with the Byzantines as an independent power . Apex
Western Roman Empire
With the death of Theodoric in 526 , his network of alliances began to collapse . The Visigoths regained autonomy under king Amalaric and their relations with the Vandals turned increasingly hostile under the reign of the new Ostrogothic king Athalaric , a child under the regency of his mother Amalasuntha . Amalasuntha intended to continue the policies of conciliation between the Goths and Romans , supporting the new Eastern Emperor Justinian I and allowing him to use Sicily as a staging point during the reconquest of Africa in the Vandalic War . With the death of Athalaric in 534 , Amalasuntha crowned her cousin and only relative Theodahad as king , hoping for his support . Instead , Amalasuntha was imprisoned and even though Theodahad assured Emperor Justinian of her safety , she was executed shortly thereafter . This served as an ideal cause of war for Justinian , who prepared to invade and reclaim the Italian peninsula for the Roman Empire .
Byzantine Empire
In 681 , Constantine IV signed a treaty with the Bulgar khan Asparukh , and the new Bulgarian state assumed sovereignty over a number of Slavic tribes that had previously , at least in name , recognised Byzantine rule . In 687 -- 688 , the final Heraclian emperor , Justinian II , led an expedition against the Slavs and Bulgarians , and made significant gains , although the fact that he had to fight his way from Thrace to Macedonia demonstrates the degree to which Byzantine power in the north Balkans had declined .
Western Roman Empire
Though Odoacer ruled as a Roman governor would have and maintained himself as a subordinate to the remaining Empire , the Eastern Emperor Zeno began to increasingly see him as a rival . Thus , Zeno promised Theoderic the Great of the Ostrogoths , foederati of the Eastern Court , control over the Italian peninsula if they were able to defeat Odoacer . Theoderic led the Ostrogoths across the Julian Alps and into Italy in 489 and defeated Odoacer in battle twice the same year . Following four years of hostilities between them , John , the Bishop of Ravenna , was able to negotiate a treaty in 493 between Odoacer and Theodoric wherein they agreed to rule Ravenna and Italy jointly . Theoderic entered Ravenna on 5 March and Odoacer was dead ten days later , killed by Theodoric after sharing a meal with him . Map
Byzantine Empire
In Byzantine literature , four different cultural elements are recognised : the Greek , the Christian , the Roman , and the Oriental . Byzantine literature is often classified in five groups : historians and annalists , encyclopaedists ( Patriarch Photios , Michael Psellus , and Michael Choniates are regarded as the greatest encyclopaedists of Byzantium ) and essayists , and writers of secular poetry . The only genuine heroic epic of the Byzantines is the Digenis Acritas . The remaining two groups include the new literary species : ecclesiastical and theological literature , and popular poetry .
Romance languages
Meanwhile , large - scale migrations into the Eastern Roman Empire started with the Goths and continued with Huns , Avars , Bulgars , Slavs , Pechenegs , Hungarians and Cumans . The invasions of Slavs were the most thoroughgoing , and they partially reduced the Romanic element in the Balkans . The invasion of the Turks and conquest of Constantinople in 1453 marked the end of the empire . The Slavs named the Romance - speaking population Vlachs , while the latter called themselves `` Rumân '' or `` Român '' , from the Latin `` Romanus '' The Daco - Roman dialect became fully distinct from the three dialects spoken South of the Danube -- Macedo - Romanian , Istro - Romanian , and Megleno - Romanian -- during the ninth and tenth centuries , when the Romanians ( sometimes called Vlachs or Wallachians ) emerged as a people .
Third Rome
The Carolingian Empire has been claimed to have deliberately sought to revive the Roman Empire in the West . According to early German nationalism , the Carolingian Empire transformed into the Holy Roman Empire as a continuation of the Western Roman Empire . In 800 , the title of Emperor of the Romans was granted to Charlemagne by Pope Leo III . The word `` holy '' ( often retroactively applied to all emperors since Charlemagne ) was added under the reign of emperor Frederick I Barbarossa in 1157 .
Byzantine Empire
Under Constantine , Christianity did not become the exclusive religion of the state , but enjoyed imperial preference , because the emperor supported it with generous privileges . Constantine established the principle that emperors could not settle questions of doctrine on their own , but should summon instead general ecclesiastical councils for that purpose . His convening of both the Synod of Arles and the First Council of Nicaea indicated his interest in the unity of the Church , and showcased his claim to be its head . The rise of Christianity was briefly interrupted on the accession of the emperor Julian in 361 , who made a determined effort to restore polytheism throughout the empire and was thus dubbed `` Julian the Apostate '' by the Church . However this was reversed when Julian was killed in battle in 363 . Restored
Byzantine Empire
The Empire under the Komnenoi played a key role in the history of the Crusades in the Holy Land , which Alexios I had helped bring about , while also exerting enormous cultural and political influence in Europe , the Near East , and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea under John and Manuel . Contact between Byzantium and the `` Latin '' West , including the Crusader states , increased significantly during the Komnenian period . Venetian and other Italian traders became resident in large numbers in Constantinople and the empire ( there were an estimated 60,000 Latins in Constantinople alone , out of a population of three to four hundred thousand ) , and their presence together with the numerous Latin mercenaries who were employed by Manuel helped to spread Byzantine technology , art , literature and culture throughout the Latin West , while also leading to a flow of Western ideas and customs into the Empire .
Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Attila 's invasions of the East were stopped by the walls of Constantinople , and at this heavily fortified Eastern end of the Mediterranean there were no significant barbarian invasions across the sea into the rich southerly areas of Anatolia , the Levant , and Egypt . Despite internal and external threats , and more religious discord than the West , these provinces remained prosperous contributors to tax revenue ; despite the ravages of Attila 's armies and the extortions of his peace treaties , tax revenue generally continued to be adequate for the essential state functions of the Eastern empire .
Byzantine Empire
The Justinian dynasty was founded by Justin I , who though illiterate , rose through the ranks of the military to become Emperor in 518 . He was succeeded by his nephew Justinian I in 527 , who may already have exerted effective control during Justin 's reign . One of the most important figures of late antiquity and possibly the last Roman emperor to speak Latin as a first language , Justinian 's rule constitutes a distinct epoch , marked by the ambitious but only partly realized renovatio imperii , or `` restoration of the Empire '' . His wife Theodora was particularly influential .
Byzantine Empire
The soldier - emperors Nikephoros II Phokas ( reigned 963 -- 969 ) and John I Tzimiskes ( 969 -- 976 ) expanded the empire well into Syria , defeating the emirs of north - west Iraq . The great city of Aleppo was taken by Nikephoros in 962 and the Arabs were decisively expelled from Crete in 963 . The recapture of Crete put an end to Arab raids in the Aegean allowing mainland Greece to flourish once again . Cyprus was permanently retaken in 965 and the successes of Nikephoros culminated in 969 with the recapture of Antioch , which he incorporated as a province of the Empire . His successor John Tzimiskes recaptured Damascus , Beirut , Acre , Sidon , Caesarea , and Tiberias , putting Byzantine armies within striking distance of Jerusalem , although the Muslim power centres in Iraq and Egypt were left untouched . After much campaigning in the north , the last Arab threat to Byzantium , the rich province of Sicily , was targeted in 1025 by Basil II , who died before the expedition could be completed . Nevertheless , by that time the Empire stretched from the straits of Messina to the Euphrates and from the Danube to Syria . Wars
History of the Catholic Church
With the coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III in 800 , his new title as Patricius Romanorum , and the handing over of the keys to the Tomb of Saint Peter , the papacy had acquired a new protector in the West . This freed the pontiffs to some degree from the power of the emperor in Constantinople but also led to a schism , because the emperors and patriarchs of Constantinople interpreted themselves as the true descendants of the Roman Empire dating back to the beginnings of the Church . Pope Nicholas I had refused to recognize Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople , who in turn had attacked the pope as a heretic , because he kept the filioque in the creed , which referred to the Holy Spirit emanating from God the Father and the Son . The papacy was strengthened through this new alliance , which in the long term created a new problem for the Popes , when in the Investiture Controversy succeeding emperors sought to appoint bishops and even future popes . After the disintegration of the Carolingian Empire and repeated incursions of Islamic forces into Italy , the papacy , without any protection , entered a phase of major weakness .
Byzantine Empire
The Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa . These territories were home to many different cultural groups , both urban populations and rural populations . Generally speaking , the eastern Mediterranean provinces were more urbanised than the western , having previously been united under the Macedonian Empire and Hellenised by the influence of Greek culture .
Byzantine Empire
The 8th and early 9th centuries were also dominated by controversy and religious division over Iconoclasm , which was the main political issue in the Empire for over a century . Icons ( here meaning all forms of religious imagery ) were banned by Leo and Constantine from around 730 , leading to revolts by iconodules ( supporters of icons ) throughout the empire . After the efforts of empress Irene , the Second Council of Nicaea met in 787 and affirmed that icons could be venerated but not worshiped . Irene is said to have endeavoured to negotiate a marriage between herself and Charlemagne , but , according to Theophanes the Confessor , the scheme was frustrated by Aetios , one of her favourites .
Byzantine Empire
In 529 , Justinian appointed a ten - man commission chaired by John the Cappadocian to revise Roman law and create a new codification of laws and jurists ' extracts , known as the `` Corpus Juris Civilis '' or the Justinian Code . In 534 , the Corpus was updated and , along with the enactments promulgated by Justinian after 534 , formed the system of law used for most of the rest of the Byzantine era . The Corpus forms the basis of civil law of many modern states .
Byzantine Empire
Leo VI achieved the complete codification of Byzantine law in Greek . This monumental work of 60 volumes became the foundation of all subsequent Byzantine law and is still studied today . Leo also reformed the administration of the Empire , redrawing the borders of the administrative subdivisions ( the Themata , or `` Themes '' ) and tidying up the system of ranks and privileges , as well as regulating the behaviour of the various trade guilds in Constantinople . Leo 's reform did much to reduce the previous fragmentation of the Empire , which henceforth had one center of power , Constantinople . However , the increasing military success of the Empire greatly enriched and empowered the provincial nobility with respect to the peasantry , who were essentially reduced to a state of serfdom .
Byzantine Empire
Rather than holding on to his possessions in Asia Minor , Michael chose to expand the Empire , gaining only short - term success . To avoid another sacking of the capital by the Latins , he forced the Church to submit to Rome , again a temporary solution for which the peasantry hated Michael and Constantinople . The efforts of Andronikos II and later his grandson Andronikos III marked Byzantium 's last genuine attempts in restoring the glory of the Empire . However , the use of mercenaries by Andronikos II would often backfire , with the Catalan Company ravaging the countryside and increasing resentment towards Constantinople . Rise
Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Gratian appointed a new Augustus , a proven general from Hispania called Theodosius . During the next four years , he partially re-established the Roman position in the East . These campaigns depended on effective imperial coordination and mutual trust -- between 379 and 380 Theodosius controlled not only the Eastern empire , but also , by agreement , the diocese of Illyricum . Theodosius was unable to recruit enough Roman troops , relying on barbarian warbands without Roman military discipline or loyalty . In contrast , during the Cimbrian War , the Roman Republic , controlling a smaller area than the western Empire , had been able to reconstitute large regular armies of citizens after greater defeats than Adrianople , and it ended that war with the near - extermination of the invading barbarian supergroups , each recorded as having more than 100,000 warriors ( with allowances for the usual exaggeration of numbers by ancient authors ) . Theodosius 's partial failure may have stimulated Vegetius to offer advice on re-forming an effective army ( the advice may date from the 390s or from the 430s ) :