The role of the Armenian soldiers of Byzantine, at the western frontiers of the empire, was no less than their role at the eastern borders: the names of Armenian soldiers are, in an unforgettable way, related to the battle at Tracia and Macedonia. For instance, when the armyof Emperor Basil II, during his first war against Samuel, the Bulgarian tsar, was defeated at Titoch, "the Armenian infantry soldiers rescued his life, by creating a circle around him and escorting him, safe and sound, to the city of Philippopoli." 15
The presence of Armenian soldiers is cited wherever the Byzantine army has fought; as Bussel remarks, the Armenians were renowned for incredible feats during the military campaigns in Italy and Africa. 16
These Armenians were either from that part of Armenia which was under Byzantine protection, or from that part which was under Persian occupation and which later was occupied by the Arabs. However, even during the period of an independent Bagratouni Armenia, Armenians left the country in order to serve in the Byzantine army, just as Swiss mercenaries did during the Middle Ages and at the beginning of the modern age.
We have already posed Armenia, from a geographical and political perspective, as a Switzerland of the Middle East; the parallels between the two continue. The geographical status of the country creates a strong, warrior people, whom foreign armies respect and praise. The relative poverty of the country, which in Armenia's case was amplified due to foreign rule, forced young men to seek labour elsewhere, often in foreign armies. In his book, Bussel writes the following about the Armenian soldiers of Byzantine: "they, like the Swiss, displayed an uprooted and impersonal attitude towards the empire and even if they performed some extraordinary feat, it was due more to their male pride than to any special feeling or thought." 17
Armenian soldiers had participated in the Byzantine army ever since the foundation of the empire. It was the catastrophic defeat at Andrinople 18, in year 387 A.D., however, which compelled major changes in the Byzantine army and forced it to open wide its doors for the Armenian soldiers. With the destruction of the armies of Emperor Valerianus in Andrinople, the Goths had shown the superiority of the cavalry over infantry, which was the most stalwart element of warfare during the Middle Ages; and forced Byzantine to reinforce its army considerably by recruiting mercenaries from Germany and the tough mountain-dwellers in the eastern parts of the empire, the Armenians and Isaurians. 20
From the 5th century forwards the Armenians were regarded as the main constituent of the Byzantine army. Procopius recounts that the "Scholarii", the palace guards of the emperor "were selected from amongst the bravest Armenians".
|
