Leo VI the Wise
Leo VI, called the Wise for his intellectual prolificacy rather than his political judgment, was one of the most learned Byzantine emperors. He completed the great legal compilation known as the Basilika that his father Basil I had initiated, a monumental revision and translation of Justinian's legal corpus into Greek that remained the foundation of Byzantine law for centuries. He wrote extensively himself - sermons, orations, military treatises, and poetry. His personal life was scandalous by Byzantine standards and created the great controversy of his reign. He married four times in his search for a male heir. His fourth marriage, to his mistress Zoe Karbonopsina who had borne him the future Constantine VII, violated Byzantine canon law, which strictly prohibited fourth marriages. The resulting Tetragamy Controversy divided the church for years, with the patriarch Nicholas Mystikos refusing to allow Leo into the cathedral on Christmas Day 906. Militarily his reign was troubled: he suffered serious defeats against the Bulgars under Tsar Symeon and struggled to contain Arab raids. He died in 912.
- Lived: 866 CE – 912 CE
- Nationality: byzantine
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state, scholar, lawgiver
