Book contents
- Frontmatter
- General Introduction
- Part I The Earlier Empire c. 500–c. 700
- Part II The Middle Empire c. 700–1204
- 5 State of Emergency (700–850)
- 6 After Iconoclasm (850–886)
- 7 Religious Missions
- 8 Armenian Neighbours (600–1045)
- 9 Confronting Islam: Emperors Versus Caliphs (641–c. 850)
- 10 Western Approaches (700–900)
- 11 Byzantine Italy (680–876)
- 12 The Middle Byzantine Economy (600–1204)
- 13 Equilibrium to Expansion (886–1025)
- 14 Western Approaches (900–1025)
- 15 Byzantium and Southern Italy (876–1000)
- 16 Belle Époque or Crisis? (1025–1118)
- 17 The Empire of the Komnenoi (1118–1204)
- 18 Balkan Borderlands (1018–1204)
- 19 Raiders and Neighbours: The Turks (1040–1304)
- Part III The Byzantine Lands in the Later Middle Ages 1204–1492
- Glossary (Including some Proper Names)
- Genealogical Tables and Lists of Rulers
- List of alternative place names
- Bibliography
- Picture Acknowledgements
- Index
- References
19 - Raiders and Neighbours: The Turks (1040–1304)
from Part II - The Middle Empire c. 700–1204
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- General Introduction
- Part I The Earlier Empire c. 500–c. 700
- Part II The Middle Empire c. 700–1204
- 5 State of Emergency (700–850)
- 6 After Iconoclasm (850–886)
- 7 Religious Missions
- 8 Armenian Neighbours (600–1045)
- 9 Confronting Islam: Emperors Versus Caliphs (641–c. 850)
- 10 Western Approaches (700–900)
- 11 Byzantine Italy (680–876)
- 12 The Middle Byzantine Economy (600–1204)
- 13 Equilibrium to Expansion (886–1025)
- 14 Western Approaches (900–1025)
- 15 Byzantium and Southern Italy (876–1000)
- 16 Belle Époque or Crisis? (1025–1118)
- 17 The Empire of the Komnenoi (1118–1204)
- 18 Balkan Borderlands (1018–1204)
- 19 Raiders and Neighbours: The Turks (1040–1304)
- Part III The Byzantine Lands in the Later Middle Ages 1204–1492
- Glossary (Including some Proper Names)
- Genealogical Tables and Lists of Rulers
- List of alternative place names
- Bibliography
- Picture Acknowledgements
- Index
- References
Summary
I, Gregory, the priest over the enfeebled people of the Armenians, at the time of our persecutions by the nation of the Ishmaelites who had appeared from eastern lands [wrote this colophon on the Gospels]. We came from Mount Ararat, from the village, which is called Arkuri, following our God-loving king Sennacherim, to dwell in this city of Sebasteia where the Forty Martyrs shed their blood in the battle with bitter-blowing wind and ice-cold water. And there, after five years my many talented and greatly honoured father, the priest Anania passed away, in the royal city of Constantinople … And [so] we remained [in Sebasteia], two brothers, George and Gregory …’
This colophon, written in 1066, offers us insight into an Armenian monastery on Byzantine territory. Gregory, the copyist of the Gospel Book, moved to Sebasteia after 1021, when Basil II (976–1025) granted the city to Sennacherim-John Artsruni, in exchange for his native kingdom of Vaspurakan (see above, p. 360). Gregory’s colophon is his testament, bequeathing his most valuable possession, the Gospels, to his spiritual son.
The colophon was written at a difficult period for Byzantine Asia Minor. Although primarily concerned with spiritual themes, Gregory mentions ‘our persecutions by the nation of the Ishmaelites’. The question arises: who were these ‘Ishmaelites’?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c.500–1492 , pp. 692 - 728Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009
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