Since their beginnings in the early years of the 14th century, and then during its course, the relations between Byzantium and the Ottomans are mostly determined by the aggression and conquests of the Ottomans at the expense of Byzantium, thus by the ensuing confrontation. The relevant facts are generally well-known in so far as the politics of this confrontation are concerned, and the same is true about several of its social, demographic and cultural consequences. However, there is a gap in our knowledge of the purely military field of the Byzantine-Ottoman confrontation, which has not received due attention in scholarship. Such issues requiring further investigation include topics such as the contact of military operations, strategy and tactics, size and composition of military forces, mobilization, armament and weapons and their tactical use etc. The specialists who participate in the Thematic Session will offer an innovative and fruitful discussion of those neglected subjects of study.
Following the capture of Gallipoli by the Ottomans in 1354 and their subsequent expansion into the Balkans, the Greek lands entered a period of profound instability and upheaval. Widespread desolation, looting, and plundering resulted in a significant demographic decline and the establishment of adverse living conditions. Adapting to the new political and social realities was…
Scholarship on the late Byzantine army has long centred on the pronoia system, treating the pronoiarioi as the primary embodiment of military landholding and service. The emphasis on the pronoiarioi has obscured the presence, and likely numerical and functional predominance, of two other groups: mercenaries and smallholding soldiers. Mercenaries were numerous and often formed the…
The final century of Byzantium was characterised by the growing power of the Ottoman Turks. In my presentation, I investigate how this was reflected in the last phase of the Eastern Roman army and warfare. I argue that the Ottomans, along with other Turks, had a significant direct and indirect impact in this regard. The…
The 1340’s witnessed the loss of most Byzantine territories, practically leaving Constantinople a city-state in control of a discontinuous succession of coastal zones, port-towns and islands. Consequently, the economic basis of the Byzantine state began then to depend on commerce rather than agriculture. These changes resulted in a shift in the Byzantine stratefies, that no-longer…
Early Ottoman history has long been written through a teleological lens, guided by a “rise paradigm” that privileges a linear narrative of uninterrupted conquests and the steady development of centralized institutions. In this framework, the Ottoman army appears as a coherent, centrally directed instrument of sultanic determination. Recent scholarship, however, has emphasized the contested and…