| Constantine IV | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emperor of the Romans | |||||
 Constantine IV, mosaic in basilica ofSant'Apollinare in Classe,Ravenna. | |||||
| Byzantine emperor | |||||
| Reign | September 668 – July 685 | ||||
| Coronation | 13 April 654 | ||||
| Predecessor | Constans II | ||||
| Successor | Justinian II | ||||
| Co-emperors |
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| Born | c. 650 Constantinople (nowIstanbul,Turkey) | ||||
| Died | 10 July 685 (aged ≈35) Constantinople | ||||
| Burial | |||||
| Spouse | Anastasia | ||||
| Issue | |||||
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| Dynasty | Heraclian | ||||
| Father | Constans II | ||||
| Mother | Fausta | ||||
| Religion | Chalcedonian Christianity | ||||
Constantine the New | |
|---|---|
| Holy and Right-BelievingEmperor of the Romans | |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodoxy[5] |
| Majorshrine | Church of the Holy Apostles |
| Feast | 3 September |
| Attributes | Imperial attire |
| Heraclian dynasty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Chronology | ||
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| Succession | ||
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Constantine IV (Greek:Κωνσταντῖνος,romanized: Kōnstantînos;Latin:Constantinus;c. 650 – 10 July 685), calledthe Younger (Greek:ὁ νέος,romanized: ho néos)[6][7] and often incorrectlythe Bearded (Greek:Πωγωνᾶτος,romanized: Pōgōnãtos) out of confusion withhis father,[8][b] wasByzantine emperor from 668 to 685. His reign saw the first serious check to nearly 50 years of uninterruptedArab expansion, most notably hissuccessful defence ofConstantinople, and the temporary stabilization of the Byzantine Empire after decades of war, defeats, and civil strife. His calling of theSixth Ecumenical Council saw the end of themonothelitism controversy in theByzantine Empire; for this, he is venerated as a saint in theEastern Orthodox Church, with his feast day onSeptember 3.[5]
The eldest son ofConstans II andFausta, daughter of patricianValentinus,[10] Constantine IV had been named a co-emperor with his father in 654, almost certainly inEaster (13 April).[11] His year of birth is unknown,[12] but often given asc. 650.[13][c] He became emperor in September 668, when news arrived at Constantinople thatConstans II had been assassinated inSicily.[14]
The first task before the new Emperor was the suppression of the military revolt in Sicily underMezezius which had led to his father's death.[15] Within seven months of his accession, Constantine IV had dealt with the insurgency with the support ofPope Vitalian,[16] but this success was overshadowed by troubles in the east.
As early as 668 theCaliphMuawiyah I received an invitation fromSaborios, the commander of the troops inArmenia, to help overthrow the Emperor at Constantinople.[17] He sent an army under his sonYazid against theByzantine Empire. Yazid reachedChalcedon and took the important Byzantine centerAmorion.[18] While the city was quickly recovered, theArabs next attackedCarthage and Sicily in 669.[19] In 670 the Arabs capturedCyzicus and set up a base from which to launch further attacks into the heart of the Empire.[20] Their fleet capturedSmyrna and other coastal cities in 672.[21] Also, in 672, the Arabs sent a large fleet to attackConstantinople by sea.[21] While Constantine was distracted by this, theSlavslaid siege toThessalonica.[20]
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While modern historiography traditionally placed the first Arab siege of Constantinople in 674–678, a new reconstruction of the events has re-dated it to 667–669.[22] In 663, Constantine's father,Constans II, had moved the imperial residence toSyracuse, during which a large portion of the military was relocated toSicily.[23] This move exposed Constantinople to the danger of the Arab forces. The Arab forays in Anatolia had started already by c. 662/3 in the frontier zone ofMelitene shortly afterMuʿāwiya had emerged victorious from the internal civil strife in the Caliphate. One of those raids led by Busr b. Abī Artāt reportedly reached Constantinople plundering its immediate vicinity. The weakened Byzantine armies in the meantime were unable to check the Arab incursions. The situation was propitious for the Byzantine patrician and general of thetheme of Armeniakon, Saborios to revolt against the imperial government after having secured the backing of the Arabs. Muʿāwiya I saw in Saborios an unexpected ally and an opportune chance to invade further inland, taking advantage of the Byzantine armies' distress. Although the concerted plan never materialised as such due to the accidental death of Saborios, this did not hamper Muʿāwiya from advancing his plan to bring the Byzantine empire to heel. He launched the offensive in 667 with numerous forces that marched to Constantinople, while another number of his forces was sailing with the fleet to Constantinople. The command of the Arab armies marching to Constantinople had been entrusted by Muʿāwiya to his general and qādī ofDamascus,Fadālah b. ῾Ubayd al-Ansarī.[22]
The army invaded the Byzantine territories by summer of 667 and through a number of raids and plundering arrived by the end of 667 atChalkedon where it spent the winter. Meanwhile, the Arab navy consisting of Egyptian and Syrian fleet units under the command of Muʿāwiya son,Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya was also sailing towards Constantinople which it reached by autumn 667. Among the comrades of Yazīd where four Companions of the Prophet and members of the Medinan aristocracy, to wit ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbbās paternal cousin of the Prophet and ancestor of theAbbasids, ʿAbdallāh b. ʿUmar the son of the second caliph and one of the most important transmitters of the hadith,ʿAbdallāh b. al-Zubayr, son a sister of the Prophet's wife ʿAʾisha, grandson ofAbū Bakr and future caliph during the civil war of 680-692, andAbū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī who hosted the Prophet during his stay inMedīna according to the Arab historiographeral-Tabarī.[24] The two contingents united after reaching the walls of Constantinople blockaded the capital, although no assault of importance took place until the end of winter of 667 but instead only plundering of the countryside. By spring of 668 the Arab forces strained their blockade and the capital was under siege for the whole of spring up to middle of June 668. However, the numerous Arab armies having wintered at camps were malnourished and soon they were suffering severe famine, whereas the outbreak of a smallpox epidemic decimated them in large numbers forcing Yasīd to lift the siege hurriedly. Nevertheless, the army and navy remained inCyzicus from where they engaged in small scale battles and raids in the vicinity of Constantinople and its immediate countryside before they set sail back to Syria around 669/70.
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The first Arab siege of Constantinople set in motion a number of developments. In the aftermath of the siege the victorious, albeit during the circumstances mostly rather than his prowess, Constantine emerged as leader of the city. The news of the lifting of the siege had not yet reached Suracuse due to the naval blockade of Constantinople and the fear for the worst possible scenario led a party of the emperor's closest high-ranking military office holders to unfold a plot to remove him out of, supposedly, concern for the continuation of the empire. Be that as it may, the assassination of the emperor Constans II took place on the 15th of July of 668. Upon the emperor's death that fraction of conspirators proclaimedMezezios as emperor in Sicily.[23] However, the rebel did not enjoy of pope Vitalian's acceptance and only one part of the army lent to him support, whereas the Byzantine navy under the command of the loyal dignitary named Severus returned to Constantinople. The arrival of the navy in Constantinople by late 668 was a salutary point for it offered to Constantine IV until then bereft of any substantial army and some ten ship to his disposal, to confront pari passu with the Arab navy which apparently desisted from besieging again Constantinople. Constantine IV with the control of the navy at his hands and Constantinople freed of the danger sent his two brothers and co-emperors to the West with a number of armies in a division of the front of the war between the three brothers.[25] Meanwhile and from another warfront the Egyptian governor Maslama b. Mukhallad sent his fleet under the command of Muʿāwiyah b. Ḥudayj al-Kindī to attack Sicily in order to undermine the efforts of Constans II to reorganise the empire's position in the West. In doing so he launched some cursory incursions to the island, but in the meantime Mezezios had solicited the help of Constantine IV and in doing so he precipitated his own demise. Upon arrival of the fleet comprising some 600 ships the Arabs avoided going in naval battle and retreated. Constantine IV upon landing on Suracuse had Mezezios arrested and decapitated while the rest of his supporters were arrested and sent back to Constantinople chained.[23]
In the wake of the Arab siege and his father's relocation to Suracuse where presumably the imperial treasury was also moved and possibly plundered after Constans II assassination, Constantine IV was faced with a surging economic crisis. The Arab raids of Asia Minor and the territorial losses in broader Syria meant also the loss of some important mines and shortage of precious metals for the higher value coinage. Other from devaluating the higher order issues the new emperor opted for reissuing the copper follis of Justinian which meant, the iconographic return aside, four times heavier coin. This increase in the metal's substance increased the monetary value of his copper follis and probably made redundant the solidi of Mezezios in order to strike his opponent by destabilising his currency's value. However, Constantine IV by the next year when his son's was born decided to undo his father's ecclesiastical policy and not only named his son Justinian II, but he furthered the restructuring of the rest of the monetary system to Justinian's issues in terms design and layout. The fostering of such a propaganda where he was likened himself to Justinian aimed at glossing his reign with a profoundrenovatio imperii which he essentially did as the Byzantines from 672 to 680 had gained the offensive and through a series of counterattacks to Egypt and to Syria attained to paralyse the Arab danger. This put an end to 15 years of successive raids and devastation andMuʿāwiya's death on 6 May of 680 sealed that end for good.[22]
With the temporary passing of the Arab threat, Constantine turned his attention to the Church, which was torn betweenMonothelitism and Orthodoxy.[26] In November 680 Constantine convened theSixth Ecumenical Council (also known as the Third Council of Constantinople).[20] Constantine presided in person during the formal aspects of the proceedings (the first eleven sittings and then the eighteenth), surrounded by his court officials, but he took no active role in the theological discussions.[27] The Council reaffirmed the Orthodox doctrines of theCouncil of Chalcedon in 451.[citation needed] This solved the controversy overmonothelitism; conveniently for the Empire, most monothelites were now under the control of theUmayyadCaliphate.[20] The council closed in September 681.[28]
Due to the ongoing conflicts with the Arabs during the 670s, Constantine had been forced to conclude treaties in the west with theLombards, who had capturedBrindisi andTaranto.[13] Also in 680, theBulgars under KhanAsparukh crossed theDanube into nominally Imperial territory and began to subjugate the local communities and Slavic tribes.[20] In 680, Constantine IV led a combined land and sea operation against the invaders and besieged their fortified camp inDobruja.[29] Suffering from bad health, the Emperor had to leave the army, which panicked andwas defeated by the Bulgars.[30] In 681, Constantine was forced to acknowledge theBulgar state inMoesia and to pay tribute/protection money to avoid further inroads into ByzantineThrace.[26] Consequently, Constantine created theTheme of Thrace.[13]
His brothersHeraclius andTiberius had been crowned with him asaugusti during the reign of their father,[12] and this was confirmed by the demand of the populace,[31] but in late 681 Constantine had themmutilated by slitting their noses so they would be considered ineligible to rule.[20] Some argue that he then associatedJustinian II to the throne,[13] but all contemporary evidence indicates that he became emperor only after Constantine's death on 10 July 685.[12][e]
By his wifeAnastasia, Constantine IV had at least two sons:
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Laurent, V. (1939)."Notes de titulature byzantine".Échos d'Orient.38 (195–196):355–370.doi:10.3406/rebyz.1939.2941.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)()
Media related toKonstantinos IV at Wikimedia CommonsConstantine IV Born: 650 Died: 685 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by | Byzantine emperor 668–685 withConstans II, 654–668 Heraclius andTiberius, 659–681 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Constans II in 642, then lapsed | Roman consul 668 | Succeeded by Lapsed, Justinian II in 686 |
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