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Leo V the Armenian

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This article is about the Byzantine Emperor. For the Armenian King, see Leo V, King of Armenia.
Leo V the Armenian
Emperor of the Romans
Depiction of Leo from the 12th century Madrid Skylitzes.
Byzantine emperor
Reign12 July 813 – 25 December 820
Coronation12 July 813[1]
PredecessorMichael I
SuccessorMichael II
Co-emperorConstantine
Bornc. 775
Died25 December 820 (aged c. 45)
ConsortTheodosia
IssueConstantine
Basil
Gregory
Theodosios
Anna
FatherBardas

Leo V the Armenian (Greek: Λέων ὁ Ἀρμένιος, Leōn ho Armenios; c. 775 – 25 December 820) was the Byzantine emperor from 813 to 820. He is chiefly remembered for ending the decade-long war with the Bulgars, as well as initiating the second period of Byzantine Iconoclasm.

A senior general of Armenian origin, Leo distinguished himself under Nikephoros I and Michael I Rangabe, eventually becoming the strategos of the Anatolic Theme. Taking advantage of Michael's defeat at the Battle of Versinikia, he forced the emperor to abdicate in his favour. He was able to withhold the blockade of Constantinople by Krum of Bulgaria and, after Krum's death, concluded a 30-year peace with his successor Omurtag.

In 815, Leo deposed Patriarch Nikephoros and reinstituted iconoclasm. He was assassinated by supporters of Michael the Amorian, one of his most trusted generals, who succeeded him on the throne in 820.

Biography

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Background

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Leo was born in c. 775 in Armenia,[2]: 431  the son of the patrician Bardas, who was of Armenian descent. According to Theophanes Continuatus, Leo was also of Assyrian/Syrian descent.[3][4][5] In his youth he fled with his family to the Byzantine Empire and enrolled in the army of the Anatolic Theme. In 802, the general Bardanes Tourkos took over the theme and married one of his daughters to Leo. When Bardanes rebelled, Leo deserted to Emperor Nikephoros I who promoted him to the position of stratēgos of the Armeniac Theme. In 811, when Nikephoros was planning his major campaign against the Bulgars (which was to end disastrously), Arab raiders captured and destroyed the city of Euchaita in the Armeniac Theme—a humiliating defeat in which the salaries of the thematic units were also lost. Nikephoros blamed this on Leo and exiled him.[2]: 428, 431 [6] [7] Punishment also included deprivation of his military rank, beating and hair cutting.[8] However, a modern scholar suggests this "Leo" mentioned in the contemporary sources as being punished by Nikephoros was not the same as the later Emperor Leo.[9]

Reign

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Proclamation of Leo as emperor.

Recalled by Michael I Rhangabe in 811, Leo became governor of the Anatolic Theme and conducted himself well in a war against the Arabs in 812, defeating the forces of the Cilician thughur under Thabit ibn Nasr. Leo survived the Battle of Versinikia in 813 by abandoning the battlefield, but nevertheless took advantage of this defeat to force the abdication of Michael I in his favor on 11 July 813. In a diplomatic move, he wrote a letter[10] to Patriarch Nikephoros in order to reassure him of his orthodoxy (Nikephoros being obviously afraid of a possible iconoclast revival). One month later, during his entrance to the Palace quarter, he kneeled before the icon of Christ at the Chalke Gate.[11] A further step in preventing future usurpations was the castration of Michael's sons.[12]

Leo inherited a precarious situation. Within a week of his coronation, Khan Krum of Bulgaria blockaded both Adrianople and Constantinople by land. He agreed to negotiate in person with Krum but used the opportunity to attempt to have him assassinated. The stratagem failed, enraging Krum who sacked the suburbs of Constantinople and towns in southern Thrace. However, he abandoned his siege of the capital, and withdrew to capture and depopulate Adrianople. With this moment of respite, Leo divorced his allegedly adulterous wife and married the well-regarded Armenian noblewoman Theodosia, crowning her first son, the ten-year-old Symbatios, co-emperor, and renaming him Constantine, recalling the militarily successful iconoclast emperors of the eighth century, Leo III the Isaurian and Constantine V. In 814, Krum sacked Arcadiopolis and other Thracian towns, and planned a full-scale siege of Constantinople, but died of a stroke before he could begin, causing the Bulgar threat to finally recede.[2]: 431–432 

Patriarch Theodotus I reinstates iconoclasm at the Council of Constantinople.

Leo informed his advisers of his opinion that recent emperors had suffered defeat because of their veneration of icons (or iconodulia), unlike the iconoclast emperors Leo III and Constantine V who were victorious against the Arabs and Bulgars. He appointed a theological commission to prepare an iconoclast council led by the monk John the Grammarian (later Patriarch of Constantinople John VII). When called to comment, the iconodule Patriarch Nikephoros I of Constantinople resisted, prompting Leo to remove the icon of Christ over the Chalke Gate, which was restored by Empress Irene. This caused alarm among the clergy who met in the patriarchal palace on Christmas Eve 814 to pray for the icon's preservation. At first denying he was an iconoclast, Leo eventually deposed and exiled Nikephoros, appointing the iconoclast Theodotus I who held a synod to overturn the Second Council of Nicaea (787) and reaffirm the Council of Hieria (754). The Emperor used his rather moderate iconoclast policy to seize the properties of iconodules and monasteries, such as the rich Stoudios Monastery, whose influential iconodule abbot, Theodore the Stoudite, he exiled. He also exiled other bishops that opposed him such as Anthony the Confessor.[2]: 432 [13]

The Byzantines crush the Bulgars near Mesembria.

Shortly after the reinstitution of iconoclasm, the new Khan of Bulgaria, Omurtag, executed his Byzantine captives who refused to renounce Christianity, raided Thrace and ignored an imperial embassy, forcing Leo to fight. In the Battle of Mesembria of spring 816, Leo marched to the environs of Mesembria (Nesebar), camping near the Bulgars, pretending to flee and then ambushing them as they pursued him. He decisively defeated the Bulgar army and raided Bulgar territory, then concluding a 30-year peace treaty with Omurtag which restored the frontier of 780.[2]: 432–433  According to some sources, Krum participated in the battle and abandoned the battlefield heavily injured.[14][15]

Leo then worked to consolidate the Empire by rebuilding the Thracesian and Macedonian Themes. In 817, he sent fleets to raid the weakened Abbasid Caliphate and led an army to retake the frontier fortress of Kamachon which was lost under Constantine VI. In 818, the Rus' raided the Empire for the first time, specifically the northern coast of Anatolia, which Leo responded to by reinforcing the Armeniac Theme with naval squadrons. There was also underground opposition to Leo's reign and iconoclasm, one of the leaders of which was Theodore the Stoudite. In 820, Leo uncovered and punished a conspiracy against him. Nevertheless, it appeared to Leo and his iconoclast supporters that the Empire was now in God's favour with the reinstitution of iconoclasm, which even won over some iconodules.[2]: 433  Even sources vehemently hostile to Leo (e.g., Theophanes Continuatus and Patriarch Nikephoros) acknowledge his competence in managing state affairs.[16] Unfortunately, as with all iconoclast emperors, his actions and intentions cannot be easily reconstructed due to the extreme bias of the iconodule sources (there are no surviving contemporary iconoclast sources of any kind).[17]

The arrest of Michael the Amorian before Leo V and Theodosia.

Assassination

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The conspiracy which was to overthrow Leo was led by the Domestic of the Excubitors, Michael the Amorian, who disapproved of Leo's divorce and remarriage (he was married to the sister of the divorcée). In late 820, agents of the Postal Logothete uncovered the plot. Leo imprisoned him and sentenced him to death by burning, but Empress consort Theodosia arranged a postponement of the execution until after Christmas.[2]: 433  This allowed Michael to organise plotters to carry out the assassination of the Emperor in the palace chapel of St. Stephen on Christmas Eve. Leo was attending the matins service when a group of assassins disguised as members of the choir due to sing in the service suddenly threw off their robes and drew their weapons.[18]

Emperor Leo attending the Christmas celebrations in the St. Stephen chapel.

In the dim light they mistook the officiating priest for the Emperor and the confusion allowed Leo to snatch a heavy cross from the altar and defend himself. He called for his guards, but the conspirators had barred the doors and within a few moments a sword stroke had severed his arm, and he fell before the communion-table, where his body was hewed in pieces. His remains were dumped unceremoniously in the snow and the assassins hurried to the dungeons to free Michael.

The corpse of Leo V is dragged through the Hippodrome.

Unfortunately for them Leo had hidden the key on his person, and since it was too early in the morning to find a blacksmith, Michael was hastily crowned as emperor with the iron clasps still around his legs. Leo's family (including his mother and his wife, Theodosia) was exiled to monasteries on the Princes' Islands. His four sons (including ex co-emperor Symbatios) were castrated, a procedure so brutally carried out that one of them died during the "operation".[19]

Assessment and legacy

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While the Byzantine bureaucracy preferred the new emperor Michael II (r. 820–829) to Leo, who reinitiated the iconoclast controversy, Leo was popular with the army due to his military victories. Upon news of his murder, the Anatolic Theme proclaimed Thomas the Slav, who had served with Leo and Michael under Bardanes Tourkos, rightful emperor and avenger of Leo. The Bucellarian, Paphlagonian and Cibyrrhaeot Themes immediately sided with the Anatolics, leading to the outbreak of civil war in 821.[2]: 434 

The second Byzantine iconoclasm found more allies in the clergy than the first, symbolised especially by the learned figure of John VII of Constantinople or John "the Grammarian". By the reign of Theophilos (r. 829–842), Theodore the Stoudite and most iconodule bishops had died. However, iconoclasm never had a strong base in the Church, and was easily abolished by Empress Theodora, after which it was very rarely defended by any Byzantine clergy.[2]: 553 

Possible descendants

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Nicholas Adontz, in his book The age and origins of the emperor Basil I (1933), expressed a theory that Leo V and Theodosia were ancestors of Basil I. The theory was partly based on the account of his ancestry given by Constantine VII, a grandson of Basil I, as well as the accounts given by Theophanes Continuatus.[20] Basil I, according to these accounts, was a son of peasants. His mother is named by Constantine VII as "Pankalo". The name of his father was not recorded, but the names Symbatios (Smbat) and Constantine have been suggested; both were names used by the eldest sons of Basil, with eldest sons of Byzantines typically named after their grandfathers.[20] The paternal grandfather of Basil is named as Maiactes (or Hmayeak in Armenian). Basil's paternal grandmother was not named but was identified as a daughter of "Leo", a citizen of Constantinople. Adontz identified this Leo as Leo V, which would make Leo V and Theodosia great-grandparents of Basil I.[20]

The scholar Chris Bennett has hypothesised that, for this theory to be true, Leo's daughter would had to have been of marriageable age between the years 780 to 797, which given the ages of her brothers (all born after 800) is unlikely. However, as a counter-argument Bennett has also suggested that Constantine VII may have made a mistake when determining the years separating Maiactes and Basil, and that the latter may have been born at least 20 years after his reported birth date of c. 811.[20] This would indicate that it was Basil's father, rather than Basil himself, who was born at this time and had witnessed the wars with Krum of Bulgaria, and that Leo's daughter could therefore have been born (rather than married) in the 790s, which would make Adontz' theory possible.[20][a]

Adontz' theory has been accepted by several genealogists, including Christian Settipani in his search for descent from antiquity. The name "Anna" has been suggested for the daughter of Leo V and Theodosia, because it was given to daughters of Basil I, Leo VI the Wise, Constantine VII and Romanos II – almost every emperor that would claim descent from this woman.[20]

Solidus of Leo V with his son and co-emperor, Constantine

Family

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All known children of Leo V are traditionally attributed to his wife Theodosia, a daughter of the patrician Arsaber.[20] Genesius records four sons:

  • Symbatios (Συμβάτιος), renamed Constantine, co-emperor from 814 to 820. Castrated and exiled following the assassination of his father.
  • Basil. Castrated and exiled following the assassination of his father. Still alive in 847, recorded to have supported the election of Patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople.
  • Gregory. Castrated and exiled following the assassination of his father. Still alive in 847, recorded to have supported the election of Patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople.
  • Theodosios (died in 820). Died soon after his castration.

The existence of a daughter has been debated by historians and genealogists. The tentative name "Anna" has been suggested (see below).

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Bennett refers to a further possibility, namely that Maiactes and his wife were Basil's great-grandparents and not his grandparents, but does not elaborate further. See Chris Bennett, "The Relationship of Basil I to Leo V" (1995).

References

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  • The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 1991.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Leo (emperors)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 439–440.
  1. ^ Mango, Cyril A., ed. (1997). "A.M. 6305". The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor. Oxford University Press. p. 502. ISBN 9780198225683.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Treadgold, Warren (1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
  3. ^ Seaver, James E.; jenkins, Romilly (1968). "Byzantium. The Imperial Centuries, A.D. 610–1071". The Classical World. 62 (3): 109. doi:10.2307/4346737. ISSN 0009-8418. JSTOR 4346737.
  4. ^ Jenkins, Romilly James Heald; America, Medieval Academy of (1987). Byzantium: The Imperial Centuries, AD 610–1071. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0802066671.
  5. ^ Chalabian, Antranig (2002). Armenia After the Coming of Islam. A. Chalabian.
  6. ^ Theophanes the Confessor, Χρονογραφία (Chronicle), 489. 17–21
  7. ^ Theophanes Continuatus, 11. 3–14
  8. ^ Scriptor Incertus, 336. 10–12
  9. ^ David Turner, The Origins and Accession of Leo V (813–820), Jahrburch der Osterreichischen Byzantinistik, 40, 1990, pp. 179
  10. ^ Theophanes the Confessor, Χρονογραφία (Chronicle), 502. 19–22
  11. ^ Theophanes Continuatus, 18. 19–21
  12. ^ Scriptor Incertus, 341. 10–11
  13. ^ Talbot, Alice-Mary Maffry (1996). "Life of St. Theodora of Thessalonike". Holy Women of Byzantium: Ten Saints' Lives in English Translation. Dumbarton Oaks. pp. 177–178. ISBN 978-0-88402-248-0. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  14. ^ John Skylitzes, Synopsis of Histories (Σύνοψις Ἱστοριῶν), 13. 47–49
  15. ^ Joannes Zonaras, Extracts of History (Επιτομή Ιστοριών), 381. 5–10
  16. ^ Theophanes Continuatus, 30. 14–15
  17. ^ Lymberopoulou, Angeliki (2011). Images of the Byzantine World: Visions, Messages and Meanings : Studies Presented to Leslie Brubaker. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-1409407768.
  18. ^ Herrin, Judith (2007). Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire. Penguin. pp. 51–52. ISBN 978-0713999976.
  19. ^ Theophanes Continuatus, 40–41. 7
  20. ^ a b c d e f g Chris Bennett, "The Relationship of Basil I to Leo V" (1995)
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leon V.
Regnal titles
Preceded by Byzantine Emperor
12 July 813 – 25 December 820
with Symbatios Constantine 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by
Nikephoros I in 803,
then lapsed
 Roman consul
814 		Succeeded by
Lapsed,
Michael II in 821
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