Much part of the soldiers of thema (themata) in the Byzantine Empire is regarded to be indigenous, supported by their families, most of them being farmers, not necessarily however. They were called for duty whenever in need, returning home in winter and peace of time. The thema refered to army itself first, then to the area where the army stationed, and last to administrative area. The usage of thema for administrative area following the designation of army appeared in the 670s first time in the sources, while the words, ‘stratos’ as well as ‘strateuma’ was much more generally used for meaning army. The theses around themata are about when they came into existence, whether the recruitment of soldiers is related to holdings of land or alledged ‘military land’, etc. This essay do not concern with the origin of thema system, but just with the relation between the soldiers of thema and land holdings over the 7th to the 10th century, what political and sociological meanings a series of agricultural laws enacted in the 10th century have, and what meaning of historical context the fiscalization of military service has, The question about which of the two, person or land, military service was imposed upon could not be easily answered, as it did not follow to a uniformed norm but depended largely on confronted situations. Generally, active military service in person was more preferred by the Empire until the 9th century than later, and in the 10th and 11th centuries the fiscalization of military service got more intensified. As time passed on, the generals (strategos) as well as the soldiers of thema gradually lost significance and gave in to administrative bureaucrats and the mercenaries more mobile and more aggressive. With the development of thema system, the Empire enlarged the object of imposing military duty in person and in property. And this process has a close connection with intensifing governmental control and tax collection of the Empire, the tax referring to land (jugatio) as well as poll tax (capitatio) and household (kapnikon). A previlege of being exempted from a kind of particular tax was to be awarded to the common farmer, as he recorded in the military duty. The dissemination of military service to the peasant society coincides with the strengthening political power of the Empire itself, and the bureaucracy of thema and its breaking into parts. This process kept going on over the 7th to the 11th, 12th centuries. Moreover, the criminal laws of the Empire got inforced and more atrocious, too. Thus, the transition of the form of military service and the system of land holdings and taxation influenced not simply to military system, but generally to the governmental system of the Empire which permeated into the lowest stratum of society of farmers as well as the sphere of church. In short, the expansion of the military and then the administrative structure of thema made an opportunity of intensifing the subordination of farmers and ecclesiastical society to the military-administrative system of the Byzantine Empire.

Much part of the soldiers of thema (themata) in the Byzantine Empire is regarded to be indigenous, supported by their families, most of them being farmers, not necessarily however. They were called for duty whenever in need, returning home in winter and peace of time. The thema refered to army itself first, then to the area where the army stationed, and last to administrative area. The usage of thema for administrative area following the designation of army appeared in the 670s first time in the sources, while the words, ‘stratos’ as well as ‘strateuma’ was much more generally used for meaning army. The theses around themata are about when they came into existence, whether the recruitment of soldiers is related to holdings of land or alledged ‘military land’, etc. This essay do not concern with the origin of thema system, but just with the relation between the soldiers of thema and land holdings over the 7th to the 10th century, what political and sociological meanings a series of agricultural laws enacted in the 10th century have, and what meaning of historical context the fiscalization of military service has, The question about which of the two, person or land, military service was imposed upon could not be easily answered, as it did not follow to a uniformed norm but depended largely on confronted situations. Generally, active military service in person was more preferred by the Empire until the 9th century than later, and in the 10th and 11th centuries the fiscalization of military service got more intensified. As time passed on, the generals (strategos) as well as the soldiers of thema gradually lost significance and gave in to administrative bureaucrats and the mercenaries more mobile and more aggressive. With the development of thema system, the Empire enlarged the object of imposing military duty in person and in property. And this process has a close connection with intensifing governmental control and tax collection of the Empire, the tax referring to land (jugatio) as well as poll tax (capitatio) and household (kapnikon). A previlege of being exempted from a kind of particular tax was to be awarded to the common farmer, as he recorded in the military duty. The dissemination of military service to the peasant society coincides with the strengthening political power of the Empire itself, and the bureaucracy of thema and its breaking into parts. This process kept going on over the 7th to the 11th, 12th centuries. Moreover, the criminal laws of the Empire got inforced and more atrocious, too. Thus, the transition of the form of military service and the system of land holdings and taxation influenced not simply to military system, but generally to the governmental system of the Empire which permeated into the lowest stratum of society of farmers as well as the sphere of church. In short, the expansion of the military and then the administrative structure of thema made an opportunity of intensifing the subordination of farmers and ecclesiastical society to the military-administrative system of the Byzantine Empire.