Constantine VII
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Image:Follis-Constantine VII and Zoe-sb1758.jpg Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos ("the Purple-born") (Constantinople, 905 – November 9, 959 in Constantinople) was the son of Byzantine emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife Zoe Karvounopsina. He was also the nephew of Alexander III. He is famous for his two descriptive books, De Administrando Imperio and De Ceremoniis.
His nickname alludes to the Purple Room of the imperial palace, where legitimate children of the emperors were normally born. Constantine was also born in this room, although his mother Zoe had not been married to Leo at that time. Nevertheless, the epithet allowed him to underline his position as the legitimized son, as opposed to all others who claimed the throne during his lifetime.
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Reign
Constantine succeeded to the throne at the age of seven in 913, under the regency of the Patriarch Nicholas Mysticus. His regent was presently forced to make peace with Tsar Simeon of Bulgaria, whom he reluctantly recognized as Bulgarian emperor. Because of this, Nicholas was driven out of the regency by Constantine's mother Zoë. Image:Porphyrogenetus.jpg
Zoë was no more successful with the Bulgars, and in 919 she was replaced with Romanus Lecapenus, who married his daughter Helena to Constantine.
Constantine's youth had been a sad one for his unpleasant appearance, his taciturn nature and his relegation at the third level of succession behind the two sons of Romanus Lecapenus. Neverthless, he was a very intelligent young man with a large range of interests, and dedicated those years to study the court's ceremonial.
Romanus took power for himself and mantained it until 944, when he was deposed by his sons. After a life spent in the shadow, at the age of 39 Constantine could be finally recognized as emperor.
In 949 Constantine launched another attack against the Arab corsairs hiding in Crete, but like his father's attempt to retake the island in 911, this attempt also failed. On the Eastern frontier things went better, even if with alternate success: in 949 the Byzantines conquered Germanicea, repeatedly defeated the enemy armies and in 952 crossed the Euphrates. But in 953 the Arab amir Saif ad-Dawla retook Germanicea and entered the imperial territory. The land in the east was eventually recovered by Nicephorus Phocas, who conquered Hadath, in northern Syria, in 958, and by the Armenian general John Tzimisces, who one year later captured Samosata, in northern Mesopotamia. An Arab fleet was also destroyed by Greek fire in 957. Constantine's efforts to retake themes lost to the Arabs were the first sudh efforts to have any real success.
Constantine had intense diplomatic relationships with foreign courts, including the caliph of Cordoba Adb ar-Rahman III and the western emperor Otto I. In the autumn of 957 Constantine was visited by Olga, princess of the Kievan Rus'. The reasons of this voyage had never been cleared: anyway, she was baptised with the name Helena, and began to convert her people to Christianity.
Constantine died in 959 and was succeeded by his son Romanus II.
Books
Although he was a satisfactory emperor, Constantine is more well known for his abilities as a writer and scholar. He wrote, or had others write in his name, the works De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae ("On Ceremonies"), describing the kinds of court ceremonies also described later in a more negative light by Liutprand of Cremona; De Administrando Imperio ("On the Administration of the Empire"), giving advice on running the empire internally and also how to fight external enemies; and a history of the Empire covering events following the death of the chronographer Theophanes in 817. Though these books are not as insightful as Constantine believed them to be, they nevertheless are a most useful source of information about nations neighbouring with Byzantium, and a good insight into the Emperor himself. Constantine was a great collector of books, manuscripts and art works in general, and was indeed a good painter.
References
- Runciman, Steven. The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and his Reign. Cambridge: University Press, 1990. (Originally published 1929.) ISBN 0-521-35722-5
- Toynbee, Arnold. Constantine Porphyrogenitus and his world. Oxford, 1973. ISBN 0-19-215253-X. 768pp.
External links
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