In the 7th century, a populous group of people known as the Mardaites (or Mardaïtes) originally inhabited the Taurus and Amanus mountain regions in south-central Anatolia. Late in the century, however, largely coinciding with the reign of Emperor Constantine IV of Constantinople (r. 668-685), the Mardaites mobilized a militant migratory force and began pushing the Umayyad forces out of portions of Syria and Lebanon. At the time, Mu’awiya (r. 661-680)—founder of the Umayyad Dynasty—was busy waging a major war against Emperor Constantine IV, notably in the unsuccessful Arab siege of Constantinople between 674-678, where napalm-like Greek Fire wreaked havoc on Mu’awiya’s fleet. In this time when Mu’awiya was distracted and his armies needed rebuilding, the Mardaites proved themselves to be a formidable military force. On their conquests, the chronicler Theophanes (c. 750s-818) wrote:
“In this year [Sep. 677-Aug.678] the Mardaites invaded Lebanon and conquered it from Mt. Mauros to the holy city, overpowering its most important centers. Many slaves, prisoners, and natives fled to them, so that in a little while there were many thousands of them. When Muawiyah and his advisers learned this they were quite discomfited…Muawiyah sent ambassadors to the autokrator Constantine asking for peace, and even promised to pay the Emperor a yearly tribute” (Theophanes, Chronographia, entry for Annus Mundi 6169).
Mu’awiya, as the quote conveyed, ultimately made a peace deal with Emperor Constantine IV after the failure of the siege of Constantinople in 678. When the deal was struck, the Mardaite-controlled territory gained a complicated status. As opposed to becoming a typically-run imperial territory, the Mardaite realm operated more like a relatively independent ally or an autonomous protectorate of Constantinople. The curious political and military alliance between the Mardaites and Constantinople was not put to the test, for Mu’awiya died in 680 without having launched any campaigns of note against the Mardaite-controlled territory. Similarly, Mu’awiya’s successors, Yazīd I (r. 680-683), Mu’awiya II (r. 683-684?) and Marwān I (r. 684-685), were too bogged down by civil wars and rebellions to want to stir up more trouble with the Mardaites and Constantinople. Marwān’s son and successor, Abd al-Malik (r. 685/692-705), was also faced with civil war, rebellions, and general Arab in-fighting at the start of his reign, but it did not stop him from seeking a diplomatic solution to the hostile presence of the Mardaites. Abd al-Malik did this by renewing a peace treaty with Constantinople—then ruled by young Emperor Justinian II (r. 685-695, 705-711)—and in the process he negotiated a new provision that included the restraining or relocation of the Mardaites. On this peace deal, the chronicler Theophanes wrote:
“In this year [Sep. 686-Aug. 687] Abd al-Malik sent envoys to Justinian to secure peace. It was arranged on these terms: the emperor would keep the Mardaites’ troops out of Lebanon and stop their attacks, and Abd al-Malik would give the Romans 1,000 nomismata, a horse, and a slave each day. Also, both sides would share equally the tribute from Cyprus, Armenia, and Iberia. The Emperor sent the magistrianos Paul to Abd al-Malik to secure the arrangement. There were written sureties with witnesses; the magistrianos, who was treated with honor, returned” (Theophanes, Chronographia, entry for Annus Mundi 6178).
Emperor Justinian II kept his word and managed to convince or coerce thousands of the militant Mardaites to enter a relocation program that would resettle them on different tracts of imperial land in Greece and Anatolia. This project was carried out around the early 690s, but Emperor Justinian II and his countrymen would quickly regret losing the valuable and effective Mardaite buffer zone. This regret was palpable in the account of Theophanes, who continued, “The Emperor sent messengers who seized 12,000 Mardaites, mutilating the Roman state. For all the cities in the heights from Mopsuestia to fourth Armenia, which are now inhabited by the Arabs, had grown weak and depopulated from the Mardaites’ attacks. After they were transplanted, Romania has suffered all sorts of evils at the hands of the Arabs up until the present day” (Theophanes, Chronographia, entry for Annus Mundi 6178). The emperor’s treaty-inspired relocation of the Mardaites was all the more ironic due to the quick collapse of the peace between the Umayyads and the Empire of Constantinople. Skirmishes between the two powers resumed on the Anatolian front in the early 690s, and Abd al-Malik’s forces soon after captured Carthage (the seat of the imperial province of Africa) in 697.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Picture Attribution: (Mosaic from Ravenna with Emperor Constantine IV, his brothers, Herakleios and Tiberius, and his son, Emperor Justinian II, dated likely to the 7th century, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons, Europeana and the Catholic University of Leuven).
Sources:
- Theophanes, The Chronicle of Theophanes, translated by Harry Turtledove. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mardaite
- https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-3338
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yazid-I
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marwan-I-ibn-al-Hakam
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abd-al-Malik-Umayyad-caliph
