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Sclaveni

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Personification of "Sclavinia", 990 AD

TheSclaveni(inLatin) orSklabenoi(various formsinGreek) wereearly Slavictribes that raided, invaded and settled in theBalkansin theEarly Middle Agesand eventually became one of the progenitors of modernSouth Slavs.They were mentioned by earlyByzantinechroniclers asbarbarianshaving appeared at the Byzantine borders along with theAntes(East Slavs), another Slavic group. The Sclaveni were differentiated from the Antes andWends(West Slavs); however, they were described as kin. Eventually, most South Slavic tribes acceptedByzantineorFrankishsuzerainty,and came under their cultural influences andChalcedonian Christianity.The term was widely used as a general catch-all term until the emergence of separate tribal names by the 10th century.

Customs

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See also:Early Slavs

The Sclaveni had similar if not identical customs and culture to the Antes. They were carefully described by chroniclers such as Procopius and Maurice, whose works contribute greatly to our understanding of these two Early Slavic peoples.

Maurice writes that the Slavs were very hospitable people. Tribes that mistreated guests were attacked for their dishonour. Prisoners were not kept forever and after a certain period of time, captives were allowed to be let loose or to join the community. Settlements were built in hard to reach forests, lakes and marshes as they were hard to attack, with exits in many directions for escape. They farmed many crops, especially millet, but also had livestock of many sorts. Maurice praises their toleration of discomfort when necessary, and the loyalty of married women to their husbands. TheStrategikonnoted that the Antes and Sclaveni were independent, refusing to be governed or enslaved.[1]They lived under democracy, with all matters being referred to the people.[2]

The religion of the Sclaveni, like other Slavic tribes and peoples wasSlavic paganism.

The Antes and Sclaveni were skilled warriors, especially in guerrilla warfare, taking advantage of terrain. They preferred to fight in dense woodland instead of pitch battle, although field battles and sieges were also recorded. Their weapons were javelins, spears, bows nocked with poison tipped arrows and sturdy wooden shields, but body armour was rare.[2][1]

Terminology

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See also:Slavs (ethnonym)
Illustration of Sclaveni between the Danube and the Balkan Mountains

The Byzantines broadly grouped the numerous Slav tribes living in proximity with the Eastern Roman Empire into two groups: the Sklavenoi and theAntes.[3]The Sclaveni were called as such byProcopius,and as Sclavi byJordanesandPseudo-Maurice(Greek:Σκλαβηνοί(Sklabēnoi),Σκλαυηνοί(Sklauēnoi), orΣκλάβινοι(Sklabinoi); Latin:Sclaueni,Sclavi,Sclauini,orSthlaueni-Sklaveni). The derived Greek termSklavinia(i)(Σκλαβινίαι;Latin:Sclaviniae) was used for Slav tribes in Byzantine Macedonia and the Peloponnese; these Slavic territories were initially outside of Byzantine control.[4]By 800, however, the term also referred specifically to Slavic mobile military colonists who settled as allies within the territories of the Byzantine Empire. Slavic military settlements appeared in thePeloponnese,Asia Minor,andItaly.

Byzantine historiography

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Procopiusgives the most detail about the Sclaveni and Antes.[5]The Sclaveni are also mentioned byJordanes(fl.551),Pseudo-Caesarius(560),Menander Protector(mid-6th c.), theStrategikon(late 6th c.), etc.

History

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See also:Early SlavsandSlavic migrations to Southeastern Europe

6th century

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The migration of early Slavs in Europe between the 5th and 10th centuries AD
Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe
Approximate location of South Slavic tribes, per V. V. Sedov, 1995

ScholarMichel Kazanski(born 1953) identified the 6th-centuryPrague cultureandSukow-Dziedzice groupas Sclaveni archaeological cultures, and thePenkovka culturewas identified as Antes.[5]The first Slavic raid south of theDanubewas recorded by Procopius (writing in the mid-6th century CE), who mentions an attack of the Antes, "who dwell close to the Sclaveni", probably in 518.[6][7]In the 530s, Emperor Justinian seems to have useddivide and conquerpolicies, and the Sclaveni and Antes are mentioned as fighting each other.[8]

Sclaveni are mentioned in the context of the military policy on the Danube frontier of Byzantine EmperorJustinian I(r. 527–565).[9]In 537, Justinian shipped 1,600 cavalry, made up of mostly Sclaveni and Antes, to Italy to rescueBelisarius.[10]Sometime between 533–34 and 545 (probably before the 539–40 Hun or Bulgar-Hun invasion of the Byzantine Empire),[10]there was a conflict between the Antes and Sclaveni inEastern Europe.[11]Procopiusnoted that the two "became hostile to one another and engaged in battle" until a Sclavene victory resulted.[10]The conflict was likely aided or initiated by the Byzantines.[11]The Romans also recruited mounted mercenaries from both tribes to fight against theOstrogoths.[10]The two tribes were at peace by 545.[12]The Antes are last mentioned as anti-Byzantine belligerents in 545, and the Sclaveni continued to raid the Balkans.[11]Between 545 and 549, the Sclaveni raided deep into Roman territory.[13]In the summer of 550, the Sclaveni came close toNaissus,and were seen as a great threat, however, their intent of capturingThessalonikiand the surroundings was thwarted byGermanus.[14]After this, for a year, the Sclaveni spent their time inDalmatia"as if in their own land".[14]The Sclaveni then raidedIllyricumand returned home with booty.[15]In 558 theAvarsarrived on the Black Sea steppe, and defeated the Antes between the Dnieper and Dniester.[16]The Avars subsequently allied themselves with the Sclaveni.[17]

Daurentius(fl. 577–579), the first Slavic chieftain recorded by name, was sent an Avar embassy requesting his Slavs to accept Avar suzerainty and pay tribute, because the Avars knew that the Slavs had amassed great wealth after repeatedly plundering the Balkans. Daurentius reportedly retorted that "Others do not conquer our land, we conquer theirs [...] so it shall always be for us", and had the envoys slain.[18]The Avar khaganBayanthen campaigned (in 578) against Daurentius' people, with aid from the Byzantines, and set fire to many of their settlements, although this did not stop the Slavic raids deep into the Byzantine Empire.[19]In 578, a large army of Sclaveni devastated Thrace and other areas.[20]In the 580s, the Romans bribed the Antes to attack Sclaveni settlements.[21]

By the 580s, as the Slav communities on the Danube became larger and more organised, and as the Avars exerted their influence, "barbarian" raids in to the Byzantine Empire became larger and resulted in permanent settlement.John of Ephesusnoted in 581: "the accursed people of the Slavs set out and plundered all of Greece, the regions surrounding Thessalonica, and Thrace, taking many towns and castles, laying waste, burning, pillaging, and seizing the whole country." According toFlorin Curta,John exaggerated the intensity of the Slavic incursions since he was influenced by his confinement in Constantinople from 571 up until 579,[22]moreover, he perceived the Slavs as God's instrument for punishing the persecutors of theMonophysites.[22]

By 586, Slavs managed to raid the westernPeloponnese,Attica,Epirus,leaving only the east part of Peloponnese, which was mountainous and inaccessible. In 586 AD, as many as 100,000 Slav warriors raided Thessaloniki. The final attempt to restore the Romans' northern border occurred between 591 and 605, when the end of conflicts withPersiaallowed Emperor Maurice to transfer units to the north. However he was deposed after a military revolt in 602, and the Danubian frontier collapsed one and a half decades later (seeMaurice's Balkan campaigns).

7th century

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Main articles:Seven Slavic tribes,Severians,andFirst Bulgarian Empire

In 602, the Avars attacked the Antes; this is the last mention of Antes in historical sources.[23]In 615, during the reign ofHeraclius(r. 610–641), the whole Balkans was regarded asSklavinia– inhabited or controlled by Slavs.[24]Chatzonled the Slavic attack on Thessaloniki that year.[25]The Slavs asked the Avars for aid, resulting in anunsuccessful siege(617).[25]In 626,Sassanids,Avars and Slavs joined forces and unsuccessfullybesieged Constantinople.[26]During the same year of the siege, the Slavs used theirmonoxylain order to transport the 3,000 troops of the allied Sassanids across theBosphoruswhich the latter had promised the khagan of the Avars.[27]Based on theDe Administrando Imperio,it is also theorized that the migration ofWhite CroatsandSerbscould have been part of a second Slavic wave during Heraclius' reign.[28]

ThePontic steppe,c. 650, showing the early territories of theKhazars,Bulgars,andAvars

Constans IIconqueredSklaviniain 657–658, "capturing many and subduing",[29]and settled capturedSlavs in Asia Minor;in 664–65, 5,000 of these joinedAbdulreman ibn Khalid.[30]Perbundos,the chieftain of theRhynchinoi,a powerful tribe near Thessaloniki, planned a siege on Thessaloniki but was imprisoned and eventually executed after escaping prison; the Rhynchinoi,Strymonitai,SagoudataiandDrougoubitaimade common cause, rose up and laid theSiege to Thessalonikifor two years (676–678).[31]

TheFirst Bulgarian Empirewas the first state that the empire recognised in the Balkans and the first time it legally surrendered claims to part of its Balkan dominions.[32]In 680 the Byzantine EmperorConstantine IV(r.668–685), having recentlydefeated the Arabs,led an expedition at the head of a huge army and fleet to drive off the Bulgars but suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of Asparuhat Onglos,a swampy region in or around the Danube Delta where the Bulgars had set a fortified camp.[32][33]The Bulgars advanced south, crossed theBalkan Mountainsand invadedThrace.[34]In 681, the Byzantines were compelled to sign a humiliating peace treaty, forcing them to acknowledge Bulgaria as an independent state, to cede the territories to the north of the Balkan Mountains and to pay an annual tribute.[32][35]The relations between the Bulgars and the local Slavs is a matter of debate depending on the interpretation of the Byzantine sources.[36]Vasil Zlatarskiasserts that they concluded a treaty,[37]but most historians agree that they were subjugated.[36][38]The Bulgars were superior organisationally and militarily and came to dominate politically the new state, but there was cooperation between them and the Slavs for the protection of the country. The Slavs were allowed to retain their chiefs, to abide to their customs and in return they were to pay tribute in kind and to provide foot soldiers for the army.[39]TheSeven Slavic tribeswere relocated to the west to protect the frontier with theAvar Khaganate,while theSeveriwere resettled in the eastern Balkan Mountains to guard the passes to the Byzantine Empire.[36]The number of Asparuh's Bulgars is difficult to estimate. Vasil Zlatarski andJohn Van Antwerp Fine Jr.suggest that they were not particularly numerous, numbering some 10,000,[40][41]whileSteven Runcimanconsiders that the tribe must have been of considerable dimensions.[42]

Justinian II(r. 685–695) settled as many as 30,000 Slavs fromThracein Asia Minor, in an attempt to boost military strength. Most of them however, with their leaderNeboulos,deserted to the Arabs at theBattle of Sebastopolisin 692.[43]

8th century

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Military campaigns in northern Greece in 758 underConstantine V(r. 741–775) prompted a relocation of Slavs under Bulgar aggression; again in 783.[44]Bulgaria had by 773 cut off the communication route, theVardarvalley, between Serbia and the Byzantines.[45]TheBulgarsweredefeated in 774,after EmperorConstantine V(r. 741–775) learnt of their planned raid.[46]In 783, a large Slavic uprising took place in the Byzantine Empire, stretching fromMacedoniato thePeloponnese,which was subsequently quelled by ByzantinepatrikiosStaurakios(fl. 781–800).[47]Dalmatia,inhabited by Slavs in the interior, at this time, had firm relations with Byzantium.[48]In 799,Akameros,a Slavic archon, participated in the conspiracy against EmpressIrene of Athens.[49]

Relationship with Byzantium

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Byzantine literary accounts (such asJohn of Ephesus) mention Slavs raiding areas of Greece in the 580s. According to later sources such as theMiracles of Saint Demetrius,theDrougoubitai,Sagoudatai,Belegezitai,Baiounetai,andBerzetailaid siege toThessalonikiin 614–616.[50]However, that particular event was actually of local significance.[51]Acombined effortof the Avars and Slavs two years later also failed to take the city. In 626, a combinedAvar,Bulgarand Slav armybesieged Constantinople.The siege was broken, which had repercussions for the power and the prestige of the Avar khanate. Slavic pressure on Thessaloniki ebbed after 617/618, until theSiege of Thessalonica (676–678)by a coalition of Rynchinoi, Sagoudatai, Drougoubitai and Stroumanoi attacked. This time, the Belegezites, also known as the Velegeziti, did not participate and in fact supplied the besieged citizens of Thessaloniki with grain. It seems that the Slavs settled on places of earlier settlements and probably merged later with the local populations of Greek descent to form mixedByzantine-Slavic communities.The process was stimulated by the conversion of the Slavic tribes to orthodox Christianity on the Balkans during the same period.[52]

A number of medieval sources attest to the presence of Slavs in Greece. En route to theHoly Landin 732,Willibald"reached the city ofMonemvasia,in the land ofSlavinia".This particular passage from theVita Willibaldiis interpreted as an indication of a Slavic presence in the hinterland of thePeloponnese.[53]In reference to the plague of 744–747,Constantine VIIwrote in the 10th century that "the entire country [of the Peloponnese] was Slavonized".[54]Another source for the period, theChronicle of Monemvasia,speaks of Slavs overrunning the western Peloponnese but of the eastern Peloponnese, together with Athens, remaining in Byzantine hands throughout the period.[55]However, such sources are far from ideal,[56]and their reliability is debated. For example, the ByzantinistPeter Charanisbelieves theChronicle of Monemvasiato be a reliable account, but other scholars point out that it greatly overstates the impact of the Slavic and Avar raids of Greece during this time.[57]

Max Vasmer,a prominent linguist and Indo-Europeanist, complements late medieval historical accounts by listing 429 Slavic toponyms from the Peloponnese alone.[53][58]The extent that the presence of the toponyms reflects compact Slavic settlement is a matter of some debate[59]and might represent an accumulative strata of toponyms, rather than being attributed to the earliest settlement phase.

Relations between the Slavs and the Greeks were probably peaceful apart from the (supposed) initial settlement and intermittent uprisings.[60]Being agriculturalists, the Slavs probably traded with the Greeks inside towns.[55]Furthermore, the Slavs surely did not occupy the whole interior or eliminate the Greek population since some Greek villages continued to exist in the interior, probably governed themselves and possibly paid tribute to the Slavs.[55]Some villages were probably mixed, and quite possibly, some degree of Hellenization of the Slavs by the Greeks of the Peloponnese had already begun during this period, before re-Hellenizationwas completed by the Byzantine emperors.[61]

When the Byzantines were not fighting in their eastern territories, they slowly regained imperial control. That was achieved through itstheme system,which refers to an administrative province on which an army corps was centred under the control of astrategos( "general" ).[62]The theme system first appeared in the early 7th century, during the reign of theEmperor Heraclius.As the Byzantine Empire recovered, the system was imposed on all areas that came under Byzantine control.[62]The first Balkan theme was created inThracein 680 AD.[62]By 695, a second theme, that of "Hellas"(or" Helladikoi "), was established, probably in easterncentral Greece.[62]Subduing the Slavs in the themes was simply a matter of accommodating the needs of the Slavic elites and providing them with incentives for their inclusion into the imperial administration.

It was not until 100 years later that a third theme would be established. In 782–784, the eunuch generalStaurakioscampaigned from Thessaloniki, south to Thessaly and into the Peloponnese.[47]He captured many Slavs and transferred them elsewhere, mostlyAnatolia(these Slavs were dubbedSlavesians).[63]However, it is not known whether any territory was restored to imperial authority as result of the campaign although it is likely that some was.[47]Sometime between 790 and 802, thetheme of Macedoniawas created, centred onAdrianople(east of themodern geographic entity).[47]A serious and successful recovery began underNicephorus I(802–811).[47]In 805, thetheme of the Peloponnesewas created.[64]According to the Chronicle of Monemvasia the Byzantine governor of Corinth went in 805 to war with the Slavs, obliterated them and allowed the original inhabitants to claim their own.[64]The city of Patras was recovered and the region resettled with Greeks.[65]In the 9th century, new themes continued to arise although many were small and were carved out of original larger themes. New themes in the 9th century included those ofThessalonica,Dyrrhachium,StrymonandNicopolis.[66]From those themes, Byzantine laws and culture flowed into the interior.[66]By the late 9th century, most of Greece was culturally and administratively Greek again except for a few small Slavic tribes in the mountains such as theMelingoiandEzeritai.[67]Although they would remain relatively autonomous untilOttomantimes, such tribes were the exception, rather than the rule.[66]

Apart from military expeditions against Slavs, the re-Hellenization process begun under Nicephorus I involved (often forcible) transfer of peoples.[68]Many Slavs were moved to other parts of the empire, such as Anatolia, and made to serve in the military.[69]In return, many Greeks from Sicily and Asia Minor were brought to the interior of Greece to increase the number of defenders at the Emperor's disposal and to dilute the concentration of Slavs.[65]Even non-Greeks were transferred to the Balkans, such asArmenians.[63]As more of the peripheral territories of the Byzantine Empire were lost in the following centuries, such as Sicily, southern Italy and Asia Minor, their Greek-speakers made their own way back to Greece. The re-Hellenization of Greece by population transfers and cultural activities of the Church was successful, which suggests that Slavs found themselves in the midst of many Greeks.[70]It is doubtful that such large number could have been transplanted into Greece in the 9th century; surely many Greeks had remained in Greece and continued to speak Greek throughout the period of Slavic occupation.[70]The success of re-Hellenization also suggests the number of Slavs in Greece was far smaller than those found in the former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.[70]For example, Bulgaria could not be re-Hellenized when Byzantine administration was established over the Bulgars in 1018 to last for well over a century, until 1186.[70]

Eventually, the Byzantines recovered the imperial border north all the way to today'sregion of Macedonia,which would serve as the northern border of the Byzantine Empire until 1018, although independent Slavic villages remained. As the Slavs supposedly occupied the entire Balkan interior, Constantinople was effectively cut off from theDalmatian city-statesunder its (nominal) control.[71]Thus, Dalmatia came to have closer ties with theItalian Peninsulabecause of its ability to maintain contact by sea, but it too was troubled by Slavic pirates.[71]Additionally, Constantinople was cut off fromRome,which contributed to the growing cultural and political separation between the two centres of EuropeanChristendom.[71]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abMaurice 500s.
  2. ^abProcopius 550s.
  3. ^Hupchick 2004.
  4. ^Louth 2007,p. 171.
  5. ^abJames 2014,p. 96.
  6. ^James 2014,p. 95.
  7. ^Curta 2001,p. 75.
  8. ^James 2014,p. 97.
  9. ^Curta 2001,p. 76.
  10. ^abcdCurta 2001,p. 78.
  11. ^abcAcademia 2003,pp. 78–79.
  12. ^Curta 2001,p. 79.
  13. ^Curta 2001,pp. 84–85.
  14. ^abCurta 2001,p. 86.
  15. ^Curta 2001,p. 87.
  16. ^Kobyliński 2005,p. 536.
  17. ^Kobyliński 2005,p. 537–539.
  18. ^Curta 2001,pp. 47, 91.
  19. ^Curta 2001,pp. 91–92, 315.
  20. ^Curta 2001,p. 91.
  21. ^Curta 2001,p. 81In the 580s, the Romans bribed the Antes to attack the settlements of the Sclavenes.
  22. ^abCurta 2001,p. 48.
  23. ^Kobyliński 2005,p. 539.
  24. ^Jenkins 1987,p. 45.
  25. ^abFine 1991,p. 41–44.
  26. ^Treadgold 1997,pp. 297–299.
  27. ^Howard-Johnston 2006,p. 33.
  28. ^Curta 2001,p. 64–66.
  29. ^Stratos 1975,p. 165.
  30. ^Stratos 1975,p. 234.
  31. ^Curta 2006,pp. 96–97.
  32. ^abcFine 1991,p. 67.
  33. ^Whittow 1996,pp. 270–271.
  34. ^Bozhilov & Gyuzelev 1999,p. 92.
  35. ^Whittow 1996,p. 271.
  36. ^abcBozhilov & Gyuzelev 1999,p. 91.
  37. ^Zlatarski 1970,p. 198.
  38. ^Fine 1991,pp. 67, 69.
  39. ^Fine 1991,p. 69.
  40. ^Fine 1991,p. 68.
  41. ^Zlatarski 1970,p. 188.
  42. ^Runciman 1930,p. 28.
  43. ^Treadgold 1998,p. 26.
  44. ^Vlasto 1970,p. 9.
  45. ^Živković 2002,p. 230.
  46. ^Fine 1991,pp. –77.
  47. ^abcdeFine 1991,p. 79.
  48. ^Živković 2002,p. 218.
  49. ^Curta 2006,p. 110.
  50. ^Fine 1991,p. 41.
  51. ^Curta 2001,p. 108.
  52. ^Bintliff 2003,pp. 142.
  53. ^abFine 1991,p. 62.
  54. ^Davis & Alcock 1998,p. 215.
  55. ^abcFine 1991,p. 61.
  56. ^Fine 1983,p. 62.
  57. ^Mee, Patrick & Forbes 1997.
  58. ^Vasmer 1941.
  59. ^Vacalopoulos 1970,p. 6.
  60. ^Fine 1991,p. 63.
  61. ^Hupchick 2004,p.?.
  62. ^abcdFine 1991,p. 70.
  63. ^abCurta 2006,p.?.
  64. ^abFine 1991,p. 80.
  65. ^abFine 1991,p. 82.
  66. ^abcFine 1991,p. 83.
  67. ^Fine 1991,pp. 79–83.
  68. ^Fine 1991,p. 81.
  69. ^Fine 1991,p. 66.
  70. ^abcdFine 1991,p. 64.
  71. ^abcFine 1991,p. 65.

Sources

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Further reading

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