Constantine VIII

Constantine VIII
Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans
15th-century portrait of Constantine VIII (from a 15th-century codex containing a copy of the Extracts of History by Joannes Zonaras)
Byzantine emperor
Reign	15 December 1025 – 11 November 1028
Coronation	30 March 962
Predecessor	Basil II
Successor	Romanos III
Born	960
Died	11/12 November 1028 (aged 67–68)
Spouse	Helena
Issue	Eudokia Zoë Theodora
Dynasty	Macedonian dynasty
Father	Romanos II
Mother	Theophano

Constantine VIII Porphyrogenitus (Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος Η΄ Πορφυρογέννητος, Kōnstantinos VIII Porphyrogénnetos; 960 – 11/12 November 1028) was de jure Byzantine Emperor from 962 until his death. He was the younger son of Emperor Romanos II and Empress Theophano. He was nominal co-emperor for 63 years (longer than any other), successively with his father; stepfather, Nikephoros II Phokas; uncle, John I Tzimiskes; and brother, Basil II. Basil’s death on 15 December 1025 left Constantine as sole emperor.

Constantine displayed a lifelong lack of interest in politics, statecraft and the military, and during his brief sole reign the government of the Byzantine Empire suffered from mismanagement and neglect. He had no sons and was instead succeeded by Romanos Argyros, husband of Constantine’s daughter Zoë.

Family

Gold histamenon of Constantine's daughters Zoë and Theodora

Constantine's father, Romanos II, was the sixth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty. After the death of his first wife, Bertha (who took the name Eudocia), daughter of Hugh of Arles, he fell in love with and married an innkeeper's daughter from the Peloponnese, Theophano. Contemporaries called Theophano the most beautiful woman in Christendom as well as ambitious, an inveterate schemer and utterly amoral. She bore Romanos four children, including Constantine, born in 960, and his elder brother Basil, born in 958. His sister Anna's hand was considered such a prize that Vladimir I of Kiev converted to Christianity in order to marry her. Aged eight, Constantine was engaged to a daughter of Emperor Boris II of Bulgaria but in the end he married a Byzantine aristocrat, Helena, daughter of Alypius. By Helena he had three daughters: Eudokia, who became a nun; Zoë, who was empress for 22 years; and Theodora, who reigned for 18 months and was the last of the Macedonian line.

Life

Gold solidus of Romanos II's father Constantine VII (left) and Romanos II (right)

Histamenon of Nikephoros II (left) and Basil II (right)

Histamenon of John Tzimiskes crowned by the Virgin Mary

Histamenon of Basil II (left) and Constantine VIII (right)

All coins show a haloed Christ on obverse.

Childhood

Romanos died suddenly in 963. Although Constantine was only three years old, he had already been crowned co-emperor in the preceding year, probably on 30 March. The widowed Theophano installed herself as regent for her sons and stocked the imperial government with supporters, but she faced competition for power with Joseph Bringas, a former advisor of Romanos. Theophano made an alliance with Nikephoros Phokas, a celebrated general and opponent of Bringas. In return for her hand, the childless Nikephoros gave his sacred pledge to protect her children and their interests. Three months after Romanos' death, supporters of Nikephoros ousted Bringas from power. Nikephoros was crowned emperor in the presence of his nominal co-emperors, Constantine and Basil. A month later he married their mother.

Six years later, Nikephoros was murdered at Theophano's instigation and her lover and co-conspirator John Tzimiskes was acclaimed emperor. Fearing that the Empress’ many enemies would damage his own political prospects, Tzimiskes turned against Theophano and sent her into exile. Constantine and Basil stayed in the capital and retained their status as co-emperors.

Adulthood

Following the death of Tzimiskes in January 976, Basil and Constantine took power. Although the sixteen year old Constantine was nominally co-emperor it was clear that Basil was the senior Basileus. Constantine as a young man was tall and graceful, he was a superb horseman and trained his own horses. He competed in athletic and wrestling competitions, which he brought back into fashion. He had an excellent speaking voice and a good grasp of rhetoric. He was a gourmet and a gourmand. He had no interest in politics, statecraft or the military and never developed any. Constantine led troops alongside his brother in 989; the campaign ended without any combat and Constantine was not appointed to military command again.

Emperor

Histamenon of Constantine VIII. On the reverse is an image of Christ.

Basil II had an illustrious reign, earning the sobriquet "Bulgar-slayer" (Bulgaroktonus). He died childless on 15 December 1025 and Constantine, a sixty-five-year-old widower, became sole emperor as Constantine VIII. He had been a co-emperor for sixty-three years but had always been content to enjoy the privileges of imperial status, without concerning himself with state affairs. He spent his life in the search of pleasure and entertainment, or amusing himself with riding and hunting. He was "of frivolous disposition, he desired nothing more than to pass his life wallowing in extravagant pleasures." Constantine as emperor carried on as he always had – hunting, feasting, and enjoying life – and avoided state business as much as possible.

By the time he became emperor he had chronic gout and could hardly walk. He met challenges with impulsive cruelty, persecuting the nobility and ordering an orgy of torture; blinding was a favoured punishment for crimes real or imagined. He filled the senior court and state positions with nonentities. Within months the land laws of Basil II were dropped, under pressure from the Anatolian aristocracy. "Devoid of any semblance of moral fibre" he would grant any concession. Favouritism failed to win him friends and he persecuted the nobility when he felt threatened by conspiracy. The start of the decline of the Byzantine Empire has been linked to Constantine's accession to the throne. His reign has been described as "an unmitigated disaster", "a break up of the system" and causing "a collapse of the military power of the Empire".

Miliaresion of Romanos III. On the reverse is the Virgin Mary holding the infant Christ.

He ruled for less than three years before his death on 11/12 November 1028. On his deathbed, and without a male heir, Constantine recalled the senior aristocrat Constantine Dalessenos, Duke of Antioch, to the capital in order to marry his daughter Zoë. The Dalassenus were one of the few powerful patrician families who had been unswervingly loyal to the Macedonian dynasty. Constantine Dalassenos set out from his estates in the Armeniac Theme, but before reaching Constantinople the situation changed: the emperor's advisors preferred a weak ruler whom they could control, and, typically, Constantine was persuaded. He choose Romanos Argyros instead, forcing him to divorce his wife and marry Zoë. The wedding took place on 12 November and Romanos was crowned four days later.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Constantine VIII
16. Basil I or possibly Michael III 8. Leo VI the Wise 17. Eudokia Ingerina 4. Constantine VII 9. Zoe Carbonopsina 2. Romanos II 20. Theophylact Abaktistos or Abastaktos 10. Romanos I Lekapenos 5. Helena Lekapene 11. Theodora 1. Constantine VIII 6. Krateros (a tavern keeper) 3. Theophano

See also

• List of Byzantine emperors

References

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Psellus, Michael (1979). Chronographia. Penguin classics (E.R.A. Sewter ed.). London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-044169-7.
• Skylitzes, John (1973) [1060]. Synopsis historiarum. Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae V (Hans Thurn ed.). Berlin-New York: De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-002285-8.
  • Skylitzes, John (2010) [1060]. A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811–1057. Translated by John Wortley. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-76705-7.

Secondary sources

• Ash, John (1995). A Byzantine Journey. London: I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-86064-015-5.
• Brand, C. M.; Cutler, A. (1991). "Constantine VIII". In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
• Charanis, Peter (1963). The Armenians in the Byzantine Empire. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. OCLC 17186882.
• Garland, Lynda (1999). Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium, AD 527–1204. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-14688-3.
• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
• Norwich, John Julius (1991). Byzantium: the Apogee. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-670-80252-4.
• Ostrogorsky, George (1957). History of The Byzantine State. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. OCLC 422217218.
• Patlagean, Évelyne (2007). Un Moyen Âge Grec: Byzance, IXe–XVe siècle (in French). Paris, France: Albin Michel. ISBN 978-2-226-17110-8.
• Treadgold, Warren (1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-2630-6.

External links

• Constantine VIII coinage
• Constantine VIII profile in the Prosopography of the Byzantine World.