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War Writing in Middle Byzantine Historiography. Sources, Influences

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War Writing in Middle Byzantine Historiography. Sources, Influences View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Birmingham Research Archive, E-theses Repository WAR WRITING IN MIDDLE BYZANTINE HISTORIOGRAPHY. SOURCES, INFLUENCES AND TRENDS by KYLE JAMES SINCLAIR A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham September 2012 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis examines literary and cultural influences upon descriptions of warfare in Byzantine historiography, focusing on events of the ninth to twelfth centuries. Its main aim is twofold: to account for the appearance in historiography of more ‘heroic’ accounts of battle from the late tenth century, and to identify the sources Middle Byzantine historians employed for military events, particularly since this material appears to have had a significant role in the aforementioned development. Study of Middle Byzantine historical works grants insight into general features of war writing. Moreover, it also reveals much about the working methods of historians and the written sources they employed for military episodes. These sources, now lost to us, are determined to have primarily been campaign reports and biographical compositions. Once an understanding of the nature of such texts is reached, one may demonstrate that they presented their military subject according to contemporary ideals of valour and generalship. It is suggested that the appearance of promotional literature of the military aristocracy in the tenth century was instrumental in the development of a more ‘heroic’ form of war writing, with Homeric-style descriptions of battle, cunning military stratagems, and courageous displays more evident in historiography from this time. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a great debt to Dr. Ruth Macrides, who first served as my supervisor at undergraduate level and has since overseen my progress as a postgraduate student. Her patience, support and guidance not just during my period of doctoral study but throughout the past seven years has been unwavering, and her enthusiasm in embracing my choice of subject deserves special thanks. It is an honour and a privilege to count myself among her students. I am grateful also for the assistance of Prof. Leslie Brubaker and Dr. Dimiter Angelov. It has been a pleasure to have been part of the Centre of Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies at Birmingham, and the kindness and friendship offered by fellow research students during my time of study shall not be forgotten. Outside of the University of Birmingham, I wish to thank Prof. Michael Jeffreys, Dr. Robert Jordan, Prof. Anthony Kaldellis, Prof. Marc Lauxtermann, and Dr. Jonathan Shepard for sending me material either unpublished or in advance of publication. The contribution of these eminent scholars has been immeasurable in providing important points of discussion in this thesis, and for this I am extremely grateful. I would also like to express my gratitude to the Arts and Humanities Research Council for the award of a generous three-year scholarship which made the undertaking of this thesis possible. My final thanks is reserved for my family, whose encouragement and unconditional support has been ever-present throughout; I could not have completed this task without their care and patience. I dedicate this thesis to them. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 I. CHAPTER I. MIDDLE BYZANTINE HISTORIANS AND THEIR SOURCES FOR MILITARY EVENTS 25 I.1. Historical Method and Authorial Concerns 26 - Source Citation and Research Ideals in Classical and Hellenistic Historiography 26 - The Use of Written Sources in Byzantine Historiography: Adherence and Change 30 - Conclusion 33 I.2. The Vita Basilii 35 - Historical Method 36 - Sources for Military Narratives 39 - The Campaigns of Basil I: Panegyric and Distortion 42 - Conclusion – The Hand of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos 45 I.3. The History of Leo the Deacon 47 - λέγεται and φασί(ν): Determining Leo’s Use of Oral Sources 48 - Leo’s Sources for Military Operations 50 - Mimesis in Leo’s Accounts of Battle 57 - Conclusion 60 I.4. John Skylitzes, the Synopsis Historion and the Lost Source for John Tzimiskes’ Balkan Campaign of 971 61 - Skylitzes’ Sources 61 - The Lost Source for John Tzimiskes’ Balkan Campaign of 971 63 - Divine Assistance in the Record of Tzimiskes’ Campaign 68 - The Marian Icon and Public Ceremony in the Account of Tzimiskes’ Campaign 74 - Conclusion 77 I.5. The History of Michael Attaleiates 80 - The Limits of Autopsy in War: Attaleiates at Hierapolis 81 - Attaleiates’ Experience at the Battle of Manzikert 84 - Attaleiates’ Sources and Access to Privileged Information 87 - Influences on Attaleiates’ Record of the Campaigns of Romanos IV Diogenes 89 - Conclusion 93 I.6. The Alexiad of Anna Komnene 97 - Anna’s Discussion of her Sources 98 - Autopsy, Eyewitnessing and Veracity 103 - Anna’s Alleged Conversations with Veteran Soldiers: Some Problems 109 - Alexios Komnenos as a Source for the Alexiad 113 - Anna’s Use of Written Sources 116 - Anna as a Military Historian 120 - Conclusion 121 I.7. The Epitome of John Kinnamos and the Chronike Diegesis of Niketas Choniates 125 - The Sources of Kinnamos and Choniates for Military Campaigns 127 - The Historical Record of John Doukas’ Expedition to Italy, 1155-1156 129 - The Historical Record of the Hungarian Campaign of Andronikos Kontostephanos, 1167 139 I.8. Conclusion 148 II. CHAPTER II. DISPATCHES, BULLETINS AND THE CIRCULATION OF MILITARY NEWS IN BYZANTIUM 150 II.1. Military News in Byzantium – Campaign Dispatches and Bulletins 152 - Dispatches and Reports in Prescriptive Literature 153 - References to Dispatches and Reports in the Sources 155 - Terminology, Delivery, and Authorship 158 - Public and Private Interest in Military News 160 - Distribution of Military News in the Provinces and Beyond 165 - Accounts of Campaign and Battle in Private and Diplomatic Correspondence 171 - Conclusion 174 II.2. Campaign Dispatches and Bulletins – Content and Veracity 175 - Heraclius’ Victory Bulletin in the Chronicon Paschale 175 - Style and Content 177 - Veracity in Imperial Bulletins and Dispatches 180 - Veracity in the Dispatches of Subordinate Generals: David Komnenos and the Sack of Thessaloniki, 1185 187 - Conclusion 189 II.3. Campaign Dispatches and Bulletins – Form and Archiving 190 - The Nature of Information Transmission and Written Reports 191 - Military Documentation in Byzantium 195 - Military Documentation and the Archives 197 - The Preservation of Campaign Accounts: Purposes and Problems 199 - Archival Documents, Military Reports and Byzantine Historiography: Suitability of Purpose 205 II.4. Conclusion 208 III. CHAPTER III. BETWEEN ENCOMIA, HISTORIOGRAPHY AND BULLETINS: THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE EMPERORS JOHN II KOMNENOS AND MANUEL I KOMNENOS 209 III.1. Military Description in Encomia 213 - Menander Rhetor 214 - Progymnasmata 215 III.2. The Historical Record of the Campaigns of John II Komnenos 219 - Encomiasts Seizing upon Bulletins: The Example of Michael Italikos 219 - The Campaign against the Pechenegs, 1121-1122 221 - The Kastamon Campaign of 1132 and John’s Mariolatry 225 - The Campaign in Cilicia and Northern Syria, 1137-1139 227 - Conclusion 236 III.3. The Historical Record of the Campaigns of Manuel I Komnenos 237 - Manuel at the Siege of Neokaisareia, 1140 237 - The Campaign against Ikonion, 1146 238 - The Campaign against the Hungarians and Serbs, 11501151 242 - Further Military Actions, c.1147-1180 246 - The Battle of Myriokephalon, 1176 249 III.4. Conclusion 260 IV. CHAPTER IV. PROMOTIONAL LITERATURE OF THE MIDDLE BYZANTINE MILITARY ARISTOCRACY 267 IV.1. Aristocratic Promotional Literature in Byzantium (c.900-c.1100) 268 - References and Allusions to Aristocratic Promotional Literature in Middle Byzantine Historiography 269 - The Presence of Aristocratic Promotional Literature in Skylitzes’ Synopsis Historion 273 - Heroic Tales of the Doukas Family 276 - Conclusion 278 IV.2. Aristocratic Promotional Literature and Greco-Roman Biography 279 - Biography, Hagiography and ‘Semi-Secular Hagiography’, c.550-c.900 280 - Constantine VII, the Vita Basilii and the Revival of ‘Secular Biography’ 285 - The Biographical Element in Middle Byzantine Historiography 287 - Conclusion 289 IV.3. Aristocratic Promotional Literature as Egodocuments 291 - Traces of the Autobiographical in Aristocratic Promotional Literature 291 - Typika as Military Memoirs and Aristocratic Relations with Monasteries 292 - Conclusion 299 IV.4. Biographical Compositions in Extant Historiography 300 IV.5. Features of Aristocratic Promotional Literature 302 - Distortion and Fabrication 302 - Military Episodes – Stratagems and Generalship 306 IV.6. Conclusion 316 V. CHAPTER V. ARISTOCRATIC PROMOTIONAL LITERATURE AND ‘HEROIC HISTORIOGRAPHY’ 319 V.1. Single Combat: Rivalry and
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