Christopher Lekapenos
Christopher Lekapenos | |
---|---|
Byzantine co-emperor | |
Reign | 20 May 921 – August 931 |
Coronation | 20 May 921 |
Predecessors | Constantine VII Romanos I |
Successors | Romanos I Constantine VII Constantine Stephen |
Co-emperors | See list
|
Born | c. 890–895 |
Died | August 931 (aged c. 35/40) |
Spouse | Sophia |
Issue more... | Irene, Empress of Bulgaria |
Dynasty | Lekapenos |
Father | Romanos I Lekapenos |
Mother | Theodora |
Christopher Lekapenos or Lecapenus (
Life
Christopher was the eldest son and the second-oldest child (after his sister
Romanos succeeded in having his daughter
In 924, Christopher's younger brothers Stephen and Constantine were crowned as co-emperors.[13][14] The popular historian John Julius Norwich comments that the two were immoral and corrupt, and summarises them as "worthless". He states that Christopher, in comparison, "showed some degree of promise and might have proved worthy of his father had he lived to succeed him".[15] On 8 October 927,[3] as part of a peace agreement, Christopher's daughter Maria, renamed Irene (meaning "peace") for the occasion,[13] was married to the Bulgarian emperor Peter I (r. 927–969).[16] The marriage of a Byzantine princess to a foreign ruler was highly unusual at the time.[4][7][17] On the third day of the feast, 10 October, held in Pegae, at the insistence of the Bulgarians, perhaps engineered by Romanos, Christopher was advanced before Constantine Porphyrogennetos, making him first among the rather large group of co-emperors.[3][4][7][17]
In 928, his father-in-law Niketas unsuccessfully tried to incite Christopher to depose his father, but was banished.
Christopher was succeeded by his father and his two brothers, Stephen Lekapenos and Constantine Lekapenos, and Constantine VII. In December 944 Stephen and Constantine deposed their father, forcing him to live in a monastery on Prote, in the Princes' Islands, but when they attempted to also depose Constantine VII, the people of Constantinople revolted and overthrew them, resulting in them being likewise exiled. Romanos died in June 948, Stephen on Easter 963, and Constantine sometime between 946 and 948, while trying to escape.[22]
Family
Through his marriage to Sophia, Christopher had three children:[2][20]
- Maria-Irene, the Empress-consort of Peter I of Bulgaria.[16][23]
- Romanos, still a child at the time of Christopher's death. According to the chronicler Zonaras, he was favoured by his grandfather, who considered promoting him to his father's place as senior co-emperor, which ultimately failed due to his death shortly after his father's.[20]
- Michael, an infant at the time of Christopher's death, was made a cleric at the time of the family's fall from power in 945. He eventually reached the high dignities of
References
- ^ Gratziou 1997, pp. 39–62 (48).
- ^ a b c Kazhdan 1991, p. 1204.
- ^ a b c d e f g PmbZ, Christophoros Lakapenos #21275.
- ^ a b c d Grierson & Bellinger 1973, p. 528.
- ^ Runciman 1988, p. 64.
- ^ Runciman 1988, p. 60.
- ^ a b c d e f Kazhdan 1991, p. 442.
- ^ a b PmbZ, Theodora #27602.
- ^ Runciman 1988, pp. 65–66.
- ^ Runciman 1988, p. 67.
- ^ Grierson & Bellinger 1973, p. 530.
- ^ Grierson & Bellinger 1973, p. 534.
- ^ a b Kazhdan 1991, p. 1639.
- ^ Ostrogorsky 1957, p. 270.
- ^ Norwich 1992, p. 156.
- ^ a b Previté-Orton 1975, p. 256.
- ^ a b Runciman 1988, pp. 67, 97.
- ^ a b Runciman 1988, pp. 71–72.
- ^ Runciman 1930, pp. 187–188.
- ^ a b c d Runciman 1988, p. 78.
- ^ Grierson & Bellinger 1973, p. 526.
- ^ Runciman 1988, pp. 234–236.
- ^ Runciman 1988, pp. 78, 237.
- ^ Runciman 1988, pp. 78, 234.
Sources
- Gratziou, Olga (1997). "Evidence on the Users of the Zonaras Codex at Modena". Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας (in Greek). 19 (5–6). ISSN 2241-2190.
- Grierson, Philip; Bellinger, Alfred Raymond, eds. (1973). Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, vol. 3: Leo III to Nicephorus III, 717–1081. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-88402-045-5.
- ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
- Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit(in German). Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter.
- ISBN 978-0-394-53779-5.
- ISBN 0-8135-0599-2.
- Previté-Orton, Charles (1975). Cambridge Medieval History, Shorter: Volume 1, The Later Roman Empire to the Twelfth Century (1 ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-09976-5.
- OCLC 832687.
- Runciman, Steven (1988) [1929]. The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and His Reign: A Study of Tenth-Century Byzantium. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-35722-7.