Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c. 500–1492
- Frontispiece
- The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c. 500–1492
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Maps
- Illustrations
- Tables
- Dedication
- Preface
- Preface to the Paperback Edition
- General Introduction
- Part I The Earlier Empire c. 500–c. 700
- Part II The Middle Empire c. 700–1204
- Chapter 5 State of Emergency (700–850)
- Chapter 6 After Iconoclasm (850–886)
- Chapter 7 Religious Missions
- Chapter 8 Armenian Neighbours (600–1045)
- Chapter 9 Confronting Islam: Emperors Versus Caliphs (641–c.850)
- Chapter 10 Western Approaches (700–900)
- Chapter 11 Byzantine Italy (680–876)
- Chapter 12 The Middle Byzantine Economy (600–1204)
- Chapter 13 Equilibrium to Expansion (886–1025)
- Chapter 14 Western Approaches (900–1025)
- Chapter 15 Byzantium and Southern Italy (876–1000)
- Chapter 16 Belle Époque or crisis? (1025–1118)
- Chapter 17 The Empire of the Komnenoi (1118–1204)
- Chapter 18 Balkan Borderlands (1018–1204)
- Chapter 19 Raiders and Neighbours: The Turks (1040–1304)
- Part III The Byzantine Lands in the Later Middle Ages 1204–1492
- Glossary (Including Some Proper Names)
- Genealogical Tables and Lists of Rulers
- Alternative Place Names
- Bibliography
- Book part
- Picture Acknowledgements
- Index
Chapter 11 - Byzantine Italy (680–876)
from Part II - The Middle Empire c. 700–1204
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 November 2019
- The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c. 500–1492
- Frontispiece
- The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c. 500–1492
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Maps
- Illustrations
- Tables
- Dedication
- Preface
- Preface to the Paperback Edition
- General Introduction
- Part I The Earlier Empire c. 500–c. 700
- Part II The Middle Empire c. 700–1204
- Chapter 5 State of Emergency (700–850)
- Chapter 6 After Iconoclasm (850–886)
- Chapter 7 Religious Missions
- Chapter 8 Armenian Neighbours (600–1045)
- Chapter 9 Confronting Islam: Emperors Versus Caliphs (641–c.850)
- Chapter 10 Western Approaches (700–900)
- Chapter 11 Byzantine Italy (680–876)
- Chapter 12 The Middle Byzantine Economy (600–1204)
- Chapter 13 Equilibrium to Expansion (886–1025)
- Chapter 14 Western Approaches (900–1025)
- Chapter 15 Byzantium and Southern Italy (876–1000)
- Chapter 16 Belle Époque or crisis? (1025–1118)
- Chapter 17 The Empire of the Komnenoi (1118–1204)
- Chapter 18 Balkan Borderlands (1018–1204)
- Chapter 19 Raiders and Neighbours: The Turks (1040–1304)
- Part III The Byzantine Lands in the Later Middle Ages 1204–1492
- Glossary (Including Some Proper Names)
- Genealogical Tables and Lists of Rulers
- Alternative Place Names
- Bibliography
- Book part
- Picture Acknowledgements
- Index
Summary
By the last quarter of the seventh century the Byzantine areas of Italy had experienced over a century of upheaval. Within decades of their first invasion of Italy in 568 the Lombards had established a powerful kingdom consisting of the territories north of the river Po, Tuscany and the two outlying duchies of Spoleto and Benevento. The empire was confined to the areas of Rome and its duchy, Ravenna, and the neighbouring areas of the exarchate and the Pentapolis, approximating to the present-day Romagna and Marche, and a few coastal areas elsewhere. The Byzantines had only been able to hold on to their possessions by initiating a thoroughgoing militarisation of society, which involved the concentration of land in military hands and the concentration of authority in the hands of the commander-in-chief in Ravenna (the exarch) and his subordinates (duces and magistri militum at a provincial level and tribuni in the localities). In many areas, such as the Roman Campania, this process was accompanied by a steady shift of population, as settlement became concentrated on military strongholds and refuges, usually located on promontories. Although the pressure eased somewhat in the seventh century, Liguria and most of the remaining settlements on the Venetian mainland were lost to the Lombards in the reign of King Rothari (636–52), and the duchy of Benevento made continual encroachments in the south, accelerating after the unsuccessful expedition of Emperor Constans II (641–68) to southern Italy in 663–8. Internal tensions were reflected in a series of revolts, the determined opposition led by the papacy to Constans II’s monothelite doctrines and a bitter conflict between the sees of Rome and Ravenna over the same emperor’s grant of ecclesiastical autonomy (autokephalia) to the latter in 666. In two letters addressed to his successor, Pope Agatho (678–81) bemoaned the dislocation caused by the ‘gentiles’ and complained that lack of food forced the clergy to work the land.
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- The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c.500–1492 , pp. 433 - 464Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019