When the Byzantine warrior emperor Basil II died in 1025 he left an empire that had doubled in size during his reign and presented a serious Challenger to its Muslim neighbours. Unfortunately for the Byzantines, subsequent emperors could not maintain the impetus achieved under Basil. They became embroiled in the ecclesiastical politics that provoked the "Great Schism" of 1054 - a theological split between the Orthodox and Western churches that has effectively lasted ever since. The schism invited hostility from the West at a time when Muslim power was regrouping.
Norman adventurers took control of what was left of Byzantine southern Italy, just as a renewed Muslim offensive by Seljuk Turks culminated in the Battle of Manzikert (1071) - a Byzantine defeat that wiped out the eastern gains of Basil II and established the Muslim state of Iconium (Konya) in the heart of what had once been Christian Anatolia.
Fuente: Philip's atlas
Jose
Fuente: Philip's atlas
Jose
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