Michael V

1015 – 1042 · Generation XXVII · Emperor (r. 1041–1042) · Macedonian

Michael (AD 1015 – 1042). Emperor (r. 1041–1042). 'the Caulker'; adopted by Michael IV and by Zoe; deposed, blinded and exiled after banishing Zoe. The son of a caulker who rose to admiral, he was made kaisar in 1035 and owed his proclamation to the empress Zoe herself. Once in power he moved quickly to rule alone, packing his uncle John the Orphanotrophos off to a monastery and recalling the exiles of the previous reign, among them the general George Maniakes, sent back to southern Italy against the Normans. Striking at Zoe proved fatal: the city rose, a mob stormed the palace — some three thousand died in the fighting — and her sister Theodora was proclaimed empress. He fled to the Stoudion monastery and took monastic vows, but was arrested regardless; a tradition disputed by some scholars names Harald Hardrada as the man who put out his eyes.

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