Sermesianoi
The Sermesianoi or, alternatively, Keramisians were a mixed Roman population of some 70,000 Bulgars, Pannonian Slavs and the Roman Christians from Syrmia who settled in Byzantine Macedonia, following a successful revolt against the Avar Khaganate led by the Bulgar noble Kuber, probably around the year 680.[1][2]
In Avar Pannonia
The Sermesianoi were a mixed population, which included the descendants of Roman (Byzantine) Christians, whom the Avars had captured in the Balkan Peninsula and settled in the region of Sirmium.[3][4] Kuber had been made governor of the region by the Avar Khagan.[5][6] Kuber's subjects called themselves Sermesianoi, [6] but the Byzantines referred to them as "Bulgars".[7] They had preserved their Roman and Christian traditions, even though their ancestors had been taken to the Avar Khaganate some 60 years prior to Kuber's appointment.[4]
As the Sermesianoi never stopped dreaming of returning to their ancestors' homes, Kuber rose up in open rebellion against the Khagan.[8] According to modern historians, Kuber's rebellion occurred in the 670s or early 680s.[6][7][2] Around 70,000[9] Sermesianoi joined him and departed for the Byzantine Empire.[5] The Khagan attempted to hinder their migration, but they routed the Avars in five or six battles and crossed the Danube.[5]
The text of "Miracula Sancti Demetrii" writes: "the two Pannonias, as well as the two Dacias, Dardania, Mysia Prevalin, Rhodope, and also Thrace and the regions along the long walls of Byzantium, and having taken the rest of the cities and towns, they lead the people to a place near the Danube in the direction of Pannonia whose metropolis had been formerly the aforementioned Sirmium, It was there, as it is said, that the aforementioned Chagan settled all the people he had captured to be henceforth his subjects. There they intermarried with Bulgars, Avars, and other peoples, had children with them, children whom they brought up according to the traditions of the Romans, and so through orthodoxy and the holy and life-giving baptism the race of the Christians increased and became numerous as had that of the Hebrews in Egypt under the Pharaoh. And as each related to the other concerning the residence of their ancestors, they fired in each other's heart the desire to return. After some sixty and more years had passedfollowing the devastations which affected their ancestors, another and new people evolved, and in time the greatest number of them became free. Finally the Chagan, considering them to constitute a people with an identity of its own, put, in accordance with the custom of his race, a chieftain over them, a man by the name of Kouver. When Kouver learned from some of his most intimate associates the desire of the exiled Romans for their ancestral homes, he gave the matter some thought, then took them together with other peoples, i.e. the foreigners who had joined them as it said in the Book of Moses about the Jews at the time of their exodus, with all their baggage and arms. According to what is said, they rebelled and separated themselves from the Chagan. The Chagan, when he learned this, set himself in pursuit of them, met them in five or six battles and, being defeated in each one by them, took flight and retired to the regions further north. After the victory Kouver, together with the aforementioned people, crossed the aforementioned river Danube, came to our regions, and occupied the Keramesion plain. Once there, the people, those in particular who were orthodox, sought their ancestral cities, some, our city of Thessalonica, protected by the martyr, others, the most prosperous and queen of cities, and still others, the cities in Thrace which still stood. This is what the people wanted. But counsellors of mischievous intent conceived the following evil advice: that no one among the people achieve what he desired, but that Kouver remain their chieftain and Chagan, mixed as they had come. For ifthey tried to go to the one who had obtainedfrom God the scepter to rule over us and he received and dispersed them, Kouver would be thereby deprived of his authority. Accordingly, an embassy was sent to the bearer of the scepter requesting that he [Kouver] be allowed to remain, together with his people, where he was, and that the nation of the Drogubites, situated near us, be ordered to furnish him in sufficient quantity the necessary provisions. And this was done. Accordingly, when most of them went among the huts (σκηνάς) of the Slavs in order to provision themselves and when, upon asking, they ascertained that our city was not very far, most ofthose of Roman origins, with wives and children, began to enter our city saved by God. The administrative officials immediately sent them by ship to the capital." – Miracula Sancti Demetrii
In Byzantine Macedonia
Kuber and the Sermesianoi went as far as south as the plain of Thessaloniki, where they settled, asking for the permission of the Byzantine emperor.[5][10] The emperor gave his consent and ordered the nearby Slavic tribe of the Dragovites to supply Kuber and his people with food.[5][6] Kuber and his associate Mauros subsequently attempted to seize Thessaloniki, taking advantage of a civil war in the city but were unsuccessful.[5]
Kuber and those Sermesianoi who had not returned to their ancestral homes ultimately settled in the Keramisian field, most likely the Pelagonia plain in North Macedonia, hence their other name, "Keramisians" (most likely a corruption of Sermesianoi).[11] Macedonian archaeologist Ivan Mikulčić localizes the settlement of the Sermesianoi to Western North Macedonia and Eastern Albania and attributes the treasures found at Vrap and Ersekë (the Avar Treasure) to Kuber's people.[12] German archeologist Joachim Werner has also linked the Vrap Treasure to Kuber and the Sermesianoi.[13][14] According to Werner, the treasure may have been part of the Khagan's treasury, which was robbed by Kuber and then carried south of the Danube.
See also
References
- ^ Curta 2001, pp. 106.
- ^ a b Fine 1991, pp. 46–48.
- ^ Szádeczky-Kardoss 1990, p. 215.
- ^ a b Fine 1991, p. 44.
- ^ a b c d e f Fine 1991, p. 45.
- ^ a b c d Curta 2006, p. 106.
- ^ a b Hupchik 2002, p. 33.
- ^ Fine 1991, pp. 44–45, 46–47.
- ^ Микулчиќ 1996, pp. 71.
- ^ Szádeczky-Kardoss 1990, p. 216.
- ^ Petrov, Petar (1981). Образуване на българската държава [Formation of the Bulgarian State]. Sofia: Наука и изкуство. pp. 296–297.
- ^ Микулчиќ 1996, pp. 29–33.
- ^ Werner, Joachim (1986). Der Schatzfund von Vrap in Albanien - Beiträge zur Archäologie der Awarenzeit im mittleren Donauraum [The Vrap Treasure in Albania—Contribution to the Avar Period along the Middle Danube] (in German). Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 16–23. ISBN 978-3-700-10756-9.
- ^ Garam, Éva (1987). "Joachim Werner, Der Schatzfund von Vrap in Albanien" [Joachim Werner, Vrap's Treasure Trove in Albania]. Bonner Jahrbücher (in German). 187 (Bd. 187.1987: Bonner Jahrbücher): 2. doi:10.11588/bjb.1987.0.66460.
Sources
- Curta, Florin (2006). Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Curta, Florin (2001). The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500–700. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139428880.
- Fine, John V. A. Jr. (1991) [1983]. The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08149-7.
- Hupchik, Dennis P (2002). The Balkans. From Constantinople to Communism. Palgrave MacMillans. ISBN 1-4039-6417-3.
- Микулчиќ, Иван (1996). Средновековни градови и тврдини во Македонија [Medieval towns and castles in the Republic of Macedonia]. Makedonska akademija na naukite i umetnostite. ISBN 9989-649-08-1.
- Szádeczky-Kardoss, Samuel (1990). "The Avars". In Sinor, Denis (ed.). The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Volume I. Cambridge University Press. pp. 206–228. ISBN 0-521-24304-1.