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Thread: New England, Crimea. How Anglo-Saxon migration transformed Byzantium and created the first English colony. 
955 years ago today, William of Normandy defeated Harold Godwinson’s army at Hastings and became the King of England. William’s regime was slow to eliminate Anglo-Saxon influence in England, but Anglo-Saxon uprisings in the north of the country drew his wrath.
Over the winter of 1069-1070 William prosecuted the “Harrying of the North,” killing his way through Northumbria. Records from the Domesday Book estimate 75% of the population fled or was killed. The last Æthling, Edgar, submitted to William in 1074, making his rule uncontested.
In 1001 Basil marched his army from Constantinople to Preslav and Pliska, quickly taking the much weakened cities. Basil then took the city of Silistra on the Danube, beating back Bulgar counterattacks. With the north secure, Basil marched to Komotini in Thrace to winter.
In 1002, Basil continued the campaign by attacking key forts around Thessaloniki and recaptured Larissa. Once the area was secured, Basil moved back north to the Danube and besieged the castle of Vidin.
THREAD: Basil II’s Campaigns in Bulgaria (Part One)
#Byzantine #medieval #Bulgaria #varangian #warfare
#Byzantine #medieval #Bulgaria #varangian #warfare
Before we can talk about Basil’s conquest of Bulgaria, we need to provide some context and examine the Basileus first campaign and the failures that would shape his reign.
Basil’s dream had always been to succeed where no Basileus had before and conquer Bulgaria, but Basil’s early reign was marred by the rebellion of Bardas Skleros in Anatolia from 976-979. Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria took advantage of this unrest.
After Basil’s first campaign in Syria, he appointed Damian Dalassenos as the new Doux of Antioch. Basil returned to Europe and prepared for war with Bulgaria.
Dalassenos pursued an aggressive policy against the Fatimids. Manjutakin once again besieged Aleppo, but fled when Dalassenos brought his army to relieve the city. In 997, Dalassenos raided around Tripoli and captured the fortress of Al-Laqbah.
After Basil defeated Phokas’s rebellion in 989 he returned his attention to his eternal foe: Bulgaria. However, trouble was brewing in Syria.
In 992, Manjutakin, the Fatimid governor of Damascus broke his truce with the Byzantine Empire. Manjutakin invaded the Hamdanid Emirate, a Byzantine protectorate, and defeated the doux of Antioch’s army. Manjutakin then raided Antioch’s suburbs and besieged Aleppo.
THREAD: Origins of the Varangian Guard (1/12)
Although Rus and Norse mercenaries had been fighting in the service of the Byzantine Empire as early as 874, the typical date used as the founding of an official “Varangian Guard” comes from the reign of Basil ll. Basil’s early reign was marked by rebellion. 2/12
In 987, the general Bardas Phokas led a rebellion and captured most of Byzantine Anatolia. At the end of the year his army set into a siege of Abydos, a city on the Dardanelles. If Abydos fell, Phokas’s army could cut off access to the Aegean and besiege Constantinople. (3/12)
