Basil I the Macedonian
Basil I was an Armenian peasant who came to Constantinople with nothing, became a groom, and founded a dynasty that lasted 189 years. He was born about 811 in Macedonia to a family of Armenian settlers, and his rise began with horses: he was noticed for breaking an unmanageable animal, and for winning a wrestling match against a Bulgarian champion in front of the emperor. Michael III made him chamberlain, married him to his own mistress, and adopted him as a son and co-emperor in 866. Basil had already murdered the emperor's uncle Bardas — the man who had actually been governing, and governing well — in front of him. In September 867 he had Michael killed in his bedroom after a drinking party and took the throne alone. The reign that followed was surprisingly good. He began the recodification of the law in Greek that his son completed as the Basilika, replacing a Latin corpus his own judges could no longer read, reorganised the finances, and prosecuted the war in southern Italy successfully, recovering Bari and much of Apulia. His generals campaigned against the Paulicians in the east. He also deposed the patriarch Photios, restored Ignatios, and then recalled Photios to tutor his sons, which shows a certain flexibility about the schism with Rome. His eldest son died in 879 and he never recovered from it. He died in 886 after a hunting accident involving a stag and a belt, in circumstances the sources describe suspiciously. The dynasty he founded produced Leo VI, Constantine VII, Nikephoros II, John I and Basil II, and took the empire to its greatest extent since Justinian. Its founder was an illiterate stableman who reached the throne by two murders, which is not the usual origin story for a golden age.
- Lived: 830 CE – 886 CE
- Nationality: Byzantine
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state, military_leader, lawgiver
