Early Middle Ages and Crusades
Forced conversions ordered by Basil I
873-874·Empire byzantin
The toll is reproduced exactly as the source states it — never rounded, never added to another. Tolls overlap from one event to the next.
the communities of the Empire summoned to choose baptism or ruin
Basil I the Macedonian ordered the Jewish communities of the Byzantine Empire to receive baptism, promising converts access to dignities and exemption from taxation, and threatening the rest with ruin. This is the first imperial campaign of forced conversion since Heraclius.
The Book of the Vision of Daniel and the chronicle of Ahimaaz of Raguse preserve the memory of communities in southern Italy who resisted, of masters who preferred death, and of baptized individuals who returned to Judaism at the very next reign. The episode is one of the few in which Byzantine Jewish literature speaks of itself.
- Period :
- Early Middle Ages and Crusades
- Type :
- Forced conversion
- Region :
- Near and Middle East
- Country :
- Empire byzantin
Chronique d'Ahimaaz ben Paltiel ; Vision de Daniel ; Vita Basilii.