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Alexander (Byzantine emperor)

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Byzantine emperor from 912 to 913

Alexander

Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans

Mosaic of Emperor Alexander inHagia Sophia. He wears aloros and holds theakakia in his right hand.

Byzantine emperor

Reign

11 May 912 – 6 June 913

Predecessor

Successor

Born

23 November 870^[4]
Constantinople
(nowIstanbul,Turkey)

Died

6 June 913 (aged 42)

Regnal name
Alexander Augustus^[5]

Father

Mother

Alexander^[b] (Greek:Άλέξανδρος,romanized: Aléxandros, 23 November 870 – 6 June 913) was brieflyByzantine emperor from 912 to 913, and the third emperor of theMacedonian dynasty.

Life

[edit]

Born in the purple, Alexander was the third son of EmperorBasil I andEudokia Ingerina. Unlike his older brotherLeo VI the Wise, his paternity was not disputed between Basil I andMichael III because he was born years after Michael's death.^[12] As a child, Alexander wascrowned as co-emperor by his father in early 879, following the death of Basil's sonConstantine.^[13]

Alexander ordering the dismissal of PatriarchEuthymius.

Upon the death of his brother Leo on 11 May 912, Alexander succeeded as senior emperor alongside Leo's young sonConstantine VII. He was the first Byzantine emperor to use the term "autocrator" (αὐτοκράτωρ πιστὸς εὑσεβὴς βασιλεὺς) on coinage to celebrate the ending of his thirty-three years as co-emperor.^[14] Alexander promptly dismissed most of Leo's advisers and appointees, including the admiralHimerios, the patriarchEuthymios, and the empressZoe Karbonopsina, the mother of Constantine VII, whom he locked up in a nunnery.^[14] The patriarchate was again conferred onNicholas Mystikos, who had been removed from this position due to his opposition to Leo's fourth marriage.

Emperor Alexander rebuffs theBulgarian envoys, refusing to pay tribute.

During his short reign, Alexander found himself attacked by the forces ofAl-Muqtadir of theAbbasid Caliphate in the east, and provoked a war withSimeon I of Bulgaria by refusing to send the traditional tribute on his accession. Alexander died soon after, allegedly from astomach disease caused by excessive eating and alcohol.^[15]

On his deathbed, Alexander finally concedes power to his nephewConstantine VII.

The sources are uniformly hostile towards Alexander, who is depicted as lazy, lecherous, drunk, and malignant; they also accuse him of idolatry, including makingpagan sacrifices to thegolden statue of aboar in theHippodrome, and providing it with new teeth and genitals, in hope of curing hisimpotence.^[16] It was his rumored intention to castrate the young Constantine VII in order to exclude him from the succession. This did not happen, but Alexander did leave Constantine a hostileregent (Nicholas Mystikos) and the beginning of along war againstBulgaria.

Notes

[edit]

^There is some evidence that Alexander was already crowned by August 879, but most sources agree that he was appointed co-emperor following the death of his brotherConstantine.^[1]^[2] He was certainly made co-emperor before November 879.^[3]
^Alexander is most commonly not assigned a regnal number.^[6]^[7]^[8] If assigned one, he is rarely regarded asAlexander II, afterSeverus Alexander (r. 222–235)[9] or even more rarely asAlexander III^[10] after both Severus Alexander andDomitius Alexander (r. 308–310). He has also been calledAlexander I.[11]

References

[edit]

^"Alexandros (#20328)". De Gruyter.
^Tougher 1996, pp. 475–476.
^Mango, Cyril (2018) [1958].The Homilies of Photius. Dumbarton Oaks studies. Vol. 3. p. 179.ISBN 9781532641381.
^Grierson 1973, p. 475.
^Coinage from 912-913, unlike the coins issued during his co-rules, refers to him asAlexandros Augustos
^Browning 1980, p. 297.
^Haldon 2005, p. 176.
^Lawler 2015, p. 37.
^Jenkins 1999, p. 101.
^Granier 2018, p. 224.
^Tougher 1996, p. 209.
^Schmitz, Leonhard (1867)."Alexander". InWilliam Smith (ed.).Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. Boston:Little, Brown and Company. p. 115.
^Ostrogorsky 1969, p. 233.
^^a ^bOstrogorsky 1969, p. 261.
^Skylitzes, Ioannes (2010) [1100].Synopsis of History. Translated by John Wortley. p. 190.[Alexander] came down to play ball (tzykanion). A pain arose in his entrails which had been overloaded with an excess of food and excessive drinking. He went back up into the palace haemorrhaging from his nose and his genitals; after one day he was dead.
^Karlin-Hayter 1969.

Sources

[edit]

Karlin-Hayter, P. (1969)."The Emperor Alexander's Bad Name".Speculum.44 (4):585–596.doi:10.2307/2850385.JSTOR 2850385.S2CID 161599458.
Ostrogorsky, George (1969).History of the Byzantine State.Rutgers University Press.ISBN 0-8135-0599-2.
Granier, Thomas (2018). "Rome and Romanness in Latin southern Italian sources, 8th–10th centuries". In Pohl, Walter; Gantner, Clemens; Grifoni, Cinzia (eds.).Transformations of Romanness: Early Medieval Regions and Identities. Berlin: De Gruyter.ISBN 978-3-11-059838-4.
Grierson, Philip (1973).Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection. Vol. 3, Leo III to Nicephorus III, 717–1081. p. 475.ISBN 0-88402-012-6.
Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991),"Alexander",Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, pp. 56–57,ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6
Browning, Robert (1980).The Byzantine Empire (Revised ed.). The Catholic University of America Press.ISBN 978-0813207544.
Haldon, John (2005).The Palgrave Atlas of Byzantine History. Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN 978-0230243644.
Jenkins, Everett (1999).The Muslim Diaspora: A Comprehensive Chronology of the Spread of Islam. Vol. 1. McFarland.ISBN 978-0786447138.
Lawler, Jennifer (2015) [2004].Encyclopedia of the Byzantine Empire. Jefferson: McFarland.ISBN 978-0-7864-6616-0.
Lilie, Ralph-Johannes; Ludwig, Claudia; Zielke, Beate; Pratsch, Thomas, eds. (2013).Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit (in German).De Gruyter.
John Julius Norwich (1993).Byzantium, The Apogee. Penguin Books.ISBN 0140114483.
Tougher, Shaun (1996).The Reign of Leo VI (886-912): Politics and People. Leiden; New York; Köln: Brill.ISBN 9004108114.

Alexander

Macedonian dynasty

Born: 870 Died: 6 June 913

Regnal titles

Preceded by

Leo VI

Byzantine emperor
11 May 912 – 6 June 913

Succeeded by

Constantine VII

Roman andByzantine emperors and empresses regnant

Principate
27 BC – AD 235

Crisis
235–284

Maximinus I
Gordian I
Gordian II
Pupienus
Balbinus
Gordian III
Philip I (w.Philip II)
Decius (w.Herennius Etruscus)
Trebonianus Gallus (w.Hostilian &Volusianus)
Aemilianus
Silbannacus (?)
Valerian
Gallienus (w.Saloninus)
Claudius II
Quintillus
Aurelian
Tacitus
Florianus
Probus
Carus
Carinus
Numerian

Later Roman Empire
284–641

Western Empire 395–476	Honorius Constantine III (w.Constans II) Priscus Attalus Constantius III Joannes Valentinian III Petronius Maximus Avitus Majorian Severus III Anthemius Olybrius Glycerius Julius Nepos Romulus Augustulus
Eastern Empire 395–641	Arcadius Theodosius II Marcian Leo I Leo II Zeno Basiliscus (w.Marcus) Anastasius I Justin I Justinian I Justin II Tiberius II Constantine Maurice (w.Theodosius) Phocas Heraclius