Abstract
In the Summer of 860 Umar, the emir of Melitene (known to Arabs and modern Turks as Malatya) and his ally Karbeas, the leader of the Paulician sect who controlled the territory around Tephrike on the Upper Euphrates, raided deep into Byzantine Anatolia. He returned with over 12,000 head of livestock. The attacks were followed up by raids from Tarsos and from the Syrian frontier districts which netted over 15,000 horses, cattle, donkeys and sheep, as well as an unknown number of prisoners. Finally a seaborne raid from the Syrian ports sacked the important Byzantine naval base at Attaleia (modern Antalya) on the south coast of Asia Minor. 860 was exceptionally dreadful for the inhabitants of Byzantine Anatolia, but the raiding forces which struck the plateau in that year are representative of all that had gone wrong for the Byzantine empire on its eastern borders since the seventh century.1
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Bibliography
The essential guide is A. A. Vasiliev, Byzance et les Arabes II. La dynastie Macédonienne (867–959). 1: Les relations politiques de Byzance et des Arabes à Vepoque de la dynastie Macédonienne (première période 867–959), French edn. M. Canard (Brussels, 1968)
2: Extraits des sources Arabes, French edn, H. Grégoire and M. Canard (Brussels, 1960).
In some respects it is looking a little dated, but overall it is clear, well-documented, and the collection of translated Arabic source material is extremely useful. Comparatively few Arabic texts are available in English translation. The History of al-Tabarī, ed. Abbas et al. stops in 915, and Ibn Miskawayh, Tadiārib al-umam, ed. and tr. H. F. Amedroz and D. S. Margoliouth, The Eclipse of the Abbasid Caliphate, 7 vols (Oxford, 1920–1), vols 1–3 text, vols 4–6 translation, is rarely very interested in the Byzantines. With some important exceptions most of the relevant material in Ibn Miskawayh is shared with other sources, principally Ibn al-Athīr, who gives a fuller version.
On the Paulicians and the reign of Basil I the chronology and conclusions of Byzance et les Arabes have been overturned by P. Lemerle, ‘L’histoire des Pauliciens d’Asie Mineure d’aprés les sources grecques’, TM, V (1973), 1–144.
See also the important collection of texts for the history of the Paulicians in Ch. Astruc et al., ‘Les sources grecques pour l’histoire des Pauliciens d’Asie Mineure’, TM, IV (1970), 1–227.
I find the argument of N. G. Garsoïan, The Paulician Heresy (The Hague, 1970), that the Paulicians were not dualists, unconvincing.
For the eastern frontier and Armenian borderlands after the Paulicians the DAI, cc. 43–6, 50, is fundamental evidence. For an examination of all the sources for Mleh’s career, including the DAI, see G. Dédéyan, ‘Mleh le grand, stratège de Lykandos’, REArm, XV (1981), 73–102.
The ‘Story of the Image of Edessa’, attributed to Constantine Porphyrogenitos, is translated in I. Wilson, The Turin Shroud (Harmondsworth, 1978), pp. 313–31 — the conclusions of the book as a whole are wrong: see
A. Cameron, ‘The History of the Image of Edessa: The Telling of a Story’, HUS, VII (1983), 80–94.
For Byzantine relations with the Hamdanids, and for guidance to events after 959 see M. Canard, Histoire de la dynastie des H’amdanides de Jazīra et de Syrie (Algiers, 1951)1
and R.J. Bikhazi, ‘The Hamdanid Dynasty of Mesopotamia and North Syria 254–404/868–1014’ (University of Michigan Ph.D. thesis, 1981) who revises Canard’s conclusions in several important respects.
E. Honigmann, Die Ostgrenze des byzantinischen Reiches von 363–1071 (Brussels, 1935) also covers the period after 959.
One of the key sources for these years, particularly for Byzantine relations with Aleppo, is the Arabic history of Yahyā b. Sa’īd which as far as the year AD 1013 is edited with a French translation in PO, XVIII. 5 (1924), 705–833; and XXIII. 3 (1932), 349–520. J. Forsyth, ‘The Byzantine-Arab Chronicle (938–1034) of Yahyā b. Sa’īd al-Antākī’, 2 vols (University of Michigan Ph.D. thesis, 1977) is not only the essential discussion of the text but also an important analysis of tenth-century history.
The treaty which turned Aleppo into a Byzantine client is translated and discussed in W. Farag, The Truce of Safar A. H. 359 December–January 969–70 (Birmingham, 1977).
On John Tzimiskes’ eastern campaigns see M. Canard, ‘La Date des expéditions Mésopotamiennes de Jean Tzimiscès’, Mélanges Henri Gregoire, 4 vols (Brussels, 1949–53) [= Annuaire de l’institut de philologie et d’histoire orientales et slaves IX (1949)–xii (1952)] II, pp. 99–108
P. E. Walker, ‘The “Crusade” of John Tzimiskes in the Light of New Arabic Evidence’, Byz, XLVII (1977), 301–27.
The letter to Ašot is translated in The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa, tr. A. E. Dostourian (Rutgers University Ph.D. thesis, 1972) — now published as A. E. Dostourian, Armenia and the Crusades, 10th to 12th Centuries: The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa (Lanham, Md. 1993).
The best introduction to developments in the Islamic world is Kennedy, The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphate. For the role of the Turks see C. Bosworth, ‘Barbarian Incursions: The Coming of the Turks into the Islamic World’, in Islamic Civilisation 950–1150, ed. D. S. Richards (Oxford, 1973), pp. 1–16
P. Crone, Slaves on Horses (Cambridge, 1980); and the article ‘Ghulām’ in EI/2.
On the Hamdānids see Canard and Bikhazi above. On the Fātimid intervention in Syria see T. Bianquis, Damas et la Syrie sous la domination Fatimide, 2 vols (Paris, 1986–9).
On Byzantine relations with the Christian populations of the newly-conquered eastern territories, G. Dagron, ‘Minorités ethniques et religieuses dans l’orient byzantin à la fin du xe et au xie siécle: l’immigration Syrienne’, TM, VI (1976), 177–87, is particularly helpful.
For military and administrative reorganisation as essential text is the Escorial Taktikon edited by N. Oikonomidès, whose commentary in Les listes de preséance is of prime importance, and is also a good starting point. A fuller discussion is found in H. Ahrweiler, ‘Recherches sur 1’administration de l’empire byzantin aux ixe–xi siècles’, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, LXXXIV (1960), 1–111, which still remains the standard work.
Specially on the eastern frontier is Oikonomidès, ‘L’organisation de la frontière orientale de Byzance aux xe–xie siècles et le taktikon de l’Escorial’, Actes du XIVe Congrès International des ètudes byzantines (Bucharest, 1974), pp. 285–302
the same paper is also found in Oikonomidés’ collected papers: Documents et études sur les institutions de Byzance (viie–xve) (London, 1974), nr XXIV.
On the tagmata there is a useful survey in H.-J. Kühn, Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Vienna, 1991).
For comparison with the tactics described in ‘On Skirmishing Warfare’ see E. McGeer, ‘The Syntaxis armatorum quadrata: A Tenth-century Tactical Blueprint’, REB, L (1992), 219–29
the ‘De re militari’, translated as ‘Campaign Organisation and Tactics’ in Three Byzantine Military Treatises, ed. and tr. G. T. Dennis, pp. 246–35; and J.-A. de Foucault, ‘Douze chapitres inédits de la factique dc Nicéphore Ouranos’, TM V (1973), 281–311.
The important treatise attributed to Nikephoros II Phokas and commonly known by its Latin title as the Praecepta militaria is due to appear in the near future in a new edition by E. McGeer, McGeer is also the author of a useful analysis of one aspect of the tactical innovations of the tenth century: ‘Infantry Versus Cavalry: The Byzantine Response’, REB, XI.VI (1988), 135–45.
Both the commentary in Le traité sur la guérilla de l’empereur Nicéphore Phocas, ed. Dagron, Mihăescu, and Dagron, ‘Byzance et le modèle islamique au xe à propos des Constitutions Tactiques de l’empereur Léon VI’, Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettes. Comptes rendus (1983), 219–43, are important and lively analyses of the changing Byzantine response to the Arabs.
Among the studies on Byzantine internal politics in this period the edition with English translation and commentary of the Vita Euthymii Patriarchae CP., ed. and tr. P. Karlin-Hayter (Brussels, 1970); R. Morris, ‘The Two Faces of Nikephoros Phokas’, BMGS, XII (1988), 83–115
and Morris, ‘Succession and Usurpation: Politics and Rhetoric in the Late Tenth Century’, in New Constantines: The Rhythm of Imperial Renewal in Byzantium, 4th—13th Centuries (Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, Publication II, Aldershot, 1994), pp. 199–214, stand out.
The land legislation is covered in Lemerle, Agrarian History of Byzantium; Kaplan, Les hommes et la terre à Byzance; A. Harvey, Economic Expansion in the Byzantine Empire, 900–1200 (Cambridge, 1989)
and R. Morris, ‘The Powerful and the Poor in Tenth-century Byzantium’, Past and Present, LXXIII (1976), 3–27 — the latter is especially clear and useful.
Although the military families and their new role in tenth-century politics is touched upon in almost every work on the period, only recently has a general analysis of the phenomenon appeared. J.-C. Cheynet, Pouvoir et contestations à Byzance (963–1210) (Paris, 1990) can be highly recommended, but as the title indicates it does not cover either the ninth or tenth century.
The Byzantine Aristocracy, IX–XIII Centuries, ed. M. Angold (BAR, Int. Ser. CCXXI, Oxford, 1984) is an excellent collection of papers, among which E. Patlagean on names, P. Magdalino on the aristocratic ‘house’ in its various senses, and R. Morris on monasteries may be especially helpful.
Studies on specific families include: J.-C, Cheynet, ‘Les Phocas’, in Le traité sur la guérilla de l’empereur Nicéphore Phocas, ed. Dagron and Mihăescu, pp. 289–315; D. I. Polemis, The Doukai (London, 1969)
J.-F. Vannier, Families byzantines: Les Argyroi (ixe-–xiie siècles) (Paris, 1975)
W. Seibt, Die Skleroi (Vienna, 1976)
J.-C. Cheynet and J.-F, Vannier, Études prosopographiques (Paris, 1986) — on the Bourtzes, Brachamios and Dalassenos families.
Studies of specific regions are less common, with the exception of Cappadocia where the painted rock-cut churches have long attracted attention. The greater part of the huge bibliography is concerned with fairly narrow art-historical issues, but the paintings and churches have also been used to explore the Byzantine world in a more general sense. For example see Wharton, .Art oj Empire— the best starting point; A. W. Epstein, Tokah hilise: Tenth-century Metropolitan Art in Byzantine Cappadoria (Washington, D.C., 1986)
N. Thierry, ‘Les enseignements historiques de l’Archéologie cappadocienne’, TM, VIII (1981), 501–19
Thierry, Haut Moyen Âge en Cappadoce. Les églises de le région de Çavuşin, I (Paris, 1983)
Thierry, ‘Un portrait de Jean Tzimiskés en Cappadoce’, TM, IX (1985), 477–84
L. Rodley, ‘The Pigeon House Church, Çavusin’, Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik, XXXIII (1983), 301–39
and Rodley, Cave Monasteries oj Byzantine Cappadoria (Cambridge, 1985).
There is also a useful collection of papers which together amount to a regional study of Byzantine Cappadocia: Le wee omogenee della Civilià fin pestre nell’ambito dell’Impero Bizantno la Cappadocia, ed. C. D. Fonseca (Atti del Quinto Convegno Infernazionale di Studio sulla Civiltà Rupestre Mediovale nel Mezzogiorno d’Italia, Galatina, 1981): particularly important are the papers by Dedeyan on Armenians in Cappadocia, and by Kaplan on great estates.
Note also the important discussion of tenth-centurv Hellas (central Greece) by C. L. Connor, who has linked the evidence of the wall-paintings in the crypt of Hosios Loukas to that provided by the saint’s life: C. L. Connor, Art and Miracles in Medieval Byzantium (Princeton, N.J., 1991); The Life and Mira cles of St Luke, ed. and tr. C. L. and W. R. Connor (Brookline, Mass., 199 4).
The growing prosperity of lenth-centurv Bvzantium is obvious enough, almost wherever you look, but the lack ol archaeological research leaves its nature and causes obscure. Kaplan, Les homines el la lerre à Byzance, and Harvey, Lconomic Expansion in the Byzantine Empire, 900–1200, are both important, but largely limited to the written materials, and perhaps unduly gloomy about the strengths of the Byzantine rural economy. On cities see Foss’ studies of Ephesos and Sardis listed under chapter four above, together with M. Angold, ‘The Shaping of the Medieval Byzantine City’, Byzantinisrhe Eorschnngen, (1985), 1–37.
There is also a valuable collection of papers published as Hommes et richesses dans l’empire hyzantin II, viiie–xve Siècle, ed. V. Kravari, J. Lefort and C. Morrison (Paris, 1991).
The papers by Lefort are particularly interesting. Combining the documentary material horn Mount Alhos with field work in south-eastern Macedonia, Lefort has been able to give a comparatively detailed picture of rural development through the middle ages. Another useful study by Lefort on the same theme is ‘Radolibos: population et paysage’, TM, IX (1985), 195–234; his current work in north-western Turkey (Bithynia) promises to be of similar interest. Nautical archaeology also holds out the prospect of important new evidence. See the preliminary reports on the Serçe Liman wreck: G. F. Bass and F. H. van Doorninck, Jr, ‘An 11th century Shipwreck at Serçe Liman, Turkey’, International Journal oj Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration, VII (1978), 119–32
Bass, ‘Glass Treasure from the Aegean’, National Geographic, CLIII/6 (June 1978), 768–93
Bass, ‘A Medieval Islamic Merchant Venture’, Archaeological News, VII/2–3 (1979), 84–94.
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© 1996 Mark Whittow
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Whittow, M. (1996). The Age of Reconquest, 863–976. 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_9
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