Constantine (son of Basil I)
Constantine | |
---|---|
Byzantine co-emperor | |
Reign | c. January 868 – 3 September 879 |
Predecessor | Basil I (alone) |
Successor | Basil I and Leo VI |
Born | Between 855 and c. 865 |
Died | 3 September 879 |
Betrothed | Ermengard of Italy |
Dynasty | Macedonian dynasty |
Father | Basil I, possibly Michael III |
Mother | Maria, possibly Eudokia Ingerina |
Constantine (
Constantine was the intended heir of Basil and as such received much attention from him and accompanied him on military campaigns, including one in
Life
Parentage
According to
Some sources hostile to the Macedonian dynasty, which was founded by Basil, have suggested that other sons of Basil were not his own. These sources claim that Eudokia was Michael's mistress, and that the marriage between Basil and Eudokia was intended to be in name only. Accordingly, the parentage of both Leo VI (r. 886–912) and Stephen I of Constantinople, has been questioned, leaving Alexander (r. 912–913) as Basil's only legitimate son. Most modern scholars doubt the accuracy of such claims, considering Leo as the legitimate son of Basil and Eudokia.[2][3][11]
In his 1994 Ph.D. thesis, Tougher supports the theory that Constantine was the son of Eudokia.[9] In his later 1997 work, he debates much of the reasoning behind considering Constantine to be Maria's son, and states that "there is no reason to believe that he was not a son of Eudokia", but does not definitively identify a mother for Constantine.[12] In his 1994 work, he points out that many Byzantine chroniclers consider Constantine to be the son of Basil, and that many historians use an argument that Constantine was Maria's son as a way to explain why Leo, but not Constantine, was said to be hated by Basil, as Basil would therefore consider Constantine his true son.[13] He also posits that Alexander, who could not possibly be Michael's son, by virtue of being born after his death, was not elevated in place of Constantine and Leo, suggesting that either Basil believed them both to be his own sons, or else was not bothered by them not being such,[14] and that Michael does not seem to have viewed Leo in any paternal way.[15] Tougher questions the arguments that preclude Constantine from being the son of Eudokia, by arguing that if he was born after the marriage of Eudokia and Basil, he would have been too young to campaign with his father in 878; he states that, given the issues related to the chronology of the marriage of Basil and Eudokia, it is possible that Constantine would be of fighting age.[13] Arnold J. Toynbee puts forth the argument that parents may have different feelings for sons, and the difference of personality is as likely as different mothers to explain why Basil preferred Constantine to Leo.[16]
In his 1997 work, Tougher points out that Mango's reconstruction is ingenious, but convoluted, arguing that Michael could simply have adopted Constantine, rather than enacting a conspiracy to have his child, whom he could not have known would be male,
Pro-Macedonian sources such as Leo VI and his son Constantine VII, as well as Joseph Genesius, exclude information regarding Basil's first marriage to Maria.[19] Constantine VII states that all of his aunts and uncles were the legitimate children of Basil and Eudokia, and Leo goes further, stating that Basil and Eudokia produced children before being married to each other.[20] Constantine VII gives an idealized version of Basil's reign, stating that when Basil was crowned at the Hagia Sophia, he was followed by a chariot containing Eudokia, Constantine, and Leo, and that both Constantine and Leo were crowned at the same time as Basil, in 867, with which no other source agrees.[15] Anti-Macedonian sources, such as Symeon Logothete, usually assume that Constantine was the son of Eudokia,[2][19] and provide information regarding the alleged infidelity of Eudokia, and the arrangement between Michael and Basil.[2]
Medieval sources | Modern sources | |||||||||||
Source and child | Symeon Logothete[2] | George Hamartolos[2] | Leo Grammaticus[2]
|
Leo VI the Wise[20] | Constantine VII[20] | Nicholas Adontz[3] | George Ostrogorsky[3] | Cyril Mango[2][21] | Judith Herrin[2][10] | Shaun Tougher (1994)[4] | Shaun Tougher (1997)[12] | Lynda Garland and Shaun Tougher (2007)[2] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Constantine | Uncertain | - | Michael and Eudokia | Basil and Eudokia | Basil and Maria | Michael/Basil and Eudokia | Basil/Michael and Eudokia | Basil/Michael and leans toward Eudokia | Basil and Maria/Eudokia; or Michael and Eudokia | |||
Leo | Michael and Eudokia | Basil and Eudokia | Michael and Eudokia | Basil/Michael and Eudokia | ||||||||
Stephen | - | |||||||||||
Alexander | Basil and Eudokia | - | - | Basil and Eudokia |
Later life
Basil rose to co-emperor by convincing Michael that his uncle
Constantine, along with the rest of his brothers, was educated by
Constantine was engaged to Ermengard of Italy, the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Louis II,
Death
Constantine died unexpectedly of fever on 3 September 879, leaving Leo as the primary heir.
After Constantine's death, Basil focused on securing his dynasty by marrying Leo to Theophano Martinakia, so they could produce heirs, and Tougher (1994) remarks that Basil may have become overprotective, shielding his remaining children from warfare.[38] Alexander is believed to have been crowned emperor following Constantine's death, in 879.[39] Basil imprisoned Leo and stripped him of imperial rank in 883, allegedly for his plans to usurp him, whereafter Alexander appears to have become the heir, until July 886, when Leo was released and restored as emperor.[40] Just a month later, on 29 August 886, Basil died of wounds from a hunting trip, and Leo succeeded him.[41][42]
Sources
Primary sources
- Constantine VII
- George Hamartolos
- Joseph Genesius
- Leo VI
- Leo Grammaticus
- Niketas David Paphlagon
- Pseudo-Symeon
- Symeon Logothete
- The Theophanes Continuatus
References
- ^ a b c Tougher 1997, p. 44.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Garland & Tougher 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g Ostrogorsky 1956, p. 233.
- ^ a b Tougher 1994, p. 22 & 25.
- ^ Treadgold 1997, p. 455.
- ^ Gregory 2010, p. 242.
- ^ a b Tougher 1994, p. 21.
- ^ Tougher 1994, pp. 21–22.
- ^ a b Tougher 1994, p. 22.
- ^ a b Herrin 2001, p. 225.
- ^ Tougher 1994, pp. 20–21.
- ^ a b Tougher 1997, pp. 43–44.
- ^ a b c Tougher 1997, pp. 43–4.
- ^ Tougher 1994, pp. 26–27.
- ^ a b Tougher 1994, p. 24.
- ^ Tougher 1994, p. 23.
- ^ Tougher 1997, p. 45.
- ^ Tougher 1994, p. 27.
- ^ a b Tougher 1997, pp. 44–45.
- ^ a b c Tougher 1994, pp. 22–23.
- ^ Mango 1973, pp. 22 & 27.
- ^ Tougher 1994, pp. 27–28.
- ^ Tougher 1994, p. 170 & 187.
- ^ a b c d e Foss 2005, p. 97.
- ^ a b c Tougher 1997, p. 52.
- ^ a b c d Tougher 1994, p. 30.
- ^ Tougher 1997, p. 46.
- ^ Kazhdan 1991, p. 1210.
- ^ Tougher 1994, p. 30 & 198.
- ^ Tougher 1994, p. 118.
- ^ Adontz 1956, p. 20.
- ^ Tougher 1994, p. 23 & 118.
- ^ Spatharakis 1976, p. 99.
- ^ Treadgold 1997, p. 458.
- ^ a b Tougher 1997, pp. 52–3.
- ^ a b c Tougher 1997, p. 53.
- ^ Jenkins 1966, pp. 195–197.
- ^ Tougher 1994, p. 136.
- ^ Tougher 1994, pp. 27 & 186.
- ^ Tougher 1994, p. 191.
- ^ Tougher 1994, pp. 191–192.
- ^ Ostrogorsky 1956, p. 241.
Bibliography
- Adontz, Nicholas (1956). "Basil I, the Armenian (Emperor of Byzantium 867–886)". Armenian Review. 9.
- Foss, Clive (2005). "Emperors named Constantine". Revue numismatique. 161 (6): 93–102. .
- Garland, Lynda; Tougher, Shaun (2007). "Roman Emperors – DIR Eudocia Ingerina". www.roman-emperors.org. Archived from the original on 26 August 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
- Gregory, Timothy E. (2010). A History of Byzantium. Chicester: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-8471-7.
- ISBN 978-0-691-11780-5.
- ISBN 978-0-8020-6667-1.
- ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
- ISSN 0584-9888.
- ISBN 978-0-813-51198-6.
- Spatharakis, Iohannis (1976). The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts. Leiden: Brill. OCLC 904409632.
- Tougher, Shaun (1994). The Reign of Leo VI (886–912): Personal relationships and political ideologies (PhD thesis). St. Andrews: University of St. Andrews. hdl:10023/14582.
- Tougher, Shaun (1997). The reign of Leo VI (886–912): politics and people. Leiden: ISBN 978-90-04-10811-0.
- ISBN 0-8047-2630-2.