Abstract
Parnell considers the larger relationship between army and society in the sixth century by examining the public perception of the Byzantine army as an institution and of army officers individually. Recognizing that Byzantine society was not monolithic and that there was no single ‘public’ opinion of the army, Parnell addresses the perceptions of average civilians, elite civilians, and military men separately. Evidence suggests that the significance and popularity of the army varied wildly depending on whom it affected. Most military men seem to have been satisfied with the way the army functioned, most elite civilians seem to have been critical of its operation and particularly its cost, and many average civilians seem to have had reason to fear the excesses of soldiers.
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Notes
- 1.
See Chap. 2, ‘Recruitment in the Sixth-Century Army.’
- 2.
Treadgold 1995, 149–154, 203.
- 3.
Whitby 1989, 68, 78.
- 4.
See Chap. 7, ‘Negative Descriptions of Individual Soldiers.’
- 5.
The naming of the deserter Indulf is a rare exception (Procopius Wars 7.35.23).
- 6.
Procopius Wars 5.17.17.
- 7.
Procopius Wars 7.18.26–28.
- 8.
Eleven instances of Roman soldiers deserting to the Ostrogoths: Procopius Wars 5.17.17, 6.26.3–7, 7.12.13–16, 7.12.19–20, 7.15.7, 7.18.26–28, 7.20.4–7, 7.23.1–7, 7.35.23, 8.31.11–16, 8.33.10. See Chap. 7, ‘Negative Descriptions of Individual Soldiers,’ for discussion of some of these examples.
- 9.
Procopius Wars 2.7.37. Compare a similar episode in 7.36.7–29.
- 10.
Procopius Wars 7.12.13–16, Procopius Secret History 5.5–6.
- 11.
Procopius Wars 6.21.27–42.
- 12.
Procopius Wars 7.15.7.
- 13.
Procopius Wars 7.20.4–7.
- 14.
On siege warfare in this period, see Whitby 2013.
- 15.
Treadgold 1995, 16; Rance 2007, 374; Kaegi 1981, 41–63; Compare Whitby 2000b, 306–7.
- 16.
Complaints about late pay: Procopius Wars 2.7.37 and 7.36.7–29. Belisarius’ requests: Procopius Wars 5.24.1–17 and 7.12.3–10.
- 17.
Procopius Wars 8.26.5–6.
- 18.
Procopius Wars 8.26.6.
- 19.
See Chap. 7 for a brief introduction to these mutinies as well as examination of more minor mutinies.
- 20.
Procopius Wars 4.14.7–21. On the link between Arianism and non-Roman identity, see Chap. 3, ‘The Distinction between Romans and Barbarians.’
- 21.
Procopius Wars 4.15.55, translated by Dewing 1914, 2:353.
- 22.
Procopius Wars 4.16.3 and see Treadgold 1995, 63.
- 23.
Procopius Wars 4.16.4–7.
- 24.
Procopius Wars 4.17.24–35, 4.27.7–9.
- 25.
Procopius Wars 4.27.8.
- 26.
Theophylact History 3.1.9, translated by Whitby and Whitby 1986, 73.
- 27.
Theophylact History 3.5.10.
- 28.
Theophylact History 8.6.2–7.7.
- 29.
Theophylact History 8.9.7.
- 30.
Fear 2007, 427–37.
- 31.
Fear 2007, 427.
- 32.
Bagnall 1993, 174. Compare Lee 2007a, 173.
- 33.
On the experiences of civilians in war, see Fan Chiang 2015.
- 34.
Lee 2007a, 138–141.
- 35.
Procopius Wars 2.9.14.
- 36.
Procopius Wars 2.14.1–4. Fan Chiang 2015 argues that many captured civilians probably died en route to their new home (161–4).
- 37.
Gregory Epistle 5.36.
- 38.
Lee 2007a, 141–5, Fan Chiang 2015, 115–20. See also Ps.-Joshua Stylites Chronicle 86.
- 39.
Procopius Wars 7.20.29–31. See 7.6.4 for a similar incident. See also Whately, ‘Women and Warfare in the Age of Justinian’ (forthcoming).
- 40.
Lee 2007a, 167–9, MacMullen 1963, 77–80, Fear 2007, 437.
- 41.
Lee 2007a, 165, Fear 2007, 437.
- 42.
Procopius Wars 3.21.10.
- 43.
Ps.-Joshua Stylites Chronicle 86, translated by Trombley and Watt. See also Fear 2007, 439.
- 44.
Fear 2007, 438.
- 45.
Procopius Wars 1.9.7.
- 46.
Evagrius Ecclesiastical History 5.8.
- 47.
For discussion of the possibilities, see Evagrius Ecclesiastical History, translated by Whitby 2000, 265 n. 31.
- 48.
Life of Theodore of Sykeon 147, translated by Dawes and Baynes 1977, 184.
- 49.
Compare Fear 2007, 441–2.
- 50.
Joh. Mal. 18.71, Procopius Wars 1.24. See also Greatrex 1997, 79.
- 51.
Joh. Mal. 18.99.
- 52.
Chron. Pasch. 623.
- 53.
See Greatrex 1997, 85–6.
- 54.
Joh. Mal. 16.6.
- 55.
Joh. Mal. 16.6.
- 56.
Zachariah of Mitylene Chronicle 4.1–2.
- 57.
Ps.-Joshua Stylites Chronicle 43.
- 58.
Ps.-Joshua Stylites Chronicle 96.
- 59.
Procopius Wars 3.21.9–10.
- 60.
For example, see Procopius Wars 5.10.28–33 and Theophylact History 2.2.5. For more, see Chap. 7.
- 61.
Lee 2007a, 164.
- 62.
Lee 2007a approached this question by examining letters sent between elite civilians and important military officers (153–163).
- 63.
See Whately 2013, 50 on defining terms such as ‘elite.’
- 64.
Barnish, Lee, and Whitby 2000, 199–200.
- 65.
Whately 2013 suggests that ‘a sizeable portion’ of the elite had an interest in the military (52) while Scott 2012 argues that ‘local potentates’ and Justinian himself were more interested in struggles for power within the empire than wars abroad (18–20). On the popularity of Procopius’ works, see Procopius Wars 8.1.1 and Treadgold 2007, 189.
- 66.
Stewart 2016b, 36–40.
- 67.
Procopius Wars 7.3.6–17, 5.29.20–21.
- 68.
Procopius Wars 4.20.19.
- 69.
Procopius Wars 4.4.29–31.
- 70.
Procopius Wars 2.3.26.
- 71.
Procopius Wars 7.11.18.
- 72.
Procopius Wars 8.11.39–53, 8.12.30–35.
- 73.
Theophylact History 1.13.2.
- 74.
Agathias Histories 2.9.1, 1.16.1.
- 75.
Procopius Secret History 1.15–30 and see Chap. 6, ‘Wives and Children of Justinian’s Men.’
- 76.
Procopius Secret History 5.28–32 and see Stewart 2016a on gendered vocabulary used of eunuchs in this period.
- 77.
Greatrex argued that both the Wars and the Secret History contained invective and that the only reason that the Secret History had to be published separately was because the emperor Justinian was still alive, not because it had material inappropriate for a history such as the Wars. See Greatrex 1998b, 216–219.
- 78.
Procopius Wars 6.21.13–16 and see Chap. 5, ‘Belisarius and Narses in Italy, 538–539.’
- 79.
Procopius Wars 7.17.9–25.
- 80.
Procopius Wars 3.20.22–25.
- 81.
Procopius Wars 4.26.16.
- 82.
Procopius Wars 1.24.11–16. John Lydus joined Procopius in his hatred of John the Cappadocian (Lydus On Magistracies 2.20, 3.57).
- 83.
Agathias Histories 3.4.1–7, 4.4.1.
- 84.
Evagrius Ecclesiastical History 5.9.
- 85.
Chron. Pasch. 625.
- 86.
John of Nikiu 97.1–9.
- 87.
On Procopius’ predilection for didacticism, see Whately 2015.
- 88.
Procopius Wars 7.1.22–24, translated by Dewing 1914, 4:157–9.
- 89.
Procopius Wars 8.26.7.
- 90.
Procopius Wars 8.13.14 and Chap. 4, ‘Review: Keeping a Position.’
- 91.
Procopius Secret History 18.11.
- 92.
Procopius Secret History 8.22–33.
- 93.
Agathias Histories 5.14.2.
- 94.
Fear 2007, 445–6 and Lee 2007b, 402.
- 95.
Agathias Histories 5.13.7–8 and see the discussion on army size in Chap. 2, ‘Size and Units.’
- 96.
Procopius Secret History 26.23–4.
- 97.
Procopius Wars 1.1.12–14 and see Rance 2007, 355.
- 98.
Procopius Wars 1.1.16–17.
- 99.
Agathias Histories 2.9.12–13, translated by Frendo 1975, 42.
- 100.
Börm 2013, 80–2.
- 101.
See Chap. 2, ‘Basic Divisions’.
- 102.
Treadgold 1997, 220–34.
- 103.
The loss of Dara to the Persians in 573 is an exception to the rule of the army’s mostly successful defense of the eastern frontier, but the loss was not as catastrophic as the emperor Justin II’s response made it seem. See Treadgold 1997, 222–3.
- 104.
Procopius Wars 8.11–15.
- 105.
See Chap. 2, ‘Recruitment in the Sixth-Century Army.’
- 106.
Procopius Wars 7.12.3–10.
- 107.
The general Martin, for example, served in Mesopotamia in 531, in North Africa, 533–536, in Italy, 536–540, again in Mesopotamia, 543–544, and ended his career in the Caucasus, 551–556. See PLRE 3: Martinus 2.
- 108.
See Chap. 4, ‘Moving on: Promotion, Transfer or Dismissal.’
- 109.
The closest that the army came to trying to replace civilian government probably was in 542, when Belisarius and Buzes plotted to enthrone an emperor with a military background if Justinian died. See Procopius Secret History 4.1–5 and Chap. 4, ‘Review: Keeping a Position.’ On the supremacy of the civil government over the army, see Börm 2013, 75–80.
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Parnell, D.A. (2017). Public Perception of the Army. In: Justinian's Men. New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56204-3_8
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