The Belegezites ( gr, Βελεγεζίται, ''Belegezitai'') were a South Slavic ('' Sklavenoi'') tribe that lived in the area of

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

in the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

. They are one of the tribes listed in the ''

Miracles of Saint Demetrius The ''Miracles of Saint Demetrius'' ( la, Miracula Sancti Demetrii) is a 7th-century collection of homilies, written in Greek, accounting the miracles performed by the patron saint of Thessalonica, Saint Demetrius. It is a unique work for the ...

''.Florin Curta ''The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower ... '' 2001 Page 108 "Sagudates, Belegezites, Baiunetes, and Berzetes. There are several cross references to most of these tribes in Book II. In all cases, We are left with the impression that they were a familiar presence. The Sclavenes were not just invaders, they ..."

Geography

According to the ''Miracles of Saint Demetrius'', they were settled around

Demetrias Demetrias ( grc, Δημητριάς) was a Greek city in Magnesia in ancient Thessaly (east central Greece), situated at the head of the Pagasaean Gulf, near the modern city of Volos. History It was founded in 294 BCE by Demetrius Polior ...

and

Phthiotic Thebes Phthiotic Thebes ( grc, Θῆβαι Φθιώτιδες, Thebai Phthiotides or Φθιώτιδες Θήβες or Φθιώτιδος Θήβες; la, Thebae Phthiae) or Thessalian Thebes (Θῆβαι Θεσσαλικαἰ, ''Thebai Thessalikai'') was ...

on the northern shores of the

Pagasetic Gulf The Pagasetic Gulf ( el, Παγασητικός κόλπος, Pagasitikós kólpos) is a rounded gulf (max. depth 102 metres) in the Magnesia regional unit (east central Greece) that is formed by the Mount Pelion peninsula. It is connected with ...

. The same area is still called Belechatouia (, ''Velechativa'' in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

) in the chrysobull of 1198 granting privileges to the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

, and in the 1204 ''

Partitio Romaniae The ''Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae'' (Latin for "Partition of the lands of the empire of ''Romania'' .e., the Byzantine Empire, or ''Partitio regni Graeci'' ("Partition of the kingdom of the Greeks"), was a treaty signed among the crusader ...

''. At the time, it formed an imperial '' episkepsis'' (fiscal district). The later, 13th/14th-century name "land of the Levachatai" (γῆ τῶν Λεβαχάτων), and the name of the village Levache (Λεβάχη), both found in the cadasters of the Lykousada Monastery, also possibly derive from the same locality. The area of Belzetia, which was also located in Greece and is mentioned as the area ruled by Akameros in , most likely does not derive from the Belegezites, but rather from the related Slavic tribe of the Berzites.

History

After settling in the region of Thessaly, the economic activities of the tribe included trade with the

Byzantine 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 ...

city of

Thessaloniki 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 ...

by 670–80. When the city was besieged by the Sagudates, Drogubites and other tribes in the late 7th century, the leaders of the Belegezites provided supplies for the besieged population. During the same period, along with other tribes they were using armed

logboats A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek – ''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (t ...

to plunder the coasts of Thessaly. One of the leaders of the tribe in the late 7th century was a person named Tihomir, whose name has been found on artifacts of the same period. Religious buildings of the 8th century in Thessaly have been connected with the Christianization of the tribe, after the campaigns of

emperor Nikephoros I against the Slavs of the area.

Annotations

Their name is rendered in English as Belegezites, Velegesites, Belegizites and Velzite Slavs. In Macedonian, Bulgarian and Serbian, ''Velegeziti'' () is used.

References

Sources

* * {{Slavic ethnic groups (VII-XII century) Medieval Thessaly 7th century in the Byzantine Empire Sclaveni