1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Constantine (emperors)

​CONSTANTINE, the name of several Roman and Later Roman emperors.

Constantine I., known as “The Great” (288 ?–337), Roman emperor—Flavius Valerius Constantinus,^[1]—was born on the 27th of February, probably in A.D. 288,^[2] at Naissus (the modern Nish) in Upper Moesia (Servia). He was the illegitimate son of Constantius I. and Flavia Helena (described by St Ambrose as an innkeeper). His father, already a distinguished officer, soon afterwards became praefectus praetorio, and in 293 was raised to the rank of Caesar and placed in command of the western provinces. While still a boy, Constantine was sent—practically as a hostage—to the Eastern court. He accompanied Diocletian to the East in 302, was invested with the rank of tribunus primi ordinis and served under Galerius on the Danube. In 305 Diocletian and Maximianus abdicated, and Constantius and Galerius became Augusti, while Severus and Maximinus Daia attained the rank of Caesares. Constantius now demanded from Galerius the restoration of his son, which was unwillingly granted; indeed, we are told that Constantine only escaped from the court of Galerius by flight, and evaded pursuit by carrying off all the post-horses ! He traversed Europe with the greatest possible speed and found his father at Bononia (Boulogne), on the point of crossing to Britain to repel an invasion of Picts and Scots. After gaining a victory, Constantius died at Eboracum (York), and on the 25th of July 306, the army acclaimed his son as Augustus. Constantine, however, displayed that union of determination and prudence which the occasion required. He accepted the nomination of the army with feigned reluctance and wrote a carefully-worded letter to Galerius, disclaiming responsibility for the action of the troops, but requesting recognition as Caesar—a position to which he might naturally aspire on the elevation of Severus to the rank of Augustus. Galerius was not in a position to refuse the request, in view of the temper of the western army, and for a year Constantine bore the title of Caesar not only in his own provinces, but in those of the East as well. He fought with success against the Franks and Alamanni, and reorganized the defences of the Rhine, building a bridge at Colonia Agrippina (Cologne). The rising of Maxentius (q.v.) at Rome (Oct. 28), supported by his father Maximianus (q.v.), led to the defeat and capture of the western Augustus, Severus (q.v.). Maximianus thereupon recognized Constantine as Augustus (A.D. 307); their alliance was confirmed by the marriage of Constantine with Fausta, the daughter of Maximianus, and the father and son-in-law held the consulship, which, however, was not recognized in the East. Galerius now invaded Italy, but was forced by a mutiny of his troops to retire from the gates of Rome. Maximianus urged Constantine to fall upon the flank of his retreating army, but he once more showed his determination to tread the strict path of legitimacy. Maximianus, after the failure of his attempt to depose his son Maxentius, was forced to seek refuge with Constantine, and became a quantité négligeable. In 308 Diocletian and Galerius held a conference at Carnuntum and determined to annul the actions of the Western rulers. Maximianus was set aside, Licinius invested with the purple as Augustus of the West (Nov. 11), while the title filius Augustorum was conferred upon Constantine and Maximinus Daia, and the former was destined for a first consulship (that of 307 being passed over) for 309. Constantine, with his customary union of prudence and decision, tacitly ignored this arrangement; he continued to bear the title of Augustus, and in 309, when he himself was proclaimed consul (with Licinius) in the East, no consuls were recognized in his dominions. In 310, while Constantine was engaged in repelling an inroad of the Franks, Maximianus endeavoured to resume the purple at Arelate (Arles). Constantine returned in haste from the Rhine, and pursued Maximianus to Massilia, where he was captured and put to death.^[3] Since Constantine’s legal title to the Empire of the West rested on his recognition by Maximianus, he had now to seek for a new ground of legitimacy, and found it in the assertion of his descent from Claudius Gothicus (q.v.), who was represented as the father of Constantius Chlorus.^[4]

Constantine’s patience was soon rewarded. In 311 Galerius died, and Maximinus Daia (who had assumed the style of Augustus in 310) at once marched to the shores of the Bosporus and at the same time entered into negotiations with Maxentius. This threw Licinius into the arms of Constantine, who entered into alliance with him and betrothed his half-sister Constantia to him. In the spring of 312 Constantine crossed the Alps, before Maxentius, who had been obliged to suppress the rebellion of Domitius Alexander in Africa, had completed his preparations. The force he commanded was of uncertain strength; according to his Panegyrist (who may have underrated it) it consisted of about 25,000, according to Zonaras of nearly 100,000 men. He stormed Susa, defeated Maxentius’s generals at Turin and Verona, and marched straight for Rome. This bold and almost desperate move, which contrasted strongly with Constantine’s usual caution, and seemed to court the failure which had befallen Severus and Galerius, was, it would seem, the result of an event which, as told in Eusebius’s Life of Constantine, takes the form of a conspicuous miracle—the Vision of the Flaming Cross which appeared in the sky at noonday with the legend Έν τούτῳ νίκα (“By this conquer”), and led to Constantine’s conversion to Christianity. Eusebius professes to have heard the story from the lips of Constantine; but he wrote after the emperor’s ​death, and it was evidently unknown to him in the shape givenabove when he wrote the Ecclesiastical History. The author ofthe De mortibus persecutorum, whether Lactantius or another,was a well-informed contemporary, and he tells us that thesign was seen by Constantine in a dream; and even Eusebiussupplements the vision by day with a dream in the followingnight. In any case, Constantine, who may have been impressedby the misfortunes which had befallen the more strenuousopponents of Christianity, adopted the monogram ☧ as hisdevice^[5] and staked his all on the issue.

Maxentius, trusting in superiority of numbers,—he is said tohave had 170,000 infantry and 18,000 cavalry at his disposal,but this total probably includes the forces defeated by Constantinein Northern Italy—marched out of Rome and preparedto dispute the passage of the Tiber at the Pons Mulvius (PonteMolle), beside which a bridge of boats was constructed. Ourauthorities give no satisfactory account of the battle whichfollowed, and Aurelius Victor places it at Saxa Rubra, a statementaccepted by Moltke and other modern authorities. Itis more probable, as Seeck has shown, that while the head ofMaxentius’s column may have reached Saxa Rubra (which is somemiles to the north of the Mulvian Bridge on the Via Flaminia),Constantine, by a rapid turning movement, reached the ViaCassia and attacked Maxentius’s rearguard at the bridge,^[6]forcing him to fight in the narrow space between the hills andthe Tiber. The army which Constantine had been training forsix years at once proved its superiority. The Gallic cavalryswept the left wing of the enemy into the Tiber, swollen withautumn rains, and with it perished Maxentius, owing, as wassaid, to the collapse of the bridge of boats (Oct. 28). Theremainder of his troops surrendered at discretion and wereincorporated by Constantine in the ranks of his army, with theexception of the praetorian guard, which was finally disbanded.

Thus Constantine became undisputed master of Rome andthe West, and Christianity, although not as yet adopted as theofficial religion, secured by the edict of Milan toleration throughoutthe Empire. This edict was the result of a conferencebetween Constantine and Licinius in 313 at Milan, where themarriage of the latter with Constantia took place. Constantinewas forced to recognize Licinius’s natural son as his heir. In thecourse of the same year Licinius defeated Maximinus Daia,who perished at Tarsus by his own hand. In 314 war broke outbetween the two Augusti, owing, as we are told, to the treacheryof Bassianus, the husband of Constantine’s sister Anastasia,for whom he had claimed the rank of Caesar. After two hardwonvictories Constantine made peace, Illyricum and Greecebeing added to his dominions. Constantine and Licinius heldthe consulship in 315, in which year the former celebrated hisdecennalia, and on the 1st of March 317 Constantine’s two sonsand Licinius’s bastard were proclaimed Caesars.Peace was preserved for nearly nine years, during whichthe wise government of Constantine strengthened his position,while Licinius (who resumed the persecution of the Christiansin 321) steadily lost ground through his indolence and cruelty.Great armaments, both military and naval, were called intobeing by both emperors, and in the spring of 324^[7] Licinius(whose forces are said to have been superior in numbers) declaredwar. He was twice defeated, first at Adrianople (July 1) andafterwards at Chrysopolis (Sept. 18), when endeavouring toraise the siege of Byzantium, and was finally captured at Nicomedia.His life was spared on the intercession of Constantiaand he was interned at Thessalonica, where he was executed inthe following year on the charge of treasonable correspondencewith the barbarians.

Constantine now reigned as sole emperor in East and West.He presided at the council of Nicaea (see under Nicaea andCouncil) in 325; in the same year he celebrated his Vicennaliain the East, and in 326 repeated the celebration in Rome.Whilst he was in Rome his eldest son, Crispus, was banishedto Pola and there put to death on a charge brought against himby Fausta. Shortly afterwards, as it would seem, Constantinebecame convinced of his innocence, and ordered Fausta to beexecuted. The precise nature of the circumstances remains amystery.

In 326 Constantine determined to remove the seat of empirefrom Rome to the East, and before the close of the year thefoundation-stone of Constantinople was laid. At least two othersites—Sardica and Troy—were considered before the emperor’schoice fell on Byzantium. It is very probable that this stepwas connected with Constantine’s decision to make Christianitythe official religion of the empire. Rome was naturally thestronghold of paganism, to which the great majority of thesenate clung with fervent devotion. Constantine did not wishto do open violence to this sentiment, and therefore resolved tofound a new capital for the new empire of his creation. Heannounced that the site had been revealed to him in a dream;the ceremony of inauguration was performed by Christianecclesiastics on the 11th of May 330, when the city was dedicatedto the Blessed Virgin.

In 332 Constantine was called in to aid the Sarmatians againstthe Goths over whom his son gained a great victory on the20th of April. Two years later there was again fighting onthe Danube, when 300,000 Sarmatians were settled in Romanterritory. In 335 a rebellion in Cyprus gave Constantine anexcuse for executing the younger Licinius. In the same yearhe carried out a partition of the empire between his three sonsand his two nephews, Delmatius and Hannibalianus. The lastnamed received the vassal-kingdom of Pontus with the title ofrex regum, while the others ruled as Caesars in their severalprovinces. Constantine, however, retained the supreme government,and in 335 celebrated his tricennalia. Finally, in 337,Shapur (Sapor) II. of Persia asserted his claim to the provincesconquered by Diocletian, and war broke out. Constantine waspreparing to lead his army in person, when he was taken ill,and after a vain trial of the baths at Helenopolis, died at Ancyrona,a suburb of Nicomedia, on the 22nd of May, having receivedChristian baptism shortly before at the hands of Eusebius. Hewas buried in the church of the Apostles at Constantinople.

It has been said by Stanley that Constantine was entitled tobe called “Great” in virtue rather of what he did than of whathe was; and it is true that neither his intellectual nor his moralqualities were such as to earn the title. His claim to greatnessrests mainly on the fact that he divined the future which laybefore Christianity, and determined to enlist it in the serviceof his empire, and also on his achievement in completing thework begun by Aurelian and Diocletian, by which the quasi-constitutionalmonarchy or “Principate” of Augustus wastransformed into the naked absolutism sometimes called the“Dominate.” There is no reason to doubt the sincerity ofConstantine’s conversion to Christianity, although we may notattribute to him the fervent piety which Eusebius ascribes tohim, nor accept as genuine the discourses which pass under hisname. The moral precepts of the new religion were not withoutinfluence upon his life, and he caused his sons to receive aChristian education. Motives of political expediency, however,caused him to delay the full recognition of Christianity as thereligion of the state until he became sole ruler of the empire,although he not merely secured toleration for it immediatelyafter his victory over Maxentius, but intervened in the Donatistcontroversy as early as 313, and presided at the council of Arlesin the following year. By a series of enactments immunitiesand privileges of various kinds were conferred on the CatholicChurch and clergy—heretics being specifically excluded—andthe emperor’s attitude towards paganism gradually revealeditself as one of contemptuous toleration. From being theestablished religion of the state it sank into a mere superstitio. ​At the same time its rites were allowed to subsist except wherethey were held to be subversive of morality, and even in theclosing years of Constantine’s reign we find legislation in favourof the municipal flamines and collegia. In 333, or later, a cultof the Gens Flavia, as the Imperial family was called, wasestablished at Hispellum (Spello); the offering of sacrifices inthe new temple was, however, strictly prohibited. Nor was ituntil after Constantine’s final triumph over Licinius that pagansymbols disappeared from the coinage and the Christian monogram(which had already been used as a mint mark) becamea prominent device. From this time forward the Arian controversydemanded the emperor’s constant attention, and byhis action in presiding at the council of Nicaea and afterwardspronouncing sentence of banishment against Athanasius he notonly identified himself more openly than ever with Christianity,but showed a determination to assert his supremacy in ecclesiasticalaffairs, holding no doubt that, as the office of pontifexmaximus gave him the supreme control of religious mattersthroughout the empire, the regulation of Christianity fell withinhis province. In this matter his discernment failed him. Ithad been comparatively easy to apply coercion to the Donatists,whose resistance to the temporal power was not wholly due tospiritual considerations,^[8] but was largely the result of less puremotives; but the Arian controversy raised fundamental issues,which to the mind of Constantine appeared capable of compromise,but in reality, as Athanasius rightly discerned, disclosedvital differences of doctrine. The result foreshadowed theprocess by which the church which Constantine hoped to mouldinto an instrument of absolutism became its most determinedopponent. It is unnecessary to give more than a passing mentionto the legend according to which Constantine, smitten withleprosy after the execution of Crispus and Fausta, receivedabsolution and baptism from Silvester I. and by his Donationto the bishop of Rome laid the foundation of the temporalpower of the papacy (see Donation of Constantine).

The political system of Constantine was the final result ofa process which, though it had lasted as long as the empire, hadassumed a marked form under Aurelian. It was Aurelian whosurrounded the imperial person with oriental pomp, wearing thediadem and the jewelled robe, and assuming the style of dominusand even deus, who assimilated Italy to the condition of theprovinces and gave official furtherance to the economic processby which a régime of status replaced a régime of contract.Diocletian endeavoured to secure the new despotism againstmilitary usurpation by an elaborate system of co-regency withtwo lines of succession, bearing the names of Jovii and Herculii,but maintained by adoption and not by hereditary succession.This artificial system was destroyed by Constantine, whoestablished dynastic absolutism in favour of his own family,the gens Flavia, evidence of whose cult is found both in Italyand in Africa. To form a court he created a new official aristocracyto replace the senatorial order, which the military emperorsof the 3rd century A.D. had reduced to practical insignificance.Upon this aristocracy he showered titles and distinctions, such asthe revised patriciate, which carried with them the covetedimmunity from fiscal burdens.^[9] As the senate was now aquantité négligeable, Constantine could afford to readmit itsmembers freely to the career of provincial administration, whichhad been almost closed to them since the reign of Gallienus, andto accord to it certain empty privileges such as the free electionof quaestors and praetors, while on the other hand the right ofthe senator to be tried by his peers was taken away and he wasplaced under the jurisdiction of the provincial governor.In the administration of the empire Constantine completedthe work of Diocletian by effecting the separation of civil frommilitary functions. Under him the praefecti praetorio ceaseentirely to perform military duties and become the heads of thecivil administration, more especially in the matter of jurisdiction:in 331 their decisions were made final and no appeal to theemperor was permitted. The civil governors of the provinces(vicarii and praesides) had no control of the military forces,which were commanded by duces; and not content with thesecurity against usurpation which was afforded by this divisionof power, Constantine employed the comites who formed a largeelement in the official aristocracy to supervise and report upontheir conduct of affairs (see Count), as well as an army of so-calledagentes in rebus who, under colour of inspecting the Imperialposting service, carried on a wholesale system of espionage.In the organization of the army the creation of a field force(comitatenses) beside the permanent frontier-garrisons (limitanei)was probably the work of Diocletian; to Constantine is due thecreation of the great commands under the magistri peditumand equitum. He also introduced the practice, afterwardsincreasingly common, of placing barbarians, especially Germans,in posts of high responsibility.

The organization of society in strictly hereditary corporationsor professions was no doubt partly completed before the accessionof Constantine; but his legislation contributed to rivet thefetters which bound each individual to the caste from which hesprang. Such originales are mentioned in Constantine’s earliestlaws, and in 332 the hereditary status of the agricultural colonuswas recognized and enforced. Above all, the municipal decurioneson whom the responsibility for raising taxation rested saw everyavenue of escape closed against them. In 326 they were forbiddento acquire immunity by joining the ranks of the Christianclergy. It was the interest of the government by such meansto secure the regular payment of the heavy fiscal burdens bothin money and in kind which had been laid on the subjects ofthe empire by Diocletian and were certainly not diminished byConstantine. One of our ancient authorities speaks of him ashaving been for ten years an excellent ruler, for twelve a robberand for ten a spendthrift, and he was constantly forced to haverecourse to fresh exactions in order to enrich his favourites andto carry out such extravagant projects as the building of a newcapital. To him are due the taxes known as collatio glebalis,levied on the estates of senators, and collatio lustralis, levied onthe profits of trade.

In general legislation the reign of Constantine was a time offeverish activity. Nearly three hundred of his enactmentsare preserved to us in the Codes, especially that of Theodosius.They display a genuine desire for reform and distinct traces ofChristian influence, e.g. in their humane provisions as to thetreatment of prisoners and slaves and the penalties imposedon offences against morality. Nevertheless they are in manyinstances singularly crude in conception as well as turgid in style,and were manifestly drafted by official rhetoricians rather thanby trained legists. Like Diocletian, Constantine believed thatthe time had come for society to be remodelled by the fiat ofdespotic authority, and it is significant that from henceforthwe meet with the undisguised assertion that the will of theemperor, in whatever form expressed, is the sole fountain oflaw. Constantine, in fact, embodies the spirit of absoluteauthority which, both in church and state, was to prevail formany centuries.

​Constantine II. (317–340), son of Constantine the Great, Roman emperor (337–340), was born at Arelate (Arles) inFebruary 317. On the 1st of March in the same year he wascreated Caesar, and was consul in 320, 321, 324 and 329. Thefifth anniversary of his Caesarship was celebrated by the panegyristNazarius (q.v.). He gained the credit of the victories ofhis generals over the Alamanni (331, for which he received thetitle Alamannicus), and over the Goths (332). From 335 headministered the Gallic portion of the empire as Caesar till hisfather’s death (22nd of May 337). On the 9th of September inthe same year he assumed the title of Augustus, together withhis brothers Constans and Constantius, and in 338 a meetingwas held at Viminiacum, on the borders of Pannonia, to arrangethe distribution of the empire. In accordance with the arrangementsmade by his father, Constantine received Britain, Spainand the Gauls; Pontus, Asia, the East, and Egypt fell toConstantius; Africa, Pannonia and the Italies to the youngestbrother Constans, whose dominions were further increased bythe addition of Macedonia, Dalmatia and Thrace, originallyintended for Delmatius, a nephew of Constantine I. and one ofthe victims of the general massacre of that emperor’s kinsmen.By virtue of his seniority, Constantine claimed a kind of controlover his brothers. Constans, an ambitious youth encouragedby intriguing advisers, declined to submit; and Constantine,jealous of his prerogatives and dissatisfied with his share inthe empire, demanded from Constans the cession of Africa andequal authority in Italy. After protracted but unavailingnegotiations, Constantine in 340 invaded Italy. He had advancedas far as Aquileia, when he fell into an ambuscade and losthis life. His body was thrown into the little river Alsa, butsubsequently recovered and buried with royal honours.

Constantine III., son of the emperor Heraclius (d. 641) byhis first wife Eudocia, succeeded his father as joint-emperorwith Heracleonas, the son of Heraclius by his second wifeMartina. Court intrigues nearly led to a civil war, which wasprevented by the death of Constantine (May 641), after a briefreign of 103 days. He was supposed to have been poisoned byorder of his step-mother Martina.

Constantine IV. Pogonatus (the “bearded”), son of ConstansII., was emperor from 668 to 685. After his father’s death heset out for Sicily, where an Armenian named Mizizius had beendeclared emperor. Having defeated and put the usurper todeath, he returned to the capital. For six years (672–677) theArabs under the caliph Moawiya (see Caliphate) besiegedConstantinople, but the ravages caused amongst them by theso-called “Greek fire,” heavy losses by land and sea, and theinroads of the Christian Mardaites (or Maronites, q.v.) of MountLebanon, obliged Moawiya to make peace and agree to paytribute for thirty years. The attacks of the Slavs and Avarsupon Thessalonica were heroically repulsed by the inhabitants.But Constantine, exhausted by the war with the Arabs, wasunable to prevent the Bulgars, a tribe of Finno-Ugrian race,from crossing the Danube and settling in the district wheretheir name still survives. The Bulgarian kingdom was establishedunder its first king Isperich in 679. The tribute paid by theArabs was used to purchase the good will of the new settlers.In order to restore peace in the church, Constantine summonedan ecumenical council (the sixth) at Constantinople, which heldits sittings from the 7th of November 680 to the 16th ofSeptember 681. The result was the condemnation of theMonothelites and a recognition of the doctrine that two wills,neither opposed nor intermingled, were united in the personof Christ, in accordance with his twofold nature (see underConstantinople, Councils of).

Constantine V. Copronymus (Gr. κόπρος), son of Leo III.the iconoclast, was emperor 740–775, Immediately after hisaccession, while he was engaged in a campaign against the Arabs,his brother-in-law, an Armenian named Artavasdus, a supporterof the image-worshippers, had been proclaimed emperor, andit was not till the end of 743 that Constantine re-entered Constantinople.When he felt his position secure, he determinedto settle the religious controversy once for all. In 754 heassembled at the palace of Hiereion 338 bishops, by whom theworship of images was forbidden as opposed to all Christiandoctrine and a curse pronounced upon all those who upheld it.But in spite of the severity with which the resolution was enforced,the resistance to iconoclasm continued, chiefly owingto the attitude of the monks, who exercised great influence overthe common people. A vigorous campaign against monasticismtook place; the monasteries were closed, and many of thempulled down or converted into barracks; monks and nunswere compelled to marry, and exiled in large numbers to Cyprus;the literary and artistic treasures were sold for the benefit of theimperial treasury. One of the most important results of thestruggle was the defection of the pope, who sought and obtainedprotection from Pippin, king of the Franks. All attempts toinduce Pippin to throw over his new protégé failed, and fromthis time onward the nominal dependence of Rome and thepapacy on emperors at Constantinople ceased. Constantinehas been described by the orthodox historians of his time as amonster of iniquity; but, in spite of the harshness and occasionalcruelty with which he treated his religious opponents, for whichan excuse may be found in the obstinate fanaticism of the monks,it is now generally admitted that he was one of the most capablerulers who ever occupied the Byzantine throne. He restoredthe aqueduct built by Valens and destroyed by the barbariansin the reign of Heraclius, re-peopled Constantinople (after ithad been devastated by a great plague) and some of the citiesof Thrace, revived commercial prosperity, and carried on anumber of wars, in which, on the whole, he was successful,against the Arabs, Slavs and Bulgarians. In the year of hisdeath he set out on an expedition against the last-named, buta violent attack of fever obliged him to discontinue his journey.He died on board his fleet on his way home.

Constantine VI., grandson of Constantine V., was emperor 780–797.At ten years of age he succeeded his father, Leo IV.,under the guardianship of his mother Irene (q.v.), who held thereins of government for ten years. In 782 the Arabs underHarun al-Rashid penetrated as far as the Bosporus, and exactedan annual tribute as the price of an inglorious peace (see Caliphate, § C, 3 ad fin.). Even when Constantine came of age,Irene practically retained the supreme power. At lengthConstantine had her arrested, but foolishly pardoned her shortlyafterwards. Disastrous campaigns against the Bulgarians andArabs afforded her an opportunity of rousing the contempt andhatred of the people against their ruler. On his return toConstantinople, Constantine managed to escape to the Asiaticcoast, but being brought back practically by force he was seizedand blinded. According to some, he died on the same day;according to others, he survived for several years. WithConstantine VI. the Syrian (Isaurian) dynasty became extinct.

Constantine VII. Porphyrogenitus (Gr. Porphyrogennētos,“born in the purple”) (905–959), East Roman emperor, authorand patron of literature, was the son of Leo VI. the Wise.Though nominally emperor from 912–959, it was not until945 that Constantine could really be called sole ruler. During thisperiod he had been practically excluded from all real share in thegovernment by ambitious relatives. Though wanting in strengthof will, Constantine possessed intelligence and many other goodqualities, and his reign on the whole was not unsatisfactory.He was poisoned by his son Romanus in 959. Constantine wasa painter and a patron of art, a literary man and a patron ofliterature; and herein consists his real importance, since it isto works written by or directly inspired by him that we areindebted for our chief knowledge of his times. He was theauthor or inspirer of several works of considerable length. (1)De Thematibus, an account of the military districts (Themata) ​of the empire during the time of Justinian, chiefly borrowed from Hierocles and Stephanus of Byzantium. (2) De administrando imperio, an account of the condition of the empire, and an exposition of the author’s view of government, written for the use of his son Romanus; it also contains most valuable information as to the condition and history of various foreign nations with which the Byzantine empire had been brought into contact on the east, west and north. (3) De cerimoniis aulae Byzantinae, which describes the customs of the Eastern Churchand court. (4) A life of Basilius I., his grandfather, based on the work of Genesius. (5) Two treatises on military subjects areattributed to him; one on tactics, which, as the title shows, was really written by his grandson Constantine VIII., the other a description of the different methods of fighting in fashionamongst different peoples. (6) A speech on the despatch of an image of Christ to Abgar, king of Edessa. Of works undertaken by his instructions the most important were the EncyclopaedicExcerpts from all available treatises on various branches of learning. (1) Historica, in 53 sections, each devoted to a special subject; of these the sections De legationibus, De virtutibus et vitiis, De sententiis, De insidiis, have been wholly or partlypreserved. (2) Basilica, a compilation from the different parts of the Justinian Corpus Juris, subsequently the text-book forthe study of law. (3) Geoponica, agricultural treatises, for which see Geoponici and Bassus, Cassianus. (4) Iatrica, a medical handbook compiled by one Theophanes Nonnus, chiefly from Oribasius. (5) Hippiatrica, on veterinary surgery, the connexion of which with Constantine is, however, disputed. (6) Historia animalium, a compilation from the epitome of Aristotle’s workon the subject by Aristophanes of Byzantium, with additions from other writers such as Aelian and Timotheus of Gaza.

Constantine VIII. This title is given by Gibbon to the son of Romanus I. Lecapenus, one of the colleagues of Constantine VII. Porphyrogenitus, but it is now generally bestowed upon Constantine, the brother and colleague of Basil II. from 976–1025, sole ruler 1025–1028. An absolute contrast to his brother, he gave himself up to a life of pleasure and allowed the administration to fall into the hands of six eunuchs.

Constantine IX. Monomachus, emperor 1042–1054, owed his elevation to an old admirer, Zoë, the widow of Romanus III. Argyrus (1028–1034) and of Michael IV. the Paphlagonian (1034–1041), who, after the brief reign of Michael V. Calaphates (December 1041–April 1042), was proclaimed empress with her sister, Theodora. Quarrels broke out between the sisters, and, in order to secure her position, Zoë married Constantine, with whom she shared the throne till her death in 1050. In his old age Constantine, who had once been a famous warrior, utterly neglected the defences of the empire and reduced his army by disbanding 50,000 of his best troops; on the other hand, he spent extravagant sums on luxuries and the erection of magnificentbuildings. Rebellions broke out at home and abroad; the Normans conquered Lombardy, which subsequently (1055) became the duchy of Apulia, and thus Italy was lost to the empire; the Petchenegs (Patzinaks) crossed the Danube andattacked Thrace and Macedonia; and the Seljuk Turks made their appearance on the Armenian frontier.

Constantine X. Ducas, emperor 1059–1067, succeeded Isaac I. Comnenus (q.v.). But the choice was not justified, for Constantine, who as the friend and minister of Isaac had shownhimself a capable statesman and financier, proved incompetent as an emperor. He devoted himself to philosophical trifling, petty administrative and judicial details, while his craze foreconomy developed into avarice. He reduced the army, cut down the soldiers’ pay, failed to keep up the supply of war material, and neglected the frontier fortresses at a time when the SeljukTurks were pressing hard upon the eastern portion of the empire. Alp Arslan, the successor of Toghrul Beg, overran Armenia in 1064, and destroyed its capital Ani. The Magyars occupiedBelgrade, the Petchenegs (Patzinaks) continued their inroads, and in 1065 the Uzes (called by the Greeks Comani), a Turkish tribe from the shores of the Euxine, crossed the Danube in vastnumbers, ravaged Thrace and Macedonia, and penetrated as far as Thessalonica. The empire was only saved by an outbreak of plague amongst the invaders and the bravery of the Bulgarianpeasants. In the year before Constantine’s death the remnant of the Byzantine possessions in Italy was finally lost to the empire, and the chief town, Bari, taken by the Normans.