The Slavic onslaught on the Ister and the Balkans under Justin I and Justinian I
DedovAlexanderSergeevich
студент, Белгородский государственный национальный исследовательский университет, РФ, г. Белгород
МарковАлександрВладимирович
scientificsupervisor,
seniorlecturer, Belgorod State National
Research University, RF, Belgorod
Славянский натиск на Истр и Балканы при Юстине I и Юстиниане I
Дедов Александр Сергеевич
студент, Белгородский государственный национальный исследовательский университет, РФ, г. Белгород
Марков Александр Владимирович
научный руководитель,
ст. пр., Белгородский государственный национальный исследовательский университет, РФ, г. Белгород
The question of Slavic emigration to the Eastern Roman Empire has a significant importance in the history of this state. The Slavic tribes, who did not yet have a clear political organization, were the raw materials that the empire needed to maintain its position as a world power. At the same time, as the famous Byzantine historian F.I. Uspensky pointed out in his three-volume work, the beginning of Slavic history is hiddenin the history of Byzantium. As a consequence, the theme we raised again is relevant to modern Russia, which is part of the Greco-Slavic world.
The Slavic emigration itself as a phenomenon of world history began to manifest itself quite noticeably from the period of the reign of Emperor Justinian I.
Exactly at the time of histurbulent reign in the East (the earthquake in Antioch and the war against Persia) that we can find signs of the presence of the Slavs, who by the end of the 6th century already controlled quite a large part of the Balkan Peninsula.As a result of the very origin of Justin, there even appeared in the XIX and early XX centuries the version that he was a Slav, as he came from an ordinary peasant (presumably, Northern Macedonia), which at that time was already inhabited by a Slavic element. Meanwhile, this version must be considered dubious. F.I. Uspensky, a Byzantine scholar, earlier mentioned, described this version about Justinian's nephew Justinian I in the following way: "Since Justinian totally belongs to the Roman world by culture and ideals in his state activity, we find the question whether Slavic blood ran in his veins idle in all respects".
Nevertheless, the Slavs in this period of time began to actively flood the European part of the empire, resorting to both peaceful and militant colonization of the territory. In the Byzantine written sources of that time, the Slavs had already begun to appear under their own name. Thus, if before they could often be attributed to other ethnographic elements (Huns, Goths and so on), from that moment they already clearly had their own characteristics in the eyes of the Byzantines. Such a clear distinction also testifies to the considerable number of Slavs in the European part of the empire.
If even earlier individual Slavic teams and groups of Slavic settlers could pass into the limits of the empire, from the time of Justin and especially Justinian they already began to make organized raids on the Byzantine Balkans.The Slavs themselves were portrayed in Byzantine written sources as horrible barbarians whose cruelty had no limits. At the same time, it is interesting that such barbarians, possessing not such a large number (a detachment of only three thousand people), could also take fortresses (by stealth and even by siege) in the years 550-551, if we believe the information of Procopius of Caesarea.
As he reports, the Slavs violently broke through the river Ister, defeated the detachment of Asbad, took some fortresses, including the seaside town of Toper on the river Nestos (Mesta) in Southern Macedonia, and returned beyond the Ister, turning many Romans into slaves.
Later, according to Procopius, Slavs have made new attack purposefully on Thessaloniki in 551, having collected an army such quantity, which did not collect ever before. However they did not manage to reach Thessaloniki, because they have learned from Roman captives, that emperor has sent on them Germanus, going already to go on a campaign to Italy with the army and detained because of them in Sardina. Consequently, the Slavs decided not to march on Thessalonica and left the empire. Although before they left, one of their detachments, which was near Adrianople, managed to defeat the detachment of the eunuch Scholasticus and to plunder the Thracian valley as far as the Long Walls.
In connection with the sudden retreat of the Slavs, Procopius mentions a resounding victory of Germanus over the Antes (two branches of Slavic tribes in the lower reaches of the Dniester and Dnieper: Slavs in the West, Antes in the East), who once before, at the beginning of the reign of Justinian, crossed the Ister with a great army. At that time,Germanus held the office of chief of troops (stratigus) of the whole Thrace. There is some confusion in connection with the latter information. Uspensky believed that in fact the message of Procopius should be attributed to the time of the reign of Justin, more precisely to the year 519. The academician himself explained his conclusion by the fact that it was at the time of Justin on the Danubian border (on the river Ister) a relative calmness was achieved, which such a resounding Germanus’ victory might have caused.
Under Emperor Justinian, Justin's successor, as seen in Procopius' two previous reports, the Danubian frontier became easily passable. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, at the beginning of the reign of emperor Justinian, Chilbudius, who was entrusted with the protection of the border, was active in this territory for three years. During the previously mentioned period, he had coped with his duty, conducting with his subordinated Thracian armies not only the control of the frontier, but also several successful forays into the territory of the Slavic tribes beyond the Ister. Unfortunately, for the empire his luck left him in 534. In that year he was defeated together with his armies on the left side of the Ister. Secondly, the emperor Justinian, dreaming of the revival of the Roman Empire in its former glory, allowed the military forces, which were insufficient either for the optimal execution of the military campaign in Italy, or for the protection of the borders of the country, to be dispersed.Third, precisely at a time of the Byzantine Reconquest that the plague of Justinian broke out in the empire, causing great damage to the empire's demographic security in its various provinces, both in the East and in the West.
Interesting for us are also the comments written by Procopius on the Slavs as a people. They allow us to consider the social development of the Slavic tribes and, at the same time, to present a picture of the interaction of these tribal formations with the empire in peacetime. So in the words of Procopius we can trace the presence of the tribal system already mentioned by us among the Slavs: "These tribes, the Slavs and Ants, are not ruled by one man, but have lived in a people government (democracy) from time immemorial, and therefore their happiness and misfortune in life are considered a common matter. And for everything else in both of these barbaric tribes all life and laws are the same". Procopius did not miss their religion, in which we can see familiar elements, directly relating our perception to the later times of already pagan Ancient Rus: "They believe that only one god, the creator of lightning, is ruler over all, and to him they sacrifice bulls and perform other sacred rituals". Interesting are the comments of Procopius concerning the life of the Slavs: "They live in miserable huts, at a great distance from each other, and they all often change their places of residence". In addition, in Procopius we find evidence of kinship between Antes and Slavs, as well as an indication of the area of their dispersion: "And once even the name of the Slavs and Antes was one and the same. In antiquity both these tribes were called "Spor" ("dispersed"), I think because they lived, occupying the country "sporadically", "dispersed", in separate settlements. Thatis why they have to occupy a lot of land. They live, occupying most of the coast of Ister, on the other side of the river".
In addition to Procopius and his "History of the Wars. The Gothic War", which we have used so extensively for our descriptions, can be the "Strategikon of Maurice", which, although written later than Justin and Justinian, contains information relating to their time in general terms.For example, this manual of war describes in some detail how the Slavs preferred to conduct warfare. It is possible to notice that they conducted it as true barbarians, not knowing complex military combinations and counting only on their courage and their brute force. At the same time, they were very cunning. Thus, the author of a military treatise directly pointed this out: "They make frequent raids and unintentional attacks by day and night, use many tricks of various kinds, and generally as if they were teasing the enemy".This observation is especially consistent with Procopius' account of the Slavs' capture of the city of Toper. Then Slavs precisely divided their forces, hiding the most part of them and making constant attacks on east gate of city by a small part of the forces, as though teasing and drawing away garrison from city, tired of constant disturbances from the small group of the enemy. The author's information on non-military features of the Slavs is also interesting, and unfortunately given too briefly.One of them, though connected with war, also gives us information concerning the social structure of Slavic tribes. In particular, the author pointed out the following: "Those taken captive with them are not reduced forever to slavery, as with other peoples, but are in captivity only for a certain period, and then they are offered a choice: either, having paid a ransom, to return home, or to remain free with them as friends". This situation clearly indicates a considerable tolerance of the Slavs to foreign ethnographic elements, which indicates at the time of Late Antiquity an underdeveloped political and social organization, the absence of a clearly defined Slavic organized community.
Because of all the above, there is no doubt that the empire had a number of advantages over the Slavs: developed economy and culture, established luxurious lifestyle of the elites, well-established system of state and church government. All this allowed the Byzantine Empire to use the barbarian tribes to its advantage. In later periods there would even be a special "program" to create military colonies of Slavs in Asia Minor for protection against Arab raids, closely connected with the thémata system of administrative and military structure of the empire. However, this would be much later. In the time of period we are describing, the empire was just beginning to involve the Slavs in the orbit of its interests, suffering from constant raids by tribes not under its control.
Nevertheless, already under emperor Justinian and his successors state authorities widely applied to power circles of Slavs usual for the Byzantium diplomacy methods on inclination them on their side, in fact "as they have a lot of princes and they among themselves do not agree, it is advantageous to involve some of them on our side, or by promises or rich gifts, especially those which in the neighborhood with us and have communications with others, for that not have united all together and have not come under management one".Thus Byzantium resorted to monetary payments and distributions of honorary titles to Slavic tribal elders. At the same time, some of them began in this period to master Byzantine mores and culture, including the Greek language. It became quite frequent that such a stratum of Slavic nobles joined the Byzantine military service.
In spite of all the above, it is worth noting that the Slavs did not pose any strong threat to the empire in their "original" form. In other words, their tribes did not have the organizational structure of a political and military nature capable of breaking the Byzantine Empire. The Slavs could not achieve what the Germans in the West had been able to achieve by capturing the Roman lands. Because of this, they were doomed in the early stages of their history to be only puppets of Byzantium and the surrounding states. The Avars, who after the death of Justinian began to gather their tribes for the campaigns in the Balkans actively, were able to give them a military organization in later times.
The political organization came to the Slavs only from the Turkic tribe of Bulgarians who settled in their lands. It is from the time of the latter, dissolved in the ethnographic sense among them people, the southern Slavs begin to become for the already weakened empire quite a strong and dangerous opponent, in certain moments directly threatening its existence and claiming its name and heritage. At the same time, as noted Vasiliev A.A., it was the era of Justinian the First, that laid the foundation for the Slavic question in the Balkans.It was his profligate policy that allowed them to fill the Balkan Peninsula after his death. The southern boundary of their settlement eventually became Cape Maleas. However, these further events, which foreshadowed a "catastrophe" in the European theater for Byzantium, are beyond the scope of this article.
Список литературы:
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4. Маврикий. Тактика и стратегия. Первоисточник сочинений о военном искусстве императора Льва Философа и Н. Маккиавелли: сочинение императора Маврикия / Маврикий: пер. М. А. Цыбышев. – Текст: электронный // Военно-исторический портал античности и средних веков: сайт Xlegio. – URL: http://xlegio.ru/sources/mauricius/ (дата обращения: 29.04.2022).
5. Успенский, Ф. И. История Византийской империи. Периоды I-III / Ф. И. Успенский. – Москва : Академический проект, 2020. – 588 с. – (Технология истории). – ISBN 978-5-8291-2273-7. – Текст : непосредственный.
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