Kephallenia (Byzantine theme)

The theme of Kephallenia or Kefalonia ( Greek  θέμα Κεφαλληνίας / Κεφαλονίας , thema Kephallēnias / Kephalonias ) was a Byzantine theme in western Greece , which included the Ionian Islands and existed from the 8th to 12th centuries. It is named after the island of the same name .

history

In the period of the Eastern Roman Empire ( Corfu , Kephalonia , Zakynthos , Ithaca , Leukas and Kythera ) were part of the Roman province of Achaea and Epirus vetus . With the exception of Kythera, these islands later formed the subject of Kephallenia. The islands remained untouched by the Slavs conquering the Balkans in the 7th century and thus formed a bridgehead for the restoration of Byzantine power and (re) Hellenization of mainland Greece.

The exact date of the establishment of the theme of Kephallenia is unknown. Emperor Constantine VII (ruled 913-949) reports in his work De administrando imperio that Kephallenia was originally the seat of a tower (division) of the Longobardia theme in southern Italy , which was established under Emperor Leo VI. (ruled 886-912) to the position of a strategist (a "generals"), but not developed a separate topic. However, this is obviously wrong, because we know of several military governors ( strategoi ) of Kephallenia from sources before the reign of Leo. The Tacticon Uspensky of 842/843 clearly speaks of a strategos of Kephallenia and the Chronicle Annales regni Francorum , written in Latin, reports of such as early as 809. Seals make the development of the Strategis of Kephallenia likely as early as the middle of the 8th century.

In any case, the mistake of Constantine VII shows the close interweaving of the topic of Kephallenia with the Byzantine possessions in southern Italy : the Ionian Islands served as a link and military base for operations in southern Italy, and they also guarded the access to the Ionian and Adriatic seas against Arab pirates. In several cases the command over the themes of Kephallenia and Longobardia (alternatively over Nicopolis in Epiros) was exercised by the same person.

The strategos of the topic was probably sitting on Kephallenia, but maybe also on Corfu. In De administrando imperio the topic ranks seventh among the “Western” or European topics; Kephallenia was a nautical theme that had its own fleet in which some Mardaites served as marines and rowers under a tour march . Other tour marchai presided over the garrisons on the subject. The historian W. Treadgold estimates the army of the subject in the 9th century at 2000 men. The subject was often used as an exile for political prisoners.

In 809 the Strategos Paulos defeated a Venetian fleet off the coast of Dalmatia . In 880 the admiral Nasar destroyed an Arab fleet that devastated the islands of the subject. Troops from Kephallenia repeatedly took part in campaigns in Italy. Mardaites from Kephallenia participated in the failed expedition of 949 against the emirate of Crete . The last mention of a strategos of Kephallenia comes in 1011, when Kontoleon Tornikios was sent to Italy to suppress a Lombard revolt. After the collapse of Byzantine control in southern Italy in the middle of the 11th century, the importance of the topic decreased and it was now administered by a Krites ("judge").

From the late 11th century, the Ionian Islands became the battlefield of the Byzantine-Norman wars. The island of Corfu was occupied by the Normans from 1081 to 1085 and again from 1147 to 1149, the Venetians besieged it unsuccessfully from 1122 to 1123. The island of Kephalonia was also besieged unsuccessfully in 1085, but was sacked by Pisans in 1099 and by Venetians in 1126. Eventually, Corfu and the rest of the subject's islands, with the exception of Leukas, were conquered by the Normans under William II in 1185. Although Corfu was recaptured by the Byzantines in 1191, the other islands were lost to Byzantium; they formed a palatinate county of Kefalonia and Zakynthos under the leadership of Wilhelm's Greek admiral Margaritos of Brindisi .

literature

• Alexander Kazhdan : The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 .
• John W. Nesbitt, Nicolas Oikonomides: Catalog of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art . tape 2 : South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor. . Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington 1994, ISBN 0-88402-226-9 ( books.google.de ).
• Nicolas Oikonomides: Les Listes de Préséance Byzantines des IXe et Xe Siècles . Editions du Center National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris 1972 ( books.google.de ).
• Agostino Pertusi : Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus . Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Città del Vaticano, Rome 1952, OCLC 912189938 .
• Peter Soustal, Johannes Koder : Tabula Imperii Byzantini . tape 3 : Nikopolis and Kephallēnia. . Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1981, ISBN 3-7001-0399-9 ( books.google.de ).
• Warren T. Treadgold : Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081 . Stanford University Press, Stanford 1995, ISBN 0-8047-3163-2 ( books.google.de ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kazhdan: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 1991, p. 1007; Soustal, Koder: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1981, pp. 44-50.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Nesbitt, Oikonomides: Catalog of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art. 1994, p. 2.
3. ↑ Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. 1952, p. 175.
4. ^ Soustal, Koder: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1981, p. 176.
5. ^ Soustal, Koder: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1981, pp. 51-52, 175.
6. ↑ Kazhdan: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 1991, p. 1122.
7. ↑ Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. 1952, p. 174.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. 1952, pp. 174-175.
9. ^ Soustal, Koder: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1981, pp. 52, 175.
10. ^ Soustal, Koder: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1981, pp. 52, 54.
11. ↑ ^{a b} Soustal, Koder: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1981, p. 52.
12. ↑ Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. 1952, p. 91.
13. ^ Treadgold: Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081. 1995, p. 66 ff.
14. ↑ ^{a b c} Kazhdan: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 1991, p. 1123.
15. ^ Soustal, Koder: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1981, pp. 52-53, 175-176.
16. ^ Soustal, Koder: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1981, pp. 54, 176.
17. ^ Soustal, Koder: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1981, pp. 55, 176.
18. ^ Soustal, Koder: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1981, pp. 56-57, 176.
19. ^ Soustal, Koder: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1981, pp. 58, 176.