John Orphanotrophos
Johannes Orphanotrophos was a eunuch in the Byzantine Empire , who under the emperors Constantine VIII (ruled 1025-1028) and Romanos III. (ruled 1028-1034) had risen to Minister and Parakoimomenos .
Life
Johannes introduced his brother Michael (called the Paphlagonian ) as head of the state orphanage and chamberlain to the Empress Zoe , the daughter of Constantine and wife of Romanos, probably to secure his power. Zoe fell in love with Michael, murdered her husband, married her lover and put him on the throne as Michael IV (ruled 1034-1041).
Michael was of a weak character, suffered from epilepsy and left the government to his brother. John's army and financial reform restored the empire's strength for a while. On the eastern border, the important city of Edessa was conquered after a long siege. In the west, the Saracens were expelled from Sicily by Georg Maniakes (1038-1040), various ventures against the southern Italian Normans , however, resulted in losses, and the island itself was soon lost again after Maniakes' recall (1041).
In the north, the Serbs dared a successful uprising in 1040. Far more dangerous revolts by the Bulgarians and other Slavs , who threatened the cities of Thrace and Macedonia , were suppressed with a triumphant campaign that the emperor himself undertook shortly before his death.
Johannes succeeded in getting his and the emperor's nephew, who was also called Michael and Kalaphates , the poet , named after an earlier occupation of his father, to be adopted by Zoe. He succeeded his deceased uncle on December 10, 1041 as Michael V on the throne.
One of the first official acts of the new emperor was to send Johannes Orphanotrophos to a monastery .
literature
- Jean-Claude Cheynet: Pouvoir et contestations à Byzance (963-1210) (= Publications de la Sorbonne. Series Byzantina Sorbonensia. Vol. 9). Reimpression. Publications de la Sorbonne Center de Recherches d'Histoire et de Civilization Byzantines, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-85944-168-5 , p. 54, No. 55.
- Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , p. 1070.
- Ralph-Johannes Lilie , Claudia Ludwig, Thomas Pratsch, Beate Zielke, Harald Bichlmeier, Bettina Krönung, Daniel Föller, Alexander Beihammer , Günter Prinzing : Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period . 2nd department: (867-1025). Volume 3: Ignatios (# 22713) - Lampudios (# 24268). Created after preliminary work by F. Winkelmann . Published by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. De Gruyter, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-016668-2 , pp. 337–338 No. 23371.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Liturgies of Power. What was Byzantium? The proud Christian empire, one of the most stable in European history, was considered an empire of superlatives. DER SPIEGEL January 28, 2014
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | John Orphanotrophos |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Eunuch in the Byzantine Empire |
| DATE OF BIRTH | before 1028 |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 1041 |