Michael III the Drunkard
Michael III earned the unflattering nickname the Drunkard from the hostile historiography written after his assassination, which portrayed him as a dissolute playboy manipulated by favorites. The reality was considerably more complex. He became emperor at age two in 842 under the regency of his mother Theodora, who oversaw the restoration of icon veneration in 843 at the Triumph of Orthodoxy. Under the real governance of his capable uncle Bardas, the empire enjoyed a genuine cultural and military revival. The University of Constantinople was refounded, fostering the intellectual renaissance of the ninth century. Most consequentially, in 863 Michael and Bardas dispatched the missionaries Cyril and Methodius to Moravia, an event of incalculable cultural importance as it led to the creation of the Glagolitic and later Cyrillic alphabet and the Christianization of the Slavic world. Michael elevated the Macedonian peasant Basil to high office, making him his personal favorite and eventually co-emperor. Basil assassinated him in 867 and seized the throne, founding the Macedonian dynasty.
- Lived: 840 CE – 867 CE
- Nationality: byzantine
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state
