LeO VI The Wise AD 886-912 AE Follis Constantinople mint.ANACS VF25

Description: LeO VI The Wise AD 886-912 AE Follis Constantinople mint.ANACS VF25. Shipped with USPS First Class.Leo VI, calledthe Wise(Greek: ,romanized:Ln ho Sophs, 19 September 866 11 May 912), wasByzantine Emperorfrom 886 to 912. The second ruler of theMacedonian dynasty(although his parentage is unclear), he was very well read, leading to hisepithet. During his reign, the renaissance of letters, begun by his predecessorBasil I, continued; but theEmpirealso saw several military defeats in theBalkansagainstBulgariaand against the Arabs inSicilyand theAegean. His reign also witnessed the formal discontinuation of several ancient Roman institutions, such as the separate office ofRoman consul.Born on 19 September 866 to the empressEudokia Ingerina,[2]Leo was either the illegitimate son of EmperorMichael IIIor the second son of Michael's successor,Basil ItheMacedonian. Eudokia was both Michael III'smistressand Basil's wife. In 867, Michael was assassinated by Basil, who succeeded him as emperor. As the second-eldest son of the Emperor, Leo was associated on the throne in 870 and became the direct heir on the death of his older half-brother Constantine in 879. However, Leo and Basil did not like each other; a relationship that only deteriorated after Eudokia's death, when Leo, unhappy with his marriage toTheophano, took up a mistress in the person ofZoe Zaoutzaina. Basil married Zoe off to an insignificant official, and later almost had Leo blinded when he was accused of conspiring against him. On 29 August 886, Basil died in a hunting accident, though he claimed on his deathbed that there was anassassinationattempt in which Leo was possibly involved.One of the first actions of Leo VI after his succession was the reburial, with great ceremony, of the remains of Michael III in the imperial mausoleum within theChurch of the Holy ApostlesinConstantinople. This contributed to the suspicion that Leo was (or at least believed himself to be) in truth Michael's son. Seeking political reconciliation, the new emperor secured the support of the officials in the capital, and surrounded himself withbureaucratslikeStylianos Zaoutzes(the father of his mistress, Zoe Zaoutzaina) and the eunuchSamonas, an Arab defector whom Leo raised to the rank ofpatrikiosand who stood in asgodfatherto Leo's son,Constantine VII. His attempts to control the great aristocratic families (e.g., thePhokadaiand theDoukai) occasionally led to serious conflicts, the most significant being the revolt ofAndronikos Doukasin 906. Leo VI warnsConstantine Doukasnot to usurp the throne after the latter's escape from Baghdad. Leo also attempted to involve himself in the church through his arbitrary interference with the patriarchate. Using his former tutorPatriarchPhotios's excommunication byPope John VIIIas an excuse, Leo dismissed him and replaced him with his own 19-year-old brotherStephenin December 886. On Stephen's death in 893, Leo replaced him with Zaoutzes' nominee,Antony II Kauleas, who died in 901. Leo then promoted his own Imperial secretary (mystikos)Nicholas, but suspicions that he was involved in the failed assassination attempt against Leo in 903 as well as his opposition to Leo's fourth marriage saw Nicholas replaced with Leo's spiritual fatherEuthymiosin 907. The magnificentChurch of Ayios LazarosinLarnacawas constructed during the rule of Leo VI in the late 9th century, and it was built after the relics of St. Lazaros were transported fromCreteto Constantinople. The church is one of the best examples ofByzantine architecture. Leo also completed work on theBasilika, theGreektranslation and update of thelaw codeissued byJustinian I, which had been started during the reign of Basil. BishopLiutprand of Cremonagives an account similar to those aboutCaliphHarun al-Rashid, to the effect that Leo would sometimes disguise himself and go about Constantinople looking for injustice or corruption. According to one story, he was even captured by the city guards during one of his investigations. Late in the evening, he was walking alone and disguised. Though he bribed two patrols with 12nomismataand moved on, a third city patrol arrested him. When a terrified guardian recognized the jailed ruler in the morning, the arresting officer was rewarded for doing his duty, while the other patrols were dismissed and punished severely. Foreign policy The Byzantines flee atBoulgarophygon, miniature from theMadrid Skylitzes Leo VI's fortune in war was more mixed than Basil's had been. In indulging his chief counselorStylianos Zaoutzes, Leoprovoked a warwithSimeon I of Bulgariain 894, but he was defeated. Bribing theMagyarsto attack theBulgariansfrom the north, Leo scored an indirect success in 895.However, deprived of his new allies, he lost the majorBattle of Boulgarophygonin 896 and had to make the required commercial concessions and to pay annual tribute. Leo VI receivesBulgarianenvoys at his court. Although he won a victory in 900 against theEmirate of Tarsus, in which the Arab army was destroyed and theEmirhimself captured, in the west theEmirate of SicilytookTaormina, the last Byzantine outpost on the island ofSicily, in 902. Nevertheless, Leo continued to apply pressure on his eastern frontier through the creation of the newthemaofMesopotamia, a Byzantine invasion ofArmeniain 902, and the sacking ofTheodosiopolis, as well as successful raids in the ArabThughur. An Arab fleet underLeo of Tripolisacks the city of Thessalonica. Then, in 904 the renegadeLeo of TripolissackedThessalonicawith his piratesan event described inThe Capture of ThessalonicabyJohn Kaminiateswhile a large-scale expedition to recoverCreteunderHimeriosin 911912 failed disastrously. Nevertheless, the same period also saw the establishment of the important frontier provinces (kleisourai) ofLykandosandLeontokomeon territory recently taken from the Arabs. In 907Constantinoplewas attackedby theKievan Rus'underOleg of Novgorod, who was seeking favorable trading rights with the empire.Leopaid them off, but they attacked again in 911, and atrade treatywas finally signed. PrinceOleg of Novgorodhaving his shield nailed to theWalls of Constantinople. Marriages Leo VI caused a major scandal with his numerous marriages which failed to produce a legitimate heir to the throne.His first wifeTheophano, whom Basil had forced him to marry on account of her family connections to the Martinakioi, and whom Leo hated, died in 897, and Leo marriedZoe Zaoutzaina, the daughter of his adviser Stylianos Zaoutzes, though she died as well in 899.Upon this marriage Leo created the title ofbasileopatr("father of the emperor") for his father-in-law. After Zoe's death a third marriage was technically illegal, but he married again, only to have his third wifeEudokia Baanadie in 901. Instead of marrying a fourth time, which would have been an even greater sin than a third marriage (according to the PatriarchNicholas Mystikos) Leo took as mistressZoe Karbonopsina. He married her only after she had given birth toa sonin 905, but incurred the opposition of the patriarch. Replacing Nicholas Mystikos with Euthymios, Leo got his marriage recognized by the church (albeit with a long penance attached, and with an assurance that Leo would outlaw all future fourth marriages). SuccessionEdit Goldsolidusof Leo VI and Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, 908912 The future Constantine VII was the illegitimate son born before Leo's uncanonical fourth marriage to Zoe Karbonopsina. To strengthen his son's position as heir, Leo had Constantine crowned as co-emperor on 15 May 908, when he was only two years old.Leo VI died on 11 May 912. He was succeeded by his younger brotherAlexander, who had reigned as emperor alongside his father and brother since 879. Coronation ofConstantine VIIby PatriarchEuthymius I. Works Leo VI was a prolific writer, and he produced works on many different topics and in many styles, including political orations, liturgical poems, and theological treatises. On many occasions he would personally deliver highly wrought and convoluted sermons in the churches of Constantinople. In the subject matter of legal works and treatises, he established a legal commission that carried out his father's original intent of codifying all of existing Byzantine law. The end result was a six-volume work consisting of 60 books, entitled theBasilika. Written in Greek, theBasilikatranslated and systematically arranged practically all of the laws preserved in theCorpus Juris Civilis, thereby providing a foundation upon which all later Byzantine laws could be built. Leo then began integrating new laws issued during his reign into theBasilika. Called "Novels", or "New Laws", these were codes that dealt with current problems and issues, such as the prohibition on fourth marriages. Both theBasilikaand the Novels were concerned with ecclesiastical law (canon law) as well as secular law. Most importantly, from a historical perspective, they finally did away with much of the remaining legal and constitutional architecture that the Byzantine Empire had inherited from the Roman Empire, and even from the days of theRoman Republic. Obsolete institutions such as theCuriae, theRoman Senate, even theConsulate, were finally removed from a legal perspective, even though these still continued in a lesser, decorative form. Tactica The supposedBook of the Eparchand theKletorologionof Philotheoswere also issued under Leo's name and testify to his government's interest in organization and the maintenance of public order. TheBook of the Eparchdescribed the rules and regulations for trade and trade organizations in Constantinople, while theKletorologionwas an attempt to standardize officials and ranks at the Byzantine court. Leo is also the author, or at least sponsor, of theTactica, a notable treatise on military operations. Succeeding generations saw Leo as a prophet and a magician, and soon a collection of oracular poems and some short divinatory texts, the so-calledOracles of Leo the Wise, at least in part based on earlier Greek sources, were attached to the Emperor's name in later centuries and were believed to foretell the future of the world. Finally, Leo is credited withtranslatingtherelicsofSt. Lazarusto Constantinople in the year 890. There are severalstichera(hymns) attributed to him that are chanted onLazarus Saturdayin theEastern Orthodox Church. He also composed hymns that are sung on theGreat Feastof theExaltation of the Cross

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End Time: 2024-03-19T21:56:07.000Z

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