Epirus state society in the first half of the 13th century

Abstract

There are only basic pieces of information regarding the history of Epirus, Corfu and Western Macedonia prior to the 13th century. When The Fourth Crusade participants conquered Constantinople, an independent state was founded in the above mentioned territory and we have been thoroughly informed of its origin and further development. The most significant historical sources concerning the early Epirus state period are the court acts and the letters of two best distinguished writers and church leaders of that time, Ohrid archbishop Demetrios Chomatenos and Naupaktos metropolitan John Apokaukos. The researches so far, including this one, have been mainly grounded on the mentioned sources and they have closely scrutinised the general history of The Epirus State, its ideological, political and church conflict with the opposing Empire of Nicaea and Nicaean Church, provincial government and the functioning of church and secular courts. The aim of this paper is to explore the social structure of The Epirus State in the first decades of the 13th century, primarily based on the mentioned sources. The applied research method may be designated as prosopographical since the general picture of the society has been acquired by analysing the data on all the characters, i.e. families, of which the above mentioned sources offer relevant data. The collected data have been displayed in Prosopographic Dictionary which particularly points out everything indicating the social profile of the person in question, such as titles, honorary epithets, functions, professions and family ties. A special attention has been paid to the analysis of family names which brought out the visibility of some important social and historic phenomena (e.g. family origin and populous migrations within The Byzantine Empire in that time) of which there are no explicit testimonies or they are rare and unclear. One of the most substantial conclusions of this dissertation is that the analysed sources do not show only the society of the time by their origin, but the society which was slowly developing in the Byzantine Balkans during the rule of Komnenos and Angelos dynasties. At the end of the 12th century and early in the 13th century The Epirus State had some families which had previously moved in from Asia Minor, Constantinople and Italy. The exact time of their arrival has remained unknown, but it is sure that it happened way before 1204 and bearing in mind the general historic events, we can firmly assume that it took place after the Byzantines had lost Asia Minor and Italy. A great majority of individuals and families mentioned in the analysed sources belonged to the local aristocracy. Therefore, the largest part of the dissertation is dedicated to them. A range of examples proved that the members of the local aristocratic families used to perform fiscal, court and administrative duties, whether in the place where they lived or in some nearby district, so that they gained a significant profit and/or built up their reputation and status in the society. The local aristocratic families usually lived in towns and their properties were scattered in the wider town area. The differences between the local aristocracy and middle classes were quite vague. However, it seems that the main difference lay in the fact that the middle class people held no state functions. On the other hand, they rather took up free occupations, such as those of a teacher, a painter or a doctor. Bishopric clerics, i.e. the members of clergy who had special duties, privileges and authorities, frequently came from the local aristocratic families or the middle social class. It resulted in not having a clear line between the secular and spiritual local elite. The towns were inhabited by some craftsmen as well and we cannot tell if they were organised in guilds, but the existence of some church craftsmen has been confirmed. There are few and far between records considering the country life. The age old question whether there still were dependent peasants in late Byzantium cannot get a reliable answer. Nevertheless, we have reached the conclusion that there might have been some free peasants, but they were certainly a minority.

Do početka XIII veka istorija Epira, Krfa i Zapadne Makedonije poznata je samo u osnovnim crtama. Kada su učesnici Četvrtog krstaškog pohoda osvojili Carigrad, na pomenutim teritorijama osnovana je nezavisna država, o čijem smo postanku i daljem razvitku solidno obavešteni. Za rani period Epirske države najznačajniji istorijski izvori jesu sudska akta i pisma dvojice najistaknutijih pisaca i crkvenih lidera toga vremena, ohridskog arhiepiskopa Dimitrija Homatina i navpaktskog mitropolita Jovana Apokavka. U dosadašnjim istraživanjima, koja su, kao i ovaj rad, pretežno zasnovana na pomenutim izvorima, dobro su proučeni opšta istorija Epirske države, njen ideološki i političko-crkveni sukob sa suparničkim Nikejskim carstvom i Nikejskom crkvom, provincijska uprava, i funkcionisanje crkvenih i svetovnih sudova. Cilj ovog rada jeste da istraži društveni sastav Epirske države u prvim decenijama XIII veka, prevashodno na osnovu pomenutih izvora. Istraživački postupak može se označiti kao prosopografski, budući da se do opšte slike o društvu došlo kroz analizu podataka o svim ličnostima, odnosno porodicama, o kojima gore pomenuti izvori pružaju relevantne podatke. Sabrani podaci izloženi su u Prosopografskom rečniku, u kojem je posebno istaknuto sve ono što ukazuje na društveni profil date ličnosti, kao što su titule, počasni epiteti, funkcije, zanimanja i rodbinske veze. Posebna pažnja posvećena je analizi porodičnih imena, kroz koju su postale vidljive neke značajne društveno-istorijske pojave (npr. poreklo porodica, migracije stanovništva u okvirima nekadašnjeg Vizantijskog carstva), za koje inače ne postoje eksplicitna svedočanstva ili su ona pak veoma oskudna i nejasna.Jedan od najvažnijih zaključaka ove disertacije jeste da analizirani izvori ne prikazuju samo društvo u vremenu kada su nastali, nego i društvo koje se na vizantijskom Balkanu postepeno razvijalo tokom vladavine dinastija Komnina i Anđela. Krajem XII i početkom XIII veka na teritoriji Epirske države žive porodice koje su se na taj prostor ranije doselile iz Male Azije, Carigrada i Italije. Tačno vreme njihovog doseljavanja nije poznato, ali je sigurno da se ono dogodilo znatno pre 1204. godine, a na osnovu poznavanja opštih istorijskih tokova osnovano se može pretpostaviti da se to dogodilo nakon što su Vizantinci izgubili Malu Aziju i Italiju. Značajna većina pojedinaca i porodica pomenutih u analiziranim izvorima pripadala je lokalnoj aristokratiji, pa je stoga najveći deo disertacije posvećen njima. Na nizu primera pokazano je da su pripadnici lokalnih aristokratskih porodica često obavljali fiskalne, sudske i administrativne dužnosti, bilo u gradu u kojem su živeli, bilo u nekoj susednoj oblasti, te su tako ostvarivali značajnu materijalnu dobit i / ili potvrđivali svoj ugled i položaj u društvu. Lokalne aristokratske porodice obično su živele u gradovima, a njihovi posedi su se nalazili na više različitih mesta u široj okolini grada. Razlike između lokalne aristokratije i srednjih slojeva vrlo su nejasne, ali izgleda da je glavna razlika bila u tome što pripadnici srednjih slojeva nisu obavljali državne funkcije. S druge strane, oni su se vrlo često bavili slobodnim zanimanjima, kao što su učitelj, slikar ili lekar. Klirici episkopija, to jest sveštenstvo koje je imalo posebne dužnosti, privilegije i ovlašćenja, često su poticali iz lokalnih aristokratskih porodica ili iz srednjeg društvenog sloja, tako da između svetovne i duhovne lokalne elite nije postojala jasna granica. U gradovima su takođe živele i zanatlije, za koje ne znamo da su bili esnafski organizovani, ali je potvrđeno da su postojale crkvene zanatlije. O životu na selu imamo vrlo malo podataka. Na staro pitanje da li su u poznoj Vizantiji još uvek postojali zavisni seljaci ili nisu, nemoguće je bilo dati pouzdan odgovor. Ipak, zaključili smo da je slobodnih seljaka verovatno bilo, ali da su oni svakako činili manjinu.