The Belegezites (, ''Belegezitai'') were a South Slavic (''

Sklavenoi The ' (in Latin) or ' ( various forms in Greek) were early Slavic tribes that raided, invaded and settled in the Balkans in the Early Middle Ages and eventually became one of the progenitors of modern South Slavs. They were mentioned by early By ...

'') tribe that lived in the area of

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

in the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

. They are one of the tribes listed in the ''

Miracles of Saint Demetrius The ''Miracles of Saint Demetrius'' () is a 7th-century collection of homilies, written in Greek, accounting the miracles performed by the patron saint of Thessalonica, Saint Demetrius. It is a unique work for the history of the city and the Balka ...

''.

Geography

According to the ''Miracles of Saint Demetrius'', they were settled around

Demetrias Demetrias () was a Greek city in Magnesia in ancient Thessaly (east central Greece), situated at the head of the Pagasaean Gulf, near the modern city of Volos. History It was founded in 294 BCE by Demetrius Poliorcetes, who removed th ...

and

Phthiotic Thebes Phthiotic Thebes ( or Φθιώτιδες Θήβες or Φθιώτιδος Θήβες; ) or Thessalian Thebes (Θῆβαι Θεσσαλικαἰ, ''Thebai Thessalikai'') was a city and polis in ancient Thessaly, Greece; its site was north of the mo ...

on the northern shores of the

Pagasetic Gulf The Pagasetic Gulf () is a rounded gulf (max. depth 102 metres) in the Magnesia regional unit (east central Greece) that is formed by the Mount Pelion peninsula. It is connected with the Euboic Sea. The passage into the Euboic Sea is narrow an ...

. The area is usually identified with the region of Velechatouia (, in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

) in the

chrysobull A golden bull or chrysobull was a decree issued by Byzantine emperors and monarchs in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Description A golden bull was a decree issued by Byzantine Emperors. It was later used by monarchs in Europe ...

of 1198 granting privileges to the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

, and in the 1204 ''

Partitio Romaniae The ''Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae'' (Latin for "Partition of the lands of the empire of ''Romania'' .e., the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, or ''Partitio regni Graeci'' ("Partition of the kingdom of the Greeks"), was a treaty signed a ...

''. At the time, it formed an imperial (fiscal district). The Greek scholar Alkmini Stavridou-Zafraka on the other hand rejects this identification and proposes an identification of with 'Little Vlachia', a

Vlach Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula) ...

-inhabited region in

Aetolia Aetolia () is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. Geography The Achelous River separates Aetolia from Acarnania to the west; on ...

. The later, 13th/14th-century name "land of the Levachatai" (), and the name of the village Levache (Λεβάχη), both found in the cadasters of the Lykousada Monastery, also possibly derive from the same locality. The area of Belzetia, which was also located in Greece and is mentioned as the area ruled by

Akameros Akameros (, )—his original name was probably Akamir—was the "''archon'' of the sclaviniae, Sclavenes of Belzetia" (), an autonomous South Slavs, South Slavic community in Central Greece (geographic region), Central Greece under Byzantine sovere ...

in , most likely does not derive from the Belegezites, but rather from the related Slavic tribe of the Berzites.

History

After settling in the region of Thessaly, the economic activities of the tribe included trade with the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

city of

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area) and the capital city, capital of the geographic reg ...

by 670–80. When the city was besieged by the

Sagudates The Sagudates (, ''Sagoudatai'') were a South Slavic tribe that lived in Macedonia region, in the area between Thessaloniki and Veria. History The Sagudates were first attested in a Byzantine document of 686 as allies of the Avars and besieger ...

, Drogubites and other tribes in the late 7th century, the leaders of the Belegezites provided supplies for the besieged population. During the same period, along with other tribes they were using armed

logboats A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed-out tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (tr ...

to plunder the coasts of Thessaly. One of the leaders of the tribe in the late 7th century was a person named Tihomir, whose name has been found on artifacts of the same period. Religious buildings of the 8th century in Thessaly have been connected with the Christianization of the tribe, after the campaigns of

emperor

Nikephoros I Nikephoros I (; 750 – 26 July 811), also known as Nicephorus I, was Byzantine emperor from 802 to 811. He was General Logothete (finance minister) under Empress Irene, but later overthrew her to seize the throne for himself. Prior to becomi ...

against the Slavs of the area.

Annotations

Their name is rendered in English as Belegezites, Velegesites, Belegizites and Velzite Slavs. In Macedonian, Bulgarian and Serbian, ''Velegeziti'' () is used.

References

Sources

* * {{Slavic ethnic groups (VII-XII century) Medieval Thessaly 7th century in the Byzantine Empire Sclaveni