[FMArmenian], was Re: [OT] Bye, Temporarily, and [SGII] Grenzers

> --- "Imre A. Szabo" <ias@sprintmail.com> wrote:

> I read ever book having anything at all to do with

It's copyright 1995, so what I was asking was if you'd read it since.:) I
presume you've read his History of the Byzantine State and Society.

> one of the biggest penny-pinching beauracrats of all

But Basil II never cut his Army's budget. In fact, in 1025 the military budget
was 4.2 million nom. which is higher than it had been since 565 AD.

Basil was succeeded by 3 incompetent idiots, (Con VIII, Romanus III, Michael
IV) only one of whom took the field in person, and that was a disaster. All
three relied on George Maniakes, who revolted in 1043 (after being treated
incredibly poorly by the government). Constantine IX's distaste for the
military is evidenced by the 2 revolts he barely fended off. He then proceeded
to spend every dime Basil II had saved up by 1050 bulding churches and other
public buildings. He started minting tetartera, then debased even those by a
fifth. This reduced the pay of the themes by about 28%, and then he permitted
the soldiers of the Armenian themes to stop training in return for a tax!
That's in the neighborhood of 50,000 troops who were among the best of the
Thematic cavalrymen, who had stopped the Seljuks cold in 1048. Then we have
Romanus IV actually starting to reverse the trend before he was betrayed at
Manzikert. In the chaos of the next 10 years, the recruiting grounds for most
(and all of the really good quality) of the Thematics had been lost.

> > But Thematics fought in the line of battle and

Which thematics? When the system was first established, this was true of the
border themes (Anatoliacs and Armenians). In fact, there remains extant a
manual on Skirmishing Warfare. This remained true of the small themes
established during the conquest period under the Macedonian Emperors, eg.
Teluch, Artach, Gabala, Palatza. Many of these borderer themes (Akritai, as
they were nicknamed, most famously in the ballad of Diogines Akritas)
continued to be tripwires and guerillas. However, the bulk of the themes (as
is attested to in accounts of campaigns and in military manuals) such as the
Thrakesians,
Anatolics, Armeniacs, and the so-called "Armenian
Themes" or "Iberian Army" were regular cavalry only barely distinguishable in
equipment, training, or tactics from Tagmatic regiments.