Улога турми у стварању пограничног војно-управног система на истоку Византијског царства у IX и X веку

Abstract

The offensive policy, which the Byzantine Empire began implementing against the Arabs in the east, in the 9th and 10th century, was proximately caused by the transformation of supreme military command and reform of the provincial military administrative system. Among other things, the reforms included shifting the focus of the Byzantine military forces to the eastern border. Such development led to a distinction between inner and bordering districts in the Byzantine military-territorial organization. All thematic and tagmatic military units in the east were put under a unique supreme command of the Domestikos ton Scholon, which was in charge of performing offensive operations, whereas the defence of the Empire’s eastern borders was transferred to the newly formed system of bordering kleisouras. As early as the 9th century, an aggressive military policy resulted in the empire`s territorial expansion and pushed bordering military systems further to the east, creating a network of kleisouras, whereby the old kleisouras lost their bordering district properties and were promoted to the rank of themas. The formation of themas in the territory of the former kleisouras was followed by the establishment of a network of lower rank units within themas – tourmas and bandons. The empire`s territorial expansion resulted in repetition of the same process in the following century as well. Accordingly, it is possible to chronologically define three generations of kleisouras in the east of the empire. The first system of bordering military districts was formed at the beginning of the 9th century. The second during the rule of the emperor Leo VI and the third generation of kleisouras was constructed in the mid-10th century. In the organization of the bordering military-administrative system, a method that involved three stages in the process of district transformation was applied: tourma – kleisoura – thema. It is possible to define a dual role of tourmas in the formation of the bordering military-administrative system in the east of the Empire in 9th and 10th century. On the one hand, the bordering tourmas in the easternmost themas were singled out from their parent units and exalted to a higher military administrative status (kleisoura), which, in the military administration, gave a higher degree of independence to their governors (kleisourarches). On the other hand, the separation of the bordering tourmas weakened the recruiting potential of the parent themas, ultimately leading to the lower units regrouping. In this regard, parts of certain tourmas (bandons) or entire tourmas were moved from the themas that were located deeper in the interior to those that were closer to the eastern border, in order to reestablish the balance.