The marriage of Augusta Zoe the Macedonian (1028-1050) to Romanos Argyros (1028-1034) was an unfortunate one. Romanos used to neglect the personal duties of a husband, he openly had a mistress and had forbidden Zoe from access to the imperial treasury, only allowing her to use a certain sum of money. To take advantage of the tension between the imperial couple, John Orphantotrophos, an ambitious eunuch from the region of Paphlagonia -who had risen too high in the imperial court hierarchy of Constantinople- introduced the enraged empress to the presence of his younger charming brother Michael, with whom effortlessly she fell in deep love with.
Michael used to pay visits to Zoe’s private chambers, despite his initial shyness to gain more intimacy with the much elder empress, he soon realized where the wind was blowing and took advantage of this such a rare chance God was giving him.
To the satisfaction of both, Romanos was found dead, with his corpse floating at the top of his bathtub. It was widely suspected that Zoe, Orphanotrophos and her new paramour Michael had him poisoned. What exactly happened to Argyros is a topic for another post, what is definitely certain is that the citizens soon forgot their unpopular Basileus and rushed to acclaim a new handsome farmer/Augustus.
Patriarch Alexios I was forced to drop the liturgy of Crucifixion of Holy Week and to arrive immediately at the Great Palace. There he was shocked to see Romanos lying dead, with Zoe holding the imperial regalia in her hands next to the already crowned Michael. The Patriarch was ordered to marry the «widow of the few hours» with this obscure lowborn from Paphlagonia. Whatever doubts the Patriarch objected, they were suspended when Orphanotrophos supplied his holiness and his clergy with some shining gold.
Nevertheless, Zoe’s hopes of a cheerful carefree life with Michael was soon proved a summer dream. The Paphlagonian brothers knew the popularity of Zoe among the Constantinopolitan populace and they were also well aware of the fate Romanos suffered once he paid her no honors, thus they sidelined her far from power, keeping their watchful eye to all her contacts, controlling all the funds she could consume.
The wedding ceremony of a young ambitious Michael and of the mature empress Zoe, as depicted in the «Madrid» manuscript of Ioannes Skylitzes. The matriomonial union was officialized and blessed by the Patriarch himself and had the full presence of the court hierarchy of Constantinople as its also evident from this image.
Zoe’s curses must had some impact on Michael’s life. Michael was a man of fragile health and once he assumed the Imperial Purple his health status passed into a rapid decline with no reverse. His epileptic crisis was becoming so frequent that Michael had to use a floating curtain, able to fall in front of him and hide his figure, in case he had to suffer another crisis in front of the judgmental eyes of his subjects. This wasn’t the only disease Michael was struggling with and as a result those feeble conditions became the worst nightmare he had to confront in the years of his reign, a foe stronger than countless troops of barbarians.
Let’s see some important events of Michael’s reign:
A map showing Christendom and Europe during the time Michael adminisrated the Roman Repulic in Constantinople (1034-1041).
Source: https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/imladjov/maps
• Michael continued the classic tactic of Constantinople to intervene in the political life of Caucasus. In 1039 after the request of the Georgian general Liparid, Michael dispatched Roman troops to help him dethrone the Georgian King Bagrat IV. The invasion was successful and the King was replaced by his half-brother.
• During his reign, the city of Edessa was reclaimed from the Emirs of Mayyafariqin and Harran, but just at the nick of time, Edessa was protected from the duke of Antioch/nephew of Michael, Constantine, who send forces to relieve the local garrison. The tension in the East was resolved when the Fatimids of Syria and Michael signed a 10 years truce. In this truce, the Paphlagonian government earned the right to intervene in the domestic affairs of Jerusalem.
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The Pecheneg raids in the West were emerging to a serious problem for the Balkan space. Some daring groups of those turko-nomads had even reached as far as the capital of Macedonia, Thessalonica. Michael must have found a solution for this issue since after 1036 their assaults ceased.
• The Arab pirate fleets terrorizing the Aegean Sea were destroyed.
THE REBIRTH OF A SICILIAN DREAM
• Michael took advantage of the civil war in Muslim Sicily between the Emir Ahmad al- Akhal and his brother Abu Hafs and renovated the old grandiose plan of emperor Basil II to bring Sicily back in imperial hands. The veteran George Maniakes was appointed at the head of the expedition, with the son in law of Michael and husband of his sister, Stephanos, as the admiral of the sea forces. In this Sicilian Campaign also participated the famous soon to be crowned King of Norway, Harald Sigurdsson, with his Norse men.
Maniakes achieved exceptional victories in all his battles, conquered eastern Sicily, then Syracuse and almost arrested the Emir himself. However, his fierce quarrel with Stephanos was the informal epilogueof this expedition. Maniakes accused him of impotence, stroke his head with a whip and showered him with insults. Stephanos to avenge him, send a letter to Orphanotrofos, accusing Maniakes of brewing a dangerous rebellion against the goverment, as a response Michael ordered the army to imprison Maniakes and drag him in Constantinople in chains.
The efforts of the successors of Maniakes to storm Sicily brought no results and the Romans had to return to their base in Southern Italy. To the final failure also contributed a Sicilian revolt supported by the Norman mercenaries previously under imperial service and also the rebellious atmosphere brewing in the Theme of Bulgaria and the Balkans, a situation requiring the gathering of forces from all sides of Romaniae.
MICHAEL AGAINST PETER DELJAN
• The most serious challenge Michael had to face was the Bulgarian uprising of Peter Deljan, a man who claimed to be descendant of -the last- Tsar Samuel and had himself proclaimed emperor as Peter II and as a continuator of the Bulgarian Saint and ex-Tsar Peter I.
Peter Deljan in left and the Bulgarian rebels in right watching him win a debate with a rival claimant to the Bulgarian scepter called Tihomir. Tihomir was killed and thus Deljan remained the sole leader of the Bulgarian Uprising.
Initially the rebels achieved some victories, but as the dream of the final restoration of the Bulgarian Tsardom was closer than ever, a new claimant to the Bulgarian crown reached the Bulgarian camp, pretending to be an Armenian servant. His name was Alusian and Peter offered him command of his forces with the order to conquer Thessalonica. However, the walls of Thessalonica proved impregnable for Alusian, the doux Constantine defended well the «Second Constantinople» and when the danger of the siege passed, he crushed Alusian in the battlefield forcing him to flea in Peter.
The Bulgarian soldiers had two leaders, one official (Peter) and one admiral (Alusian), one had to perish in order for the other to lead alone the rebellion without interferences, Alusian was keener than Peter and after he invited him to a pretentious friendly dinner, he deprived Peter of his sight and thus obtained his Tsar title.
To the news that the Paphlagonian basileus was marching against the rebels, Alusian found himself eager to betray his followers. He started secret negotiations with Michael, assuring the emperor that he was happy to betray the Bulgarians if he was kind enough to bestow him titles and funds from the Roman treasury.
Depiction of an enthroned Michael IV in the illuminated manuscript of the «Synopsis of Histories» of the Roman historian Ioannes Skylitzes. Michael leads an imperial army against the Bulgarian defenses.
To this plea, the answer of Constantinople was positive. The extremely sick Michael being in Thessalonica, the city of his favorite patron Saint Demetrios, made the decision to lead this Roman counter-attack himself. By 1041 he was almost completely paralyzed, his legs were swollen and tormented by gangrene, every move he made was terrible suffering.
He gathered forces from Asia Minor, troops from the forsaken campaign in Sicily and also the Varangoi of Harald. The leader-less confused Bulgarian rebels were not able to resist to the formidable imperial troops. It’s hardly surprising that Michael managed to tour through Bulgaria, reach Prilep and to impose Roman domination to all the once independent region.
AN ILL-TRIUMPH
The Basileus returned to the capital in triumph, the first and last of his life, like a new «Bulgar-Slayer» with the humbled Tsar Peter Deljan in the toe and the entire population of Constantinople running to greet him. It was a fascinated victory and the Hippodrome opened its gates to festivities and games for the excited people of the Republic.
Still, the beautiful low-class man that had once charmed Augusta Zoe was gone, his image was dreadful, the illness had his former charm vanished and Psellos notes that this triumph felt more like a funeral for Michael. Michael had spent his life days of his reign feeling guilty for the assasination of Romanos, the man he had betrayed in order to obtain the purple sandals.
The first half of the manuscript depicts the tonsure and retirement of Michael IV as a monk and the second his future painful passing under the bed of his monastic cell, in the «Madrid» manuscript of Ioannes Skylitzes.
Almost with no air on his lungs, he was carried at the monastery of St Cosmas and Damian. Michaels last wish was to throw away his imperial robe and dress in the black garments of a simple monk. To the surprise of all, the bitter sidelined Zoe appeared at the doorstep of the monastery, wishing to see his face for one last time. He refused. Soon in terrible pains, without being able to take another step, he died on his cell.
Michael had devoted his reign to a series of humanitarian projects, whether this was a honest desire for personal atonement or a strategy to earn popular support, we don’t know, what is certain is that he gave alms to the poorest, build monasteries, established convents, assisted lepers, prostitutes, and monks. It’s been mentioned that he personally in the most humble way washed the feet of holy and ascetic men and allowed them to sleep on his royal bed.
Michael was a charismatic leader, despite his health, he had self-control, he never lost his temper or raised his voice, he had gentle manners and an impressive courageous spirit. He had not the education of an aristocrat but he ruled the empire effectively with a steady hand. Michael the Paphlagonian was a worthy successor of Basil II the Macedonian and a clear living evidence that the propaganda claiming that «the period between 1025 and 1081 produced no charismatic emperors» is nothing but a rather biased myth by antibyzantinits who so adore preaching of a supposed «constant decadence» of the empire after 1025.
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