Marta — Wikipedia

The Marta Battle is a military confrontation between a coalition of rebellious Berber tribes led by Carcasan and the troops of Jean Troglita and his Berber ally Cusina, in Marta (current Mareth, in Tunisia), in the summer of 547. She follows an important Byzantine victory by which Jean Troglita managed to curb the Berber rebellion led by Antalas. This time, it is the Berber rebels who win and repel the final victory of the Byzantines by a few months.

After the conquest of the Vandal Kingdom in 534, the Byzantine Empire restored Roman domination over North Africa, but it quickly came up against the resistance of the Berber tribes, concerned about their autonomy. After several more or less repressed uprisings, a large rebellion is triggered in 543 which jeopardizes the Byzantine position in Africa. Jean Troglita was sent in 546 by the Emperor Justinian to take control of the province, weakened by the divisions and the carelessness of the Byzantine command. By managing to ally with Cusina, a Berber chief, and to provoke a rowed battle against the rebellious coalition led by Antalas, he was a great success as soon as he arrives ^{[ 2 ]} .

However, the rebellion is not fully matted. In Tripolitania, Carcasan, the leader of the IFURACES, forms a new coalition of which he is the only chef ^{[ note 1 ]} , and launches raids to Byzacene. At the same time, the Byzantines are weakened by the departure of part of their troops in Italy to participate in the war against the Goths. In fact, out of the nine regiments, only six are still present while Iifisdaïas removes its support from Toglita. The territory of the rebels is desert and the sending of a Byzantine expedition is complicated by the lack of food. In the middle of summer, the lack of water and food is felt and causes a mutiny among the Byzantine troops ^{[ 3 ]} . Quickly, Jean Troglita had to fall back to the coast, but opposite winds prevent the support fleet from approaching. At the same time, Berber rebels are also faced with the lack of food because their number exceeds the capacities of local oases. Soon, they are spotted by Byzantine scouts and Jean Toglita launched themselves in pursuit, always with the support of Cusina before establishing his camp in Marta ^{[ 4 ]} .

The battlefield is crossed by a river that separates the two armies. Jean Troglita orders his light troops to hold the approval of the river by dismissing any attempted crossing by the use of weapons of jets. The Byzantines are launching a disorderly load, and manage to chase the Berber rebels on the river banks. The leakage of the rebels causes martial impulse among Byzantines and their Berber allies. Nevertheless, Jean hesitates that the idea of ​​going further. He had his army put away to deal with any eventuality. It is then organized in three bodies. In the left wing, the Berbers of Cusina, in the center, General Jean Troglita and the infantry phalanges, at the right wing, the Byzantine cavalry with putzintulus, Geisirith and Sinduit ^{[ 5 ]} . Jean hesitates before engaging the army on the advice of his escort officers, domestic protectors.

Finally, influenced by the advice of two Byzantine officers, he eventually hired the battle when he does not know the device of his opponent. Berber rebels have taken refuge on wooded grounds which hinders the handling of the spikes of the Byzantine phalanx and promotes the surprise attacks of the rebels. Soon, the Byzantines are at the mercy of the attacks of the rebels who take advantage of the difficulties of moving their opponents ^{[ 6 ]} . Carcasan bowers the bulk of his troops which camped and launches a counterattack which overwhelms the Byzantines. Cusina panics first and leaves the battlefield, leading to the leak of the Byzantines. Jean Troglita who intervenes personally to revive the courage of his troops, sees his horse shot by an arrow under him and, surrounded, must free himself to the sword ^{[ 7 ]} . He reforms combat groups and retired by fighting, pressed by the rebels. He turns the river, and is retiring along the coast, in the port of Iunci (Younga). Finally, he finds a refuge behind the walls of Laribus for the winter ^{[ 8 ] , [ 9 ]} .

This defeat is a blow for Jean Troglita who had initiated a company to eradicate the rebellion of the Berbers. However, his defeat is tempered by his ability to organize the retirement of his troops and to avoid the annihilation of his army. According to Corippe, editor of The Johanide , epic work devoted to Jean Troglita and the main story of the battle, defeat is explained by the nature of the terrain and the numerical superiority of the Berbers. Finally, he explains the success of the Byzantine withdrawal by the inability of the Berbers to organize an effective pursuit because they are delayed by the importance of their herds.

After their victory, Procope points out that the Berber rebels have pushed their incursions to the walls of Carthage and “Exercised horrible cruelties about the inhabitants of the country” ^{[ first ]} . Antalas, learning the victory of the rebels immediately rises and joined the Tripolitan tribes the following year. For his part, Jean Troglita manages to rally several Berber chiefs, including Cusina, Ifisdaïas and Iaudas, allowing him to achieve a decisive victory at the Battle of the Cato fields and put an end to the rebellion of the Berbers ^{[ ten ]} .

Notes [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

References [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Primary sources [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• Caesarea procope, History of the Vandals War , Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1852 ( read online )
• Bendippe, The Johanide , Tunis, Tunisian review, 1900 ( read online )

Contemporary sources [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• John Robert Martindale , Arnold Hugh Martin Jones and J. Morris , The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire , vol.  III : A.D. 527-641 , Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992
• Yves Moderan , Moors and Roman Africa ( IV ^{It is} And VII ^{It is} centuries) , Rome, French school in Rome, coll. «Befar», 2003
• Yves Moderan « Jean Troglita », Berber encyclopedia , Aix en Provence, Edisud, 2003 , p. 3866-3870 ( read online , consulted the December 23, 2019 )
• Yves Moderan « Corippe and the Byzantine occupation of Africa: for a new reading of the Johannide », African antiques , vol. 22, 1986 , p. 195-212 (ISSN  0066-4871 , read online , consulted the December 23, 2019 )
• Yves Moderan « From Julius Honorius to Corippus: the reappearance of the Moors in the Eastern Maghreb », Crude , vol. 147, 2003 , p. 257-285 ( read online , consulted the December 23, 2019 )
• (in) Denys Pringle, The defence of Byzantine Africa from Justinian to the Arab conquest , Oxford, British Archaeological Reports, 1981
• Philippe Richardot « Pacification of Byzantine Africa, 534-546 », Strategic , vol. 93-94-95-96, 2009 , p. 129-158 ( read online , consulted the December 23, 2019 )
• Georges Tate , Justinian: the epic of the Eastern Empire (527-565) , Paris, Fayard, 2004 , 918 p. (ISBN  2-213-61516-0 )