The Byzantine–Moorish wars were a series of wars fought between the Byzantine Empire and the various Berber kingdoms that formed after the collapse of Roman North Africa. The war also featured other rebels and states such as the mutineers of Stotzas and the short lived Vandalic rump state of Guntarith. Following two insurrections and some initial Berber successes, the war eventually ended with the Berbers' defeat at the Battle of the Fields of Cato while attempting to drive out the Byzantines from North Africa.
Background
Since the middle of the fifth century, the province of North Africa was occupied by the Vandals. Nevertheless, a peace had existed between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Vandals since the Fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476. However, the Emperor Justinian had the great ambition of restoring the Roman Empire in the West. As such, following Hilderic's deposition, Justinian commenced the invasion of North Africa
General Belisarius's expedition quickly defeated the Vandals who were severely weakened by wars with the native Berber population. In 533, the capital Carthage was captured, less than a year after the expedition began. Justinian wanted to restore Roman Africa to the state it had been before the Vandal conquest. As such, the old provinces were restored, with the only difference being that those provinces were now part of the Praetorian Prefecture of Africa rather than that of Italy, as Italy was controlled by the Ostrogoths. The border was again fixed on the old limes. i.e. those before the conquest and Justinian announced that he intended to expel all the "barbarian" peoples, which refers to the various Berber kingdoms and tribes which had formed either through wars with the Vandals, or following the collapse of the Vandalic kingdom.
Mauri or Moor was the name given to the Berbers who inhabit North Africa from the Atlantic to the Syrtic range in Tripolitania and who lived in tribal structures. From the death of King Genseric in 477, the Moorish tribes had been a source of constant revolt against the Vandals. What had been "modest" Moorish communities had grown into much larger and organized peoples. Several hypotheses have been discussed to explain it today. This could have been due to an exodus of imperfectly Romanized peasants fleeing Vandal power, or nomadic groups from the Sahara. In 530, the chieftain Guenfan and his son Antalas inflicted defeat upon the army of the Vandal king Hilderic in Byzacena, in the Battle of Great Dorsale. The tribes were thus able to directly threaten the interior of the territory.
Each freshly established Byzantine province in Africa were threatened by various Berber peoples, but the main kingdoms and political entities included:
During the Vandalic War, the Moors remained neutral and submitted by declaring themselves "servants of the emperor" before Belisarius. This ritual practiced in the Vandal era seems to date back perhaps even to the High Empire. It is similar to Fœdus i.e. an alliance between Rome and a barbarian people defined by treaty. In exchange, the Moors received gifts and insignia of power from the Byzantines. However, according to Christian Courtois, during this ceremony, the two parties were committed, and that the neutrality of the Moors who "wait, without taking sides for one or the other, the outcome of the fighting", places them far from the status of "slaves of the Emperor".
Pacification of Africa under Solomon and the First Moorish insurrection (534-543)
General Solomon, the former lieutenant of Belisarius who was an energetic, competent and courageous general, became the new governor. He faced a Moorish (Berber) insurrection and a mutiny in an army led by Stotzas. The situation in Africa was so precarious that Justinian bestowed on him the civil and military powers that were traditionally divided under the Roman administrative system since Diocletian. He thus became both the magister militum and praetorian prefect.
Solomon was unable to enforce the Emperor's expulsion decrees. Shortly after his appointment, certain Berber kingdoms and tribes, including the Kingdom of the Aurès led by Yabdas and the Mastraciani tribe of Cusina, revolted and began to ravage the territory, no doubt inspired by the fact of Belisarius's departure.The Berbers became bellicose primarily in response to Byzantine pressure and shifting power dynamics. Initially, their actions were defensive, aimed at preserving territorial gains made during the Vandal period and securing recognition from the new Byzantine authorities. After 544, military successes and the arrival of powerful allies such as the Laguatan emboldened them to pursue more ambitious political goals. Leaders like Antalas oscillated between seeking renewed accommodation with Byzantium and attempting to establish autonomous rule.
In 536, the general's campaigns partially subdued the Moors. Pensions were paid to Moorish chiefs that resulted in them and their peoples not being expelled from their territories. Following decisive victories in the Battle of Mammes and the Battle of Bourgaon in 535, the emperor regarded peace as established.
It can be noted that Roman infantry and heavy cavalry were not suited to a war waged against a semi-nomadic tribe equipped with very lightly armed troops. Moorish troops were able to wage guerrilla warfare and retreat from large armed engagements without suffering too great a loss,essentially fighting a war of ambush. Additionally, the Moors were highly mobile and could hide and retreat to their home in the mountains and the desert.
Additionally, Byzantine Africa's well-equipped and trained Byzantine army was undisciplined and lacked loyalty. As such, its troops were eager to loot and civilians complained of abuses by the soldiers. General Solomon was also unpopular as he was considered too strict and therefore did not command the same respect as Belisarius in Africa. In 536, a plot to assassinate him in Carthage failed. The army mutinied soon after and Solomon was forced to flee to Sicily. An army general, Germanus, a cousin of Justinian, was sent to restore order. Solomon did not resume his duties until 539.
In 540 Solomon successfully conquered the Kingdom of the Aurès after an intense campaign that lasted months. The Berber kingdom served as a base of operation for guerillas and raids, and there had already been a failed attempt to conquer it in 535. It's king, Yabdas, fled the Aurès Mountains into the western kingdom of Altava led by Mastigas.
Medieval Arabic sources mention an inscription found during the era of the Fatimid Caliphate in Tiaret that commemorated the defeat of local Berbers by Solomon, possibly referring to a later campaign against the Altavan king Mastigas. However, it is known that the kingdom could have only been partially conquered, and that the region of Tiaret was not held by the Romans for long as it soon came under Altavan control again and later became the capital of the Kingdom of Ouarsenis. As such, the region was likely lost to the Berbers during the Second insurrection.
The outbreak of the Second Moorish insurrection
Between 539 and 541, the governor Solomon built fortifications around the regions held by the Berbers. The country seemed to have experienced real peace and prosperity according to the Roman poet Corippus. However, a diplomatic affront to several Berber leaders triggered a second Moorish insurrection. Sergius, the nephew of Solomon and governor of Tripolitania, received a considerable delegation of Moorish leaders in Leptis Magna who called up many charges against the Romans. However, following a confusion, the Moorish leaders were all murdered, resulting in the Laguatans rising up and invading the region. The incident may not have just been due to the governor's incompetence and arrogance, but also of the pressure exerted on the governor by local Roman elites, who had wanted to keep the Moors away from their lands and homes. However, around the same time in 543, Solomon offended the chief Antalas. He saw his pension cut off and learned that his brother had been killed by Solomon, for causing trouble. Rather than going directly up the road near the coast that goes up towards Byzacena and Carthage, the Laguatan joined Antalas in the mountains of Byzacena near the Theveste-Carthage road. It was considered a strategic road, because it enabled communication between the Roman fortifications in the dorsals which protected the Roman cities in the plains near the coasts.
The Battle of Cillium and the death of Solomon
Solomon hurriedly set off to meet the revolting Moors from Theveste, on the Theveste-Carthage road. Taking his army through the forests, he found himself in Cillium facing the enemy. The general may have intended to join either his ally Cutzinas who lived in this territory or other Moorish allies. According to Corippus, he was accompanied by native contingents, though it is not known if Cutzinas, who had promised his help, had come to join him. According to Procopius, Solomon had the help of Sergius and other important Byzantine military contingents from Africa, but no native contingent was mentioned.
During the battle between the Romans and the Moors, the Byzantine troops were lacking unity, with many fighting reluctantly and some even refusing to fight. Solomon, surrounded by a small number of his guards, was able to hold off the attacks of the Berbers for some time. Finally, due to his inability to resist any longer, he fled with his guards to the edge of a torrent which flowed near the battlefield. There, his horse falls into a ravine and the general was wounded. Surrounded and overwhelmed, Solomon was captured and killed by the Berbers with part of his bodyguards.
The Roman troops were thus defeated, partly because some soldiers had fled, which could be due to betrayal. Corippus attributes the defeat to both the soldiers' displeasure at not taking part in the looting of the previous battle, and the betrayal of the future rebel leader of Germanic origin, Guntharic, who was then dux of Numidia.
Temporary end of Byzantine control and anarchy
The defeat at Cillium plunged Africa into military anarchy until the arrival of John Troglita in 546. Meanwhile, a great Moorish coalition was formed. However, despite its potential to expel the Byzantines from Africa entirely, it did not succeed due to the lack of unity and common strategy among the Moors. Among the Romans, the death of Solomon left a military and political void that only the arrival of John Troglita would fill. In the short term however, the tribes were content on plundering as much as possible, up to the walls of Carthage.
A Moorish grand coalition close to expelling the Byzantines from Africa
The death of Solomon and his defeat had an impact as far as Spain, where the Visigoths took advantage of it to besiege Septimius beyond the Strait of Gibraltar. The tribes who had declared themselves faithful in Africa to Solomon considered themselves released from their commitments and joined the rebels, with one example being Cutzinas.
The Moors went up the Theveste-Carthage road and briefly succeeded in taking the capital of Byzacena (Hadrumetum), by trickery before it fell, by the same process, into Roman hands.