© GEORGE FINLAY
HISTORY OF
First Edition February 1906
SECTION IV
REIGNS OF LEO IV., (THE KHAZAR,) CONSTANTINE VI., AND IRENE
A.D. 775-802
Succeeded his father at the age of twenty-five. His mother, Irene, was the
daughter of the emperor or chagan of the Khazars, then a powerful people,
through whose territories the greater part of the commercial intercourse
between the Christians and the rich countries in eastern Asia was carried
on. Leo inherited from his mother a mild and amiable disposition; nor does
he appear t have been destitute of some position of his father’s talents,
but the state of his health prevented him from displaying the same activity.
His reign lasted four years and a half, and his administration was conducted
in strict accordance with the policy of his father and grandfather; but
the weak state of his health kept the public attention fixed on the question
of the imperial succession. Constantine V. had selected an Athenian lady,
of great beauty and accomplishment, named Irene, to be his son’s wife, and
Leo had a son named Constantine, who was born in the year 771. The indefinite
nature of the imperial succession, and the infancy of Leo’s child, gave
the two half-brothers of the emperor, who had been invested by their father
with the rank of Caesar, some hope of ascending the throne on their brother’s
death. Leo conferred on his infant son the title of Emperor, in order to
secure his succession; and this was done in a more popular manner than usual,
at the express desire of the senate, in order to give the ceremony all the
character of a popular election. The young emperor’s five uncles – the two
Caesars, and the three who bore the title of Nobilissimi – were compelled
to take the same oath of allegiance as the other subjects. Yet, shortly
after this, the Caesar Nicephorus formed a conspiracy to render himself
master of the government. Leo, who felt that he wad rapidly sinking into
the grave, referred the decision of his brother’s guilt to s Silention,
which condemned all the conspirators to death. Nicephorus was pardoned,
but his partisans were scourged and banished to Cherson. The death of Leo
IV. happened on the 8th of September, 780.
was ten years old when his father died, so that the whole direction of the
empire devolved on his mother, Irene, who had received the imperial crown
from Constantine V.; for that emperor seems to have felt that the weak state
of Leo’s health would require the assistance of Irene’s talents. The virtues
Irene had displayed in a private station were insufficient to resist the
corrupting influence of irresponsible power. Ambition took possession of
her soul, and it was the ambition of reigning alone, not of reigning well.
The education of her son was neglected – perhaps as a means of securing
her power; favour was avowedly a surer road to preferment than long service,
so that the court became a scene of political intrigue, and personal motives
decided most public acts. As no organ of public opinion possessed the power
of awakening a sense of moral responsibility among the officers of state,
the intrigues of the court ended in conspiracies, murder, and treason.
The parties struggling for power soon ranged themselves under the banners
of the ecclesiastical factions that had long divided the empire. Little,
probably, did many of the leaders care what party they espoused in the religious
question; but it was necessary to proclaim themselves of an ecclesiastical
faction in order to secure a popular following. The Empress Irene was known
to favour image-worship; as a woman and a Greek, this was natural; yet policy
would have dictated to her to adopt that party as the most certain manner
of securing support powerful enough to counterbalance the family influence
of the Isaurian dynasty, which was wielded by the uncles of the young emperor.
The conflict between the image-worshippers and the Iconoclasts soon commenced.
The Caesar Nicephorus, who was as ambitious as his sister-on-law, was eager
to drive her from the regency. He organised a conspiracy, in which several
ministers and members of the senate took part. Irene obtained full proof
of all its ramifications before the conspirators were prepared to act, seized
her five brothers-in-law, and compelled them to enter the priesthood. In
order to make it generally known that they had assumed the sacerdotal character,
they were obliged to officiate during the Christmas ceremonies at the high
altar of St. Sophia’s, while the young emperor and his other restored to
the church the rich jewels of which it had been deprived by the Iconoclast
emperors. The intendand-general of posts, the general of the Armeniac theme,
the commander of the imperial guard, and the admiral of the Archipelago,
who had all taken part in the conspiracy, were scourged, and immured as
monks in distant monasteries. Helpidios, the governor of Sicily, assumed
the title of emperor as soon as he found that his participation in the plot
was known at court; but he was compelled to seek shelter among the Saracens,
in whose armies he afterwards served. Nicephorus Doukas, another conspirator,
fled also to the Mohammedans. Some years later, when Constantine VI had
assumed the government into his own hands, a new conspiracy was formed by
the partisans of his uncles (A.D. 792). The princes were then treated with
great severity. The Caesar Nicephorus was deprived of sight; and the tongues
of the others were cut out, by the order of their nephew, not long before
he lost his own eyes by the order of his mother.
The influence of the clergy in the ordinary administration of justice, and
the great extent to which ecclesiastical legislation regulated civil rights,
rendered councils of the church an important feature in those forms and
usages that practically circumscribed the despotic power of the emperor
by a framework of customs, opinions, and convictions which he could with
difficulty alter, and rarely oppose without danger. The political ambition
of Irene, the national vanity of the Greeks, and the religious feelings
of the orthodox, required the sanction of a constitutional public authority,
before the laws against image-worship could be openly repealed. The Byzantine
empire had at this time an ecclesiastical, though not a political constitution.
The will of the sovereign was alone insufficient to change an organic law,
forming part of the ecclesiastical administration of the empire. It was
necessary tom convoke a general council to legalise image-worship; and to
render such a council a fit instrument for the proposed revolution, much
arrangement was necessary. No person was ever endued with greater talents
form removing opposition and conciliating personal support than the empress.
The Patriarch Paul, a decided Iconoclast, was induced to resign, and declare
that he repented of his hostility to image-worship, because it had cut off
the church of Constantinople from communion with the rest of the Christian
world. This declaration pointed out the necessity of holding a general council,
in order to establish that communion. The crisis required a new Patriarch,
of stainless character, great ability, and perfect acquaintance with the
party connections and individual characters of the leading bishops. No person
could be selected from among the dignitaries of the church, who had been
generally appointed by Iconoclast emperors. The choice of Irene fell on
a civilian: Tarasios.
TO BE
CONTINUED