La dynastie macédonienne (867-1057), l’une des plus durables de l’Empire byzantin, parvint à monopoliser la légitimité impériale jusqu’à la mort de Théodora en 1056, malgré l’extinction de la lignée masculine en 1028. La disparition de Constantin VIII, sans héritier mâle, entraîne une série de règnes fondés sur l’alliance par mariage ou adoption avec ses filles,…
In December 944, Romanos I (r. 920-944) was deposed in a coup involving three co-emperors: his two sons, Stephanos and Constantine, and his son-in-law, Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos. Forty days later, in January 945, the Macedonian emperor ousted his two brothers-in-law, becoming sole emperor. This paper revisits the much-debated succession crisis, arguing that a thorough re-examination…
The middle of the tenth century has been marked by the introduction — or, as other modern historians would have it, the codification — of a series of military reforms that culminated in the creation, during the reign of Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas (963-969), of a new-model army: a force which, compared to the thematic…
On 7 April 866 the Byzantines launched an expedition to retake Crete, which was under Muslim control. The scale of the operation appears to have been very large. The Byzantine army and navy had gathered at Kepoi, on the Meander River along the coast of the Thracesion theme; Michael III, Basil and Bardas were also…