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Constantine IV

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For other uses, see Constantine IV (disambiguation).
Constantine IV
Emperor of the Romans
Constantine IV, mosaic in basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna.
Byzantine emperor
ReignSeptember 668 – July 685
Coronation13 April 654
PredecessorConstans II
SuccessorJustinian II
Co-emperors
Bornc. 650
Constantinople
(now Istanbul, Turkey)
Died10 July 685 (aged ≈35)
Constantinople
Burial
Church of the Holy Apostles, Constantinople
SpouseAnastasia
Issue
Regnal name
Autokrator Phlabios Constantinos[a]
DynastyHeraclian
FatherConstans II
MotherFausta
ReligionChalcedonian Christianity
Saint

Constantine the New
Holy and Right-Believing Emperor of the Romans
Venerated inEastern Orthodoxy[5]
Major shrineChurch of the Holy Apostles
Feast3 September
AttributesImperial attire
Heraclian dynasty
Chronology
Succession
Preceded by
Justinian dynasty
and Phocas		 Followed by
Twenty Years' Anarchy

Constantine IV (Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος, romanized: Kōnstantînos; Latin: Constantinus; c. 650 – 10 July 685), called the Younger (Greek: ὁ νέος, romanized: ho néos)[6][7] and often incorrectly the Bearded (Greek: Πωγωνᾶτος, romanized: Pōgōnãtos) out of confusion with his father,[8][b] was Byzantine emperor from 668 to 685. His reign saw the first serious check to nearly 50 years of uninterrupted Islamic expansion, most notably when he successfully defended Constantinople from the Arabs, and the temporary stabilization of the Byzantine Empire after decades of war, defeats, and civil strife. His calling of the Sixth Ecumenical Council saw the end of the monothelitism controversy in the Byzantine Empire; for this, he is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with his feast day on September 3.[5]

Early career

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The eldest son of Constans II and Fausta, daughter of patrician Valentinus,[10] Constantine IV had been named a co-emperor with his father in 654, almost certainly in Easter (13 April).[11] His year of birth is unknown,[12] but often given as c. 650.[13][c] He became emperor in September 668, when news arrived at Constantinople that Constans II had been assassinated in Sicily.[14]

Mosaic of Constantine IV with his family and imperial figures. The upper legend reads: constantinus maior imperator - heraclii et tiberii imperator.[d]

The first task before the new Emperor was the suppression of the military revolt in Sicily under Mezezius which had led to his father's death.[15] Within seven months of his accession, Constantine IV had dealt with the insurgency with the support of Pope Vitalian,[16] but this success was overshadowed by troubles in the east.

As early as 668 the Caliph Muawiyah I received an invitation from Saborios, the commander of the troops in Armenia, to help overthrow the Emperor at Constantinople.[17] He sent an army under his son Yazid against the Byzantine Empire. Yazid reached Chalcedon and took the important Byzantine center Amorion.[18] While the city was quickly recovered, the Arabs next attacked Carthage and Sicily in 669.[19] In 670 the Arabs captured Cyzicus and set up a base from which to launch further attacks into the heart of the Empire.[20] Their fleet captured Smyrna and other coastal cities in 672.[21] Also, in 672, the Arabs sent a large fleet to attack Constantinople by sea.[21] While Constantine was distracted by this, the Slavs laid siege to Thessalonica.[22]

The First Arab Siege of Constantinople (668/9)

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Main article: Siege of Constantinople (674–678)

It has been entrenched in modern historiography that the first Arab siege of Constantinople took place at the fictitious date around the years 674 and 678. However, this is far from the factual reality, and has been identified as errors after Theophanes' attempt to assign to specific years the information he had gathered from his oriental sources. In the light of a thorough and critical analysis of various Arab, Syriac and lesser known Byzantine historical sources has reconstructed the course of the events.[23] As it is well known during the reign of his father Constans II the capital of the Byzantine empire had been transferred by 663 to Suracuse. The ensuing relocation of the imperial court meant that large portions of the armed imperial forces alongside its navy which was the medium that realised this vast logistical enterprise moved and stationed to Sicily altogether.[24] If anything the emperor Constans II with this move left the Byzantine capital relatively exposed to the imminent danger of the Arabs, despite the fact that both the empress Fausta and his three sons and co-emperors, Constantine IV, Heraclius, and Tiberius had remained there. The Arab forays in Anatolia had started already by 662/3 in the frontier zone of Melitene shortly after Muʿāwiya had emerged victorious from the internal civil strife in the Caliphate. One of those raids led by Busr b. Abī Artāt reportedly reached Constantinople plundering its immediate vicinity. The weakened Byzantine armies in the meantime were unable to check the Arab incursions. The situation was propitious for the Byzantine patrician and general of the theme of Armeniakon, Saborios to revolt against the imperial government after having secured the backing of the Arabs. Muʿāwiya I saw in Saborios an unexpected ally and an opportune chance to invade further inland, taking advantage of the Byzantine armies' distress. Although the concerted plan never materialised as such due to the accidental death of Saborios, this did not hamper Muʿāwiya from advancing his plan to bring the Byzantine empire to heel. He launched the offensive in 667 with numerous forces that marched to Constantinople, while another number of his forces was sailing with the fleet to Constantinople. The command of the Arab armies marching to Constantinople had been entrusted by Muʿāwiya to his general and qādī of Damascus, Fadālah b. ῾Ubayd al-Ansarī.[23]

The army invaded the Byzantine territories by summer of 667 and through a number of raids and plundering arrived by the end of 667 at Chalkedon where it spent the winter. Meanwhile, the Arab navy consisting of Egyptian and Syrian fleet units under the command of Muʿāwiya son, Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya was also sailing towards Constantinople which it reached by autumn 667. Interestingly among the comrades of Yazīd where four Companions of the Prophet and members of the Medinan aristocracy, to wit ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbbās paternal cousin of the Prophet and ancestor of the Abbasids, ʿAbdallāh b. ʿUmar the son of the second caliph and one of the most important transmitters of the hadith, ʿAbdallāh b. al-Zubayr, son a sister of the Prophet's wife ʿAʾisha, grandson of Abū Bakr and future caliph during the civil war of 683-692, and Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī who hosted the Prophet during his stay in Medīna according to the Arab historiographer al-Tabarī.[25] The two contingents united after reaching the walls of Constantinople blockaded the capital, although no assault of importance took place until the end of winter of 667 but instead only plundering of the countryside. By spring of 668 the Arab forces strained their blockade and the capital was under siege for the whole of spring up to middle of June 668. However, the numerous Arab armies having wintered at camps were malnourished and soon they were suffering severe famine, whereas the outbreak of a smallpox epidemic decimated them in large numbers forcing Yasīd to lift the siege hurriedly. Nevertheless, the army and navy remained in Cyzicus from where they engaged in small scale battles and raids in the vicinity of Constantinople and its immediate countryside before they set sail back to Syria in 669/70.

Rise of Constantine IV to power, Mezezios the usurper, and the monetary reform of 668.

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The first Arab siege of Constantinople set in motion a number of developments. In the aftermath of the siege the victorious, albeit during the circumstances mostly rather than his prowess, Constantine emerged as leader of the city. The news of the lifting of the siege had not yet reached Suracuse due to the naval blockade of Constantinople and the fear for the worst possible scenario led a party of the emperor's closest high ranking military office holders to unfold a plot to remove him out of, supposedly, concern for the continuation of the empire. Be that as it may, the assassination of the emperor Constans II took place on the 15th of July of 668. Upon the emperor's death that fraction of conspirators proclaimed Mezezios as emperor in Sicily.[24] However, the rebel did not enjoy of pope Vitalian's acceptance and only one part of the army lent to him support, whereas the Byzantine navy under the command of the loyal dignitary named Severus returned to Constantinople. The arrival of the navy in Constantinople by late 668 was a salutary point for it offered to Constantine IV until then bereft of any substantial army and some ten ship to his disposal, to confront pari passu with the Arab navy which apparently desisted from besieging again Constantinople. Constantine IV with the control of the navy at his hands and Constantinople freed of the danger sent his two brothers and co-emperors to the West with a number of armies in a division of the front of the war between the three brothers.[26] Meanwhile and from another warfront the Egyptian governor Maslama b. Mukhallad sent his fleet under the command of Muʿāwiyah b. Ḥudayj al-Kindī to attack Sicily in order to undermine the efforts of Constans II to reorganise the empire's position in the West. In doing so he launched some cursory incursions to the island, but in the meantime Mezezios had solicited the help of Constantine IV and in doing so he precipitated his own demise. Upon arrival of the fleet comprising some 600 ships the Arabs avoided going in naval battle and retreated. Constantine IV upon landing on Suracuse had Mezezios arrested and decapitated while the rest of his supporters were arrested and sent back to Constantinople chained.[24]

In the wake of the Arab siege and his father's relocation to Suracuse where presumably the imperial treasury was also moved and possibly plundered after Constans II assassination, Constantine IV was faced with a surging economic crisis. The Arab raids of Asia Minor and the territorial losses in broader Syria meant also the loss of some important mines and shortage of precious metals for the higher value coinage. Other from devaluating the higher order issues the new emperor opted for reissuing the copper follis of Justinian which meant, the iconographic return aside, four times heavier coin. This increase in the metal's substance increased the monetary value of his copper follis and probably made redundant the solidi of Mezezios in order to strike his opponent by destabilising his currency's value. However, Constantine IV by the next year when his son's was born decided to undo his father's ecclesiastical policy and not only named his son Justinian II, but he furthered the restructuring of the rest of the monetary system to Justinian's issues in terms design and layout. The fostering of such a propaganda where he was likened himself to Justinian aimed at glossing his reign with a profound renovatio imperii which he essentially did as the Byzantines from 672 to 680 had gained the offensive and through a series of counter attacks to Egypt and to Syria attained to paralyse the Arab danger. This put an end to 15 years of successive raids and devastation and Muʿāwiya's death on 6th May of 680 sealed that end for good.[23]

Later reign

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Solidus of Constantine IV, c. 681–685

With the temporary passing of the Arab threat, Constantine turned his attention to the Church, which was torn between Monothelitism and Orthodoxy.[27] In November 680 Constantine convened the Sixth Ecumenical Council (also known as the Third Council of Constantinople).[28] Constantine presided in person during the formal aspects of the proceedings (the first eleven sittings and then the eighteenth), surrounded by his court officials, but he took no active role in the theological discussions.[29] The Council reaffirmed the Orthodox doctrines of the Council of Chalcedon in 451.[citation needed] This solved the controversy over monothelitism; conveniently for the Empire, most monothelites were now under the control of the Umayyad Caliphate.[30] The council closed in September 681.[31]

Constantine IV convenes the 3rd Council of Constantinople, miniature from the 12th century Manasses Chronicle.

Due to the ongoing conflicts with the Arabs during the 670s, Constantine had been forced to conclude treaties in the west with the Lombards, who had captured Brindisi and Taranto.[13] Also in 680, the Bulgars under Khan Asparukh crossed the Danube into nominally Imperial territory and began to subjugate the local communities and Slavic tribes.[32] In 680, Constantine IV led a combined land and sea operation against the invaders and besieged their fortified camp in Dobruja.[33] Suffering from bad health, the Emperor had to leave the army, which panicked and was defeated by the Bulgars.[34] In 681, Constantine was forced to acknowledge the Bulgar state in Moesia and to pay tribute/protection money to avoid further inroads into Byzantine Thrace.[27] Consequently, Constantine created the Theme of Thrace.[13]

Khan Asparukh crosses the Danube and settles in Moesia, by Nikolai Pavlovich (ca. 19th century).

His brothers Heraclius and Tiberius had been crowned with him as augusti during the reign of their father,[12] and this was confirmed by the demand of the populace,[35] but in late 681 Constantine had them mutilated by slitting their noses so they would be considered ineligible to rule.[36] Some argue that he then associated Justinian II to the throne,[13] but all contemporary evidence indicates that he became emperor only after Constantine's death on 10 July 685.[12][e]

Family

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By his wife Anastasia, Constantine IV had at least two sons:

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  • Constantine IV was portrayed by Iossif Surchadzhiev in the 1981 Bulgarian movie Aszparuh, directed by Ludmil Staikov.
  • Constantine IV is the subject of the song "Imperator" ("Emperor"), released by the Bulgarian heavy metal band Epizod in their 2012 album Moyata molitva ("My prayer").

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Constantine and his wife used at least two seals on which his name was rendered as Constantinos Constantos.[1][2] The name Constantus may have been a patronym, as some modern day historians translate Constantinus Constantus as "Constantine, son of Constans".[3] At least two documents refer to him as "Autokrator Phlabios Konstantinos" (Αὐτοκράτωρ Φλάβιος Κωνσταντῖνος), following the old imperial formula.[4]
  2. ^ The nickname appears prominently in older scholarship, following the chronicles of Symeon Logothete, Kedrenos and Zonaras. This confusion arises from the convoluted nomenclature of the Heraclians: Heraclius (r.  610–641) named his sons Heraclius ("Heraclonas") and Heraclius Constantine ("Constantine III"), who had in turn a son also named Heraclius Constantine ("Constans II"). The emperor Constantine VII (r.  945–959), despite having access to all official documents, uses the name "Constantine Pogonatus" to both Constans II and Constantine IV in different occasions, apparently confusing them.[9]
  3. ^ Probably on the basis that most co-emperors were crowned as children. Honorius (384) was 9 years old, Theodosius II (401) was 1 year old, Valentinian III (425) was 6 years old, Leo II (473) was 6 years old, Theodosius (590) was 7 years old, and Constantine III (613) was 1 year old. Tiberius and Constans II (641), were both 11 years old.
  4. ^ The mosaic must have been made shortly before Heraclius and Tiberius' deposition in 681. Justinian II (far left) is depicted as being slightly taller than them, but this is impossible given that he was at least a decade younger.
  5. ^ "Constantine's death is usually placed in September 685 on the ground that the sources attribute to him a reign of 17 years... Since such a figure can be taken only as a round number, there is no objection to accepting the date 10 July given the Catalogus."[14]

References

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  1. ^ Laurent 1939, p. 359.
  2. ^ Settipani 2006, p. 119.
  3. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne; Academia Republicii Socialiste România, eds. (1981). Revue roumaine d'histoire: Volume 20. Editions de l'Académie de la République socialiste de Roumanie. p. 626.
  4. ^ Rösch, Gerhard (1978). Onoma Basileias (in German). VÖAW. p. 170. ISBN 978-3-7001-0260-1.
  5. ^ a b September 3/September 16[permanent dead link‍]. Orthodox Calendar (PRAVOSLAVIE.RU).
  6. ^ Zuckerman (1995)
  7. ^ Grumel (1968)
  8. ^ Brooks, E. W. (1 January 1908). "Who was Constantine Pogonatus?". Byzantinische Zeitschrift (in German). 17 (2): 460–462. doi:10.1515/byzs.1908.17.2.460. ISSN 1864-449X.
  9. ^ Settipani 2006, p. 119-122.
  10. ^ Kazhdan (1991), "Constans II", p. 496
  11. ^ PBW "Konstantinos IV".
  12. ^ a b c Grierson (1968), pp. 512–514
  13. ^ a b c d Kazhdan (1991), "Constantine IV", pp. 500–501
  14. ^ a b Grierson (1962), p. 50
  15. ^ Bury (1889), p. 330
  16. ^ Bury (1889), p. 315
  17. ^ Bury (1889), p. 306
  18. ^ Bury (1889), p. 307
  19. ^ Bury (1889), p. 310
  20. ^ Moore (1997)
  21. ^ a b Norwich (1990), pp. 323–324
  22. ^ Moore (1997)
  23. ^ a b c Jankowiak, Marek (2013). "The First Arab Siege of Constantinople". Travaux et Mémoires. 17: 237–322.
  24. ^ a b c Prigent, Vivien (2010). ""La Sicile de Constant II: l'apport des sources sigillographiques"". in La Sicile de Byzance à l'slam, Neff, A. - Prigent, V. (eds), Paris: 157–187.
  25. ^ Morony, Micheal (trnsl) (1987). The History of al-Tabarī. 18, Between Civil Wars: the caliphate of Muʿāwiyah. Albany: The State University of New York Press. pp. 48-49 AH. ISBN 0-87395-933-7.
  26. ^ Palmer, Andrew (introduction, translation, annotation) (1993). The Seventh Century in West-Syrian Chronicles. Liverpool: The Liverpool University Press. pp. 194 ff. ISBN 0853232385.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ a b Norwich (1990), p. 326
  28. ^ Moore (1997)
  29. ^ Bury (1889), p. 317
  30. ^ Moore (1997)
  31. ^ Bury (1889), p. 316
  32. ^ Moore (1997)
  33. ^ Bury (1889), p. 333–334
  34. ^ Norwich (1990), p. 325
  35. ^ Bury (1889), p. 308
  36. ^ Moore (1997)
  37. ^ Grierson (1968), p. 568
  38. ^ Garland (2000)
  39. ^ Gibbon (1827), p. 99

Sources

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Primary sources

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Secondary sources

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Laurent, V. (1939). "Notes de titulature byzantine". Échos d'Orient. 38 (195–196): 355–370.

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Constantine IV
Born: 650 Died: 685
Regnal titles
Preceded by Byzantine emperor
668–685
with Constans II, 654–668
Heraclius and Tiberius, 659–681 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by
Constans II in 642,
then lapsed
 Roman consul
668 		Succeeded by
Lapsed,
Justinian II in 686

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