Theodosius (son of Maurice)

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Theodosius
Saint Mamas Monastery, Constantinople
SpouseDaughter of Germanus
Regnal name
Imperator Caesar Flavius Theodosius Augustus
DynastyJustinian
FatherMaurice
MotherConstantina
ReligionChalcedonian Christianity
Saint Mamas Monastery
Feast28 November
AttributesImperial attire
Justinian dynasty
Chronology
Succession
Preceded by
Leonid dynasty 		Followed by
Heraclian dynasty

Theodosius (

Sassanid Persia by his father, Theodosius was said to have been captured and executed by Phocas's supporters a few days after Maurice. Nevertheless, rumours spread that he had survived the execution, and became popular to the extent that a man who purported to be Theodosius was entertained by the Persians as a pretext for launching a war against Byzantium
. There is debate over whether this man was an imposter or genuinely Theodosius.

Biography

Theodosius was the first child of Maurice and his wife, the

Gregory the Great, acted as his godfather.[3][4] The scholar Evagrius Scholasticus composed a work celebrating Theodosius' birth, for which he was rewarded by Maurice with the rank of consul.[5]

A few years after his birth, possibly in 587, Theodosius was raised to the rank of caesar and thus became his father's heir-apparent. Three years later, on 26 March 590, he was publicly proclaimed as co-emperor.[3]

In late 601 or early February 602, Maurice married Theodosius to a daughter of the

Senate.[a] The historian Theophylact Simocatta, the major chronicler of Maurice's reign, also records that on 2 February 602, Germanus saved Theodosius from harm during food riots in Constantinople.[10]

Later in the same year, during the revolt of the Danubian armies in autumn, Theodosius and his father-in-law were hunting in the outskirts of Constantinople. There they received a letter from the mutinous troops, in which they demanded Maurice's resignation, a redress of their grievances, and offered the crown to either of the two.[2][11][12] They presented the letter to Maurice, who rejected the army's demands. The emperor however began suspecting Germanus of playing a part in the revolt. Theodosius promptly informed his father-in-law of this and advised him to hide, and on November 21, Germanus fled first to a local church and then to the Hagia Sophia, seeking sanctuary from the Byzantine emperor's emissaries.[13][14] When the attempt to guide Germanus away from the precinct via Stephen, Theodosius' eunuch tutor, failed, Maurice beat Theodosius with a staff, blaming him for communicating the secret to Germanus.[15] Historian Michael Whitby suggests that Theodosius' marriage, which intended to unite Maurice and Germanus' family, instead gave reason for Maurice to suspect his own son.[16]

In the middle of the night of November 22, as the crowd rioted and turned against Maurice, the emperor and his family and closest associates fled the capital before the advancing rebel army under

Sassanid Persia.[17] However, when he reached Nicaea, Maurice recalled him. On his return Theodosius fell into the hands of Phocas' men and was executed at Chalcedon. His father and younger brothers had been executed a few days earlier on November 27.[14][18]

Theory of survival and pseudo-Theodosius

Subsequently, rumours of Theodosius's survival spread far and wide. It was alleged that his father-in-law Germanus had bribed his executioner, a leading Phocas supporter named Alexander, to spare his life. In this story, Theodosius then fled, eventually reaching Lazica, where he died. Theophylact Simocatta reports that he thoroughly investigated these rumours and found them false.[2][19][20] Modern historian Paul Speck, however, argues that doubts about the genuineness of Theodosius only began to be expressed late in the reign of Heraclius.[21]

Upon hearing the stories of Theodosius' survival around 605, Constantina and Germanus secretly exchanged messages. Constantina's maid betrayed them to Phocas, who then executed them and their daughters.

Nestorian patriarch Sabrisho I in a ceremony in Ctesiphon.[21][24][25] In the Armenian campaign of 606–7, the pretender accompanied the commander Ashtat Yeztayar. His presence convinced the garrison of Theodosiopolis (Erzurum) to surrender.[26]

James Howard-Johnston disputes the identification of this Theodosius as a pretender, arguing that such claims were Roman propaganda and that it is unlikely that both the people of Edessa in 603 and the notables of Theodosiopolis who met him in 608 would have been deceived by an impostor.[25]

Coinage

Theodosius does not appear on most of the regular coinage of Maurice's reign, with just a few exceptions: the copper nummi of the

Cherson mint, which show him along with his father and mother, a special silver siliqua issue (apparently cut in 591/592 to celebrate his proclamation as co-emperor)[23] from the Carthage mint.[27] There is one surviving gold solidus that depicts him in his imperial regalia, also from the Carthage mint.[28]

Notes

  1. Matasuntha,[6][7] or an unnamed son of the general Justinian, the second son of the senior Germanus.[8] Though not conclusive, many historians also equate the patrician Germanus with the caesar Germanus, a son-in-law of Tiberius II Constantine who became caesar alongside Maurice but refused the throne.[9]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Sanidopoulos 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d ODB, "Theodosios" (W. E. Kaegi, A. Kazhdan), p. 2050.
  3. ^ a b c d Martindale 1992, p. 1293.
  4. ^ a b Whitby 1988, p. 18.
  5. ^ Whitby 1988, p. 21.
  6. ^ Martindale 1992, p. 528.
  7. ^ Whitby 1988, p. 7.
  8. ^ Stephenson 2022, p. 223.
  9. ^ Martindale 1992, p. 529; Whitby 1988, pp. 7, 25; Martindale 1992, pp. 531, 1293; Howard-Johnston 2021, p. 14
  10. ^ Martindale 1992, p. 531.
  11. ^ Martindale 1992, pp. 531, 1293.
  12. ^ Whitby 1988, p. 168.
  13. ^ Martindale 1992, pp. 531–532.
  14. ^ a b Whitby 1988, p. 26.
  15. ^ Theophylact, p. 222: viii 8.15
  16. ^ Whitby 1988, p. 25.
  17. ^ Theophylact, pp. 223–224: viii 9.7–12
  18. ^ Martindale 1992, pp. 1293–1294.
  19. ^ Martindale 1992, pp. 47, 532, 1294.
  20. ^ Whitby 1988, pp. 312, 316.
  21. ^ a b Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 297.
  22. ^ Garland 1999.
  23. ^ a b Martindale 1992, p. 1294.
  24. ^ Wilmshurst 2011, p. 46.
  25. ^ a b Howard-Johnston 2000.
  26. ^ Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 186.
  27. ^ Grierson 1999, pp. 44–45, 58.
  28. ^ Sear 1987, p. 136 (No. 613).

Sources

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