| Christopher Lekapenos | |
|---|---|
| Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans | |
.jpg) Goldsolidus ofRomanos I Lekapenos (left) with his son Christopher (right) | |
| Byzantine co-emperor (underRomanos I) | |
| Reign | 20 May 921 – August 931 |
| Coronation | 20 May 921 |
| Predecessors | Constantine VII Romanos I |
| Successors | Romanos I Constantine VII Constantine Stephen |
| Co-emperors | See list
|
| Died | August 931 |
| Spouse | Sophia [bg] |
| Issue more... | Irene, Empress of Bulgaria |
| Dynasty | Lekapenos |
| Father | Romanos I Lekapenos |
| Mother | Theodora |
Christopher Lekapenos orLecapenus (Greek:Χριστόφορος Λακαπηνός or Λεκαπηνός,romanized: Christóphoros Lakapēnos or Lekapēnos; died August 931) was the eldest son of EmperorRomanos I Lekapenos (r. 920–944) andco-emperor of theByzantine Empire from 921 until his death in 931. Christopher was given the position ofmegas hetaireiarches (commander of the palace guard) in spring 919, after Romanos assumed guardianship of the underageEmperor Constantine VII. Romanos, who made himself co-emperor in 920, raised Christopher to co-emperor on 21 May 921 to give his familyprecedence over Constantine VII'sMacedonian line. In 928 Christopher's father-in-law, Niketas, unsuccessfully attempted to incite Christopher to usurp his father, resulting in Niketas being banished. Christopher died in August 931, succeeded by his father and two brothers,Stephen Lekapenos andConstantine Lekapenos, and Constantine VII. In December 944 his brothers overthrew and exiled their father, but they themselves were exiled in January 945 after attempting to oust Constantine VII.
Christopher Lekapenos was the eldest son and the second-oldest child (after his sisterHelena) of the Byzantine generalRomanos Lekapenos and his wifeTheodora. His younger siblings were Agatha, who married Byzantine aristocratRomanos Argyros;Stephen andConstantine (co-emperors from 924 until 945);Theophylact (patriarch of Constantinople in 933–956); and two unnamed younger sisters.[1][2] Christopher marriedSophia [bg], the daughter of Niketas, a wealthySlav patrician from thePeloponnese, before Romanos became co-emperor in 920, but nothing else is known of Christopher's early life. He had a daughter of marriageable age in 927.[3][4]
In spring 919, Romanos—who by this point had assumed control ofBoukoleon Palace inConstantinople by military force—had his daughterHelena Lekapene married to the 13-year-old emperorConstantine VII Porphyrogennetos (who had been sole monarch since 913). Thereafter, he assumed the role of guardian of the Emperor. Christopher succeeded him in his post asmegas hetaireiarches, commander of the palace guard.[5][6] Romanos soon facilitated his owncoronation byPatriarch Nicholas of Constantinople in December 920, and eventually advanced himself before the young Constantine inprecedence. Romanos crowned his wife,Theodora, asaugusta on 6 January 921.[7][8] To further cement his position, and planning to advance his own family over theMacedonian line to which Constantine VII belonged, Romanos crowned Christopher as co-emperor on 20 May 921.[2][3][6][9] When Christopher's mother, Theodora, died on 20 February 922, his wife Sophia was raised to the dignity ofaugusta alongside Helena Lekapene.[2][10][7] Somesolidi (gold coins used in Byzantine currency) dating from Christopher's time as emperor depict both him and Constantine Porphyrogennetos bearded, which thenumismatistPhilip Grierson explains as originating "...presumably from a wish to conciliate the formal precedence of Constantine [Porphyrogennetos] with Christopher's greater age and Romanus' desire to favor his own son."[11] Other coins exclude Constantine altogether, instead showing only Romanos and Christopher; on these issues, Christopher appears beardless and shorter than his father.[12]
In 924, Christopher's younger brothers Stephen and Constantine were crowned as co-emperors.[13][14] The popular historianJohn Julius Norwich comments that the two were immoral and corrupt, and summarises them as "worthless". He states that Christopher, in comparison, "showed some degree of promise and might have proved worthy of his father had he lived to succeed him".[15] On 8 October 927,[2] as part of a peace agreement, Christopher's daughter Maria, renamedIrene (meaning "peace") for the occasion,[13] was married to theBulgarian emperorPeter I (r. 927–969).[16] The marriage of a Byzantine princess to a foreign ruler was highly unusual at the time.[3][6][17] On 10 October, the third day of the feast held inPegae, Christopher was advanced before Constantine Porphyrogennetos. This was done at the insistence of the Bulgarians, and perhaps engineered by Romanos.[2][3][6][17]
In 928, his father-in-law Niketas unsuccessfully tried to incite Christopher to depose his father, but was banished.[2][6][18] The motive behind the attempted coup was perhaps Christopher's poor health, and fears by his wife and her father that, should he die prematurely, they would lose their status.[6][18] In 929, or later, Christopher served as abest man for the wedding of the Bulgarian princeIvan, who had fled from Bulgaria to Constantinople after conspiring to seize the Bulgarian throne.[2][19] Christopher died in August 931; severalanacreontic poems by an anonymous writer were composed sometime between 931 and 944 in mourning of him.[2][20] Christopher was buried Myrelaion, breaking from the longstanding tradition of interring emperors at theChurch of the Holy Apostles. As Romanos' favourite son, he was much mourned by his father, who shed tears "more than the Egyptians" according toTheophanes Continuatus, and thereafter increasingly became devoted to religious pursuits. Soon after Christopher's death, Sophia too retired from the court and entered amonastery, where she died.[21][22] Christopher's death resulted in the weakening of the alliance between the Byzantine and Bulgarian empires. Irene, theEmpress of Bulgaria, ceased making her frequent visits to her homeland in the years following her father's death, and only visited it once.[21]
Christopher's death left his father and his two brothers,Stephen Lekapenos andConstantine Lekapenos; as well as Constantine VII as the remaining co-emperors. In December 944 Stephen and Constantine deposed their father, forcing him to live in a monastery onProte in thePrinces' Islands. However, when they attempted to depose Constantine VII also, the people of Constantinople revolted; after a tenuous triumvirate lasting roughly 40 days, they were themselves exiled in January 945 by order of Constantine VII.[23]
Through his marriage to Sophia, Christopher had three children:[1][21]
Christopher Lekapenos Born:c. 890–895 Died: August 931 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Byzantine emperor 921–931 with Constantine VII (921–931) Romanos I Lekapenos (921–931) Stephen Lekapenos (924–931) Constantine Lekapenos (924–931) | Succeeded by Constantine VII Romanos I Lekapenos Constantine Lekapenos Stephen Lekapenos |