Romanos II
Romanos II | |
---|---|
Byzantine emperor | |
Reign | 9 November 959 – 15 March 963 |
Coronation | 6 April 945 as co-emperor |
Predecessor | Constantine VII |
Successor | Nikephoros II |
Co-emperors | Constantine VII (945–959) Basil II (960–963) Constantine VIII (962–963) |
Born | 938 |
Died | 15 March 963 (aged 24–25) |
Spouse | Bertha-Eudokia of Arles Theophano |
Issue | Helena Basil II Constantine VIII Anna Porphyrogenita |
Dynasty | Macedonian |
Father | Constantine VII |
Mother | Helena Lekapene |
Romanos II (
Life
Romanos II was a son of the Emperor
On 27 January 945, Constantine VII succeeded in removing his brothers-in-law, the sons of Romanos I, assuming the throne alone. On 6 April 945 (Easter), Constantine crowned his son co-emperor.[4] With Hugh out of power in Italy and dead by 947, Romanos secured the promise from his father that he would be allowed to select his own bride. Romanos chose a woman named Anastaso, whom he married in 956 and renamed Theophano.
In November 959, Romanos II succeeded his father on the throne amidst rumors that he or his wife had poisoned him.[5] Romanos purged his father's courtiers of his enemies and replaced them with friends. To appease his bespelling wife, he excused his mother, Empress Helena, from court and forced his five sisters into convents. Nevertheless, many of Romanos' appointees were able men, including his chief adviser, the eunuch Joseph Bringas.
The pleasure-loving sovereign could also leave military matters in the adept hands of his generals, in particular the brothers Leo and
After a lengthy hunting expedition Romanos II took ill and died on 15 March 963.[7] Rumor attributed his death to poison administered by his wife Theophano, but there is no evidence of this, and Theophano would have been risking much by exchanging the secure status of a crowned Augusta with the precarious one of a widowed regent of her very young children.
Romanos II's reliance on his wife and on bureaucrats like Joseph Bringas had resulted in a relatively capable administration, but this built up resentment among the nobility, which was associated with the military. In the wake of Romanos' death, his Empress Dowager, now regent to the two co-emperors, her underage sons, was quick to marry the general Nikephoros Phokas and to acquire another general, John Tzimiskes, as her lover, having them both elevated to the imperial throne in succession. The rights of her sons were safeguarded, however, and eventually, when Tzimiskes died at war, her eldest son Basil II became senior emperor.
Family
Romanos' first marriage, in September 944,[8] was to Bertha, illegitimate daughter of Hugh of Arles, King of Italy, who changed her name to Eudokia after her marriage. She died in 949, her marriage unconsummated.[9]
By his second wife Theophano he had at least four children:
- Helena, born c. 955[10]
- Basil II, born in 958[1]
- Constantine VIII, born in 960[1]
- Anna Porphyrogenita, born 13 March 963[11]
Gallery
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Gold solidus depicting Constantine VII with Romanos II, 945–959.
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The Romanos Ivory, 945–949.
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Depiction of a young Romanos II on a Ivory plaque, c. 945–959.[12]
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Solidus of Romanos II as sole ruler, 959–963.
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c Reuter & McKitterick 1999, p. 699.
- ^ PmbZ, "Romanos II (#26834)".
- ISBN 0-8135-0599-2.
- ISBN 9780511779657.
- ^ Gibbon, Edward (1904). The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. V. According to Gibbon, "after a reign of four years, she mingled for her husband the same deadly draught which she had composed for his father.". London: Ballantyne, Hanson & CO. p. 247.
- ^ McMahon 2021, p. 67-69.
- mortuus est Romanus imperator, 15 die Martii mensis. indictione 6, annos natus 24. imperavit annos 3, menses 4, dies 5." [10 November 959 − 15 March 963]
- ^ Theophanes Continuatus records the marriage in September 944 of "Hugonem regem Franciæ...filiam" and "Romanus imperator...Romano Constantini generi sui filio", stating that she lived five years with her husband, although he confuses the identity of Bertha's father. Theophanes Continuatus, VI, Romani imperium, 46, p. 431.
- ^ Byzantine historian George Kedrenos recorded that that "filia Hugonis", married to "Romano", died a virgin. Liudprandi Antapodosis III.39, Monumenta Germaniæ Historica Scriptorum III, p. 312.
- ^ Garland 2002, pp. 128, 271 (note 13).
- ^ PmbZ, "Anna (#20436)".
- ISBN 9780884022282.
References
- Leo the Deacon, Histories
- Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 By Frederick Lewis Weis, Line 147-20
- ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
- Garland, Lynda (2002). Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium AD 527–1204. Routledge. ISBN 978-1134756384.
- McMahon, Lucas (2021). "Logistical modelling of a sea-borne expedition in the Mediterranean: the case of the Byzantine invasion of Crete in AD 960". Mediterranean Historical Review. 36 (1): 63–94. .
- ISBN 978-0-8135-0599-2.
- ISBN 0394537785
- Reuter, Timothy; McKitterick, Rosamond, eds. (1999). "Appendix". The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 3, c.900-c.1024. Cambridge University Press.
- Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit (in German). De Gruyter.
- Attribution
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Romanus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 583–584. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
External links
Media related to Romanus II at Wikimedia Commons