Mauri

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Moriori, Māori people, or Maouri people.
For other uses, see Mauri (disambiguation).
Column of Trajan

Mauri (from which derives the English term "Moors") was the Latin designation for the Berber population of Mauretania, located in the west side of North Africa on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis, in present-day Morocco and northwestern Algeria.

Name

Mauri (Μαῦροι) by

Libyco-Berber
epigraph dates to about the third century BC).

Roman period

The Roman Empire under Hadrian (ruled 117–138), showing the location of the Mauri

In 44 AD, the Roman Empire incorporated the region as the province of Mauretania, later divided into Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana. The area around Carthage was already part of Africa Proconsularis. Roman rule was effective enough so that these provinces became integrated into the empire.

Mauri raids into the southern

Baetica in the first century CE. Mauri from the mountains beyond the border of the Roman Empire crossed the straits of Gibraltar to raid into the Roman province of Baetica, in what is today southern Spain, in the early 170s.[3] Mauri raided Baetica again in the late 170s or 180s in the reign of Commodus. At that time they besieged the town of Singilia Barba, which was freed from the siege by the arrival of Roman troops from the province of Mauretania Tingitana, led by C. Vallius Maximianus.[4]

By the early Christian era, the byname

Berber populations. Two prominent "Mauritian" churchmen were Tertullian and St. Augustine. The 3rd-century Christian saint Mauritius
, in whose honour the given name Maurice originated, was from Egypt.

When Aurelian marched against Zenobia in 272, his army included Moorish cavalry.[5] The Notitia Dignitatum mentions Roman cavalry units called Equites Mauri, or Moorish cavalry. Many Mauri were enlisted in the Roman army and were well known as members of the comitatus, the emperor's mobile army, prior to the reign of Diocletian.[6] Jones cites the record of a consular interrogation from Numidia in 320, in which a Latin grammarian named Victor stated that his father was a decurion in Cirta (modern Constantine), and his grandfather served in the comitatus, 'for our family is of Moorish origin'.[7]

By the time of Diocletian, Moorish cavalry were no longer part of the mobile field army, but rather were stationed along the Persian and Danube borders. There was one regiment of Equites Mauri in "each of the six provinces from Mesopotamia to Arabia".[8] The Mauri were part of a larger group called Equites Illyricani, indicating previous service in Illyricum.[5]

While many Mauri were part of the Roman empire, others resisted Roman rule. As Gibbon related for the years 296–297, "From the Nile to Mount Atlas, Africa was in arms."

Tingitania, Tripolitania, Africa, Numidia, and the Mauritanias.[10]

In the 370s, Mauri raided the Roman towns of Northwest Africa.

Theodosius defeated the rebellion, but was executed shortly thereafter in Carthage
.

Firmus' brother Gildo, also a Moorish chieftain, joined the Romans and helped defeat Firmus' revolt. As a reward, he was given the post of magister utriusque militiae per Africam, or master of foot soldiers and cavalry for Africa.[14] In 397 he broke his allegiance to the Western Empire, then under the control of the child emperor Honorius and his master of soldiers Stilicho. Gildo withheld the corn ships from Rome and declared allegiance to Stilicho's enemy Eutropius in Constantinople. Eutropius sent encouragement but no troops or money. The Roman Senate declared Gildo a public enemy (hostis publicus).[15]

Eastern Hemisphere in 476 CE, showing the Mauri kingdoms after the fall of Rome

Gildo had another brother called Mascezel. At some point, Gildo executed Mascezel's children.[16] Because of this, Mascezel helped the Romans defeat his brother's rebellion. With Mascezel's help, a Roman force of 5000 men defeated Gildo and restored control over northwest Africa to the Western Empire. Stilicho then saw to it that Mascezel was eliminated. To replace Gildo, Stilicho put his brother-in-law Bathanarius in charge of military affairs in Africa in 401.[17]

In the late 4th and early 5th centuries, large numbers of troops from the mobile imperial field army (the comitatus) were permanently stationed in Africa to maintain order against the Moors. A.H.M. Jones estimated that out of a total of 113,000 men in the comitatus 23000 were stationed in Africa. These troops were in addition to the limitanei, the permanent border armies; but the limitanei were insufficient against the Moors and so portions of the field army were placed alongside them. These troops were, according to Jones, then unavailable for their original purpose, which was to respond to barbarian invasions rapidly and wherever necessary.[18]

In 411–412, the

Synesius of Cyrene praised him for courage and effective management of the war.[19]

In the year 412, the limitanei (permanently stationed border guards) of

Synesius of Cyrene praised these barbarian federates and requested more.[20]

Byzantine period

After

Vandal army was not a standing army, and under the later Vandal kings (from Huneric to Gelimer), its strength deteriorated. No frontier army was set up to protect against Mauri incursions, so the Mauri encroached on the border areas of the kingdom. Later, when Belisarius reconquered Africa for the Byzantine Empire in 533–534, he had little difficulty establishing rule over the Vandal Kingdom, but his successors had great difficulty controlling the Mauri, with some of them killed.[22]

The Vandal king

Arian
Christian and wanted only Arian clergy in the Vandal kingdom. Exiling catholic clergy to the Mauri was thus Huneric's means of establishing Arian dominance in the Vandal kingdom of north Africa.

Hilderic (523–530) was not able to control Mauri attacks.[24] In 530 he was deposed and replaced with Gelimer. The Byzantine Emperor, Justinian, used this as an excuse for invasion, as he had treaty relations with Hilderic. Justinian's general Belisarius quickly reestablished control over the former Roman province of Africa. King Gelimer sought refuge with a Mauri chieftain in the city of Medeus on Mount Papua. There, he was besieged for three months, until the city's suffering became too unbearable and he surrendered.[25]

Otherwise, for the most part the Mauri did not resist Belisarius, but waited for the outcome of the battle and gave their allegiance to the Byzantines when it was done.

Caesarea.[26] As soon as Belisarius left Africa in 534, the Mauri began raiding again.[27] The general Solomon fought a series of campaigns against them, putting a stop to the raids, until a Byzantine troop rebellion in 536.[27] Following the troop mutiny the Mauri were able to raid again with impunity into Byzantine territory. Solomon was recalled and replaced with Germanus, who pacified the troop rebellion; then Solomon was recalled to fight against the Mauri again in 539.[28] Because of the Mauri war and the troop rebellion, the Byzantines had difficulty collecting taxes from the newly conquered province.[29] Justinian was preoccupied with wars against the Ostrogoths and Persians and was unable to apply much resource to controlling the Mauri, opening the door to further Mauri rebellions in the 540s and later.[30]

Artabanes. Artabanes managed to regain control of the troops. His successor, John Troglita, defeated the Mauri revolt in 546–547. Following this defeat there were no more Mauri rebellions until 563, and this one was quickly suppressed.[31]

A.H.M. Jones states that the grave difficulties experienced by the Byzantines in establishing control over the Mauri following the conquest of the Vandal kingdom, were in large part due to a failure to supply enough money and resources to the troops stationed in Africa, and this in turn due to the numerous wars being fought by Justinian elsewhere.[32] The Mauri had taken large areas of land from the Vandals during the reign of the ineffective Hilderic, and the Byzantines never recovered these territories. Within the area of Byzantine control, almost every town was fortified, even far from the border areas. Many towns appear to have been reduced in size as populations concentrated within reduced fortified areas. In some towns the forum was fortified. All this suggests reduced prosperity and population and increased threat of war, most likely with the Mauri.[33] Jones argues that because of the failure to commit enough resources to thoroughly pacify the region, it never contributed more taxes to Justinian's government than it cost in resources to maintain control.[34] However, some Mauri were recruited into the Byzantine armies for service overseas, and at least two African regiments were raised and assigned to Egypt.[33]

A major Mauri revolt against Byzantine rule took place in 569, during the reign of Justin II, in which the praetorian prefect was killed. The following year, the magister militum was killed. In 571 another magister militum was killed.[35] During the reign of the Emperor Maurice, 582–602 there were another two, smaller, Mauri rebellions.[36]

Islamic period

The Byzantine Empire would remain in control of North Africa until the late 600s, when the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb ended Byzantine rule in Africa. After the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, there seem to have been continued Mauri resistance for another 50 years.[37] The Chronicle of 754 still mentions Mauri but by the High Middle Ages the endonym seems to have disappeared, while Christian sources begin to apply the term Mauri, Moors to the Islamic populations of the Maghreb and Andalusia in general.

Revival of the name

The modern state of Mauritania received its name as a French colony in 1903; it was named after ancient Mauretania in spite of its being situated considerably to the south of the ancient province.

See also

  • Roman-Moorish kingdoms

Notes

  1. ^ οἰκοῦσι δ᾽ ἐνταῦθα Μαυρούσιοι μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων λεγόμενοι, Μαῦροι δ᾽ ὑπὸ τῶν Ῥωμαίων καὶ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων "Here dwell a people called by the Greeks Maurusii, and by the Romans and the natives Mauri" Strabo, Geographica 17.3.2. Lewis and Short, Latin Dictionary, 1879 s.v. "Mauri"
  2. ^ Siculus, Calpurnius (1890). "Eclogue IV". Internet Archive eclogues of Calpurnius. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  3. ^ Richardson, John (1996). The Romans in Spain. Blackwell. p. 231.
  4. ^ Richardson, John (1996). The Romans in Spain. Blackwell. p. 232.
  5. ^ a b Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire. London: Basil Blackwell. p. 57.
  6. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire. London: Basil Blackwell. p. 53.
  7. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire. London: Basil Blackwell. pp. 52–53.
  8. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire. London: Basil Blackwell. p. 55.
  9. ^ Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", vol. 1, p. 409.
  10. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire. London: Basil Blackwell. p. 59.
  11. ^ Richardson, John (1996). The Romans in Spain. Blackwell. p. 292.
  12. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus. "The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus p. 413". Project Gutenberg Ammianus Marcellinus. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  13. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire. London: Basil Blackwell. p. 140.
  14. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire. London: Basil Blackwell. p. 183.
  15. ^ Jones, A.H.M.; Martindale, J.R.; Morris, J. (1971). Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume I. pp. 395–396.
  16. ^ Jones, A.H.M.; Martindale, J.R.; Morris, J. (1971). Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume I. p. 396.
  17. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire. London: Basil Blackwell. p. 184.
  18. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire. London: Basil Blackwell. p. 197.
  19. ^ Martindale, J.R. (1980). Prosopography of the Late Roman Empire, Volume II. Cambridge University Press. p. 108.
  20. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire. London: Basil Blackwell. p. 203.
  21. ^ Jamil M. Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (Cambridge Univ., 1971) at 27, 38 & 43; Michael Brett and Elizabeth Fentress, The Berbers (Blackwell 1996) at 14, 24, 41–54; Henri Terrasse, History of Morocco (Casablanca: Atlantides 1952) at 39–49, esp. 43–44; Serge Lancel, Carthage (Librairie Artheme Fayard 1992, Blackwell 1995) at 396–401; Glenn Markoe, The Phoenicians, Berkeley, CA: University of California, 2000, pp. 54–56.
  22. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 260.
  23. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 263.
  24. ^ a b Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 273.
  25. ^ Procopius, Procopius: History of the wars, books III and IV. The Vandalic war, p. 265.
  26. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 274.
  27. ^ a b Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 277.
  28. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 278.
  29. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 283.
  30. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 287.
  31. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 293.
  32. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 298.
  33. ^ a b Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 300.
  34. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 300-301.
  35. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 305.
  36. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire 284–602. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 313.
  37. ^ c.f. Kusaila, Kahina. "The conquest of North Africa and Berber resistance" in General History of Africa.[according to whom?][year needed]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mauri&oldid=1219123354"
This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article: Mauri. Articles is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license; additional terms may apply.Privacy Policy