Constantine V

Constantine V
Emperor of the Byzantine Empire
Constantine V and his father Leo III the Isaurian
Reign	741–775
Born	718
Birthplace	Constantinople
Died	14 September 775
Predecessor	Leo III the Isaurian
Successor	Leo IV the Khazar
Wives	Tzitzak ("Irene of Khazaria") Maria Eudokia
Offspring	Leo IV, Imperator Christopher, Caesar Nikephoros, Caesar Niketas, Nobelissimos Eudokimos, Nobelissimos Anthimos, Nobelissimos Anthousa (Saint Anthousa)
Dynasty	Isaurian Dynasty
Father	Leo III the Isaurian
Mother	Maria

Constantine V (718 – September 14, 775) was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775; Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Ε΄, Kōnstantinos V); (he was denigrated by his enemies as Kopronymos or Copronymus meaning the dung-named).

Life

Early life

Constantine was born in Constantinople, the son and successor of Emperor Leo III and Maria. In August 720 he was associated on the throne by his father, who had him marry Tzitzak, daughter of the Khazar khagan Bihar. His new bride was baptized as Irene (Eirēnē, "peace") in 732. Constantine V succeeded his father as sole emperor on April 19, 741.

Civil war against Artabasdos and first battles against veneration of images

Constantine was crossing Asia Minor to campaign against the Umayyad Caliphate under Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik on the eastern frontier in June 741 or 742. But during this course Constantine was attacked by the forces of his brother-in-law Artabasdos, the stratēgos of the Armeniac theme. Artabasdos was the husband of Anna, an older sister of Constantine.

Defeated, Constantine sought refuge in Amorion, while the victor advanced on Constantinople and was accepted as emperor. While Constantine now received the support of the Anatolic and Thracesian themes, Artabasdos secured that of the themes of Thrace and Opsikion, in addition to his own Armeniac soldiers.

After the rival emperors had bided their time in military preparations, Artabasdos marched against Constantine, but was defeated in May 743. Three months later Constantine defeated Artabasdos' son Niketas and headed for Constantinople. In early November Constantine was admitted into the capital and immediately turned on his opponents, having them blinded or executed. Perhaps because Artabasdos' usurpation was interconnected with the restoration of veneration of images, Constantine now became perhaps an even more fervent iconoclast than his father.

Constantine's derogatory epithet Kopronymos ("Dung-named", from kopros ("feces" or "animal dung") and onoma, "name"), was applied to him by his avowed enemies over this extremely emotional issue, the iconodules. Using the obscene name they spread the rumour that, as an infant, he had defecated in his baptismal font, or the imperial purple cloth with which he was swaddled.

Iconoclasm

Constantine's position about iconoclasm was clear:

....He cannot be depicted. For what is depicted in one person, and he who circumscribes that person has plainly circumscribed the divine nature which is incapable of being circumscribed. ^[1]

In February 754 Constantine convened a synod at Hieria, which was attended entirely by Iconoclast bishops. The council approved of Constantine's religious policy and secured the election of a new Iconoclast patriarch, but refused to follow in all of Constantine's views. The council confirmed the status of Mary as Theotokos, or Mother of God, reinforced the use of the terms "saint" and "holy" as meet, and condemned the desecration, burning, or looting of churches in the quest to quench Iconophiles. It was followed by a campaign to remove images from the walls of churches and to purge the court and bureaucracy of Iconodules. Since monasteries tended to be strongholds of Iconophile sentiment, Constantine specifically targeted the monks, pairing them off and forcing them to marry nuns in the Hippodrome and expropriating monastic property for the benefit of the state or the army. The repressions against the monks (culminating in 766) were largely led by the emperor's general Michael Lachanodrakon, who threatened resistant monks with blinding and exile.

An iconodule abbot, Stephen Neos, was brutally lynched by a mob at the behest of the authorities. As a result many monks fled to Southern Italy and Sicily. By the end of Constantine's reign, Iconoclasm had gone as far as to brand relics and prayers to the saints as heretical.

Ultimately, iconophiles considered his death a divine punishment. In the 9th century he was disinterred and his remains were thrown into the sea.

Campaigns against the Arabs and Bulgaria

Constantine was also an able general and administrator. He reorganized the themes, the military districts of the empire, and created new field army divisions called tagmata. This organization was intended to minimize the threat of conspiracies and to enhance the defensive capabilities of the Empire. With this reorganized army he embarked on campaigns on the three major frontiers.

In 746, profiting by the unstable conditions in the Umayyad Caliphate which was falling apart under Marwan II, Constantine invaded Syria and captured Germanikeia (modern Maraş, his father's birthplace). He organized the resettlement of a part the local Christian population into imperial territory in Thrace. In 747 his fleet destroyed the Arab fleet off Cyprus. In 752 Constantine led an invasion into the new Abbasid Caliphate under As-Saffah. Constantine captured Theodosioupolis and Melitene (Malatya), and again resettled some of the population in the Balkans. These campaigns failed to secure any concrete gains (apart from additional population employed to strengthen another frontier), but it is important to note that under Constantine V the Empire had gone on the offensive.

These successes made it possible to pursue an aggressive policy in the Balkans. With the resettlement of Christian populations from the East into Thrace, Constantine V aimed to enhance the prosperity and defense of this area which caused concern to the Empire's northern neighbor, Bulgaria, and the two states clashed in 755. Kormisosh of Bulgaria raided as far as the Anastasian Wall, but was defeated in battle by Constantine V, who inaugurated a long series of nine successful campaigns against the Bulgarians in the next year, scoring a victory over Kormisosh's successor Vinekh at Marcelae. However, three year later he was defeated in the battle of the Rishki Pass but the Bulgarians did not exploit their success. In 763, he sailed to Anchialus with 800 ships carrying 9,600 cavalry and some infantry. Constantine's victories, including that at Anchialus in 763 caused considerable instability in Bulgaria, where six monarchs lost their crowns on account of their failures.

In 772, Lombard king Desiderius captured Rome, ending over two centuries of Byzantine rule.

In 775, Constantine was persuaded to reveal to the Bulgarian ruler Telerig the identities of his agents in Bulgaria. These were promptly eliminated; thus, Constantine began preparations for a new campaign against the Bulgarians – during which he died on September 14, 775.

Constantine's campaigns were costly; during his reign the Byzantine Empire's annual revenues were reduced to about 1,800,000 nomismata due to his various wars and the Arab conquests.

Family

By his first wife, Tzitzak ("Irene of Khazaria"), Constantine V had one son:

• Leo IV, who succeeded as emperor.

By his second wife, Maria, Constantine V is not known to have had children.

By his third wife, Eudokia, Constantine V had five sons and a daughter, including:

• Christopher, Caesar
• Nikephoros, Caesar
• Niketas, Nobelissimos
• Eudokimos, Nobelissimos
• Anthimos, Nobelissimos
• Anthousa

References

1. ^ Nikephoros, Antiherreticus I, PG 100, 301C; trans. Bryer & Herrin

• The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 1991.

External links

Media related to Constantine V at Wikimedia Commons

Constantine V Isaurian Dynasty Born: 718 Died: 14 September 775
Regnal titles
Preceded by Leo III	Byzantine Emperor 741–775	Succeeded by Leo IV

Persondata
Name	Constantine V
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	718
Place of birth	Constantinople
Date of death	775
Place of death