John I Tzimiskes

925 – 976 · Generation XXIV · Emperor (r. 969–976) · Macedonian

John (AD 925 – 976). Emperor (r. 969–976). Married Theodora around AD 973. Nephew of Nikephoros II; murdered Nikephoros; married Theodora, daughter of Constantine VII; no known children. A soldier before he was anything else, Tzimiskes came of the Kourkouas family, of Armenian origin, on his father’s side and of the Phokas clan through his mother; he held command of the Armenia theme before he was twenty-five and made his name in the eastern wars against the Hamdanids, distinguishing himself at the Battle of Raban in 958. Contemporaries describe a short, well-built man, reddish-fair and blue-eyed, popular with his troops for seizing the initiative in battle. Stripped of his command by intrigue, he conspired with the empress Theophano and disaffected generals. As emperor he proved no less formidable in the field, defeating Sviatoslav’s Rus’ on the Danube and carrying his arms into Syria against the Fatimids, and he left the empire stronger and broader than he found it.

One of 16 people of Macedonian (811–1057) in this archive. The empire’s widest reach — a house of soldier-emperors and scholars.

Partners

Married Theodora (946 – ?) in 973

Life

925 — Born
973 — Married Theodora
976 — Died