Byzantine Military: Catepanate of Italy - Military Province of Byzantium

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Catepanate of Italy - Military Province of Byzantium

Bari - Capital of the Byzantine Catapanate of Italy

Byzantine Southern Italy

The Roman domination of southern Italy began in the third century BC and lasted until the fall of the Western Empire in 476 AD. A period of Roman control lasting over 700 years.

Italy was ruled under the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths for a rather short 60 years period until 553 AD with the re-conquest of Italy by armies sent by the Eastern Emperor Justinian.

The Eastern Empire continued to rule all or part of Italy for more than 500 years until the last Byzantine outpost of Bari fell in April, 1071. In all, Republican and Imperial control of southern Italy lasted about 1,200 years.

The Roman Republic conquest of Italy. By the 3rd century BC Rome had
gained control of all of Italy and kept control for another 700 years.

Eastern Roman Army Re-enactors

The Catapanate of Italy

The Catepanate (or Catapanate) of Italy was a military-civilian province of the Eastern Roman Empire, comprising roughly the southern third of mainland Italy south of Naples.

The province was ruled by a Katepano "[the one] placed at the top", or " the topmost"). The term was a senior Byzantine military rank and office. The word was Latinized as capetanus/catepan, and its meaning seems to have merged with that of the Italian "capitaneus" (which derives from the Latin word "caput", meaning head).

This hybridized term gave rise to the English language term captain and its equivalents in other languages (Capitan, Kapitan, Kapitän, El Capitan, Il Capitano, Kapudan Pasha etc.)

The Italian region of Capitanata derives its name from the Catepanate.

Amalfi and Naples were north of the Catepanate, but they maintained allegiance to Constantinople through the catepan.

In 871, the Byzantines re-conquered the short lives Emirate of Bari from the Muslim Saracens.

Along with the already existing military theme of Calabria, the region of Apulia, around Bari, formed a new theme of Longobardia.

Norman Soldier

In ca. 965, a new theme, that of Lucania, was established, and the stratēgos (military governor) of Bari was raised to the title of katepanō of Italy, usually with the rank of patrikios.

The title of katepanō meant "the uppermost" in Greek. This elevation was deemed militarily necessary after the final loss of nearby Sicily, a previously Byzantine possession, to the Arabs.

The Norman Conquest

Some Norman adventurers, on pilgrimage to Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano, lent their swords in 1017 to the Lombard cities of Apulia against the Byzantines.

From 1016 to 1030 the Normans were pure mercenaries, serving either Byzantine or Lombard, and then Duke Sergius IV of Naples. Installing their leader Ranulf Drengot in the fortress of Aversa in 1030, gave them their first foot hold and they began an organized conquest of the land from the Byzantines.

In 1030 there arrived William and Drogo, the two eldest sons of Tancred of Hauteville, a petty noble of Coutances in Normandy. The two joined in the organized attempt to wrest Apulia from the Byzantines, who had lost most of that province by 1040.

Bari was captured by the Normans in April 1071, and Byzantine authority was finally terminated in Italy, five centuries after the conquests of Justinian I. The Byzantines returned briefly to besiege Bari in 1156.

The title Catapan of Apulia and Campania was revived briefly in 1166 for Gilbert, Count of Gravina, the cousin of the queen regent Margaret of Navarre. In 1167, with his authority as catapan, Gilbert forced German troops out of the Campania and compelled Frederick Barbarossa to raise the siege of Ancona.

The Catapanate of Italy
The approximate territorial extent of the Catapanate of Italy (in yellow).
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The themes of Calabria, Longobardia and Lucania together formed a larger military province - the Catepanate of Italy. The Catepan (military governor) coordinated the local Roman armies of the three themes to defend Italy.

The Castle of Sant'Aniceto
The castle was a major Byzantine fortification in Rhegion (Reggio Calabria), the capital of the military theme of Calabria.
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The Byzantine castle of Motta Sant'Aniceto was built in the 11th century. In the background, the Etna volcano. The Byzantine troops in the castle were looking directly at the now Muslim conquered island of Sicily. The Arabs were constantly attacking Byzantine troops in southern Italy.

(Military Theme of Calabria)

Bari and its fortress.

Castello Normanno-Svevo (Bari)
The castle was built on a former Byzantine fortified site. Bari was the capital of the Catepanate of Italy. The current look and plan of the fortress might be close to the Byzantine floor plan. The castle is surrounded by a moat on all sides, except the northern section, which was bordering the sea and can be accessed from the bridge and the gate on the southern side.

Catepans - Military Governors

970 – 975 Michael Abidelas

before 982 Romanos

982 – 985 Kalokyros Delphinas

985 – 988 Romanos

988 – 998 John Ammiropoulos

999 – 1006 Gregory Tarchaneiotes

1006 – 1008 Alexius Xiphias

1008 – 1010 Ioannes Curcuas

1010 – 1016 Basil Mesardonites

May 1017 – December 1017 Leo Tornikios Kontoleon

December 1017 – 1027 Basil Boioannes

c. 1027 – 1029 Christophoros Burgaris

July 1029 – June 1032 Pothos Argyros

1032 – May 1033 Michael Protospatharios

May 1033 – 1038 Constantine Opos

1038 – 1039 Michael Spondyles

February 1039 – January 1040 Nicephorus Doukeianos

November 1040 – Summer of 1041 Michael Doukeianos

Summer of 1041 – 1042 Exaugustus Boioannes

February 1042 – April 1042 Synodianos

April 1042 – September 1042 George Maniakes

Autumn 1042 Pardos

February 1043 – April 1043 Basil Theodorokanos

Autumn of 1045 – September 1046 Eustathios Palatinos

September 1046 – December 1046 John Raphael

1050 – 1058 Argyrus

1060 Miriarch

1060 – 1061 Maruli

1062 Sirianus

1064 Perenus

1066 – 1069 Michael Maurex

1069 – 1071 Avartuteles

1071 Stephen Pateran

A wider view of the Eastern Roman Empire at about 1025 AD
including the Catepanate of Italy.

The Fall of Bari
Bari and Castello Normanno-Svevo.
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The Normans first arrived in Italy in 999AD. That began a 70 year struggle between the Romans and Normans for control. By 1060, only a few coastal cities in Apulia were still in Byzantine hands. During the previous few decades, the Normans had increased their possessions in southern Italy and now aimed to complete the expulsion of the Byzantines from the peninsula.
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The Normans laid siege to Byzantine Bari in August, 1068. In a three year campaign against Bari and other towns, the Byzantines were forced to surrender Bari in April 1071. With the fall of Bari, the Byzantine presence in southern Italy ended after 536 years.

(Norman conquest of Italy) (Roman Republic) (Catepanate of Italy)

(officeoftourism.org)

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Justinian The Great and Theodora

Emperor 527 to 565. Justinian was the last Roman Emperor to speak Latin as a first language. Justinian's reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized renovatio imperii, or "restoration of the Empire". His general Belisarius conquered the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa, extending Roman control to the Atlantic Ocean. Subsequently Belisarius, Narses, and other generals conquered the Ostrogothic Kingdom, restoring Dalmatia, Sicily, Italy, and Rome to the Empire after more than half a century of barbarian control. The prefect Liberius reclaimed most of southern Iberia, establishing the province of Spania. Under his rule there was a uniform rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis, which is still the basis of civil law in many modern states. His reign also marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded such masterpieces as the church of Hagia Sophia.

Maurice

Emperor from 582 to 602. A prominent general in his youth, Maurice fought with success against the Sassanid Persians. Once he became Emperor, he brought the war with Persia to a victorious conclusion: the Empire's eastern border in the Caucasus was vastly expanded and for the first time in nearly two centuries the Romans were no longer obliged to pay the Persians thousands of pounds of gold annually for peace. Maurice campaigned extensively in the Balkans against the Avars – pushing them back across the Danube by 599. He also conducted campaigns across the Danube, the first Emperor to do so in over two hundred years. In the West, he established two large semi-autonomous provinces called exarchates, ruled by exarchs, or viceroys, of the Emperor. Maurice established the Exarchate of Ravenna, Italy in 584, the first real effort by the Empire to halt the advance of the Lombards. With the creation of the Exarchate of Africa in 590, he further solidified the empire's hold on the western Mediterranean.

Heraclius

Emperor 610 to 641. Heraclius' reign was marked by several military campaigns. The year Heraclius came to power the Empire was threatened on multiple frontiers. Heraclius immediately took charge of the ongoing war against the Sassanid Persians. The first battles of the campaign ended in defeat for the Byzantines; the Persian army fought their way to the Bosphorus. However, because Constantinople was protected by impenetrable walls and a strong navy, Heraclius was able to avoid total defeat. Heraclius drove the Persians out of Asia Minor and pushed deep into their territory, defeating them decisively in 627 at the Battle of Nineveh. Soon after his victory he faced a new threat of the Muslim invasions. In 634 the Muslims invaded Roman Syria, defeating Heraclius' brother Theodore. Within a short period of time the Arabs would also conquer Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Egypt.

Irene of Athens

Irene of Athens Byzantine Empress Regnant from 797 to 802. Prior to becoming Empress regnant, Irene was empress consort from 775 to 780, and empress dowager and regent from 780 to 797. It is often claimed she called herself basileus 'emperor'. In fact, she normally referred to herself as basilissa, 'empress', although there are three instances of the title basileus being used by her. Irene was born to the noble Greek Sarantapechos family of Athens. She married Leo IV in 769. Upon Leo's death she became regent for the future Constantine VI. Irene was almost immediately confronted with a conspiracy against her close to home and in Sicily. Irene withstood an invasion by a large Arab army. She subdued the Slavs of the Balkans and laid the foundations of Byzantine expansion and re-Hellenization in the area. Irene's most notable act was the restoration of the Orthodox veneration of icons (images of Christ or the saints). Pope Leo III, who needed help against enemies in Rome and who saw the throne of the Byzantine Emperor as vacant (lacking a male occupant), crowned Charlemagne as Roman Emperor in 800.

Nikephoros II Phokas

Emperor from 963 to 969. His brilliant military exploits resulted in the conquest of Cilicia and the re-conquest of the island of Cyprus from the Muslims. He conducted raids into Upper Mesopotamia and Syria. In the West he lost Sicily completely to the Muslims and faced Magyar raids deep into the Balkans. He was assassinated in his apartment on December 11, 969. On the night of the assassination the Empress Theophano suspiciously left the Imperial bedchamber, leaving the doors unbolted. General John Tzimiskes entered, killed the Emperor, and then declared himself Emperor. It was thought the General and the Empress had been lovers.

Basil II - The Bulgar Slayer

Emperor 976 to 1025. Basil oversaw the stabilization and expansion of the Byzantine Empire's eastern frontier, and above all, the final and complete subjugation of Bulgaria, the Empire's foremost European foe, after a prolonged struggle. For this he was nicknamed by later authors as "the Bulgar-slayer" by which he is popularly known. At his death, the Empire stretched from Southern Italy to the Caucasus and from the Danube to the borders of Palestine, its greatest territorial extent since the Muslim conquests four centuries earlier.

John II Komnenos and Irene of Hungary

Emperor from 1118 to 1143. The greatest of the Komnenian emperors. In the course of his twenty-five year reign, John made alliances with the Holy Roman Empire in the west, decisively defeated the Pechenegs in the Balkans, and personally led numerous campaigns against the Turks in Asia Minor. John's campaigns fundamentally changed the balance of power in the east, forcing the Turks onto the defensive and restoring to the Byzantines many towns, fortresses and cities right across the peninsula. In the southeast, John extended Byzantine control from the Maeander in the west all the way to Cilicia and Tarsus in the east. In an effort to demonstrate the Byzantine emperor's role as the leader of the Christian world, John marched into Muslim Syria at the head of the combined forces of Byzantium and the Crusader states.

Constantine XI Palaiologos

The Last Emperor of the Romans 1449 to 1453. Constantine faced the siege of Constantinople defending his city of 60,000 people with an army only numbering 7,000 men against an Ottoman army of over 80,000. He personally led the defense of the city and took an active part in the fighting alongside his troops in the land walls. At the same time, he used his diplomatic skills to maintain the necessary unity between the Genovese, Venetian and the Greek troops. When the city fell to the Turks he tore off his imperial ornaments so there would be nothing to distinguish him from any other soldier and led his remaining soldiers into a last charge where he was killed.