John Kourkouas - Assessment

Assessment

"... the aforementioned magistros and Domestic of the Schools John became unrivalled in matters of war, and set up many and great trophies, and expanded the Roman boundaries and sacked many Hagarene cities."

Kourkouas ranks among the greatest military leaders Byzantium produced, a fact recognized by the Byzantines themselves: later Byzantine chroniclers hailed him as the general who restored the imperial frontier to the Euphrates, and in a contemporary eight-book history, written by a protospatharios Michael and now lost save for a short summary in Theophanes Continuatus, he is acclaimed as "a second Trajan or Belisarius".

The ground work for his successes had certainly been laid by others: Michael III, who broke the power of Melitene at Lalakaon; Basil I, who destroyed the Paulicians; Leo VI the Wise, who founded the vital theme of Mesopotamia; and Empress Zoe, who extended Byzantine influence again into Armenia and founded the theme of Lykandos. It was Kourkouas and his campaigns, however, that incontrovertibly changed the balance of power in the northern Middle East, securing the frontier provinces against Arab raids and turning Byzantium into an expansionist power. In the words of historian Steven Runciman, "a lesser general might have cleared the Empire of the Saracens and successfully defended its borders; but did more. He infused a new spirit into the imperial armies, and led them victoriously deep into the country of the infidels. The actual area of his conquests was not so very large; but they sufficed to reverse the age-old roles of Byzantium and the Arabs. Byzantium now was the aggressor... was the first of a line of great conquerors and as the first is worthy of high praise."