ByzReview: Michaels Psellos and Attaleiates

It appears that in this review we shall have to come face-to-face with one of Byzantium’s most notorious historians – the 11^th Century philosopher and courtier, Constantine (Michael) Psellos. Psellos was in a unique position to tell the history of the empire during this most turbulent time, having served nearly a dozen separate rulers during his long and messy career in the palace. Psellos’ Chronographia, just one of many pieces of writing of his we still have available to us today, is a long history of the emperors of this century told reign by reign, and as Psellos himself apparently knew and advised many of these Byzantine rulers, he goes into excruciating detail on their general character and vices. As an authority on the 11^th century court and history Psellos is often one of the first considered, though he is by no means the only. 

The Byzantine Empire in one of its most popular shapes

                With the death of the childless Basil II in 1025, the imperial throne was to see a particularly high turnover of emperors during the subsequent decades, including Basil’s brother Constantine VIII, who ruled for a further three years, before it passed into the hands of Constantine’s daughters. The empress Zoe, one of the last descendents of the Macedonian dynasty, brought four separate emperors to power during the first half of the 11^th Century, and after the death of her sister in 1056 the throne was once again up for grabs. The short-lived Michael VI Bringas (r.1056-1057) was overthrown by the military aristocrat Isaac I Komnenos (r.1057-1059), who later fell ill and was persuaded to pass power over to the influential courtier Constantine Doukas and his family. Amidst all these struggles for power, the imperial finances were failing and a number of invasions took place as frontier-security was eroded. In particular the arrival of the Seljuk Turks on the eastern fringes of the empire was to have lasting consequences for Roman and world history.

                Things were to go from bad to worse when Constantine X Doukas (r.1059-1067) died, leaving an underage son as emperor – always a risky thing to do. At first his widow, Eudokia, ruled as regent for the young emperor Michael, but it wasn’t long before another military aristocrat was to lay his hands on the shiny red boots of imperial power. The short but momentous reign of Romanos IV Diogenes (r.1068-1071) was dominated by attempts to check the borders of the empire against foreign invasions, which eventually culminated in the Battle of Manzikert against the Seljuk Turkish invaders in 1071. Hailed as a disastrous defeat for Byzantium, the confrontation at Manzikert resulted in Romanos IV being captured, and a short while later a palace coup back in Constantinople brought Michael VII Doukas (r. 1071-1078), the son of the late Constantine X, back into to nominal power. The young emperor and his government were incapable of holding back the Turkish advance, and before long most of Anatolia had fallen into enemy hands. After years of misrule by Michael VII and

The empire a few years after the Battle of Manzikert.

his ministers, several rebellions broke out against his incapable rule, one in the west led by a certain Nikephoros Bryennios, and one in the east led by one Nikephoros Botaneiates. The next emperor, then, looked likely to be a Nikephoros, and sure enough it was the eastern rebellion led by Botaneiates which succeeded in deposing Michael VII first. 

                As I tend to do in these reviews of Byzantine historical narratives, I’ll include here a short roundup of the emperors covered by these histories especially, though the accounts mentioned here do begin with earlier emperors: 

Constantine IX Monomachos   (1042 – 1055) – Last husband of the empress Zoe

Theodora                                 (1055 – 1056) – The empress Zoe’s sister. Last ruler of Macedonian blood

Michael VI Bringas, ‘the Aged’ (1056 – 1057) – Theodora’s appointed successor

Isaac I Komnenos                   (1057 – 1059) – Overthrew Michael VI in a military rebellion

Constantine X Doukas              (1059 – 1067) – Appointed successor by Isaac I

Romanos IV Diogenes             (1068 – 1071) – Married the empress Eudokia, widow of Constantine X

Michael VII Doukas                  (1071 – 1078) – Son of Constantine X, overthrew Romanos IV

           

Nikephoros III Botaneiates     (1078 – 1081) – Overthrew Michael VII in a military rebellion

The long and exciting Chronograhia of Michael Psellos begins with a short account of the reign of Basil II, juxtaposing him with the subsequent and less glorious reign of his brother Constantine VIII (r.1025-1028). Basil is generally shown to be a great and firm ruler, putting down rebellions and leaving the treasury full of money, which his successors foolishly squander. The biographical portraits drawn by Psellos are often rather complex, showing us a side to these emperors which other histories tend to not. The empress Zoe’s lusty attachment to Michael IV the Paphlagonian, whom she marries and grants the imperial position, Michael V’s foolishness in trying to oust Zoe from power , the many quirks and vices of Constantine IX Monomachos – the emperor to whom our writer devotes the most space and perhaps most nuanced story – all are treated with a peculiarly Psellosian flavour.

Psellos, with Michael VII

The aspect of Psellos’ work which makes it especially intriguing to both the historian and the general reader is the extent to which our dear friend Psellos inserts himself into his own narrative. How often does Psellos appear as an active protagonist within this history, telling us of his life story, of his immense intelligence and rhetorical abilities, or trying to cover his own arse by explaining himself and his circumstances? Quite a lot, let me tell you. If one is to believe his words, then Psellos was not only a chief advisor and close friend to Constantine IX, but was also present at the blinding of Michael V beforehand, was one of the chief negotiators for Michael VI to the rebel Isaac Komnenos, subsequently getting in as a senior member of Isaac’s court, was present at the exact moment that Romanos IV Diogenes became emperor, and then became a principal advisor to Michael VII Doukas. Wow. This man was there at all the big moments of the middle 11^th century. If he really was everywhere he tells us, I wonder how much he’s not telling us. Perhaps that he was involved in the coup against Romanos IV Diogenes, for example, and that it was necessary for him to prop up useless, foolish and incapable emperors such as Michael VII. 

So, after years of moving his way through the corridors of power, briefly winding up in a monastery only once (and voluntarily at that), Michael Psellos’ narrative finally judders to a halt. Psellos’ account is left without a definite finish, and comes to an end precisely when a certain Nikephoros Botaneiates was leading a rebellion against Michael VII. The last pages consist of an oration or letter from the emperor Michael, imploring Botaneiates to cease his insurrection – an ominous end to the text, considering we know exactly what happened thereafter. Psellos’ ultimate fate is unknown, while Michael VII was to end up consigned to a monastery after Nikephoros Botaneiates took the throne. What happened to our beloved narrator we don’t really know. Was he killed during Botaneiates’ uprising? Perhaps he was blinded, suffering the same grisly fate as Romanos IV or else being consigned to a monastery. Maybe he ingratiated himself to the new emperor, or was sidelined in government only to die sometime later. Or maybe he quit politics once again, and headed back to monastic seclusion for the last years of his life. Nobody knows, sadly. All we know is that he left behind a substantial body of literature, not just his Chronographia but also letters, orations, scientific and theological texts. He was a true polymath, and he himself knew it. 

I shall now discuss, for the remainder of this review, yet another historian of the 11^th century – and another one who goes by the name of Michael. The History of Michael Attaleiates is rather different to what has come before, both Psellos’ work and other previous historians. Attaleiates himself was a wealthy judge of aristocratic origin, active in the later years of the 11^th century who went on to write a history for the reign of Nikephoros III Botaneiates. Beginning in the reign of Michael IV the Paphlagonian – an arbitrarily chosen emperor, from what I can tell – Attaleiates examines the reign of each subsequent emperor mostly through the eyes of military events. We get less of Psellos’ in-depth character assessments of the 11^th century emperors, with condemnations and praisings, and instead get more of a focus on what happened in terms of world events, border conflicts and internal rebellions, being brief and lacking in detail. At least, that’s how it starts. After the reign of Constantine IX, Attaleiates begins to spend more time and more care discussing the events of history, which makes a certain amount of sense – after all, he would have a more intimate knowledge and more reason to talk about more recent history, and as his intended audience is none other than his new imperial patron it would make sense. The lions’ share of the book is dedicated to the events surrounding the reign of Romanos IV Diogenes and the decade after, and two thirds into the narrative we finally see the main impetus for Attaleiates’ work – to be a shameless panegyric.

Nikephoros III with his wife, Maria of Alania

This particular emperor, Nikephoros Botaneiates, was a relatively minor and unimportant ruler in the grand scheme of the 11^th century. An aristocratic usurper who deposed the useless emperor Michael VII Doukas in 1078, Botaneiates was only to rule for about three years before he likewise fell prey to another aristocratic usurper, Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081 – 1118). The interesting thing is that Alexios was to prove significantly more pivotal in the grand scheme of history than his immediate predecessor, ruling for nearly four decades, establishing his family as the unassailable ruling dynasty of Byzantium, and seemingly pushing back the tide of enemies which was engulfing the empire. It is therefore little wonder that this emperor, and not Nikephoros III, who was to become the greater and more famous to posterity. Botaneiates really accomplished nothing during his reign, and is perhaps one of the most forgettable of all the emperors to rule during the troubled 11^th century – yet he appeared at one of the most interesting moments in this entire historiographical schema.

With the accession of Botaneiates, Michael Attaleiates chose this exact moment to write his own history of Byzantium in the 11^th century, and just as Psellos shamelessly praised the emperor he was serving at the time of writing, so Attaleiates did likewise – but more so. The entire last third of Attaleiates’ work is dedicated to describing the life, family, ancestry and reign of Nikephoros Botaneiates, showing this one emperor in particular to be a shining example of a magnificent, heroic, just and generous ruler. It is sycophantic to say the least, and a little bit cringe-worthy to read – but worse than that, it feels even a little bit passionless as far as panegyrics go. He hits every note he needs to, as though he’s following a textbook on how to write sickening love letters to your all-powerful  autocrat with whom you want to ingratiate yourself, from the claiming that he’s descended from an illustrious ancient Roman family and that his father and grandfather were mighty and wise heroes who helped previous emperors to greatness, to saying that every act and policy he carries out is wonderful and perfect and will help everyone, to basically stating that he has never done anything wrong and can never do anything wrong. It’s all the more sobering when one remembers that this man had only ruled for two years, and was to be deposed less than a year later having achieved nothing of any lasting consequence. It’s sad, but this is the way history goes.

Besides praising Nikephoros III, the History of Attaleiates is interesting in other regards. As a detailed narrative of the events from the death of Constantine X to the accession of Nikephoros III this work holds a certain usefulness, considering that this period deals with the all-important Battle of Manzikert – an event which Psellos essentially decides to hurry over, for dubious reasons. We gain a little peak at the mechanics of government at the time which could result in power changing hands violently like this, and as a stage-setter for Alexios I Komenos’ assumption of the throne. Aside from this, Attaleiates is a relatively interesting read which doesn’t get bogged down in the author’s own desire to explain himself, as Psellos does. All in all, it’s a relatively good historical narrative which offers a fascinating glimpse into one specific moment in Byzantine history, sandwiched inside a passionless note-perfect panegyric.

So this then is a series of histories of the 11^th century, an era which saw the need for several different historical accounts. The end of the Macedonian epoch, the Seljuk invasion, the Doukas emperors, the brief rule of Nikephoros III Botaneiates, and the eventual accession of Alexios I Komnenos all served to alter the Byzantine-Roman empire from what it had once been. It is fortunate that we have such interesting and varied historical sources available to us for this most important moment in world history. Next time, we shall delve into the work of Nikephoros Bryennios and, more importantly, that of his wife – the famous Byzantine authoress Anna Komnene.

Bibliozantium 14

Psellos, Michael. Chronographie ou Histoire d'un siècle de Byzance (976–1077). Emile Renauld (ed). In two volumes. (Paris, 1926/1928).

Imperatori di Bisanzio (Cronografia). Salvatore Impellizzeri (ed). In two volumes. (Vicenza, 1984).

Michael Psellus. Fourteen Byzantine Rulers – The Chronographia of Michael Psellus. Translated by E.R.A. Sewter.  [Penguin], (St. Ives, 1966).

Michaelis Pselli Historia Syntomos. W.J. Aerts (ed). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. [Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae], 30, (1990).

Michaelis Attaliotae Historia. I. Bekker (ed). Bonn. [Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae], 4, (1853).

Michaelis Attaliatae Historia. Eudoxos Th. Tsolakis (ed). Athens: Academia Atheniensis. [Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae], 50, (2011).

Michael Attaleiates. The History. Translated by Anthony Kaldellis and Dimitris Krallis. Washington D.C: Harvard University Press. [Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library], 16, (2012).

[A Brief Explanation: The number of different editions and translations of Psellos various works is probably too great to attempt an exhaustive collection here, in this humble bibliography. Every edition of everything written by Psellos is far too much. I’ve just included a couple of editions of his Chronographia here. The first one is one of the earliest useable editions of the text, with French. The second entry is an updated edition, complete with Italian translation. The third is the standard English translation by E.R.A Sewter, which can be easily and cheaply acquired as a Penguin edition – or instantly and for free, as the entire translation can be found online. The last three entries are for Michael Attaleiates – the first being the old Bonn text, the second being a modern CFHB edition, the third being a modern English translation with facing text, which is probably the best one to dig up if you’re interested.

                Also included in the list is a certain Historia Syntomos, another text attributed to Michael Psellos. Though not of especial relevance in this review, I did want to write a brief word on this last text and include it in this bibliography for no other reason than that I quite like it as a source and a text. As it was too weighty to include in the main body of this review, I have added it down below in case anyone has the slightest interest in this curious little text].

The Historia Syntomos attributed to Michael Psellos could be described as a brief chronicle of the Roman state from its foundation in ancient times up until the reign of Basil II. As with Psellos’ more famous work, the Chronographia, the Historia Syntomos concerns itself almost exclusively with biographical snippets of all the emperors from the earliest days of Rome down to the beginning of the 11^th century. It is arranged in a strictly chronological order, though this shorter work which deals with a much greater period of time – mentioning just about every Roman ruler from Romulus onwards – means that each emperor is given a much briefer section of writing. In most cases an emperor is given just a short paragraph, in which a general biographical picture is painted, one or two historic deeds are described, and one or two quotations supplied. The writer of this ‘history’ is not seeking to compose a complete universal history of the empire, but rather to arrange a series of short biographical blobs in order of chronology.

                The information found within this text is largely culled from earlier sources, and is probably not of especially great historical value. It could be considered a general instruction book for future emperors – for which they can read and gain a brief overview of their predecessors, what they did wrong, and any wise words they could share to a current ruler of the empire. It is interesting to read, just because it attempts to bring together a list and brief history of all the Roman emperors from legendary times. The list begins with the founding of Rome by Romulus, includes all of the legendary seven kings of Rome, and then moves onto a few of the consuls of the early Republic. Unable to find many things to say about the Republican consuls – who were, after all, not actually monarchs – the list picks up again with Julius Caesar and Augustus, and then moves on in a rational order from there. There are a few factual errors, such as family connections between emperors, but the basic image of a uniform Roman state which begins in 732 BCE and carries on without interruption up to the 11^th century is maintained throughout the text.

                This is most interesting for the Byzantine historian, for it brazenly and unquestioningly reinforces one of the great pillars of Byzantine ideology – that their empire is one and the same with the old Roman empire of antiquity. The Roman state began when Romulus and Remus founded the city of Rome, became a republic, built an empire, converted to Christianity, moved its capital to the east, and continued unbroken down to the days of our writer. That Basil II is the last emperor mentioned in this text is also very interesting, for if one does believe that Michael Psellos composed this text, then it serves as something of a prologue to Psellos’ Chronographia, ending with the emperor who serves as the starting point for that work. It’s mostly conjecture this, but it’s a point I find interesting.