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Basil II
Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans
Replicated depiction of Basil II from the Menologion of Basil II
Emperor of the Byzantine Empire
Reign	10 January 976 – 15 December 1025
Coronation	960 as co-emperor
Predecessor	John I Tzimiskes
Successor	Constantine VIII
Born	957/958 Constantinople, Byzantine Empire
Died	15 December 1025 (1025-12-16) (aged 67–68) Constantinople, Byzantine Empire
Burial	Church of St. John the Theologian, Constantinople (now Istanbul)
Greek	Βασίλειος
Dynasty	Macedonian
Father	Romanos II
Mother	Theophano
Religion	Chalcedonian

Basil II (Greek: Βασίλειος, romanized: Basileios; 957/958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar Slayer (Greek: Βουλγαροκτόνος, romanized: Boulgaroktonos), was a Byzantine Emperor from the Macedonian dynasty whose effective reign, the longest of any Byzantine monarch, was from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025. He had been associated with the throne since 960 as a junior colleague to a succession of senior emperors: his father Romanos II (960 to 963), his step-father Nikephoros II Phokas (963 to 969), and John I Tzimiskes (969 to 976). From 962 Basil's brother Constantine VIII (r. 1025–1028), who succeeded him, was nominal co-emperor.

Basil's influential granduncle, Basil Lekapenos, held power until the latter was overthrown in 985. The early years of the emperor's long reign were dominated by civil wars against two powerful generals from the Anatolian aristocracy, first Bardas Skleros and later Bardas Phokas, which ended with Phokas' submission in 989. Basil then oversaw the stabilization and expansion of the eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire, and the final and complete subjugation of its foremost European foe, the First Bulgarian Empire, after a prolonged struggle. Although the Byzantine Empire had made a truce with the Fatimid Caliphate in 987–988, Basil led a campaign against the Caliphate which ended with another truce in 1000. He also conducted a campaign against the Khazar Khaganate which gave the Byzantine Empire part of Crimea, and several successful campaigns against the Kingdom of Georgia.

Despite near-constant warfare, Basil also distinguished himself as an administrator, reducing the power of the great land-owning families who dominated the Byzantine Empire's administration and military, while filling its treasury. He left the Empire with its greatest expanse in four centuries. Even though his successors were largely incompetent rulers, the Empire flourished for decades after Basil's death. One of the most important decisions during his reign was to offer the hand of his sister Anna Porphyrogenita to Vladimir I of Kiev in exchange for military support. This led to the Christianization of the Kievan Rus' and the incorporation of later successor nations of Kievan Rus' within the Byzantine cultural and religious tradition. Basil is seen as a Greek national hero, but as a despised figure among Bulgarians.

Physical appearance and personality

The courtier and historian Michael Psellos, who was born towards the end of Basil's reign, gives a description of Basil in his Chronographia. Psellos describes him as a stocky man of less than average stature who nevertheless cut an impressive figure on horseback, with light blue eyes, strongly arched eyebrows, luxuriant sidewhiskers—which he had a habit of rolling between his fingers when deep in thought or angry—and in later life a scant beard. He is said to have not been an articulate speaker and to have had a loud laugh that convulsed his whole frame. He had ascetic tastes, cared little for the pomp and ceremony of the Imperial court, and held court in a sombre dark purple robe furnished with few of the gems that usually decorated imperial costume. He is said to have been a capable administrator who left a well stocked treasury upon his death. Basil supposedly despised literary culture and affected an utter scorn for the learned classes of Byzantium. According to the 19th century historian George Finlay, Basil saw himself as "prudent, just, and devout; others considered him severe, rapacious, cruel, and bigoted. For Greek learning he cared little, and he was a type of the higher Byzantine moral character, which retained far more of its Roman than its Greek origin".

Background

Born in 957 or 958, Basil was Porphyrogenitus, "born into the purple", as were his father Romanos II and his grandfather Emperor Constantine VII; this was the appellation for children born to a reigning emperor. Basil was the son of Romanos and his second wife Theophano. He had a brother named Constantine, who is believed to have been born in 960 or 961; a sister named Anna born on 13 March 963, only two days before their father's death; and perhaps another sister named Helena. Basil's father crowned him in 960 and his brother, the future Emperor Constantine VIII (ruled 1025–1028), in 962 as co-emperors. They were too young to rule in their own right when Romanos died in 963, commonly thought at the time to be a result of poisoning with hemlock, so Basil's mother married one of Romanos' leading generals, Nikephoros Phokas.

Problems resulted from the marriage of Theophano and Nikephoros: it was a second marriage for each spouse, and Nikephoros was thought to be the godfather of Basil or his brother, perhaps both. Although Polyeuctus, the patriarch of Constantinople, disapproved of the marriage, the Church declared it to be valid. Nikephoros became senior emperor as Nikephoros II. Nikephoros was murdered in December 969 by Theophano and his nephew John Tzimiskes, who then became emperor as John I. John I married Theodora, a sister of Romanos II. Basil II finally took the throne as effective ruler and senior emperor when John I died on 10 January 976.

Rebellions in Anatolia and alliance with Rus'

Basil was a very successful soldier on horseback, and he proved himself as an able general and strong ruler through his achievements. In the early years of his reign, administration remained in the hands of Basil Lekapenos, a eunuch who was an illegitimate son of Emperor Romanos I–Basil's great-grandfather–and had formerly been parakoimomenos (head chamberlain) to Constantine VII and megas baioulos (grand preceptor) to Romanos II. President of the Byzantine Senate, Lekapenos was a wily and gifted politician who hoped that the young emperors would be his puppets. The younger Basil waited and watched without interfering, devoting himself to learning the details of administrative business and military science.

Even though Nikephoros II and John I were brilliant military commanders, both had proven to be lax administrators. Towards the end of his reign, John I had belatedly planned to curb the power of the great landowners, and his death, coming soon after his speaking out against them, led to rumors that he had been poisoned by Lekapenos, who had acquired vast estates illegally and feared an investigation and punishment. As a result of the failures of his immediate predecessors, Basil II found himself with a serious problem at the outset of his reign as two members of the wealthy military elite of Anatolia, Bardas Skleros and Bardas Phokas, had sufficient means to undertake open rebellion against his authority.

The chief motive of these men, both experienced generals, was to assume the Imperial position that Nikephoros II and John I had held, and thus return Basil to the role of impotent cypher. Basil, showing the penchant for ruthlessness that would become his trademark, took the field himself and suppressed the rebellions of both Skleros (979) and Phokas (989) with the help of 12,000 Georgians of Tornikios and David III Kuropalates of Tao. The fall of Lekapenos occurred between the rebellions in 985; he was accused of plotting with the rebels and was punished with exile and confiscation of his property. Seeking to protect the lower and middle classes, Basil II made ruthless war upon the system of immense estates in Asia Minor, which his predecessor, Romanos I, had endeavored to check.

The relationship between the two generals was complicated: Phokas was instrumental in defeating the rebellion of Skleros, but when Phokas himself later rebelled, Skleros returned from exile to support his old enemy. When Phokas died in battle, Skleros, whom Phokas had imprisoned, assumed the leadership of the rebellion. Basil's brother Constantine–who had no interest in politics, statecraft or military–led troops alongside Basil at this time. This was the only military command Constantine would hold. However, the campaign ended without any combat when Skleros was forced to surrender to Basil in 989. Skleros was allowed to live, but he ended his days blind, perhaps through disease, though he may have been punished by blinding.

These rebellions had a profound effect on Basil's outlook and methods of governance. Psellus describes the defeated Skleros giving Basil the following advice, which he took to heart: "Cut down the governors who become over-proud. Let no generals on campaign have too many resources. Exhaust them with unjust exactions, to keep them busied with their own affairs. Admit no woman to the imperial councils. Be accessible to no one. Share with few your most intimate plans."

In order to defeat these dangerous revolts, Basil formed an alliance with Prince Vladimir I of Kiev, who in 988 had captured Chersonesos, the main Byzantine Imperial base in the Crimea. Vladimir offered to evacuate Chersonesos and to supply 6,000 of his soldiers as reinforcements to Basil. In exchange, he demanded to be married to Basil's younger sister Anna. At first, Basil hesitated. The Byzantines viewed all the nations of Northern Europe, be they Franks or Slavs, as barbarians. Anna herself objected to marrying a barbarian ruler, as such a marriage would have no precedence in Imperial annals.

Vladimir had conducted long-running research into different religions, including sending delegates to various countries. Marriage was not his primary reason for choosing the Christian religion. When Vladimir promised to baptize himself and to convert his people to Christianity, Basil finally agreed. Vladimir and Anna were married in the Crimea in 989. The Rus' recruitments were instrumental in ending the rebellion, and they were later organized into the Varangian Guard. This marriage had important long-term implications, marking the beginning of the process by which the Grand Duchy of Moscow many centuries later would proclaim itself "The Third Rome" and claim the political and cultural heritage of the Byzantine Empire.

Notes

1. Co-emperor with Romanos II (960 – 963), Nikephoros II Phokas (963 – 969), and John I Tzimiskes (969 – 976).
2. The Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church were under communion as the Chalcedonian Church until the East-West Schism of 16 July 1054.
3. Regnal numbers were never used in the Byzantine Empire. Instead, the Byzantines used nicknames and patronymics to distinguish rulers of the same name. The numbering of Byzantine emperors is a purely historiographical invention, beginning with Edward Gibbon in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In his lifetime and later, Basil was distinguished from his namesake predecessor by the surnames the Younger (Greek: ὁ νέος, romanized: ho neos) and, most often, the Purple-born (Greek: ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, romanized: ho porphyrogennetos).
   The surname Bulgar Slayer (Greek: Βουλγαροκτόνος, romanized: Boulgaroktonos) appears to have entered common usage among the Byzantines at the end of the 12th century, when the Second Bulgarian Empire broke away from Byzantine rule and the martial exploits of Basil against the Bulgarians became a theme of Imperial propaganda. It was used by the historian Niketas Choniates and the writer Nicholas Mesarites, and consciously inverted by the Bulgarian ruler Kaloyan, who called himself "Roman-slayer" (Greek: Ρωμαιοκτόνος, romanized: Rhomaioktonos).

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External links

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Basil II". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Riccardi, Lorenzo, «Un altro cielo»: l’imperatore Basilio II e le arti, in “Rivista dell’Istituto Nazionale di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte”, 61 (III serie, XXIX), 2006 (ISSN 0392-5285), pp. 103–146.
• Riccardi, Lorenzo, Observations on Basil II as Patron of the Arts, in Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art, I, Collection of articles. Materials of the Conference of Young Specialists (St. Petersburg State University, 1–5 December 2010), St. Petersburg 2011 (ISBN 978-5-288-05174-6), pp. 39–45.