We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 January 2016
This paper is aimed at provoking the imagination of its readers rather than at giving any final settlement to a topos explored already in numerous Cyrillo-Methodian studies. The problems discussed here are related to the Byzantine Balkan policy as a background to Constantine’s mission to the Khazars. It seems to me that the Moravian mission of SS Cyril and Methodius came as an outgrowth of Constantine’s mission to the steppes. Moravia, Bulgaria and the Pontic steppes seem in many respects different parts of the one domain of the Byzantine ‘Northern policy’
1. Two lectures held before the Byzantine studies seminar at the University of Oxford brought my attention to some peculiarities of the Byzantine mission of 861 to the Khazars: the one of J.D. Howard Johnston, and the second, of Dr. J. Shepard. I am greatly indebted to them for commenting on this paper.
2. The studies on Cyril and Methodius are legion. I am not going to make a comprehensive study on them here for most of the interpretations of the Khazar mission are essentially the same. Cf. Dvornik, F., Les Légendes de Constantin et le Méthode vues de Byzance (Prague 1933), and idem, , Byzantine Missions among the Slavs. SS Constantine-Cyril and Methodius (New Brunswick 1970) 49–73 Google Scholar; Duthilleul, P., L’ Évangelisation des slaves. Cyrille et Méthode, (Bibliothèque de théologie 5. Paris 1963) 38–58 Google Scholar; Vlasto, A., The Entry of the Slavs into Christendom (Cambridge 1970) 33ff CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the Byzantine mission of 861 as counteraction of the further Russian (Varangian) invasions in the Black sea region see: Artamonov, M., Istoriya Khazar (History of the Khazars) (Leningrad 1962)Google Scholar 180sq; Dunlop, D., The History of the Jewish Khazars (Princeton 1954) 236 Google Scholar; Obolensky, D., ‘Principles of Byzantine Diplomacy’, in: Actes du XII Congrès International des Etudes-Byzantines I (Belgrade 1963) 45–61 Google Scholar and idem, , The Byzantine Commonwealth (London 1971) 182ff Google Scholar; Shepard, J., ‘Byzantine diplomacy, A.D. 800–1204: means and ends’, and Noonan, T., ‘Byzantium and the Khazars’, in: Byzantine Diplomacy (Shepard, J. and Franklin, S. eds.), (London 1992) respectively 41–71, and 91–132.Google Scholar
3. Vasiliev, A., Byzance et les Arabes. 1. La dynastie d’Amorium (820–867) (Corpus Bruxellense Hist. Byz.), (Brussels 1935) 315–356.Google Scholar
4. Obolensky, D., Byzantine Commonwealth, 182-183.Google Scholar
5. Photius, , Patr. of Constantinople, De Rossorum Incursione, Homilia I, Fragmenta Historicorim Craecorum (Müller, C. ed.) 5 (Paris 1870) 162–167, and Homilia 2, 169–171 Google Scholar. Cf. Mango, C., The Homilies of Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople (Cambridge, Mass. 1958) 82–95, and 102–103.Google Scholar
6. Nicholas I to Emperor Michael (860), MGH Epistolae (= MGH Epp.), (E. Perels ed.) 6 436–440. See commentary in Dvornik, Fr., The Photian Schism, History and Legend (London, Cambridge 1948) 105–109.Google Scholar
7. I accept the time suggested by Anastos, M., ‘The Transfer of Illyricum, Calabria, and Sicily to the Jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’, Silloge Bizantina in onore di Silvio Guisepe Mercati (Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici, 9 (Rome 1957) 14–31 Google Scholar. Recent discussion about the time of the change see Herrin, J., The Formation of Christendom (Princeton 1987) 307–380 and bibliography; see also ‘ILLYRICUM’, in: the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Kazhdan, A. ed.) 2 (New York-Oxford 1991) 987.Google Scholar
8. Nicholas I to Emperor Michael (860), MGH Epp, 7, 436–440. On the papal approach to the Balkans in the 860s see Nikolov, S., ‘Latin Bishops and Balkan Bishoprics (860–882)’, Yearbook of the Medieval Studies at the CEU, 1994–1995 (Budapest 1996) 200–217.Google Scholar
9. Racki, F., Documenta historiae Chroatiae periodum antiquam illustrantia (Zagreb 1877) 6–7 Google Scholar; Klaic, N., Povijest Hrvata u Srednjem vijeku (History of the Croats in the middle Ages) (Zagreb 1990) 44–46 Google Scholar; Sanjek, Fr., Provijest Crkve u Hrvata (History of Croatian Church) (Zagreb 1992 - second ed.) 48–52 Google Scholar. A recent useful article is Maksimovic, L., ‘The Christianization of the Serbs and the Croats’, in: The Legacy of Saints Cyril and Methodius to Kiev and Moscow (Tachiaos, A.-E. ed.) (Proceedings of the International Congress on the Millenium of the Conversion of Rus’ to Christianity. Thessaloniki 26–28.11.1988, Thessaloniki 1992) 167–184.Google Scholar
10. Gruber, D., Povijest lstre (History of Istria) (Zagreb 1924) 97 Google Scholar; Budak, N., Prva stoljeca Hrvatske (The first Ages of Croatia) (Zagreb 1994) 92–99 Google Scholar and Goldstein, I., Hrvatski Rani Srednji Vijek (Croatian Early Middle Ages) (Zagreb 1995) 256–268.Google Scholar
11. Le Liber Pontiflcalis, Texte, introduction et commentaire (Duchesne, L. ed.), 2 vols. (Paris 1886-1892, reissued by Vogel, C. 1955-56 with a third volume updating the commentary) (henceforth LP) 2, Vita Hadriani 11, no. 637, 184, the representatives of the Eastern churches considered the Roman clergy, ‘Grecorum imperium detrectantes Francorum foederis inheretis…’. English translation of the LP, the Lives of the Ninth-Century Popes (Liber Pontificalis): The Ancient Biographies often Popes from A.D. 817–891 (R. Davis transl.) (Liverpool 1995).Google Scholar
12. Vlasto, A., The Entry 24–26 and ff; and Hannick, Chr., ‘Die byzantinischen Missionen’, Die Kirche desfriihen Mittelalters (Schläferdiek, K. ed.), Kirchengeschichte als Missiongeschichte, 2.1 (München 1978) 279ff, esp. 289–292 Google Scholar; Wolfram, H., Die Geburt Mitteleuropas. Geschichte Österreichs vor seiner Entstehung (Wien-Berlin 1987) 293sq.Google Scholar
13. The Annals of Fulda (T. Reuter, transl.) (Manchester Medieval Sources. Manchester 1992) 48. Cf. Bowlus, Ch., Franks, Moravians, and Magyars. The Struggle for the Middle Danube, 788–907 (Philadelphia 1995) 115–120.Google Scholar
14. Kuhar, A.L., The Conversion of the Slovenes (New York 1959) 73–75 Google Scholar; Dopsch, H., ‘Slawenmission und päpstliche Politik — Zu den Hintergriinden des Methodius-Konfliktes’, in: Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft fur Salzburger Landeskunde, Bd. 126 (1986) 303–340, esp. 314–315.Google Scholar
15. Obolensky, D., The Byzantine Commonwealth 83–84.Google Scholar
16. Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio (=DAI) ( Moravcsik, G. and Jenkins, R. eds. and transl.) (Washington, D.C. 1967 2) chap. 31, 151 and chap. 32, 155.Google Scholar
17. The letter of Nicholas I to Solomon of Konstanz (864), MGH Epp. (E. Perels ed.) 6, 293, and the evidence of Hincmar, Annals, of St. Benin (=AB) (J. Nelson transl.), Manchester Medieval Sources series, Ninth-Century Histories 1 (Manchester 1991), (henceforth AB), 864 118, give as the terminus ante quern the promise of Boris to accept Christianity from the Franks. Cf. Gjuzelev, V., Knyaz Boris I (Sofia 1969) 74–80 Google Scholar. It is clear, however, that this promise had been given some years earlier, perhaps in 860 when the secret alliance between Carloman and Rastislav became more or less evident. Cf. Bowlus, Ch., Franks, Moravians, and Magyars 119–120 ff.Google Scholar
18. Vita Constantini (The Life of Constantine) and Vita Methodii (The Life of Methodius), in Medieval Slavic Lives of Saints and Princes (M. Kantor ed.), Michigan Slavic Translations 5 (Ann Arbor 1983), respectively chap. 14, 65–67 and chap. 5, 111.
19. Vita Methodii, chap. 5, 111.
20. A. Vlasto, The Entry, 27.
21. Cf. Ševčenko, I., ‘On the Social Background of Cyril and Methodius’, Studia paleoslovenica (Prague 1971) 431–351 Google Scholar. the province is most probably Opsikion, according to Tachiaos, A.-E., ‘Some controversial points relating to the life and activity of Cyril and Methodius’, Cyrillomethodianum. Recherches sur l’histoire des relations Helléno-slaves, XVII-XVIII (Thessalonique 1993/4), 41–72 Google Scholar, at 46–61.
22. Vita Constantini, chaps. 8–12, 41–65.
23. Vlasto, A., The Entry, 30; Dvornik, Fr., Byzantine Missions, 182.Google Scholar
24. See Wolfram, H., Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum (Wien-Köln-Graz 1979) 69 Google Scholar; Dvornik, F., Byzantine Missions, 50ff; Vlasto, A., the Entry, 33ff.Google Scholar
25. Vita Constantini, chap. 8,41–43.
26. Vita Constantini, chap. 8, 41 and note 30.
27. Dvornik, Fr., Byzantine Missions, 70–73 Google Scholar; Obolensky, D., the Byzantine Commonwealth, 177.Google Scholar
28. Vita Constantini, chap. 8,43.
29. Duthilleul, P.. L’Évangelisation des slaves, 38 Google Scholar; Dvornik, F., Byzantine Missions, 65ff; Obolensky, D., The Byzantine Commonwealth, 177.Google Scholar
30. Vita Constantini, chap. 9,45.
31. Vita Constantini, chap. 8,43.
32. Duthilleul, P., L’Évangelisation des slaves, 44–51.Google Scholar
33. Vita Constantini, chap. 9, 45. the short version of the Vita mentions an attempt at Constantine’s assassination by the Jews and the Khazars.
34. Dvornik, F., Byzantine Missions, 67.Google Scholar
35. A recent useful study in English is Cristo, G., Hungarian History in the Ninth Century (Szeged 1996).Google Scholar
36. Vita Constantini, chap.9,45.
37. Ibid.
38. Cf. Moravesik, G., ‘Byzantine Christianity and the Magyars in the period of their migration’. The American Slavic and East European Review 5 (1946) 29–45, at 44–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
39. DAI, chap. 38, 173. Cf. Shepard, J. and Franklin, S., Emergency of Rus, 84.Google Scholar
40. Bury, J.b., A History of the Eastern Roman Empire from the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil (A.D. 802–867) (London 1912) 491.Google Scholar
41. Macartney, C., Magyars in the Ninth Century (Cambridge 2 1968) 108.Google Scholar
42. Toynbee, A., Constantine Porphyrogenitus and His World (London-New York-Toronto 1973) 444–445.Google Scholar
43. Cf. G. Cristo, Hungarian History, 86–87 with detailed discussion.
44. DAI, chaps. 38–39, 172–173. Cf. Cristo, G., Hungarian History, 97–102. Cf.Shepard, J. and Franklin, S., Emergence of Rus, 84.Google Scholar
45. Bury, J. B., History of the Eastern Roman Empire, 491.Google Scholar
46. Vita Methodii, chap. 16, 125. the commentary of Kantor, M. (cf. his note 76) follows Dvornik, Fr., Byzantine missions 184, stating that Methodius had met emperor Charles III, the Fat (881–887)Google Scholar. The ‘Hungarian connection’ has been confirmed by Moravcsik, G., ‘Byzantine Christianity and the Magyars’, 44–45, and idem, Byzantium and the Magyars(Amsterdam 1970), 30 Google Scholar; According to Király, P., Magyarok émilitése a Konstantin- és Metód- legendában (Mentions of Hungarians in the legends of Constantine and Methodius) (Budapest 1974), 55–68 Google Scholar, the meeting took place in 882; see also Toth, I., Konstantin-Cirill és Metód élete és müködése (Lives and activities of Constantine-Cyril and Methodius) (Budapest 1981), 170–178 Google Scholar who even suggested that Methodius had met Arpad himself. I am deeply grateful to my friends from the CEU-Budapest for helping me in consulting the Hungarian texts.
47. Pritsak, O., Turkological remarks on Constantine’s Khazarian mission in the Vita Constantini’, in:Farrugia, E. et al., eds. Christianity among the Slavs. The heritage of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Proceedings of the International Congress held on the Eleventh Centenary of the Death of St. Methodius, Rome, October 8–11 1985 (=Orientalia Christiana Analecta 231) (Rome 1988) 295–298.Google Scholar
48. ‘Prolozhno’e zhiti’e Methodija’, Magnae Moraviae Fontes Historia 2 (F. Grivec ed.) (Brno 1967) 244. The time of Methodius’ dispute should be in 879–880 for Zdeslav seized power in Croatia for about one year (878–879). Cf. SĭsĬc, F., Povijest Hrvata u vrijeme narodnih vladara (Croatian History in the Time of the National Rulers) (Zagreb 1925) 385–387 Google Scholar, and the notes on 386.
49. AB (J. Nelson transl.), 102.
50. Annales Sangallenses maiores: ad ann. 863.
51. C. Macartney, Magyars in the Ninth Century, 71 and note 7.
52. G. Cristo, Hungarian History, 132–33 with relevant references to Hungarian scholarly works.
53. The descriptions of the Magyar raid in Bulgaria some 30 years later, namely that of Leo the Wise’s Taktika (chap. 18, § 42), of Constantine VII’s DAI (chap. 51,251–253), and of the continuation of George the Monk (ed. Bonn, 853–855), point out that the Magyars could force the Danube only with Byzantine naval support.
54. Zlatarski, V., Istoria na bulgarskata durzhava prez srednite vekove (History of the Bulgarian State in the Middle ages), vol. 1/part 2 (Sofia 1927) 62ff Google Scholar; Dvornik, Fr. Byzantine Missions: 78–80; Ostrogorsky, G., History of the Byzantine State, 229 Google Scholar; Treštik, D., ‘Velikaya Moravia i zarozhdenie cheshkogo gosudarstva’ (Great Moravia and the formation of the Czech state)’, in Ranefeodal’nye gosudarstva i narodnosti (Moskva 1991) 88–90 Google Scholar; Šišić, F., Povijest Hrvata u doba narodnih vladara, 80; Gjuzelev, V., Knyaz Boris I, 220–317;Klaic, N., Provijest Hrvata u Ranom srjednom vijeku, 349sq.Google Scholar
55. Vita Methodii, chap. 4, 109–111.
56. See supra note 54.
57. Vita Methodii, chap. 13, 123.
58. Conlinuatio Annalum luvanensium maximorum, MGH SS, XXX/2, 742: ‘(…) the first war (was) with the Hungarians (…) the second war with the Qabars (cum Cowaris)’.
59. Király, P., ibid; cf. Toth, I., Konstantin-Cirill és Metód 170–178.Google Scholar
60. Cristo, Gy., Hungarian History, 175. Cf.Bowlus, Ch., Franks, Moravians, and Magyars, 237–238.Google Scholar
61. Vita Methodii, chap. 10, 119. Such a connection has been also seen by Ch. Bowlus, Franks, Moravians, and Magyars, 194–196.
62. This became possible after papal vindication of Methodius in Moravia and the reconciliation between Rome and Byzantium at the council of Constantinople of 879/880. The letter of John VIII to Svatopluk, ‘Industriae tuae notum esse volumus’ (880), MGH Epp. (E. Caspar ed.) 7, Ep. 255, 222–224, suggests, however, that in spite of the fact that ruler and archbishop got in bad terms, their relations should have improved after Methodius’ return from Rome.
