ARABIC HISTORIANS AND GEOGRAPHERS OF IX AND X CENTURIES ON BYZANTINE MILITARY LANDHOLDING: PROBLEMS OF INTERPRETATION
Keywords:
military landholding, stratiōtai, hagiography, аl-Tabari, Ibn Hawqal, tourmarchoiAbstract
All the scholars, who turned to the problem of Byzantine military landholding of the 9th–10th centuries, constantly considered only the evidence of the Greek sources, such as the lives of saints and the laws of the emperors from the Macedonian dynasty. Those sources permit to demonstrate only one aspect of problem that is the landholding of ordinary soldiers (stratiōtai). The data of hagiography and official legislation clearly show that the stratiōtai did not receive any lands from the State, and their lands represented a family property inherited from parents. On the ground of hagiography and legislation, the scholars of Byzantium rejected the existence of military service landholding, that assumes that the warriors received land from the State in return for their service and on condition of military service. Nevertheless, many oriental sources, and first of all the Arabic authors, saved valuable evidence on internal social-administrative and military organization of the Byzantine Empire. The author turned to the Arabic historian al-Tabari (839–923) and the Arabic geographer Ibn Hawqal (the second half of the 10th century), compared those data with the Greek sources (“The Life of Euthymius the Younger” and “The Life of Maria the Younger”) and made the conclusion that the landholding of the command structure – the officers holding the rank of tourmarchos – was radically different from the landholding of ordinary soldiers. The author considers the reasons of such a difference and notes that the evidences of the Arabic authors demonstrate the existence of a new aspect in the Byzantine military landholding.References
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References
Bosworth C.E. al-Tabari // The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Leiden, 2000. Vol. 10. P. 11–15.
Delehaye H., Peeters P. (eds.). Acta Sanctorum. Novembris, 4. Bruxelles, 1925.
Górecki D. Constantine VII’s Peri ton stratioton // GRBS. 2009. Vol. 48. P. 135–154.
Górecki D. The Strateia of Constantine VII: the legal Status, Administration and Historical Background // BZ. 1989. Bd. 82. P. 157–176.
Grigoriou-Ioannidou M. Les biens militaires et le recrutement en Byzance // Byzantiaka. 1992. Vol. 12. P. 215–226.
Haldon J. Recruitment and Conscription in the Byzantine army c. 550–950. A Study on the origins of the stratiotika ktemata. Wien, 1979.
Hild F., Restle M. Kappadokien (Kappadokia, Charsianon, Sebasteia und Lykandon). Wien, 1981 (TIB 2).
Honigmann E. Die Ostgrenze des Byzantinischen Reiches von 363 bis 1071 nach griechischen, arabischen, syrischen und armenischen Quellen. Bruxelles, 1935.
J.H. Kramers, G. Wiet (tr.). Ibn Hauqal. Configuration de la terre (Kitab surat al-Ard). Paris; Beyrouth, 1964. Vol. I.
Kaplan M. La place des soldats dans la société villageoise byzantine (VIIe –Xe siècles) // Le combattant au Moyen Âge: (18e Congrès de la) Société des historiens médiévistes de l'enseignement supérieur public (Montpellier, 1987). Paris, 1995. P. 45–55.
Kazhdan A.P. (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Washington DC, 1991. Vol. 1–3.
Lemerle P. The Agrarian History of Byzantium from the Origins to the Twelfth Century. Galway, 1979.
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Magdalino P. The Byzantine Army and the Land: from stratiokon ktema to military pronoia. // N. Oikonomidès (ed.). Byzantium at War (9th–12th c.). Athens, 1997. P. 15–36.
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Miquel A. Ibn Hawkal. // The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Leiden; London, 1986. Vol. 3. P. 786–788.
Oikonomidès N. Les Listes de Préséance Byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles. Paris, 1972.
Oikonomidès N. Middle-Byzantine provincial recruits: a salary and armament // J. Duffy, J. Peradotto (eds.). Gonimos. Neoplatonic and Byzantine Studies Presented to Leendert G. Westerlink at 75. Buffalo; New York, 1988. P. 121–136.
Petit L. Vie et office de saint Euthyme le Jeune // Revue de l’Orient Chrétien. 1903. Vol. 8. P. 155–206, 503–536.
Ph.M. Fields (tr.). The History of al-Tabari. An Annotated Translation. Vol. 37: The Abbasid Recovery.
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Vasiliev A.A. Byzance et les Arabes / Grégoire H. et Canard M. (tr.). Vol. I: La Dynastie d’Amorium. Bruxelles, 1935.
Vasiliev A.A. Byzance et les Arabes. / Canard M. (tr.). Vol. 2. La dynastie Macédonienne (867–959). Pt. 2. Extraits des sources arabes. Bruxelles, 1950.
Petit L. (ed.). Vie et office de saint Euthyme le Jeune / Texte grec publié par L. Petit. Paris, 1904.
