Chrysaphius
Chrysaphius (
Life and policies
The Byzantine historians give us a considerable amount of information on Chrysaphius. His real name was Taiouma (
In 441 the
In 443, he became chamberlain (praepositus sacri cubiculi), which in practice made him the chief minister of the weak Theodosius II. Chroniclers record that he was all-powerful in the Palace (Theoph. 150; Priscus 227); the later Patria (II 182; Codinus 47) names him anachronistically as a parakoimomenos, after the all-powerful eunuch officials of the 9th-10th centuries. He schemed against the emperor's sister Pulcheria by exalting the influence of the empress Eudocia, and succeeded in arranging her withdrawal from the court. Having done this, he intrigued against the empress, accusing her of adultery with Paulinus, a boyhood friend of the emperor. She was then banished in 444. Having removed both the emperor's wife and sister from the court, Chrysaphius was effectively ruler of the empire, and it is said that the emperor signed papers without reading them (Theophanes, A.M. 5942).
In December 447, the Hunnic king Attila arrived before the walls of Constantinople. Chrysaphius adopted a policy of appeasement, and the imperial government paid Attila a huge tribute to go away, rather than fight.
Chrysaphius had also been involved in the ecclesiastical disputes of the time, and taking bribes from the various parties he amassed a great fortune. He was the godson of the aged Cyrillian abbot
In 448 the Eutychian dispute arose, Eutyches bribed Chrysaphius. Flavian was reluctant to be drawn in, but organised a local council in Constantinople, which condemned Eutyches in 448. Chrysaphius, however, was able to use Dioscorus to depose Flavian at the "Robber-synod" (Latrocinium) of Ephesus in August 449. He used the soldiers and puppet clerics to prevent any discussion of the issues. Flavian died a few days after the closure of the Latrocinium because of the injuries suffered from the mob of Dioscorus' monks, led by the dreaded abbot Barsaumas, "a wild, illiterate Syrian archimandrite".[1]
The Hunnic problem had not gone away. In 449, Chrysaphius, with the approval of Theodosius, suborned
The high-handed behaviour at the Latrocinium also back-fired. There was general opposition to the decisions of the council, and Pope Leo I wrote to the emperor and demanded a fresh council.
It seems that Chrysaphius may have fallen out of favour in the last months of Theodosius' reign. He had an enemy in the
Death
Theodosius II died in 450, and was succeeded by Marcian, who married Pulcheria. Both were personal enemies of Chrysaphius.
His fate is described differently in the historians. According to most, Pulcheria avenged herself against Chrysaphius by handing him over to his mortal enemy Jordanes, who had him put to death (Theophanes 160; Chronicon Paschale 390; Malalas 368; Zonaras; III 107–109, Cedrenus I 601–1603). However, according to Malalas, Chrysaphius's cause of death was very different. Chrysaphius had been head of the Green faction, whom Theodosius had protected (Malalas 351). Chrysaphius's death sentence was apparently politically motivated. Supported by the Greens, Chrysaphius may have incited some unrest, and it is known that Marcian was a partisan of the Blues (Malalas 368). Some say that Marcian ordered him to appear before a tribunal to enquire into his misdeeds. On the way there, the fallen minister was stoned to death by a mob infuriated by the high taxes needed to pay Attila's tribute. His immense wealth was confiscated.
The political career of Chrysaphius is recorded by the Byzantine historian
Chrysaphius in fiction
The conspiracy against Attila is a significant plot element in Geza Gardonyi's novel Slave of the Huns. In this account, the head of Chrysaphius really is given to Attila, transported preserved in honey. Chrysaphius also features in Gillian Bradshaw's novel, Imperial Purple, about a conspiracy to usurp the imperial throne.
References
- ^ Holum, K. G., Theodosian Empresses (Berkeley: 1982), pp. 186-187.