Leon Scleros

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Leon Sclerosis ( medium Greek Λέον Σκλήρος ; * to 775; † 811/24) was a Byzantine general and 811 Strategos the thread Peloponnese. He is the oldest known representative of the family of the Skleroi , who were among the most powerful families of the Byzantine Empire in the 9th and 10th centuries. He himself contributed significantly to the rise of his family through his marriage to Eirene Mamikonian .

origin

There is no precise information about the origin of the family of the Skleroi (Greek Σκληροί ) in the contemporary sources. It is generally believed, however, that the family Armenian origin, as the lands of the oldest known family members in northeast Asia Minor , either in Armenia Minor or topic Sivas were and as the name of the family members were often Armenian origin. What is certain is that they were among the oldest and richest Byzantine noble families. That Leon Skleros came from a very respected family can be concluded from the fact that he was accepted as a son-in-law into one of the most powerful families in the empire - the Mamikonian family .

Life

Acrocorinth in the background behind the Temple of Apollo
The first gate of Acrocorinth

Not very much is known about the life of Leon Scleros. His name appears for the first time in the " Chronicle of Monemvasia ", in which events from the end of Justinian's reign to the reign of Nikephorus I (802-811) are recorded. Accordingly, he was military governor (strategos) of the subject (province) of Peloponnese in 805 and was commissioned to subdue the rebellious Slavs in the Peloponnese. There he is referred to as "Scleros from Lesser Armenia", which indicates his family origins. He is the first known strategos of the Peloponnese theme, which only emerged around the year 800 through the division of the Hellas theme , which previously comprised the entirety of the parts of the Peloponnese ruled by Byzantium. The capital - and thus the residence of Leon Scleros - was Corinth and there the fortress Akrocorinth on Table Mountain near the city of Corinth, which had served as an acropolis since ancient times and was expanded and re-fortified by the Byzantine governors. His life was largely shaped by his marriage to Eirene Mamikonian. Eirene came from the Armenian dynasty of the same name, which had held the function of Sparapet , i.e. the commander-in-chief of the Armenian armed forces, as an inheritance since the 4th century and was the most powerful dynasty in Armenia from the 4th century until it was in the 8th century ousted by the Bagratid dynasty .

Obverse and reverse of a gold coin, showing the bust of a crowned bearded man, holding a large cross and an akakia, and a crowned beardless youth, holding a globus cruciger and an akakia
Gold solidus of Nikephorus I and his son and co-regent Staurakios .

The father of Eirene, the General Bardanes "Tourkos" (the Turk) Mamikonian (* 755/60, † after 803), who was not only Domestikos ton scholon (commander in chief of the imperial troops), senator etc., was also important Reich policy intervened. He was a supporter of the Empress Irene (797-802), who was temporarily intended as a wife by Emperor Charlemagne (800-814) in order to connect the western with the eastern Roman Empire to form a universal empire. Empress Irene, who had not hesitated, in 797 her own son, the child emperor Constantine VI. to let blind to take over the rule, however, was overthrown in 802 by their finance minister, who took over rule as Nikephoros I (802-811). Although Bardanes Tourkos - the father-in-law of Leon Scleros - had supported the Empress Irene, he was appointed as a capable general by Emperor Nikephorus I as commander-in-chief of the Anatolian armies. A year later, however, he rebelled against the emperor and set out with his troops in July 803 for Constantinople to take over power himself. However, the attempt remained, as important commanders left him and he therefore had to give up the march on the capital as hopeless. He therefore submitted to Nikephorus I and retired as a monk in a monastery.

There is no written evidence that Leon Skleros took part in this action, but it seems highly unlikely that, as a young general and son-in-law, he would have stayed away from an uprising that made his father-in-law Emperor of the Byzantine Empire and Leon a brilliant one Opened the future. With the involuntary resignation of his father-in-law, any lofty plans of Leon Scleros were also shattered. Despite this setback, Leon Skleros' relationship with his wife's family remained important. Through his sister he was an uncle of Leo V (813-820) and through his daughter Thekla he was the father-in-law of Michael II (820-829) from the Amoric dynasty and grandfather of Theophilos (829-842). Leon Skleros was denied his great career by the departure of his father-in-law, who had been blinded in the monastery "to be on the safe side" - presumably on the orders of Nikephoros I - but he was given an important role in 811 - as a strategos of the Peloponnese called. He was fortunate to manage this command, as Nikephorus I suffered a devastating defeat in the same year against the Bulgarenkhan Krum , who ruled from 803 to 814, on July 24, 811 in the battle of the Warbiza Pass , in which his army was destroyed and he himself found death. Leon Skleros is later no longer mentioned in the sources, so that his exact date of death is not certain, he probably died between 811 and 824.

Marriage and offspring

Leon Skleros was married to Eirene (* around 780, + 824) from the old Armenian princely house of the Mamikonian, who was a daughter of Bardanes Tourkos Mamikonian (* 755/60, + after 813), Domestikos ton Scholon, 803 rebel and counter-emperor , and who was Dominika, who according to Christian Settipani was a distant relative of Maurikios (582–602).

The number of his children is not known. However, he must have had at least one son and one daughter.

  • N Scleros (* around 800, + after 838): He appears in 838 as a Byzantine general, but fell out with Emperor Theophilos (829-843), with whom he was related by marriage, and entered the service of the Arabs out of anger , fought their side against Byzantium, but later came into conflict with Umar al-Aqta, the Emir of Malatya . He was thus a kind of counterpart to the Kurd Nasr, a member of the Persian politico-religious sect of the Churramites , who, persecuted by the Abbasid caliphate, after a defeat in 834 with 14,000 fellow believers from western Iran to the protection of Armenia Fled the Byzantine Empire, converted to Christianity there and became one of the leading generals of the emperor Theophilos under the name Theophobos .
  • Euphrosine Skleraina, (* c. 805, + n. 842), becomes 823 nun

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Ostrogorsky: Byzantine History 324–1453. 2nd Edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-39759-X , p. 251.
  2. ^ Christian Settipani : Continuité des élites à Byzance durant les siècles obscurs; Les princes Caucasiens et l´empire du VIe au IXe siècle. De Boccard, Paris 2006, ISBN 2-7018-0226-1 , p. 245.
  3. ^ A b c Christian Settipani: Continuité des élites à Byzance. 2006, p. 236.
  4. ↑ Alexander Kazhdan (Ed.): Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , p. 1911.
  5. ^ Warren Treadgold: A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8047-2630-2 , p. 447.
  6. ^ Joan Mervyn Hussey: The Cambridge Medieval History. Volume 4, Part 1: Byzantium and its Neighbors. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1966. (online)

literature

personal data
SURNAME Leon Scleros
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Λέον Σκλήρος (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine general
DATE OF BIRTH at 775
DATE OF DEATH between 811 and 824