Nomad influences in the Byzantine Army under Alexios I Komnenos (1081-95)

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F62690094%3A18460%2F21%3A50017176" target="_blank" >RIV/62690094:18460/21:50017176 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

—

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

—

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Nomad influences in the Byzantine Army under Alexios I Komnenos (1081-95)

Original language description

The period of the reign of Alexios I Komnenos represents a very important chapter of the development of the Byzantine army during the closing decades of the 11th century. Previous critical development which started more or less during the 1050s resulted in territorial losses and serious disruption of the very sophisticated and, therefore, also very fragile economic and social fabric of the Byzantine state, mainly in Asia Minor. Predecessors of Alexios I Komnenos on the Byzantine throne attempted to counter this development with reorganization of the Byzantine army into a more capable defensive force with the last notable attempt during the late 1060s and early 1070s. This always meant that new strategies were adopted and implemented and also new tactics and methods of warfare were copied from neighboring peoples. But this time the “window of opportunity” for adopting new fighting techniques was relatively short, and also military threats were coming simultaneously from all sides, not just from the West, or the East, but also from the North. In such situations, use of mercenaries of foreign origin usually offers short time solution for the most pressing problems, but their massive use also requires sound financial standing of state finances. This was not the case of Alexios I Komnenos in 1081 when he was facing a complex and critical strategic situation. Moreover, since the war against the Normans was already beginning, he was deprived, for the time being, of the possibility to hire the best among mercenaries available in the Latin West – the Norman knights. As the Byzantine army of the previous decades was built around the tagmata of the Norman knights providing the necessary “punch,” this was a serious setback for the young emperor, who was forced to improvise a new defensive strategy. This was heavily inspired by the warfare of the Seljuk Turks and other nomad peoples. In the present article I will try to show how Alexios I Komnenos’ innovations inspired by nomad warfare become visible in the narrative sources during the crucial period of his reign (from his ascension to the throne of Byzantium until the arrival of the first crusade), what was their true character, and how they changed the structure of the Byzantine army.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

C - Chapter in a specialist book

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

60101 - History (history of science and technology to be 6.3, history of specific sciences to be under the respective headings)

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Book/collection name

War in Eleventh-Century Byzantium

ISBN

978-0-367-19254-9

Number of pages of the result

15

Pages from-to

66-80

Number of pages of the book

350

Publisher name

Routledge

Place of publication

Abingdon-New York

UT code for WoS chapter

—