Book contents
- Frontmatter
- General Introduction
- Part I The Earlier Empire c. 500–c. 700
- Part II The Middle Empire c. 700–1204
- 5 State of Emergency (700–850)
- 6 After Iconoclasm (850–886)
- 7 Religious Missions
- 8 Armenian Neighbours (600–1045)
- 9 Confronting Islam: Emperors Versus Caliphs (641–c. 850)
- 10 Western Approaches (700–900)
- 11 Byzantine Italy (680–876)
- 12 The Middle Byzantine Economy (600–1204)
- 13 Equilibrium to Expansion (886–1025)
- 14 Western Approaches (900–1025)
- 15 Byzantium and Southern Italy (876–1000)
- 16 Belle Époque or Crisis? (1025–1118)
- 17 The Empire of the Komnenoi (1118–1204)
- 18 Balkan Borderlands (1018–1204)
- 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
- List of alternative place names
- Bibliography
- Picture Acknowledgements
- Index
- References
11 - Byzantine Italy (680–876)
from Part II - The Middle Empire c. 700–1204
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- General Introduction
- Part I The Earlier Empire c. 500–c. 700
- Part II The Middle Empire c. 700–1204
- 5 State of Emergency (700–850)
- 6 After Iconoclasm (850–886)
- 7 Religious Missions
- 8 Armenian Neighbours (600–1045)
- 9 Confronting Islam: Emperors Versus Caliphs (641–c. 850)
- 10 Western Approaches (700–900)
- 11 Byzantine Italy (680–876)
- 12 The Middle Byzantine Economy (600–1204)
- 13 Equilibrium to Expansion (886–1025)
- 14 Western Approaches (900–1025)
- 15 Byzantium and Southern Italy (876–1000)
- 16 Belle Époque or Crisis? (1025–1118)
- 17 The Empire of the Komnenoi (1118–1204)
- 18 Balkan Borderlands (1018–1204)
- 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
- List of alternative place names
- Bibliography
- Picture Acknowledgements
- Index
- References
Summary
byzantine italy in 680
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.
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- The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c.500–1492 , pp. 433 - 464Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009