Revolts of the Military Stratum of Byzantine Italy in the First Half of the 7th Century and Their Political and Social Background

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to present the revolts of the representatives of the military stratum of Byzantine Italy in the first half of the 7^th century in the context of the political and social changes on the Apennine Peninsula and other areas of the empire. The general changes taking place in the Empire at that time mainly concerned the crisis of authority of the imperial government, the disintegration of old elites and the emergence of new ones, often of a military nature. These processes had their counterparts in Italy, but they had local specificity (for example, the disintegration of the senatorial aristocracy had taken place there earlier). The factors mentioned undoubtedly encouraged the soldiers’ revolts in the area of the peninsula. Some of them were reduced to traditional demands for payment of overdue wages, others were separatist uprisings, sometimes leading to the usurpation of imperial power by the exarchs of Ravenna. The high frequency of mutinies compared to the previous and subsequent half-century should not come as a surprise. Attempts to change the existing relations were facilitated by the fact that the upper echelons of the army took over the role of the ruling elite, while the general mass of soldiers, ready to make bold moves to strengthen their position, began to aspire to the status of a relative social elite. The peripheral nature of Italy, its cultural specificity and the weakening prestige of the emperors encouraged high-ranking commanders to rebel. Religious factors, such as the Monothelite controversy, also played an important role. In the second half of the 7^th century, military unrest on the Apennine Peninsula ceased and resumed only with the adoption of a repressive policy by Justinian II and his successors. The reason for settling the situation was probably the fact that the social standing of the army had become stronger and its position had stabilised (e.g. through the purchase of land). These factors must have made the army as a whole lose interest in change and start focusing on maintaining the status quo in which it played a leading social role.