Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

from rome to byzantium 205
as had happened in similar circumstances in the late third century: coemptiones
were now the backbone of taxation, to the extent that regular landtaxes
on property might be referred to as the extraordina of the public fisc. 184
Survival for the impoverished empire, parts of which were demonetized
and decommercialized, took the form of the attachment of troops to
specific regions and the concentration of administrative structures in the
only city of any substance to survive, namely Constantinople. 185 Authority
in threatened cities tended to be given to military governors of proven
loyalty, who were less likely than local figures of authority such as bishops
to negotiate surrenders, thereby ensuring that imperial interests were sustained
in each particular locality. 186 This development resembles the
appointment of comites civitatis in the west, a practice which probably
emerged during the military crises of the fifth century: as in other matters,
the east follows western practices, after a considerable time-lag. The
governors of themes have been interpreted as a regularization of the sixthcentury
practice of appointing extraordinary praetorian prefects to oversee
the supply of major armies (see p. 200 above); 187 even if the precise link
cannot be proved, the similarity of powers is evident. Another element of
continuity with the empire of the fifth and sixth centuries is that, despite
the greater overall militarization of administration, financial and military
matters were largely kept separate. 188 In this respect there is a significant
divergence from the western empire, where simplified, patrimonial administration
tended to follow the collapse of imperial authority, with real
power held by landowning soldiers, whose support had to be courted by
the rulers of the different successor states.
With the disappearance of intermediary provinces and cities, the state
came to relate more directly to its tax-paying subjects. It has been argued
that the tax system shifted from the late Roman distributive model, in
which the state fixed its total requirements and then distributed these
among the contributing regions, to the contributive model of middle
Byzantium, in which assessments might vary according to the resources of
tax-payers as well as the needs of the state. 189 This development would have
been facilitated by the increased use of coemptio in the sixth century, since
this process was supposed to be geared to the ability to provide the requisite
produce; there is also evidence from the sixth century for increasingly
frequent reassessment of taxes and of rents on great estates, which would
point to greater flexibility within the system. 190 A contributive system
184 Farmers’ Law 19; Haldon, Byzantium in the Seventh Century 146–53.
185 Haldon, Byzantium in the Seventh Century ch. 5; Dunn (1993); note Whittow (1996) 104–6 for reservations
about demonetization. 186 Kaegi (1992) 167–9.
187 Haldon, Byzantium in the Seventh Century 203–7, 223.
188 Whittow (1996) 105–6; Haldon, Byzantium in the Seventh Century 101.
189 Haldon, Byzantium in the Seventh Century 150; following Oikonomides (1987).
190 Goffart (1989) ch. 5.
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