enemy. At the time, the Byzantine Empire was in the midst of a grave theological crisis that led to a near collapse of the state. The Iconoclast Controversy pitted those who believed that images of Christ were no better than idols against those who believed that icons were essential aids. During Harun’s reign, power in Constantinople was seized by the icon-friendly Empress Irene, who had fought a war with her son and had secured the throne after she had him dragged in chains before her and ordered his eyes plucked out. But the victory had taken years, and she was wise enough to fight one fight at a time, even if that meant paying the Abbasid caliph to leave her alone.
She, in turn, was overthrown and exiled by her finance minister, Nicephorus, who discontinued the payments to Harun al-Rashid, saying, “the Queen who was my predecessor put you in the Knight’s square and herself in the square of the pawn and sent you the sort of wealth that you should really have been sending her, but that was because of the weakness of women and their foolishness.” Harun was not pleased. “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. From Harun, Commander of the Faithful, to Nicephorus the dog of the Byzantines: I haveread your letter, son of an infidel woman. You shall see my answer, and it will not be in words.” True to his threat, in 806, Harun marched into central Anatolia and captured the city of Heraclea. Though that was still hundreds of miles from Constantinople, it was on the other side of the Taurus Mountains that separated the two realms and on the edge of an unguardable plateau that stretched nearly to the Byzantine capital. Nicephorus was forced to ask for peace and once again pay tribute. 11
Not surprisingly, the campaign against Byzantium coincided with the harsh measures Harun took against Christians in 806. In the tense atmosphere of war, tolerance gave way to something akin to Abbasid nationalism, and the brief, intense persecution of Christians in Iraq was one manifestation of holy war. Once the battle was over and Nicephorus had sued for peace, the restrictions disappeared.
However, just because Harun al-Rashid was fighting a jihad against one Christian power did not mean that he was waging jihad against all Christians. During these years, he made multiple overtures to the Car-olingian, and very Christian, Charlemagne, who had been crowned by the pope as Holy Roman Emperor in Rome on Christmas Day in the year 800. Charlemagne was just as much a Christian monarch as the Byzantine emperor, and had in fact set himself up as the Western alternative to the Byzantines. Members of his court even referred to him as “King David” as a way of linking him to the biblical tradition of rulers who owed their throne to God’s will. But because Charlemagne was a rival of the Byzantines, and a sworn enemy of the remaining Umayyads in Spain, he was seen as a potential ally by Harun al-Rashid. The caliph wooed him with emissaries bearing fulsome praise and lavish gifts, including an elephant transported at great expense from North Africa. 12
Harun’s son al-Ma’mun was equally inconsistent. One moment he was dispatching envoys to Constantinople asking for original works of Aristotle; the next he was sending armies into Turkey looking to inflict as much harm on the Byzantines as possible. Toward the end of his life, al-Ma’mun seems to have become more ardent about waging jihad, and in 833, he too captured Heraclea, just as his father had. The emperor at the time was Theophilus, who was forced to ask for terms and wrote a conciliatory letter to the caliph:
It seems more sensible that the two opposing sides should come together over their respective shares of good fortune than adopt courses injurious to themselves…. I have written you inviting you to make a peace agreement… so that you may remove the burdens of war from upon us and so that we may be to each other friends and a band of associates, in addition to
She, in turn, was overthrown and exiled by her finance minister, Nicephorus, who discontinued the payments to Harun al-Rashid, saying, “the Queen who was my predecessor put you in the Knight’s square and herself in the square of the pawn and sent you the sort of wealth that you should really have been sending her, but that was because of the weakness of women and their foolishness.” Harun was not pleased. “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. From Harun, Commander of the Faithful, to Nicephorus the dog of the Byzantines: I haveread your letter, son of an infidel woman. You shall see my answer, and it will not be in words.” True to his threat, in 806, Harun marched into central Anatolia and captured the city of Heraclea. Though that was still hundreds of miles from Constantinople, it was on the other side of the Taurus Mountains that separated the two realms and on the edge of an unguardable plateau that stretched nearly to the Byzantine capital. Nicephorus was forced to ask for peace and once again pay tribute. 11
Not surprisingly, the campaign against Byzantium coincided with the harsh measures Harun took against Christians in 806. In the tense atmosphere of war, tolerance gave way to something akin to Abbasid nationalism, and the brief, intense persecution of Christians in Iraq was one manifestation of holy war. Once the battle was over and Nicephorus had sued for peace, the restrictions disappeared.
However, just because Harun al-Rashid was fighting a jihad against one Christian power did not mean that he was waging jihad against all Christians. During these years, he made multiple overtures to the Car-olingian, and very Christian, Charlemagne, who had been crowned by the pope as Holy Roman Emperor in Rome on Christmas Day in the year 800. Charlemagne was just as much a Christian monarch as the Byzantine emperor, and had in fact set himself up as the Western alternative to the Byzantines. Members of his court even referred to him as “King David” as a way of linking him to the biblical tradition of rulers who owed their throne to God’s will. But because Charlemagne was a rival of the Byzantines, and a sworn enemy of the remaining Umayyads in Spain, he was seen as a potential ally by Harun al-Rashid. The caliph wooed him with emissaries bearing fulsome praise and lavish gifts, including an elephant transported at great expense from North Africa. 12
Harun’s son al-Ma’mun was equally inconsistent. One moment he was dispatching envoys to Constantinople asking for original works of Aristotle; the next he was sending armies into Turkey looking to inflict as much harm on the Byzantines as possible. Toward the end of his life, al-Ma’mun seems to have become more ardent about waging jihad, and in 833, he too captured Heraclea, just as his father had. The emperor at the time was Theophilus, who was forced to ask for terms and wrote a conciliatory letter to the caliph:
It seems more sensible that the two opposing sides should come together over their respective shares of good fortune than adopt courses injurious to themselves…. I have written you inviting you to make a peace agreement… so that you may remove the burdens of war from upon us and so that we may be to each other friends and a band of associates, in addition to
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