Foreword
The development of siege work among the Slavs (according to the available evidence in historical sources) shows how in a very short period of time they were able to master a rather complex military craft, going from complete ignorance of the principles of attacking a fortified settlement to the use of sophisticated, complex technology during sieges.
We emphasize that for the period under review, siege weapons are the height of military technologies, and not all warlike peoples were able to use them, which cannot be said about the Slavs. It can be assumed that this situation was due to the fact that the Slavs themselves were already quite familiar with woodworking, and the understanding of creating machines against this background came to them rather quickly.
The same situation was in shipbuilding, when the Slavs, who actively use one-wood, learned about the technical possibilities of building more complex ships. It seems that the use of single-timber with extended boards was a big step forward. We do not know on what watercraft the Slavs made the campaigns, which are reported to us by sources, along the Greek islands or on the eastern coast of Italy, but these transitions were not as simple as it might seem to a modern person and required a lot of knowledge.
Sieges of the VI century
If at the beginning of the VI century. The Slavs could not even think about the capture of cities, then since the middle of the century they have been actively participating in the sieges, first together with the Huns, and then with the Avars, gradually increasing knowledge in this military craft.
In 578, at their request, "mechanics and builders" came to the Avars from Byzantium, whom they forced, under threat of death, to build a bridge across the Danube near the city of Sirmia. Thus, the Avars had the first mechanics and they began to master the technique of building siege weapons. The ability of the Slavs to work with wood was actively used by the kagan in the construction of siege weapons under the leadership of Roman prisoners and defectors, the construction of crossings during the siege of Sirmia (Sremska Mitrovica) and Singidon (Belgrade), a city with "very strong walls."
It can be assumed that without the presence of the Slavs, subjects and allies in the Avar army, they would hardly have coped with the siege work, and this is in conditions when, under Emperor Justinian I, new fortifications were renewed and built on the Danube border and in its rear. At least, in the sources we do not find information that the Avars nomads themselves would have taken the cities by storm.
The Slavs, even before the arrival of the formidable Avar warriors in the Danube, for several years constantly increased the frequency of raids on the borders of the Byzantine Empire, in the winter of 547/548, 549/550. they constantly plundered the countryside, not stopping in front of the fortifications. "Even many fortifications," wrote Procopius from Caesarea, "that were here in the old days and seemed strong, since no one protected them, the Slavs managed to have a son-in-law."
Probably, they took the border towns either by a sudden attack, or by cunning, and sometimes even starvation, destroying the infrastructure.
In the province of Lower Moesia, the Slavs even settled in the vicinity of the settlement of Ulmiton and the fortress of Adina, which they had plundered, which forced Emperor Justinian I to strengthen these settlements:
"… since the barbarians-Slavs are constantly hiding here, and, setting up secret ambushes against those walking this way, made these places completely impassable."
A large number of fortresses were destroyed in the borderlands, as indicated by archeology: Sasidava N. III, Histria Rom. D-1, Ulmetum C (see above), Dinogetia C, Sucidava C, Novae D-0b (Shuvalov P. V.).
In 549/550 the Slavs took and plundered the city of Toper (or Topir) on the Mesta river (river Nestos, Greece) in the Rhodope province (Rodona). A huge number of researchers consider this an important milestone in the hostilities of the Slavs.
It was a wealthy settlement, located on an important trade route, flourishing thanks to trade, judging by the number of killed (15 thousand men), it was not a small settlement of the Early Middle Ages. The city was defended on several sides by the river, on one side of it there was a hill, which towered over the fortress walls, which did not have adequate protection for the defenders.
From the story of Procopius of Caesarea, one can see what tactics the Slavs used when capturing settlements during this period. It boiled down to either military tricks or surprise attacks.
Since Toper, which was extremely rare during this period, had a permanent military garrison, the Slavs first lured him out of the city. A small detachment of them in front of the gates harassed the defenders of the walls. The stratiots in full force, armed and without proper reconnaissance, went out to drive them away. The Slavs set off on a feigned flight, forcing the Byzantines to pursue them, at the same time the Slavic warriors who suddenly emerged from an ambush hit the Romans in the rear and completely destroyed the opponents. The combined forces of the Slavs immediately attacked the walls of Toper, the townspeople, in the absence of soldiers, tried to repel the attack, they threw stones and poured boiling oil and tar, but the resistance was short-lived.
The Slavs, wasting no time, “shot a cloud of arrows at them”, taking advantage of the absence of protective galleries on the wall and the fact that a hill dominated the city walls, knocked down the townspeople from the walls with arrows, massacre.
In the period from 584 to the spring of 587. The Avars, obviously, together with the Slavs, “literally iron the Lower Danube limes,” according to researcher P. V. Shuvalov, destroying all the Roman fortifications.
In 584, the Slavs passed all of Hellas to Thessalonica, capturing many cities and fortresses, as John of Ephesus writes about.
All the details of the Slavic sieges of Thessalonica are described in the hagiographical work (description of the lives of the saints) "Miracles of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki "(hereinafter CHDS), a work written by various authors, the first of which was Archbishop John of Thessalonik, who lived in the late 6th - early 7th centuries.
The date of the first siege remains open: either in the 90s or 80s of the 6th century. The last date is comparable to the campaigns described by John of Ephesus, so a powerful Slavic army of 5 thousand fighters approached the city:
"They would not have attacked so suddenly on such a large city if they had not surpassed those who fought against them by force and courage."
But it was not possible to take the city with a swoop.
But the dating of the following events of 584-587, in our opinion, requires significant adjustments, we will try to reconstruct them.
We see that in 584 the Slavs are trying to seize Thessalonica from a swoop, without using any siege technique.
And soon the Slavs, Avar subjects, took the city of Ankhial on the Black Sea coast, breaking through the wall, according to some researchers, this happened in 585 (N. I. Serikov).
But in 586, all the Roman troops of the master millitum presentis Comenziola gather in Anhiale, here the present selects and distributes the troops, obviously, there can be no talk of any capture of the city in the previous year, since Theophilus the Confessor has nothing about this either.
In the same year 586, the kagan, having defeated the expeditionary army of Comentiola, took many cities and approached the Long Walls, but fled from them due to inexplicable panic. On the way, he began a siege of a certain city Apiria (Απειριαν), where the siege mechanic Busa was captured. Busu, whom the Avars were going to kill, did not want to ransom the townspeople. They were incited by the lover of the wife of this very Busa. Then he (primarily in revenge) built a ram (κριός) for the Avars, and taught them to make siege mechanisms, with the help of which they took the city and other cities, most likely in Thrace, not far from the capital. All this happened in 586/587.
This is the starting point, when in this theater of operations the Avars and the Slavs had a professional polyorketian, which Feofan records in his Chronicle. Perhaps other mechanics were also captured, but this is not reported by the documents that have come down to us.
It was at this time that the allies of Byzantium, the Antes, attacked the Slovenian settlements, and not in 585.
After that, the Slovenes began to devastate the coastal strip along the Black Sea, here they moved north, possibly towards the ants who attacked their lands, along the province of Geminont.
And just at this time they came to Anhialai (present-day Pomorie, Bulgaria), a city fortified under Justinian, located on a promontory and inaccessible from the sea. The Slavs broke through the wall and captured it. How did this happen?
Perhaps with the help of a battering ram, having learned how to build it from a captive mechanic, perhaps, as described in the BDS:
"Then, hiding under the skin-covered turtles, scary like snakes, they began, as already mentioned, to destroy the base of the proteikhism (external strengthening) with axes and crowbars."
That is, already at the end of the VI century. the Slavs learned to break open the city walls. Let us repeat, in the case of the aforementioned city of Anhial, we do not know whether a trolley ram or a hand ram was used, whether the "turtle" was over the besiegers, or they acted with picks and crowbars, only under the cover of shields and riflemen.
In 597, the Slavs ravaged the capital of Lower Moesia - the well-fortified Markianopolis (the village of Devnya, Bulgaria), how it was captured is unknown, perhaps with a swoop or cunning, as happened with the heavily fortified city of Salona (Split region, Croatia) in Dalmatia. The Byzantine border units from Salona, taking advantage of the absence of men in the adjacent territory belonging to the Avars, carried out robberies. The Slavs, having arranged an ambush for them, killed the attackers.
“Taking their weapons, banners and other military signs and crossing the river, the named Slavs came to Klisura. Seeing them, the Romans who were there, taking also the banners and weapons of their fellow tribesmen, considered them as such. When the named Slavs reached Klisura, they allowed them to pass. Having passed, the Slavs immediately expelled the Romans and took possession of the aforementioned fortress of Salon."
Perhaps, on September 22, 597, the second siege of Thessalonica began, in any case, this event took place at the end of the 6th century. Archbishop John wrote that Avar subjects, Slavs and other barbarians, were sent to siege the largest city in the Balkans, while the kagan himself moved to Dalmatia. This raid was associated with the failure of the kagan during the siege of the long-suffering Singidun.
But back to Thessalonica. The besiegers, unfamiliar with the area, took over the fortress of St. Matrona, standing in front of the city, beyond Thessalonica, and first attacked her.
The army brought with them ladders made in advance. The soldiers did not waste time on the fortress of St. The matrons, realizing that they were mistaken, they put the stairs to the walls of the city and immediately began an assault. The first onslaught was stopped solely by a miracle, since there were few defenders on the wall, perhaps it was a spontaneous onslaught of a small part of the army, when others were engaged in sieging small fortresses around the city and plundering the surrounding area. The city was completely surrounded by land. The attempt to capture the city from a raid was due to the fact that it was practically impossible to take it with a correct siege. Even though there was no eparch and the main city militia in the city.
The city had a double wall with a thickness of 2 to 4, 6 m, a height of 8, 5 to 12 m, which fully coincided with the theoretical installations prescribed in the Poliorketiki.
On the night of September 23-24, the besiegers began preparing for the assault, perhaps the army made sacrifices, since a huge fire was kindled, and around it the soldiers uttered frightening screams.
The next day, the production of siege equipment began:
“Then, all night and the next day, we heard noise from all sides, when they were preparing gelepoly, iron“rams”, huge stone throwers and so-called“turtles”, which they, together with stone throwers, covered with dry skins. Then they changed their minds and so that no harm would be done to these weapons from fire or boiling resin, they replaced the skins with the bloody skins of freshly harvested bulls and camels."
From this episode, we see that the Slavs confidently build siege engines, which were more than once described in the Poliorketiki of the ancient Romans and Greeks.
It is interesting that the Life shows us a detailed procedure for the actions of the Slavs near Thessalonica.
On September 24, they prepare their guns, on September 25 they begin a siege: at the same time they are trying to break through the wall with battering machines and penetrate the city from the sea on rafts. On September 26, the besiegers made a successful sortie. On September 27 and 28, the Slavs continued shelling from stone throwers and other weapons:
“And they surrounded the quadrangular stone throwers with boards only on three sides, so that those who were inside would not be wounded by arrows [sent] from the wall. But when from a fiery arrow one of them caught fire along with the boards, they retreated, carrying away the guns. The next day they again delivered the same stone throwers, covered with boards, as we have already said, with freshly torn skins, and, placing them closer to the wall, threw mountains and hills, shooting at us."
This whole siege shows that, although specialists appeared among the Slavs who were able to build the most complex military weapons of this period, tactically and technically (lack of food supplies), they were not yet prepared for long sieges:
"A multitude of stones sent from the city, as if by order, fell into the narrowed top of the barbarian stone throwers and killed those who were inside."
As usual, there were also contradictions associated, perhaps, with the "democratic" structure of the Slavic army, the absence of one-man command. Or clashes between the different tribal subjects of the kagan: Avars, Bulgarians, Gepids?.. Already on the eve of the assault on September 29, the flight from the Slavic camp to the city began.
It can be assumed that in conditions of failure, numerous Slavs immediately left the subordination of the Avars and entered into conflict with them. The Avars could keep the Slavs in Panonia subordinate, at first exclusively with the help of terror, and later including them in the common cause of plunder during the campaigns. This mechanism worked in the event of victories (the capture of Salona), but did not work in the event of the slightest military failure.
After that, the besiegers decided to urgently withdraw, and some of the defectors fled to the city.
In the same year 597, about which Theophylact Simokatta writes, the kagan himself with "crowds of barbarians" laid siege to the city of Bonni in Dalmatia, and, what is especially important, with the help of a multitude of battering guns, he seized forty fortifications in this area. Thus, we clearly see the constant development of siege technology among the Avars, and, naturally, the Slavs, because without the latter it is doubtful that the nomads would have mastered this technique.
Siege of the 7th century
The Slavic tribes of this period, inhabiting a vast area, fought with various opponents, but the sources give us the opportunity to confidently speak about the gradual growth of their skills in siege business. In 605, as part of the army of the Lombards, the Slavs, subjects of the kagan, took part in the siege of several northern Italian cities, in particular, Mantua was taken with the help of rams.
But Thomas Splitsky, reports on the new seizure of Salona, but already by the Ant tribe of Croats, the fierce enemies of the Avars, in 615 or 616. He writes that
“Began [the leader. - VE] from all sides incessantly throw arrows at the Salon, then darts. Some from the slope of the overhanging mountain with a deafening roar threw stones at the walls from a sling, others, gradually approaching the walls in a closed formation, figured out how to ram the gates."
If the message of Thomas of Split is true, then we see that the Antes are already actively using siege weapons: Salona could not withstand the siege and was taken.
A new siege of Thessalonica took place in the 10-20s of the 7th century, possibly around 618, and if the Slavs dependent on the Avars participated in the previous assaults, then completely free tribes attack Thessalonica. At a time when the question was being decided in the East, whether or not there be an empire of the Romans, the Slavs began to colonize the European part of the empire: first, they plundered the islands and the coast of all of Greece, and then approached the largest city in Greece on odnodrevki. At the same time, everyone, young and old, took part in the campaign.
The elective military leader of the Slavic tribes, Hatzon or Khotun, read fortunes before the start of the siege and received signs that he would enter the city.
For three days, the Slavs looked out for the weak sides of the city's defense, both from the coast and from the sea, built siege weapons, while the townspeople tried to create additional fortifications. Perhaps an attack from the land of such a powerful and well-fortified city was not envisaged, but it was a diversion, with the aim of attacking a weakly defended harbor and coastal fortifications. And then the assault began:
“On the fourth day, with sunrise, the entire barbarian tribe simultaneously uttered a cry and attacked the city wall from all sides: some threw stones from prepared stone throwers, others dragged ladders to the wall, trying to capture it, others brought fire to the gates, and others sent arrows to the walls like snowy clouds."
At the same time, the attack of the Slavs from the sea began, it is worth noting that the author writes either about odnodrevki, then about the ships that the Slavs use. It is not worth guessing here for a long time, it is quite possible that the Slavs had not only one-tree trees, but also various ships, possibly captured on campaigns, as was the case described in the same ChDS, when the Slavs seized a ship off the coast of Greece with Bishop Cyprian from Africa at the end of the 7th century
The city was seriously preparing for defense. The Romans blocked the harbor with a chain, fortified the coast with spears. In the harbor, a barrage was made of heavy, interconnected ships.
The warriors on the ships tried to land in the places that they had spotted in the previous days, moreover, they knew about the traps, nevertheless, something went wrong. Either the intercession of St. Dmitry, who traveled around the city both by land and by water, or the sudden deterioration of weather conditions, changed the situation at sea. The ships of the Slavs began to collide, some turned over, while others were carried right to the shore to traps and shoals.
In addition, the leader of the Slavs, Hatzon, was captured, that is, the prediction came true, and he "entered the gates of the city." This happened just at those gates that were the weakest fortified and which the Slavs wanted to attack from the sea. It is difficult to agree that during or immediately after the battle he made his way into the city for negotiations; most likely, he was taken prisoner. Some of the noble townspeople tried to hide it at home, to use it for some kind of bargaining with the Slavs, but the townspeople found out about this, and the women of Thessaloniki tore the Slavic leader to pieces.
But the city did not get rid of the danger. The Slavic tribes who migrated to Greece saw in him a significant threat and at the same time a tasty prey. In conditions when the empire could not allocate an expeditionary force for the Balkans, the Slavs called the Avar Khagan into allies, tempting him with an easy prey, as the author of the ChDS writes.
At the same time, the Avars themselves actively waged hostilities against the Byzantines, even tried to seize Constantinople from a swoop.
Perhaps the arrival of the Avar forces was not connected with the Slavic embassy, since the kagan was already interested in the capture of the city.
In 620 he arrived under the city with great force, and we can say that this was a rehearsal of the siege of Constantinople in 626. Attention is drawn to the same alignment of forces: Slavic tribes, allies of the Avars, Avars with their subjects Slavs, Bulgarians, Gepids and other tribes.
An attempt to capture the city with armored horsemen failed. The attackers brought up pre-prepared siege weapons:
“Some cooked the so-called“turtles”from braids and leather, others - at the gates of“rams”from huge trunks and well-rotating wheels, the third - huge wooden towers, exceeding the height of the wall, at the top of which were armed strong youths, the fourth drove in the so-called gorpeks, the fifth dragged ladders on wheels, the sixth invented flammable means."
It is worth noting that the besiegers and the besieged used different types of stone throwers, which is emphasized by the author of the BDS in terms.
The siege lasted 30 days, but due to the fact that the city was constantly receiving help from the sea, it was unsuccessful and was removed: the kagan went to Pannonia, especially since his enterprise could not be called unsuccessful: simultaneously with the siege, the Avars and Slavs devastated and took captured a huge number of the population.
First siege of Constantinople
In 626, a grandiose event took place: the Slavic tribes took part in the siege of the capital of the great Roman Empire - Constantinople. The city had powerful fortifications, its towers were 18 m high, the walls were 9 m high and 5 m thick.
We have already written about this siege in an article on "VO" "Slavs, Avars and Byzantium. The beginning of the 7th century ". Let's pay attention to some details not covered in the article.
Theophanes the Confessor reports that the Persian commander Sarvaros made an alliance with the Avars, separately with the Bulgars, Gepids, and the Slavs.
The location of the troops, which is described in the Easter Chronicle, is also significant: the kagan took up a position in front of the walls of Constantinople in the center and to the north, closer to the Golden Horn, in the north there were Slavs subordinate to the Avars. To the south, from the Avar headquarters, and at the Golden Gate, are the allied Slavs. There is no absolute clarity here, but it can be assumed that these allied Slavs are exactly the ones with whom the Sassanids have agreed separately. These are Slavic tribes who occupied by the 20s of the 7th century. lands in Greece and Macedonia. It was they, who had more than once participated in joint operations with the Avars, who supported the siege of the second Rome.
They, outraged by the fact that the kagan ordered to kill the Slavs from odnodrevok, who came under attack from the Roman warships, lifted the siege and the kagan was forced to follow them (Ivanov S. A.).
As for the siege weapons at the Avars near Constantinople, about which Patriarch Nicephorus writes (VII century, "wooden towers and turtles", χελωναι τα κατασκευάσματα), then, most likely, it was the Slavs who were engaged in their construction.
Blockade of Thessalonica 674-677
"Miracle 5" of St. Dmitry tells us that the Slavic tribes that settled in Greece and Macedonia, despite the fact that they had various contacts with Thessalonica, hatched plans to capture the city. The prince of the Rinkhin Pervud, or Preboud (translated in the "Great Cheti-Menaei"), often visited Thessalonica, spoke Greek and wore Roman clothes, it was he who was captured in 674 by order of the Basileus Constantine IV (668-685) and sent to the capital. This was done contrary to the interests of the city, since a delegation consisting of Slavic representatives and townspeople went to the emperor. Constantine said that he would free him at the end of the war with the Arabs, most likely, the capture of Preboud was due to the fact that the emperor wanted to protect his rear from Slavic attacks, but the opposite happened.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Purvud was killed in Constantinople, which caused the fury of the Rinchians, their neighbors and allies:
“First of all, they decided among themselves that the Slavs from Strimon would seize the eastern and northern sides, and the Slavs from Rinkhino and the Sagudates - the western and coastal ones, [sending] every day connected ships.”
The two-year blockade of Thessalonica began. The Slavs constantly attacked the surroundings and the city both by land and sea, using "connected ships". Under the connected ships, some researchers believe single-tree boats, tied in three pieces to a deck of planks for installing siege weapons. Of course, such structures can only be used on calm water, which, for example, is advised in his theoretical work by the polyorketian Anonymous Byzantine (≈ 10th century). It is worth saying that the townspeople also used one-tree trees. In the end, a terrible city came to the city and its surroundings. A Slav defector lured out of the city a detachment of the city militia, which probably consisted of the best warriors, and the Slavs destroyed it.
To top it all off, the sailors who came to the aid of the city on ships were doing atrocities in the city. Then in the policy, it was decided to send all available ships, ships and odnodrevki for provisions to the Velegesite tribe along with the remaining soldiers. The Velegesite tribe did not take part in the siege, but was ready, if necessary or possible, to support other Slavs.
The Slavs decided to take advantage of the departure of the main forces. The leaders of the Druhawite tribe, who had not previously been mentioned during the blockade, who appeared under the walls of the city, proposed an assault. Apparently, they made siege artillery and various devices, according to the author of “5 miracles”, “this was something that no one from our generation knew and never saw, and we still could not give most of them title.
The Slavs from the Rinkhin and Sagudat tribe on July 25, 677, tightly surrounded the city from the sea and land, scouts looked out for weak points of defense and installed siege "artillery". True, one Slavic tribe, the Strimonians, did not come to the city, but turned back.
The next day, the assault began. It lasted three days: but, as the author of this part of the ChDS explains, the victory of the weak forces of the city cannot be explained by anything other than the intercession of St. Dmitry.
And again, the failure caused discord among the Slavic tribes, we note that the Slavic militia did not have a single leader, at least the source does not report about him, but it is only about a multitude of leaders.
But the Slavs had an advantage in strength, so they continued to plunder around the city, the sent expedition of the imperial troops defeated the army of the Slavs, but did not dare to reach Thessalonica.
And here we come to the most important information from this source. So, at the end of the VII century. we see what way the Slavs went from a complete inability to besiege fortifications, to the construction of the most complex siege weapons:
“Among them was one of this people of Slavs, who knew how to behave with dignity, efficient and reasonable, and also, thanks to his great experience, knowledgeable in the construction and arrangement of combat vehicles. He asked the prince himself to give him permission and help to build a magnificent tower from tightly connected logs, to put it, skillfully fortified, on wheels or some kind of rollers. He wanted to cover her with freshly skinned skins, set up stone throwers on top and bind her on both sides in the form of … a sword. Above, where the battlements are, hoplites will walk. It would be three stories high to accommodate archers and slingers - in a word, to build such a machine, with the help of which, as he claimed, they would surely take the city."
Let us emphasize that there was a long way to go in military knowledge. Which, however, does not in any way contradict the tribal structure of society. Military activity and robbery in the context of migration come to the fore, as well as among other "barbarian" peoples. Although after a while there will be a complete settling of the Slavs on the occupied lands, which we already see from the same source: the Slavs are successfully engaged in agriculture, including new agricultural crops (the Velegesite tribe). It is obvious that such societies, due to their internal structure, could not remain permanently in a state of war.
What technique did the Slavs use during the sieges? This will be discussed in detail in the next article.
Sources and Literature:
Chapters from the "Church History" of John of Ephesus / Translation by N. V. Pigulevskaya // Pigulevskaya N. V. Syrian medieval historiography. Research and translations. Compiled by E. N. Meshcherskaya SPb., 2011.
Procopius of Caesarea War with the Goths / Translated by S. P. Kondratyev. T. I. M., 1996.
Procopius of Caesarea. About buildings // War with the Goths. About buildings. Translated by S. P. Kondratyev. T. II. M., 1996.
Miracles of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki. Translation by S. A. Ivanov // Code of the oldest written information about the Slavs. T. II. M., 1995.
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Thomas of Split "History of the Archbishops of Salona and Split" Translation, introductory article and commentary by O. A. Akimova. M., 1997.
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Corpus scriptorum historiae Byzantinae. Theophanis chronographia. Ex recensione loan. Classeni. V. I. Bonnae. MDCCCXXXIX.
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