This time on Byzantine Primary Source
Reviews, we’re going to have a look at the second half of the 10th
century; a time of campaigns and conquests, and of great military families
vying for power over the throne.
The
nerd-emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (he devoted his reign to having historical texts compiled; of course he's a nerd, and it's why I love him) died in 959, leaving a relatively
stable and secure empire to his son Romanos II (r.959-963), and while the new
emperor was content to spend his time enjoying himself in the Palace it fell to
a savvy general by the name of Nikephoros Phokas to take the fight to
Byzantium’s enemies and win back important frontier territories. The Phokas
family (not in any way related to the 6th Century emperor Phokas (r.602-610), confusingly) had been ever present characters in Byzantine history for most of the
previous century, Nikephoros’ grandfather having been a powerful general for
Leo VI the Wise and odd sixty years before, and Nikephoros’ uncle having been
narrowly kept off the throne by Romanos I. After conquering Crete, Nikephoros
Phokas received word that his emperor, Romanos II, had just died under
mysterious circumstances – leaving two underage children, Basil and
Constantine, to succeed him. Taking a leaf out of Romanos I’s book, Nikephoros
quickly seized power for himself as the ostensible protector of the young
emperor, and soon mounted the throne himself. The relatively short but eventful
reign of Nikephoros II (r.963-969) was marked by more conquests, as well as
allegations of tyranny, and he was eventually to end up being murdered by his
own nephew and confidant, John Tzimiskes. Unlike most other violent seizures of
power, that of John I Tzimiskes (r.969-976) seemed to go quite well, and having
successfully mounted the throne after assassinating his predecessor John went
on to quite a distinguished career as a military emperor. Following on from
Nikephoros II’s methods of governance, John I waged wars and subjugated the
Bulgarians, all the while keeping the young legitimate emperors, Basil and
Constantine, in the background to maintain the illusion of a dynasty. This
second militaristic usurper avoided being assassinated himself and eventually
succumbed to disease, finally allowing Basil II (r.976-1025) and his brother to
assume their birthright and rule on their own. The emperors covered in this
section are:
Romanos II (959 – 963) – Son of
Constantine VII
Nikephoros II Phokas (963 –
969) – Married the empress Theophano, widow of Romanos
John I Tzimiskes (969 – 976) – Nephew
of Nikephoros
Basil II the ‘Bulgar-Slayer’ (976 – 1025) – Sons of Romanos II
With Constantine VIII
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| Nikephoros II Phokas, in a manuscript |
The main
historical narrative for this period of Byzantine history would be the
excellent History of Leo the Deacon,
a man focussed on telling us clearly and concisely about the reigns of our two
military usurper emperors, Nikephoros II and John I. Though he begins with the
reign of Romanos II, Leo the Deacon sets the sights of his narrative on
Nikephoros Phokas right from the word go, telling the story of his campaign to
recapture Crete, and of Nikephoros’ brother’s defence of the eastern frontiers.
The History is divided into ten short
books, the first few of which are dedicated to Nikephoros Phokas, and the
remaining ones to John Tzimiskes and his reign. There are digressions later on
into the reign of Basil II, but overall this is a story of two generals, not of
the legitimate ‘purple-born’ emperors from the Macedonian dynasty. Though they
are essentially usurpers who intruded onto the throne and deprived Basil and
Constantine of power, Leo the Deacon seems to hold a great amount of respect
for both Nikephoros and John, showing them to be wise and courageous emperors
who, though both having their faults, nevertheless accomplished great things
for the empire. Despite acknowledging criticisms of Nikephoros’ heavy-handed
rule, and despite revealing in gory detail John Tzimiskes’ brutal murder of
Nikephoros, we are left with the impression that these are two of the best
emperors of the past century.
The text
of Leo the Deacon seems easier than other Byzantine historical narratives, told
with a relatively consistent chronological order of events and never digressing
too badly from this main narrative. One feature I found rather delightful is
Leo’s efforts to classicise his text, particularly in regard to the foreign
peoples his heroes make continuous war upon. This is by no means a rare thing
in Byzantine writing, as new ethnicities entering the narrative can be far more
palatable if they are called Huns, but Leo often almost habitually refers to
the other peoples of the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean by confusing
old-world names – Tauroscythians instead of Russians (usually shortened to
Scythians), Mysians instead of Bulgarians, and Carthaginians instead of Fatamid
Arabs or North Africans. As I have just mentioned, Leo is by no means unique
amongst Byzantines in how he harkens back to the ancient world, but it bears
remembering here especially. Overall Leo the Deacon is an important
contemporary history for these sixteen years of Byzantine history, and can’t be
avoided if you wish to see how the empire was dealing with its neighbours
during the later 10th century.
On to a
slightly more interesting historical source for this period. Liudprand of
Cremona, whose Antapodasis we briefly
discussed in a previous review, later left behind a curious account of his
second visit to Constantinople. Liudprand’s Embassy,
written about his diplomatic mission to Constantinople in around 968, tells
of his personal encounter with Nikephoros II Phokas on behalf of Holy Roman
Emperor Otto I. The Cremonese bishop, having already had experience in the
Byzantine court, was sent to Nikephoros in order to gain territorial
concessions from the Byzantine emperor, and potentially a purple-born bride for
a dynastic marriage. Liudprand failed to make any headway with Nikephoros, and
in fact suffered some very poor hospitality at Constantinople during this visit.
The entire text is little more than a diatribe against the eastern empire, its
officials and everything that happened to him during his months as a guest of
the Byzantine court.
Liudprand’s
story is essentially just a blow by blow account of what happened, beginning
with his arrival in Constantinople and then going on to describe every
significant event and meeting with the court he experienced over the course of
his time there. His arguments with the emperor and the courtiers are written
down word for word (if we trust him, of course), with Liudprand’s own
commentary to supplement the speeches, and he complains bitterly at every
opportunity about the conditions and disrespect he had to endure. The house he was given to inhabit was always
at an unpleasant temperature, either too hot or freezing cold, he spent most of
his time there seriously ill (not the best state of mind for a diplomat to be
in), he hated the food, he hated the drink, he hated the entertainment and the
ceremonies, and he felt that he was being treated with nothing but utmost
contempt. It’s almost as though he’s playing up how bad his experience was,
just to make an excuse to his boss as to why he spent four months abroad and
failed to get anything to show for it.
The
Embassy of Liudprand is a delicious
little text, packed with xenophobic vitriol and bitter complaints, and painting
a nasty and unpleasant little picture of Nikephoros Phokas and his government.
It presents such a stark contrast to his earlier visit to Constantinople, in
which he apparently had an incredibly good time at the feasts of Constantine
VII. There was little indication of Liudprand’s disdain for Byzantine imperial
pretensions or court ritual, and on the whole he seemed genuinely impressed by
the whole spectacle. A decade later he complains endlessly about the food,
presents the emperor a vicious little toe-rag, and calls the very basis of
Byzantine ideology into question.
One
final source we shall briefly look at here will round off our treatment of the
10th century. The Patria
of Constantinople is a curious little piece, a collection of texts about the
buildings, statues and history of Constantinople as it stood in the late 10th
century, assembled out of different pieces of writing composed at different
times. The first of the four books of the Patria
is a short text that tells the story of the city’s foundation, half legend
half fact, first as the city of Byzantium and then its later re-founding by Constantine the Great as his new imperial
capital. Book 2 is much longer, and lists and describes the many statues which
could be found in the city, many of which are pagan, whilst Book 3 describes
the many important and impressive buildings found throughout the city,
predominantly churches. Finally, Book 4 is a largely legendary account of the
building of the great church of Hagia Sophia, the current structure of which
was commissioned by Justinian I the Great. This last text is rather amusing,
for Justinian’s portrayal in this text which was composed long after that
emperor’s death has a different tone to the Justinian presented by Procopius
and his successors. The intrusion of angels into the narrative, disguised as
eunuchs, and Justinian’s interaction with them make this feel a bit more like a
fairy story about some legendary king than the vindictive, calculating and
power-hungry emperor Justinian portrayed by the histories of earlier writers.
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| Hagia Sophia, still standing in Istanbul today. Justinian would be proud |
The
three sources discussed here are all thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile to
those of us interested in late 10th century Byzantium. From the
historical narrative of Leo the Deacon which shows us the campaigns of two
powerful usurper-emperors, to the Patria which
gives us a nice little window onto the history and architecture of the capital,
and Liudprand’s Embassy which shows
us a gorgeous and hateful snapshot of the imperial court and foreign policy
under Nikephoros II Phokas, these three sources are well worth having a look at,
by anybody.
Bibliozantium 12
Leo
Diaconus et al. C.B. Hase (ed). Bonn. [Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae], 30,
(1828)
Leo the Deacon. The History of Leo the Deacon – Byzantine Military Expansion in the
Tenth Century. Translated by A.M. Talbot and D.F. Sullivan. Washington D.C:
Harvard University Press. [Dumbarton Oaks Studies], 41, (2005)
Liudprand of Cremona. The Complete Works of Liudprand of Cremona.
Translated by. P. Squatriti [Medieval Texts in Translation], Washington D.C:
The Catholic University of America Press. (2007)
Accounts of Medieval Constantinople – The Patria. Translated by
Albrecht Berger. Washington D.C: Harvard University Press. [Dumbarton Oaks
Medieval Library], 24, (2013)
