The Alcoholic Byzantine Emperor Who Ruled the Empire Surprisingly Well

Coronation of the young Michael III, a miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes, a 12th-century illustrated manuscript. Credit: John Skylitzes, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.

Historians often retrieve Byzantine Emperor Michael III by the unflattering epithet “Michael the Drunkard.”

This is not thing that a Byzantine Emperor would privation to beryllium remembered for, but that’s the bequest of the antheral who ruled the Eastern Roman Empire from 842 to 867 AD. His arguable reign inactive sparks heated debates among historians, arsenic his clip successful powerfulness combined subject triumphs, taste renaissance, and peculiar idiosyncratic scandals that person near their indelible mark, branding him arsenic Byzantium’s astir unconventional ruler.

It has to beryllium noted that immoderate of the things that Michael III is accused of travel from humanities grounds produced by hostile historians of the succeeding Macedonian dynasty, however, they are worthy exploring arsenic they shed airy connected the mode the Byzantine governmental instrumentality functioned astatine the time.

Michael III ascended the Byzantine throne astatine conscionable 2 years old, with his mother, Empress Theodora, acting arsenic regent during the years helium was a minor. Theodora reigned connected behalf of her lad astatine a clip erstwhile the definitive extremity of the iconoclastic contention was cemented, pursuing years of fierce dogmatic statement and clash.

The veneration of icons was afloat restored during the reign of Michael III and his parent Theodora, putting an extremity to a decades-long bitter quality wrong the Byzantine Empire. Credit: Flickr / Nick Thompson CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The iconoclastic contention was a fierce spiritual struggle that had divided the Byzantine Empire to its halfway for implicit a period and had the contented of spiritual iconography astatine its heart. By restoring the veneration of icons, Theodora reestablished Orthodox unity, a argumentation that her lad Michael aboriginal upheld, bringing much-needed stableness to the Empire. However, his way to powerfulness took a melodramatic crook successful 856 erstwhile helium allied with his uncle Bardas to depose his mother, confining her to a convent -at least, 1 could argue, she wasn’t murdered arsenic truthful galore different characters oregon royal courts successful medieval Europe.

This was the commencement of Michael’s travel arsenic a Byzantine Emperor, an epoch aboriginal characterized by important steps of progress, contempt his scandals.

Among the steps successful the close absorption were reforms that revitalized the Empire’s aging education, the accelerated rebuilding of assorted war-torn cities, which brought jobs and prosperity to these communities, and the resettling of dissident spiritual groups to stabilize the Empire’s fragile frontiers.

Militarily, Michael III brought astir a bid of transformative reforms arsenic well. He spearheaded campaigns against the Abbasid Caliphate, recapturing cardinal territories successful Cappadocia and Mesopotamia, portion his forces famously repelled a Rus’ naval battle connected Constantinople successful 860. His astir important and consequential accomplishment successful the beforehand was the Christianization of Bulgaria, a pivotal infinitesimal for the broader dispersed of Christianity successful Eastern and Central Europe.

Statue of Cyril anc Methodius statue connected Radhost successful Czechia. Credit: Valtameri, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

By pressuring Khan Boris I to follow Christian Orthodox practices successful 864, Michael expanded the taste and spiritual power of the Byzantine Empire crossed the Balkans. Simultaneously, his enactment for Saints Cyril and Methodius’ ngo to Moravia laid the foundations upon which Slavic Christianity evolved.

The arguable aspects of Byzantine Emperor Michael’s reign

Nonetheless, Michael’s communicative arsenic a Byzantine Emperor is arsenic defined by scandals, intrigue, and turmoil.

The Photian Schism, for example, was a bitter quality with Pope Nicholas I implicit the deposition of Patriarch Ignatius, and determination were severely fractured relations betwixt Constantinople and Rome.

Michael’s behaviour astatine tribunal grew progressively erratic, to a constituent that would make obstacles successful the creaseless moving of the mundane matters of the state. Chroniclers recount his indulgence successful alcohol. He was infamously known for his emotion of drunken revelries, which would often extremity up successful blasphemous behaviour similar a mockery of spiritual ceremonies and a tangled idiosyncratic beingness that the Church would powerfully disapprove of.

This famously progressive his woman Eudokia Dekapolitissa and his mistress Eudokia Ingerina, 2 women who made the concern successful his idiosyncratic beingness adjacent much controversial. His determination to elevate his charioteer companion, Basil the Macedonian, arsenic co-emperor yet proved fatal for him.

Basil, exploiting Michael’s spot and erratic behavior, orchestrated his assassination successful 867, seizing the throne and founding the Macedonian dynasty.

However, Michael’s epoch was palmy economically and culturally. Nonetheless, it was arsenic scandalous and consequential. His tribunal became infamous for its decadent and excessive spending, with the emperor himself often astatine the halfway of arguable behaviour and choices.

Eyewitness accounts adjacent picture drunken orgies wherever Michael would mockingly formal up arsenic a priest, performing blasphemous parodies of ineffable rituals to the daze -and amusement- of his courtiers, who did not cognize however to react. He was besides known to contention chariots done the streets of Constantinople astatine night, engaging successful reckless behaviour that endangered some himself and his subjects, a medieval equivalent of drunk driving, 1 mightiness say.

His idiosyncratic beingness was arsenic tumultuous; helium openly showed disconnected his matter with Eudokia Ingerina, adjacent arsenic helium arranged her matrimony to his person Basil. He willingly did that to support her adjacent and proceed his extramarital relations with her.

Perhaps astir controversially, immoderate historians suggest that Michael whitethorn person adjacent had an incestuous narration with his sister Thekla, though grounds for this assertion remains disputed.

These scandalous and erratic behaviors during utmost spiritual puritanism, combined with his erratic behaviour and Basil’s eventual betrayal, made Michael III’s estimation arsenic 1 of Byzantium’s astir arguable emperors.