Tagmata (military)
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| This article is part of the series on the military of the Byzantine Empire, 330–1453 AD | |
| Structural history | |
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| Byzantine army: East Roman army, Middle Byzantine army (themes • tagmata • Hetaireia), Komnenian-era army (pronoia), Palaiologan-era army (allagia) • Varangian Guard • Generals (Magister militum • Domestic of the Schools • Grand Domestic • Stratopedarches • Protostrator) | |
| Byzantine navy: Greek fire • Dromon • Admirals (Droungarios of the Fleet • Megas doux) | |
| Campaign history | |
| Lists of wars, revolts and civil wars, and battles | |
| Strategy and tactics | |
| Tactics • Siege warfare • Military manuals • Fortifications (Walls of Constantinople) | |
The tagma (Greek: τάγμα, pl. τάγματα) is a term for a military unit of battalion or regiment size. The best-known and most technical use of the term however refers to the elite regiments formed by Byzantine emperor Constantine V and comprising the central army of the Byzantine Empire in the 8th–11th centuries.
In its original sense, the term "tagma" (from the Greek τάσσειν, "to set in order") is attested from the 4th century and was used to refer to an infantry battalion of 200–400 men (also termed bandum or numerus in Latin, arithmos in Greek) in the contemporary East Roman army. In this sense, the term continues in use in the modern Greek military (cf. Greek military ranks).
In later Byzantine usage, the term came to refer exclusively to the professional, standing troops, garrisoned in and around the capital of Constantinople. Most of them traced their origins to the Imperial guard units of the later Roman Empire. By the 7th century, these had declined to little more than parade troops, meaning that the emperors were hard put to face the frequent revolts of the new and powerful thematic formations, especially the Opsicians, the Asian theme closest to the capital. Within the first sixty years since its creation, it was involved in five revolts, culminating in the briefly successful rebellion and usurpation of the throne by its commander, the Count Artabasdos, in 741–743.
After putting down the revolt, Emperor Constantine V (r. 741–775) reformed the old guard units of Constantinople into the new tagmata regiments, which were meant to provide the emperor with a core of professional and loyal troops, both as a defense against provincial revolts, and also, at the time, as a formation devoted to Constantine's iconoclastic policies. The tagmata were exclusively heavy cavalry units, more mobile than the theme troops, and maintained on a permanent basis. During the defensive phase of the Empire in the 8th and 9th centuries, their role was that of a central reserve, garrisoned in and around the capital, in regions such as Thrace and Bithynia. They formed the core of the imperial army on campaign, augmented by the provincial levies of thematic troops, who were more concerned with local defense.
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