| Leo VI | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans | |||||
 A mosaic inHagia Sophia showing Leo VI paying homage to Christ | |||||
| Byzantine emperor | |||||
| Reign | 29 August 886 – 11 May 912 | ||||
| Coronation | 6 January 870[1] | ||||
| Predecessor | Basil I | ||||
| Successor | Alexander | ||||
| Co-emperors | Basil I(870–886) Constantine (870–879) Alexander (879–912) Constantine VII(908–912) | ||||
| Born | 19 September 866 Constantinople | ||||
| Died | 11 May 912(912-05-11) (aged 45) Constantinople | ||||
| Burial | |||||
| Wives | |||||
| Issue | by Theophano Eudokia by Zoe Zaoutzaina Anna of Constantinople [fr] by Eudokia Basil by Zoe Karbonopsina Anna Constantine VII | ||||
| |||||
| Dynasty | Macedonian | ||||
| Father |
| ||||
| Mother | Eudokia Ingerina | ||||
| Religion | Greek Orthodox | ||||
Leo VI, also known asLeothe Wise (Greek:Λέων ὁ Σοφός,romanized: Léōn ho Sophós; 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), wasByzantine Emperor from 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 theempire also saw several military defeats in theBalkans againstBulgaria and against the Arabs inSicily and 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,[3] Leo was either the illegitimate son of EmperorMichael III[4][5][6] or the second son of Michael's successor,Basil I theMacedonian.[7][8][9] Eudokia was both Michael III'smistress and Basil's wife. In 867, Michael was assassinated by Basil, who succeeded him as emperor.[10] As the second-eldest son of the Emperor, Leo was associated on the throne in 870[11] and became the direct heir on the death of his older half-brother Constantine in 879.[12] 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 had married Zoe off to an insignificant official, and later almost had Leo blinded when he was accused of conspiring against him.[13][14] On 29 August 886, Basil died in a hunting accident, though he claimed on his deathbed that there was anassassination attempt in which Leo was possibly involved.[15]
.jpg)
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 Apostles inConstantinople.[16] This contributed to the suspicion that Leo was (or at least believed himself to be) in truth Michael's son.[12] Seeking political reconciliation, the new emperor secured the support of the officials in the capital, and surrounded himself withbureaucrats likeStylianos Zaoutzes (the father of his mistress, Zoe Zaoutzaina)[15] and the eunuchSamonas, an Arab defector whom Leo raised to the rank ofpatrikios and who stood in asgodfather to Leo's son,Constantine VII.[17] His attempts to control the great aristocratic families (e.g., thePhokadai and theDoukai) occasionally led to serious conflicts,[18] the most significant being the revolt ofAndronikos Doukas in 906.[19]
Leo also attempted to involve himself in the church through his arbitrary interference with the patriarchate.[20] Using his former tutorPatriarchPhotios's excommunication byPope John VIII as an excuse, Leo dismissed him[21] and replaced him with his own 19-year-old brotherStephen in December 886.[12] On Stephen's death in 893, Leo replaced him with Zaoutzes' nominee,Antony II Kauleas, who died in 901.[18] Leo then promoted his own Imperial secretary (mystikos)Nicholas, but suspicions that he was involved in the failed assassination attempt against Leo in 903[22] as well as his opposition to Leo's fourth marriage saw Nicholas replaced with Leo's spiritual fatherEuthymios in 907.[19]
The magnificentChurch of Agios Lazaros inLarnaca was constructed during the rule of Leo VI in the late 9th century,[23] and it was built after the relics of St. Lazaros were transported fromCrete to Constantinople.[24] The church is one of the best examples ofByzantine architecture. Leo also completed work on theBasilika, theGreek translation and update of thelaw code issued byJustinian I, which had been started during the reign of Basil.[25]
BishopLiutprand of Cremona gives 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 12nomismata and 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.[26]
Leo VI's fortune in war was more mixed than Basil's had been.[27] In indulging his chief counselorStylianos Zaoutzes, Leoprovoked a war withSimeon I of Bulgaria in 894, but he was defeated.[28] Bribing theMagyars to attack theBulgarians from the north, Leo scored an indirect success in 895.[29] However, deprived of his new allies, he lost the majorBattle of Boulgarophygon in 896 and had to make the required commercial concessions and to pay annual tribute.[30]
Although he won a victory in 900 against theEmirate of Tarsus, in which the Arab army was destroyed and theEmir himself captured,[31] in the west theEmirate of Sicily tookTaormina, the last Byzantine outpost on the island ofSicily, in 902.[32] Nevertheless, Leo continued to apply pressure on his eastern frontier through the creation of the newthema ofMesopotamia, a Byzantine invasion ofArmenia in 902, and the sacking ofTheodosiopolis, as well as successful raids in the ArabThughur.[31]
Then, in 904 the renegadeLeo of TripolissackedThessalonica with his pirates—an event described inThe Capture of Thessalonica byJohn Kaminiates—while a large-scale expedition to recoverCrete underHimerios in 911–912 failed disastrously. Nevertheless, the same period also saw the establishment of the important frontier provinces (kleisourai) ofLykandos andLeontokome on territory recently taken from the Arabs.[33] In 907Constantinoplewas attacked by theKievan Rus' underOleg of Novgorod, who was seeking favorable trading rights with the empire.[32] Leopaid them off, but they attacked again in 911, and atrade treaty was finally signed.[34]
Leo VI caused a major scandal with his numerous marriages which failed to produce a legitimate heir to the throne.[35] His first wifeTheophano, whom Basil had forced him to marry on account of her family connections to the Martinakioi, and whom Leo hated,[b] died in 897, and Leo marriedZoe Zaoutzaina, the daughter of his adviser Stylianos Zaoutzes, though she died as well in 899.[37] Upon this marriage Leo created the title ofbasileopatōr ("father of the emperor") for his father-in-law.[38]
After Zoe's death a third marriage was technically illegal,[39][citation needed] but he married again, only to have his third wifeEudokia Baïana die in 901.[31] Instead of marrying a fourth time, which would have been an even greater sin than a third marriage (according to the PatriarchNicholas Mystikos)[40] Leo took as mistressZoe Karbonopsina.[41] He married her only after she had given birth toa son in 905,[39] but incurred the opposition of the patriarch. Replacing Nicholas Mystikos with Euthymios,[18] 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).[19]
.jpg)
The future Constantine VII was the illegitimate son born before Leo's uncanonical fourth marriage to Zoe Karbonopsina.[39] 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.[42] Leo VI died on 11 May 912.[18] He was succeeded by his younger brotherAlexander, who had reigned as emperor alongside his father and brother since 879.[43]
Alexander died thirteen months later, and Constantine succeeded him. Shortly before Constantine reached the age of maturity, one of his regents made himself senior co-emperor asRomanos I. Romanus married his daughter to Constantine, and their son became emperor asRomanos II on Constantine's death in 959.
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.[32] On many occasions he would personally deliver highly wrought and convoluted sermons in the churches of Constantinople.[32]
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, theBasilika translated 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.[39] 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 theBasilika and the Novels were concerned with ecclesiastical law (canon law) as well as secular law.[39] 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.[17] 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.[39]
The supposedBook of the Prefect and theKletorologion of Philotheos were also issued under Leo's name and testify to his government's interest in organization and the maintenance of public order.[39] TheBook of the Eparch described the rules and regulations for trade and trade organizations in Constantinople, while theKletorologion was an attempt to standardize officials and ranks at the Byzantine court.[39] Leo is also the author, or at least sponsor, of theTactica, a notable treatise on military operations.[18]
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.[32]
Finally, Leo is credited withtranslating therelics ofSt. Lazarus to Constantinople in the year 890. There are severalstichera (hymns) attributed to him that are chanted onLazarus Saturday in theEastern Orthodox Church. He also composed hymns that are sung on theGreat Feast of theExaltation of the Cross.
By his first wife,Theophano Martinakia, Leo VI had one daughter:
By his second wife,Zoe Zaoutzaina, Leo had one daughter:
By his third wife,Eudokia Baïana, Leo had one son:
By his fourth wife,Zoe Karbonopsina, Leo had two children:[41]
Leo VI the Wise Born: 19 September 866 Died: 11 May 912 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Byzantine emperor 29 August 886 – 11 May 912 withBasil I, 886–887 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Roman Consul 1 January 887 - 11 May 912 | Office abolished |
| Composers |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Theorists | ||
| Liturgy | ||
| Forms | ||
| Theory | ||
| Instruments | ||
| Scholars | ||
| Performers | ||
| Related | ||
| ||
