Akritoi

The "Akritoi" or "Akritai" (singular: "Akritēs") were Greek frontiersman guarding the Anatolian borders of the Eastern Roman Empire during most of the Byzantine period.

Function

Akritoi were defenders of the outermost borders of the Empire; the term is derived from the Greek word "akra", meaning border. Akritoi units were formed from native Greeks living near the eastern borders of the Empire. Whether such men were really soldier-farmers or lived on rents from smallholdings while concentrating on their military duties is still a matter of debate. If considered to be more like the latter, they could have been comparable to Western feudal lords, as Akritoi sometimes became owners of large landholdings. Especially the Empire's Eastern borders in Anatolia were very insecure, leading to a near permanent state of insecurity and war, and a certain level of independence from the emperor in Constantinople. The Akritoi units gradually declined during the Palaeologi dynasty because of financial problems in the Empire, when most of the Byzantine army was consisting of mercenaries (a trend started much earlier).

Armament

The Akritoi were probably mostly light troops, armed with bows and javelins. They were most adept at defensive warfare, often against raiding Turkish light horsemen in the Anatolian mountains, but could also cover the advance of the regular Byzantine army. Their tactics probably consisted of skirmishing and ambushes in order to catch the fast-moving Turkish horse archers.

References

*http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/vasilief/feudalism.asp
*Osprey Publishing: Men-At-Arms 195, 'Hungary and the Fall of Eastern Europe, 1000-1568' ISBN: 0-85045-833-1

ee also

*Byzantine Army