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Why Was the Byzantine Throne Never Truly Inherited? - The Assembled Emperor: Power and Legitimacy in Byzantium | Sleepy Facts About History · Sleepy Facts About History

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Welcome to Sleepy Facts About History. The Byzantine
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Empire endured for 11 centuries, not because
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it solved the problem of succession, but because
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it turned that unsolved problem into a system.
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When an emperor died, the throne was never automatically
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inherited. Instead, legitimacy had to be assembled
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from multiple sources. A claimant needed military
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backing, the support of the Constantinopolitan
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crowd, and the sacred sanction of the patriarchal
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coronation in Hagia Sophia. This episode examines
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how the Byzantine emperor was made rather than
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born, exploring the rituals, coalitions, and
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political performances required to take and hold
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power. I wanted to understand why a system so
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seemingly unstable allowed the empire to survive
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for over a thousand years. The answer lies in
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the concept of continuous performance. An emperor
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was expected to be a victorious commander, a
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just lawgiver, an orthodox Christian, and a generous
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benefactor all at once. Failing in any of these
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roles provided rivals with the moral language
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to challenge his right to rule. Here we look
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at how this ongoing performance of authority
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worked, from the elevation on a shield to the
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political weight of the Hippodrome factions.
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and why an emperor who stopped performing his
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role could quickly find himself deposed, blinded,
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or sent to a monastery. The Byzantine emperor
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was not born. He was assembled. The assembly
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drew on military acclamation, dynastic claim,
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patriarchal coronation, and the rhythmic shout
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of factions in the hippodrome. After that, he
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had to keep assembling himself every day. If
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he failed, he might find himself blinded, tonsured,
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or dead. The empire endured for 11 centuries
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not because it solved the problem of succession.
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It endured because it turned that unsolved problem
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into a system. Imagine the emperor has just died.
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The body is still warm. In the corridors of the
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great palace of Constantinople, in the barracks
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across the city, in the patriarchal residence
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near Hagia Sophia, And in the workshops and taverns
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along the maze, the same question is forming
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in different minds. Who now? There might be a
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son. There might be a brother. There might be
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a widow who governed before and intends to govern
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again. There might be a general with loyal troops
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camped outside the walls. There might be a palace
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official who controlled the Chamberlain's Keys.
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There might be a successful rebel whose army
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has already defeated the imperial forces in Anatolia.
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Each believes they have a claim. None of their
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claims is automatically decisive. Birth helps.
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It helps considerably, but it does not settle
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the matter. This is the central fact of Byzantine
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imperial succession. It is the fact that most
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modern listeners find hardest to accept. We expect
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rules. The Byzantines operated with something
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more like a repertoire. The Byzantine Empire
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was, in its own understanding, the Roman Empire
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continued. Its capital, Constantinople, had been
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founded by Constantine I in 30 CE as a Christian
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Rome. The imperial office retained the DNA of
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its republican and military origins. The emperor
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was not, in theory. a hereditary monarch he was
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an officer of the state elevated by the consent
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of the senate the army and the roman people this
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was the theory by the 5th 6th and 7th centuries
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the theory had been layered with christian sacredness
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with greek linguistic and ceremonial practice
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and with the immense practical weight of constantinople
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itself the city held half a million souls Its
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crowds could acclaim or destroy a ruler. The
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result was a political culture in which legitimacy
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was not a fixed legal status. It was an ongoing
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achievement, assembled from multiple sources
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and displayed through continuous performance.
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To understand how this worked, we need to follow
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a claimant through the process of becoming an
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emperor. Then we need to watch what happened
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after. The death of an emperor created a vacancy.
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that the system had no automatic mechanism to
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fill. Consider the death of Constantine I in
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337. He left three sons, but also various half
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-brothers and nephews. The months after his death
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saw a purge that eliminated most of the broader
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family before the sons divided the empire. The
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example shows dynastic competition and the violence
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it could unleash. Or consider Julian in 363.
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He died on campaign in Persia with no clear heir.
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The generals selected a Christian officer, Jovian,
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essentially on the spot. It was a military improvisation
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that produced an emperor from nowhere. Or consider
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Basil II in 1025. He had co -emperors, including
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his brother Constantine VIII, but the transition
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still required negotiation with the court, the
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church, and the army. It was a negotiated transition
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even where the machinery seemed prepared. The
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pattern recurs across centuries. The throne was
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contestable by design. Or rather, it was contestable
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by the absence of design. What happened next
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when a claimant believed the throne was within
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reach? The first and most visceral moment was
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often military proclamation. A general with loyal
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troops. or a palace official with the support
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of the guards, would be presented to soldiers
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who would shout their approval. The ritual of
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elevation on a shield, adopted from late Roman
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and Germanic practice, made this physically visible.
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The claimant was lifted above the heads of the
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troops, standing or seated on a shield. The soldiers
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shouted august, or later basilo. That was the
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Greek term for emperor, that became standard
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from the 7th century onward. This was not mere
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theater. It was constitutive. The army's acclamation
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made a man emperor in the eyes of the only institution
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that could enforce his rule. Without military
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support, no claimant could survive. But military
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proclamation outside Constantinople was not sufficient.
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The emperor had to enter the city. Constantinople
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was not simply the capital. It was... In the
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Byzantine imagination, the new Rome, the god
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-guarded city, the physical locus of imperial
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legitimacy, a claimant who controlled the provinces
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but not the city, was a rebel, not an emperor.
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Entry into Constantinople required more than
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marching through the gates. It required the city
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to accept him. This might involve negotiation
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with palace officials. It might involve distribution
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of money to the troops stationed in the capital.
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It might involve public display before the crowds.
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The Hippodrome, the great racing stadium adjacent
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to the palace, served as the primary interface
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between emperor and people. Here, the organized
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urban factions, the Blues and Greens, played
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a role that is easy to miss if we imagine public
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opinion as a shapeless crowd. The Blues and Grings
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were not political parties in any modern sense,
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but they were structured associations with their
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own leadership, membership and ceremonial functions.
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Their acclamations in the Hippodrome were not
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spontaneous outbursts. They were rehearsed, rhythmic,
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politically meaningful performances. When a new
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emperor appeared in the imperial box, the factions
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could chant his titles in measured verse. They
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could shout their refusal. They could riot. Their
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voice was real, if not institutionalized. A claimant
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who failed to secure their participation found
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his legitimacy publicly hollow. The Nika Riot
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of 532, which nearly toppled Justinian Lai, demonstrated
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what factional dissent could do. That even ordinary
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acclamations were part of the machinery of consent.
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The Emperor needed the factions to perform their
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recognition. just as he needed the army to perform
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theirs. Once in the city, the claimant needed
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the church. The patriarch of Constantinople,
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the senior bishop of the imperial capital, had
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developed a crucial role in imperial ritual.
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The coronation ceremony in Hagia Sophia, the
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great church, became the climactic moment of
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elevation. Book of Ceremonies, compiled under
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Constantine VII. Porphyrogenetos in the 10th
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century preserves extraordinary detail about
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this sequence. The claimant would process the
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Hagia Sophia through the streets of the capital,
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already wearing signs of imperial status. He
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would enter through the imperial doors. He would
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vest in the heavy purple silk dyed with murex
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from the eastern Mediterranean. He would stand
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before the assembled clergy, officials, and representatives
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of the factions. The acclamations would begin,
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rhythmic and chanted. The same structured shouts
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that had echoed in the hippodrome were now consecrated
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in sacred space. The patriarch would place the
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crown on the claimant's head. He would anoint
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him with oil. He would lead prayers for his reign.
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The physical act of crowning, the weight of the
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crown, the touch of the patriarch's hands, the
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sound of the liturgy. all transformed the moment
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from political negotiation into sacred transformation.
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This ceremony, which became standard after the
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coronation of Leo I by Patriarch Anatolius in
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457, gave sacred sanction to imperial power.
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But we must be careful here. The Patriarch's
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coronation was not equivalent to a papal coronation
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in Western Europe. The patriarch did not possess
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a constitutional right to choose or reject emperors.
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He blessed and crowned. He did not create. The
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emperor was emperor because of the combination
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of military support, public acclamation, and
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dynastic claim that preceded the coronation.
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The coronation confirmed and sanctified what
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had already begun to exist. The ritual was constitutive
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of recognition, not of raw power. The rituals
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continued. The new emperor would distribute money
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to the soldiers and to the citizens. This was
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a tangible moment of benefaction that transformed
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political support into something resembling a
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reciprocal relationship. He would don the imperial
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clothing, the heavy purple silk, reserved exclusively
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for the emperor and his immediate family. The
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color itself was a claim. A child born to a reigning
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emperor in the purple chamber of the palace,
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the Porphyra, was called Porphyra Ganetos, born
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in the purple. This was a mark of extraordinary
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prestige. It was not, however, a legal guarantee
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of succession. Many Porphyrogontoi were deposed,
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bypassed, or simply ignored. The title helped
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acclaimment. It did not settle the matter. The
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Book of Ceremonies is not merely antiquarian.
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It is prescriptive. Constantine VII, himself
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a porphyrogenitos who had struggled to secure
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his own position against regents and usurpers,
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understood that ritual was not decoration. It
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was constitution. The ceremonies made the emperor
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visible as emperor. They transformed control
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into recognized authority. Consider the elevation
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of Justin V in 518. Anastasius I died without
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a clear heir. The palace officials and the guards
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debated through the night in the corridors of
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the great palace. The palace was a sprawling
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complex of buildings, gardens and courtyards
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that stretched from the Hippodrome to the Sea
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of Marmara. Justin, a Latin -speaking military
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officer from the Balkans, was not the obvious
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candidate. But he had the support of key soldiers.
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He was present in the palace. He could be presented
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to the people. The next morning, he was acclaimed
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by the troops. He entered the Hippodrome. He
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was crowned by the Patriarch. The sequence, military
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support, public acclamation, coronation, established
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the pattern. Justin was an emperor because he
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could assemble the coalition. and perform the
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rituals. He was not emperor because any rule
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designated him. Or consider Nikephoros II Phokas
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in 963. He was a successful general with eastern
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campaigns behind him. He was proclaimed by his
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troops in Cappadocia and elevated on a shield.
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Then he marched to Constantinople. His entry
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required negotiation with the existing regency
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for the young emperors Basil II and Constantine
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VIII. He married their mother, Theophano, to
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establish a dynastic nation. He was crowned by
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the patriarch Polyutus. Each step was necessary.
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None was sufficient alone. The rituals created
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an emperor. But the emperor then had to be an
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emperor. This is the next essential point. It
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is where the performance of legitimacy becomes
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continuous rather than one time. The Byzantine
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emperor was expected to fulfill multiple roles
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simultaneously. He was to be a victorious commander,
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leading armies or at least presiding over military
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success. He was to be a just lawgiver, issuing
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and embodying the laws that structured imperial
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society. He was to be an orthodox Christian,
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defender of correct doctrine, patron of the church
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and model of piety. He was to be a benefactor.
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distributing wealth founding institutions and
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displaying generosity he was to be a protector
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of the poor the widows the orphans the weak was
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a moral claim with real institutional weight
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since petitions from the marginalized could reach
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the emperor and expect response these were not
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abstract ideals they were the criteria by which
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emperors were judged Failure in any one role
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supplied rivals with the moral language to challenge
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legitimacy. An emperor who lost battles could
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be accused of failing as commander. An emperor
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who issued unpopular laws or whose tax policies
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provoked resistance could be accused of injustice.
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An emperor who supported theological positions
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later deemed heretical could be accused of failing
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orthodoxy. The iconoclast emperors of the 8th
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and 9th centuries faced exactly this accusation.
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An emperor who seemed miserly, or who failed
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to display the expected generosity, could be
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accused of failing as benefactor. The deposition
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of Michael V in 1042 illustrates this with terrible
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clarity. Michael was a young man, nephew of the
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Empress Zoe, who had been adopted and elevated
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as co -emperor. When his uncle died, Michael
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attempted to rule independently. He dismissed
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Zoe, his adoptive mother, and the link to the
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previous dynasty. He failed to distribute the
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expected largesse. He alienated the Constantinopolitan
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crowd, which rioted in defense of the Empress.
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He alienated the Church, whose patriarch refused
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to recognize his authority without Zoe. Within
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weeks, Michael was deposed. blinded, and sent
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to a monastery. The sources, particularly Michael
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Sellers, describe the sequence with the precision
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of an eyewitness. They record the failure to
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perform the expected roles. They record the loss
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of the coalitions that had elevated him. They
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record the rapid collapse of his legitimacy into
18:00
mere force. And they record the force itself
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evaporating when the palace guard and the crowd
18:06
turned against him. This was not unusual. The
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Byzantine throne was dangerous precisely because
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legitimacy was performative. An emperor who stopped
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performing or who performed badly became vulnerable.
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The performance was not merely personal. It was
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institutional. The emperor's success or failure
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affected the army, the bureaucracy, the church,
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the provinces, and the capital. Each of these
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constituencies had its own interests and its
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own capacity. to support or withdraw support,
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the system developed mechanisms to manage this
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vulnerability. Co -emperors were appointed, often
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sons or brothers of the reigning emperor, to
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secure the succession and provide continuity.
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A dying emperor could elevate his heir to co
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-emperor. The transition would then involve not
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the creation of a new emperor, but the continuation
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of an existing one. But this too was no guarantee.
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Co -emperors could be deposed, blinded or simply
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ignored. Child emperors required regents. Regencies
19:20
could become permanent power struggles. Empresses
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could rule as regents for some, or even in their
19:28
own right. But their legitimacy was always contested
19:32
in gendered terms. The accusation that female
19:35
rule violated the natural order was a standard
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rhetorical weapon. Empresses had to navigate
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the same performative demands as male emperors
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with additional scrutiny. Irene, who ruled in
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the late 8th century, faced particular challenges.
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Her blinding of her own son Constantine VI in
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797 was justified by her supporters as necessary
20:00
for stability. Her opponents used it as evidence
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that female rule was inherently transgressive.
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capable of violating even the bond between mother
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and son. The scandal did not settle her legitimacy.
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It made it permanently contested. Theodora, who
20:21
restored icon veneration in 843, ruled alongside
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her son Michael III. She had to present herself
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through male -coded imperial roles, commander,
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lawgiver, protector, even as her actual power
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was acknowledged. Zoe. who survived multiple
20:39
husbands and co -rulers in the 11th century,
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used dynastic marriage and the performance of
20:45
piety and benefaction to maintain her position.
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But she never escaped the perception that her
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authority was borrowed from the men around her.
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Each of these women exercised real power. Each
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faced the same expectation of continuous performance.
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Each carried the added burden of proving that
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a woman's body could bear the imperial role at
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all. The body itself became a site of political
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meaning. The emperor was expected to be physically
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whole. Blinding, the deliberate destruction of
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a rival's eyes, became a standard method of disqualification.
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The logic was partly practical. A blind man could
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not lead an army. He could not easily navigate
21:33
caught in tree. He could not present himself
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as the image of imperial figure. But it was also
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symbolic. The Emperor was the image of God on
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Earth. The intact body mirrored the intact cosmos.
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To blind a rival was to mark him as unfit. It
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was to transform him from potential Emperor to
21:56
damaged goods. A cold iron of the blinding instrument.
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The immediate darkness, the permanent alteration
22:04
of the body, these were physical transformations
22:07
that carried political meaning. The body was
22:10
rewritten as a text of disqualification. Yet
22:14
even this was not absolute. The blinded Emperor
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Constantine VI, deposed and mutilated by his
22:22
own mother Irene in 797, became a scandal precisely
22:26
because the act violated expected norms. Irene's
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supporters had to justify the blinding of her
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son. Her opponents used it as evidence of her
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illegitimacy. The act did not settle the matter.
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It created new political problems. And in 1203,
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the blinded Emperor Isaacios II, Angelus, was
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restored to the throne by the Fourth Crusade.
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His mutilation was no longer disqualifying when
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political circumstances required his return.
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The body was a political symbol, but symbols
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could be reinterpreted when necessity demanded.
23:07
Monastic retirement served as another mechanism
23:10
of removal. A deposed emperor who entered a monastery
23:14
was theoretically dead to the world. His political
23:18
life was ended by religious conversion. This
23:21
too could be reversed, but less easily than blinding.
23:25
The monastic habit was a powerful symbol of renunciation.
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Emperors who were forced into monasteries or
23:33
who chose them as refuge rarely returned to Pala.
23:37
The cell, the plain clothing, the absence of
23:41
the purple, all marked a transformation that
23:44
was harder to undo than physical mutilation.
23:48
Palace coupes added another layer. The Great
23:52
Palace was a labyrinth of buildings, corridors
23:54
and chambers. It was staffed by eunuchs, guards,
23:59
officials and servants who controlled access
24:01
to the Emperor. Its physical layout mattered.
24:05
The public audience halls, where the Emperor
24:08
appeared in full regalia before foreign ambassadors
24:10
and petitioners, stood at one end of the complex.
24:14
The private chambers where he slept, ate and
24:17
conducted intimate business lay deep within.
24:21
They were accessible only through controlled
24:23
points. The Purple Chamber. where Porphyrogenatoi
24:29
were born, was among the most symbolically charged
24:32
spaces. A claimant who could seize the palace,
24:36
control the bedchamber, and present himself as
24:39
already emperor could sometimes force recognition
24:42
before opposition could organize. The palace
24:46
was not merely a residence. It was a machine
24:49
for producing imperial presence. Whoever controlled
24:53
its machinery controlled the emperor's visibility.
24:57
They controlled who could see him, when, and
25:00
in what context. The eunuchs who guarded the
25:03
inner chambers, the chamberlains who held the
25:06
keys, the guards who controlled the gates, all
25:10
were political actors because they controlled
25:12
access to the performance. What emerges from
25:16
all of this is a picture of Byzantine legitimacy
25:18
that is fundamentally different from modern assumptions
25:22
about monarchy. There was no constitution. There
25:26
was no clear rule of succession. There was no
25:30
single institution, not the church, not the army,
25:34
not the senate, not the people, that could make
25:37
an emperor alone. Instead, legitimacy was a composite
25:41
assembled from multiple sources and continuously
25:44
performed. Dynasty mattered. A connection to
25:49
a previous emperor, whether by blood, marriage,
25:52
or adoption, provided a powerful claim. But it
25:57
was not decisive. Military support mattered.
26:01
Without the army, no claimant could survive.
26:05
But military support alone was not sufficient.
26:09
Generals who proclaimed themselves outside Constantinople
26:13
and failed to take the city remained rebels.
26:16
Church approval mattered. The patriarchal coronation
26:20
gave sacred sanction. But the church did not
26:24
choose emperors. It blessed those who had already
26:27
assembled sufficient support. Public acclamation
26:31
mattered. The crowds of Constantinople, channeled
26:36
through the blues and greens, could acclaim or
26:38
riot. Their voice was real, if not institutionalized.
26:44
Victory mattered. Success in war validated imperial
26:48
authority. Defeat undermined it. Palace control
26:54
mattered. The physical center of government was
26:57
a resource that could be seized and exploited.
27:00
The Emperor had to unite these elements. The
27:04
Union was never permanent. Each new reign required
27:08
reassembly. Each crisis threatened dissolution.
27:13
The system's flexibility was its strength and
27:16
its weakness. It allowed the Empire to survive
27:19
dynastic interruptions, child emperors, military
27:23
usurpers, and palace coups. It also made the
27:27
throne perpetually contestable. The history of
27:30
Byzantium is punctuated by the violent removal
27:33
of emperors who had failed to maintain the performance.
27:36
We should not moralize about this violence as
27:40
if it were merely barbaric or exotic. It had
27:43
its own logic, a logic of symbolic fitness and
27:46
performative legitimacy. The Byzantines were
27:50
not confused about their system. They understood
27:53
that the emperor was made, not born. They understood
27:57
that making required continuous remaking. The
28:01
evidence preserves this understanding in different
28:04
registers. The book of ceremonies, the legal
28:07
codes, the histories, all document the theory
28:11
and practice of performed legitimacy. The coins
28:15
are particularly telling as material evidence.
28:18
They show the emperor's frontal portrait, his
28:21
titles in Greek or Latin, his co -emperors if
28:24
he had them. They circulated the claim of legitimacy
28:27
into the provinces where most subjects would
28:30
never see an imperial procession or hear an acclamation.
28:34
The visual language of the coins, the frontal
28:37
pose, the cross, the globus, the labrum was part
28:42
of the same performance extended across space
28:45
and time. Coins were the most widely distributed
28:49
imperial image in the empire. They reached markets,
28:53
tax collection points and military pay. A farmer
28:57
in Anatolia or a soldier on the Danube frontier
29:00
who never entered Constantinople could hold in
29:03
his hand the emperor's image, his titles, his
29:07
claim to sacred and secular authority. The coin
29:11
did not create legitimacy, but it reinforced
29:14
and extended it. It carried the performance into
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daily transactions and remote places. The relative
29:22
weight of different elements shifted across the
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centuries. Some scholars emphasize the army as
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decisive, particularly in the 7th and 8th centuries.
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In that period, Anatolia was the military heartland
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and field armies could make or break emperors.
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Others emphasize the Constantinopolitan populace,
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whose riots in the Hippodrome could topple rulers
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who had lost their favor. Some argue that the
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Church's role grew over time, especially as the
29:54
Patriarchate developed its ceremonial and theological
29:57
claims. Others stress the continuity of Roman
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Republican ideas of acclamation and consent,
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never fully replaced by Christian or dynastic
30:08
alternatives. These debates are genuine and unresolved.
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The evidence is often fragmentary. The motivations
30:17
of individual actors, generals, Patriarchs, empresses,
30:21
rioters are frequently unrecoverable. What we
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can say with confidence is that Byzantine imperial
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legitimacy was not a fixed possession. It was
30:33
an achievement repeatedly renewed, publicly displayed
30:36
and vulnerable to failure. The emperor who understood
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this, who performed the roles, distributed the
30:44
wealth, won the battles, displayed the piety
30:47
and maintained the coalitions. could rule for
30:51
decades. The emperor who misunderstood, who believed
30:55
that birth or coronation had settled the matter,
30:58
could find himself deposed, blinded or tortured
31:01
within months. The Byzantine throne was never
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simply inherited. It was assembled, displayed,
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defended and sometimes lost. It was a continuous
31:13
performance in which dynasty, sacred approval,
31:16
military power and the consent of Constantinople
31:20
had to be united again and again. The empire
31:23
lasted over a thousand years, not because it
31:26
had solved the problem of succession. It lasted
31:29
because it had developed a flexible, if dangerous,
31:32
way of managing its unsolvability. The performance
31:36
continued because the stakes were too high for
31:39
it to stop. The repertoire of ritual, symbol,
31:43
and coalition building provided the tools for
31:46
emperors to claim, exercise and sometimes reclaim
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the authority that made them more than merely
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powerful men.