Focus on Military Organization: Early Medieval Byzantine Army Structures (c. 500-c.1000 CE)
Focus on Military Organization: Early Medieval Byzantine Army Structures (c. 500-c.1000 CE) The high point of Byzantine power and territorial expansion took place in the sixth century during the reign of Emperor Justinian (r.527-565 CE), often referred to as “the Great.” Described by his chroniclers as “the emperor who never sleeps,” Justinian was a vigorous, intelligent and ambitious ruler who was determined to reestablish the Roman Empire throughout the Mediterranean basin, ordering Byzantine armies to fend off Sassanian Persian attacks on the eastern frontiers of Anatolia and the Levant while also regaining parts of Italy from the Ostrogoths and North Africa from the Vandals. In 527, Justinian inherited an empire policed by five mobile field armies and a large number of smaller regional armies (limitanai) located along and behind the frontiers. These five field armies (comitatenses) were the Army of the East (a large region that included Egypt and the Levantine, Armenian, and…
Read more…