Hervé Phrangopoulos

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Hervé or Erbebios ho Frangopoulos (Herwig the Franconian ) , as he calls himself on his seal, was a Norman mercenary in the Byzantine service.

Life

From 1038 Hervé was part of the Byzantine invasion force in Sicily , one of the 300 mounted Normans ( Amatus von Monte Cassio ) under the command of Wilhelm Eisenarm , a son of Tankred von Hauteville under the command of the Byzantine general Georg Maniakes . Hervé probably also took part in the Battle of Troina in the spring of 1040, but remained in Byzantine service after the rebellion of the Lombard Arduin , who had complained about a lack of booty and a lack of monthly pay (sitēresion).

In 1049, as commander of the homoethnē , he commanded the left wing of the Roman phalanx , which consisted mainly of Franks, in a battle against the Pechenegs . After the battle was lost, they were accused of being the first to flee for fear of the opponents' hoof drum (Skylitzes 488). Only the Byzantine general Katakalon Kekaulus held out. Hervé was assigned his own estate over the winter in the Armeniakon theme at the latest in 1057 (Skylitzes 485, 490), perhaps an imperial stud (Shepard 1993, 288), as he had to look after his horses and those of his followers.

In 1057 he rebelled against the Emperor Michael VI. , apparently because he found his services in the Easter awarding of titles and benefices too badly rewarded: Michael VI. had publicly rejected his application for the title of magister in a degrading way. Hervé withdrew to his estate, but only 300 of his Frankish compatriots on horseback followed him. He then allied himself with Samuch , a Turkmen military leader, and they coordinated their attacks on the imperial territory among themselves. But when the allies camped in Khliat not far from Lake Van , Samuch's troops attacked the Franks. Although they won the field, Hervé was captured by Abu Nasr , the Emir of Khliat. At the same time, General Katakalon Kekaulus were also in an uprising on the subject of the Armeniakon , but this does not seem to have taken his barbaric neighbors into their confidence.

Hervé was eventually released and returned to the imperial service. He was rewarded with the titles magistros , vestēs and stratelatēs of the East, with which he commanded not only Norman but also Byzantine troops . He was entitled to 16 talents of gold per year and a prominent position at the imperial court. Allegedly, he was eventually drowned on the orders of Constantine X.

personality

Hervé's seal shows the image of St. Peter , who was especially venerated in the West, so he does not seem to have completely assimilated.

literature

  • Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 3: Faber Felix - Juwayni, Al- . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2012, ISBN 978-2-503-53243-1 , p. 235.
  • Jonathan Shepard: The uses of the Franks in eleventh-century Byzantium. In: Marjorie Chibnall (Ed.): Anglo-Norman Studies XV. Proceedings of the XV Battle Conference and of the XI Colloquio Medievale of the Officina di Studi Medievali. Boydell, Woodbridge 1993, ISBN 0-85115-336-4 , pp. 275-305.
  • Gustave Schlumberger : Deux chefs Normands des armées Byzantines au XIe siècle. In: Revue Historique. Vol. 16, ISSN  0035-3264 , 1881, pp. 289-303, here p. 295, digitized .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Schlumberger: Deux chefs Normands des armées Byzantines au XIe siècle. 1881, p. 295.
personal data
SURNAME Hervé Phrangopoulos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Erbebios ho Frangopoulos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norman mercenary in Byzantine service
DATE OF BIRTH 10th century or 11th century
DATE OF DEATH 11th century