Christopher Lekapenos

Christopher Lekapenos
Christopher Lekapenos
Co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire

Gold solidus of Romanos I with Christopher
Reign 921–931
Father Romanos Lekapenos
Mother Theodora

Christopher Lekapenos or Lecapenus (Greek: Χριστόφορος Λακαπηνός) was the eldest son of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos (r. 920–944) and co-emperor from 921 until his death in 931.

Contents

Life

Christopher was the oldest son of Romanos Lekapenos and the second-oldest child after his sister Helena. Younger siblings were Agatha, who married Romanos Argyros, Stephen and Constantine (co-emperors from 924 until 945), Theophylact (Patriarch of Constantinople in 933–956), and two unnamed younger sisters.[1][2]

Nothing is known of Christopher's early life. He was certainly an adult by 919–920, and had a daughter of marriageable age in 927,[3] hence he was probably born around 890–895. Already before his father's rise to power, he had been married to Sophia, the daughter of the wealthy patrikios Niketas, a Slav from the Peloponnese.[4]

When Romanos succeeded in having his daughter Helena Lekapene married to the young emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos in spring 919 and assumed the role of guardian of the emperor with the title basileopator, Christopher succeeded him in his post as megas hetaireiarches, commander of the palace guard.[5][6] Romanos soon crowned himself emperor (December 920), and eventually advanced himself before the young Constantine in precedence. To further cement his position, and planning to advance his own family over the legitimate Macedonian line, Romans crowned Christopher also as co-emperor on 20 May 921.[3][6][7] Furthermore, when Christopher's mother, the Augusta Theodora died in February 922, his wife Sophia was raised to the dignity of Augusta alongside Helena Lekapene.[8]

In 927, as part of a peace agreement, Christopher's daughter Maria, renamed Eirene ("peace") for the occasion, was married to the Bulgarian emperor Peter I (r. 927–969).[9] Romanos used the occasion to advance Christopher before Constantine Porphyrogennetos, making him first among the rather large group of co-emperors (in 924, Christopher's younger brothers Stephen and Constantine had also been crowned as co-emperors).[3][6][10] In 928, his father-in-law, the patrikios Niketas, unsuccessfully tried to incite Christopher to depose his father, and was banished. The motive behind this was perhaps Christopher's poor health, and fears by his wife and her father that, should he die prematurely, they would lose their status.[6][11] In the event, Christopher died in August 931, much mourned by his father, who shed tears "like the Egyptians" and thereafter increasingly became devoted to religious pursuits. Soon after Christopher's death, Sophia too retired from the court and entered a monastery, where she died.[12][13]

Family

Through his marriage to Sophia, Christopher had three children:[1][12]

  • Maria-Eirene (died ca. 965), the Empress-consort of Peter I of Bulgaria.[9][14]
  • Romanos, still a child at the time of Christopher's death. According to Zonaras he was favoured by his grandfather, who thought about promoting him to his father's place as senior co-emperor, but for his death soon after.[12]
  • Michael, an infant at the time of Christopher's death, he was made a cleric at the time of the family's fall from power in 945. He eventually reached the high dignities of magistros and rhaiktor, but nothing further is known of his later life.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b Kazhdan (1991), p. 1204
  2. ^ Cawley, ROMANOS LEKAPENOS
  3. ^ a b c Grierson & Bellinger (1973), p. 528
  4. ^ Runciman (1929), p. 64
  5. ^ Runciman (1929), p. 60
  6. ^ a b c d Kazhdan (1991), p. 442
  7. ^ Runciman (1929), pp. 65–66
  8. ^ Runciman (1929), p. 67
  9. ^ a b Charles William Previté-Orton (1975) Cambridge Medieval History, Shorter: Volume 1, The Later Roman Empire to the Twelfth Century. Volume 1 of The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History, ISBN 0521099765 p. 256
  10. ^ Runciman (1929), pp. 67, 97
  11. ^ Runciman (1929), pp. 71–72
  12. ^ a b c Runciman (1929), p. 78
  13. ^ Grierson & Bellinger (1973), p. 526
  14. ^ Runciman (1929), pp. 78, 237
  15. ^ Runciman (1929), pp. 78, 234

Sources


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Christopher — may refer to: Christopher (name) People: Christopher (Pulets) of Prague, primate elect of the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia Christopher Lekapenos, Byzantine co emperor (921–931) Christopher of Bavaria, union king of Denmark (1440–1448),… …   Wikipedia

  • Constantine Lekapenos — Co emperor of the Byzantine Empire Miliaresion from 931–944, showing Romanos I s bust on a cross on the obverse and listing the …   Wikipedia

  • Romanos I — Lekapenos or Romanus I Lecapenus (Greek: Ρωμανός Α΄ Λακαπήνος, Rōmanos I Lakapēnos ; hy. Րոմանոս Ա Ղակապենոս, Romanos Ayp Ghagabenos ) (c. 870 ndash; June 15, 948) was Byzantine Emperor from 920 to his deposition on December 16, 944.… …   Wikipedia

  • Theodora, wife of Romanos I — Theodora (d. 20 February, 922) was the wife of Romanos I.EmpressHer origins and background are not known. She became the mother in law to Constantine VII in May or June, 919 with the marriage of the young Emperor to her daughter Helena Lekapene.… …   Wikipedia

  • Helena Lekapene — (Latinized to Lecapena, c. 910 19 September 961) was the Empress consort of Constantine VII. She was a daughter of Romanos I and his wife Theodora.BackgroundThe deaths of Emperor Leo VI the Wise in 912 and his brother and successor Alexander in… …   Wikipedia

  • Constantine VII — Constantine VII Emperor of the Byzantine Empire Constantine and his mother Zoë. Reign Junior co emperor 908–913 and 920–945, sole …   Wikipedia

  • Hetaireia — For similarly spelled words, see Hetair . The Hetaireia or Hetaeria (Greek: ἑταιρεία) was a term for a corps of bodyguards during the Byzantine Empire. Its name means the Company , echoing the ancient Macedonian Companion cavalry. The imperial… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Bulgarian consorts — Contents 1 First Bulgarian Empire 1.1 Tsardom of Preslav 1.2 Tsardom of Ohrid 2 Second Bulgarian Empire …   Wikipedia

  • Domestic of the Schools — The Domestic of the Schools (Greek: δομέστικος τῶν σχολῶν, domestikos tōn scholōn) was a senior Byzantine military office, extant from the 8th century until at least the early 14th century. Originally simply the commander of the Scholai, the… …   Wikipedia

  • Manuel I Komnenos — This article is about the 12th century Byzantine Emperor. For the eldest son of Andronikos I Komnenos and father of Alexios I of Trebizond, see Manuel Komnenos (born 1145). Manuel I Komnenos Emp …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”