Stylianos Zaoutzes

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Stylianos Zaoutzes (

Byzantine emperor Basil I (reigned 867–886), he then rose further to prominence under Basil's successor Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912), who had a close friendship and possibly an affair with Stylianos's daughter Zoe Zaoutzaina. Stylianos Zaoutzes was Leo's leading minister during the first half of his reign, and was awarded the unique title of basileopator
. His standing and influence declined after 895, but in 898, he became Leo's father-in-law when the Byzantine emperor married Zoe. He died in 899, in the same year as Zoe. Following an attempted coup by his relatives, the Zaoutzes clan was deprived of the considerable power it had amassed under Stylianos's tutelage.

Biography

Origins and early career

Basil I and Leo. Illumination from the Madrid Skylitzes manuscript.

Zaoutzes was of

Basil I the Macedonian, a factor that probably played an important role in his ascent to high office during the latter's reign.[2]

In late 882, the young Leo, Basil's second son and heir after the death of his elder brother Constantine in 879, was wedded to

Photios and Stylianos Zaoutzes that he was not also blinded.[7] This affair does not seem to have hurt Zaoutzes's own standing with Basil or his career, for by the end of Basil's reign he was protospatharios and megas hetaireiarches (senior commander of the hetaireia).[1]

Rise to prominence

Bronze follis of Emperor Leo VI (r. 886–912).

Leo spent three years in prison, until released and restored to his rank in late July 886. Here too Zaoutzes played a major role, as he personally pleaded with the Byzantine emperor to secure Leo's release.

Patriarch of Constantinople.[11] In the same period (between 886 and 893), Emperor Leo VI himself delivered a homily on a church built on Zaoutzes's orders in Constantinople.[12]

war
, which saw several heavy Byzantine defeats.

Zaoutzes's rise to prominence was consolidated in 891–893, when he was given the newly created title of basileopator ("father of the emperor").[13] His promotion to this new and enigmatic title has been a subject of controversy, as neither the reasons for the creation of the title nor its exact functions are known. The early date of his elevation precludes a relation to the eventual rise of his daughter Zoe to the imperial throne as Leo's empress. Gratitude for Zaoutzes's support against Basil may have played a role, and a common theory is that the office implied some form of tutorship over the emperor.[14] The office certainly confirmed Zaoutzes as the senior secular official of the Byzantine Empire. However, although Zaoutzes has traditionally been regarded as an all-powerful regent over a weak emperor, in no small part due to the account provided in the Vita Euthymii, the actual relationship between the two may have been quite different. A more careful evaluation of the source material has led modern scholarship to conclude that Leo was actively involved in government, and that Zaoutzes as chief minister was loyal and obsequious to his master.[15]

An assessment of his record as the Byzantine Empire's first minister is difficult. Of the few available sources on his career, the Vita Euthymii, compiled years after Zaoutzes's death, is extremely hostile, seeking to pin the responsibility for several of the reign's failures or unpopular decisions on him, and thus preserve Leo from blame.

Saint Demetrius, he showed special favor to.[19]

Fall from favor and death

Samonas revealing Basil's plot against Leo VI. Miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes

Nevertheless, all this has led to the enduring image of an ineffectual leadership in foreign and military affairs under Zaoutzes.

Augusta. In the next year, however, both Zoe and Stylianos died.[23] Following their deaths, Leo proposed to marry yet again, choosing Eudokia Baïana as his wife. Zaoutzes's numerous relatives, who had benefited from his patronage, were fearful of losing their positions to the new Empress's relations, and conspired to overthrow Leo. Chief among them was Basil, Zoe's nephew. The plot, however, was betrayed by the eunuch servant Samonas, and the conspiracy suppressed. The Zaoutzes relatives were exiled or confined to monasteries, and the clan's power broken.[1][24] Samonas himself was richly rewarded: he was taken into the imperial service and rapidly promoted, becoming parakoimomenos by 908, before he too fell from favor.[25]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Kazhdan 1991, p. 2220.
  2. ^ a b Tougher 1997, pp. 89–90.
  3. ^ Tougher 1997, p. 90.
  4. ^ Garland 1999, p. 110; Tougher 1997, pp. 35, 56–57.
  5. ^ Tougher 1997, p. 91; Bury 1911, pp. 106–107.
  6. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 56–57, 90.
  7. ^ Antonopoulou 1997, pp. 5–6; Tougher 1997, pp. 57–59, 90–91.
  8. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 58–60, 91.
  9. ^ Garland 1999, p. 111; Tougher 1997, pp. 61–62, 91.
  10. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 92–94.
  11. ^ Kazhdan 1991, pp. 1498, 2220; Tougher 1997, p. 38.
  12. ^ Homily translated in Mango 1986, pp. 203–205.
  13. ^ Tougher 1997, p. 94.
  14. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 99–100.
  15. ^ Antonopoulou 1997, pp. 70–71; Tougher 1997, pp. 100–104.
  16. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 94, 97.
  17. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 102–103.
  18. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 95–96.
  19. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 96–97.
  20. ^ Treadgold 1997, pp. 463–466.
  21. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 105–106.
  22. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 105, 108–109.
  23. ^ Antonopoulou 1997, pp. 6–7.
  24. ^ Tougher 1997, p. 149; Treadgold 1997, pp. 465–466.
  25. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 197–198.

Sources

  • Antonopoulou, Theodora (1997). The Homilies of the Emperor Leo VI. Leiden: Brill.
    ISBN 978-90-04-10814-1
    .
  • OCLC 1046639111
    .
  • Garland, Lynda (1999). Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium, AD 527–1204. New York and London: Routledge.
    ISBN 978-0-415-14688-3
    .
  • ISBN 0-19-504652-8
    .
  • ISBN 978-0-8020-6627-5
    .
  • Tougher, Shaun (1997). The Reign of Leo VI (886-912): Politics and People. Leiden: Brill.
    ISBN 978-90-04-10811-0
    .
  • ISBN 0-8047-2630-2
    .

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stylianos_Zaoutzes&oldid=1054045270"