Albania and the Byzantine Empire

Albania under the Byzantine empire

Most people take Albania for an Islamic country. But Catholic and Orthodox Christians do not only represent about 40 % of the modern population of the country; Albania was also one of the first European countries to adopt the Christian religion. Whereas Germany was christianized only in early Middle Age by Irish missionaries, the Christian belief was introduced into Illyria at its very beginnings by St. Paul himself. The first episcopal seat was Durrachium (Durres). During the persecution of the Christians there were also Illyrian martyrs; forty of them gave the name to the beautiful southern Albanian town of Saranda, which means „forty“. The Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who turned Christianity into the official state religion, was one of several Illyrian emperors.

In 395, the Roman Empire was divided into two independent parts: the West Roman Empire with Rome as its capital and the East Roman Empire with the capital Byzantium or Constantinople, today Istanbul. Illyria became a part of the Byzantine Empire.

The Ottoman domination of Albania, which lasted for about five hundred years, is well known. But in fact the Byzantine domination, which determined Albanian Middle Age, lasted twice as long: almost an entire millenium!

At that time Albania was at a geographical and spiritual crossroad of the two empires, Rome and Byzantium, between occidental and oriental influence, and, what is most important, between Catholic and Orthodox Christianity.

Although politically the Albanian regions were part of the Byzantine Empire, religiously they belonged to the Pope in Rome. This was to change during the iconoclast controversy, the „war against the icons“ declared by Byzantium in 730. The fact that the Albanian bishops supportet the point of view of Rome made Byzantine emperor Leo III detach the Albanian regions from the Pope two years later and put it under the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople.

„When the Christian church split in 1054 between the East and Rome, southern Albania retained its tie to Constantinople while northern Albania reverted to the jurisdiction of Rome. This split in the Albanian church marked the first significant religious fragmentation of the country.“

From the fifth century on, Illyria had to suffer from the migration of the peoples. Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Huns and other „barbarian“ people invaded and devastated the country. As a reaction, the Byzantine emperors - many of them, like Justinian, were Illyrians - built a number of fortifications, which can still be visited today.

However, the invading peoples who influenced most profundly Albanian history up to the most recent wars were the Slavs. From the end of the sixth century, they settled mainly in northern Illyria and assimilated these regions, which constitute roughly the former Yougoslavia. But southern Illyria resisted assimilation. Archaeological findings demonstrate that these regions, which constitute the territory of mediaeval and modern Albanians, was not colonialized by Slavs.

„In the course of several centuries, under the impact of Roman, Byzantine, and Slavic cultures, the tribes of southern Illyria underwent a transformation, and a transition occurred from the old Illyrian population to a new Albanian one.“ It was one Illyrian tribe living in central Albania which gave its name to the whole: the „albanoi“ or Albanians. During the Middle Age, the Albanian territories were called „Arberia“. „The genesis of Albanian nationality apparently occurred at this time as the Albanian people became aware that they shared a common territory, name, language, and cultural heritage.“