Constantine VI (Byzantium)

Irene and Constantine VI.

Constantine VI ( Κωνσταντῖνος ΣΤ ′ , * around 771 ; † 797 in Byzantium ) followed his father Leo IV as Emperor of Byzantium in 780 and ruled until 797. He was the last male emperor of the Syrian dynasty . Since he became emperor at a very young age (about 9 years), his iconic mother Irene acted as regent .

In 787 Irene entered into an alliance with Charlemagne , plans were forged to marry his daughter Rotrud with Constantine, but they were not pursued. In 788 Constantine married Maria, a granddaughter of the later canonized Philaretus , an impoverished landowner from Amnia in Paphlagonia .

Constantine was now 16 years old and thus, according to the prevailing opinion, old enough to take over the government from his mother. However, he still had to wait until an uprising by Armenian soldiers in the Byzantine army in 790, which was directed against Irene and her court chief Staurakios , before he actually came to power. Irene retained the title of Empress, and Constantine had to defeat the insurgent soldiers before they accepted this arrangement.

He also had to suppress an uprising by his uncle Nikephorus who had been put in a monastery to prevent him from learning the trade of government. He divorced and remarried, an unpopular and perhaps illegal act, which the patriarch ignored.

In 797, another rebellion broke out, this time instigated and with their consent by Irene's allies. Constantine was imprisoned and blinded and later died of the wounds inflicted on him. He left Irene sole power over the empire.

In the reign of Michael II (820-829) pretenders appeared who pretended that Constantine VI. to be, including Thomas the Slav .

literature

• Leslie Brubaker, John F. Haldon: Byzantium in the Iconoclast era. c. 680-850. A history. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2011, ISBN 978-0-521-43093-7 .
• Ralph-Johannes Lilie , Claudia Ludwig, Thomas Pratsch, Ilse Rochow, Beate Zielke: Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period . 1st department: (641−867). Volume 2: Georgios (# 2183) - Leon (# 4270). Created after preliminary work by F. Winkelmann . Published by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. De Gruyter, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-11-016672-0 , pp. 497-500 No. 3704.
• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 2: Baanes-Eznik of Kolb . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2008, ISBN 978-2-503-52377-4 , pp. 246-249.

Web links

• Literature by and about Constantine VI. in the catalog of the German National Library
• Lynda Garland: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).

predecessor	Office	Successor
Leo IV	Emperor of Byzantium 780–797	Irene