As the emperor Constantine had been left an orphan in very early childhood, affairs of state were conducted by Zoe his mother and the regents whom we listed above. Constantine the parakoimomenos exercised considerable influence over the empress while the magister Leo Phokas, domestic of the scholai for the east, was his brother-in-law, having married his sister. Thus Constantine effectively held all the reins of state and could direct it wherever he wished. Night and day he searched for a way of getting rid of [the emperor] Constantine and of transferring the imperial office to his own brother-in-law. When Theodore, the tutor of the porphyrogennetos, realised this, he endeavoured (as we said above) to appropriate the elder Romanos who was then droungarios of the fleet and bring him into the palace in the hope that he would be the protector and defender of the emperor. Romanos was brought in and, little by little, gained possession of all the levers of power. Not content with the powers assigned to him though, he broke his oaths (and he had bound himself with the most awesome oaths that he would never aspire to be emperor) and proclaimed himself emperor. It was the porphyrogennetos who placed the diadem on his brow, willingly to all appearances, ‘but with a most unwilling heart’ to cite Homer. And it was not only himself but also Christopher, his son, whom Romanos proclaimed emperor, a short time after. He let some more time go by and then proclaimed his sons Stephen and Constantine. Now, although he was proclaimed emperor, he did not like the ranking: it displeased him to be in second place. So he expelled the tutor and any others who seemed to be opposed to him, then he proclaimed himself first emperor and took over the administration of all [234] the affairs of state. His sons ranked after him and Constantine [VII] came last of all. By now Constantine had only the appearance and name of emperor, for he was deprived of all the privileges; therefore his constant endeavour and most fervent wish was to get rid of the usurpers and assume his father’s supreme command.

Once Leo became master of all he surveyed he cared little or nothing for any of the affairs of state. He chafed with anger at the memory of the recent intrigue which Santabarenos had contrived against him and decided to take immediate vengeance. First he brought up some not unreasonable accusations to make it seem as though there were good grounds for proceeding to the attack and also to remove certain obstacles from his path. He was well aware that he could do no serious harm to Santabarenos as long as Photios was occupying the patriarchal throne, rightly suspecting that Photios would protect him and stand by him lest he be the object of any despotic action. So the word was now put around that Photios had been eyeing the imperial throne for one of his relations and had conspired with Santabarenos; but they could both see that there was no future to their project unless Leo was first put out of the way; that was why they brought the false charge against him mentioned above. Since he knew this, [Leo’s] first action was to remove [Photios] from the patriarchal throne. He promptly despatched the magister Andrew the stratelates together with the magister John Hagiopolites (who was logothete of the drome) to the Great Church. Their orders were to go up into the ambo of the church and to read out the charges against the patriarch Photios for all to hear. They were then to drag him from the throne and exile him to the monastery of Harmonianoi. Not wasting a moment, the emperor appointed Stephen the synkellos (his own brother) patriarch. [172] Because [the metropolitan of] Herakleia had departed this life, [Stephen] was consecrated by Theophanes the protothronos. [The emperor] then sent [men] in all speed to Euchaita where the above-mentioned Theodore Santabarenos was presiding over the aforementioned church, with orders to bring that man to him.

After the death of Michael [II], his son, Theophilos (who was already of age), succeeded to his father’s throne in the month of October, in the eighth year of the indiction. According to what he said, he wanted to acquire a reputation for being a zealous devotee of justice and a diligent observer of the laws of the state, but the truth of the matter is that he made this pretence in order to distance himself from the conspirators, thus ensuring that nobody make a desperate move against him.

So, from the outset, he resolved to bring ruin and destruction on all those who had taken part with his father in the death of Leo [V]. To this end, he issued a command that everybody who enjoyed imperial titles and all who had benefited from imperial munificence in any way whatsoever were to assemble in the Magnaura; that is, at the Pentapyrgion. When that was accomplished and everybody was gathered together as he had commanded, keeping the ferocity of his soul concealed, he spoke to the assembled company in a modest and gentle voice: ‘O my people and my inheritance; it was the will and desire of my late father to bestow many titles, benefits and other honours upon those who supported and defended his rule. Events overtook him and it is to me, the successor to his throne, that he has left this undischarged debt, in order that he not appear ungrateful to his supporters. So, let each one of those men step forward from the crowd and show himself to us plainly; so that, knowing which of you are friends, we may reward you as you deserve.’ All those wretches who had participated in the slaying of Leo [V] were deceived and had their heads turned by these words, with the result that each one showed himself. Having thus netted his prey, Theophilos immediately ordered the eparch to apply [50] the laws of the state to them, saying: ‘Go to it, eparch; you have authority from God and from our own Serenity to pass judgement on these persons and to reward them according to their deeds: not only for having stained their hands with human blood, but also because they slew the Lord’s anointed within the sanctuary.’

The wheel of fortune having decreed that Zoe should once again rule the empire, she reluctantly allowed her own sister, Theodora, to reign with her, as we said. The Senate was rewarded with promotions to honours, the people with the distribution of gifts. The administration found itself conducted with befitting foresight; letters and directives were sent out in all directions promising that offices would not be for sale and could no longer be purchased the way they used to be; also stipulating that any wrongdoing was to be cast out from among them. When these regulations had come into effect to the rulers’ satisfaction, the nobelissimos Constantine was recalled from exile and questioned concerning public monies. Terrified by what he was threatened with, he showed the fifty-three kentenaria of gold hidden in a cistern at his house near Holy Apostles’ church. The sum was delivered to the empress while he returned into exile. She appointed her father’s eunuch, Nicholas the proedros, domestic of the scholai for the east; the patrician Constantine Kabasilas duke of the west. She sent off George Maniakes, already released from prison by Michael, to be commander plenipotentiary of the army units in Italy with the rank of magister. This is how it went; then a conference was held concerning the [office of] emperor and the unanimous opinion was that an emperor ought to be appointed and married to Zoe. Her inclination was to marry the katepan Constantine Artoklines, so called from the position in which he had served. He was a man of pleasing appearance, said to have been Zoe’s secret lover, [423] but his wife expelled him from this life with poison, not because she did not love him any more, but because she was about to be deprived of him even while he was alive. Anyway, the empress, frustrated in her plan, recalled Constantine Monomachos from exile.

Once Michael was eliminated as we indicated, Basil secured sole rule for himself. Continuing from where it left off, the narrative will now clearly indicate who this man was, where he came from and the reasons why he, who emerged from a humble and obscure background, was able to rise up to be the supreme commander of the empire. He was born in Macedonia but he was an Armenian by race, a scion of the distinguished line of the Arsacids which possessed the exclusive right by law of ruling over Parthians, Medes and Armenians. They had obtained this right by virtue of the fame acquired by the first Arsaces for retrieving for the Parthians their right to autonomy that the Persians had arrogated to themselves. The descendants of Arsaces ruled over the aforementioned peoples for a long time. The last was Artaban who, when he was expelled from his hereditary kingdom, took refuge in Byzantium together with his brother, Cleienes. Leo the Great was ruling the Roman empire at the time; he received them with fitting honour, assigning them a residence in the capital commensurate with their rank. When the Persian king heard of this he sent a letter inviting them back and promising to restore them to their ancestral throne. They received the letter and, while they were discussing what to do about it, one of their attendants revealed all its contents to the emperor, who promptly confiscated it. Now the matter had become known to the emperor and he realised that the wandering foreigners were men of extremely high standing, he housed them, together with their women and children, in a fortified town of Macedonia named Nicaea. Later on, when the Persian royalty had been destroyed by the Saracens, [116] the reigning amermoumnes did something similar: he sent a letter inviting the descendants of the Arsacides living in Macedonia to come back home. This communication was detected by the emperor Heraclius. Knowing that the invitation was by no means issued out of goodwill towards the people in question, but rather, through them, to bring the race of Armenians and Parthians into subjection, he transferred the strangers to Philippi, another city of Macedonia, and from there to Adrianople. They found that place to their liking and multiplied while still preserving their national identity.

After Theophilos had departed this life it was his son, Michael, who, together with his mother, Theodora, succeeded to the sceptre of the empire. He had the magister Manuel (then domestic of the scholai) and Theoktistos the patrician (logothete of the drome) as his guardians and tutors, just as his father had stipulated in his will. Immediately after the death of Theophilos, these two got themselves away to the Hippodrome where they assembled the people and delivered speeches recalling to their minds the benevolence of the late emperor towards them. By using encouraging and flattering words, they were able to elicit the goodwill of the audience, the people promising to pour out their own blood for the safety of the emperor and confirming this promise with oaths there and then.

Once Theodora was in control of the empire (together with her son), immediately and first of all, at the suggestion of some God-fearing men, she closely examined the matter of the heresy of the enemies of the icons. This was widespread among the Romans from the reign of Leo the Armenian until the death of Theophilos. Theoktistos was in favour of its suppression but Manuel held back for some time; nobody dared to speak out boldly and make a speech expressly calling for the abolition of this heresy because the greater part of both the senate and the synod (including the patriarch himself) remained faithful to it. Manuel alone, prompted by divine [82] intervention, was bold enough to make the move. As we said above, he hesitated at first on the question of devotion to the most sacred icons, but he subsequently proclaimed himself in favour of it: here is the reason why.

Michael was proclaimed ruling emperor on 31 August, ninth year of the indiction. When Theodosios the proedros, son of the brother of the father of the emperor Constantine Monomachos, heard of the proclamation he was deeply offended and, without stopping to think about what he was doing or counting the cost and the likelihood of it miscarrying or considering how the throw of the dice might turn out (as it were), he called up his relations, his slaves and others who served him in any way, many of his neighbours and some of his acquaintances, in fact as many as were somewhat hot-headed. Towards evening he set out with them from his house which lies in the district called Leomakellion and proceeded, complaining and protesting, along the main artery [Mese], as though they were going to the palace. As one who had been utterly wronged, he called out the injustice of it to those he encountered, demanding the throne as though it were a hereditary property which ought to be his because he was more closely related by blood to the departed emperor than the others. When he came to the praetorium he broke down the gates of the prison and led out the captives in the hope (I think) of accomplishing some great and noble deed with them. He did the same when he got to the Chalke. But when the uprising became known to the palace eunuchs they speedily armed the soldiers on guard duty in the palace, Romans and Varangians (the Varangians are a Celtic people serving the Romans as mercenaries), and speedily alerted the crews of the imperial ships. [482] An able-bodied company was assembled and made ready to be sent against Theodosios. When he learned of this he deviated from the route leading to the palace and fell back on the Great Church of God in the hope that when he entered that place the patriarch and clergy would receive him; that a numerous crowd would congregate and proclaim him emperor. Quite the opposite happened; the patriarch and the clergy of the church closed its gates to him as he arrived and of those who usually rejoice in such events and come running there was nobody at all.

[Nikephoros] despatched the synkellos, a Stoudite monk named Anthony, to expel Theophano from the palace and sent her to the Petrion palace. Shortly after that he sent Joseph the parakoimomenos into exile in Paphlagonia then, before long, transferred him to a monastery known as Asekretis in Pythia [Thessaly] where he lived for two whole years and then died. [Nikephoros] also promoted his own father, Bardas, to the rank of caesar.

On 20 September he put aside all pretence and play-acting by taking Theophano to be his lawful wife. It was then that he started eating meat again; he had been abstaining from it ever since the death of Bardas, the son born to him by his first wife. This son had been horse-riding on the plain, sporting with his own nephew Pleuses, when he was accidentally but mortally wounded with a spear. Only Nikephoros and God know whether this was really an abstinence or merely an affectation to deceive those in power. The marriage was celebrated at the New Church in the palace. When it came to the point of entering the sanctuary, Polyeuktos, leading the emperor by the hand, approached the sacred enclosure and entered the sanctuary himself but forced the emperor to remain outside, saying that he would not allow him to enter the sanctuary [261] until he had performed the penance required of one who marries a second time. This offended Nikephoros and he never ceased being indignant with Polyeuktos until the day of his death. Now a rumour went out in all directions, a rumour that disturbed the church in no small way, that Nikephoros had stood godfather for one of Theophano’s children at his holy baptism. Taking this rumour as an opportune pretext, Polyeuktos demanded that Nikephoros either separate from his wife (as the canon required) or that he stay away from church – which in fact he did, cleaving to Theophano. Polyeuktos summoned the bishops residing in the city together with the leading senators and invited their opinion on this matter.

Alexander died in the way we described and the imperial authority passed to Constantine, the son of Leo, now in the seventh year of his life, but it was exercised by the regents specified above. Nicholas the patriarch came to power as one of the regents and was directing the affairs of state together with the others.

Such being the state of affairs and the realm being governed by regents, as we said, Constantine Doukas, son of Andronikos, domestic of the scholai and a man invested with very great powers, was provoked by letters from friends and relations in the capital which alleged that the empire was without a head; that it was being badly administered and that it was in grave peril of falling into the gravest danger. The letters called upon him as a prudent and courageous fellow, the only one capable of adequately governing the illustrious Roman state, to return. They added that both the Senate and the people of the city were in favour of him and that he should make haste to come as soon as possible; Nicholas the patriarch was aware of, and approved of, these letters (they said); this was because the will of Alexander had not yet been published and he was as yet unaware that he was named as regent for the child in it. Artabasdos was serving in that capacity and for this he later became dean of the clergy of the Great Church. He was the father of Andreas the famous portrait painter. Now Constantine had already been dreaming of becoming emperor and was always aiming in that direction, to the exclusion of every other aspiration. When he received the letters he was readily convinced and quickly arrived at the [198] capital accompanied by a choice body of troops. He entered the city in the depth of night by way of the wicket-gate of Michael the protovestiarios which is near the Acropolis. Then he went to the house of the magister Gregoras Iberitzes, his father-in-law, and passed the night there, he and those with who were with him.

After Constantine [VII] had departed this life and passed on to the hereafter, Romanos his son came to power. He appointed officials who were fervently loyal to him and, once he had assured his hold on the empire as securely as possible, he crowned his son Basil at the feast of Easter, still in the third year of the indiction, by the hands of the patriarch Polyeuktos, at the Great Church.

The following year another son was born [to Romanos], this one in the palace at Pege, whom he called Constantine after his father.

[Romanos] was young and devoted to pleasure; he abandoned the supervision of every matter to Joseph Bringas, the praepositos and parakoimomenos, for he himself would have nothing to do with anything but the pursuit of ribald behaviour in the company of silly young men who frequented prostitutes, wantons, actors and comedians. There was a cleric, a eunuch who, warned by the emperor Constantine about his disorderly behaviour, had adopted the monastic habit and kept himself out of sight until the emperor's death. But as soon as Romanos came to power, he made him throw off the monastic habit and put on the garb of a secular cleric, associating himself with the attendants of the imperial bedchamber. Now Polyeuktos, full of zeal, importuned and besought the emperor at great length to discharge this man [249] from his service for having renounced the monastic profession. The emperor refused, claiming that [John] had never really taken the monastic habit or had the office [of clothing] said over him by any one of the priests; he had feigned the monastic way of life for fear of the emperor and, taken in by this, Polyeuktos let the matter drop - Joseph also having worked hard to attain that result. [As for John], he lived a secular, disorderly life until the death of Romanos, after which he again assumed the monastic habit. But he did not change his state of mind.

After Michael met his end in that way the supreme power passed to the empress Zoe, she being the heir. She addressed herself with youthful vigour to state business in cooperation with her father’s eunuchs whom the narrative has frequently touched on above. But she did not remain in the same state of mind. Faced with the enormous responsibility of the empire, she realised she could not adequately administer the public business all alone. She thought it was detrimental for such a dominion to be without ruler and director and judged it necessary to procure an emperor capable of dealing with matters in the various circumstances which might arise. For three whole days she considered this matter, then she received as her adoptive son and proclaimed emperor of the Romans the [late] emperor’s nephew and namesake, the son of that Stephen who had ruined the situation in Sicily. [This Michael was already] caesar and seemed to be both a man of action and a capable administrator. She had previously bound him with awesome oaths to hold her as his mistress, his Sovereign Lady and mother for as long as she lived and to do whatever she commanded. She took him as her adopted son and proclaimed him emperor of the Romans, placing the imperial diadem on his brow, but first she got rid of the Orphanotrophos by banishing him to the Monobata monastery.She also relieved Constantine, the domestic of the scholai, of his command, exiling him to his estate of Apsis in the Opsikion theme [417] and likewise sent off the protovestiarios George to his estate in Paphlagonia. In the very same hour at which he received the diadem Michael was afflicted with vertigo and swimming in the head. He almost fell over; they were only just able to revive him with sweet oils, perfumes and other aromatic substances. The earth was a-tremble throughout the four months of his reign. Meanwhile, after he had been crowned by the patriarch and was established as emperor, he conciliated the Senate with honours and promotions, the people with distributions of bounties.

After Nikephoros died, John Tzimiskes assumed responsibility for the Roman government with Basil and Constantine, the sons of Romanos [II], as co-emperors; Basil was in the seventh year of his life, Constantine in his fifth. [John] immediately summoned Basil the parakoimomenos by night and made him his associate in power. It was in no small measure owing to this man that the emperor Nikephoros gained the imperial throne, for which he was appointed president [of the Senate] – a position which did not exist before; Nikephoros was the first to name anybody to it. [John made this man his associate] because he had been involved in affairs of state for many years, under Romanos [I] the Elder, his own father, then under his half-brother, Constantine [VII] Porphyrogennetos. Many times he had campaigned against the Hagarenes and he was especially skilled in smoothly adapting himself to difficult situations. He quickly took matters in hand and expelled all those who remained in favour of Nikephoros. He exiled Leo the kouropalates to Lesbos and his son, Nikephoros the vestes, to Imbros. He wrote to Bardas the younger, then duke of Chaldia and Coloneia, relieving him of his command and transferring him to Amaseia. And he dismissed those others who held civil or military commands from their positions, appointing his own men, supporters of the new emperor. [285] He permitted those whom Nikephoros had exiled to return, especially those bishops he had exiled for refusing to sign the bill by which that emperor sought to restrict and humiliate the church, as this narrative has already reported.

After taking these measures, in that same night the emperor, accompanied by only a few men, went to the Great Church without the slightest apprehension; his intention was to receive the diadem at the hand of the patriarch. But when he was about to enter the church, Polyeuktos would not allow it. He said that a man whose hands were dripping with the steaming blood of a newly slain kinsman was unworthy to enter a church of God; that he had better start showing deeds of repentance and thus gain permission to tread the floor of the house of the Lord. John quietly accepted a penance and obediently declared that he would perform it all.

Romanos was succeeded as emperor by his sons, Basil and Constantine, together with Theophano, their mother, who bore a daughter whom they named Anna, two days before [Romanos’] death.

Romanos was tall, but less tall than his father. He was courteous and gentle in his ways and not without brains. Even as a young man his mind was sharp and quick; he would have been perfectly capable of governing the state if he had been allowed to do so by the attendants but his closest companions encouraged him to give free rein to his youthful excesses. In order to keep themselves in office running the state and free to acquire wealth for their own use, they portrayed him as a useless, idle fellow.

In April of the same (sixth) year of the indiction Nikephoros Phokas came to Constantinople at the Sovereign Lady's request, in spite of Joseph [Bringas'] repeated protests. He celebrated a triumph in the Hippodrome with the spoils of Crete and of Berroia. He also brought a portion of the raiment of John the Baptist which he had found conserved at Berroia. Bringas regarded him with fear and suspicion but [Nikephoros] was able to lead him astray by deceiving him in the following way. Taking one of his bodyguards with him, he went to Joseph's house around supper time. [255] He knocked at the door and told the doorkeeper to announce who had come. He was announced and invited in, whereupon he took Joseph apart and showed him the hair shirt he was wearing under his clothes. He told Joseph (and swore that it was true) that he would have embraced the monastic way of life, donned the habit and delivered himself from worldly cares long ago, had he not been detained by his attachment to the emperors Constantine and Romanos; now he was going to do what he had so long intended to do as soon as possible.

Thus, contrary to all hope and expectation, Romanos escaped the danger of losing his eyes, [surviving] to be girded with imperial authority and proclaimed ruling emperor together with Zoe, daughter of Constantine. No sooner was he seated on the throne than he honoured his subjects with preliminary bounties and inaugural gifts. His earliest benefactions were in the religious domain. He knew that the income of the Great Church was insufficient because he had previously served as the oikonomos of this and of the other churches which were customarily served by the clergy of the Great Church. He now stipulated that an additional advance of eighty pounds of gold was to be made to it from the imperial treasury each year. He suppressed and completely eliminated the allelengyon, which Constantine had intended to do but never did. He emptied the prisons of those who were detained there for debt, excusing unpaid taxes and paying private debts in full. He ransomed the prisoners held in Patzinakia. He honoured three metropolitan [bishops] with the title of synkellos: Kyriakos of Ephesus, the patriarch’s brother; Demetrios of Kyzikos, with whom he had been close friends before becoming emperor; and Michael of Euchaita, who was related by blood to Demetrios as they were both born into the family of the Rhadenoi. He sent for John who had served as protonotarios under the emperor Basil, already tonsured as a monk, honoured him with the title of synkellos and appointed him guardian of his own wife’s sister, Theodora. He restored many of those servants of God who had come to the ultimate degree of penury because of the allelengyon [376] and granted relief to others whom distress and oppression had brought into tight straits. He provided a very large amount of money for the salvation of the soul of his father-in-law and he did likewise for those who had suffered under that man, appointing some of them to offices, comforting some with properties, others with money.

Once she had acquired her hereditary throne Theodora immediately pursued with vengeance those who had plotted to make the proteuon ruler, depriving them of their property and sending them into exile. She promoted all her eunuchs to high office, appointing Theodore to be domestic of the scholai for the east and sending him to the orient to obstruct the inroads of the Turks (she had previously removed the magister Isaac Komnenos from his position of stratopedarch). Monomachos had already shipped all the Macedonian forces over to the east with Macedonians exclusively in command (of whom Bryennios was one) because it was rumoured among the Turkish people that they would be overturned by a force similar to that with which Alexander the Macedonian overturned the Persians. She appointed Niketas to be logothete of the drome, Manuel droungarios of the watch. She also appointed to her service the synkellos, Leo Strabospondylos, who had served under the emperor Michael, on account of his experience in the administration of public affairs.

When Leo, Archbishop of Bulgaria, died she appointed the monk Theodoulos, originally from Iconium, a city of Tetrapolis, hegoumenos of the monastery of the great and holy martyr Mokios; he was totally ignorant of secular learning but was profoundly versed in divinity, exuding the grace and virtue which sacred studies inspire.

After Leo was put to death, his assassins callously dragged his corpse through the Skyla gate and brought it into the Hippodrome, fearing nothing because the imperial palace was guarded at all points by their own forces. His wife was hauled off from the palace together with her four children, Symbatios (whose name was changed to Constantine after his proclamation as co-emperor), Basil, Gregory and Theodosios. They were thrust into a skiff and brought to the island of Prote where all four were castrated. Theodosios succumbed and went to share his own father’s grave.

As for Michael, he was now released from the prison of the papias, his feet still restrained by fetters because the key to the irons was kept in Leo’s bosom. It was thus that he now sat on the imperial throne, fetters and all; that is how he was when all those then holding palatine appointments acclaimed him and fell down before him. Then, towards midday, when the rumour had spread in all directions (by now his fetters had been struck off with a hammer), without even washing his hands, with no fear of God in his heart nor with any thought of what else ought to be done, off he went to the Great Church of the [holy] Wisdom, anxious to be crowned by the hand of the patriarch and to be publicly acclaimed. He trusted nobody other than his fellow conspirators who had carried out the assassination. At this point one might well wonder at these two emperors’ lack of judgement: the outgoing one who had no one to help him among such a large and varied rout of flatterers, all of whom took refuge in their holes like snakes; and the disorderly, shameless nature of the one after him who went into church, not like some murderer or executioner with bloodied hands, but rather as a victorious athlete and conqueror, [25] exulting over what had happened – he who had just shed the blood of a fellow countryman, not in any common place, but in God’s sanctuary where the Lord’s blood is daily poured out for the forgiveness of our sins.