Vasilief, A History of the Byzantine Empire

The Empire of Nicaea (1204-1261)

Byzantine feudalism 

Page 10

In this respect the epoch of Justinian the Great, who energetically strove against the large landowners, is exceedingly interesting. The Secret History of Procopius as well as Justinian's Novels give the most interesting material on this subject; the Secret History is a work of the sixth century, biased and one-sided, obviously reflecting the interests and ideas of the large landowners, but if properly used is an extremely valuable source on the internal history of the Byzantine Empire. This and the Novels reveal the Emperors struggle against the aristocracy based on landownership, a struggle which not only affected the sixth century but continued far later. One of Justinian's novels addressed to the proconsul of Cappadocia blaming the desperate condition of state and private landownership in the provinces upon the unrestrained conduct of local magnates, contains these significant lines: News has come to us of such exceedingly great abuses in the provinces that their correction can hardly be accomplished by one person of high authority. And we are even ashamed to tell with how much impropriety the managers of landlords estates promenade about, surrounded by body-guards, how they are followed by large mobs of people, and how shamelessly they steal everything. Then after mentioning a few facts about private property, this novel goes on to say that state property has almost entirely passed into private ownership, for it was stolen and plundered, including all the herds of horses, and not a single man spoke against it, for all mouths were stopped with gold. From these statements it appears that the Cappadocian magnates had full authority in their provinces, and that they even maintained troops of their own, armed men and bodyguards, and seized private as well as state lands. Similar information about Egypt in the time of Justinian is found in the papyri. A member of the famous Egyptian landowning family of Apions possessed in the sixth century vast landed property in various parts of Egypt. Entire villages were part of his possessions. His household was almost regal. He had his secretaries and stewards, his hosts of workmen, his own assessors and tax collectors, his treasurer, his police, even his own postal service. Many of these magnates had their own prisons and maintained their own troops.

Against these large landowners Justinian waged a merciless struggle. By various means he consciously and persistently aimed at the destruction of large landownership. He was not completely successful, however, and large land-ownership remained an undying feature of the Empire in later periods.

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Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/vasilief/feudalism.asp?pg=10