Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
editors
Florin Curta, Bogdan-Petru Maleon
CONTENTS
Victor Spinei and the research on the Eurasian steppe lands ............................. 9
Victor Spineis opus: a complete list of works .................................................. 13
Early nomads
1
Theophanes Continuatus, Chronographia, edited by Immanuel Bekker (Bonn,
1838), pp. 422-23; Maoudi, Les prairies dor, edited and translated by C. Barbier de
Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, vol. 2 (Paris, 1863), pp. 59-64; Skylitzes, Synopsis
historiarum edited by Hans Thurn (Berlin, 1973), p. 228; French translation by Bernard
Flusin (Paris, 2003), p. 192; Petre Diaconu, Les Petchngues au Bas-Danube (Bucharest,
1970), pp. 17-9; Nicholas Oikonomides, Vardariotes - W.l.nd.r - V.n.nd.r, Hongrois installs
dans la valle du Vardar en 934, SOF 32 (1973): 1-3; Ferenc Makk, Ungarische
Aussenpolitik (896-1196) (Herne, 1999), p. 12; Paul Stephenson, Byzantiums Balkan
Frontier: A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900-1204 (Cambridge, 2000), p. 40;
Florin Curta, Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250 (Cambridge, 2006), p. 188;
Victor Spinei, The Great Migrations in the East and South East of Europe from the Ninth to
the Thirteenth Century (Amsterdam, 2006), pp. 109 and 168; Victor Spinei, The Romanians
and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth
Century (Leiden, 2009), p. 92.
2
The Russian Primary Chronicle. Laurentian Text, translated by Samuel Hazzard
Cross and Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor (Cambridge, Mass., 1973), p. 72; Thomas Noonan,
Byzantium and the Khazars: a special relationship? in Byzantine Diplomacy. Papers from
the Twenty-fourth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Cambridge, March 1990, edited
by Jonathan Shepard and Simon Franklin (Aldershot, 1992), pp. 115-16; Constantine
Zuckerman, On the date of the Khazars conversion to Judaism and the chronology of the
kings of the Rus Oleg and Igor. A study of the anonymous Khazar Letter from the Genizah of
Cairo, REB 53 (1995): 256-257 and 264-65; Simon Franklin and Jonathan Shepard, The
Emergence of Rus. 750-1200 (London/New York, 1996), pp. 113-17; Thomas Noonan, The
Khazar-Byzantine world of the Crimea in the early Middle Ages: the religious dimension,
AEMA 10 (1998-1999): 210-11.
3
Russian Primary Chronicle, pp. 73-7; Diaconu, Les Petchngues, 20; Frank
Wozniak, Byzantium, the Pechenegs and the Rus: the limitations of a great powers
influence on its clients in the 10th century Eurasian steppe, AEMA 4 (1984): 307; George L.
Huxley, Steppe-peoples in Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos, JB 34 (1984): 85-6; Spinei,
Great Migrations, 170 and 174; Spinei, Romanians, 92-93; D. Gordyienko, The Byzantine-
208
Alexandru Madgearu
treaty with Igor, the Byzantine Empire tried to maintain a balance between
the Rus and the Pechenegs. Later on, when the Rus invaded Bulgaria in
968, Emperor Nicephorus Phokas asked the Pechenegs to attack the Rus
homeland.4 This action had no repercussions on the development of the
conflict, but the Pechenegs played an important role after the victory against
Svyatoslav in the summer of 971. John Tzimiskes closed an alliance with
them to prevent further Rus attacks on the Danube region. Svyatoslav was
killed by the Pechenegs in an ambush near the Dnieper rapids on his way
back to Kiev.5
After this period when the Pechenegs were from time to time allies
of the Byzantine Empire came another during which they turned into
outright enemies. This change may be dated to 1017, when they were
summoned by the revived Bulgarian state to attack the empire.6 They did
not cross the Danube then, but ten years later the first Pecheneg raid ever
recorded devastated the themes of Bulgaria and Dristra.7 In 1032 another
wave of attacks caused destructions in many fortresses along the frontier
and in the interior of the theme of Dristra. This state of affairs lasted until
Bulgarian confrontation in the first half of the 10th century and Kyivan Rus, BS 70 (2012),
nos. 1-2: 165.
4
Russian Primary Chronicle, pp. 87-88; A. D. Stokes, The Balkan campaigns of
Svyatoslav Igorevich, Slavonic and East European Review 40 (1962): 480; Wozniak,
Byzantium, 310; Franklin and Shepard, Emergence, 147.
5
Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum ed. Thurn, p. 310; transl. Flusin, p. 259; Russian
Primary Chronicle, p. 90; Zonaras, Epitomae historiarum XVII 3-4, edited by Theodor
Bttner-Wobst, vol. 3 (Bonn, 1897), pp. 535 and 536; Vasilka Tpkova-Zaimova,
Ladministration byzantine au Bas-Danube (fin du Xe-XIe s.). Tentative dune mise au
point, EB 9 (1973), no. 3: 91; Omeljan Pritsak, The Peenegs. A case of social and
economic transformation, AEMA 1 (1975): 232; Stephenson, Byzantiums Balkan Frontier,
p. 53; Elisabeth Malamut, Limage byzantine des Petchngues, BZ 88 (1995), no. 1: 116;
Spinei, Great Migrations, 176.
6
Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum, ed. Thurn, pp. 350-59; transl. Flusin, pp. 293-99;
Zonaras, Epitomae historiarum XVII 8, pp. 564-67; Ion Barnea and tefan tefnescu, Din
istoria Dobrogei, vol. 3 (Bucharest, 1971), 93; Ivan Iordanov, The Byzantine administration
in Dobrudja (10th-12th century) according to sphragistic data, Dobrudzha 12 (1995): 210;
Catherine Holmes, Basil II and the Governance of Empire (976-1025) (Oxford, 2005), pp.
415 and 418; Paul Meinrad Strssle, Krieg und Kriegfhrung in Byzanz: die Kriege Kaiser
Basileios II. gegen die Bulgaren (976-1019) (Cologne, 2006), pp. 334 and 410; Ivan
Bozhilov, Ladministration byzantine en Bulgarie (1018-1186). Le cas de ParistrionParadounavon (Paradounavis), Byzantio kai Boulgarioi (1018-1185), edited by Katerina
Nikolaou and Kostas G. Tsiknakes (Athens, 2008), p. 95.
7
Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum, ed. Thurn, p. 373; transl. Flusin, p. 309; Zonaras,
Epitomae historiarum XVII, 10.2, p. 571; Diaconu, Les Petchngues, 40-42; Barnea and
tefnescu, Din istoria Dobrogei, 123; Gheorghe Mnucu-Adameteanu, Les invasions des
Petchngues au Bas Danube (1027-1048), EBPB 4 (2001): 88-91; Spinei, Romanians, 107.
209
1036.8 The frontier was already weak, because the military expenditures
decreased after 1025, and the protection granted to the small estates owned
by stratiotai was removed. This encouraged the conversion of the military
obligations into cash payments used mostly for civilian expenditures,
although the army was turning into one based not on locally recruited
troops, but on tagmata of professional soldiers, paid in cash.9 In order to put
a stop to those raids, a peace treaty was concluded with the Pechenegs in
1036. The peaceful relations implied trade across the Danube, a policy
initiated by Emperor Michael IVs minister, John Orphanotrophous, as Paul
Stephenson has demonstrated.10 The relations between the Pechenegs and
the Byzantines were peaceful by the time Katakalon Kekaumenos was
appointed katepano of Dristra in 1042 (a fact that, according to Skylitzes, a
certain Pecheneg called Koulinos would later remember this11).
The peace ended when a large number of Pechenegs moved from
their lands north of the Danube into the empire. The main reason for this
course of events was the rivalry between two Pecheneg chieftains, Kegen
and Tyrach. Kegen found refuge in the theme of Dristra in 1045, together
with 20,000 people. The Pecheneg refugees first settled into a marshy area
(most likely Balta Ialomiei or Borcea), and then moved into the empire.
Kegen was eager to enroll his men in the Byzantine army, and the katepano
Michael decided to send him to the emperor in Constantinople. There Kegen
was baptized as John, and granted the title of patrikios, thus becoming an
imperial ally (symmachos). Furthermore, Kegens Pechenegs were baptized
in the waters of the Danube, received lands, as well as three unidentified
fortifications in the theme of Dristra.12
Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum ed. Thurn, pp. 385, 397, and 399; transl. Flusin,
pp. 319, 328, and 330-331; Michael Glykas, Annales, edited by Immanuel Bekker (Bonn,
1836), p. 584 (the attack is dated to 1032 or 1033); Zonaras, Epitomae historiarum XVII 12
and 14, pp. 579, 589, and 590; Diaconu, Les Petchngues, 43-9; Malamut, Limage
byzantine, 118; Stephenson, Byzantiums Balkan Frontier, 81; Curta, Southeastern Europe,
293-94; Spinei, Great Migrations, 187; Spinei, Romanians, 107; Alexandru Madgearu,
Byzantine Military Organization on the Danube, 10th-12th Centuries (Leiden/Boston, 2013),
pp. 117-18.
9
Warren Treadgold, Byzantium and its Army. 284-1081 (Stanford, 1995), p. 285;
Jean-Claude Cheynet, Le gouvernement des marges de lEmpire byzantin, in Le Pouvoir
au Moyen ge. Idologies, pratiques, reprsentations (Sminaire de lquipe de recherches
Socits, idologies et croyances au Moyen ge), edited by C. Carozzi and H. TavianiCarozzi (Aix-en-Provence, 2005), p. 109.
10
Stephenson, Byzantiums Balkan Frontier, 80-3 and 114. See also Angold, The
Byzantine Empire, 1025-1204. A Political History (London, 1984), pp. 1-11; John Haldon,
Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, 565-1204 (London, 1999), p. 91.
11
Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum, ed. Thurn, p. 469; transl. Flusin, p. 387.
12
Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum, ed. Thurn, pp. 456-57; transl. Flusin, p. 378;
Attaleiates, Historia, edited by Inmaculada Prez Martn (Madrid, 2002), p. 24; Zonaras,
210
Alexandru Madgearu
Epitomae historiarum XVII 26, pp. 641-42; C. Neculescu, Ipoteza formaiunilor politice
romne la Dunre n sec. XI, RIR 7 (1937), nos. 1-2: 125-27; Eugen Stnescu, La crise du
Bas-Danube byzantin au cours de la sconde moiti du XIe sicle, Zbornik radovi
Vizantolokog Instituta 9 (1966): 51; Diaconu, Les Petchngues, 51-61; Barnea and
tefnescu, Din istoria Dobrogei, 126; Angold, Byzantine Empire, 15; Malamut, Limage
byzantine, 119-23; Stephenson, Byzantiums Balkan Frontier, 90-91; MnucuAdameteanu,Les invasions, 98-9; Teodora Krumova, Pecheneg chieftains in the
Byzantine administration in the theme of Paristrion in the eleventh century, Annual of
Medieval Studies at the CEU 11 (2005): 210-12; Curta, Southeastern Europe, 296; Spinei,
Great Migrations, 188 and 190; Spinei, Romanians, 108-09.
13
Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum, ed. Thurn, pp. 458-59 and 465-73; transl.
Flusin, pp. 379-80; Attaleiates, Historia, pp. 24-7; Zonaras, Epitomae historiarum XVII 26,
642-44); Neculescu, Ipoteza, 127-28; Stnescu,La crise, 52; Diaconu, Les
Petchngues, 62-5; Barnea and tefnescu, Din istoria Dobrogei, 127-29; Stephenson,
Byzantiums Balkan Frontier, 90-1; Krumova, Pecheneg chieftains, 211-12; Curta,
Southeastern Europe, 296 and 306; Spinei, Great Migrations, 190-92; Oliver Jens Schmitt,
Die Petschenegen auf dem Balkan von 1046 bis 1072, in Pontos Euxeinos. Beitrge zur
Archologie und Geschichte des antiken Schwarzmeer- und Balkanraume. Manfred
Opermann zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by Sven Conrad et al. (Langenweissbach, 2006), pp.
479-80; Spinei, Romanians, 108-10.
14
As observed by L. R. Cresci, Michele Attaliata e gli ethn scitici, Nea Rhome
1 (2004): 203-5.
211
for the defense in the short term, and even for putting the land under
exploitation, if, in the long term, the Pechenegs would become sedentary.
There is indeed proof that the Pechenegs became a kind of stratiotai who
owed military service in exchange for land. Two seals with the inscription
Ionnes magstros ka rchon Patzinakas (one from Silistra, the other
preserved in a private collection in Munich) most certainly have belonged to
Kegen.15 They point to a moment in the Pecheneg chieftains career later
than 1045, as the title of magistros was higher than that of patrikios. The
term Patzinakia indicates an autonomous Pecheneg district located
somewhere in the Danube region. That territory remained under imperial
control, for the title of archon was only given to rulers of autonomous
regions on the periphery. It is obvious that the Pechenegs from that territory
could operate within the Empire only as stratiotai.
Barbarians such as Carpi and Goths have been settled in the Danube
region as early as the 3rd and 4th centuries. As a matter of fact, there are
striking parallels between the Pecheneg settlement and that of the Goths in
376.16 Much like the Gothic foederati, the Pechenegs quickly turned into
enemies causing much trouble over the following decade. Relying on such
unreliable barbarians for the defense of the theme of Dristra must have been
a truly desperate measure at a time of scarce resources. Granting fortresses
to autonomous allies has already been done by Constantine IX in the theme
of Armeniakon (northern Asia Minor), a region in which several estates and
fortifications had been granted to Norman mercenaries, who, like the
Pechenegs, were regarded as symmachoi, and who would later rise in
rebellion against the imperial authorities.17 The imperial power was no more
able to maintain the entire system of fortifications, and preferred instead to
grant them to various warlords who had the capability and the interest to
take care of them, even though, at least theoretically, the emperor was still
15
212
Alexandru Madgearu
18
213
306; Spinei, Great Migrations, 190-92; Schmitt, Die Petschenegen, 479-80; Spinei,
Romanians, 108-10.
23
Spinei, Great Migrations, 191.
24
Aleksandar Uzelac, Skitski razbojnitsi i bugarskoj pustinji: pogled jednog
khodochasnika na Pomoravlje srednjom XI veka, Istorijski asopis 59 (2010): 62-3.
25
Stelian Brezeanu, Blachi and Getae on the Lower Danube in the early
thirteenth century, RESEE 19 (1981), no. 3: 597.
26
Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum, ed. Thurn, pp. 465-75; transl. Flusin, pp. 38492; Attaleiates, Historia, pp. 28-33; Kekaumenos, Strategikon, edited and translated by M. D.
Spadaro (Alexandria, 1998), pp. 96-9 and 100-01; Zonaras, Epitomae historiarum XVII 26,
p. 644; Armenia and the Crusades, Tenth to Twelfth Centuries. The Chronicle of Matthew of
Edessa, translated by A. E. Dostourian (Lanham, 1993), p. 80; Neculescu, Ipoteza,129;
Diaconu, Les Petchngues, 62-5 and 73-6; Barnea and tefnescu, Din istoria Dobrogei,
127-28; Alexander P. Kazhdan, Once more about the alleged Russo-Byzantine treaty (ca.
1047) and the Pecheneg crossing of the Danube, JB 26 (1977): 65-77, 65-77 (who
clarified the date at which Kegens Pechenegs were settled); Angold, Byzantine Empire, 157; Malamut, Limage byzantine, 119-28; Stephenson, Byzantiums Balkan Frontier, 91-2;
Mnucu-Adameteanu,Les invasions, 100-05; Curta, Southeastern Europe, 297; Spinei,
Great Migrations, 194-97; Schmitt, Die Petschenegen, 484-85; Iordanov, Corpus, vol. 3, p.
393. For Hekaton Bounoi see: Diaconu, Les Petchngues, 66-9 and 73-6; Madgearu, The
periphery, 51-2; Schmitt, Die Petschenegen, 482.
214
Alexandru Madgearu
27
215
crusaders were met by an army corps which included Turks and Pechenegs
(Pincenates).32 Ekkehardt of Aura, in the account of the failed expedition of
1101, mentions also the Pechenegs (Pincinatos) as soldiers (militum) of
Emperor Alexios I. They escorted the crusaders along their journey to
prevent robberies.33 According to Albert of Aachen, the Pechenegs were
also involved in the defense of Adrianople, when the crusaders attempted to
take the city.34 Those reports indicate that Alexios I organized a tagma of
Pechenegs, most likely in the aftermath of the battle at Lebounion (1091), as
some of the survivors had been settled in the region of the Vardar River.35
The Pecheneg settlers in the region between Ni and Sofia
constituted another military force for skirmishing and road defense until the
very end of the Byzantine administration in that part of the Balkans. When,
in the summer of 1189, the participants in the Third Crusade moved along
the way between these cities, they were attacked by many people, among
whom some were Pincenates: Having crossed the Danube, the emperor
arrived at the farther mountain passes of Bulgaria. Huns and Alans,
Bulgarians and Patzinaks rushed suddenly out from ambushes on to the
Lords people. These people have become confident bandits because of the
inaccessibility and difficult terrain of their regions.36 This story was written
down in 1222 on the basis of an eye-witness account; it is also the last
mention of Pechenegs in the Empire. The Bulgaria mentioned in this
account is obviously the Byzantine theme by the same name, not the Asenid
state. Skirmishes in the mountain passes are also mentioned for this
From Clermont to Jerusalem. The Crusades and Crusader Societies 1095-1500. Seelected
Proceedings of the International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, 1013 July 1995,
edited by Alan V. Murray (Turnhout, 2008), pp. 168-69; Spinei, Great Migrations, 211;
Spinei, Romanians, 123.
32
Recueil, 746 (Robert the Monk, Historia Hierosolimitana).
33
Ekkehard of Aura, Chronica, edited by Georg Waitz, MGH Scriptores 6
(Hannover, 1849), p. 220; Spinei, Great Migrations, 211-13.
34
Albert of Aachen, III 35 (ed. Edgington, pp. 626-27); Spinei, Great Migrations,
213.
35
Diaconu, Les Petchngues, 131-33; Spinei, Great Migrations, 209; Spinei,
Romanians, 120.
36
Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi, edited by William Stubbs
(London, 1864), p. 45 (I. 21): Danubio transito cum ad ulteriores Bulgariae fauces deventum
esset, Hunni et Alani, Bulgares et Pincenates in populum Domini subito ex insidiis irruunt;
quos ad facinus inaccessibilis locorum asperitas fidentius incitabat; English translation from
Helen J. Nicholson, Chronicle of the Third Crusade. A Translation of the Itinerarium
Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi (Aldershot, 2005), p. 56. See also Spinei, Great
Migrations, 213-14.
216
Alexandru Madgearu
37
Ansbertus, Historia de expeditione Friderici imperatoris, ed. A. Chroust, MGH
SRG, Nova Series 5 (Berlin, 1928), p. 35.
38
Skylitzes Continuatus, p. 166; Attaleiates, Historia, p. 150; Zonaras, Epitoma
historiarum XVIII. 7, p. 713.
39
Stnescu,La crise, 60-1; Nicolae S. Tanaoca, Les mixobarbares et les
formations politiques paristriennes du XIe sicle, RRH 12 (1973), no. 1: 80.
40
Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum, ed. Thurn, p. 465; transl. Flusin, p. 385; Spinei,
Great Migrations, 198-99; Iordanov, Corpus, vol. 3, p. 456, no. 1346.
217
the mercenaries. His name is certainly Turkic, and Anna Comnena was
certain about his barbarian origin. Karadja appears to have been a clan
name, which appears in some place names in Romania, particularly in those
areas otherwise known for toponyms of Pecheneg or Cuman origin.41
By contrast, whether or not Michael Monastras or Manastras was of
Pecheneg or Cuman origin remains unclear. He was commander of the
mercenaries under Alexios I, following Argyros Karatzas. He also fought
against the Pechenegs at Lebounion and against the Cumans in 1095. In
1103 he was appointed dux of Cilicia. Anna Comnena calls him a
mixobarbarian, which may imply that he was born in Paradunavon.42 Be
as it may, he seems to have present in the region, since five of his seals have
found in Bulgaria.43 His namesake Manastras was the Cuman chief who
supposedly killed Joannitsa Kaloyan in 1207.44 The Pecheneg garrison
attested in 1108 in Mamistra (Mopsuestia, Cilicia) may have been sent there
under his command. The mission of those Pechenegs was to assist Baldwin
of Edessa against Tancred of Antioch.45
Judging from these three examples, it appears that Emperor Alexios
I appointed baptized Pecheneg or Cuman chiefs to fight against the
Pechenegs under the command of rival chiefs. It was the lesson the
Byzantine learned from the events of 1045-1047: one could certainly exploit
such rivalries, but only when Pecheneg commanders were integrated into
the regular military structure of the Byzantine army, either at the central or
at the regional level. When at the command of large numbers of exclusively
Pecheneg troops, like Kegen and Tats, they were completely unreliable.
Both leaders took matters in their own hands, even though they were
formally under imperial orders, precisely because they had large number of
Pechenegs at their disposal.
Pecheneg warriors who settled with their families on imperial soil in
1045, 1047, 1059, and 1091 were recruited for the local defense. First,
41
Anna Comnena, The Alexiad, translated by E. R. A. Sewter (London, 2003), pp.
224, 262, 306 (VII. 3. 6; VIII. 7. 4; X. 4. 10); C. I. Karadja, Karadja - nume peceneg n
toponimia romneasc, RI 29 (1943), nos. 1-6: 87-92; Vitalien Laurent, Argyros Karatzas,
protokuropalates i duce de Philippopoli, RevIst 29 (1943), nos. 7-12: 203-10; Gyula
Moravcsik, BT, vol. 2 (Berlin, 1958), p. 153; B. Skoulatos, Les personnages byzantins de
lAlexiade. Analyse prosopographique et synthse (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1980), pp. 27-8;
Stephenson, Byzantiums Balkan Frontier, 109; Curta, Southeastern Europe, p. 300;
Iordanov, Corpus, vol. 2, pp. 188-90 (nos. 283-86).
42
Anna Comnena, Alexiad, pp. 240, 257, 299, 306, 338-340, 359, 365, 371, 445,
455 (VII. 9. 7; VII. 10. 2; VIII. 5.5; X. 2. 7; X. 4. 10; XI. 2. 7-10; XI. 9. 4; XI. 11. 5; XII. 2.
1; XIV. 3. 1; XIV. 5. 7); Moravcsik, BT, vol. 2, p. 192; Skoulatos, Les personnages, 213-15.
43
Iordanov, Corpus, vol. 2, pp. 269-271 (nos. 415-19).
44
Spinei, Great Migrations, 421-22.
45
Matthew of Edessa, III 39 (ed. Dostourian, p. 201); Spinei, Great Migrations,
214.
218
Alexandru Madgearu
46