Michele IV IL PALONE – Wikipedia

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Michele IV (In Greco: Michael II of Paplands, Mikhael 4 Paphlagōn ; Paflagonia, 1010 – Constantinople, 10 December 1041) was a Byzantine emperor.
Said Paflagone , was Baserus dei Romei from 11 April 1034 until his death.

Origins [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Born in 1010 in an unknown location of Paflagonia, Michele did not belong to the nobility, but to a family of small merchants; In fact, in his youth he had exercised the trade of Cambiavavalute and had also been accused of falsification of money [first] [2] .

His life, completely anonymous, changed when his older brother Giovanni, an eunuch, moved to Constantinople where he first obtained the direction of the orphanage and then, after a few years of service, the admission to the imperial court and the prestigious title of parakoimomenos and he could invite the minor brothers, including Michele, at the Palazzo [3] .

Young and beautiful appearance, Michele immediately captured the attention of the Basilissa Zoe Porfiogenita who became attached to Michele to the point of falling in love with him and nominating him Informed by his sister, the Roman emperor III, husband of the empress Zoe, decided to interrogate Michele but he, swearing on some sacred relics, denied the accusations [4] .

Then, on the morning of 11 April 1034, Romano III was found dead in his apartments; A few hours later, Zoe married Michele in a private ceremony at the palace. The dynamics of the events generated scandal and soon began to circulate voices according to which Romano III had been assassinated with a poison at the hands of his wife and that Michele, impatient because the substance was slow to take effect, had proceeded to strangle or drown the emperor in the bath [5] [6] [7] .

On April 12, the couple summoned the patriarch Alessio I to officiate the coronation of the new emperor; Initially reluctant, the Patriarch was convinced with the granting of a donation and crowned Michele IV as Baselus [5] [8] .

Kingdom [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Internal politics [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Although Zoe had hoped that Michele showed a husband more attentive to her than it was Romano III, her hopes went disappointed.
In fact, the new emperor, without a doubt intelligent and generous, was devoid of culture and even worse suffered from epilepsy [9] ; For these reasons Michele decided to delegate the management of internal affairs, especially the finances, to his brother Giovanni who had accumulated a discreet experience in his positions under Constantine VIII and Romano III. As for Zoe, the emperor decided to border it in his apartments and to keep it under surveillance; Moreover, with the progress of the disease, Michele’s visits to his wife became increasingly rare [ten] .

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The administration of parakoimomenos Giovanni, although a recovery of tax revenues and an improvement of the armed forces allowed, was known for the hardness: the tax reliefs of Roman III were deleted, the land taxes and customs duties were increased, the public monopolies irrigated, reduced the expenses destined public works and increased those intended for the armed forces; The introduction of the Aerikon which generated a strong discontent in Bulgaria and Antioch and also led to the birth of some conspiracies aimed at eliminating both Giovanni and brother Emperor [11] .

Representation of the 16th century of Michele IV.

The particularly rigid winter of 1035, followed by a famine and an invasion of locusts, aggravated the discontent since the price of foods increased and in fact when the Baserus tried to repress the urban clashes that had taken place in Aleppo, the population hoped the governor [twelfth] .

The popular discontent led the prestige of the government and this gave even more breath to opponents: in 1034, Constantine Dalasseno, Duke of Antioch, was arrested on charges of treason; In 1037 the Basilissa Zoe was involved in a conspiracy aimed at assassinating the Parakoimomenos Giovanni; In 1038 he broke out a mutiny in Anatolia who was suppressed by the brother of the emperor, Constantine; Finally, in 1040, a vast conspiracy was discovered, headed by Michele Cerulario, who, discovered, was forced to go into exile in a monastery, while the strategist of Theodisiopoli rebelled and placed the city of thessalonica under siege [13] [14] .

Foreign policy [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

As for foreign policy and military issues, Michele’s kingdom was rather turbulent, especially at the beginning. The Arabs, in fact, looted aim, the Serbs freed from the Byzantine vassaling, the peceneghi repeatedly looted the Balkans to the gates of thessalonica [5] .

In the following years, the situation improved: the increase in the military skills of the fleet allowed to keep the piracy under control, in Armenia the Byzantine army conquered Berkri’s important Muslim square on Lake Van while the Syrian city of Edessa, after a long siege, was freed from imperial reinforcements [15] .

In 1038 Michele entrusted to General Giorgio Maniace the task of conducting a campaign against the Arabs in Sicily, to which he guaranteed a large army, mainly composed of various mercenaries and Lombards, plus a small detachment of three hundred Normans commanded by Guglielmo arm of iron, sent From the Lombard Prince Guaimario IV of Salerno, also an opponent of the Arabs.

At the beginning, the Byzantine troops prevailed, who, after having conquered Messina and Syracuse, had managed to defeat those Saracen in all Campali clashes [16] ; Then, however, the situation turned upside down since the imperial army remained without supplies due to the defeats suffered by the fleet, led by the brother -in -law of the emperor, Stefano Calafato [17] .

Giorgio Maniace is taken prisoner to Constantinople.

With little money and scarce provisions, the morale collapsed: the Normans, dissatisfied with the wage, convinced the varies, that the wage was too low, and so in the Byzantine army he broke out a rebellion, which forced maniac and the troops remained faithful to repair it in Puglia. The counter -offensive was impossible because at court he came about an alleged conspiracy, this time led by maniac himself, and the emperor decided to remove it from the command and to imprison him [18] .

In the following years, the situation of southern Italy worsened; In fact, the Norman mercenaries attacked the Byzantine domains in Italy while several local lordships declared their complete independence, with the result of leaving the empire the only southern part of Puglia.

The Bulgarian revolt of 1040 [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The kingdom of Michele IV was also characterized by the weakening of the Byzantine domain on the Balkans. In fact, in 1040, in part due to the scarcity of food, in part for the increase in the tax burden (in particular the transition from the tax in nature to that in money) broke out a dangerous separatist motorcycle that affected both Serbia and the regions of the ancient Bulgarian empire, conquered a few years earlier by Basil II [19] [20] .

The rioters, united under the leadership of Peter Dellyan, descendant of the Bulgarian imperial family, not only managed to defeat the Byzantine garrisons but were also able to conquer the strategic square of Belgrade where the same Delyan was crowned as “Bulgaria emperor” as well as The ancient capital of Skopje [21] .

At the beginning, the emperor entrusted the repression to the Duke of Durazzo but then, fearing that he too turned against, decided to remove him; The move was disastrous as the troops, largely soldiers of leverage of Bulgarian origin, joined the revolt and forced the imperial army to retire to the fabriconica. In the meantime, Delyan, after having occupied Durres and the loyalty of the population of Epirus, defeated the strategist of the Eapire and conquered part of the continental Greece [22] .

Only in the following year did the situation stabilized: the arrival of a contingent of over 40,000 varied mercenaries (including the future Harald III of Norway) allowed the emperor to have fresh troops and to undertake the counter -offensive; After a few months, the rebellious army dissolved and the emperor was able to regain the entire Bulgaria, while Serbia, under the guidance of Stefano Vojislav, became an independent principality. After the victory, the emperor held a triumph in Constantinople but now it appeared evident that the prolonged stress of the long military campaign had irreversibly debilitated him [23] .

Illness and death [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Tonsure and death of Michele IV, as represented in the manuscript Madrid Skylitzes

In the last years of the kingdom, now seriously weakened by epilepsy and hydropysoia, Michele devoted himself assiduous to religious functions, ordered strong contributions to the reconstruction of different churches and monasteries of the capital and sought peace in the visit to the Sanctuary of San Demetrio in thessalonica, hoping for a healing [15] . This did not come and his health conditions precipitated making the need to arrange the succession inevitable.

The parakoimomenos Giovanni, now true master of the state, forced the basilissa Zoe to adopt as son Michele Calafato, son of Stefano, husband of the emperor’s sister [7] . Now dying, on 10 December 1041, Michele decided to take the sacred orders and died shortly after [24] .

  1. ^ Kazhdan, p. 1365 .
  2. ^ Norwich, p. 276 .
  3. ^ Finlay,p. 477 .
  4. ^ Norwich, pg. 277
  5. ^ a b c Treadgold, p. 586 .
  6. ^ Norwich, p. 278 .
  7. ^ a b Kazhdan, p. 2228 .
  8. ^ Finally, p. 478 .
  9. ^ Canduci, P 266 .
  10. ^ Norwich, p. 280 .
  11. ^ Finally, p. 481 .
  12. ^ Treadgold, pp. 586-587 .
  13. ^ Finlay,p. 485 .
  14. ^ Treadgold, p. 588 .
  15. ^ a b Treadgold, p. 587 .
  16. ^ Norwich, p. 285 .
  17. ^ Treadgold, pp. 587-588 .
  18. ^ Treadgold, p. 589 .
  19. ^ Norwich, p. 287 .
  20. ^ Finlay,p. 490 .
  21. ^ Finlay,p. 491 .
  22. ^ Treadgold, pp. 588-589 .
  23. ^ Norvich, p. 286 E 289 .
  24. ^ Norwich, p. 289 .
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