~ The Epoch of The Crusades (1095-1204) ~

The term ‘Crusades’ is understood to describe the cycle of expeditions from continental  Europe to the Eastern Mediterranean from 1095 to 1396 (or 1464). ^28.The primary aims were to save the Holy Land [also referred to as Palestine (دولة فلسطين‎)] from Moslem control, and stop the spread of Islam. [From 1948 Palestine was also called Israel (מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל‎)]. Additionally, it was an attempt at unifying the Orthodox and Catholic churches; subsequent to the Great Schism of 1054 (q.l.). Their campaign to achieve this was anything but a success. It was a dismal failure. It hastened the demise of the Byzantine Empire. The Mohammedans retained their hold over the Holy Land and extended their influence even further. The entire campaign had a devastating effect on the Orthodox Church. It drove a wedge that increased bitterness, creating new crisis opening old wounds, of the Great Schism; between the Eastern and Western church.

The First Crusade (1096-1099).

Prior to the First Crusade, Alexius I Komnenos, (Ἁλέξιος A΄ Κομνηνός) emperor of the Byzantine Empire, sought help from Pope Urban II. For the protection of Constantinople, from the ‘Saracens’ (‘Σαρακηνος) and recovery of Anatolia. The Saracens was a nomadic people of the Syro-Arabian desert. The Saracen name was extended, by the Byzantine Greeks, in 12-century literature, to include: Arabs, Mohammedans, and Muslims.

The Byzantines were dependent on Anatolia’s military strength to offset the invading forces. Additionally, Normandy had a monopoly in the Adriatic Sea; subsequent to their conquest of Italy in 1071.

The Normans were descendants from the Norse Vikings, who from the 10-century, were natives of the confederation of Germanic tribes and Gallo-Roman stock. The Byzantine’s mercantile activities were adversely affected which was the principal source for its economic survival.

News reached Constantinople, in spring 1087, of an impending invasion by the Pechenegs, who were wreaking havoc, while advancing through the northern Balkans. The Byzantines defeated the Pechenegs in alliance with their erstwhile enemy the Koumanoi. Firstly at the battle of Levounion near Enos in Turkey (1091) followed by the Cumans (1094). And a century later (1122) by the Byzantines at Beroia (now called Stara Zagora); in Bulgaria.

Pope Urban II, shortly after his election (1088), began talks regarding, military aid to Constantinople with support from the Hospitallers and Templars. The Hospitallers and Templars were in practice a military force, notwithstanding that they were under monastic rules. Pope Urban was attempting to restore ecclesiastical unity following the Great Schism. Cardinal Humbert, the papal envoy, had delivered a Papal Bull of Excommunication on the altar during the Divine Liturgy in the Hagia Sophia; Saturday 16, July 1054. ^29.The consequence of theological, ecclesiastical, and political disputes between Constantinople and Rome; and particularly the Latin church’s unsupported papal asseveration of universal (Καθολικος) supremacy over all the Churches; both east and west. Following Rome’s reform movement circa1054. This assertion conflicted with the principles of the Orthodox church’s Tradition. The Oecumenical Patriarchate’s status as ‘Πρῶτος μεταξὺ ἴσων’, i.e., “the first among equals,” was designated as such since the sixth century. ^30. The Orthodox Church Federation recognize the Oecumenical Patriarchate’s status as “the first among equals,” for the past 1,427 years; except the Russia church.

The Ottoman Sultans peremptorily executed several incumbent patriarchs, at Constantinople. For example the 198th Patriarch, Parthenius III (Παρθένιος Γ΄) who was hung, by order of Mehmed IV ^31. at the Parmak Kapi (‘Gate of the Hook’) on 24 March 1657. The Patriarch’s corpse was thrown into the sea three days later. ^32.Gregory V (Γρηγόριος Ε΄) the 232nd patriarch, who by order of Sultan Mahmud II, (محمود ثانى ), was lynched on Easter Monday 1821. His remains were dragged through the streets and thrown into the Bosphorus. The murder of Gregory caused outrage, and protests, in the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches; and throughout continental Europe. Gabriel II (Γαβριῂλ Β’) the 199th Patriarch was tortured and hung on 3 December 1659. ^33. Pope Urban II acceded to a request by Alexius I Komnenos, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, for Christians to protect Constantinople. And to defend the Eastern Church and counteract the expansion of the Islamic Empire. ^{34. 35. 36.}

Urban formally announced the First Crusade, at the Council of Clermont; on 27 November 1095. [The word ‘crusade’ wasn’t in usage in the 12-century. It was a combination of ‘croisade’ from French and ‘cruzada’ from Spanish. Both words originated from the Latin ‘cruc’ (cross) that didn’t come into usage until 5-centuries later; circa 1708. Prior to the 17-century, the words in vogue, were ‘expedition’ and ‘pilgrimage’] The Crusade was financed by participants selling, or mortgaging, their possessions. ^37. Priests and monks were not to attend; unless in the capacity of chaplains. ^38. Urban instructed the Crusaders that only combatants were to attend who obtained permission from their wives. Between April and June, in the following year (1097), between 50,000 to 70,000 Crusaders set forth. ^39. To Constantinople en route from Germany, Swabia, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor. Their mandate, from Urban, was to drive the Seljug Turks from the Anatolia Plateau; arriving at Constantinople on 24 June 1203, with military force numbered approximately 4,000 mounted nobles, and 25,000 foot-soldiers. ^40. Eight commanders of the Crusade were Normans who led an undisciplined and formidable military force into the city. Amongst them were Bohemond, son of the Norman Duke, Robert Guiscard; of Apulia and Calabria.

The Crusaders waged many acts of cruelty against the Jews in the Rhineland, but not at the behest of Urban or any subsequent popes. Urban censured the renegade elements amongst the Crusaders, to no avail. ^41. Additional to the Crusaders were an unauthorised popular group, called ‘The People’s Crusade,’ Peter the hermit comprising of overzealous lay members. Led by the charismatic, and influential Peter the hermit, who were under the misconception that the Jews were ‘enemies of Christ’ (or ‘Christ-killers’) who needed to be killed. ^42. The pope instructed both the Crusaders and the People’s Crusade that the Jews were off limits and were to be unharmed. ^43. However, Peter’s group ignored the pope’s instruction and commenced their campaign. First in the Rheinland, followed by Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Constantinople, and waged their assault on Nicaea (Νίκαια); where they were all killed by the Turks. Peter was at Constantinople at the time. He later apologized to the Crusade for the failure at Nicaea. ^44.

The Crusader’s preference for adventure and motives for personal gain extinguished their whole raison d’être that took precedence over the original Christian altruism. ^45.Thus, they eventually confiscated the enterprise away from the authority of the pope. ^{46. 47.} They seized Nikaia (Νίκαια), in Anatolia, from the Muslims in 1097. And in conforming with the former Agreement, with Alexius (Under oath at the Council of Troyes) they did, ipso facto, returned it. That is to say, ‘to return all territories status quo ante bellum, seized from the Infidels,’. ^48.

However, notwithstanding the Agreement with Alexius, the Crusaders refused to return Antiochia (Ἀντιόχεια) after capturing it in 1098. Instead, they replaced the Council of Troyes Greek with a Latin incumbent and hierarchy and established a Latin ecclesiastical organization. 49. Antiochia’s population composed of Armenians, Syrians and mostly Greeks. Subsequent to liberating Jerusalem, Edessa, and Tripoli, from the Muslims; in 1099, the Crusaders continued their campaign establishing other centres of Latin power. They were squabbling among themselves over the disposal of districts and booty. 50. 51. Alexius’ original request to Urban, for the protection of Constantinople, from the Infidels, and the recovery of Anatolia, was abandoned instead of seizing Jerusalem. The Hospitallers and Templars, who were officially sanctioned by the Council of Troyes (1128), were, by the fact itself, a religio-military force, notwithstanding that they were under monastic rules.

Diplomatic relations were crucial with the Venetians, due to the Normans (Nordmänner) gradually advancing into the Byzantine areas in southern Italy and the Adriatic Sea; in the 11-century. The Normans were descendants of the Norse Viking conquerors. The mercantile survival of the Byzantines was dependent on the Adriatic Sea as well as other places, for its maritime activities. Alexius formed a temporary symbiotic trade agreement (Charter of 1082), formulated by the Venetians, for an advantageous economic aggrandizement for trading in the eastern Mediterranean. ^52. Additionally, there was the increasing threat from the pro-Venetian and Serbian (Београд), Neo-Hungarian Kingdom, situated between the Byzantine and Western Empires, and the subsequent rise of the Norman Kingdom (1130). The Crusaders altered the mandate to include freeing Jerusalem from the 461-year hold by the Muslims, as well as the Holy Land and the Eastern Christians; from Islamic rule. Although the outcome was successful in expelling the Muslims, the Crusaders refused to return the territories to Alexius. Evidently, the principal objective of the Crusades were to impose Rome’s ecclesiastic control over the Orthodox Church. ^53. The Second Crusade would follow 49-years afterwards.

The Second Crusade (1147-1148).

The Second Crusade was initiated (‘Bulla cruciata’ 1 March 1146 (q.l.)) by Pope Eugensius III (d. 1153), and Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153). Their Crusade began in Rengschburg Germany; in May 1147. Early in the Crusade, Renegades committed acts of cruelty against the German Jews until Bernard stopped them. The persecution of the Jews was not on the official agenda of the Crusade, but rather an initiative of fanatical renegades. The troops took the land route, arriving in Byzantium four months later. France, without sufficient supplies, followed by the same path in June. They arrived at Constantinople shortly afterwards. The German and French flanks, in Constantinople, were far from amicable towards each other, and both were equally hostile to the Byzantines. Additionally, they failed in besieging Damascus (Δαμασκός) which boosted the unity and prestige of Islam and widened the gap between the Eastern and Western Church. Consequently, the influence of the Church of Rome waned, leaving the Eastern Orthodox Church’s capacity even weaker to wade off the yoke of Islam; rendering the Second Crusade a failure. Bernard later regretted promoting it.

The Third Crusade (1189-1192).

Subsequent to the failure of the Second Crusade, 41-years earlier, the Third Crusade, also called the ‘King’s Crusade,’ was launched. By both Briton’s precarious King Richard I, also called “Richard the Lionheart” (Cœur de Lion), and Germany’s Frederick I Barbarossa (“Red beard”). The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a vassal state of the papacy. ^54. Frederick led the largest gathering of troops to date; to recover Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the control of Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb. Ayyūb, also called, ‘Saladin,’ was Sultan of Egypt and Syria; and an adherent of Sunni Islam. ^55. Ṣalāḥ earned respect from both the Crusaders (Including Richard) and Muslims alike. He “… became a celebrated example of the principles of chivalry”. ^56.

WARWICK. I am a soldier, not a churchman. As a pilgrim I saw something of the Mahometans. They were not so ill-bred as I had been led to believe. In some respects their conduct compared favourably with ours.

GAUCHON [displeased] I have noticed this before. Men go to the East to convert the infidels. And the infidels pervert them. The Crusader comes back more than half a Saracen…

Bernard Shaw, ‘Saint Joan’, 1946
Penguin Books, sc. IV, p. 96.

The Crusade was largely successful but fell short of its ultimate goal, i. e., the reconquest of Jerusalem, which resulted in consolidating the Egyptian and Syrian forces, who Louis-Flix Amiel-Philippe II dit Philippe-Auguste Roi de France 1165-1223 disempowered the Christians, which enable them to recapture Jerusalem (1187). Richard, a genius at warring, albeit unfamiliar with the principles of superintendence, did lead an expeditionary force to recapture Jerusalem, following the failed attempt by Frederick, who died by drowning (10 June 1190) in the Göksu River (Then known as the Saleph) in the Taşeli Peninsula (Turkey), after which his demoralized troops abandoned the battle zone; and returned to Germany. Richard secured a treaty (2 September 1192) with Ṣalāḥ, which allowed Ṣalāḥ to retain control over Jerusalem, and guarantee safe passage, for both pilgrims and merchants; to Jerusalem. He left the Holy City on the 9 October 1192. Subsequent to the death Herzog Leopold V. Babenbergof Frederick, both the Duke of Austria, Leopold V, and the king of France, Philippe II Augustus, defeated the Muslims at Acre, between August 1189 and July 1191; after which they left the Holy Land; in August the following year. [Adherents of Islam were referred to as ‘Muslims’ (Also spelt ‘Moslems’) ante 1615, ‘Mohammedans’ (1681), and ‘Saracens’ (Σαρακηνος) a term used by the Medieval writers to describe the Arabs, the infidels and the Mohammedans] The Third Crusade culminated in gaining centre of power on the Syrian coast, and Cyprus – which in the succeeding decades became an outpost for subsequent Crusades – but failed its major objective to capture Jerusalem which would follow 11-years later.

The Fourth Crusade (1203-1261).

The 44-year old (q.l.) Pope Innocent III, summoned the Fourth Crusade in 1196, after which he issued the Post miserabile (“Sadly, after”) papal bull; 15 August 1198. This bull was calling for European heads of state to settle their disputes among themselves and prioritised addressing the problems in the East. This expedition’s objective was supposed to recover Palestine from the Muslims, en route from continental Europe to Jerusalem via Egypt, but the Crusaders ignored the pope’s instruction. The Swabians, from south-west Germany, the Venetians; and to a larger extent the French supported the expedition. Two Archbishops, nine bishops, numerous knights, and five dukes; from Germany led the Crusade. They opted for invading, and sacking the Christian Orthodox City of Constantinople; the centre of the Byzantine Empire; April 1204.

The Muslims had relocated their centre of power from Palestine to Al Fustat (سطاط‎), in Egypt. Cairo remained the administrative centre for circa 200-years prior to the Arabs reestablishing the centre to Al Fustat (641). Learning of the impending raid by the Crusaders, Vizier Shawar razed Al Fustat to the ground (1168). To disadvantage the Crusaders. The centre of power was then relocated back to Cairo.

Subsequent to the first siege of Constantinople on 12 August 1203, the Crusaders recaptured the city on 13 April 1204. ^57. They made it the centre of the Latin empire until 25 July 1261 when it fell to the Greek Emperor. In 1453, it was seized by the Turks, who made it their capital for 470-years until they relocated the capital to Ankara in 1923.

The Fourth Crusade raided Constantinople and waged an unbound orgy of bloodshed, looting and thorough destruction against the very heart of Eastern Christendom. Achieved mainly through Venice’s supply of ships, and favourable weather. ^58. Innocent, angry at the destruction of the imperial city, excommunicated those responsible. But seeing the seized booty – gold and silver artefacts, sculptures, jewellery, money, and reliquaries – rescinded the excommunication, and gladly accepted the stolen property. Innocent’s rescinding the excommunication (Reinstating those responsible back into the church), and receiving the stolen property (Obtained by bloodshed and looting from Orthodox Christians) made him a receiver of stolen goods. Museums and collectors in continental Europe (et al.) in possession of these stolen properties are equally guilty of receiving stolen articles. Not an enviable circumstance in which to be, particularly when the receiver happens to be a fellow Christian. These, amongst other contentious issues, lingered on for centuries, particularly in the Balkan Peninsula, leaving a volatile en masse of Eastern, and Western Christians; as well as Muslims.

The Crusaders pilfered the sacred remains of Saints John Chrysostom, (Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος) and Gregory Nazianzen (Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός), ^{59. 60.} from the Church of the Holy Apostles (Ἅγιοι Ἀπόστολοι) at Constantinople in 1204; and taken to Rome. They remained there remained for 800-years until the Vatican returned them to the Oecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, at Constantinople; 27 November 2004. ^61.They have been included in the Church of St. George at Constantinople.

The Hagia Sophia, Cathedral of the Oecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, was the tallest church building in the world. Built in 537, 1089-years before St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome [completed 1626] avant la lettre. ^62. Subsequent to seizing the Hagia Sophia, the Crusaders un-canonically, replaced the Patriarch with the Italian hypo deacon Tomasso Morosini. During Morosini’s tenure (1204-11), he staffed the patriarchate with Latin clergy and allegedly embezzled property from the cathedral treasury. Additional to sacking the Imperial City (1204) et alibi, they also wreaked havoc on the Balkan. Orthodox Christians insofar that it was preferable for some who gravitated to Islam – to escape the wrath of the Roman Catholic troops. ^63. These caused the papacy to fall into disrepute. The oft quoted watch-phrase, coined by Loukas Notaras “Better the Sultan’s Turban than the Cardinal’s hat” ^64.encapsulated Byzantine’s foreign policy regarding the preservation of the Orthodox Church (ή ἀγία ὀρθόδοξος καθολικὴ ἀποστολικὴ ἀνατολικὴ ἐκκλησία) from the influences of the papacy.

Subsequent to the Fourth Crusade, the Imperial City, remained under the control of the Latin Church for 57-years (1204-1261), ^65. during which time the Orthodox Byzantines remained steadfast in their determination to retain their Orthodox identity and Tradition. Russian-born Yugoslavian Historian and Byzantinist, Alexandrovič Ostrogorsky (1902-1976); author of the ‘History of the Byzantine State’ (Geschichte des byzantinischen Staates) says:

“The Patriarchate of Constantinople remained the center of the Orthodox world, with subordinate metropolitan sees and archbishoprics in the territory of Asia Minor and the Balkans, now lost to Byzantium, as well as in Caucasus, Russia and Lithuania. The Church remained the most stable element in the Byzantine Empire.” [sic.] ^66.

The Fifth Crusade (1217-1221).

The Fifth Crusade (Also called ‘The International Crusade’) involved the participation by Hungary, Austria, Germany, France, England, Scotland, Italy and Belgium. It secured safe and secure passageway for pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth. But all the territories were lost by 1244 to the Muslims; subsequent to the battle of Ghazzah, in Palestine. 67. This Crusade was a diplomatic disaster. Thousands of children from Germany and France, who enlisted in the soi-disant “Children’s Crusade” (1212); lost their lives at sea or to slavery.

The Fifth Crusade deepened old wounds, ensuing from the Great Schism (1054), and damaged hopes for unity between Constantinople and Rome, and brought down the death knell upon the Crusade. Michael VIII Palaiologos (Μιχαήλ Η΄ Παλαιολόγος) and Pope Gregory X brokered a tentative plan 152-years later (q.l.), at the Second Council of Lyon; 1274. Michael with the approval of the senior clergy of the Hagia Sophia presented the plan for union with Rome. The plan was in a spirit of good will to reunite the Eastern church with the West to end the Great Schism. The plan for union that included (et alia.): ‘Recognition of the pope’s primacy (‘Primum et summum pontificem esse et nominari’), acceptance of the Latin Church’s dogmatic Filioque inclusion into the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. The greater number of Orthodox Christians – including the Bulgarian and Serbian Orthodox Churches – were averse to union with the Catholic Church whom they considered “heretics”. The Council formally proclaimed the plan on 29 June. The Roman Catholic Church would have ‘the supreme and full primacy and authority over the universal Catholic Church’. Notwithstanding the universality claim, it has, indeed, only evolved into a world-church in recent times. ^69.

The Crusaders vandalized buildings, including the Hagia Sophia (v.i), and all public buildings Byzantine items of historical and cultural value 612px-Full length negatives of the shroud of Turintransferred to the Vatican treasury and Venice. 70. So likewise the remains of Saints John Chrysostom, and Gregory Nazianzen (v.i.). The controversial ‘Shroud of Turin,’ which was the property of the emperors of Byzantine. The shroud “disappeared” during the sacking of the city, which is now in the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin. Results of carbon-14 testing in 1988, of the shroud at the Oxford, Tucon US, and Zurich 800px-Horses of Basilica San Marco brightlaboratories, concluded that the Shroud was a Medieval forgery. The shroud dates from 1260 to 1390, 71. Moreover, the four Greco-Roman horses now in an upper gallery in the Basilica di San Marco in Venice. 72. including churches and monasteries.

Numerous other stolen relics, holy icons, and religious objets d’art were distributed throughout continental Europe. Moreover, pre-Christian treasures, e.g., a bronze statue of Hercules and a statue of Pegasus, by Lysippus of Sicyon, Alexander the Great’s court sculptor (See photograph below). The estimated cost of the theft was 400,000 silver marks. ^{72. 73.}

The thorough destruction at Constantinople (Capital of the Christian Orthodox Church), and the large-scale theft from Orthodox Christians, was the Roman Catholics strike against the very centre of Eastern Christendom. Orthodox Christians were left powerless ever to regain its pre-1203 status.

Rather than aiding fellow Christians to defend themselves from the invading Muslims, the Crusade gave a great advantage to the surrounding infidels as well as establishing a Latin Empire on its ruins. Consequently, the Orthodox Church remained under the control of the papacy from 1204 to 1261.

The Plagues: Justinian and The Black Death.

Plague of Justinian originated from either the Yersinia pestis, now extinct or from other unknown pathogens. It originated in China, 74. or Central Asia, an important international trading centre from where it spread, via grain ships from black death Egypt, to Constantinople. Moreover, throughout the Byzantine Empire between 541 and 542, as well as continental Europe; Ireland and Denmark. In common parlance, the Plague of Justinian is believed to be the predecessor of the Black Death (Pasteurella pestis) which followed 805-years (q.l.) later (v.i.). It had a devastating effect on generations in the Mediterranean basin for 2-centuries and reduced the European population by half (q.l.). The plague contributed to the Islamic forces seizure of the Byzantine provinces in the Near East and Africa.

The Black Death (Pasteurella pestis) (1347-1352) like its predecessor, also originated in China, and shortly afterwards spread along the Silk Route, and through maritime trading. Italian merchants brought the plague back, in rat-infested vessels, to Genova Italy (1347), from where it outspread to Germany, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia, France and England. Cities were first infected and then remote rural areas. It spread to the Caucasus, Iran, Middle East, India, and North Africa. In Constantinople, it took the lives of 40% of the population, and one-third of the population on Continental Europe, ^75. as well as having an adverse impact on the economy; and the Empire. Many perceived this as a form of divine judgement for the papacy’s mismanagement of the church. ^76.

The plague had an impact on the various monastic communities, e.g., the Benedictines, Dominicans, and Franciscans. Monastic populace greatly diminished. Many of their members left including some who were received into monastic life as early as 10-years of age. They preferred entering into the secular community rather than having to observe the austere discipline of monastic rule. ^77. That had a crippling effect on missionary activities of the monastic orders and gave an advantage to the spread of Islam. For example, the forced conversion of the Mongols to Islam, the hostilities waged against the missionaries, and the ongoing wars waged in Asia, by the controversial Timūr-e Lang (1336-1405). ^78.

The Hagia Sophia (Ἁγία Σοφία).

Two hundred and fifty eight-years (q.l.) after the destruction of Constantinople (1204), and the subsequent conquest of the imperial city [the most prestigious, and victorious prize for both the Latin church and Islam alike], by Sultan Mehmed II who made it the centre of the Ottomans in 1453, brought an end to the ancient Roman Empire. The Hagia Sophia, i.e., “Church of the Holy Wisdom of God” (Ναός τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας), was converted into a Mosque in 1462; and a museum in 1935.

Following the fall of Constantinople, there was a succession of five Patriarchal churches, two of which were seized and converted to mosques, between 1456 and 1486. From 1601 to the present: Aiya Yorgi, i.e., the Saint George Cathedral (Καθεδρικός ναός του Αγίου Γεωργίου), situated amongst begrimed lanes in the Phanar (Φανάρι) municipality; in Constantinople. An eventual return of the pilfered Hagia Sophia, to its rightful owner; the Greek Orthodox Church, is unlikely; but not impossible. The Christian name ‘Constantinople’ wasAyasofya changed by Turkey’s first Prime Minister, Mareşal (Field Marshal) Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (“Atatürk” i.e., “The Father of the Turks”); in the 1920s. He Islamised the city to the controversial name ‘Istambul’ (Islam-bul, from “στην Πόλη, ” i.e., “in the city” or “to the city”), 79. The Latin Church’s ambition was, quite clearly, to destroy the Orthodox identity in the Balkans (et al.), and replace it with the Latin Church, under the influence of the papacy.

The Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire (Sultanvahideddin Devlet-i Âliyye-i Osmâniyye) became one of the largest empires in history. It occupied 3.49% of the world land mass in 1683, with a maximum population of 39-million out of 556-million of the global population. 80. 81. From 27 July 1299 to 29 October 1923, it dominated the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Including Southeast Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa. In the 624-year period, it seized hold of Hungary, Belgrade, the Balkans, Constantinople, Turkey, Iraq, Greece, Egypt, Northern Algeria. So eventually, Rhodes (Ρόδος) which was brought to ground by the army of Suleiman the Magnificent in December 1522. To secure control of the Eastern Mediterranean, after which it remained a possession of the Ottoman Empire for nearly four centuries. The Empire had an enormous military machine and Islamic institutions; inspired by the Quar’an and the Hadīth collection (Islamic laws). The peak of its power and influence was reached between the 16 and 17-centuries, during which time it destroyed a 1,129-year (q.l.) Christian civilization.

Osman I, ruled the Empire in the early 12-century, followed by a succession of 34-Khilāfas (q.l.), until Mehmed VI. Mehmed was deposed in November 1922. Subsequently, the Empire ceased as a de jure nation, by Treaty of Lausanne (24 July 1923), and The Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti) proclaimed, by Atatürk; on 29 October 1923. Moreover, Atatürk abolished the Khilāfa on 3 March 1924.

The Balkans.

The history of the Balkan Peninsula and its territories, date from the Upper Palaeolithic [παλαιός, “old”, and λίθος, “stone”] period circa 200,000 – 100,000 before the Christian era. ^{82. 83.} The peninsula occupies an area of 490,000km (189,000 sq mi) with the Danube, Sava, and Kupa rivers serving as its northern boundary. The Black Sea lies to its east, and the Mediterranean, including the Aegean, Ionian, and the Marmara seas at the south, and the Adriatic Sea lies to its west. The precise graphical borderlines are difficult to delineate. For the sake of simplicity I have chosen to focus on the 623-year period, from 27 July 1299 ^84. to 1 November 1922 ^85. of the foreign Muslim domination, to assign the geographical boundaries.

Prior to the Ottoman conquest, the Balkan Peninsula was called the “Peninsula of Haemus”. The name “Balkan” was adopted from either the Turkish word “Balkan” or from the Persian word “bālkāneh” or “bālākhāna”. “Balkan” means “sequence of wooded mountains,” and “bālkāneh” means “high, above,” or “proud house.” respectively.

The ‘Balkan Peninsula’ (Βαλκανική χερσόνησος) has since won popular appeal amongst historians. The Balkan Peninsula is the hub of the Orthodox Church. The intersection where the confederation of the Orthodox churches, as well as the Latin church; and Sunni Islam converge. The intersection in toto, includes Albania, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Axis puppet state Croatia (Predominantly), Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia (Predominantly).

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