Basil II Bulgaroktonos
Basil II reigned for forty-nine years, destroyed the Bulgarian empire, and left the treasury full. He was proclaimed as a child in 960 and did not rule until 976, and the first thirteen years of that were spent surviving two revolts by the great Anatolian military families, one of which came within a battle of taking Constantinople and was defeated with 6,000 Varangians sent by Vladimir of Kiev. The experience formed him. He spent the rest of his reign attacking the power of the landed aristocracy — legislation forcing the restitution of peasant land acquired over sixty years, and the allelengyon making the great proprietors liable for their poorer neighbours' tax arrears. He lived in camp, wore military dress, never married, and by the account of Psellos was interested in almost nothing but the state. The Bulgarian war ran from 1001 to 1018, fought as a methodical reduction of fortresses rather than as campaigns for battles. After Kleidion in 1014 he is said to have blinded some 14,000 prisoners, leaving one man in a hundred with one eye to lead them home; Tsar Samuel is reported to have died of the shock, and Basil acquired the name Bulgar-slayer. Bulgaria was annexed and its church left autonomous. He also recovered ground in Syria and Armenia and was preparing an expedition to Sicily when he died in 1025. His successors spent the accumulation in fifty years. His tomb inscription, quoted by a later writer, complains that he never rested from the day he took power and lists his campaigns. He was buried outside the walls in a suburban church rather than with the emperors, at his own instruction, and the Crusaders opened the grave in 1204.
- Lived: 958 CE – 1025 CE
- Nationality: Byzantine
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state, military_leader, conqueror
