Derogatory use of 'Byzantine'

The Byzantine Empire acquired a negative reputation among historians of the 18th and 19th century not only for the complexity of the organization of its ministries and the elaborateness of its court ceremonies (from this came the term still in modern use, "Byzantine", often used pejoratively to describe any work, law, or organization that is excessively complex and/or difficult to understand; see also Baroque), but also for their alleged lack of courage and military ability. This prejudice originated, according to the medievalist Steven Runciman, from the impressions of medieval Europe with this mighty power. "Ever since our rough crusading forefathers first saw Constantinople and met, to their contemptuous disgust, a society where everyone read and wrote, ate food with forks and preferred diplomacy to war, it has been fashionable to pass the Byzantines by with scorn and to use their name as synonymous with decadence."1 However, many of the emperors of the Middle and Late Empire were full-time military commanders, and several were men of letters as well. They may have had little patience with elaborate court ceremonies.

Related Topics:
Byzantine Empire - Organization of its ministries - Baroque - Steven Runciman - Constantinople - 1

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By the 18th century refinement and polite manners were no longer considered effeminate, so writers like Gibbon and Montesquieu searched after a new justification for their prejudice against this civilization. Gibbon found it in the scholarly works of the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos, and seized upon the bookish style of this invalid and bookish ruler, who was forced to pass most of his reign as a figurehead. Exploiting this source to confirm his own preconceptions 2, Gibbon thus gave new life to an oversimplified view of a "decadent" Byzantium, which lives in the public mind by the poetry of William Butler Yeats.

Related Topics:
Gibbon - Montesquieu - Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos - 2 - William Butler Yeats

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Likewise, the term "Byzantine" also suggests a penchant for intrigue, plots and assassinations. In fact, the Empire was among the more stable political entities of its own or any other time. Its famous intrigue and turmoil was far less than that of Western Europe's unruly feudal states, and occurred most often during relatively brief interregnums between strong (and sometimes brilliantly led) dynasties. The very stability of the imperial state, however, probably undermined the creative impulses and innovativeness that characterized the early centuries of the remarkable Byzantine civilization, thus contributing to its eventual downfall.

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