A History of the Byzantine State and Society by Warren Treadgold

Author:Warren Treadgold [Treadgold, Warren]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780804779371
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 1997-10-31T18:30:00+00:00

THE STRUGGLES OF BASIL II

In 976 Basil II was eighteen, an age by which several emperors had begun to rule for themselves. But the grand chamberlain Basil Lecapenus was disinclined to share power with him, and after the reigns of Nicephorus Phocas and John Tzimisces the army and administration were used to a firm and mature hand. No one saw a need to remove Basil II or his brother Constantine, both of whom seemed to be idle, pleasure-loving, and ready to take advice. Constantine married early; Basil II spent his bachelorhood in various love affairs.27 The grand chamberlain indulged the brothers by recalling their mother Theophano from exile, though she never gained much influence at court.

Widely blamed for the deaths of both Nicephorus Phocas and Tzimisces, and unable as a eunuch to reign himself, the grand chamberlain had formidable enemies. Chief among them was the domestic of the East Bardas Sclerus, Tzimisces’ former brother-in-law and close ally. The chamberlain attempted to demote Sclerus from domestic of the East to duke of Mesopotamia, and to separate him from his lieutenant Michael Burtzes by making Burtzes duke of Antioch. Sclerus’s replacement as domestic of the East was to be the eunuch Peter the Stratopedarch. After first seeming to accept his demotion, Sclerus rebelled.28

In the summer Bardas Sclerus had himself proclaimed emperor at Melitene, presumably hoping to become coemperor with Basil II and Constantine. Most of the army along the eastern border joined Sclerus, who also gained the support of the emir of Mosul. In the rest of Anatolia the domestic Peter and Michael Burtzes mustered loyalists for the government in Constantinople. Probably that autumn, they met Sclerus in battle near Lycandus. But he put them to flight. Sclerus’s forces captured Burtzes, who joined their side and won over much of central and southern Anatolia, including the fleet of the Cibyrrhaeots.

In 977 the grand chamberlain sent another army under the eunuch Leo the Protovestiarius to Cotyaeum. Leo joined Peter and tried to encourage desertions from the rebels with money and privileges, the method used to subvert the rebellion of Bardas Phocas seven years before. But buying partisans for a bastard eunuch proved harder than rallying supporters to the great Tzimisces. Leo won few adherents, and Sclerus advanced to the Lake of the Forty Martyrs in the Anatolics. Leo resorted to surprise. Marching rapidly along the road from Cotyaeum, he bypassed Sclerus’s army and made for the East, the homeland of most of Sclerus’s men. Fearing for their homes, some of them deserted to Leo. Sclerus sent an advance party under Burtzes that caught up with Leo, only to suffer a severe defeat. Nevertheless, when Sclerus arrived with his main army he crushed the loyalists, capturing Leo and killing Peter.

As most of Asia Minor joined Sclerus, he marched to Nicaea and besieged it. In preparation for a siege of Constantinople, the Cibyrrhaeot fleet took the Aegean islands, and was about to enter the straits when Basil Lecapenus dispatched the Imperial Fleet from the capital. It sailed through the Hellespont, fought the Cibyrrhaeots off Phocaea, and swept them from the seas.

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