Leo VI
866 – 912 · Generation XXII · Emperor (r. 886–912) · Macedonian
Leo (AD 866 – 912). Emperor (r. 886–912). Married Zoe around AD 906. 'the Wise'; officially son of Basil I but possibly the biological son of Michael III; four marriages. His epithet honoured his learning: deeply read, Leo presided over the continuing revival of letters that Basil I had fostered and completed the Basilika, the great Greek reworking of Justinian’s law code, while his reign quietly retired such ancient Roman survivals as the consulship. War served him less well — Simeon of Bulgaria worsted his armies, the Arabs took Taormina in Sicily, and the renegade Leo of Tripolis sacked Thessalonica with his pirate fleet. He interfered freely with the patriarchate, deposing his old tutor Photios in favour of his own nineteen-year-old brother Stephen, and one of his first acts was to give Michael III a ceremonious reburial among the emperors in the Church of the Holy Apostles. Liutprand of Cremona tells of him roaming Constantinople in disguise to test his own officials — and being jailed by the one honest patrol.
One of 16 people of Macedonian (811–1057) in this archive. The empire’s widest reach — a house of soldier-emperors and scholars.
Parents
- Basil I (811 – 886)
- Eudokia Ingerina (840 – 882)
Siblings
- Constantine (860 – 879) (half)
- Alexander (870 – 913)
Partners
- Married Zoe Karbonopsina (870 – ?) in 906 — one child together
Children
- Constantine VII (905 – 959)
Life
- 866 — Born
- 906 — Married Zoe
- 912 — Died