Constantine Arianites (; died 1050) was a

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 ...

general active in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

against the

Pechenegs The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks, , Middle Turkic languages, Middle Turkic: , , , , , , ka, პაჭანიკი, , , ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Pečenezi, separator=/, Печенези, also known as Pecheneg Turks were a semi-nomadic Turkic peopl ...

. He was possibly the son or otherwise a relative of

David Arianites David Areianites or Arianites () was a high-ranking Byzantine commander of the early 11th century. Origin The origin of the surname is uncertain and different theories have been proposed ranging from various anthroponomastic and toponymic derivat ...

, a celebrated general under

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus (; 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar Slayer (, ), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 976 to 1025. He and his brother Constantine VIII were crowned before their father Romanos II died in 963, but t ...

(r. 976–1025). He is first recorded in 1047, when the

crossed the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

and invaded Byzantine territory. At the time, according to

John Skylitzes John Skylitzes, commonly Latinized as Ioannes Scylitzes (, ; , ; early 1040s – after 1101), was a Byzantine historian of the late 11th century. Life Very little is known about his life. The title of his work records him as a '' kouropalat ...

, he held the rank of ''

magistros The (Latin; ; ) was one of the most senior administrative officials in the Later Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantium, the office was eventually transformed into a senior honorary rank, simply called ''magist ...

'' and the post of '' doux'' of

Adrianople Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

. In response to the Pecheneg attack, he was ordered to join with the officer commanding in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, Basil Monachos, and the generals Michael and Kegenes (a baptised Pecheneg who had entered Byzantine service). The Byzantines managed to defeat and capture the Pechenegs, but instead of exterminating them, they were settled as colonists in the desolate plains of

Moesia Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; ) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River. As a Roman domain Moesia was administered at first by the governor of Noricum as 'Civitates of Moesia and Triballi ...

. When the Pechenegs rebelled a few years later, Arianites was a senior officer in the army sent under the ''

hetaireiarches The (), sometimes anglicized as Hetaeriarch, was a high-ranking Byzantine officer, in command of the imperial bodyguard, the . In the 9th–10th centuries there appear to have been several , each for one of the subdivisions of the , but in later ti ...

'' Constantine to oppose them. Due to an ill-advised attack by a part of the Byzantine army, which left their fortified encampment to charge the Pechenegs on open field, the Byzantines suffered a heavy defeat at Basilike Libas near Adrianople: Arianites received a heavy wound by a javelin in the intestines and died two days after the battle, while another senior commander,

Michael Dokeianos Michael Dokeianos (), erroneously called Doukeianos by some modern writers, was a Byzantine nobleman and military leader, who married into the Komnenos family. He was active in Sicily under George Maniakes before going to Southern Italy as Catep ...

, was captured and killed by the Pechenegs. According to

Rodolphe Guilland Rodolphe Joseph Guilland (5 March 1888 – 5 October 1981) was a French Byzantinist. Life Born in 1888, he completed his thesis on Nicephorus Gregoras (a biography in 1926, and his edited correspondence in 1927), and succeeded his teacher Charles ...

, he probably held the post of

Domestic of the Schools The office of the Domestic of the Schools () was a senior military post of the Byzantine Empire, extant from the 8th century until at least the early 14th century. Originally simply the commander of the '' Scholai'', the senior of the elite '' tag ...

of the West at that time.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arianites, Constantine 1050 deaths 11th-century Byzantine military personnel

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine g ...

Arianiti family Byzantine generals Byzantine governors Deaths by javelin Domestics of the Schools Magistroi