The ''Vardariotai'' ( el, ), sometimes

Anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...

as Vardariots, were an ethnic and territorial group (probably originally of Magyar origin) in the later

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, which provided a palace guard regiment during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

History

The exact origin and nature of the ''Vardariotai'' is uncertain. The name first appears in the tenth century, when a bishopric of the "''Vardariotai'' or ''Tourkoi''" is mentioned as subject to the diocese of

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

.. The mid-fourteenth century writer

Pseudo-Kodinos George Kodinos or Codinus ( el, Γεώργιος Κωδινός), also Pseudo-Kodinos, ''kouropalates'' in the Byzantine court, is the reputed 14th-century author of three extant works in late Byzantine literature. Their attribution to him is mere ...

calls them "Persians" by race (a typical Byzantine anachronism for "Turks"), and recalls that they were settled in the

Vardar river The Vardar (; mk, , , ) or Axios () is the longest river in North Macedonia and the second longest river in Greece, in which it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . Th ...

valley by an unnamed Byzantine emperor of old. In both cases, however, "Turks" probably implies the

Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic ...

, who were called "''Tourkoi''" by the Byzantines in the tenth–eleventh centuries. Hence it seems that the ''Vardariotai'' were Magyars resettled in Macedonia in the tenth century, and that they had become

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...

by the end of that century.. By the twelfth century, the ''Vardariotai'', their Magyar identity by now much diluted, were being recruited into the Byzantine army, and, at the latest during the latter part of the reign of Emperor

Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, translit=Manouíl Komnenos, translit-std=ISO; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized Comnenus, also called Porphyrogennetos (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine empero ...

(r. 1143–1180), they were formed into a distinct palace guard regiment.. Their functions, however, at least in the

Palaiologan period The Byzantine Empire was ruled by the Palaiologos dynasty in the period between 1261 and 1453, from the restoration of Byzantine rule to Constantinople by the usurper Michael VIII Palaiologos following its recapture from the Latin Empire, founde ...

, appear to have been more those of a police force than a military unit: Pseudo-Kodinos lists them not with the guards, but with the unarmed palace personnel, and states that their duty was "to keep people orderly" during ceremonies. Unlike the armed members of the

Varangian Guard The Varangian Guard ( el, Τάγμα τῶν Βαράγγων, ''Tágma tōn Varángōn'') was an elite unit of the Byzantine Army from the tenth to the fourteenth century who served as personal bodyguards to the Byzantine emperors. The Varang ...

and the '' Paramonai'' regiment, they were equipped only with a whip (the ''manglabion'') and a staff (the ''dekanikion''). Kodinos also records that they wore distinctive red uniforms and a "Persian" hat called ''angouroton'' ("cucumber-shaped"), and that the whip, hanging at their belt, was their symbol. This latter reference has led to the hypothesis that the ''Vardariotai'' were the replacement of the older ''

Manglabites The Manglabites or Manglavites ( el, μαγ ��αβίται, ''manglabitai''; sing. μαγ ��αβίτης, ''manglabitēs'') were a corps of bodyguards in the Byzantine Empire. Etymology Their name derives from the term ''manglabion'' (μαγγλά ...

'' guards corps. They were commanded by a '' primikerios'', first attested in the year 1166. The thirteenth-century historian

George Akropolites George Akropolites ( Latinized as Acropolites or Acropolita; el, , ''Georgios Akropolites''; 1217 or 1220 – 1282) was a Byzantine Greek historian and statesman born at Constantinople. Life In his sixteenth year he was sent by his father, th ...

further states that the ''Vardariotai'' accompanied the Byzantine emperor to his military camp whilst on campaign.. It is unclear whether and how the ''vardarioi'', administrative officials of

in the tenth–eleventh centuries, known through their seals, are related to the ''Vardariotai''.

References

Sources

* * * * {{Byzantine Empire topics, state=collapsed Guards units of the Byzantine Empire Medieval Macedonia Military units and formations established in the 12th century

History

See also

References

Sources