Narses

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Narses

For other historical figures with similar names, see Narses (disambiguation)
Narses (disambiguation)

Narses or Nerses may refer to* Narsai, Syriac poet-theologian * Narsai of Adiabene, 2nd-century Parthian client king of Adiabene* Narseh, a Sassanid King of Persia who reigned 292-303...
.

Narses (also sometimes written Nerses) (478-573) was, with Belisarius

Belisarius

Flavius Belisarius is often described as one of the greatest generals of the Byzantine Empire. He was instrumental to Byzantine Emperor Justinian I's ambitious project of reconquering much of the Western Roman Empire, which had been lost just under a century previously....
, one of the great general

General

A General officer is an Officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is just called general....
s in the service of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I

Justinian I

Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus , AD 482 or 483 ? 13 or 14 November 565, was the second member of the Justinian Dynasty and List of Roman Emperors from 527 until his death....
during the so-called "Reconquest" that took place during Justinian's reign. Narses was a Romanized Armenian

Armenians

The Armenians are a nation and ethnic group originating in the Caucasus and in the Armenian Highlands. A large concentration of them has remained there, especially in Armenia, but many of them are also scattered elsewhere throughout the world ....
from the noble Kamsarakan

Kamsarakan

Kamsarakan was an Armenian people noble family that was an offshoot of the Karen-Pahlav Clan, one of the seven great houses of Parthia of Persian people Arsacid origin....
family, which claimed descent from the royal Arsacid dynasty.

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Narses (also sometimes written Nerses) (478-573) was, with Belisarius

Belisarius

General

Justinian I

Armenians

Kamsarakan

Eunuch

Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
. Narses was one of the greatest underrated generals of the Roman Empire.

Life

Nothing is known of Narses's youth. During the Nika Rebellion

Nika riots

The Nika riots , or Nika revolt, took place over the course of a week in Constantinople in 532. It was the most violent riot that Constantinople had ever seen to that point, with nearly half the city being burned or destroyed and tens of thousands of people killed....
in 532 he was koubikoularios

Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy

The Byzantine Empire had a complex system of aristocracy and bureaucracy, which was inherited from the Roman Empire. At the apex of the pyramid stood the Byzantine emperor, sole ruler and divinely ordained, but beneath him a multitude of officials and court functionaries operated the administrative machinery of the Byzantine state....
and spatharios

Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy

Hippodrome

A Hippodrome was a Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. Some present-day horse racing tracks are also called hippodromes, for example the Central Moscow Hippodrome....
filled with a mob that had killed hundreds of people. Narses walked into the Blues' section and spoke with the leaders. He reminded them that Justinian supported them over the Greens. He also told them that Hypatius

Hypatius

Hypatius was a Byzantine empire noble of Imperial descent who held the position of commander in the east during the reign of Justin I.Hypatius was the nephew of Anastasius I of the Byzantine Empire who ruled before Justin and he also was associated by marriage to Anicii Juliana Anicia, which gave him a serious claim to the diadem....
, the man they were crowning, was a Green. Then he passed out the gold. The Blue leaders conferred among themselves and spoke to their followers. Then they stormed out of the Hippodrome during Hypatius' coronation. The Greens were shocked. Before they could recover, Imperial troops led by Belisarius and Mundus

Mundus

Mundus , was an Byzantine Empire general during the reign of Justinian I....
stormed into the Hippodrome, killing the remaining rebels.

According to the historian Andreas Agnellus

Andreas Agnellus

Andreas Agnellus of Ravenna was a historian of the bishops in his city. The date of his death is not recorded, although his history mentions the death of archbishop George of Ravenna in 846; Oswald Holder-Egger cites a papyrus charter dated to either 854 or 869 that contains the name of a priest named Andreas of the Church of Ravenna, but th...
, Narses was present when Belisarius captured Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
in 536. He had been sent there by the Emperor Justinian to assist, perhaps even spy on, Belisarius. However, Narses quarreled with Belisarius and was brought back to Constantinople. This rivalry, misunderstanding, and antipathy between the two had jeopardized all military operations, leading to the recapture and devastation of Milan by the Ostrogoths. He saved the Emperor Justinian from a possible assassination attempt by John of Cappadocia

John the Cappadocian

A different John the Cappadocian was List of Patriarchs of Constantinople from 518-520. See John of Cappadocia.John the Cappadocian was a praetorian prefect in the Byzantine Empire under Emperor Justinian I....
, the praetorian prefect. However, it is possible that Narses worked with the Empress Theodora, who resented John's power, to remove John from power.

He was 74 in 552, when the ever-suspicious Justinian recalled Belisarius

Belisarius

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
and replaced him with Narses. He had served as the High Chamberlain of the Emperor Justinian. He was known to be extremely popular, especially with the lesser officials and the public. Narses was loyal to the Emperor, having served as a eunuch

Eunuch

A eunuch is a castrated man, in particular one castrated early enough to have major hormonal consequences; the term usually refers to those castrated in order to perform a specific social function, as was common in many societies of the past....
. He had helped put down the Nika Rebellion. Despite his age, he proved to be as energetic and skilled as his predecessor, though history has generally credited Belisarius with the greater ability.

Recruitment

Emperor Justinian sent Narses to recruit the armies of the barbarian Germans, Slavs, and Huns that the Byzantines regularly recruited for their armies. Many doubted whether these barbarians would follow the frail, old man. Justinian believed so, and found out when he sent Narses to recruit the Heruls.

To the surprise of everyone, except Narses and probably Justinian, the old eunuch chamberlain became famous with the Heruls. They thought, if the great Emperor Justinian is sending such an ancient man to form the army, this man must be very skilled in the art of war. They followed Narses and joined his army.

The old bureaucrat soon had the chance to prove that he was, in fact, very skilled in the art of war. A large army of Slavs massed on the Danube, preparing to invade the Balkans. On his horse, Narses directed his Heruls with so much dexterity that the Slavs were routed with heavy losses.

While Narses was recruiting and leading barbarians, Justinian appointed his own cousin, Germanus

Germanus

Germanus is the Latin term referring to the Germanic peoples. A probably related meaning for the word in Latin is "blood relation", cognate to germen "seed" ....
, the Supreme Commander of Italy. Germanus took his own armed men and recruited peasants that he paid with his own money. Then Germanus died.

Narses was called upon by the Emperor Justinian. The ancient eunuch bureaucrat was to return to Italy once more; this time he was the Army Commander. His army consisted of Heruls, Huns, Slavs, and Lombards, and incorporated the army of Germanus. But his army was no bigger than that of the Goths in Italy.

A New War

He launched another campaign against the Ostrogoths, finally defeating their formidable King Totila

Totila

Totila was king of the Ostrogoths from 541 until his death. He waged the Gothic War against the Byzantine Empire for the mastery of Italy. Most of the historical evidence for Totila consists of chronicles by the Byzantine historian Procopius, who accompanied the Byzantine general Belisarius during the Gothic War....
at the Battle of Taginae

Battle of Taginae

At the Battle of Taginae in June/July 552, the forces of the Byzantine Empire under Narses broke the power of the Ostrogoths in Italy, and paved the way for the complete Byzantine conquest of the Italian Peninsula....
. Totila initially launched a cavalry charge against Narses's army; however, he found the lines too heavily defended and was killed in the battle. Suffering heavy losses, his army retreated and fell into disarray; as many as 6,000 soldiers of Totila's army were killed at Taginae. Narses' army advanced towards Rome, overwhelming the Ostrogothic garrison there and then redirecting his forces south to lay siege against the town of Cumae

Cumae

Cumae is an ancient Greek settlement lying to the northwest of Naples in the Italian region of Campania. Cumae was the first Greek colony on the mainland of Italy and is perhaps most famous as the seat of the Cumaean Sibyl....
. The new leader of the Goths, Teias, retreated and took his army to Mons Lactarius

Battle of Mons Lactarius

The Battle of Mons Lactarius took place in 553 during the Gothic War waged on behalf of Justinian I against the Ostrogoths in Italy.After the Battle of Taginae, in which the Ostrogoth king Totila was killed, the Byzantine Empire general Narses captured Rome and besieged Cumae....
. Narses besieged Teias's position there as the Ostrogoths attempted to break free from the siege. Within two days, Teias was dead and most of his army destroyed. Whatever remained of it was allowed by Narses to leave so long as they departed Italy altogether.

In 554 at the Battle of Casilinum he drove the Franks

Franks

The Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic ethnic group first identified in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River....
and Alamanni

Alamanni

The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic languagess located around the upper Main river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211?17 and claimed thereby to be their defeater....
, who had come to help the Ostrogoths, back over the Alps

Alps

The Alps is the name for one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east; through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany; to France in the west....
. Eventually, the surviving Ostrogoths surrendered to him and Italy was restored to the empire. Narses remained in Italy as its prefect (governor) but his administration was unpopular. After Justinian's death, his nephew Justin II

Justin II

Flavius Iustinus Augustus was Eastern Roman emperor from 565 to 578. He was the nephew of Justinian I, and husband of Sophia , the niece of the late empress Theodora , and therefore member of the Justinian Dynasty....
removed him as prefect and demanded he return to Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
. Narses relinquished his post, but refused to leave Italy, instead retiring to a villa near Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old....
.

The last years of his life are somewhat clouded in suspicion. Many sources at the time say Narses secretly encouraged the invasion of Italy by the Lombards

Lombards

The Lombards were a Germanic peoples originally from Northern Europe who settled in the valley of the Danube and from there invaded Byzantine Italian peninsula in 568 under the leadership of Alboin....
in 568, in revenge for Justin II's taking away his position. However, this report has never been confirmed. Still, Narses, then 90, offered his services to the emperor again but was turned down. By the time Narses died, more than half of Italy had fallen into Lombard hands.

Narses

Life

Recruitment

A New War

Further reading