Vardariotai - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Vardariots)

Byzantine army
Part of a series on the

Structural history
East Roman army 'Classical' Byzantine army themes tagmata Hetaireia Komnenian-era army pronoia) Palaiologan-era army allagia Varangian Guard Generals Magister militum Domestic of the Schools Grand Domestic Stratopedarches Protostrator
Byzantine navy: Greek fire Dromon Admirals (Droungarios of the Fleet Megas doux)
Campaign history
Lists of wars, revolts and civil wars, and battles (Constantinople)
Strategy and tactics
Tactics Siege warfare Military manuals Fortifications (Walls of Constantinople)
v t e

The Vardariotai (Greek: Βαρδαριῶται), sometimes Anglicized as Vardariots, were an ethnic and territorial group (probably originally of Cuman and Pecheneg origin) in the later Byzantine Empire, which provided a palace guard regiment during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

History

The exact origin and nature of the Vardariotai is uncertain. The name first appears in the tenth century, when a bishopric of the "Vardariotai or Tourkoi" is mentioned as subject to the diocese of Thessalonica. The mid-fourteenth century writer Pseudo-Kodinos calls them "Persians" by race (a typical Byzantine anachronism for "Turks"), and recalls that they were settled in the Vardar river valley by an unnamed Byzantine emperor of old. In both cases, however, "Turks" probably implies the Cumans and Pechenegs, who were called "Tourkoi" by the Byzantines in the tenth–eleventh centuries. Hence it seems that the Vardariotai were Cumans and Pechenegs resettled in Macedonia in the tenth century, and that they had become Christians by the end of that century.

By the twelfth century, the Vardariotai, their Cuman and Pecheneg identity by now much diluted, were being recruited into the Byzantine army, and, at the latest during the latter part of the reign of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180), they were formed into a distinct palace guard regiment. Their functions, however, at least in the Palaiologan period, appear to have been more those of a police force than a military unit: Pseudo-Kodinos lists them not with the guards, but with the unarmed palace personnel, and states that their duty was "to keep people orderly" during ceremonies. Unlike the armed members of the Varangian Guard and the Paramonai regiment, they were equipped only with a whip (the manglabion) and a staff (the dekanikion). Kodinos also records that they wore distinctive red uniforms and a "Persian" hat called angouroton ("cucumber-shaped"), and that the whip, hanging at their belt, was their symbol. This latter reference has led to the hypothesis that the Vardariotai were the replacement of the older Manglabites guards corps. They were commanded by a primikerios, first attested in the year 1166. The thirteenth-century historian George Akropolites further states that the Vardariotai accompanied the Byzantine emperor to his military camp whilst on campaign.

It is unclear whether and how the vardarioi, administrative officials of Thessalonica in the tenth–eleventh centuries, known through their seals, are related to the Vardariotai.

References

Shukurov, Rustam (2016). "4 the Byzantine Turks in the Balkans". The Byzantine Turks, 1204-1461. pp. 157–182. doi:10.1163/9789004307759_006. ISBN 9789004307759.
^ Kazhdan 1991, p. 2153.
^ Bartusis 1997, p. 280.
Bartusis 1997, pp. 271, 280.
^ Magdalino 2002, p. 231.
Bartusis 1997, pp. 279–280.
Macrides 2007, p. 311.
Macrides 2007, p. 310.

Sources

Bartusis, Mark C. (1997). The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society 1204–1453. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1620-2.
Kazhdan, Alexander (1991). "Vardariotai". In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. p. 2153. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
Macrides, Ruth (2007). George Akropolites: The History – Introduction, Translation and Commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-921067-1.
Magdalino, Paul (2002) . The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143–1180. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-52653-1.

Byzantine Empire topics

History

Preceding	Roman Empire Later Roman Empire
Early (330–717)	Constantinian–Valentinianic era Constantinian dynasty Valentinianic dynasty Theodosian era Leonid era Justinian era Heraclian era "Byzantine Dark Ages" Twenty Years' Anarchy
Middle (717–1204)	Isaurian era Nikephorian era Amorian era Macedonian era Doukid era Komnenian era Angelid era
Late (1204–1453)	Sack of Constantinople Fourth Crusade Frankokratia Latin Empire Byzantine successor states (Nicaea / Epirus–Thessalonica / Morea / Trebizond–Theodoro) Palaiologan era Decline of the Byzantine Empire Fall of Constantinople
By modern region or territory	Albania Anatolia Armenia Bulgaria Corsica Crete Cyprus Dalmatia Egypt Greece Italy Sardinia Sicily Maghreb Malta Mesopotamia Serbia Spain (Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands) Syria Thrace

Governance

Central

Emperors Coronation Family tree Empresses Imperial bureaucracy Medieval Greek Senate
Early	Praetorian prefects Magister officiorum Comes sacrarum largitionum Comes rerum privatarum Quaestor sacri palatii
Middle	Logothetes tou dromou Sakellarios Logothetes tou genikou Logothetes tou stratiotikou Chartoularios tou sakelliou Chartoularios tou vestiariou Epi tou eidikou Protasekretis Epi ton deeseon
Late	Megas logothetes Mesazon

Provincial

Early	Praetorian prefectures Dioceses Provinces Quaestura exercitus Exarchate of Ravenna Exarchate of Africa
Middle	Themata Kleisourai Bandon Catepanates
Late	Kephale Despotates

Foreign relations

Military

Army

Battle tactics Battles Beacon Generals Mercenaries Military manuals Military units Revolts
Early	Late Roman army East Roman army Foederati Bucellarii Scholae Palatinae Excubitors
Middle	Themata Kleisourai Tourma Droungos Bandon Tagmata Domestic of the Schools Hetaireia Akritai Varangian Guard
Late	Komnenian army Pronoia Vestiaritai Palaiologan army Allagion Paramonai Grand domestic

Navy

Religion and law

Religion	Eastern Orthodoxy Byzantine Rite Hesychasm Hayhurum Patriarchate of Constantinople Saints Oriental Orthodoxy Alexandrian Rite Armenian Rite West Syriac Rite Miaphysitism Ecumenical councils Arianism Monophysitism Paulicianism Iconoclasm Great Schism Bogomilism Mount Athos Missionary activity Bulgaria Moravia Serbs Kievan Rus' Jews
Law	Codex Theodosianus Corpus Juris Civilis Code of Justinian Ecloga Basilika Hexabiblos Mutilation

Culture and society

Architecture

Secular Sacred Cross-in-square Domes
Constantinople	Basilica Cistern Baths of Zeuxippus Blachernae Palace Chora Church City Walls Great Palace of Constantinople Hagia Irene Hagia Sophia Hippodrome Pammakaristos Church Prison of Anemas
Thessalonica	Arch of Galerius and Rotunda Byzantine Bath Hagia Sophia Hagios Demetrios Panagia Chalkeon Walls of Thessaloniki
Ravenna	San Vitale Sant'Apollinare in Classe Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
Other locations	Daphni Monastery Hosios Loukas Nea Moni of Chios Panagia Gorgoepikoos Saint Catherine's Monastery Mystras

Art

Economy

Literature

Everyday life

Science
Learning

Impact
Byzantine commonwealth Byzantine studies Museums Byzantinism Cyrillic script Neo-Byzantine architecture Greek scholars in the Renaissance Third Rome Megali Idea

Categories:

History

See also

References

Sources