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rI'II?IS Ile NVHNV2I2IHZIQHW'IVAHIQH1 'dHZ j or THE MEDIEVAL MEDITERRANEAN;:BRILL THE REIGN OF LEO VI (886-912) THE MEDIEVAL MEDITERRANEAN PEOPLES, ECONOMIES AND CULTURES, 400-1453 EDITORS MICHAEL WHITBY (Warwick) PAUL MAGDALINO, HUGH KENNEDY (St. Andrews) DAVID ABULAFIA (Cambridge) BENJAMIN ARBEL (Tel Aviv) MARK MEYERSON (Noire Dame) VOLUME 15 9 Qr r- lX683.S THE REIGN OF LEO VI (886-912) Politics and People BY SHAUN TOUGHER NEG1 1683 BRILL LEIDEN NEW YORK KOLN 1997 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tougher, Shaun. The reign of Leo VI (886-912) : politics and people/by Shaun Tougher. p. cm. - (Medieval Mediterranean ; v. 15) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9004108114 (cloth :alk. paper) 1. Byzantine Empire-History-Leo VI, 886-911. 2. Leo VI, Emperor of the East, 886-912. I. Title. II. Series. DF592.T68 1997 949.5'02DC21 97-22089 CIP Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme Tougher, Shaun: The reign of Leo VI : (886 - 912) ; politics and people / by Shaun Tougher. - Leiden ; New York ; Koln : Brill, 1997 (The medieval Mediterranean : Vol. 15) ISBN 90-0410811-4 ISSN 0928-5520 ISBN 90 04 10811 4 © Copyright 1997 by Koninkl#ke Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS CONTENTS Acknowledgements ........................................................................vii Abbreviations.................................................................................ix Map: The Empire of Leo VI, c. 899 ...........................................xi .................................................... Introduction: Aims and Sources 1 Chapter One: The Establishment of the Macedonian Dynasty: The Reigns of Basil I and Leo VI (867-912) ........... 23 Chapter Two: Macedonian or Amorian? ....................................42 Chapter Three: The End of Photios ............................................68 Chapter Four: The Dominate of Stylianos Zaoutzes ..................89 Chapter Five: The Reality of Leo the Wise ................................110 Chapter Six: The Four Wives of Leo VI ..................................... 133 Chapter Seven: Military Matters: The Bulgarian War, the Arab Naval Threat and the Taktika ....................................164 Chapter Eight: The Emperor's Men: Eunuchs and Strategoi .......194 Chapter Nine: Alexander .............................................................. 219 Conclusion.....................................................................................233 Bibliography..................................................................................237 Index .............................................................................................. 253 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is based upon my doctoral thesis on Leo VI, completed in 1994 at the University of St Andrews. In the course of the evolution of the thesis and its transformation into a book I have received valued guidance and support, and I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks. My greatest debt is to my supervisor, Paul Magda- lino, whose wisdom and example have been inspiring. Margaret Mullett deserves special mention, as it was she who introducedme to the fascinating world of Byzantium, and has remainedan ever- present voice of faith. Michael Whitby also provided much-appreci- ated support and interest. My thanks goes also to my examiners Jonathan Shepard and Hugh Kennedy, whose comments and guid- ance were gratefully received, and who encouraged me to take the step from thesis to book. There is not room enough to thank everyone else who provided me with all manner of support and advice; I simply dedicate this work to all those who have participated in the journey from research proposal to book. ABBREVIATIONS AASS Acta Sanctorum AB Analecta Bollandiana ABSA Annual of the British School at Athens AJA American,Journal of Archaeology Annales ESC Annales. Economies, Societes, Civilisations BBTT Belfast Byzantine Texts and Translations BMGS Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies BNJ Byzantinisch-neugriechische Jahrbucher BSI Byzantinoslavica Byz Byzantion BZ Byzantinische Zeitschrift CFHB Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae CSHB Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae DOP Dumbarton Oaks Papers DOS Dumbarton Oaks Studies DOT Dumbarton Oaks Texts EHR English Historical Review EO Echos d'Orient GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies Hell 'EAXfV LKa JOB Jahrbuch der osterreichischen Byzantinistik JWarb Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes OC Orientalia Christiana PG Patrologia Graeca PO Patrologia Orientalis PRIA Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy REB Revue des Etudes Byzantines RESEE Revue des Etudes Sud-Est Europeennes ROC Revue de l'Orient Chretien SBN Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici Script Scriptorium SK Seminarium Kondakovianum TM Travaux et Memoires TTH Translated Texts for Historians ZRVI Zbornik Radova Vizantoloskog Instituta MAP 1. Abydos KEY22. FOR Ephesus THE MAP ON PAGE XIII 43. Paros 6.5.4.3.2. AthensAdrianopleAntiochAmorionAdana 27.26.25.24.23. JerusalemGermanikeiaImbrosEuchaitaHadath (al-Hadath/Adata) (Maras) 48.47.46.45.44. PliskaPreslavRaqqaPythiaPatras (al-Raggah), 11.10.9.8.7. AttaleiaBariBagdadBulgarophygonCaesarea 32.31.30.29.28. LemnosLarissaKosLaodiceaKabala 53.52.51.50.49. SeleukeiaSamosSebasteiaRhodesSamosata 16.15.14.13.12. ChrysopolisConstantinopleChersonCharsianonChalcedon 37.36.35.34.33. LesbosMeliteneMountMesembria OlymposAthos 58.57.56.55.54. SyracuseThasosTarsusTephrikeTaormina 21.20.17.19.18. DemetriasCreteDyrrachionCyzicusCyprus 42.41.40.39.38. NaplesNikomedeiaParionOhridOtranto 62.61.60.59. ThessalonikeTheodosiopolisTripoliTrebizond The Empire of Leo VI, c. 899 Black Sea 21 o -\j4 cP' s14, '%zE_ 1a OPSIICION 0 100100200 300200 300 mileskm. INTRODUCTION AIMS AND SOURCES In the gallery of emperors who reigned over the Byzantine empire during its long life of more than a thousand years the figure of Leo VI (886-912) is not an unfamiliar one to those conversant with Byzanti- um's history. He was the heir of Basil I (867-886) the founder of the Macedonian dynasty, one of the empire's longest-surviving dynasties. His parentage is infamously uncertain; itis undeniable that his mother was Eudokia Ingerine, but whether his father was her lover Michael III (842-867) or her husband Basil the Macedonian is still a matter of debate. IIt is equally notorious that Leo married four times in succession, creating ecclesiastical conflict that outlasted the tempo- ral boundary of his reign.2 This emperor is also an inescapable figure in the study of the legal, literary and military history of Byzantium due to his achievements in these spheres.' Yet beyond these points 1 See for instance E. Kislinger, `Eudokia Ingerina, Basileios I. and Michael III', JOB, 33 (1983), 119-136; C. Mango, `Eudocia Ingerina, the Normans and the Mac- edonian Dynasty', ZRVI, 14-15 (1973), 17-27, repr. Byzantium and Its Image (London, 1984), XV; C. I. Toul, `Ilepi Tic voBoycvcia;'co l Aeov-co;'coil Eocpov', Parnassos, 21 (1979), 15-35; P. Magdalino, `Basil I, Leo VI, and the Feast of the Prophet Elijah', JOB, 38 (1988), 193-196; N. Adontz, `La portee historique de l'oraison funebre de Basile I par son fils Leon VI le sage', Byz, 8 (1933), 501-513. 2 The tetragamy crisis tends to dominate accounts of Leo's reign. R. J. H. Jenkins, Byzantium: The Imperial Centuries AD 610-1071 (London, 1966), devoted a separate chapter of his history to the problem, whilst C. Diehl, Byzantine Portraits, tr. H. Bell (New York, 1927), included a chapter entitled `The Four Marriages of Leo the Wise'. 3 There is of course overlap between these spheres. Leo is one of the major figures in the history of Byzantine law due to the fact that he succeeded in fulfilling his father's project of editing and compiling the Justinianic corpus in Greek, the Basilika, as well as producing his own collection of Novels: see A. Schminck,"`Frommigkeit ziere das Werk". Zur Datierung der 60 Biicher Leons VI', Subseciva Groningana, 3 (1989), 79-114, and Studien zu mittelbyzantinischen Rechtsbuchern (Frankfurt, 1986); M. T. Fogen, `Legislation and Kodifikation des Kaisers Leons VI', Subseciva Groningana, 3 (1989), 23-35, and `Gesetz and Gesetzgebung in Byzanz. Versuch ciner Funktions- analyse', Ius Commune, 14 (1987), 137-158, esp. 148-152; N. Van der Wal andJ. H. A. Lokin, Historiae iuris graeco-romani delineatio. Les sources du droit byzantin de 300 a 1453 (Groningen, 1985), esp. 78-89; and see also Law and Society in Byzantium, Ninth-Twelh Centuries, ed. A. E. Laiou and D. Simon (Washington DC, 1994). Unlike his father Basil Leo received a literary education from his youth, and during his life he wrote and delivered orations, homilies, hymns and poems, some of which have survived: see T. Antonopoulou, The Homilies of the EmperorLeo VI (forthcoming); J. Grosdidier de Matons, `Trois etudes sur Leon VI', TM, 5 (1973), 181-242, esp. 181-207; 2 INTRODUCTION Leo and his reign are generally under-appreciated.Much is assumed rather than explored. It is acommon perception that the emperor was feeble in the arena of foreign affairs, and in particular that the Bulgarians and the Arabs were able to run rings round him because he had no foreign policy.' As for internal affairs it is presumed that he was