Macedonia (theme)

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Theme of Macedonia
Μακεδονία, θέμα Μακεδονίας
Adrianople
Historical eraMiddle Ages
• Established
789/797 – 801/802
• Merged with Thrace
.
Various times in late 10th and early 11th centuries
Today part ofTurkey
Bulgaria
Greece

The Theme of Macedonia (

Adrianople
.

History

From the beginning of the 6th century, the former Roman

theme of Thrace
in the hinterland of Thessaloniki. Despite these temporary successes, the rule in the region was far from stable. The Empire instead resorted to withdraw its defense-line south along the Aegean coast, until the late 8th century.

As a consequence, a new theme called Macedonia was created between 789 (or 797) and 801/802 by the Empress

monostrategos ("single-general", placed in command over two or more themes) of Thrace and Macedonia already in 801/802.[2][4] Its creation came in the aftermath of a series of military successes that had extended Byzantine reach over most of the wider region of Thrace, and was probably intended to make imperial control more efficient by entrusting the greatly expanded territory to two strategoi.[5]

Although the theme was attested in the 960s, its absence in the Escorial Taktikon of c. 975 has led to the supposition that it may have been abolished and subsumed into the command of the new doux of Adrianople.[6][7] However, the theme of Macedonia was attested again in 1006/7, and there is some sigillographic evidence to support its continued existence alongside the doukaton of Adrianople.[8] In the late 10th century, as a result of the conquests of John I Tzimiskes (r. 969–976) and Basil II (r. 976–1025), the theme of Macedonia ceased being a border theme; to its north, it was bounded by new provinces centred on Philippopolis and Beroe, while to its south, the new theme of Boleron came into existence in the early 11th century.[7]

Little is known of the provincial organization in the 12th century. In an imperial

Didymoteichon" (provincia Adrianupoleos et Didimotichi).[9]

Geography and administration

The seat of the new theme was Adrianople (modern

Basil I "the Macedonian" (r. 867–886) hailed from Thrace, and the Macedonian dynasty he founded was named after the theme of Macedonia.[2]

Approximate widest extent of the thema of Macedonia, superimposed on modern borders.

Being derived from the theme of Thrace, Macedonia was counted among the "Eastern" themes, which ranked higher in Byzantine hierarchy than the "Western" themes. In the late 9th and 10th centuries, its strategos ranked in the second tier of thematic governors, above even that of Thrace. He received an annual salary of 36 pounds of gold (2,592 nomismata), and, according to the account of Ibn al-Faqih, in the late 9th century controlled 5,000 troops. A number of tagmatic soldiers were also permanently stationed in the theme.[10][11] Strymon, which was originally a kleisoura of Macedonia, was split off sometime in the early 9th century, taking some 2,000 men (according to the estimate of historian Warren Treadgold) along with it.[12][13]

As with other themes, at least some of the administrative posts of Macedonia were sometimes combined with those of Thrace, especially in the 11th century, where numerous strategoi and judges (

kritai) are attested holding jurisdiction over both themes.[14][15]

References

  1. ^ a b Nesbitt & Oikonomides 1991, p. 110.
  2. ^ a b c ODB, "Macedonia" (T. E. Gregory), pp. 1261–1262.
  3. ^ Treadgold 1995, p. 29.
  4. ^ Pertusi 1952, p. 162.
  5. ^ Treadgold 1988, pp. 92–93, 124.
  6. ^ cf. Treadgold 1995, p. 114.
  7. ^ a b Soustal 1991, p. 50.
  8. ^ Nesbitt & Oikonomides 1991, pp. 111, 123–124
  9. ^ Soustal 1991, pp. 50–51.
  10. ^ a b Pertusi 1952, pp. 163–164.
  11. ^ Treadgold 1995, pp. 67–71, 122.
  12. ^ Pertusi 1952, pp. 166–167.
  13. ^ Treadgold 1995, p. 76.
  14. ^ Nesbitt & Oikonomides 1991, p. 155.
  15. ^ ODB, "Thrace" (T. E. Gregory), pp. 2079–2080.

Sources

  • .
  • Nesbitt, John; .
  • Pertusi, A. (1952). Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus (in Italian). Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
  • Soustal, Peter (1991). Tabula Imperii Byzantini, Band 6: Thrakien (Thrakē, Rodopē und Haimimontos) (in German). Vienna: .
  • .
  • Treadgold, Warren T. (1995). Byzantium and Its Army, 284–1081. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. .

External links