Battle of Beroe (Verroe) - the battle between the Byzantine Empire and the Pechenegs , which took place around 1122 near the town of Beroya (the modern city of Stara Zagora in central Bulgaria ) and ended with the complete defeat of the nomads. After this battle, which became the last in the Byzantine-Pecheneg wars , the Pechenegs ceased to exist as an independent people. According to an alternative point of view, in this battle the Byzantines fought with the Polovtsy .
Battle of Beroe | |||
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Main conflict: Byzantine-Pecheneg Wars | |||
Byzantium and its northern neighbors in the middle of the XI century | |||
date | 1123 | ||
A place | Beroia, modern Stara Zagora | ||
Total | victory of Byzantium | ||
Opponents | |||
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Commanders | |||
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Forces of the parties | |||
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Losses | |||
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Content
Background
After the destruction of the First Bulgarian Kingdom in 1018 by Emperor Basil II (976-1025), the Pechenegs moved to the empty lands and became immediate neighbors of the empire. Shortly after the death of Basil II, the Pechenegs began to make devastating raids on the territory of Byzantium - in the period from 1025 to 1045 they ravaged the Balkan provinces of the empire four times. In 1027, the Pechenegs attacked northern Bulgaria. In the winter of 1035/1036, they ravaged the northern regions of Bulgaria and Macedonia , and individual detachments reached Thrace . The Byzantine army sent against them suffered a catastrophic defeat, five military leaders were captured. After a crushing defeat from Prince Yaroslav the Wise in 1036, most of the Pechenegs migrated to the Danube, which increased the danger to the borders of Byzantium [1] . In 1043, under pressure of the Oguz , the Pechenegs left the inhabited lands and began to move in the direction of the Byzantine border on the Danube [2] . The war that began as a result of this in 1046 was unsuccessful for Byzantium and was completed in 1053 by signing an agreement according to which the Pechenegs retained the occupied areas in Dobruja and on the southern bank of the Danube, pledging not to attack Macedonia for 30 years [3] .
Over the next 20 years, the empire strengthened the defense system in the Balkans, while pursuing a policy of Christianization of the Pechenegs. The short-sighted policy of the government of Emperor Michael VII (1071-1078), which reduced cash payments to the Pechenegs, led to uprisings and loss of control over the region in the lower Danube during the early 1070s [4] . In 1077, the Pechenegs crossed the Balkan Mountains and devastated Thrace . At the end of the same decade, applicants for the Byzantine throne began to use the services of the Pechenegs. Active hostilities against the Pechenegs began in 1086 and ended in 1091 with the defeat of the nomads of Levunion [5] . In 1121, a new horde of Pechenegs crossed the Danube and moved to Macedonia and Thrace . In the winter of 1121/1122, Emperor John II Komnenos (1118–1143) began to assemble troops [6] . The decisive battle took place in the vicinity of Verroi, the modern city of Stara Zagora in Bulgaria [7] .
Course of Battle
The course of the battle is described in several sources. The most detailed of them is given in the Circle of the Earth saga of the Hakon Broadwave Saga, a part of the saga 's Circle of the Earth , compiled by Snorri Sturluson . In it, the author mainly tells about the valor of the Scandinavian warriors , thanks to whom the victory was won. According to the author of the saga, the Byzantine army under the command of Emperor Kirjalax set off on the march to Blekumannanland. Kiryalakh ( another scandal. Kirjalax ) is the name under which emperors appeared in Icelandic sagas after Alexis I Comnenus (1081–1118) [8] , in this case it was his son John II Comnenus (1118–1142) [9] . On the plain of Pecinavellir (from the Byzantine name of the Pechenegs ancient Greek греατζινάκαι ) they met a huge enemy army under the command of a blind king. The Pechenegs were armed with large carts with loopholes with which they surrounded their camp. A deep ditch was dug before the wagons. After the arrival of the Byzantine army, the Pechenegs built an army in front of their fortress from carts. Initially, the emperor sent the Greek part of his army into battle. Having suffered significant losses, the Greeks retreated. Then John sent to the battle "the army of the Franks and Fleming " - with the same result. After that, the emperor was advised to send the Varyags into battle, and after hesitation, since there were only 450 people in the Varyags, he sent them into battle. The commander of the Varangians is named Torir Helsing ( dr.-scand. Þórir helsingr ). Despite the enemy’s more than sixty numerical advantage, the Varangians bravely attacked and turned the Pechenegs to flight. Then the retreating Greeks and Franks joined the battle and the persecution of the retreating Pechenegs began. At the final stage of the battle, the Varangians seized a fortified camp. Many Pechenegs were killed, and their leader captured [10] . Before the battle, the Varangians made a vow to build and dedicate to Olav the Holy Church in Constantinople , which was done later. In the chapter “The Saga of Hakon Broad-shouldered,” preceding the story of the battle, the story of how Emperor John II learned about this holy Norse king was given . The source of this message is the skald of compiled around the year 1152. According to the suggestion of Viking researcher , either Einar himself participated in this battle, or the person with whom he spoke, which gives the saga's story historical certainty [11] .
The Byzantine source closest in time to the battle of Beroe is the chronicle of John Kinnam (second half of the 12th century). According to this historian, Emperor John II went to Macedonia after a campaign in Asia Minor , because a huge army of Scythians invaded the empire - under this name the Pechenegs are known in Byzantium since Theophylact of Bulgaria , which described the raids of these nomads in the early 11th century [12] . In general, the story of the Byzantine historian does not contradict the message of the saga, but gives additional details. Kinnam reports on unsuccessful tentative attempts to bribe "Scythian filarchs " in the winter and the beginning of hostilities in the spring. In the Kinnam story, attention was paid to the personal courage of the emperor, wounded by an arrow in the leg, but who nevertheless wished to personally engage in battle. The role of the Roman army at Kinnam in the battle is shown to be more significant than in the saga, but the participation of the Vikings in seizing the fortified camp was especially noted. Regarding the Varangians, an additional detail is reported that they were British - on the problems of the ethnic composition of the Varangians in Byzantium, see Varangian Guardian # National composition [13] [11] .
The story of a younger contemporary of Kinnam, Nikita Honiat, is generally the same, but contains additional details. According to Choniates, an attempt to bribe the "Scythian" leaders was intended to put down their guard, after which the emperor ordered an attack. The course of the battle is described similarly to Kinnam, but the wound of the emperor is not reported. The key point of the battle at Khoniat is also the storming of the camp-fortified camp, in which John II personally took part, surrounded by his bodyguards, "who are protected by long shields and pointed axes on one side". This attack was preceded by the prayer of the emperor before the icon of the Mother of God [14] .
About the battle is also known from two panegyric writings. According to success in the battle, the Byzantines were obliged to the courage of the sebastocrator Andronicus, and reports about the courage of the sebaste [15] .
Implications
According to Nikita Khoniat , after the battle, many prisoners were taken, who were then resettled in one of the western provinces , making whole villages there. Some of the other captives entered military service, but most were sold [14] . In the future, it is known about the Pechenegs as part of the Byzantine army in the campaigns of John II in Cilicia (1138), the wars with the Polovtsy and the Hungarians . On the occasion of the victory, a triumph was arranged and a holiday was instituted. In the Byzantine sources this victory over the Pechenegs is considered as decisive and final [16] .
Historiography
The dating of the event of 1122–1123 is generally considered reliable. Nikita Khoniat relates his story to the fifth year of the rule of John II , according to a Syrian chronicler of the XII century, Mikhail Syriyats, the war with the Pechenegs began in 1433 of the Seleucid era , which began on September 1, 1122 [17] . This date is confirmed by the German historian E. Kurtz ( E. Kurtz ) indicating the participation in this battle of the brother of the emperor, the sevastokrator Andronik, who died before February 1123. According to the Bulgarian historian VN Zlatarsky, the attack of the Pechenegs occurred in 1122, and their defeat in 1123 [18] .
The identification of the nomadic people, called in the Byzantine sources "Scythians", with the Pechenegs, is not accepted by all researchers. According to M.M. Freudenberg (1959), the message of John Kinnam is about Polovtsy [19] . The Romanian historian analyzed this question in detail in the 1970s, also tended to this hypothesis. The difficulty of identifying the exact meaning of the concept of “Scythians” among Byzantine authors of the 12th – 13th centuries, as well as determining the ratio of the Pechenegian and Polovtsian elements after the battle of Levunion in 1091, was noted by many researchers [20] .
Notes
- ↑ Mokhov, 2005 , p. 16-17.
- ↑ Stephenson, 2000 , p. 89
- ↑ Mokhov, 2005 , p. 24-25.
- ↑ Vasilyevsky, 1908 , p. 34-36.
- ↑ Diaconu, 1970 , pp. 110-111.
- ↑ Chalandon, 1912 , p. 49.
- ↑ Bibikov, 2001 , p. 217.
- ↑ Blöndal, 1978 , p. 122.
- ↑ Blöndal, 1978 , p. 148.
- ↑ Snorri Sturluson, 1980 , p. 551-552.
- ↑ 1 2 Blöndal, 1978 , p. 150
- ↑ Vasilyevsky, 1908 , p. 5-6.
- ↑ Kinnam, History, 1, 3
- ↑ 1 2 Nikita Choniates, History, 4
- ↑ Bibikov, 2001 , p. 224.
- ↑ Bibikov, 2001 , p. 226.
- ↑ Chalandon, 1912 , note 3, p. 48.
- ↑ Kazhdan, 2005 , p. 350-351.
- ↑ Freudenberg, 1959 , p. thirty.
- ↑ Bibikov, 2001 , p. 202–205.
Literature
Primary sources
- Brief Review of the Reigns of John and Manuel Komninov / Ed. VN Karpov. - SPb., 1859. (Byzantine historians, translated from the Greek at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. - T. 2.). Archived December 12, 2012.
- Nikita Khoniata History, beginning with the reign of John Comnenus. - At St. Petersburg Theological Academy. Printing house of Gregory Trusov, 1860. - T. I.
- Snorri Sturluson . The Earth Circle / A. Ya. Gurevich , Yu. K. Kuzmenko, O. A. Smirnitskaya, M. I. Steblin-Kamensky . - M .: Science, 1980. - 691 p. - (Literary monuments). - 25 000 copies
Research
- in English
- Blöndal S. The Varangians of Byzantium / trans. BS Benedikz. - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978. - 242 p. - ISBN 978-0-521-21745-3 .
- Stephenson P. Byzantium's Balkan Frontier. - Cambridge University Press, 2000. - 352 p. - ISBN 0 521 77017 3 .
- in Russian
- Bibikov M. V. Byzantine sources on the history of ancient Russia and the Caucasus. - SPb .: Aletheia, 2001. - 314 p. - ISBN 5-89329-410-6 .
- Vasilievsky V. G. Byzantium and the Pechenegs // Trudy. - SPb., 1908. - T. 1 . - P. 1-175 .
- Kazhdan A.P. Nikita Choniates and his time. - SPb .: Dmitry Bulanin, 2005. - 544 p. - ISBN 5-86007-449-2 .
- Kozlov S. А. Byzantine Tradition of the Last Byzantine-Pechenezh War // Europe. International Almanac. - Tyumen, 2011. - Vol. X. - p . 7-22 . - ISBN 978-5-400-00493-3 .
- Mokhov A. S. To the administrative structure of the Byzantine Empire on the Danube during the war with bonds (1064-1065) // Antiquity and the Middle Ages. - Ekaterinburg, 1999. - Vol. 30 - p . 158-168 .
- A. S. Mokhov. On the question of the Byzantine military organization during the war with the Pechenegs of 1046–1053. // Proceedings of the Ural State University. - Ekaterinburg, 2005. - № 39 . - p . 15-26 .
- Freudenberg M. M. Labor of John Kinnam as a historical source // Byzantine temporary. - M .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1959. - T. 16 . - pp . 30-51 .
- in French
- Chalandon F. Les Comnène. - Paris, 1912. - 379 p.
- Diaconu P. Les Petchenegues au bas-Danube. - Bucarest, 1970. - T. 27. - 158 p. - (Bibliotheca historica Romaniae. Etudes).