Abstract
The late Roman empire had not simply been a Greek state, but rather a multi-ethnic Near Eastern empire. Forced on to the defensive in a desperate battle to survive, its Byzantine successor was very much more of an inward-looking institution preoccupied with preserving its orthodox purity. Yet Byzantium could not ignore the other non-Muslim peoples of the Near East. Transcaucasia and the Balkans both represented sources of military manpower to offset the huge resources of the caliphate, and if Byzantium were to hope to break out of its narrow limits as merely the empire of Constantinople then these were both areas that had to be brought within the Byzantine political and cultural orbit. Equally important was the Byzantine relationship with the steppe world which was the only Near Eastern society with a military potential that might approach that of the caliphate. Nomad allies had played a vital role in Herakleios’ victories of the late 620s, and as long as the Arabs posed any threat to Constantinople it had to be an essential part of Byzantine diplomacy to keep good relations with whoever dominated the steppes north of the Caucasus.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Transcaucasia
A growing number of sources are available in translation, opening up what had been a very specialist area to wider interest: Bishop Ukhtanes of Sebasteia, History of Armenia, II, tr. Z. Arzoumanian (Fort Lauderdale, Flo., 1985); History of Lewond, The Eminent Vardapet of the Armenians, tr. Z. Arzoumanian (Philadelphia, Pa., 1982); J. Muyldermans, La domination Arabe en Arménie (Louvain, 1927)
The History of the Caucasian Albanians by Movsēs Dasxuranci, tr. C. J. F. Dowsett (London, 1961)
Thomas Artsruni, History of the House of Artsrunik’, tr. and commentary R. W. Thomson (Detroit, Mica., 1985)
Yovhannēs Drasxanakertc’ i, History of Armenia, tr. and commentary K. H. Maksoudian (Atlanta, Ga, 1987)
Étienne Açogh’ig de Daron, Histoire universelle, tr. E. Dulaurier (Paris, 1883)
Étienne Asolik de Tarôn, Histoire universelle, tr. F. Macler (Paris, 1917).
Place names vary according to language and political context: the best guides are H. Hübschmann, Die altarmenischen Ortsnamen (Indogermanische Forschungen XVI, Strasbourg, 1904; repr. Amsterdam, 1969) — there is a useful map in the back — and the appendices of The Epic Histories Attributed to P’awstos Buzand, tr. and commentary N. Garsoïan (Cambridge, Mass., 1989), which form an important guide to people and places relevant for periods well beyond the scope of the Epic histories.
Important secondary literature includes J. Laurent, L’Arménie entre Byzance et l’Islam depuis la conquête arabe jusqu’en 886, revised M. Canard (Lisbon, 1980) — this has completely replaced Laurent’s original work published in 1919
R. Grousset, Histoire dArménie (Paris, 1947)
A. Ter-Ghewondyan, The Arab Emirates in Bagratid Armenia, tr. N. G. Garsoïan (Lisbon, 1976)
N. Adontz, Armenia in the Period of Justinian, tr. N. G. Garsoïan (Lisbon, 1970)
C. Toumanoff Manuel de généalogie et de chronologie pour l’histoire de la Caucasie chrétienne (Rome, 1976).
On Armenians and Georgians in Byzantium see: P. Charanis, The Armenians in the Byzantine Empire (Lisbon, no date); B. Martin-Hisard, ‘Du Tao-k’lardzheti à l’Athos: moines Géorgiens et réalités sociopolitiques (ixe–xie siècles)’, Bedi Kartlisa, XLI (1983), 34–46.
Sites in eastern Turkey are covered in T. A. Sinclair’s monumental Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archaeological Survey, 4 vols (London, 1987–90).
The volumes of the Documents of Armenian Architecture, ed. A. Manoukian and A. Manoukian, I- (Milan, 1967-) are valuable especially for their photographs of landscape as well as buildings.
The church at Mren is discussed in M. Thierry, N. Thierry, ‘La cathédrale de Mrèn et sa décoration’, Cahiers archéologiques, XXI (1971), 43–77.
For the Georgian churches and their inscriptions see W. Djobadze, Early Medieval Georgian Monasteries in Tao, Klarjet’i, and Savšet’i (Forschungen zur Kunstgeschichte und christlichen Archäologie XVII, Stuttgart, 1992).
The Khazars
In general on the steppe world, see P. B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (Wiesbaden, 1992), and from a Byzantine perspective, Obolensky, The Byzantine Commonwealth. On the Khazars, Golden, Khazar Studies, 2 vols (Budapest, 1980) is essential, See also D. M. Dunlop, The History of the Jewish Khazars (Princeton, N.J., 1954)
Golden, ‘Khazaria and Judaism’, Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi, III (1983), 127–56
Golden, ‘Nomads and their Sedentary Neighbours in Pre-Činggisid Eurasia’, ibid., VII (1987–91), 41–81.
On the political ideology of the Turkic states and the role of the qaghan see Golden, ‘Imperial Ideology and the Sources of Political Unity among the Pre-Činggisid Nomads of Western Eurasia’, Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi, II (1982), 37–76.
For the steppe crisis of the ninth century, what happened and when, see Golden, ‘The Migrations of the Oğuz’, Archivum Ottomanicum, IV (1972), 45–84
G. Györffy, ‘Sur la question de l’établissement des Petchénèques en Europe’, Acta Orientalia Academia Scientiarum Hungaricae, XXV (1972), 283–92.
On the tenth century, see F. E. Wozniak, ‘Byzantium, the Pechenegs and the Rus’: the Limitations of a Great Power’s Influence on its Clients in the Tenth-century Eurasian Steppe’, Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi, IV (1984), 299–316.
The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, ed. D. Sinor (Cambridge, 1990) with some exceptions, that include the useful articles by Golden, is disappointing, and sometimes spectacularly misleading.
Most of the texts are translated and discussed in the secondary literature, but see also N. Golt and O. Pritsak, Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century (Ithaca, N.Y., 1982), as well as those listed under the Rus section below.
T. S. Noonan’s articles on coinage and trade are essential: ‘Why Dirhams First Reached Russia: The Role of Arab-Khazar Relations in the Development of the Earliest Islamic Trade with Eastern Europe’, Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi, IV (1964), 151–282. Noonan, ‘Byzantium and the Khazars: A Special Relationship?’, in Byzantine Diplomacy, ed. Shepard and Franklin, pp. 109–32, argues that Byzantine-Khazar relations were of much less importance than I have suggested here.
The Rus
The Laurentian text of the Povest’ vremennych let is translated as The Russian Primary Chronicle, tr. and commentary S. H. Cross and D. P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor (Cambridge, Mass., 1953). The Slavonic sources for early Rus’ history are gradually being translated as part of the Harvard Library of Early Ukrainian Literature. English Translations, including so far, Sermons and Rhetoric of Kievan Rus’ tr. S. Franklin (Cambridge, Mass., 1991), and Hagiography of Kievan Rus’, tr. P. Hollingsworth (Cambridge, Mass., 1992).
On the Kievo-centric view of these sources see S. Franklin, ‘Borrowed Time: Perceptions of the Past in Twelfth-century Rus’, in The Perception of the Past in Twelfth-century Europe, ed. P. Magdalino ((London, 1992), pp. 157–71.
Photios’ sermons on the Rus attack of 860 are translated and discussed in The Homilies of Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, tr. and commentary, C. Mango (Cambridge, Mass., 1958).
The Arabic and Persian geographers mention the Rus as part of their wider coverage of the northern world. Some texts are translated in the secondary literature, but one should also be aware of the following; Mas’ūdī, Les prairies d’or, tr. B. de Meynard and P. de Courteille, rev. C. Pellat, 4 vols (Paris, 1962–89); Ibn Fadlān’s important account is available in French translation in M. Canard, ‘La relation du voyage d’Ibn Fadlān chez les Bulgares de la Volga’, Annates de l’Institut d’Études Orientates de l’Université dAlger, XVI (1958), 41–146, and in English in J. E. McKeithen, ‘The Risālah of Ibn Fadlān: An Annotated Translation with Introduction’, (Indiana University Ph.D. thesis 1979); Hudūd al-’Ālām, 2nd edn, tr. V. Minorsky (Cambridge, 1970) — with valuable commentary; Sharaf al-Zamān Tāhir Marwazī on China, the Turks and India, tr. V. Minorsky (London, 1942).
There is a vast but not very helpful secondary literature on early Russian history. Exceptions include, Obolensky, Byzantine Commonwealth; P. Sawyer, Kings and Vikings (London, 1982), c. 8 — an excellent introduction which also helps to place the activities of the Vikings in Russia in a wider European context
J. Shepard, ‘Some Problems of Russo-Byzantine Relations c. 860–c. 1050’, Slavonic and East European Review, LII (1974), 10–33
L. Müller, Die Taufe Russlands: Die Frühgeschichte des russischer Christentums bis zum Jahre 988 (Munich, 1988)
the papers in Varangian Problems, ed. K. R. Schmidt (Scando-Slavica Supplementum I, Copenhagen, 1970)
P. B. Golden, ‘The Question of the Rus Qağanate’, Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi, II (1982), 77–97
T. S. Noonan, ‘When Did the Rūs/Rus’ Merchants First Visit Khazaria and Baghdad?’, ibid., VII (1987–91), 213–17.
The fur trade, one of the key factors in early Russian history, is explored in J. Martin, Treasure of the Land of Darkness (Cambridge, 1986). Also note the papers in the important Proceedings of the International Congress Commemorating the Millennium of Christianity in Rus’-Ukraine, published as HUS, XII/XIII (1988/9). Those by D. Obolensky, A. Carile, O. Pritsak and W. Treadgold are likely to be most useful. The latter two argue the case for a much earlier important Rus presence in the Black Sea region than I can detect.
The data and place of the baptism of Olga has given rise to an informative debate. See D. Obolensky, ‘Russia and Byzantium in the Tenth Century’, Greek Orthodox Theological Review, XXVIII (1983), 157–71
Obolensky, ‘The Bapstims of Princess Olga of Kiev: The Problem of the Sources’, in Philadelphie et autres études (Byzantina Sorbonensia IV, Paris, 1984)
Obolensky, ‘Ol’ga’s Conversion: The Evidence Reconsidered’, HUS, XII/XIII (1988/9), 145–58
J. Featherstone, ‘Ol’ga’s Visit to Constantinople’, HUS, XIV (1990), 293–312.
J. Callmer, ‘The Archaeology of Kiev to the End of the Earliest Urban Phase’, HUS, XI (1987), 323–64, is an important reassessment of the evidence which clears away the fiction of Kiev as a major city in the mid-ninth century.
Also useful is The Archaeology of Novgorod, Russia, ed. M. A. Brisbane, tr. K. Judelson (Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series XIII Lincoln, 1992).
The Balkans
For general surveys of Balkan history see Obolensky, Byzantine Commonwealth, and J. V. A. Fine, The Early Medieval Balkans (Michn, 1991).
For the seventh century the essential text is the Miracles of St Demetrios, which has been edited with French summaries and a full and authoritative commentary: P. Lemerle, Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de saint Démétrius, 2 vols (Paris, 1979–81).
R. Cormack, Writing in Gold, c. 2, serves as an English introduction. The Chronicle of Monemvasia seems to me of very little importance; however, see P. Charanis, ‘The Chronicle of Monemvasia’, DOP, V (1950), 139–66.
The decline of Roman culture in the Balkans and the nature of Slav settlement are discussed in the important collection of papers published as Villes et peuplement dans l’Illyricum protobyzantin (Rome, 1984). Particularly interesting perhaps are those of G. Dagron on cities, and V. Popovič on sub-Roman culture in Albania, but as a whole this is a lively collection which includes several papers in English. Another important collection in Ancient Bulgaria, ed. A. Poulter, 2 vols (Nottingham, 1983). Especially the editor’s paper on refuge sites in the Haimos range and that of J. D. Howard-Johnston on relations between the Roman and Slav population and the fate of cities during the sixth to eighth centuries are well worth finding. Both P. Lemerle, ‘Invasions et migrations dans les Balkans depuis la fin de l’époque romaine jusqu’au viiie siècle’, Revue historique, CCXI (1954), 265–308, and
A. Bon, Le Péloponnèse byzantin jusqu’en 1204 (Paris, 1951) remain useful.
For the Avars see W. Pohl, Die Awaren. Ein Steppenvolk in Mitteleuropa, 567–822 n. Chr. (Munich, 1988). The lack of an equivalent English-language work is a large gap in the literature.
Specifically on the Bulgar qaghanate the standard surveys are V. Beševliev, Die protobulgarischen Periode der bulgarischen Geschichte (Amsterdam, 1981)
R. Browning, Byzantium and Bulgaria (London, 1975)
and S. Runciman, A History of the First Bulgarian Empire (London, 1930). Given the importance of the Bulgar state in the early middle ages there is clearly room for a major new study.
Since most of the evidence comes from hostile Byzantine sources, the protobulgar inscriptions are of immense interest, and deserve to be much better known. The standard edition with commentary is V. Beševliev, Die protobulgarischen Inschriften (Berlin, 1963).
The Bulgar-Byzantine treaty of possibly 816 is translated into English in J. B. Bury’s still valuable discussion, ‘The Bulgarian Treaty of A. D. 814, and the Great Fence of Thrace’, English Historical Review, XXV (1910), 276–87.
For the date see W. Treadgold, ‘The Bulgars’ Treaty with the Byzantines in 816’, Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Slavi, IV/V (1985), 213–20.
Among the Byzantine sources, up to 813 Theophanes is the most important source, but see also the account of Nikephoros disastrous invasion of 811 in I. Dujčev, ‘La Chronique byzantine de l’an 811’, TM, I (1965), 205–54.
For the mission of Cyril and Methodios to Moravia, and their posthumous impact on Bulgaria, the Slavic lives are translated in Medieval Slavic Lives of Saints and Saints and Princes, tr. M. Kantor (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1983). There is also a useful collection of translated texts in Kiril and Methodius: Founders of Slavonic Writing, ed. I. Duichev, tr. S. Nikolov (East European Monographs CLXXII, Boulder, Col., 1985). This area of Balkan history has produced a large and fairly lively literature. See especially I Ševčenko, ‘Three Paradoxes of the Cyrillo-Methodian Mission’, Slavic Review, XXIII (1964), 220–36
F. Dvornik, Byzantine Missions Among the Slavs (New Brunswick, N.J., 1970)
J.-M, Sansterre, ‘Les missionaires latins, grecs et orientaux en Bulgarie dans la seconde moitié du ixe siècle’, Byz, LII (1982), 375–88
and D. Obolensky, Six Byzantine Portraits (Oxford, 1988) which contains relevant studies of Clement of Ohrid and Theophylact of Ohrid.
For Symeon’s reign Nicholas I’s Letters are essential, as is the material in the De Administrando Imperio. The emperor Romanos I Lekapenos’ letters are available in Théodore Daphnopatès, Correspondance, ed. J. Darrouzès and L. G. Westerink (Paris,, 1978). See also for its translated text R.J.H. Jenkins, ‘The Peace with Bulgaria (927) Celebrated by Theodore Daphnopates’, in Polychronion. Festschrift F. Dölger (Heidelberg, 1966), pp. 287–303
the commentary should be treated with caution. The secondary literature for tenth-century Bulgaria tends to be rather disappointing, but there are useful items, for example, I. Božilov, ‘L’idéologie politique du tsar Symeon: Pax Symeonica’, Byzantino-Bulgarica, VIII (1986), 73–88
and J. V. A. Fine, ‘A Fresh Look at Bulgaria Under Tsar Peter I (927–69)’, Byzantine Studies/Études byzantines, V (1978), 88–95 — the latter countering the widespread view of Bulgaria after 927 as a war-weary state wracked by social upheaval and Magyar raids.
A. W. Epstein, ‘Middle Byzantine Churches of Kastoria’, The Art Bulletin, LVII (1980), 190–207, is also important for its picture of a thriving church-building community under Bulgar rule.
Cosmas le prêtre, Le traité contre les Bogomiles, tr. H.-C. Puech and A. Vaillant (Paris, 1945), is a fundamental text for the history of Balkan dualism which also gives considerable incidental information on contemporary Bulgar culture. The translation includes a valuable introduction, but against Puech and Vaillant’s widely accepted case for a late tenth-century date see M. Dando, ‘Peut on avancer de 240 ans la date de composition du traité de Cosmas le Prêtre contre les Bogomiles?’, Cahiers d’études Cathares, 2nd ser., c (1983), 3–25; ibid., CI (1984), 3–21, who argues persuasively for the early thirteenth. D. Obolensky, The Bogomils (Cambridge, 1948) remains important.
The Western Provinces
For the gradual divorce of Italy and the papacy from Byzantium and the emperor the key text is the Liber Pontificalis, translated for the seventh and eighth centuries as The Book of the Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis), tr. R. Davis (Translated Texts for Historians v, Liverpool, 1989), and The Lives of the Eighth Century Popes (Liber Pontificalis), tr. R. Davis (Translated Texts for Historians XIII, 1992). The best commentaries are Herrin, The Formation of Christendom; T. Brown, Gentlemen and Officers
T. F. X. Noble, The Republic of St Peter: The Birth of the Papal State, 680–825 (Philadelphia, Pa., 1984); together with Davis’ own to his translation of the eighth-century papal lives
For the loss of Sicily see J. Johns, Early Medieval Sicily: Continuity and Change from the Vandals to Frederick II, 450–1250 (forthcoming in this same series); and A. A. Vasiliev, Byzance et les Arabes I. La dynastie dAmorium (820–867), French edn, H. Grégoire and M. Canard (Brussels, 1985), which apart from a fully referenced narrative, also contains an important collection of Arabic texts in French translation. G. Musca, L’emirato di Bari 847–871, 2nd edn (Bari, 1967) is a valuable study of the Muslims in southern Italy, and of the Lombard, Frankish and Byzantine response.
The return of Byzantium to the south is best approached via B. Kreutz, Before the Normans (Philadelphia, Pa., 1991), an excellent survey focused on the Lombards which helps to put Byzantine actions in context. Chapter five in Epstein, Art of Empire can also serve as an introduction.
For a detailed narrative and analysis see J. Gay, L’Italie méridionale et l’empire byzantin (Paris, 1904).
Gay’s monumental work is a classic of French historical scholarship which still retains its value. Since Gay southern Italy has continued to inspire some astute historical studies, including V. von Falkenhausen, Unter-suchungen über die byzantinische Herrschaft in Suditalien von 9. bis ins 11. Jahrhundert (Wiesbaden, 1967) — also available in a partially revised Italian translation as La dominazione bizantina nell’Italia meridionale dal IX all’XI secolo (Bari, 1978): in either version the best guide to Byzantium in the south; / Bizantini in Italia, ed. G. Cavallo et al. (Milan, 1982)
J.-M. Martin, La Pouille du vï au xiï siècle (Collection de l’École française de Rome clxxix, Rome, 1993) — a monumental but very readable study, among whose merits is that of placing Apulia in context as both a Byzantine province and a part of western Europe
von Falkenhausen, ‘A Provincial Aristocracy: The Byzantine Provinces in Southern Italy (9th–1 Ith Century)’, in Byzantine Aristocracy, ed. Angold, pp. 211–35; J. Shepard, ‘Aspects of Byzantine Attitudes and Policy towards the West in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries’, in Byzantium and the West c. 850–c. 1200, ed. J. D. Howard-Johnston (Proceedings of the 18th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Amsterdam, 1988), pp. 67–94 — an important paper, the first half of which emphasises the frailty of Byzantine administration in southern Italy and the generally marginal place of the West in tenth-century imperial thinking.
A. Guillou, ‘Production and Profits in the Byzantine Province of Italy (Tenth to Eleventh Centuries)’, DOP, XXVIII (1974), 91–109, is interesting and well worth reading, but its conclusions of great wealth from silk are hard to accept.
Of more importance as evidence with which to explore the world of the Byzantine south is the archaeological work, especially of J.-M. Martin and G. Noyé. See, for example, Martin and Noyé, ‘Les villes de l’Italie byzantine (ixe–xie siècle)’, in Hommes et richesses, II, pp. 27–62; Martin and Noyé, ‘Guerre, fortification et habitats and Italie méridionale du ve au xe siécle’, Castrum III (1988), 225–36; Noyé, ‘La Calabrie et la frontière, vie–xe siècles’, Castrum, IV (1992), 227–308 — each of these has a full bibliography. Also interesting is the section on Italy in A. J. Wharton, Art of Empire: Painting and Architecture of the Byzantine Periphery (University Park, Pa., 1988).
Specifically on the tensions between Byzantine and the West provoked by the growing power of the Ottonians in the tenth century Liudprand of Cremona is an important and readable source. An English translation, The Works of Liudprand of Cremona, tr. F. A. Wright (London, 1930), has been reissued as part of Everyman’s Library (London, 1992). A better translation with text and commentary of the ‘Embassy of Constantinople’ is published as Liudprand of Cremona, Relatio de legatione Constantinopolitana, ed. B. Scott (Bristol, 1993). For discussion see K. Leyser ‘The Tenth-century in Byzantine Western Relationships’, in The Relations between East and West in the Middle Ages, ed. D. Baker (Edinburgh, 1973), pp. 29–63; Leyser ‘Ends and Means in Liudprand of Cremona’, in Byzantium and the West c. 850–c. 1200, ed. Howard-Johnston, pp. 119–43
C. M. F. Schummer, ‘Liudprand of Cremona — a Diplomat?’ in Byzantine Diplomacy, ed. Shepard and Franklin, pp. 197–201. Byzantine-Ottonian relations are also the subject of K. Leyser, ‘Theophanu Divina Gratia Imperatrix Augusta: Western and Eastern Emperorship in the Later Tenth Century’, in Leyser, Communications and Power in Medieval Europe: the Carolingian and Ottoman Centuries, ed. T. Reuter (London, 1994), pp. 143–64.
Copyright information
© 1996 Mark Whittow
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Whittow, M. (1996). The Byzantine Empire and its Non-Muslim Neighbours, c.600–c.950. In: The Making of Orthodox Byzantium, 600–1025. New Studies in Medieval History. Red Globe Press, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24765-3_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24765-3_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Red Globe Press, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-49601-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-24765-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)