ANST - FW: Musing on July 26 -- Drink to Me only with Thine Eyes

[j'lynn yeates]

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- -----Original Message-----
From: Ellsworth Weaver [mailto:astroweaver at yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2000 22:46
To: 2thpix at surfari.net
Subject: Musing on July 26 -- Drink to Me only with Thine Eyes


Dear Folk,

On this day July 26, 811 the Emperor was returning home after sacking
and burning the town Pliska, the capital city of the descendants of
an
Asiatic nomad people. Pretty easy victory. Guess it would be a slow
ride back through those mountains up ahead.

The Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I had been the finance minister of
the
Empress Irene (r.797 - 802). Irene was a swell mom. She was regent
for
her son, Constantine VI, on the Eastern Roman Imperial Throne. She
had
been too busy to worry about wars and such. There was this big
religious battle (non-lethal) about whether or not it was cool to
have
holy paintings (icons). Empress Irene was in the thick of it. She
supported the idea of having nice pictures around; she was what was
called an anti-iconoclast. Icon is a sacred picture, clast means to
tear down. She was against ripping down the paintings.

You might think that she was a great Empress because of this
religiosity. She had a courtesy crusade telling folks to be nice and
leave the pictures alone. She also made sure that those pictures were
only painted by authorized illuminators, of the designated age, and
using nontoxic paints. Her son acted up a bit and was not at all
courteous so she did what any right thinking artistic and scientific
mom would do: she had him blinded and deposed. So there!

Of course, Charlemagne (more on him another time) saw her actions as
reason enough to have himself crowned Emperor (in 800) somewhere away
from Byzantium. Not a very courteous man either, if you ask me.

In 802 CE, Nicephorus (notice that the first four letters spell
"nice?") deposed Empress Irene. She died off in exile a year later.
Now
Nicephorus I, he improved the treasury, revised taxation, and
vigorously asserted imperial authority over the church.  Hey,
Constantine I called the Council of Nicaea, maybe kings and emperors
could rule the church. This policy and his appointment of St.
Nicephorus (different guy, same name, sucking up?)  to the
patriarchate
of Constantinople kind of led to a conflict with Theodore of Studium
,
whom he exiled in 809.

Theodore of Studium was an interesting guy. He was eventually made a
saint, too.  He lived  from 759–826. He saw himself as a Byzantine
Greek monastic reformer. As an abbot he was early exiled for opposing
the marriage of young Emperor Constantine VI to his mistress
Theodota.
She was a sweet girl, too. In 799 he entered the Studium monastery,
which he reformed and made the model monastery of the Byzantine rite.
He was exiled again in 809 for two years after long quarrels with
Nicephorus I, and then by Leo V when he opposed him (814). Fellow
spoke
his mind.

Now on to the other guys, the Bulgars. They gave their name to
Bulgaria
and Hungary. Yes, they were the remnants of Attila the Hun’s folks.
Attila died in 453 CE. They found that they rather liked it the wild
reaches of what is now Bulgaria. When not hiring themselves out as
strong arms for the Byzantines against the Goths, they were free
lance
running amuck in Thrace.  Fact is, they were the wild bunch of that
area. The Byzantines were perfumed and polished, the Bulgars were
leather and horsehide.

The Bulgars established their own independent kingdom between the
Balkan Mountains and the lower Danube plus parts of modern day
Romania
under Khan Isperich (643-701). Under Khan Terbelis they defeated the
Byzantines at Anchialus in 708. There was a brief alliance with
Byzantium in 718 when a Bulgarian army helped defeat the invading
Arab
armies at Adrianople. You know those alliances never lasted though.

The Emperor Constantine V gained the upper hand over the Bulgars in
the
wars of 755-772 with victories at Marcellae 759 and Anchialus 763.
However, by the end of the century Kardam of the Bulgars was once
again
forcing Byzantium to pay tribute. The army of this period relied
heavily on Slav infantry armed with either javelin or bow. Usually
only
a third of the force would be the effective Bulgar cavalry.

Meanwhile, Byzantium was being squeezed into a smaller and smaller
sphere by the Arabs and Khazars on their eastern borders.  The next
squeeze came again from the Bulgars. The 9th Century Bulgars under
Khan
Krum raided westwards into Croatia and Serbia as well as southwards.

Emperor Nicephorus I decided that he had had just about enough and
decided to raid and punish the Bulgars. On a punitive mission,
Nicephorus led his men to Pliska, the Bulgarian capital city. He
destroyed the town, set fire to it, killed the inhabitants (who were
rather scarce). So, those Bulgars properly spanked, the Emperor and
his
merry men went safely home. Well, until they got to a mountain pass
on
this day July 26, 811. Khan Krum with the Bulgar army were waiting in
the passes. The troops were shown as much mercy as the town of
Pliska.
Nicephorus was killed. Krum actually had a drinking mug made out of
Nicephorus’ skull. Pretty Goth for a Bulgar!

The next year Krum decided to repay the visit and trucked on to
Constantinople. His forces took the fortress of Mesembria. The next
year the Bulgars did some suburbian renewal and destroyed the
outlying
areas of Constantinople. They also took Adrianople. On April 13, 814
while he was just getting ready to go kick some perfumed Byzantine
butt, Khan Krum suffered a burst blood vessel and died.

Skipping lightly ahead, the Bulgars and the Byrzantines fought
throughout the 900s. Victories on either side were quickly followed
by
crushing defeats. Khan Samuel (976-1014) reestablished some strength
and independence to the Bulgarian state.  Emperor Basil II came back
at
him and surprised a fortified Bulgar army at the Kleidon Pass by
climbing over the mountains. This battle was known as Balthista and
it
spelled the end of Bulgaria for at least 168 years. Emperor Basil
took
15,000 captives. He had his troops separate the captives into groups
of
100 men. Under his direction, he had the army blind 99 of each one
hundred and poke out only one eye of the 100th so the hundredth guy
could lead the others home. Talk about brutal! Khan Samuel died of
shock when he saw what had happened to his troops.

What have we learned from this? Sometimes it is wise not forget the
world when other folks want to argue religion? If you are willing to
do
the unthinkable (like climbing over mountains) you can win? Hannibal
and General Giap showed us that. Drinking out of a head full of fat
can
clog one’s arteries and cause an aneurysm? How about "it is all fun
and
games until somebody gets an eye put out?" I know, I know, I’m sorry.

As always, if you give up the right to discard these and forward them
to others, anything you say can be held against you in a court of
love
and beauty. Keep my sig and name intact in the forwards.

Happy birthday to Kaiser Sosa whomever you are.

Getting my eyes examined (maybe the rest of my head, too,)
J.  Ellsworth Weaver

SCA – Sir Balthazar of Endor
AS – Polyphemus Theognis
TRV – Sebastian Yeats


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