Unwanted refugees: Newcomers from the steppes in the Byzantine Balkans (11th – 12th century)

Abstract

After a period of safe isolation from the Great Steppe area and its restless inhabitants in the history of Byzantium came a difficult 11th century, when the empire had to face the migration of nomadic peoples (Pechenegs, Uzes). Their stay in the Paristrion theme was one of the most difficult problems that the imperial court had to deal with in the second half of the 11th century. This study is an attempt to answer two questions: how Byzantium coped with steppe refugees and how the experience of their presence influenced the later (until the end of the 12th century) relations of the empire with the inhabitants of the Black Sea steppes.

Keywords: Byzantine Balkans in the 11th–12th centuries; Byzantine policy towards nomads: Pechenegs, Uzes, Cumans.