Theophanes blamed the Arab conquests on imperial heresy

Evidence

Theophanes, fully aware of the religious motivations behind the Muslim conquests, characterizes Islam as a heresy composed of a mixture of Jewish and Christian elements; he later refers to Mecca as “the place of their blasphemy.” He is less clear about why God allowed these Muslim heretics to conquer vast territories. At times he blames the corruption and ineptitude of Byzantine officials, such as the eunuch who refuses to pay Arab mercenaries who had been defending Roman Syria from the Muslims; the mercenaries quickly switch sides and act as scouts for the invading Muslims. Yet he also describes divine portents of the impending disasters: an earthquake in Palestine, a sword-shaped sign hanging in the southern sky. When the caliph ‘Umar enters Jerusalem as a conqueror, clad in a dirty camel-hair garment, according to Theophanes, the patriarch Sophronios proclaims: “Verily, this is the abomination of desolation standing in a holy place, as has been spoken through the prophet Daniel.” — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 410 (#complicates, via linked claim)

In a rapture of melodrama, the author puts the Goth’s fall to the Arabs on a par with history’s great disasters. Yet even if the sack of Saragossa is ordained by the “judgment of God” (iudicio Dei), the causes for the catastrophe seem not to be divine disfavor but rather the evil machinations of the Arab invaders and of a few bad apples among the Goths: not only Rodrigo but also Oppa, son of the evil king Egica. “After forcing his way to Toledo, the royal city, [Mûsâ] imposed on the adjacent regions an evil and fraudulent peace. He decapitated on a scaffold those noble lords who had remained, arresting them in their flight from Toledo with the help of Oppa, King Egica’s son. With Oppa’s support, he killed them all with the sword.” The intrigues of men like Oppa, along with the cowardice of others (such as Sindered, bishop of Toledo, who fled to Rome44), allow the Saracens to establish their “savage reign” (regnum efferum). — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 477 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Christian apologists blamed sexual sin, not heresy, for the conquests; Theophanes blamed the Muslim conquests on Emperor Heraclius’s Monothelite heresy; Christian writers blamed imperial hubris for the Muslim conquest of Syria — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 467 (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Theophanes blamed the Muslim conquests on Emperor Heraclius’s Monothelite heresy #corroborates (1.00)
• Christian writers blamed imperial hubris for the Muslim conquest of Syria #complicates (0.90) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 467
• Early Iberian Christians blamed their own traitors, not God, for the Arab conquest #complicates (0.90) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 477
• Byzantine chronicler Theophanes framed Islam as a Jewish-Christian heresy and God’s punishment #complicates (0.90) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 410
• The Christian chronicler blamed Arab victory on Gothic treason and cowardice, not divine disfavor #complicates (0.90) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 477
• Christian chroniclers framed Saracen conquest as divine punishment for imperial hubris #complicates (0.90) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 467
• Doctrinal inflexibility within Orthodoxy undermined defense against the Ottomans #complicates (0.80) — Ali Qureshi, The Fall of Constantinople, 24
• Jerusalem’s patriarch interpreted the Arab conquest as divine punishment for sin #complicates (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 294
• Carolingian chroniclers framed Muslim conquests as punishment for Christian sins #complicates (0.80)
• Medieval Western Christians framed heresy as an Oriental import justifying crusade #complicates (0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 786
• Orthodox authorities perceived an invasion by the Latins as worse, for they would not afford them autonomy which might be hoped under Muslims. The land might remain under Christian rule, but the… #complicates (0.70)
• Crusade propagandists framed Muslim conquests as divine punishment for Christian sins #complicates (0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1077
• Byzantine Orthodox preferred Muslim conquest over theological compromise with Latin Christians #complicates (0.70) — Ali Qureshi, The Fall of Constantinople, 25