Romanos II

Romanos II and Bertha-Eudokia on the Paris Diptych (identification uncertain)

Romanos II ( Middle Greek Ρωμανὸς Βʹ , * 938 ; † March 15, 963 ) was the Byzantine emperor and son of Emperor Constantine VII and his wife Helene Lakapene .

Life

Romanos later succeeded his father Constantine VII as Byzantine emperor in 959 at the age of 21. He was married to Bertha as early as 944, the illegitimate daughter of the King of Italy Hugo von Arles and a concubine, and since 945 co-emperor. After the death of Bertha (who took the name Eudokia), Romanos married Anastaso in 956, who allegedly came from a very humble background and was named Theophanu as empress .

The previous thesis that the Byzantine princess Theophanu , who married Otto II , was the daughter of Romanos is no longer considered tenable today.

Romanos is said to have been a pleasure-loving ruler who hardly bothered about the government, but was right in choosing his advisors (above all Joseph Bringas , who in fact took over the management of state affairs). The most important event of his reign was the reconquest of Crete in 960/61 by the successful general Nikephoros Phokas , the successor of Romanos as emperor. In addition, Nikephoros also successfully carried out campaigns in Syria. In 961, Basil Peteinus failed with an attempt at usurpation .

Depiction of Romanos II on his death bed

Romanos died in 963, although the circumstances of his death - through poisoning or excessive indulgence - remain unclear. The most important narrative source for his reign are the histories of Leon Diakonos . In addition, the imperial history of Johannes Skylitzes is of importance.

literature

• Ralph-Johannes Lilie : Byzantium - The second Rome . Siedler, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-88680-693-6 .
• 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 5: Niketas (# 25702) - Sinapes (# 27088). Created after preliminary work by F. Winkelmann . Published by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. De Gruyter, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-016670-5 , pp. 594–602 No. 26834. ( online at De Gruyter )
• Mark Whittow: The Making of Byzantium, 600-1025 . University of California Press, Berkeley CA 1996, ISBN 0-520-20496-4 .

Web links

Commons : Romanos II.  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Romanos II in the Prosopography of the Byzantine World

predecessor	Office	successor
Constantine VII	Emperor of Byzantium 959–963	Nikephorus II.