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Men-at-Arms
Byzantine Naval Forces
1261–1461
The Roman Empire’s Last Marines
Raffaele D’Amato • Illustrated by Peter Dennis
& Igor Dzis
DR RAFFAELE D’AMATO is
an experienced Turin-based
researcher of the ancient
and medieval military world.
After achieving his first PhD
in Romano-Byzantine law,
and having collaborated
with the University of
Athens, he gained a second
doctorate in Roman military
archaeology. He currently
works as vicehead of the
Laboratorio delle antiche
Provinche Danubiane at
Ferrara University, under Prof
Livio Zerbini. Dr D’Amato has
written and co-authored a
number of books for Osprey
on Ancient and Early Medieval
subjects.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHRONOLOGY
HISTORY OF THE NAVAL FORCES
• Rebuilding the fleet after the reconquest –
the ships – central and provincial fleet bases – fleet of the
Trebizond Empire
• Manning the fleet
• Operations, 1260s–1290s
• Disbandments, and aftermath
• Consequences
3
4
6
THE REGIMENTS
•
Gasmouloi
– marine
Tzakones
–
Prosalentai
PETER DENNIS was born
in 1950. Inspired by
contemporary magazines such
as
Look and Learn
he studied
illustration at Liverpool Art
College. Peter has since
contributed to hundreds
of books, predominantly
on historical subjects,
including many Osprey
titles. A keen wargamer and
modelmaker, he is based in
Nottinghamshire, UK.
13
17
FLEET ORGANIZATION & STRENGTH
• Command – later strengths – ships’ armament:
‘Greek Fire’ and artillery – character and social status of
naval personnel
DRESS & EQUIPMENT
• Sources for reconstruction
• Dress
• Weapons: swords, daggers, spears, javelins and bows
• Defensive equipment: helmets, body armour and shields
• Shield blazons of the
Tzakones
• Naval flags
21
IGOR AKSENT JEVICH
DZIS was born in 1968 in
Ukraine, and studied both
at Simferopol Art College in
Crimea and as a costume
designer at the University of
Cinematography in Moscow.
He has worked on several
historical films, and since
1992 has been illustrating
military historical subjects
for Russian and international
magazines and publishing
houses. He currently lives and
works in Crimea. This is his
first book for Osprey.
REPRESENTATIVE ACTIONS
• 1275: Philanthrôpènos’s victory at Demetrias
• 1275–80: campaigns of Likarios
• 1427: Campaign of Leontarios – battles
of the Echinades Islands and Galata
41
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
PLATE COMMENTARIES
INDEX
44
45
48
Men-at-Arms  •  502
Byzantine Naval Forces
1261–1461
Raffaele D’Amato   •  Illustrated by Peter Dennis
& Igor Dzis
Series editor
Mar tin Windrow
This electronic edition published in 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Osprey Publishing
PO Box 883, Oxford, OX1 9PL, UK
1385 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018, USA
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Osprey Publishing, part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
© 2016 Osprey Publishing Ltd.
All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available
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recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may
be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Print ISBN: 978 1 4728 0728 1
PDF ebook ISBN: 978 1 4728 0729 8
ePub ebook ISBN: 978 1 4728 0730 4
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De d i c a ti o n
To my beloved sons Michail and Flavius Victor, hope of all my life
Au th o r’s No t e: ‘ B y z a n ti n e ’ a n d
‘ Ro m a n ’
The adjective ‘Byzantine’ is a modern creation. Though their language was
Greek, and Westerners called them ‘Greeks’, the inhabitants of the Eastern
Roman Empire called themselves, with full right,
Rhomaioi,
i.e. Romans. The
polity of Byzantium was an uninterrupted survival of the Late Roman Empire
after the fall of the West in AD 476, and it represented the political and cultural
evolution of the Roman state. In this text the term ‘Byzantines’ refers only to
the people of the capital of that empire, Constantinople or Byzantium, since in
the period discussed they were indeed called
Vyzantioi;
but the soldiers and
sailors who served the Empire are given their dignity as ‘Romans’.
Note on spelling: Since this text draws upon ancient, historical and modern
sources in several languages, including Latin and Greek, the spelling of some
names is unavoidably inconsistent.
Ac k n o wl e dg e m e n ts
For a great deal of new historical material in this text my thanks are due to my
dear friends Prof Taxiarchis Kolias, Director of the Institute for Byzantine
Research at the University of Athens, and Dr Andrea Babuin of the University of
Ioannina.
For making it possible for me to photograph the frescoes from Geraki and the
Mani peninsula, published here for the first time in colour, I express my
gratitude to the 5th Ephorate of Greece, responsible for the regions of Lakonia
and Mani. In particular I would like to thank Dr Evanghelia Pantou, director of
the Ephorate, and Dr Georgios Mitris of the local archaeological museum in
Aeropolis, who joined me under the hot sun in my search for the most hidden
churches of the Mani region.
Thanks for access to Bulgarian finds are due to Prof Valeri Yotov of the
University of Varna, and to Dr Stanimir Dimitrov. I am also indebted to Prof
Ewald Kislinger of the Institut für Byzantinistik und Neogräzistik, University of
Vienna, who put the library at my disposal. Dr David Nicolle generously
furnished me with some of his photographs. Thanks are due to the Biblioteca
Riccardiana in Florence, and in particular to Dr Rossella Giovannetti. I must also
thank Mr Haluk Perk of Istanbul, for the doors he opened and for kind
permission to publish previously unknown items.
Further acknowledgements are due to: the Archaeological Museum of
Kazanlik, Bulgaria; the National Museum of Bulgaria, Sofia; the District
Archaeological Museum in Paphos, Cyprus; the Istituto Ellenico di San Giorgio
dei Greci, Venice; the National Museum of Athens; and Time-Line Auctions.
My collaborators on this book have been Drs Massimo Bizzarri, Marco
Lucchetti and Andrey Negin, and Ing Andrea Salimbeti, whom I thank for their
patient advice and help in the search for new finds and photos and in the
preparatory drawings for the colour plates. Finally, special acknowledgement
goes to Igor Dzis, and particularly to Peter Dennis, who so painstakingly carried
out my instructions to provide the splendid colour plates that bring to life the
‘last Marines of the Roman Empire’ in their magnificent equipment.
Osprey Publishing supports the Woodland Trust, the UK’s leading woodland
conservation charity. Between 2014 and 2018 our donations will be spent on
their Centenary Woods project in the UK.
www.ospreypublishing.com
OPPOSITE
‘Joshua of Navi before the
Archangel Michael’, an image
dating from 1260–90. The helmet
appears to be of
spangenhelm
construction. Below a
throat-guard, the contrasting-
coloured body armour appears to
be of scales, with padded fabric
covering the torso, and double
rows of protective strips –
resembling the
pteryges
of the
Classical past – at the upper
arms and covering the groin and
thighs. (Detail from fresco,
in situ
Church of the Taxiarchon, Geraki,
Lakonia; author’s photo)
Arti st’s Not e
Readers may care to note that the original paintings from which colour plates
B, E, F, G and H in this book were prepared are available for private sale. All
reproduction copyright whatsoever is retained by the Publishers. All enquiries
should be addressed to:
Peter Dennis, 'Fieldhead,' The Park, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire NG18 2AT, UK
The Publishers regret that they can enter into no correspondence upon this
matter.
BYZANTINE NAVAL FORCES
1261–1461
INTRODUCTION
T
he last two centuries of the Byzantine Empire were characterized
by the continuous efforts of the central authority – hampered by
chaotic civil wars, and the centrifugal tendencies of the last
Roman elites – to organize and maintain their military resources to face
the constant menace of ‘Latins’ (Franks and Italians),
Serbs, Bulgars, and (finally, and most dangerously) the
Ottoman Turks.
1
Despite the Roman Empire’s unrivalled maritime
heritage, the navy of Byzantium was in decline from the
second half of the 12th century, and this contributed to
the fall of Constantinople to the army of the Fourth
Crusade and the Venetians in 1204. After his reconquest
of the City in 1261 the Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos
(r. 1259–82) rebuilt a naval force.
2
Initially led by Alexios
Philanthrôpènos, this force was manned partly with
newly created regiments: the
Gasmouloi,
the marine
Tzakones,
and the
Prosalentai.
The resurrected fleet would
first show its quality in the campaigns of 1262–63 against
islands held by the Franks and Venetians (sources
Pachymeris, 1835, I, 164 and 209, 5–12; 1984, pp.221ff,
279ff; Gregoras, 1829, I, 98, 13–17; 1973, pp.112–113);
20 years later it proved capable of withstanding an
expedition by Charles d’Anjou, and it would reduce
Byzantium’s dependence on its Genoese collaborators in
the face of Venetian naval strength. The empire restored
by the Palaiologos dynasty was surrounded by hostile
neighbours, and would also be torn by internal power
struggles. Although its military power was only a pale
shadow of its former strength, in the initial period the
new marine regiments were among the elite units that
proved their effectiveness in confronting external
enemies. In the 14th century, while the Empire’s enemies
tightened nooses around the City and its few remaining
overseas possessions, the marines were recorded as
participants in palace coups and internecine wars.
1 ‘Latin’ is the usual term for the regime, initially that of the Empire of Constantinople under the Flemish monarch
Baldwin I, which ruled Constantinople for 57 years after its capture by troops of the Fourth Crusade and the
Venetians in 1204. The word was usually employed by the Eastern Romans to mean all Westerners belonging to
the Roman Catholic Church.
2 The use of the capitalized form ‘the City’ to indicate Constantinople follows the customary usage of the Romans
throughout their history. The ancient Romans used to refer to Rome as
Urbs,
while the Romans of Byzantium
referred to Constantinople in Greek as
Polis
– all considered their capital to be ‘THE city’, par excellence.
3

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