拜占庭帝国土地关系述评

A Review of Land Relations in Byzantine Empire

拜占庭各个时期的土地关系存在诸多值得深入研究的问题。在拜占庭早期,土地劳动者中出现了新的"隶农"阶层,他们源于自由农地位的下降和奴隶地位的上升。自由农群体依然存在,他们和隶农遭受诸多剥削,逐渐依附于大地主阶层。拜占庭统治者为了保证税收资源,打击大地主吞并土地的行为。地主与农民之间剥削与被剥削的关系,以及中央政府与大地主阶层为了争夺土地资源而发生的矛盾,贯穿于整个拜占庭历史。围绕土地关系,拜占庭中晚期分别出现了军区制和普罗尼亚制。在拜占庭中期,军区制造就"军役地产"、农兵阶层和军事贵族,但军役地产逐渐聚集于军事贵族手中,导致军区制瓦解。在拜占庭晚期,普罗尼亚地产是连接帝国与农民的媒介,普罗尼亚地产所有者向帝国提供军役和税赋,同时对地产上的农民具有支配地位。

Many issues need further researches concerning the land relations in Byzantine different periods.In the early Byzantine period,a new class of coloni emerged due to the declining status of free peasants and the rising status of slaves.The coloni and the free peasants that still existed were heavily exploited and were gradually subjected to the big landlord class.In order to guarantee tax resources,Byzantine rulers cracked down on the annexation of land by big landlords.The relationship of exploitation and being exploited between landlords and peasants,as well as the contradiction between the central government and the big landlords for land resources,ran through the whole Byzantine history.Around the land relations,the system of themata and the institution of pronoia appeared in the middle and late Byzantine Empire respectively.In the middle Byzantine period,the system of themata led to the appearance of"military lands",the peasant-soldier class and the military aristocracy,but the military lands were gradually gathered in the hands of the military aristocrats,bringing about the collapse of the system of themata.In the late Byzantine period,the pronoia lands were the medium connectingthe Empire and the peasants.The owners of the pronoia lands provided military service and taxes for the Empire,and at the same time they had a dominant position over the peasants on their lands.