What group of Slavs settled the Balkan Peninsula. The movement of the Slavs to the Balkan Peninsula and its occupation

Education of Avar Kaganata

The successes of the Byzantines in the Balkans were temporary. In the second half of the 6th century, the balance of power in the ponavier and Northern Black Sea It was broken by the arrival of new conquerors. Central Asia, as if an immense womb, continued to express nomadic hordes. This time it was Avara.

Their leader Bayan accepted the title of Kagan. At first, under his beginning it was not more than 20,000 riders, but then the Avar Orda was replenished with warriors from the conquered peoples. Avars were excellent riders, and it is the European cavalry that is obliged to be an important innovation - iron stirrups. By purchasing a greater stability in the saddle due to them, the Avar riders began to use heavy spears and sabers (still curved weakly), more suitable for hand-to-hand equestrian battle. These improvements gave the Avar Connection to considerable strength and stability in the near battle.

At first, it was difficult to entrust themselves in the Northern Black Sea region, based on the own strength, Avaras were predicary, so in 558 they sent an embassy to Constantinople with a proposal of friendship and union. The inhabitants of the capital were especially struck by wavy, braided the hair of Avarian ambassadors, and Constantinople's scoists immediately introduced this hairstyle called "Gunnskaya". The messengers of the kagan suffered from the emperor with their power: "It comes to you the greatest and strong of the peoples. The Arvorsky tribe is irresistible, it can reflect and exterminate opponents. And therefore, it will be useful for you to take Avarov to the allies and acquire great defenders in them. "

Byzantium supposed to use avarov to combat other barbarians. Imperial diplomats reasoned like this: "Whether Avars will win or be defeated, and in that and in another case will be the benefit on the side of the Romans." A union was concluded between the empire and Kagan under the conditions of providing land for the settlement and payments to them some money from the imperial treasury. But Bayan was not going to be an obedient to the gun in the hands of the emperor. He rushed into the Panneon steppes, so attractive for nomads. However, the pathway covered the barrier from Antian tribes, prudently exposed by Byzantine diplomacy.

And so, intensifying his Horde by the Bulgarian tribes of Critrigur and the Utigov, Avars attacked the Ants. Military happiness was on the side of the kagan. Antairs were forced to enter into negotiations with the accordion. The embassy was headed by a certain Mesamer (the membar?), Obviously, the influential Antian leader. Ants wanted to agree on the redemption of their relatives captured by Avara captured. But Mesamer appeared before the kagan, by no means as a petitioner. According to the Byzantine historian Menandra, he led himself arrogantly and even "brazenly". Menander explains the reason for such a behavior of the Ambassador by the fact that he was "violated and bragging", but probably the case was not only in the properties of Mesamers. Most likely, Antairs were not finally defeated, and Mesamer sought Avara to felt their strength. For his pride, he paid his life. One noble Bulgarian, apparently, well-aware of the high position of Mesame among Ants, offered Kagan to kill him, so that it will then "beless to attack enemy land." Bayan followed this advice and, indeed, the death of Mesamer disorganized ants resistance. Avars, says Menandr, "The former began to ruin the Earth Ants, without ceasing to rob it and enslave the inhabitants."

The emperor looked at robbery, revealed by Avaras over his allies-Antha, through his fingers. One Turkic Leader Just at this time accused a two-headed policy of the Byzantines in relation to the barbaric peoples in the following expressions: "Pasta all nations and the art of speeches and cunning of the soul, you neglect them when they will be in trouble heads, and benefit from whether you get ourselves. So it was this time. Having resigned by the fact that Avaras penetrated Pannonia, Justinian sorted them on the enemies of Byzantium in this region. In the 560s, Avars destroyed the hepid tribe, devastated the neighboring regions of the francs, pushed Langobards to Italy and, thus, became the owners of the Danube steppes.

For better control over the submissive lands, winners created several fortified camps in different parts of Pannonia. The political and religious center of the Avarian Power was chring - the residence of the Kagan, which was located somewhere in the northwestern part of the Danube and Tisi somewhere in the northwestern part. Here treasures were kept - gold and jewels captured in neighboring peoples or received "as a gift" from the Byzantine emperors. During the Avarian domination, the middle of the Polynavier (approximately 626) of Byzantium paid the kagans about 25,000 kilograms of gold. Most of the Avara coins who did not know the money circulation were interlaced in decorations and vessels.

Slavic tribes who lived in the ponavier, fell under the power of Kagan. These were mainly ants, but also a significant part of the scam. The riches, headed by the Slavs in Romeyev, quite attracted Avar. According to Menander, Kagan Bayan believed that "the Zlavenkaya Earth is replete with money, because the rifled Romans have long been scalable ... Their land was not ruined with any other people." Now and the Slavs were robbed and humiliation. Avars treated them as slaves. Memories of the Avarian IGE later retained in the memory of Slavs for a long time. "The Tale of Bygone Years" left us a bright picture of how obras (Avaras) "Primuchysh Duleby": the conquerors were harnessed in the cart instead of horses or oxen of several dull women and drove on them. This unpunished mockery of dleb wives serves as the best example of humiliation of their husbands.

From Frankish chronicist VII century. Fredegar will also find out that the Avara "every year came to wintering to the Slavs, they took the wives of Slavs and their daughters to themselves on the bed; In addition to other oppression, Slavs paid Huns (in this case, Avaras. - S. C.) Dan. "

In addition to the money, the Slavs were obliged to pay the tax with blood by participating in their wars and raids. The Slavs became in the battle in the first combat line and took over the main blow to the enemy. Avars at that time stood in the second line, near the camp, and if the Slavs were overcome, the Avarian Connection rushed forward and captured prey; If the Slavs retreated, then the enemy was exhausted in battle with them had to deal with fresh anvarian reserves. "I will send such people to the Roman Empire, the loss of which will not be sensitive to me, at least they have fallen," the bayan said cynically. So it was: Avars reduced their losses even with large lesions. So, after a crushing defeat by the Byzantines of the Avar Troops on the Tis River in 601, the Avora actually amounted to just the fifth of all prisoners, half of the other prisoners were Slavs, and the other - other allies or citizen subjects.

Conscious of this proportion between Avars and in their kaganate with the Slavs and other peoples, the Emperor Tiberius at the conclusion of a peaceful agreement with Avars preferred to receive children not the kagan himself, and the Scythian princes, which, in his opinion, could affect the kagan in the case If he wanted to break the world. And indeed, by their own recognition of the accordion, the military failure was terrible mainly by the fact that she would lead to the fall of his prestige in the eyes of the leaders of the tribes subordinated to him.

In addition to direct participation in hostilities, the Slavs provided a crossing of the Avarian troops across the rivers and maintained the land forces of kagan by the sea, and the mentors of the Slavs in marine business There were experienced langobard ships, especially for this invited kagan. According to Pavel Diacon, in 600, the Langobard king Agalulf sent to the kagan of ship masters, thanks to which "Avaras", that is, the Slavic units in their army, mastered the "a kind of island in Frakia." The Slavic fleet consisted of single-show boats and quite spacious looses. The art of the construction of large warships remained unknown Slavic Morakhodam, since in the V century, the foresological Byzantines adopted the law, caught by the death penalty of anyone who dares to train the barbarians to the ship.

Invasion of Avar and Slavs to the Balkans

The Byzantine Empire, who threw their allied ants to the mercy of fate, had to pay expensive for it in general, the usual betrayal for imperial diplomacy. In the last quarter of the VI century, Anty resumed the invasion of the empire in the Avarian Horde.

Bayan was one of the emperor for the fact that he did not receive the promised places for the settlement in the territory of the Empire; In addition, entered into the throne after the death of Justinian I Emperor Justin II (565-579) refused to pay Avatram tribute. In the retaliation of Avara, together with their affordable antsian tribes, since 570 began to make raids on the Balkans. Clauses acted independently or in the Union with the Kagan. Thanks to military support, the Slavs could begin massocamation of the Balkan Peninsula. Byzantine sources telling about these events are often called the invaders by Avara, but according to archaeological data, the Avar monuments in the Balkans of south of modern Albania are practically absent, which does not doubt in the purely Slavic composition of this colonization flow.

Rabnes medieval Anonymous Chronicle of the city of Monemvasia, expressing the sadness of humiliation of "nobleral Ellin's peoples", testifies that in the 580s the Slavs seized "all of the Fessiona and all Ellada, like an old epir and an attic and Eubey, as well as most of the Peloponnese, where They kept more than two hundred years. According to Constantinople Patriarch Nikolai III (1084-1111), Roma did not dare to seem there. Even in the X century, when the power of Byzantium over Greece was restored, this region was still called "Slavic Earth" *.

* In the 1930s of the XIX century, the German scientist Falmener noticed that modern Greeks, in essence, originate from Slavs. This statement caused a stormy discussion in scientific circles.

Of course, Byzantia lost these lands after a stubborn fight. For a long time, her forces were made by the war with Iranian Shah, so on the Danube Front, the Byzantine government could only rely on the hardness of the walls of the local fortresses and the resistance of their garrisons. Meanwhile, perennial clashes with the Byzantine army did not pass without a trace for military art of Slavs. Historian VI century John Ephesian It notices that the Slavs, these savages that have not previously dare appear from the forests and did not know the other weapons, except for throwing copies, now learned to fight better than Rome. Already during the reign of Emperor Tiberia (578-582), Slavs quite clearly expressed their colonial intentions. Folithing the Balkans up to Corinth, they did not leave these land in the continuation of four years. Local residents were charged with tribute in their favor.

Brutal Wars with Slavs and Avara led Emperor Mauritius (582-602). The first decade of his rule was noted by a sharp deterioration in the relationship with the kagan (accordion, and then his successor remaining unnamed to us). The quarrel broke out due to any 20 thousand gold coins, which Caran demanded to fasten the amount of 80,000 solids paid to him annually (payments resumed from 574). But Mauritius, Armenian on the origin and the true son of his people, desperately traded. His incontestability will become clearer, if we consider that the empire has already given to Avaras a hundredth of its annual budget. To make Mauritius accustomed to Mauritia, Caigan walked on fire and sword all over Ilirik, then turned east and went to the Black Sea coast in the area of \u200b\u200bthe imperial resort of Anhiah, where his wives were enjoyed in famous warm baths. Nevertheless, Mauritius preferred to endure losses to millions than to enter at least gold in favor of the kagan. Then the Avars were put to the empire of Slavs, which, "as if the air flights,", as the Foofilak Simocatta writes, appeared in the long walls of Constantinople, where, however, they suffered a sensitive defeat.

Byzantine warriors

In 591, a peace treaty with Iranian Shaha unleashed Mauritius hands for the settlement of cases in the Balkans. In an effort to intercept the military initiative, the emperor focused on the Balkans, near the Dorostol, large forces under the command of the talented stratigation of the Prsk. Kagan expressed a protest against the military presence of Romeyev in the area, but, having received the answer that the journal arrived here not for the war with Avars, but only for the organization of the punitive expedition against Slavs, was silent.

Slavs led by the Klashensky leader Ardagast (probably a gland). With it there was a small number of warriors, since the rest were engaged in a robberry surroundings. Slavs did not expect attacks. I managed to immediately cross the left bank of the Danube at night, after which he suddenly attacked the Ardagast camp. Slavs in a panic fled, and their leader barely escaped, jumped on the unused horse.

Prosk moved deep into the Slavic lands. A conductor of Rome's troops was a kind of hempid who adopted Christianity, who knew the Slavic language and well aware of the location of Slavic detachments. From his words, the journal found out that nearby is one hundredth of Slavs, which is headed by another leader of Zlavenov, Musault. In Byzantine sources, he is called Rixom, that is, the king, and it makes it think that the position of this leader among the Danube Slavs was even higher than the position of Ardagast. Comb once managed to imperceptibly approach the Slavic camp at night. However, it was not difficult to do it, for "Rix" and all his army were drunk on the occasion of the funeral feather in memory of the deceased brother of Musokia. The hangover was bloody. The battle turned into a massacre of sleeping and drunken people; Musault was captured alive. However, having won, Roma themselves were betrayed with a drunken rag and almost divided the fate of the defeated. Slavs, who came to his senses, attacked them, and only the energy of the commander of the Romary Infantry of Genzon saved the tska of the test from extermination.

Avars who demanded to give them captured by the Slavs, their subjects captured by the Slavs, their subjects. Prosh honorable for the best not to quarrel with the kagan and satisfied his demand. His soldiers, having lost its prey, almost rebelled, but the bore managed to calm them. But Mauritius did not listen to his explanations and dismissed the prison from the position of the commander, replacing him with his brother Peter.

Peter had to start the case of Syznov, because during the time he took command, the Slavs again flooded the Balkans. The challenge in front of him for squeezing them for Danube facilitated the fact that the Slavs dissipated in the country in small detachments. And anyway, the victory over them was nominated not easy. For example, a persistence resistance had some six hundred Slavs, on which the army of Peter came across somewhere in Northern Frace. Slavs were returned home accompanied by a large number of prisoners; Production was loaded into many wagons. Noticing the approach of the superior Romeev forces, the Slavs first began to kill prisoners who could wear weapons. Then they surrounded their camp with wagons and sat down inside with the remaining prisoners, mostly women and children. Romeary cavalry did not decide to approach the carts, fearing the darts, which Slavs from their strengthening of Metali in the horses. Finally, the cavalry officer Alexander made the soldiers hurry and go to the assault. Hand-to-hand continued quite a long time. When Slavs saw that they did not survive, they cut out the remaining prisoners and were, in turn, were exterminated by a romaneous strengthening.

Cleaning the Balkans from Slavs, Peter tried, like the arrival, transfer hostilities for the Danube. Slavs this time were not so careless. Their leader Piragas (or Ferry) made a danube ambush on the other shore. The Slavic army was skillfully disguised in the forest, "as if some kind of forgotten in the foliage of grapes," like ameofilak simocatta. Romei began crossing several detachments, spraying their strength. Piragas took advantage of this circumstance, and the first thousand soldier Peter, crushed across the river, was completely destroyed. Then Peter focused his strength in one point; Slavs lined up on the shores opposite. Opponents showered each other arrows and darts. During this shootout fell pyragas, struck by an arrow in the side. The loss of the leader led the Slavs into confusion, and Roma, crushing at the other side, completely defeated them.

However, the further campaign of Peter deep into the Slavic territory ended with defeat for him. The Romeev's army was lost in anhydrous places, and the soldiers for the three days were forced to quiet thirst with one wine. When, finally, they came out to some river, then any likeness of the discipline in the semi-man of the Army of Peter was lost. Do not care anything about anything, Roma rushed to lustful water. A dense forest on another bank did not cause them the slightest suspicion. Meanwhile, the Slavs hid in more often. Those Romean soldiers who were the first to come to the river were killed. But the water abandoned the water was worse than death. Without any order, they began to build rafts to drive the Slavs from the coast. When Roma crossed over the river, the Slavs hit them with all the scope and turned into a flight. This defeat led to the resignation of Peter, and the Romean army again headed the prom.

Having considered the strength of the empire weakened, Kagan together with the Slavs invaded the Frace and Macedonia. However, Prisc reflected the invasion and moved to counteroffensive. The decisive battle occurred in 601 on the TISA River. Avaro-Slavic army was overturned and reset Romei into the river. The main losses fell on the share of Slavs. They lost 8,000 people, while Avars standing in the second line, only 3,000.

The defeat made Ants resume alliance with Byzantium. Having grated Kagan sent one of his approximated with significant forces against them, ordered to destroy this dismissed tribe. Probably settlements of Ants were terrible defeat, since their name itself from the beginning of the VII century is no longer mentioned in the sources. But the magnitude extermination of Ants, of course, did not happen: archaeological finds talk about the Slavic presence in the Danube and Dnock interference throughout the VII century. It is clear that the punitive expedition of Avarov inflicted an irreparable blow to the power of the Anthian tribes.

Despite the success achieved, the Balkans of Byzantium can no longer stop the Slavitia. After overthrowing in 602, the Emperor Mauritius Empire entered into a band of internal turmoils and foreign policy failures. The new emperor of Foka, who headed the soldiers' rebellion against Mauritius, did not leave military terrorist spins and after he died into a purple imperial mantle. His Board resembled rather tyranny than legitimate power. He used the army not for the defense of the borders, but for the robbery of his subjects and suppress dissatisfaction within the empire. This immediately used the Sassanid Iran, occupied by Syria, Palestine and Egypt, and the Persians actively helped by the Byzantine Jews, who beat garrisons and opened the gates of cities with approaching Persians; In Antioch and Jerusalem, they interpret the many Christian residents. Only the overthrow of Foki and the welling of the more active emperor Irakli allowed to save the position in the east and return the imperials lost provinces. However, the whole extended struggle with Iranian Shah, Irakli was to accept the gradual settlement of the Slavs of the Balkan lands. Isidore Sevilsky writes that it was at the board of Irakli "Slavs took away Greece from Romeev."

The Greek population of the Balkan, abandoned by the authorities to the mercy of fate, should have taken care of himself. In some cases, it managed to defend their independence. In this regard, the example of the Fessalonik (Soluni) is wonderful, to master the Slavs sought particularly persistently during the reign of Mauritius and then throughout almost the VII century.

A large cross in the city caused a sea siege of 615 or 616 years, undertaken by tribes of drogvitov (DHEGOVICH), Sagudatov, Vegezites, Vyunitov (possibly a warnie) and versitis (probably Berrhisites or Brezichi). After preparing all the fun, Ahaya, Epirus, most of the Illyrika and the coastal to these areas of the island, they are located camps near the Fesalonik. Men accompanied their families with all unaccompanious scarves, as Slavs intended to settle in the city after his capture.

From the side of the harbor, thesaloniki was defenseless, since all vessels, including boats, were even previously used by refugees. Meanwhile, the Slavic fleet was extremely numerous and consisted of various sorts of courts. Along with the Sameholders' boats, the Slavs appeared rooks adapted for marine swimming, significant displacement, with sails. Before taking the assault from the sea, the Slavs covered their roots with boards and raw leather to protect against stones, arrows and fire. However, the townspeople did not sit back. They blocked the entrance to the harbor with chains and logs with stakes sticking out of them and iron spikes, and on the side of the sushi prepared pita traps, stuck with nails; In addition, low, low, chest, wooden wall was erected.

For three days, Slavs looked out for the place where the breakthrough could be easier. On the fourth day, with the sunrise of the sun, by wrinkling at the same time a deafening combat cry, attacked the city on all sides. On land, the assault was conducted using chains and long stairs; Some Slavic soldiers went to the attack, others showered the walls of the arrow to drive away from there the defenders, the third tried to set fire to the gate. At the same time, the naval flotilla quickly rushed to the planned places from the side of the harbor. But the protective structures prepared here violated the combat order of the Slavic fleet; The roots burned into a bunch, sharpened on the spikes and chains, tagged and overturned each other. The rowers and warriors were drowning in sea waves, and those who managed to swim to the shore, hook the townspeople. The rising strong oncoming wind ended the defeat, squeezing the rooks along the coast. Dejected by the stupid death of their flotilla, the Slavs removed the siege and retreated from the city.

According to detailed descriptions of numerous Opija Thessalonik contained in the Greek compilation of the "wonders of St. Dimitri Solunsky", the organization of military affairs from Slavs in the VII century has been further developed. Slavic army was divided into troops on the main types of weapons: onions, rush, spear and sword. The special category was the so-called manganarias (in the Slavic translation of "Miracles" - "Personnels and Stenokers"), engaged in servicing siege guns. There was also a detachment of warriors, whom the Greeks called "outstanding", "selected", "experienced in battles," - they trusted the most responsible sites during the attack on the city or when protecting their lands. Most likely, these were warriors. The infantry was the main force of the Slavic troops; CONNION, if it was, then in such a minor amount that Greek writers did not bother to note its presence.

Attempts by Slavs to capture thesaloniki continued at the emperor Konstantin IV (668-685), but also ended in failure *.

* The salvation of the Fesalonik from the Slavic invasions seemed to contemporaries miracle and was attributed to the intervention of the Holy Martyr Dimitria, executed under the emperor Maximian (293-311). His cult quickly acquired commizable importance and in the 9th century was transferred to the Solong Brothers Kirill and Methodius to the Slavs. Later, Dimitri Solunsky became one of the favorite defenders and patrons of the Russian Earth. Thus, the sympathies of the ancient Russian reader "Miracles of St. Dimitri" were on the side of the Greeks, brothers in Christ.

St. Dimitri is striking the enemies of the Fesalonic

In the future, the settlement of Slavs was so tightly overturned by thesalonics, which in the end it led to the cultural assimilation of the inhabitants of the city. The life of St. Methodius conveys that the emperor, encouraging the Solun brothers to go to Moravia, led the following argument: "You are Salunyan, and Solunyan is all purely talking in Slavyansky."

The Slavic Sea Fleet took part in the Siege of Constantinople, undertaken by the Cagan in the Union with the Iranian Shah Hosra II in 618. Kagan used the fact that Emperor Irakli, along with the army, was at this time in Malaya Asia, where he returned from the deep three-year raid on the territory of Iran. The capital of the empire thus defended only the garrison.

Kagan led a 80,000-thousand army with him, in addition to the Avar Horde, the detachments of Bulgar, hepids and Slavs were included. Part of the latter, apparently, came with Cagan as his subjects, others as the allies of Avar. Slavic rooks arrived at Constantinople around the Black Sea from the mouth of the Danube and settle down on the flanks of the Kagan army: on the Bosphorus and in the Gulf of Golden Rog, where they dragged the wolf on land. Iranian troops, who took the Asian Bosphorchochore, played a supporting role - their goal was to prevent the return of Irakli's army to help the capital.

The first attack took place on July 31. On this day, Kagan tried to destroy the walls of the city with a trumpet gun. But the stone men and the "turtles" were burned by citizens. The new assault was appointed on August 7th. The precipitated covered urban walls with a double ring: in the first battle line there were passenger-plated Slavic warriors, they walked Avars behind them. This time, Kagan instructed the Slavic fleet to ride a large landing towards the shore. As the siege witness writes Fedor Sinkell, Kagan "I managed to turn the whole bay of the Golden Horn into the land, filling it with it with montoxylas (single-show boats. - S.Ts.), which are visiting the difference peoples." Slavs were performed mainly by the role of rowers, and the landing consisted of severe Avarian and Iranian warriors.

However, this joint assault of land and seasy forces ended in failure. Especially heavy losses suffered the Slavic fleet. About the naval attack somehow became known to Patricks Wonos, headed by the defense of the city. Probably, the Byzantines managed to decipher the signal lights, with which the Avara coordinated their actions with allied and auxiliary detachments. Having tightening the military ships to the intended place of attack, Wonos submitted to the Slavs a false signal with fire. As soon as Slavic rooks came out into the sea, Romeev's court surrounded them. The battle ended with the complete defeat of the Slavic flotilla, with the Roma somehow set fire to the vessels of the enemies, although the Greek Fire was not invented *. The defeat was borrowed, it seems to be a storm, thanks to which the delight of Constantinople was attributed to the Virgin Mary. The sea and the shore were covered with corpses of storming; Among the bodies of the dead were discovered and women-Slavs who took part in the maritime battle.

* The earliest testimony about the successful use of this combustible fluid refers to the time of the siege of Constantinople Arabs in 673.

The surviving Slavic sailors, apparently, were in the Avar citizenship, Kagan ordered to execute. This cruel deed led to the collapse of the Allied Troops. Slavs, who were not subordinate to the kagan, outraged violence over their relatives and left the Avar camp. Soon and Kagan was forced to follow them, since without infantry and fleet, it was meaningless to continue the siege.

The defeat of Avars under the walls of Constantinople served as a signal to the uprisings against their dominion, which was once afraid of Kagan Bayan. In the next two or three decades, most tribes included in the Avar Kaganat, and among them Slavs and Bulgars, dropped the Avar Igo. Byzantine poet Georgy Pisida stated with satisfaction:

... Skiff kills Slavyanina, and he kills him.
They are filled with blood from mutual killings,
and their great indignation is poured into battle.

After the death of the Avar Kaganata (end of the 7th century), the main population of the middle ponya was Slavs.

Slavs on the Byzantine service

* Abd Ar-Rahman, the son of Khalida (on the nicknamed "sword of God") - one of the four commander, whom Mohammed before her death (632) put at the head of the Arabic troops.
** From the Byzantine "clan".

The movement of large Slavic masses continued on the south continued. Under Emperor, Justinian II, who occupied the throne twice (in 685-695 and 705-711), the Byzantine authorities organized the resettlement of several more Slavic tribes (Smolyan, Strimtonians, Rinkhinov, Drułowitov, Sagudatov) in the Province of the Empire in the north-west Asia, which included both the Viphini, where the Slavic Colony has already had. The number of immigrants was huge, since Justinian II scored an army of 30,000 of them, and in Byzantium, military kits usually covered the tenth of the rural population. The archon of this host named by the emperor "selected" was put by one of the Slavic leaders named Nebul.

Attaching Romary Cavalry to Slavic infantrymen, Justinian II in 692 moved with this army against Arabs. In the battle of the lowland city of Sevastopol (modern Suul-Sarai), Arabs were defeated - it was their first defeat from Romeev. However, soon after that Arabic commander Mohammed lured to his side of Nebula, secretly sent him a full quiver of money (perhaps, along with a bribery, a considerable role in the desertion of Nebula played an example or even direct exhonication of previous Slavic mines). Together with his leader, 20,000 Slavic soldiers passed on the Arabs. Reinforced in a similar way, Arabs again attacked Romeyev and turned them into flight.

Justinian II threw anger to Slavs, but revenge on them no earlier than returned to the limits of the empire. By his order, many Slavs, together with his wives and children, was interrupted on the shore of the Nikomidia Bay in the Marmara Sea. And yet, despite this violence, the Slavs continued to arrive in the aschism. Their garrisons were placed in Syrian cities. Al-Jacubi reports that in 715 by the Arabic commander of the Maslamma Ibn Abd al-Malik border with Byzantium "Cities of Slavyan". He also writes that in 757/758, Khalif Al-Mansur sent his son Mohammed al-Mahdi to fight with Slavs. These news are echoing with al-Balazuri data about the resettlement of the Slavic population from the city of Al-Husus (Issos?) In al-Massis (in Northern Syria).

In the 760s, about 200,000 Slavs, saved from the Bulgarian clans that broke out in Bulgaria of the Bulgarian clans in Bulgaria moved to the aspiration. However, confidence in them from the Byzantine government fell greatly, and the Slavic detachments were given to the team of Romary Proconsula (three of them were led by three foremen, Romary officers).
The Vifficon Colony of Slavs existed to the X century. As for the Slavs, remaining from the Arabs, their descendants in the VIII century took part in the Arabic conquest of Iran and the Caucasus. According to Arabic sources, many thousands of Slavic soldiers died in these campaigns; The survivors probably gradually mixed with the local population.

Slavic invasions completely changed the ethnic map of the Balkans. Almost everywhere the prevailing population was the Slavs; The remains of the nations that were part of the Byzantine Empire are essentially preserved only in hard-to-reach mountainous areas.

With the extermination of the Latin-speaking population of Illyrika disappeared the last binding element between Rome and Constantinople: the Slavic invasion has erected an insurmountable barrier of paganism between them. The Balkan messages of the message were stolen for whole century; Latin, former before the VIII century official language Byzantine Empire, now replaced Greek and was forgotten safely. Byzantine Emperor Mikhail III (842-867) in a letter to Roman dad wrote that Latin is "Barbarian and Scythian language". And in the XIII century, Athenian Metropolitan Mikhail Choniat It was already quite sure that "Rather, the Lyra fighters the sound, and the dung beetle to the spirits, than Latinians will understand the harmony and the charm of the Greek language." The Slavs erected in the Slavic Balkans aggravated the gap between the European East and the West and at the very time when political and religious factors were increasingly shared by Constantinople and Roman churches.

Resettlement of Slavs to the Balkan Peninsula It became one of the most important migration vectors of the era of the great resettlement of peoples. The active phase of resettlement fell on -viii century. Information about the first appearance of Slavs in the Balkans in the V century is recorded in the writings of the Byzantine writers of historians: the proof of Caesarian and John Efesse. By the VII century, the Slavic tribes firmly entrenched on the Balkan Peninsula and began to gradually move towards Peloponnese and the Aegean Islands. Later, some groups of Slavs penetrated in Anatoly. In the VII-VIII centuries, Slavs created several state formations and with time became a significant force on the Balkan Peninsula.

Encyclopedic YouTube.

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✪ Great relocation of peoples. The world of barbarians. (Rus.) The history of the Middle Ages.

✪ 01 Great resettlement of peoples Slavs, Slavic tribes and ancient Ras

✪ Dark centuries of the history of Slavs (the archaeologist Alexander Sryovatko says)

✪ Cultural connections of ancient Russia with the southern Slavs of the IX - early XIII centuries.

✪ Bosporian kingdom (tells the historian Sergey Saprykin)

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Sources about the resettlement of Slavs

One of the first authors mentioning the resettlement of the Slavic tribes to the Balkans was the viscotian, who wrote the "story". In it, he witnessed the fact of the penetration of Slavs to the Balkan Peninsula. A more complete picture of this process gives the "History of War with Goths" the proofer of Caesarian. It describes those engaged in the Slavs territories, hiking of Slavs, their social system, life and religion in the VI century. A valuable addition to this information is the stamp of the Byzantine commander and Emperor Mauritius. Slavs also describes the work of Agaphia Mirinai "On the reign of Justinian". About the resettlement of Slavs within the Byzantine Empire tells in detail the theophylact of Simocatta in its "history". Valuable sources of events after the resettlement and the development of statehood in the Slavic tribes were the compositions of the Byzantine emperor Konstantin Bagryanorogennoe "On Femac" and "On People" ("On the Management of the Empire").

Special information about the Slavs during the settlement of them, the Balkans is also present in the "Church History of John Efesse", "Chronovograph" of Feofan's confessor, "Langobard History" Pavel Diacon, "Chronicle" of Fredegar, etc. In this case, written sources about the Slavs are mainly told On the external events of Slavic history - the progress of wars, the tactics of combat operations, a military device, about the relationship of Slavs with other peoples and other things.

Socio-economic characteristics of Slavic tribes

The Public Story of the Slavs during the settlement of the Balkans was similar to the Tacitis of Germanians. Slavs diverged in forests, or near rivers, lakes or swamps. They preferred to build a dwelling in hard-to-reach places. The villages of Slavs were several huts and household buildings located at some distance from each other, as the level of development of the economy and tools of labor demanded significant areas for each family. The family itself consisted of chapters, several adult sons and their families. Several families who occupied a certain territory were formed by the community. Several neighboring communities were a tribe. Each tribe occupied a special district, called the woofer. There were advice of elders and folk Assembly.

The basis of the economy of Slavs was agriculture. However, depending on natural conditions, preference was given to various types of business. Agriculture was either covered, or associated with the facing forest. In settlements located near the water bodies, a significant role was given to fishing. In forest areas, hunting and Bortnicheus were spread. The Balkans also gained widespread cattle breeding. High level The development of agriculture in Slavs celebrated Byzantine authors. The land was processed by bulls harvested in plows with iron tips. Widespread soha. The bread was cleaned with sulfur, grain stored in special pits.

Resettlement to the Balkans

The first contacts of the Slavs with the Eastern Roman Empire

At the beginning of our era, Slavs occupied a huge territory in Central and Eastern Europe north of the Carpathian mountains and between the Vistula pool and the middle subway. At various times, they in contact with Celts, Goths, Thracian, Sarmatian and other numerous tribes, partially absorbing them, partially dissolving in their medium. The first reliable evidence of written sources about the Slavs belong to the I-II centuries. Slavs appear in them under the name of the Venenov, which are referred to as a numerous peoples who lived on the Vistula near the Baltic Sea, behind the Carpathians. However, before the VI century, information about the Slavs is scarce and fragmentary, since the Romans and the Greeks were not included in direct contact. Only at the beginning of the 6th century, when Slavs began to attack the Byzantine possessions, more detailed reports of them appeared in historical testimonies. At this time, Slavs were known to contemporaries under the general names of Slovinov and Ants. The wallads occupied the territory west of the Dniester. Ants, selecting mainly east of it, partially penetrated in the area of \u200b\u200bthe settlement of the Soclabo. Slavic settlements in the area by the VI century significantly spread to the south and were already fitted with the Lower Danube.

The largest movement of the Slavs was their distribution due to the Carpathians towards the lower flow of the Danube, in Panononia and surrounding areas, and then for the Danube - to the Balkan Peninsula. Historian D. A. Machinsky wrote that the migration of Slavs to the Danube area identified "progressive changes in the life of the Slavs of this pore and the eastern and southern Slavs of the subsequent era." This spread of Slavs to the south was closely connected with the movements of other nations. Even at the end of IV and in the V century, many Slavic tribes were touched upon by the Gunnian invasion of Europe and the movement of hepids that followed him. According to a number of historians, these events accelerated the process of the movement of Slavs to the south, which began, apparently, in the first centuries of our era. In the middle of the V century sources, Slavic tribes are marked in Pannonia and on the left bank of the Danube. The evidence of the Byzantine Prsk, who traveled in 448 as an ambassador to the Camp of the Gunnsky leader Attila and described the customs of the people living in Pannonia, many researchers are interpreted as relatives to the Slavs. The movement of the Slavs was probably uneven in time - weaker at the beginning, wide and massive after the fall of the Gunnaya Power.

As we move to South, Slavs reached the possessions of the Eastern Roman Empire, better known as Byzantium, which at that time belonged to the Balkan Peninsula. Originally, the Slavs went hiking on the route of Romeyev as part of the armies of other nations, but from the first quarter of the VI century, they began to take independent attacks. At the end of the 20s, the VI century, the Big Antian Army passed the Danube, but was broken. In the 30s of the 6th century, the Byzantine troops on this site of the border of the empire was headed by the commander Hilbudium, the Slavoman from the Ants tribe. For three years, he successfully restrained the onslaught of Slavs and took off retaliation for the Danube, ruining their settlements. After the death of Hilbudia in 533, the raids of the Slavs on the right bank renewed again.

Historian S. A. Ivanov noted that for the main part of the population of Byzantia, the appearance of Slavs at its borders became an unexpected phenomenon. He suggested that the empire did not want to distract the forces to fight the Slavs and preferred to be silent about the threat emanating from them. She was open about her, only when Slavic detachments began to penetrate the Balkans.

Byzantium during this period was vulnerable. She watched War with Vandals in Africa, with Westges in Spain, with isgs in Italy, and in Syria and Transcaucasia - with Persians. The protracted wars complicated the inner position of the country. The growth of taxes caused the impoverishment of the wide segments of the population, which was accompanied by a number of uprisings. Under these conditions, the invasion of the Slavs in the limits of the empire became increasingly. In the 30s and 1930s of the VI century, they have repeatedly devastated to Frakia, and in 540 for the first time they came to the walls of Constantinople and captured his suburb. To protect the border on the Danube, the emperor Justinian restored the old fortifications on the banks of the river and built a lot of new ones. However, this could not hold back the Natisa of Slavs. Justinian tried to put the Slavs to the position of the federals (allies), providing them with the territory near the Danube for the settlement. In exchange for this, the Slavs had to defend the border of the empire. However, soon after that, in 548, Slavs made a devastating campaign to Iliria, reaching the epidam (modern Durres) on the Adriatic Sea. A detachment of 3,000 warriors crossed through the Danube and began to rob everything in his way. Separate detachments of the Byzantine army were broken. The warlord Azbad, who was standing with a garrison in the fortress Zurul in Frakia, attacked Slavs with an equestrian squad, but was broken and captured. Slavs removed the skin from it, and then burned alive. Then they were taken by storming the Thracian city of the Toper, where up to 15,000 men were interrupted, and women and children took into slavery. Those of whom those who could not lead for the Danube burned alive.

Penetration into the Balkans

In their raids of Slavs, using the help of hepids, forced the Danube within their possessions. At the same time, returning with rich extraction from looted by the Byzantine lands, they paid hepids on Dukatu for each man transported to the left bank. As a rule, thanks to them, the Slavs retained all the captured mining, the time to cross through the Danube, before they overtake the Byzantine detachments. According to Serbian historian, Vladimir Chorovich, the Byzantine troops left in the Balkans, in the middle of the 6th century there were 15,000 warriors and could not effectively confront the Slavs.

Around the middle of the 6th century, Slavs began to arrive at the Balkans not only for the sake of robbery, but also for the purpose of relocation. An increasing amount of them stood in different parts. In 550, a large detachment of Slavs forced the Danube. When the Empire's troops came to meet him, Slavs retreated in the direction of Dalmatia. After some time, they received reinforcement and moved towards Frace. The Adrianopol has the path to them the Byzantines, who were then forced to attack due to lack of food. In the battle, the attackers were completely defeated, the Slavic trophy for the first time was the Byzantine banner, and the Slavs first remained wintering on the territory of Byzantium. Up to this point, they never invaded the land of Byzantium in winter. On the contrary, in winter it was the Byzantine troops that the Slavic settlements were attacked. Therefore, with the beginning of settlement on the lands of the Empire, the struggle for new owners was often no longer the aliens because of the Danube, but the inhabitants of the nearest districts.

In 552, the king sharp Tethyl fell into battle with the troops of Byzantium. The message about his death shocked Slavs, they stopped raids for the Danube for some time. Justinian strengthened the fortress on the Danube and strengthened the garrisons located there. AT last years His government received a kind of respite, but the less the emperor himself became, the greater apathy covered his country. Italy was completely ruined during the war with Ostitas. North Africa was empty due to wars and diseases, although quite recently was considered the Hitter of the Empire. The treasury of the state is empty, at the same time taxes grew. The army declined from 645,000 to 150,000, while the remaining troops were in poor content, there were interruptions in their supply.

Historian Valentin Sedov wrote that in addition to military trips to the limits of the empire, the Slavs settled the Balkans and peacefully. Mostly it was farmers. During the 6th century, they penetrated into the western and central part of the Balkans in small groups, where they settled in the mountainous terrain. Sedov noted that these groups of farmers penetrated into those parts of the peninsula, where the fighting was not conducted and where they could feel safe.

At this time, part of the Slavs (in the Danube and Pannonia district) was subordinate to Avar. Slavs accompanied them in raids, in large battles provided the mass of the army of the Avarian Kaganat. Slavs knew how to beat on the water and attacked Byzantine cities from the sea, and on land, the main shock force was a maneuverable Avarian cavalry. After the victories, Avars returned with prey to the Panneon Steppes, and the Slavs were justified at the conquered territory.

After 590, Byzantium concluded a short-term world with the Persia and her troops began to disintegrate the Balkan provinces. They managed to repel from Avarov Sirmi and Silginunum, as well as transfer the fighting to the other coast of the Danube. Thus, the pressure on the boundaries of the empire was weakened. However, in 602, the Byzantine troops, which were forced to winter on the enemy territory, raised a riot. They overthrew the emperor Mauritius and supported the newly proclaimed emperor Foku. To ensure his power, the Byzantine detachments from the border have come to Constantinople, the defense of the border was significantly weakened. This took advantage of Slavs. They began a massive relocation through a weakly protected border and over for several years flooded the Balkans. In 614, they took the salon, about 617 were deposited by thessaloniki, about 625 attacked the Aegean Islands. Gradually, the Slavs were captured by a number of cities on the Adriatic coast. Only nuclei (Zadar), Trogir and some others survived.

On July 31, 626, Constantinople was besieged by Slavs under the leadership of Avar. They were also joined by gepida, protobolgars and those Slavs who did not submit to Avaras and walked thanks to the promises of great production. Slavs had to attack Constantinople from the sea, and Avars and the rest - to start the attack of the walls. On the other side of the Bosporus stood another enemies of Byzantium - Persians. Byzantines possessed a strong fleet, which did not allow Avaras and their allies to establish contact with the Persians. Using the trick, the Romeev fleet lured the Slavic ships in the ambush, where they suffered heavy losses. Saved Slavs killed Avars. According to the memories of contemporaries, the water in the blood of Slavs in the Strait became red. Bay Golden Horn was full of corpses and empty ships. After that, the Slavs left the camp of the precipitating, and August 8, Avars left the city walls.

Valentin Sedov noted that if until the VII century, under the Slavic lands, the Byzantines implied territory north of the Danube, then in the VII century, the land in the center of the Balkan were already considered. Macedonia and surrounding areas were covered with Slavic settlements. Under the control of Byzantium, only the south-eastern regions of the peninsula remained. However, by the end of the VII century, her troops managed to win the part of the previously lost possessions. A similar point of view was expressed by Czech Slavist Lybor Niderle.

Settlement of the Peninsula Slavyani.

Slavs could not completely and evenly populate the Balkans. Presumably, they moved through the ancient Roman roads and settled in those places that were already mastered and suitable for life. In the territories transferred to the power of Slavs, the anklava of the authon population of the peninsula remained. Their number and accurate location is unknown. Serbian historian Sima Chirkovich believed that the autochthonous population of the Balkan at that time lived in the mountains and hard-to-reach places that were not occupied by Slavs. Basically, the indigenous people were in Northern Albania, Macedonia, Fessals and on Dinar Highlands.

Historian D. A. Maachinsky noted that the settlement of the Slavs Frakia and Macedonia made them less attractive for the Slavs remaining on the left bank of the Danube. The system of military trips for the Danube with the aim of capturing wealth and prisoners was violated, which, together with the activation of Byzantium and various civil workers, led to the fact that the ponavyier stopped being the center of attraction of Slavic tribes. Separate groups of the Slavs from the Polynaya, Carpathia and more remote areas began to move towards the districts of Vistula and Dnipro.

As you move deep into the Balkans Slavs have come into contact with the local population. First of all, they met with Romanes, subjects of the Byzantine emperors. They then came into contact with the novel population of coastal cities. The Slavs in the mountains came across whales and ancestors of modern Albanians. Historians do not have accurate data on the early contacts of the Slavs and the indigenous population. Folded later, folk legends talk about the hostility between the Christian population of the Balkan and the Slavic Gentiles. Borrowing toponyms and agricultural terminology. For example, the names of major rivers Slavs borrowed from autochthonous languages, and their tributaries have already received the Slavic names. The names of a significant number of mountains and cities are also romance origin. In the agrarian terminology of Albanians and Mukhov, the terms of Slavic origin are found, and in the terminology of agriculture of Slavs there are borrowings from the autochthonous population of the peninsula.

By the beginning of the second quarter of the VII century, the resettlement of Slavs to the Balkans was mainly over. Later, only separate small movements took place.

Serbian tribes

After some time, after the relocation to the Balkans, Serbs have formed several large communities, which then became state formations. Between the rivers of Cetina and Nerretva was located the unretera principality, which the Byzantines called the Pagania. She belonged to the islands of Brac, Hvar and Mute. The area between the unreight and Dubrovnik was called Zakhumla. Earth from Dubrovnik to the Boca-Ki bay occupied grass and convoc. It is south, to the river Boyana, stretched Dukly, which he later began to call Zeta. Between the rivers of Sava, Vrbas and Ibar was a rashka, and between the Rerina and Bosnian rivers - Bosnia.

In the "Frankish Annals" in the information on the events of the beginning of the IX century, Serbs appear as a special nationality, which occupied a significant part of Dalmatia. Presumably, by this time, the Serbs had already assimilated the autochthonous population in the occupied territories.

As in other parts of the Balkan Peninsula, in the Serbian lands, the spread of Christianity among the Slavic tribes began shortly after their relocation. The initiator of Christianization in these lands was Byzantium, which calculated this way to expand its political influence on the Slavs. Emperor Konstantin Bagrynorovnoe reports that the baptism of Serbs began with the emperor of Heraclia (610-641), who sent the Serbs of the priests from Rome. According to a number of historians, the attempts of Byzantium spread Christianity in the Serbian lands had several large results than in Croatia. Christianity originally spread slowly, the wide sections of the population with difficulty were perceived and often returned to paganism. However, part of the Slavic population retained the commitment of Christianity, especially in the seaside areas bordering the Byzantine possessions. Finally new religion Artified in the Serbian lands only in the second half of the 9th century under the emperor of Vasily I, when the princely genus in Rashka was baptized. Presumably, this happened between 867 and 874 years. At the same time, individual representatives of Serbian nobility could be baptized earlier, whereas in some areas (especially in Paganias) and in the medium of the peasantry paganism also dominated in the X century.

Croatian tribes

The appearance of Croats on the Balkan Peninsula described quite in detail the Byzantine emperor Konstantin Bagryanorogennoye. He paid special attention to them, as they seized a significant part of Dalmatia, which was the largest of the Western provinces of Byzantium. In Dalmatia there were ancient cities, including numerous ports, with the loss of which the Byzantine rulers did not want to put up. In the description of Konstantin Bagryanorous, the resettlement of Croats is shown as the next wave of Slavic colonization. In modern historiography, it is believed that Croats came to the Balkan Peninsula in the first half of the 6th century, during the time of Emperor Irakli, which is confirmed by archaeological data.

The next stage of Croatian history is closely related to the development of expansion from the francs. In 812, Karl The Great and Byzantine Emperor Mikhail I Rankava concluded a contract according to which the Frankish Empire received the right to Croatian land. Her Board continued until the end of the 870s. After that, Croatia acquired the status of an independent principality, and its rulers began to have the right to charge the Dani from the cities on the Dalmatian coast, which were still listed as part of Byzantium.

During the uprising of Lyudewit Posavsky in Slavonia in 818-822. Prince of Primorsky Croatia Born died. With the consent of the emperor Karl, the successor was the nephew Borne Ladislav. It marked the beginning of the board of the hereditary dynasty, which received the conditional name of the Tripimirovsky dynasty, on behalf of one of the heirs of Frankish Vassal. The second half of the IX and the beginning of the X century became the time of the heyday of the state of Tpimirovich.

Slovenian tribes

In the 6th century, Slavs were settled on a more extensive territory in the east Alps. The first wave of the resettlement of Slavs, dated about 550 years, took place on the part of the current Moravia. Another resettlement wave occurred in 568 after the Langobard leaves from the territory of modern Slovenia to Italy. Avars and Slavs began to relocate the liberated territories. The territory where the Slavs moved, also inhabited the remains of Valahov, which partly still retained Christianity. The colonization of the Slavs of the Eastern Alps is confirmed by the Collapse of the Dioceses in the region of the Eastern Alps in the second half of the 6th century, a change in the population and material cultureBut mainly the approval of the new Slavic speech. Still during the settlement on new territory Quarantine and Pannon Slavs fell under the power of Avar. They not only paid Avatram tribute, but sometimes they had to walk along with them hiking for Byzantium. Especially strong was the dependence of the Slavic tribes in Pannonia.

In 623, according to the Chronicle of Fredegar, the state occurred, subordinate to Avaras. With the help of conquest, he created the prince itself, and after his death the state was contemplated. In 626, the Slavs created a new category of a quarantion, already independent of the Avarian Kaganate. Quarantion is considered the most developed among Slavic Property formations. In 745 Avars began to threaten the state again. In this situation, Slovenians turned for help to Bavaria and were dependent on the bishop of Salzburg. He raped them into a Catholic faith. In the VIII century, Karl the Great won the Bavaria and a quarantion and destroyed the Avarian Kaganat. Already at the beginning of the IX century, the Great Quarantion became part of the eastern brand of Carroling.

Slavs of modern Bulgaria

On the territory of modern Bulgaria, Slavs created several wallas, the most powerful of which was called "Seven Childbies". Presumably, she was still on the left bank of the Danube, and when the Slavs embraced by the Slavs moved to Mesia and Dobrudju, they kept the part of the Danube lands. Perhaps, by the 670s, part of the Slavs "Seven Slavic Childbies" recognized the sovereignty of Byzantium and was listed by the federals of the empire, obliged to defend the border on the Danube.

Further events

The formation of neighboring communities was accompanied by a change in tribal division by territorial. During the resettlement of the Slavs, their tribes were stirred, and tribal ties were broken. This is evidenced by the preservation of toponyms in different parts of the Balkan Peninsula, derivatives from such, for example, tribal names, as dulabs and Croats. When the peninsula check occurs, the territorial sirring of tribes occurred. As a result, the belonging to the tribe was already determined not so much relationship how much accommodation in the relevant territory. Basically, the tribes received the name from the occupied territory. This is evidenced by the emergence of such tribal names, as Timochha, who lived in the Timok River basin; Stream, settled in the Strosh River Basin; Nerrevian, who lived between the mouths of the Rivers of Nonter and Cetina; Travunyan, who received his name from the previous title of the Tribune region (between modern Dubrovnik and which), etc. Gradually, the tribal division was replaced by administrative-territorial units that were called eats. As a rule, their center was a fortified point - "Grad". With the construction of "Grads", the Southern Slavs often used the remains of fortresses remained from the Roman time.

The most powerful princes of Zupanam in the VII-VIII centuries managed, relying on their squads, spread power into several tribes, and thus combine the territory occupied by them. These unions of the tribes have already been significantly more strong political entities than those who temporarily arose from Slavs during the resettlement period. Byzantines called them wallas. It is known that the originally the Byzantines called the Slavic territories on the left bank of the Danube.

After some time, the Byzantines began a counterattack for lost lands. Initially, they dismantled the lands around the seaside cities, but then hitting the departures of the peninsula. The conquered by the Slavic Principles, Byzantine emperors, usually turned into military administrative units - Ferms. The FEU headed the strategist appointed directly by the emperor. Especially the major conquests of the Byzantines were made during the reign of Justinian II at the end of the 6th century.

Notes

, with. 81.
, with. 170.
, with. 364.
, with. 292.
, with. nine.
, with. 276.
, with. ten.
, with. eleven.
, with. 12.
, with. 27.
, with. 37.
Notele L. Theories of the southern movement of Slavs (rus.)
, with. 29.
Vladimir Chorovi. Prodius Locked on the Balkans
, with. 15.
, with. thirty.
, with. 15.
, with. 58.
Vladimir Chorovi. Slovenia Nasaљaјu Balkans (Serb.). Caption date July 14, 2014.
Mastering the Slavs of the Balkan Peninsula and Peloponnese (rus.). Caption date July 14, 2014.

The mystery of the boamars (to the question of the Slavic presence on the Danube in the V century)

The earliest news about the scams contains the "Life of Saint Severin" (511). The compiler of "Life" Abbot Evbippius, a student of Severin (Bishop of the Sudenha Province of Norik) and an eyewitness of events, created in essence the chronicle of the daily life of the North-West Pannonia and the part of the North-East Norik adjacent to it. This time called by Evgippiim "Brutal Master of Barbarov" was marked by the invasion of Pannonia and Norik of individual barbaric tribes - ready, rugs, alamannes, thuringings, as well as a crowd of "robber" and "robbers". Suddenly appearing from the forest school, the latter ruined the fields, caught cattle, prisoners and even tried with the help of stairs to storm the city. In 505, the empire was forced to send a rather significant army against them.

These are large gangs, apparently, something distinguished from other barbarians, locals and called "scams".

The etymology of the word "scamara" is unclear. V. Trunkner for some reason connected the word "scamarae" with Langobard language (W. Bruckner, Die Sprache der Langobarden, Strassburg, 1895, S. 42, 179-180, 211), although in V c. In Norik and Pannonia Langobards have not yet been. The author "Life of St. Severina "explained that the word" Skamara "was a local, folk term, common on the Danube coasts in V c. In the VI century The boamars mentioned Menander, and again, indicating the local use of this word (under 573, where it says that the Avar Embassy, \u200b\u200bwho returned from Byzantium, attacked the "so-called Skamara" and plundered him). Jordan (GET., § 301) applied the word "scamarae" in one row with the words "abactores" (Konokrad), "Latrones" (Robbers). Later, it fell into the oldest collection of the usual law of Langobard (Edict Rotary from 643, § 5: "If someone in the province taught Skamar or gives him a bread, the deceased to his soul") is likely to be borrowed during the stay of Langobard in Pannonia At the local population. Finally, it is found in the "chronographic" of Feofan (under 764).

The question of the social affiliation of boamars is considered in detail in Article A. Dmitriev "The movement of boamars" ( V Tom of "Byzantine Teamon", 1952). The author adhered to the view that the Skamars were the part of the exploited population of the Sudenha provinces, which fled from the general economic destroyer and from their oppressors and united with barbaric tribes that made raids on the ownership of the empire: "Slaves, columns and other enslaved poor people fled from the Roman oppression in Inactive and impassable terrain, and then united with invading "barbaric" peoples and jointly with them opposed weapons in their hands against the immensely oppressed their slave owners and a slave-owned state. " But in Ethnic Plan, Dmitriev Skamarov did not investigate.

But, according to D.Ilovaiski, more or less convincing origin of the word "scamara" is possible only from Slavic "beams" or "bamroh", like a parangious or mocking none name ( Ilovai D. I. Warning about the beginning of Russia. M., 1876. P. 373). True, even if he is right, then, apparently, it should be clarified that the boamars were most likely the declared part of the ruined peasant and the urban population of the Dudan regions, which was looking for salvation from hungry death in scatteries and robbery, and for the sake of it often adjoined to the barbarars during their raids on the empire. But since, according to Evgippia's testimony, the term "Skamara" was local, commonplace, this allows or talking about the constant presence of Slavs among the local population, or about close and frequent contacts between them.

Sample forces

The first fixed raid fixed in the Byzantine sources to the Balkans Slavs was committed in the rule of Emperor Justina I (518-527). According to the testimony, the procopy of Caesarian, these were the ants, who, "by going the River Istr, a huge army invaded the land of Romeev." But the anorth invasion was unsuccessful. The imperial commander Herman defeated them, after which the world reigned on the Danube border of the empire for some time.

However, from 527, that is, from the moment of the advantage of the throne of Justinian I and until his death, followed in 565, the continuous series of Slavic invasions devastates the Balkan lands and threatens the very capital of the empire - Constantinople. The weakening of the northern border of the Empire was the result of the majestic, but, as the time shown, the unfulfilled plan of Justinian, who was undertaking to restore the unity of the Roman Empire. Military forces of Byzantium were sprayed around the coast Mediterranean Sea. Especially protracted were wars in the East - with the Sassanid kingdom and in the West - with the kingdom of Ostrogotov in Italy. By the end of the board of Justinian, the empire completely exhausted its financial and military opportunities.

The imperial ambitions did not apply to Severorian lands, so the basis of the strategy of local military authorities was defense. For some time they successfully restrained the Slavic head. In 531, the Commander-in-Chief of Thrace was appointed a talented commander Hilvudia, an officer of the Imperial Guard and, possibly, AnT by origin. He tried to transfer hostilities to the Slavic lands and organize the Danube reference points on the other shore, placing troops on winter apartments. However, this decision caused a strong ropot among the soldiers complained about intolerable deprivation and cold. After the death of Hilvudia in one of the battles (534), the Byzantine troops returned to a purely defensive strategy.

And yet, the Slavs and the Ants almost every year managed to penetrate the Thrace and Illirin. Many terrain have been robbed more than five times. According to Caesarian proof, each Slavic invasion was worth the empire 200,000 inhabitants - killed and taken captive. At this time, the population of the Balkan reached a minimum of its number, declining from two to one million people ( The history of the peasantry in Europe. In 2 t. M., 1985. T. 1. P. 27).

Submission of Ants Byzantium

Fortunately for Byzantium, who broke out a civil war between scalables and Antami suspended their further joint invasions for the Danube. Byzantine sources report that "... Ants and scalable, being in a quarrel with each other, entered the battle, where they happened to the attacks to suffer ...".

Justinian diplomats at this time even managed to attract the scalared-Antian detachments to military service in the ranks of the Byzantine army. It was these divisions that were saved from the major troubles of the commander-in-chief of the Italian army of the Gasizaria, who in the spring of 537 was besieged by the heads in Rome. Arrived to Romanes reinforcements, consisting of scalables, Ants and Gunnov (under the lanesses, they most likely, the Bulgars are most likely), about 1,600 riders, allowed the Gazesia to defend the city and force the opponent to remove the siege.

In the meantime, disagreements between scalables and Antah prompted the latter to a closer rapprochement with Byzantium. At this thought, the Ants pushed random circumstances. One Anthorsky young man, named Hilvudia, was captured by scalables. After some time, the rumor was spread among Ants, that this Hilventus and his namesake, the Byzantine commander, commander-in-chief in Thrace, is the same face. The Creator of Intrigue was a kind of Greek, captured by Antah in Thrace. They were moving the desire to heal in front of her lord and get freedom. He presented the matter so that the emperor would generously reward someone who will return Hilvudia from captivity. Grek's owner went to Zlavenam and bought out falsehylvoid. True, the latter often denied his identity with the Byzantine commander, but Greek explained his objection to the reluctance to disclose incognito before arriving in Constantinople.

The antines were aggravated by the prospects that have enlobed the possession of such an important hostage. On the tribal meeting of falsehylvudia, to his despair, he was proclaimed by the leader of the Ants. There was a plan for a peaceful relocation in Frakia, for which it was decided to achieve from the emperor of the appointment of falsehylvudia commander-in-chief of the Danube army. Meanwhile, Justinian, not knowing anything about the impostor, sent ambassadors to the Ambatts with a proposal to settle on the lands near the ancient Roman city of Tourrhus (Modern Akkerman) on the rights of federals, intending to use their military forces to protect the borders of the empire from Bulgar raids. The Antines agreed to become the federals of the empire, and falsehylvudia was sent by them to Constantinople for negotiations. However, on the road, he ran into a commander of Nazas, who personally knew the present Hilvudia. The unfortunate impostor was arrested and delivered to the capital of the captive.

Nevertheless, the benefits of the imperial protectorate seemed to the ants more substantially than the insult due to the arrest of their leader. Varvars generally, as a rule, allied relations with Byzantia, who promised them significant vital benefits. Prokokii Caesarian reports on complaints of one nomadic tribe, dissatisfied with the fact that the emperor prefers their neighbors - another Horde received annual gifts from Constantinople. While we talked to the ambassadors of this tribe, "we live in the huts, in the country of deserted and fruitless," these luckyomes "gives the opportunity to eat bread, they have a complete opportunity to get enough of the wines and choose all sorts of seasonings. Of course, they can wash in the baths, these tramps shine gold, they have and thin robes, multicolored and decorated with gold. " In this speech, it is impossible to be described better cepete dreams Varvarov: There is an opportunity to drink extra, wearing expensive clothes and decorations and wash in the bath - here is the symbol of earthly well-being, the limit of aspirations and desires.

Antairs, it must be assumed, were not alien to such a mindset. Having hungting to the imperial gifts, they recognized the supremacy of Byzantium, and Justinian included the epithetic "Anthorsky" in his imperial title. In 547, a small detachment of Ants in three hundred people participated in hostilities in Italy against the troops of the Ostrogotsky King Totil. Their skills of warfare in the wooded and mountainous terrain served a good route service. Taking a narrow passage in one of the difficult places of hilly Lucania, Antairs repeated the feat of the Spartans in Fermopils. "With a valor inherent in them (despite the fact that the inconvenience of the terrain prominently)," as the procopies of the Caesarean tells, - Ants ... overturned enemies; And the great beating them happened ... ".

Further penetration of Slavs to the Balkans in the VI century

Scalable, however, did not join the Byzantine-Agreement and continued devastating raids on the Earth Earth. In 547, they invaded Illirin, robbery, killing and capturing the inhabitants. They managed to even master many fortresses, considered previously impregnable, and none of them had resistance. The whole province was paralyzed by horror. Archons Illirika, having under the start of the 15,000th army, nevertheless, was stirred to approach the enemy and just followed him in some distance, obscurely watching what was happening.

The next year disaster repeated. Although Slavs this time consisted of no more than three thousand, and at the same time, their detachment was divided into two, Romean troops, who joined them into battle, "unexpectedly", as the procopies say, were defeated. The head of the Byzantine cavalry and bodyguard of Emperor Assad was captured to the Slavs and found a terrible death there: he was burned, having pre-cut the belts from his back. Then the Slavs spread over the Thracian and Illyrian regions and took a set of fortresses, "Although they did not storm the walls before." In the siege of the topic, for example, they resorted to military tricks. Having leaning the feigned retreat of the garrison from the city, Slavs surrounded him and destroyed it, after which the whole weighing rushed to the attack. Residents tried to defend themselves, but were bent from the wall of cloud of arrows, and the Slavs, putting the stairs to the wall, broke into the city. The top of the topira was part of carved, part of the slavery. Having created a lot of cruelty along the way, the Slavs returned home, burdened with rich prey and numerous polon.

Engraved with success, the Slavs are so osmells that during the following raids already remained in the Balkans to wintering, "as if in their own country, and not afraid of any danger," proof writing indignantly. And Jordan noted with a chagrin that Slavs, even recently, such insignificant, "now they are rapid about sins everywhere." Even a grand defensive system of 600 fortresses, erected by order of Justinian I along the Danube, was not stopped to stop their invasion, erected by the Empire, the empire had enough soldiers to carry a garrison service. Slavs quite easily broke through the border line.

In one of these campaigns, their detachments reached Adrianopol, who was all five days later from Constantinople. Justinian was forced to send an army against them under the start of his courts. Slavs became a camp on the mountain, and Romese - on the plain, not far from them. For several days, neither those nor others dared to start the battle. Finally, the Romean warriors derived from the patience of a scanty diet, forced their commander to decide on the battle. The position chosen by the Slavs helped them to repel the attack, and Romese were completely defeated. Byzantine commander, the Byzantine commander was escaped, almost having captured, and the Slavs among other trophies captured the banner of St. Constantine, which, though, later was chosen from them against them.

An even greater danger was hung over the empire in 558 or 559, when Slavs in the Union with the Bulgarian Khan Zacchargan approached the most Constantinople. Reaching the openings formed after a recent earthquake, they penetrated this defensive line and appeared in close proximity to the capital. In the city there was only a walking guard, and to reflect the attack, Justinian had to be requisitioned for the needs of the army of all city horses and send their courtesy to carry a guard service at the gates and on the walls. Dear church utensils just in case was transferred to the other side of the Bosphorus. Then the Guards Parts under the leadership of the elderly Veliaria were tailed. To hide the small number of his squad, the Gasienary ordered to wake up behind the combat lines of conceded trees, which thus rose a thick dust that the wind was poured toward the precipitated. Cunning success. Believing that a large Romean army is moving on them, Slavs and Bulgars removed the siege and retreated from Constantinople without a fight.

To completely leave Frace, however, they did not think. Then the Byzantine fleet entered the Danube and cut off the Slavs and Bulgaram the way home, on the other side. It forced the Khan and the Slavic leaders to go to the negotiations. They were allowed to immediately cross through the Danube. But at the same time, Justinian shed on the Orda, the other Bulgarian tribe - the womburov, the Allies of Byzantium.

The new stage of Slavic colonization of the Balkans stepped in the second half of the VI century. - With the arrival in the ponavar Avar.

Education of Avar Kaganata

The successes of the Byzantines in the Balkans were temporary. In the second half of the 6th century, the balance of power in the Polynavier and the Northern Black Sea region was violated by the arrival of new conquerors. Central Asia, as if an immense womb, continued to express nomadic hordes. This time it was Avara.

From Frankish chronicist VII century. Fredegar will also find out that the Avara "every year came to wintering to the Slavs, they took the wives of Slavs and their daughters to themselves on the bed; over other oppression of the Slavs paid Huns (in this case, Avaras. - S. C..) Dan. "

In addition to direct participation in hostilities, Slavs provided a crossing of the Avarian troops across the rivers and supported the land forces of the sea from the sea, and the mentors of Slavs in the maritime were experienced Langobard ships, especially for this kagan invited. According to Pavel Diacon, in 600, the Langobard king Agalulf sent to the kagan of ship masters, thanks to which "Avaras", that is, the Slavic units in their army, mastered the "a kind of island in Frakia." The Slavic fleet consisted of single-show boats and quite spacious looses. The art of the construction of large warships remained unknown Slavic Morakhodam, since in the V century, the foresological Byzantines adopted the law, caught by the death penalty of anyone who dares to train the barbarians to the ship.

Invasion of Avar and Slavs to the Balkans

Rabnes medieval Anonymous Chronicle of the city of Monemvasia, expressing the sadness of humiliation of "nobleral Ellin's peoples", testifies that in the 580s the Slavs seized "all of the Fessiona and all Ellada, like an old epir and an attic and Eubey, as well as most of the Peloponnese, where They kept more than two hundred years. According to Constantinople Patriarch Nikolai III (1084-1111), Roma did not dare to seem there. Even in the 10th century, when the power of Byzantium over Greece was restored, this region was still called "Slavic Earth" (in 3 On the 0s of the XIX century, the German scientist Falmener noticed that modern Greeks, in essence, occur from Slavs; This statement caused a turbulent discussion in scientific circles).

Of course, Byzantia lost these lands after a stubborn fight. For a long time, her forces were made by the war with Iranian Shah, so on the Danube Front, the Byzantine government could only rely on the hardness of the walls of the local fortresses and the resistance of their garrisons. Meanwhile, perennial clashes with the Byzantine army did not pass without a trace for military art of Slavs. The historian of the VI century John Efesse notices that the Slavs, these savages, who had not previously dare appear from the forests and did not know the other weapons, except for throwing copies, now learned to fight better than Rome. Already during the reign of Emperor Tiberia (578-582), Slavs quite clearly expressed their colonial intentions. Folithing the Balkans up to Corinth, they did not leave these land in the continuation of four years. Local residents were charged with tribute in their favor.

Attempts by Slavs to capture thesaloniki continued with the emperor Konstantin IV (668-685), but also ended in failure.

St. Dimitri affects the enemies of the Fesalonik.Rescue Fesalonik
from the Slavic invasions seemed to contemporaries miracle and was
attributed to the intervention of the Holy Martyr Dimitria,
executed with the emperor Maximian (293-311). His cult
quickly acquired the communal importance and in the 9th century was transferred
solong Brothers Kirill and Methodius to the Slavs. Later
Dimitri Solunsky became one of his favorite defenders and patrons
Russian land. Thus, the sympathies of the ancient Russian reader
Miracles of St. Dimitri were on the side of the Greeks, brothers in Christ.

The first attack took place on July 31. On this day, Kagan tried to destroy the walls of the city with a trumpet gun. But the stone men and the "turtles" were burned by citizens. The new assault was appointed on August 7th. The precipitated covered urban walls with a double ring: in the first battle line there were passenger-plated Slavic warriors, they walked Avars behind them. This time, Kagan instructed the Slavic fleet to ride a large landing towards the shore. According to the witness of the siege, Fedor Sinkell, Kagan "managed to turn the whole bay of the Golden Horn into the land, filling it with monoxyles (single-show boats. - S.TS..), Divorced peoples are visiting. " Slavs were performed mainly by the role of rowers, and the landing consisted of severe Avarian and Iranian warriors.

However, this joint assault on the land and sea forces ended in failure. Especially heavy losses suffered the Slavic fleet. About the naval attack somehow became known to Patricks Wonos, headed by the defense of the city. Probably, the Byzantines managed to decipher the signal lights, with which the Avara coordinated their actions with allied and auxiliary detachments. Having tightening the military ships to the intended place of attack, Wonos submitted to the Slavs a false signal with fire. As soon as Slavic rooks came out into the sea, Romeev's court surrounded them. The battle ended with the full defeat of the Slavic flotilla, and Romei somehow set fire to the vessels of the enemies, although the Greek Fire was not invented (the earliest testimony for the successful use of this combustible fluid refers to the time of the siege of Constantinople Arabs in 673). The defeat was borrowed, it seems to be a storm, thanks to which the delight of Constantinople was attributed to the Virgin Mary. The sea and the shore were covered with corpses of storming; Among the bodies of the dead were discovered and women-Slavs who took part in the maritime battle.

The surviving Slavic sailors, apparently, were in the Avar citizenship, Kagan ordered to execute. This cruel deed led to the collapse of the Allied Troops. Slavs, who were not subordinate to the kagan, outraged violence over their relatives and left the Avar camp. Soon and Kagan was forced to follow them, since without infantry and fleet, it was meaningless to continue the siege.

... Skiff kills Slavyanina, and he kills him.
They are filled with blood from mutual killings,
and their great indignation is poured into battle.

After the death of the Avar Kaganata (end of the 7th century), the main population of the middle ponya was Slavs.

Slavs on the Byzantine service

Rejoicing from the power of Avarov, the Balkan Slavs simultaneously lost their military support, which suspended Slavic Promotion to South. In the middle of the 7th century, many Slavic tribes recognized the supremacy of the Byzantine emperor. The numerous Slavic Colony was posted by the imperial authorities in Malaya Asia, in Viphinia, as military-ridden. However, with each convenient case, the Slavs violated the oath of loyalty. In 669, 5,000 Slavs were moved from Romary troops to the Arabic commander and after co-devastating the Byzantine lands left with Arabs in Syria, where they settled on the Oronte River, north of Antioch. The court poet al-ahtal (approx. 640-710), the first of the Arabic writers mentions these Slavs - "Zlakutokutry Saklabov" (from the Byzantine "clan".) - In one of his Casid.

The movement of large Slavic masses continued on the south continued. Under Emperor, Justinian II, who occupied the throne twice (in 685-695 and 705-711), the Byzantine authorities organized the resettlement of several more Slavic tribes (Smolyan, Strimtonians, Rinkhinov, Drułowitov, Sagudatov) in the Province of the Empire in the north-west Asia, which included both the Viphini, where the Slavic Colony has already had. The number of immigrants was huge, since Justinian II scored an army of 30,000 of them, and in Byzantium, military kits usually covered the tenth of the rural population. The archon of this host named by the emperor "selected" was put by one of the Slavic leaders named Nebul.

In the 760s, about 200,000 Slavs, saved from the Bulgarian clans that broke out in Bulgaria of the Bulgarian clans in Bulgaria moved to the aspiration. However, confidence in them from the Byzantine government fell greatly, and the Slavic detachments were given to the team of Romary Proconsula (three of them were led by three foremen, Romary officers).

The Vifficon Colony of Slavs existed to the X century. As for the Slavs, remaining from the Arabs, their descendants in the VIII century took part in the Arabic conquest of Iran and the Caucasus. According to Arabic sources, many thousands of Slavic soldiers died in these campaigns; The survivors probably gradually mixed with the local population.

Slavic invasions completely changed the ethnic map of the Balkans. Almost everywhere the prevailing population was the Slavs; The remains of the nations that were part of the Byzantine Empire are essentially preserved only in hard-to-reach mountainous areas.

With the extermination of the Latin-speaking population of Illyrika disappeared the last binding element between Rome and Constantinople: the Slavic invasion has erected an insurmountable barrier of paganism between them. The Balkan messages of the message were stolen for whole century; Latin, formerly before the VIII century, the official language of the Byzantine Empire, now replaced Greek and was forgotten safely. Byzantine Emperor Mikhail III (842-867) in a letter to Roman dad wrote that Latin is "Barbarian and Scythian language". And in the XIII century, Athenian Metropolitan Mikhail Choniat was already quite sure that "Rather, the Lyra fighters the sound, and the dung beetle to the spirits, than Latinians will understand the harmony and the charm of the Greek language." The Slavs erected in the Slavic Balkans aggravated the gap between the European East and the West and at the very time when political and religious factors were increasingly shared by Constantinople and Roman churches.

1 The outer wall of Constantinople, built 50 km west of the city by Emperor Anastasiya (491-518).
2 Abd Ar-Rahman, the son of Khalida (on the nicknamed "sword of God") - one of the four commander, which Muhammed before her death (632) put at the head of the Arabic troops.

1
The first invasions of the Slavs within the limits of Byzantium refer to the Rubeburg V and VI centuries. n. e. When the Balkan Provinces of the Empire was subjected to devastating raids of the dooms of unknown northern tribes.

It was a new and strong enemy - mighty and numerous tribes that advanced from the north to the Danube. The new enemy in the Empire was called initially "heta" - the name of the ancient Dako-Thracian population of the Low Eve Danube, which was not remembered since the time of Emperor Vespasian. The first attack of the geeves on the empire applies, apparently, by 493 or 495, judging by the reports of Chronicist VI. Maccelline, the Hordes of Gethees invaded the limits of Frace, and the Thracian warlord of Julian was killed in the battle. In 517, they repeatedly collapsed on the Balkans, penetrated the Macedonia and (185) Fessal, reached the Fermopil in the south, and in the West entered the old epirla, crushing everything in its path.

A few years later, when the empire closerly learned his new enemy who had committed a number of audacious invasions in its limits, his real name was also known. The new enemy of the empire was Antairs and Slovenins - two related groups of the ancient Slavic tribes. These names began to be called in the Empire, apparently, with Justinian, after the events of 527 and 529, when the Byzantine commander, the price of large victims managed to prevent new attempts to Slavic Druzhs to penetrate the Balkan Peninsula. The fact that Hethami was originally called precisely Slavs, and not any other northern tribes, testifies the Byzantine historian of the beginning of the VII century. Theophylact of Symocatta. He claims that the Geets are the oldest name of Slavs 1. But without this, the evidence is quite obvious that the invasion of "Getoves" to the Balkans at the end of the V and the beginning of the VI century. And the subsequent hikes of wovers and ants are links of one chain. In the other case, the same tribes acting independently of the other Northern Enemy of the Empire were opposed to the empire, which advanced in the azovye, because of Don and those who gathered and subordinate to their remains of local Scythian and Sarmato-Alanian tribes.

Describing the events of 527, an outstanding Byzantine historian and politician VI VI. Prokokii Kesiai says the following: "When Justinian, Uncle Herman, joined the throne (527 P. T.), Antairs, the nearest neighbors of Slovenin, by going Istra, with a big army invaded the limits of the Romans ... "and elsewhere:" As for the Illyria and the whole Thrace, if you consider from the Ionian Bay until the accommodation of Byzantium, including Elladu and the area of \u200b\u200bChersonesos, then from the time Justinian accepted power over the Roman Empire, Gunns, Squares and Antairs, making almost annually, devastated Iliria and the whole piece, all the land from the Ionian Sea to Constantinople offend, Elladu and Chersonese. 2.

To protect the Balkan provinces, Emperor Justinian launched the construction of numerous fortifications on the Danube and in the Mountain Partises of the Balkan Peninsula. In the treatise "On the buildings", written on the instructions of the emperor himself, the procopies of Caesarian lists dozens of recovered and newly built fortresses on the Danube and hundreds of fortifications in mountain passages in the depths of the peninsula. "Any (186) estate in the Balkans," he says, "turned out either turned into a powerful castle, or was near the fortified post." The ruins of Justinian fortifications, known in many points of the Balkan Peninsula, indicate that the construction of Justinian has indeed provided a powerful defensive system (Fig. 43). In another work, "Secret History", written in finding future generations, the proof calls all these buildings "insane", indicating that they were absorbed a huge amount of funds and forces, but did not reach their goal 3.

Along with this, trying to weaken their opponents, the Byzantine government resorted widely to his tested tool - to attempts to make a discord on the wallamin and ants Wednesday or to embroil them with other tribes. "Divide and conquer" - was a favorite slogan of Byzantine politics. One of the results of the activities of Byzantine diplomats was the emergence of the Master of the famous Khvilibuda, the Master of the Master of Frakia, successfully fought against Slovenis for almost four years, from 530 to 534, but in the end of the victim of the defeat and killed by wplacks 4. In the following years, the empire managed to attract Slavic squads to fight against sharp in Italy 1. At the same time, Kutugurov and other Gunno-Bulgarian tribes of the Northern Black Sea region have repeatedly used as an instrument against Ants Byzantium.

Numerous fortresses on the Danube border and all the insidious intricacies of Byzantine diplomats could not, however, stop the rapid wave of Slavic invasions. Numerous squadrons, numbering thousands of warriors, have repeatedly applied defeat by the Byzantine armies, at the head of which were tested by the empire strategies. After 540, when the basic forces of the empire were thrown into the east, against Iran, the Danube fortification line no longer represented a serious barrier for Slavic man. We repeatedly penetrated the southern limits of the peninsula, disturbing the life of the country for a long time. Especially memorable in the empire were Slavic raids 548 and 549, when Illyry and Thrace suffered severely, and the city of Topir was defeated. The following, 550, Slavic detachments reached the "long walls", erected to protect Constantinople Anastasius. Then, when building, in the first years of the VI century, these walls with a mockery called the "under the cowardism"; Now the Byzantine know with gratitude recalled their builder. And if (187) the emperor of Justinian "proudly melded himself with an antiqua or Slavic", how I was rightly noticed by N. M. Karamzin, "Siemy's name resembled more shame than the glory of his guns" 2.

Ancient authors note that in the process Balkan Wars Fastened and improved military art of Slavic Druzhin. Initially, they were poorly armed and used primitive tactical techniques in the Balkans. "They love to fight with their enemies in places that have shouted with dense forest, in cloths, on cliffs; With the benefit of myself [ambushes], sudden attacks, tricks ... - writes Mauritius strategist. - They are also experienced in crossing the rivers, surpassing all people ... Every armed with two small spears, some have also shields , durable, but difficult to porty [from place to place]. They also use wooden onions and small archers, wet special for arrows by poison, strongly operating ... "3 But by the middle of the VI century. Slovins and Antairs mastered the Byzantine weapons, they purchased the skill to fight with a regular army, learned to take fortified cities, applying a variety of siege machines. They are "trained to fight more [better] than Rome," says John Efesse, describing the events of 584. 4

2
In the 50s of the VI century. The military-political situation in the Northern Black Sea region and the Balkans even more complicated and aggravated.

Around 558, a new horde of nomads appeared in the steppes of the Azov region, seemingly Turkic origin, known as Avar. Soon the Avar Embassy arrived in Constantinople, where the Ambassador of Avar Kandih, calling his tribesmen, "the most powerful and inseparable from peoples," proposed Byzantia the military union, for the appropriate, of course, remuneration. The offer of Avarov, as reported by the Byzantine historian of the end of the VI century. Menandr, was met in the empire favorably. Following this, apparently, in the Union with Alans, Avars defeated the warm-ups who lived in East Priazov, then the halls and, finally, Savirov, who had nomocated in the Finnish steppes. (188)

Submitting the Gunno-Bulgarian tribes of the North-Eastern Black Sea region, Avars moved further to the West. And here, together with Kutuguri, they hit the chief enemy of the Empire - Antian tribes. In one of the passages, which remained from the "History" of Menandra, it is said that as a result of the Avar invasion, the Goltokers of the Anthem were given in a distressed position and have lost their hopes. Avars robbed and devastated their land "6. The following should be a story about how Avars killed the Ambassador of Mezharamira, the son of Idaricheva, Brother Kalandov, sent to Avaras to redeem the prisoners.

The union relations of Avarov and Byzantium were not, however, long. Making sure the treachery of Byzantine politicians, Avars soon invaded the Pannonia, where in the late 60s VI century. A strong "barbaric" state was formed, at the head of which the Avarian Kagan Bayan stood. From this point on, Avars entered the war with the empire. Their participation in the Balkan wars continued with breaks up to the 30s of the VII century, when the Avarian Kaganate, leading in the West War with Carolings, in the East - with Slavs, and in the south - with the Byzantine Empire, after unsuccessful attempt Master Constantinople, suddenly collapsed, as already once again disintegrate, it would seem so powerful associations of nomadic tribes.

The relations of the Slavic tribes, especially Ants and Avar Kaganata, during the entire time of the existence of the latter continued to remain, apparently, extremely tense. It is difficult to say how far astorial possessions extended to the north and northeast, but it is no doubt that some Sklavinsky and Antian tribes, conquered by Avara, were part of their different state. Contemporaries have repeatedly noted that in the troops of the bayan, the main mass was not Avara, and Bulgarians and Slavs. On submission at the beginning of the VII century. The Avar Kaganat of the East Slavic tribe of Dlebov tells the initial chronicle: "In Siy, there is a lot of everyday and objects, and the king's Irakli is ilk and there is not enough Yasha. Si out the wet on Slovenekh, and the insanity of the duleba, the judge, and the violence of the curls of Dublovsky: Through you, you will be vagrae, not to live a horse either ox, but I am too easy to eat 3. Lee, 4. Lie wives in the cart and tale And Taco Muffa Duleby "1.

Thus, the subordination of individual Slavic tribes Avarian Kaganat cannot be questioned. However, they are completely unfair in historiography (190) of approval that with the advent of Avars on the Danube, they turned into a major military and political force, leading the fight against the empire, and the wellands and antines were allegedly acted allegedly only as satellites of Kaganat. Contemporaries indicate that in the Avar time, the wellans and antines retained their independence, speaking in the Balkan wars as military-political force, completely independent of Avar. And, probably, A. L. Pogodin was right, when she argued that "the power of Avar extended only to those Slavs who occupied Pannonia, but the Slavs did not lose their national identity. The fact that, with joint invasions of Avar and Slavs, sources are constantly mentioning the Slavs, in my opinion, it is quite clear to the role of Slavs in such raids "2.

To this it is necessary to add that the scale of Slavic invasions to the Balkans in the second half of the VI century. Significantly increased both by increasing the eigen forces of Slavs, and due to the fact that the Avarian Kaganat, if we evaluate it from the point of view of a broad historical perspective, was an objectively ally of Slavs, which makes a significant part of the Armed Forces of the Empire in the Balkans. It was at this time that the Slavic invasions to the Balkans entered their new phase. Slavs from now on appear on the peninsula not only as warriors, but also as settlers, forever deposited on the conquered lands.

In the "History", Menander is told about how in the 70s of the VI century. Avars demanded the payment of Dani from the Slavs who lived on the left bank of the Danube, within ancient Dakia. The Slavic leader of Dobrot (Divita), according to Menandra, answered this requirement of the next speech: "Whether the young man was born and warmed the sun to be warmed by the sun, which would be sought by our power. Not the other our land, and we are strangering got used to possess. And we are sure that we will be in the world of war and swords. "3 The subsequent dispute with the Avarus ambassadors ended allegedly armed with a fight, during which the Avars were interrupted.

Soon the grand invasion of Slavs was followed on the peninsula, in which, according to Menandra, 100 thousand Slavic soldiers were participated, devastating Frakia, Macedonia and Fessenia. Emperor Tiberius, the main forces of which were focused at this time in the East, against Iran, in 577 he turned to Avaras with a proposal to devastate the Slavic lands to force them in this way to clean the semi-(191) island. It remained unknown, how significant this time was an avian invasion of Slavic lands. But in any case, it did not lead to the desired result for the empire, since Slavic squads did not leave the limits of the empire, calculating, apparently, firmly settle on the peninsula. The contemporary of these events John Efesse, the Syrian church historian, well-aware of the Balkan affairs, described them with the following words: "For the third year after the death of Emperor Justina, the Damned People of Emperor, the Damned People was released and passed the entire Elladu, Area of \u200b\u200bthe Fessonalki and the whole Frace. They captured many cities and fortresses, devastated, burned, polonged and subordinate to themselves this area and settled in it freely, without fear, as in their own. This lasted for four years until the emperor was busy with the Persians and all his troops sent to the east ... and until now, until the age of eight hundred ninety-fifth (584, N. E.- P. T.) They settle down and live quietly in Romean regions, without worries and fear ... They are rich, have gold and silver, herds horses and a lot of guns and trained to fight more [better] than Roma, "and earlier, the author ends," these Rough people were armed with only darts and did not know what this weapon is "1.

In the same year, Slavic squads, at the head of which the leader of Ardagast stood, again penetrated the "long walls", threatening Constantinople. The commander of Emperor Mauritius Kzentiol managed to break them on the Ergy River and under the Adrianopole and to clean the asthma and nearby terrain on the Gabra River (Maritsa). But the peninsula continued to remain in the hands of Slavs, which farther and further advanced to the south.

Apparently, it was by this time that the story about the city of Anchialos, cited in the chronicle of Mikhail Syrian, which states that in order to stop the movement of the Slavs to the Balkans of Roma, the people of Ants, who were attacked by the lands of Slavyan (Slaglinov. - P. T.) Lying to the west of the Danube. In response to this, the worsties together with Avars defeated the city of Anchialos, continuing its actions on the peninsula with the former scope of 2. In 588, according to the FEOFILACT Symocatta, they again advanced in the direction of Constantinople and invaded Frace. Next year, Slavic squads reached a peloponess, i.e. the southern outskirts of the Balkan Peninsula, as reported by the church historian Evagry. (192)

In 591, after the end of the war with the Persion, Byzantium made an attempt to restore the Danube border, sending a large army against the Slavs, at the head of which the largest strategies of the empire were, first, then the brother of Emperor Mauritius Peter, then again. War with Slavs was carried out for nine years. Its most complete description is given in the "History" of the FEOFILACT Symocatta.

At first, the Byzantine army managed to achieve some success on the Danube. In 593, the troops of the Prost crossed the North Coast of the Danube and, by smaking the detachments of the Slavic leaders of Radagasta and Musocyia, captured greater prey and many prisoners. But there was still a long time in the enemy country, I did not even resolve the prison and, violating the order of the Emperor, soon moved to the Danube, which led to the new invasions of Slavs on the peninsula. Even the attack of Slavs was expected to the capital of the empire - Constantinople, who forced the Byzantium to temporarily abandon active offensive actions in the north. Only in 597, the Danube Army, this time, under the command of Peter, again moved to the North Coast of the Danube, but, when crossing, one of the major detachments, which entered into battle with the Slavic leader's pyrogost, was soon returned back. Meanwhile, the masses of the Slavs appeared in the middle parts of the peninsula and took the siege of one of major cities Peninsula - Thessalonik, using throwing guns, taran, "Turtles" and other sieges of that time. Obviously, the central and western part of the Balkan Peninsula continued all this time to be in the hands of Slavs, firmly settled in many places and contributed to their tribesmen in their military enterprises. Osada Thessalonik ended unsuccessfully, but she seriously broke the Byzantine plans and again forced the empire to suspend active actions on the Danube.

In subsequent years, Avars entered the war against the empire. In 599, Bayan inflicted the cruel defeat by the Byzantine commander Komentiol, but in two years, in 601, Avars were broken by Prisch, who captured 3 thousand Avars, 6 thousand of other "barbarians" and 8 thousand Slavs. It may very well be that these successes of the Byzantine army were explained to some extent performances against the Kaganate of Antian tribes. In any case, the next year, Avar Kagan sent an army to the east, "to destroy the Anthorian people who formerly in the Union with Romains." It is also known that this hike ended unsuccessfully, as the kagan's army, who did not want to fight with Antah, began to scatter. (193)

3
The critical moment of the Slavanti-Byzantine wars, who had rummaged over the Balkans for a whole century, was 602, when, by order of Emperor, Mauritius, the Byzantine commander made another attempt to penetrate the Slavic lands on the northern shore of the Danube. Sending their troops to the north, Mauritius did not suspect, the beginning of which serious events, moreover, the expedition will serve as the Byzantines.

The deep socio-economic crisis, which has long been tormented by the empire, could not not affect the moods of the army. Social struggle in the country, often taking the form of open speeches, with the Emperor Mauritius reached an unprecedented fierce. Time Mauritius (582-602) was noted by several major uprisings of the people's masses - city plebs, slaves and colons, as well as unrest in the army. 602 was for Mauritius and his government fatal. In the army, standing on the Danube, the autumn flared up the uprising headed by Centurion Fukhu. The rebeling army moved to Constantinople, meeting the support of the people everywhere. Mauritius was overthrown, and then executed with his sons and approximate. The will of the Army on the Byzantine throne was planted by the leader of the rebellion of Centurion Fock.

These rapid events served as the beginning of a long period. civil warswho have embraced almost the entire territory of the Empire. Only in 610, the Byzantine aristocracy - large land owners - managed to restore his power, putting the EXARKA HOLIDAY OF Irakli's Exarch at the head of the Empire. But the Byzantine Empire VII century. Not far from the repetition of the preceding time empire. Gradually growing from the time of Justinian, the process of feudalization during this period was the possibility of widespread development. The history of the old, Eastern workers, slave-owned Byzantium ended, and the history of the new, feudal former Byzantine Empire began.

During the civil wars caused by the Rise of Foki, and in the next decades, when the empire was again forced to conduct a hard war with Iran, the Slavs were moved to the Balkan Peninsula, in front of his fertile valleys. "At the very beginning of the reign of Irakli, in the fifth year of his reign, the Slavs took away Greece from Romans, the Persians - Syria, Egypt and many other areas," the contemporary of these events Isidor Seville 1. The region of the Slap (194) of the Vienne military raids moved away during this period far to the south. They made marine trips along the southern tip of the peninsula. In 623, the Slavs on their lands have reached the Island of Crete, undergoing ill-devastation. In subsequent years, they repeatedly made attempts to master thesalonians and the Konstantinople themselves.

In 626, when Avaras, together with Slavs, were postponed by Constantinople from Sushi, Slavic flotilla, consisting of a variety of single-show boats, tried to break through the city from the sea. Apparently, it is about this event that the initial chronicle mentions in the story about Avary and Dulebach, indicating that Avars fought against the Tsar Irakliya and "not a little Yasha". In 642, the Slavic flotilla, making a large sea transition, reached Pulia in southern Italy.

As a result of Slavic colonization by the mid VII century. All over the Balkan Peninsula, the Slavic ethnic element has become dominant. Slavs subordinate to themselves and soon absorbed the old Thracian and Illyrian population, competing with the Greek element in the south and in the seaside parts of the peninsula, as well as many other tribes, at different times they were settled on the peninsula. "The whole province loosened and became barbaric," Konstantin Baghrynorogennoe written on this. In the same decade, the colonization of the Slavs of Malaya Asia began. In the 80s of the VII century. From the Slavs who lived on the lowland coast, Emperor Justinian II managed to form a large military building with a number of 30 thousand people 2. According to Feofan, in 762. From the Balkan Peninsula, Slavic Colony was evicted to Maly Asia among 208 thousand people 3. These random figures still allow you to make some idea of \u200b\u200bthe grand scale of Slavic colonization.

4
Byzantine and Syrian historians, speaking of the Slavic tribes that settled the Balkan Peninsulas, do not indicate where it came from where they came from - in the West or in the East - his old settlements. In particular, the question of which participation in the settlement of the peninsula was taken by Eastern Slavs, the Ants tribes, who lived in the Dniester and Dnipro intercourse were taken. Without solving this issue, the lighting of genetic and historical ties of the Eastern and Southern Slavs cannot be obtained.

Historical data, toponymics testimonies, folklore and language materials attracted by Slavists for the decision (195) of this issue have long led to the idea of \u200b\u200bthe existence of such connections mainly between the population of the eastern part of the peninsula, which included the Bulgarian people and Eastern Slavs. Character, depth and time of these ties remained, however, unbelievable.

Old linguistics, both Russian and Bulgarian, considering general traits in East Slavic and Bulgarian languages, did not always find the right way to explain them. Numerous parallels in Russian and Bulgarian languages \u200b\u200bare usually explained only as a result of borrowing, as a result of penetration into a Russian environment from Bulgarian or vice versa of many hundreds of words. From this point of view, the Acad Bulgarian-Russian Language Relations was suitable. A. A. Chematov, prof. B. Tsonev, I. Raev and other Slavists. The time of particularly intensive mutual linguistic penetration was considered the Middle Ages, when the close political and cultural contact associated, in particular with the spread of Christianity, could not help but lead to the creation of favorable conditions for the language exchange between Bulgaria and Rus.

The fact that the language exchange between Bulgaria and Eastern Slavs really took place both during the Svyatoslav times and at the next time, up to the XIX-XX centuries, is not subject to, of course, in any question. However, whether it is possible to think that all two thousand Russian words, which found in Bulgarian prof. B. Tsonev, and probably no less "Bulgarian" in Russian, Ukrainian and belarusian languages are nothing more than simple borrowing. Acad. N. S. Derzhavin, indicating that the question requires a special study, nevertheless finds it possible to answer it negatively. "The close role of the modern Bulgarian and Russian languages \u200b\u200bis, in his opinion, it is explained not only by the cash of the elements of mutually silateral borrowing and influence, but also the community of tribal origin of these two fraternal peoples, which are based on Antian tribes." 1 Acad comes to the same conclusion. N. S. Derzhavin, considering parallels in Russian and Bulgarian epic folklore. He considers the image of Trojan in the "Word about the regiment of Igor" as an image, "grew up in the cultural and historical situation of the Slavic population of the Kiev-Danube region." Unity of Slavs on the wide spaces from the Danube to Kiev Acad. N. S. Derzhavin figuratively illustrates the words "words": "The girls sing on the Danube, go fishing through the sea to Kiev ..." 2 (196)

It may very much that is popular in Russian folklore "Blue Danube", "Danube-Batyushka", "Don-Danube" also leads to the time of the Balkan Wars VI. Or the invasion time of the Slavs on the peninsula.

The idea of \u200b\u200bthe AnTo origin of the Slavic population of the Eastern Pentuman parts of the Peninsula is also confirmed in ethnographic and archaeological data. If you turn to clothing and dwelling - the most characteristic elements of material culture, well reflecting ethnic features, it becomes obvious that the population of the Sudenha Bulgaria, firstly, constitutes a special group, noticeably different from the Slavic population of other parts of the Balkan Peninsula, and, secondly that the Sudenha population really has a lot in common with the eastern Slavs, not only with modern, but also with ancient, known in archaeological data.

Fig. 44. Women's clothing of Sudenai Bulgaria.

1 - District of Berkovitsa;

2 - District Distishev.

Ethnographic data show that a special type of female national costume is common in the Sudenay Bulgaria, in other parts of the peninsula, almost not found, which is the closest analogies in Ukrainian national clothes, the belonging of which is "plates", or clothing of Velikotus Kursk and Oryol regions, where Using "Ponune" and a special kind of apron (Fig. 44) 1.

An even more striking picture of the proximity of the population of the Dongyang Bulgaria to the Eastern Slavs is detected on the basis of a comparative study of the Sudenha dwelling and the ancient East Slavic housing. Until recently, peculiar dump trucks were distributed in the Sudenai Bulgaria, consisting of several rooms connected by internal transitions (Fig. 45). Housing exactly the same character was in due time in the middle of the subway. Especially typical of this (197) housing form was for the left bank, for the Earth of Northerners, where the dumplings are known for many dozens of arrangements relating to the latest centuries of the I millennium. e. And by the period of Ancient Russia 2. This is just the very form of dwellings connected by internal transitions and has several outputs that Mauritius strategist wrote about.

The last circumstance, namely the spread of dugouts in the land of Northerners 3, becomes especially interesting in the light of the message of Feofan that Asparan, going through the Danube to the Low Scythia region, i.e., in South Dobrud, met there in 678. Northerners tribe or Seversteers who have moved to the south, to the Balkan Range. Further to the West, on the vast spaces of the Danube Right Bank, inhabit the seven other Slavic tribes, the names of which remained unknown. These tribes are Northerners and seven unknown tribes - amounted to the future foundation of the ancient Bulgarian state. In Russian chronicles, they are usually called the general name - Duanians.

In the literature, it has repeatedly expressed the opinion that the Danube Northerners may be connected with Northerners "Tale of Bygone Years", inhabited on the left bank of the Dnieper in the Basin of the Dums and Seimas rivers. It was them who lived so far from the Danube, at the remote Eastern outskirts of the Anthor's world, when colonizing the Balkan Peninsula, the most north-eastern part of the peninsula was inevitably. In his homeland, Northerners were the closest neighbors of the Priazovsky Bulgarians, and it is possible that the appearance of Asparuha primarily in their environment was by no means a simple accident.

In the chronicle legend about the construction of Kiev, three brothers survived the echo of the story about the resettlement of Slavs from Dnipro on the Danube. The speech is about the fact that Kiye after the trip to the Tsargrad, where he "Great Honor received from the king," came to the Danube with "Rod" his own and quit the town of Kyiv, in which, however, he fareed to settle, because it was opposed to Local population - Danube. In the Byzantine sources, the name of Danube corresponds to the term of the Plynavans, who were called the Slavic population of the territories of modern Sudenai Bulgaria.

The point is that toponymics associated with the name of Ros - Russia is not peculiar to the whole area. eastern Slavs. The name of Ros - Russia was distributed mainly on the Dnieper and east of him. On (198) west, in the region of Bug and Dniester, the name of Ros - Russia is not

Fig. 45. Earth dwellings in the Sudenha Bulgaria in Figure F. Kurta (end of the XIX century). (199)

it was encountered, and the Galic-Volyn lands lying here were originally not called 1. Therefore, a group of items originating from the name of Russia and those localized in Northeast Bulgaria and Southern Dobrudza are undoubted interest. This is the village of Rassava and the city of Ruse on the right bank of the Danube and Rosica River, the influx of Yantra, flowing into the Danube, is somewhat higher than G. Ruse.

Finally, it is also interesting to note that in the territory of the Balkan Peninsula, in its northeastern part, several bronze "palpal" flibul of the VI-VII centuries, originating from the field of medium subway and were, according to B. A. Rybakov, one Of the characteristic forms of Antian Uraz. German Archaeologist I. Werner, who studied these phibula, spoke in favor of their East Slavic origin 2.

In a number of these data talking about the East Slavonic origin of the Danube, in the special light, the hiking of Svyatoslav, which called the Danube lands of the "My Sereya Earth", and the famous place from the Resurrection Chronicle, where the cities are referred to as Russian cities.

Staying on Danubees - Northerners and seven tribes of the Danube Right Bank, we do not want to say that that only they should be associated with Eastern Slavs. If the Sudenhas of the Balkan Peninsula, as it can be assumed on the basis of all the above, were occupied by a more or less holistic group of East Slavic, antian tribes, then their individual streams were undoubtedly penetrated into other, more southern and western parts of the peninsula. Mentioned by Nikita Honiatake Smolyan and dragovitis, inhabited in the southeastern Peninsula near the city of Soluni, as well as the drags of Thracian can be compared with East Slavic tribes, not with a smaller probability of probability than with Polandic tribes - dragogia and resgany. It can be assumed that many other tribes of the Balkan Slavs also had the Eastern Slavic origin, including those that settled far in the West. This is evidenced by a number of striking coincidences observed in ethnographic materials, in particular in the clothing of the population of some areas of Yugoslavia and Eastern Slavs. This question, however, requires a special study. (200)

5
So, it seems completely indisputable that the Slavic tribes, in particular the Slavs eastern, were one of the decisive factors of the largest historical transformations experienced by Eastern Europe in the VI-VII centuries. The participation of Slavs in these transformations was not only that their long-term struggle in the Balkans much accelerated the process of socio-economic reorganization of the empire - the last Oklota of the slave world in Europe, but also in the fact that, settling the Balkan Peninsula and some coastal areas of Asia Minor Slavs brought a lot to the empire and above all - their community device, just like the ancient German tribes in V c. Brought to Italy "fragment of a real generic system in the form of marked communities" 3. The territorial or rural community, the "rejuvenated" empire, and a primitive form of operation by charging Dani served as one of the cornerstles of feudal relations in the Byzantium. As mentioned above, in the "νομος γεωργικός" - the Byzantine Agricultural Law of the VIII century, the rural community, community land tenure and other norms of the socio-economic system brought with Slavs, a large and honorable place was assigned.

This, however, is far from being exhausted historical contributionmade by Slavs to the inner life of the Byzantine Empire. The largest bourgeois visaantinist V. G. Vasilyevsky, indicating the most important role of Slavic community land use and agriculture in the life of the Byzantine Middle Ages, at the same time emphasized that thanks to Slavs improved economic situation Empire and has increased its military power 4.

In the works of Soviet scientists, dedicated to the history of Byzantium or the early history of Slavs, it is often a comparison of the role that the ancient Germans played in the fate of the Roman Empire, with the role of Slavic tribes in the fate of Byzantium. Such a comparison really has the most serious foundations. K. Marx and F. Engels, speaking of the death of the slave-owned world and participating in this event of the ancient Germans and Slavs, described the role of those and others in the general strokes. The cultural strip of antiquity, wrote F. Engels, was "ripped and crushed (201) by the Germans and the Slavs from the north and the Arabs from the south-east" 1. But at the same time, in his works, K. Marx and F. Engels have always indicated to the essential features in the process of eliminating the slave-ownership in Rome, on the one hand, and Byzantium - on the other.

And speaking of the role of the ancient Germans and Slavs in the elimination of slave-owned orders, it should be focused not only on the grounds of similarity, but also on deep differences in the nature of the role of those and other tribes.

Do not deserve the most close attention of the various final results of the invasions of the ancient Germans into the territory of the Roman Empire and Slavs in Byzantium. Despite the Gothic conquests, despite the invasion of Langobards and other German tribes, Italy did not turn into the German country. The Public Story of the Germans, as P. Engels pointed out, "Okodil" Western Mediterranean, but the Germans themselves dissolved in a higher cultural and ethnic medium of the Mediterranean and soon disappeared almost without a trace. It was completely different about the territory of the Byzantine Empire. Slavic migrants, like those who fell under the power of Byzantium, and those that subsequently created their states on the Balkan Peninsula, fully retained their ethnic face, their language, cultural characteristics, customs. This testifies, of course, not only about the grand scale of Slavic invasions into the territory of the Empire, but also on greater strength of the agricultural culture of Slavs - the heirs of the millennial cultural traditions of the Northern Black Sea and Pipeland. From here it follows that cultural life Medieval Byzantium, which is usually considered as a peculiar refraction of antique traditions and oriental influences, can hardly receive objective coverage without taking into account the Slavic cultural contribution. "In Malaya Asia," wrote in the middle of the XIX century. V. I. Lamansky, - if the Slavic element has not been preserved in all purity, then nevertheless left a lot of traces of both in life and in the language, songs, enemas, finally, even in the physical characteristics of the inhabitants of some parts of Malaya Asia "2

This complex question is still not completely covered by our historic science. But it is quite obvious that his permission should make a lot of new, in particular in understanding (202) of those economic and cultural relations, which were established between Byzantium and Slavic Rus in the following centuries.

6
Balkan events VI-VII centuries. They had a huge impact on the life of the Slavic tribes. It has already been noted that in the situation of the Balkan Wars, the socio-economic development of Slavs stepped far ahead. This applies not only to the Southern, Antian and Soclava tribes who have made direct participation in the attack on the Balkans, but to some extent to the tribes living far from the Danube. The long-term war in the Balkans deeply stirred up the whole of the enormous mass of the ancient Slavs, the essays were reached up to the remote Slavic north. Moreover, as part of the Anste and Soclava Druzhin, there was probably some representatives of the Northern Slavic tribes, and maybe the whole detachments of northern warriors.

This is evidenced, in particular, a well-known story about three Slavic Huslar, recorded by a chronist VIII century. Feofan. The speech here is about how in 591 the emperor Mauritius, collecting troops in Thrace to fight against Avarov, met three Slavs-Huslarov, who did not have any weapons with him. They said that they live on the very edge of the West Ocean (Baltic Sea) and that their tribesmen received an alleged proposal to join the war against the empire in the Union with Avar Kaganat. Three Huslars were as if sent to the Avar Kagan as ambassadors and spent 15 months on the road. Since they came to Avaras with a negative answer, Kagan commanded them to delay them. However, the Slavs-Huslarians managed to get to the Greeks and somehow got into Frace 3.

It is completely indisputable that the story of Slavic-Huslarov was no more like fiction. These people are most likely to Slavic or Avarian roupes, maybe never have never seen the West Ocean. But, anyway, their mention of the Northern Slavic tribes seems very significant.

On the presence of northern warriors in the composition of Antian and Soclava Druzhin or in any case about such relations between the North South, the development of which cannot be in connection with the Balkan wars, they say and separate Byzantine coins and things found in the Northern Slavic lands 1. (203)

One Byzantine historian, telling about the campaign of Slavs and Avarov in 626 to Constantinople, notes that the Slavs burned their dead. It can also serve as an indirect indication for the presence of representatives of the northern tribes as part of the Slavic man, as the southern tribes practiced mostly burial died, and the northern and eastern tribes knew only burning.

It also becomes obvious that the VI-VII centuries. There were times further and now the final strengthening of historical ties in the Slavic tribal environment. If in the Scythian time, at the turn of our era, and in the first stages of the "great resettlement of peoples" these ties were already strong enough, now they have received new opportunities for development and growth. Improvements in the field of agriculture, the spread of craft forms of production, strengthening trade, disintegration of generic bonds and the emergence of slavement, speech about what was higher, constituted the socio-economic basis of this process. The situation of long wars and colonization movements contributed to the destruction of breeding borders. It was at this time that during the "great resettlement of peoples" and the Balkan wars, the formation of the Slavic peoples began and were laid, the foundations of their medieval ethnic map. (204)

If there are news, testifying to the stay of Slavs in the I-IV centuries. e. On the Middle Danube and Sava, there are no positive facts confirming their stay in this era on the Balkan Peninsula itself, south of Danube and Sava. Although M. Drinov, and for him, some of his followers 38 tried to prove this, but these evidence were inconclusive. Perhaps it is even very likely that in the wave of invasions of the ancient Germans or Huns on the Balkan Peninsula, there were also separate groups of Slavs and even entire Slavic tribes, but we do not have reliable reports. At one time, I believed Izvestia Moses Harensky, according to which Gunns were tapering in 376, in turn, turned out from Dakia to the other side of the Danube of 25 Slavic tribes 39. However, the value of this news I overestimated 40, as it is the only one and is not confirmed by other news, in addition, the time when it originated, as well as how it fell into the geography of Moses, it remains completely unclear. Equally, it is impossible to apply to the report of Konstantin Bagryanorovna regarding the attack of Slavyan Avars in 449 to the salons, as Konstantin, obviously, confused the invasion is ready in the specified year with the conquest of the Slavs in the first half of the VII century, most likely - in the years The Board of the Emperor Foki (602-610). And finally, even geographical names that are found in Roman cards and itinery of the III-IV centuries and which for many were presented with Slavic 42, such are not. In any case, their Slavic character does not speak with sufficient persuasiveness. Rather, some place names from the book of Procopius «περί κτισμάτων» superficially similar both in writing and in the sound with the same Slavic names such Στρέδην, Δόλεβιν, Βράτζιστα, Δέβρη, Βελέδινα, Ζέρνης, Βέρζανα, Λάβουτζα, Πέζιον, Κάβετζα 43, but This is the source of the second half of the 6th century (after 560), when the emergence of Slavic settlements in the Balkan Peninsula does not cause any objections. However, even these names are not as convincing, as the names are black, Pleso or Brozava - in the north.

So, there is no reliable evidence of the arrival of Slavs to the Balkan Peninsula to the end of the V century. It is very likely that in raids on the Karp Peninsula, Kontobokok (176), hepids, ready, Sarmatians and Huns took part in the II-IV centuries, moreover, it can be assumed that at the same time individual detachments or labor could already be In the form of an exception to stay here and settle in the places of ancient settlements or in abandoned and destroyed fortresses, but in this case there is no reason to believe that the Balkan Peninsula was falling in Slavs to the VI century. The first direct and indisputable news of the movement of the Slavs through Sava and Danube appear only in the 6th century, and all the Byzantine historians are confident that Slavs, who advancing in the VI and VII centuries, are new conquerors, a new people who have lived in a stranger 44.

The first date of the penetration of Slavs to the territory of the Byzantine Empire is usually considered to be 527 years, that is, the year of joining the throne of Justinian, since the proof was determined about his rule (telling about the Illyria and the whole Frakia) the following: "ουννοί τε καί σκλαβηνοί καίν άνται σχεδόν τι άνά παν καταθέοντες ετος έξ ου ιουστινιανός παρέλαβε τήν 'ρωμαίων αρχήν, άνήκεστα εργα ίίργάσαντο τούς ταύτη άνθρώποςς άνθρώποςς

However, this date is incorrect, and we can, on the basis of some data, attribute the arrival of Slavs to an earlier time, at least by the time of the Board of Justina (518-527), the predecessor of Justinian. First of all, proofs when describing the events of 550 remembers the defeat, which in the days of Justina 46 Slavs suffered from the Roman commander Herman. The invasion is ready in 517 and 530 in Fessaly, Epir and Iliria, which says Mackelly's Comit, can be attributed to the Slavs, as Maccellin is distinguished in its text of the Guns from Bulgarians, Huns and is ready for 47. Then, finally, proofs in writing about the buildings of Justinian, where he describes wonderful work on the restoration of fortified lines, which held Justinian shortly after his entry into the throne mentions two fortresses, called "άδινα" and "όχύρωμα όλμιτών", in which We would have been at that time Slavs, in the second of the named fortresses they were even for a long time: βαρβάρων δε σκλαβηνών έέί χρονΰΰ ήήήή εκκίίί άςάςάςιέδρας πεποιηκότων 48.

It is not known whether the fortress of Adda existed and where she was. It is probably a distorted form from 'άλδινα - the names of the fortress located on the Danube near the Silistan; Ulmeton's fortress, marked in another Latin inscription as Vicus Ulmetum 49, was located in the north of the axiopolis line (draft), Tomis (Constanta), and her remnants were excavated by the recent Romanian archaeologist Vasily Parvan. Unfortunately, traces of stay here Slavs not found 50.

Starting from 527, although, as we saw, this year is not the date of the beginning of the Slavic invasions, the raids of Slavs began to repeat more and more often, as well as acquire all the large sizes, being supported by the simultaneous attacks of Huns, Bulgarians and Avar. Justinian, enhancing the throne, wanted to protect his borders from danger from the north to construct a grand defensive system consisting of several fortress lines with constant garrisons; These lines were supposed to reach the "long wall" (μάκρον τείχος), which was built shortly before, in 512, Anastasiy before Constantinople (from Selimbria to Derkos). This system of fortresses was partially erected, partially restored (see the transfer of fortresses in the composition of the proofer "περί κτισμάτων", KN. IV), but in the empire there was no necessary number of troops in order to properly take a stretched defensive line and block the path of the enemy. True, in several large garrisons there was a sufficient number of imperial and allied barbaric troops (φοιδεράτοι), but there remained very largely protected areas between individual fortresses, and the army itself was not a trusty. That is why Severorian barbarians - Slavs, Bulgarians, Gunnov and Avarov - very little worried imperial defense, which is clearly indicated by the history of the reign of Justinian and his successors.

The Danube, the former De Facto still the border of the Empire, lived in Pannonia Langobard, in Central Hungary - Gepiuda, then, on the Nizhny Danube - the remains of Huns and Bulgarians. However, the Slavs lived everywhere alongside them, mainly in the region of the Middle Danube and in modern Valahia. It was a specific Slavic territory - σκλαυινία - of that time, to her, near the mouth of the Danube in Bessarabia, the region of Slavic Ants, distinguished from the Slavs itself, was joined.

The invasions of the Slavs began to feel immediately after joining the throne of the emperor of Justinian, then in 530-533 they were somewhat calmed down, but in 545 they were again witnessed in Frakia, in 547-548 - in Illyria and Dalmatia, where Slavs reached Durres - epidama, In 548-549 - in Italy, in 549 - again in Frakia, in 550 - in Niche, in 551 - in Illyria; Then the calm came, and a newly strong invasion of Thrace up to the long Tsargrad wall, in Solun and Greece. In this invasion, together with the Slavs, Gunns (Kotrigura) were held for the last participation; However, a new strong opponent and at the same time, the new ally of Slavs did not make himself wait long. These were Avars.

Avars - the tribe of the Turkic Tatar origin, which began to move shortly before that of Asia in south Russia And the further journey through the land of the Huns and Slavic Anthow, unexpectedly appeared in the Danube under the leadership of Kagan Bayan. Already in 558, the emperor accepted the Avarian ambassadors and the whole Tsargrad came to look at the "έθνος παράδοξον". Ambassadors demanded the provision of residences in the Empire's territory. The emperor was frightened, and quite reasonable, new aliens and managed with the help of gifts and promises to delay the danger until the end of his reign - 565 years. However, as soon as he died and the throne joined Justin II (565-578), who refused to pay Dani, stepped a number of large Avaro-Slavic wars with Rome, who were repeatedly shook up to 626 as the foundations of the empire and the defense of Constantinople himself. First, the battles were mainly for Syramius (modern Mitrovica on Sava), which, by all the way, wanted to master the bayan, who, meanwhile Pannonia. However, he managed only in 582. Along with this, Avars together with the Slavs took part in large campaigns into the depths of the Balkan Peninsula, directed mainly against Soluni and Greece. All this happened during the reign of Justin and his successor Tiberius (578-582). Especially memorial invasion of Greece in 577-578, as well as the most powerful invasion of 581, which was the first long occupation, witnessed by the contemporary of these events by the Syrian Chronicist John Ephesian, wrote in 584: Slavs - "Damned People" - conquered in 581 Many city and fortresses, devastated the edge, killed the population. "And now," says John - also now (that is, in 584), they live in Roman provinces without worries and fear, robby, killing and burning they have become wealth, they have gold, silver, herd horse and a lot of weapons And they learned to lead the war better than the Romans "51.

Wars did not stop at the time of Mauritius (582-602), moreover, they flared up even more, since the emperor refused Avaras in the payment of the Dani established by Tiberius. The emperor was stingy, but at the same time brave and energetic man. And, probably, he would overcome the danger threatened from the West, if the first half of his reign up to 591 was not engaged in a hard war in the east. The latter circumstance led to the relative freedom of the action of Slavs and Avarov in the West and the initial weak defense of the empire from this side. We are also known further than new brigade invasions in 582, 584, 585 and 586-589, when Slavs and Avaras again penetrated Greece and occupied it 52. New invasions on Solun, described in the first legend of St. Dimitri, also belong to the end of the reign of Mauritius, most likely not only until 597, 53. At the same time, the Slavs threatened Northern Italy, as mentioned in the messages of Pope Gregory I. But, while the energetic actions of the emperor, who ended in 591, the war in the east was led to significant successes and in the West. Roman troops under the leadership of the generals of Przzk and Peter not only osmellies and repeatedly (in 593 and 597) ottered the Danube, penetrating into the depths of the Slavic land, destroying the enemy there 54, but also achieved in the end in 601 of the large victories over Avara, hepids and Slavs in the very center of the Avarian Empire, somewhere on the Danube near winning and on the teaser. But for the empire, these victories did not have a decisive value, and, moreover, a fracture came soon. When the throne joined Fock (years of government 602-610) who killed Mauritius, in all ends of the empire, the unrest began, with which the new emperor could no longer fight. Sava and Danube stopped being the border of the empire. The last of her retained Mauritius, but after him the gate was laid open before the Natio of Northern Varvarov; We also see the same at the beginning of the reign of Heraclia (610-641). Slavs attacked Italy (600-603), occupied Illaria and Dalmatia (by this time, most likely, the conquest of salons with Slavs; According to F. Shishi, it was 614 years old), attacked Solun (in 609, then approximately 632 -641) and penetrated Istria (611). Other mass invasions of the Thrace Avarov and the Slavs who have reached the gate of Tsar Grad belong to 611, 618, 622 years; They ended with a rapid attack of 626, when the sea in front of the city wall of the Tsargrad was painted the blood of the fighting Slavic husbands and wives 55. However, neither Caigan, nor Slavs could not take the Tsargrad.

This attack was also remembered because it marked the end of the Avarian power. Of course, the reason for this was not only this failure. Others followed behind it, since the initial Avar power was already undermined. In 623, himself freed the Czech and Slovenian Slavs from under the Avarian yoke, in 635-641, the Bulgarian Prince Kubrat accomplished the same; By this time, it is obviously exemption from the Avarian domination of the Illyrian Slavs - Croats and Serbs. All these are obvious signs of decline of the Avarus power, which was not yet revived.

It goes without saying that the clashes of a smaller scale continued, but still the attack of 626 is the last large attack of Avaro-Slavs to Tsargrad. Then the offensive becomes weaker and less often. Yes, there was no need for them, because it is undoubted that during the reign of Irakli (610-641) and its successors of Constant II (642-668), Konstantin IV (668-685) and Justinian II (685-695) of the peninsula was completely Seated with Slavs. They came here from the north and finally settled here. The attacks ceased to themselves, since the attackers stopped returning to the north, and remained constantly in the occupied territory. In the VII century, the concept of "Slavic land" does not apply more on the land located north from the Danube, but only to the central lands of the peninsula, primarily on Macedonia and its surroundings.

In a word, at the end of the 6th century, the occupation of the Balkan Peninsula, including Greece and part of the archipelago (in 623, the Slavs penetrated to Crete), was completed. Two hundred eighteen years old (from 589), the Roman did not bother at all to appear on Peloponnese. So complains of the Kinggrad Patriarch Nikolai III (1084-1111) in the Synodal Epistle addressed to Emperor Alexei I 56.