The Macedonian Dynasty: The Golden Age of Byzantium

The Macedonian dynasty, which ruled the Byzantine Empire from 867 to 1056, presided over what was, in many ways, the most brilliant period in Byzantine history. In a span of nearly two centuries, the empire expanded to its greatest medieval extent, recovered the prestige of Roman imperial power, produced a remarkable flowering of art, literature, and law, and exported Orthodox Christianity to a vast region of Eastern Europe. The great military emperors, the brilliant scholars, and the architectural achievements of the age all combine to make the Macedonian era a true renaissance, comparable to and historically connected with the later Italian Renaissance.

The dynasty takes its name from its founder, Basil I, who came from a peasant family in the region of Macedonia, although the actual family origins are obscure. Despite its humble origins, the Macedonian dynasty produced a series of rulers who, in their different ways, gave the Byzantine state a level of cultural achievement and military power that it had not seen since the age of Justinian and that it would never see again.

The Founder: Basil I the Macedonian

Basil I came to the throne in 867 by one of the most notorious acts of violence in Byzantine history. He had been a stable hand in the service of the emperor Michael III, who became his friend and patron. Michael was, by all accounts, a dissolute ruler, and in 867, he was murdered by Basil, who took the throne and married Michael’s mistress, Eudokia Ingerina. Despite the violence of his accession, Basil proved to be a capable and energetic ruler, and he inaugurated a dynasty that would last nearly two centuries.

Basil I’s program was based on three principles: the restoration of the empire’s prestige, the reform of the legal code, and the support of the church. He patronized scholars, rebuilt churches and monasteries, and fought successful wars against the Arabs in southern Italy and the Slavs in the Balkans. He also commissioned the so-called Basilika, a revision of the Justinian Code that remained the basis of Byzantine law until the fall of the empire.

The Military Emperors

Leo VI the Wise (886–912)

The second Macedonian emperor was Leo VI, the son of Basil I by his mistress, Eudokia Ingerina, and possibly by Michael III, although the official story was that Michael was godfather. Leo was one of the most learned of the Byzantine emperors, the author of a treatise on military tactics, a homily on the recovery of Crete from the Arabs, and many other works. His legal code, the Basilica, was the most important codification of Byzantine law after Justinian.

Leo was also a determined opponent of the Bulgarian Empire, which had grown powerful under Tsar Simeon, who took the title of Tsar of the Bulgarians and Romans and at one point threatened Constantinople itself. Leo was forced to pay tribute to Simeon, but the Bulgarian pressure was eventually resisted and partially reversed under his successors.

Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (913–959)

Constantine VII, grandson of Leo VI, was one of the most interesting of the Byzantine emperors. He was never meant to rule: his reign was dominated by his father-in-law, the co-emperor Romanos I Lekapenos, and his own sons. Yet Constantine VII used his long life to compile an extraordinary series of works on imperial ceremony, military tactics, foreign relations, and court life, the most comprehensive account of Byzantine civilization to survive from any period.

The most important of these is the De Ceremoniis, a vast work on the procedures of the imperial court. The De Thematibus, an account of the theme system, is the most important source for the Byzantine military administrative system. The De Administrando Imperio, a treatise on the foreign relations of the empire, is a key source for the early history of the Slavic peoples and the Hungarians.

The Bulgar-Slayer: Basil II (976–1025)

The greatest military emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, and perhaps the greatest of all Byzantine rulers, was Basil II, who reigned for nearly half a century from 976 to 1025. Basil came to the throne as a child, and his early years were dominated by powerful generals and ministers. Yet he gradually asserted his personal authority, and from 985 onward, he led his armies in person almost every year.

Basil II’s military program aimed at the recovery of the empire’s lost provinces, especially in the Balkans and the East. He defeated the rebel general Bardas Skleros and the rebel general Bardas Phokas, both of whom had threatened his throne, and then turned his attention to the Bulgarian Empire, which had grown powerful under the Comitopuli dynasty.

The decisive confrontation came in 1014, with the Battle of Kleidion, in which Basil’s army destroyed the Bulgarian forces under Tsar Samuel. According to a later legend, Basil had thousands of Bulgarian prisoners blinded, sending one in every hundred with one eye to lead the rest back to Samuel, who reportedly died of a heart attack upon seeing his army’s condition. Whether or not the legend is true, the battle effectively ended Bulgarian independence, and within a few years, the Bulgarian Empire had been incorporated into the Byzantine state.

Basil II also expanded Byzantine power in the east, annexing parts of Armenia and Georgia, and in southern Italy, where the Byzantines ruled a thin strip of territory until the Norman conquest of the eleventh century. At the time of his death in 1025, Basil ruled an empire that stretched from southern Italy to the Caucasus and from the Danube to Syria, the largest Byzantine state since the age of Justinian.

The Macedonian Renaissance

The Macedonian dynasty presided over a remarkable cultural flowering that historians have called the Macedonian Renaissance. The renaissance involved the recovery of classical Greek learning, the production of original literature, theology, and science, and a major program of building and artistic production.

Literature and Scholarship

The Macedonian era saw the most important revival of classical learning since the age of Justinian. The libraries of Constantinople were reorganized, and a major program of manuscript copying and editing was undertaken. The Bibliotheca of Photios, patriarch of Constantinople in the ninth century, is a remarkable record of classical learning. The Lexicon of Photios and the Suda, a tenth-century encyclopedia, are among the most important works of Byzantine scholarship.

The literary output of the Macedonian era was impressive. The historians of the period, including the continuator of Theophanes, Genesios, and Leo the Deacon, are major sources for the history of the empire. The hagiographical literature of the period, including the Life of Saint Cyril, the Life of Saint Methodius, and the Life of Saint Bryennios, is the foundation of the Slavic hagiographical tradition. The poetry of the period, including the work of John Geometres and Christopher of Mytilene, is among the most accomplished in the Byzantine tradition.

The Arts

The Macedonian era was also a great age of art and architecture. The most important surviving monument of the period in Constantinople is the upper gallery of the Hagia Sophia, decorated with a series of mosaics depicting biblical scenes and the imperial family. The mosaics of the Nea Ekklesia of Basil I, the palace church of the New Palace, were the most elaborate program of mosaic in the empire, although they have not survived.

Outside Constantinople, the Macedonian period produced the great churches of Greece, including the Church of the Holy Apostles in Thessaloniki, the Hagia Sophia of Kiev, and the Hosios Loukas monastery in Boeotia. The miniatures of the Macedonian manuscripts, including the Paris Psalter, the Joshua Roll, and the menologion of Basil II, are among the most refined works of Byzantine art.

Architecture

The Macedonian era saw the consolidation of the cross-in-square plan, which would become the standard plan of Orthodox church architecture. The cross-in-square was ideally suited to Orthodox liturgical requirements, providing a clear separation between the sanctuary, the nave, and the narthex, and ample wall surface for icon programs. The most important surviving examples include the Nea Ekklesia of Basil I, the Myrelaion of Romanos I, and the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.

The Macedonian architectural program extended beyond the capital. The conversion of the Bulgarians, the Serbs, and the Rus opened vast new areas to Byzantine architectural influence. The first stone churches of the Bulgarians, the Serbs, and the Rus were built by Byzantine architects, and the Hagia Sophia of Kiev, dedicated in 1037, is one of the great surviving monuments of the period.

The Conversion of the Slavs

The Macedonian era was the period in which Orthodox Christianity was extended to the Slavic peoples, with profound consequences for the future of European civilization. The Christianization of Bulgaria in 864, the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius to the Slavs in the ninth century, and the conversion of Rus in 988 were all products of the Macedonian period.

The most famous episode is the mission of Cyril and Methodius, two brothers from Thessaloniki, who were sent to the Great Moravian Empire at the request of the ruler Rastislav. The brothers developed an alphabet for the Slavic languages, the so-called Glagolitic alphabet, which was later replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet, named in honor of Cyril. The brothers translated the liturgy and the Bible into the Slavic language, Old Church Slavonic, which became the liturgical language of the Slavic Orthodox churches.

The work of Cyril and Methodius was carried on by their disciples, who were eventually expelled from Moravia and found refuge in Bulgaria. Under Tsar Simeon, Bulgaria became a major center of Slavic learning, and the Old Church Slavonic literature produced in Bulgaria, including the earliest Slavic chronicles and saints’ lives, became the foundation of the Slavic literary tradition. The Byzantine legacy in Russia and the Balkans is in large part a Macedonian inheritance.

The Decline of the Dynasty

The Macedonian dynasty did not long survive Basil II. Basil was the last of the great Macedonian emperors, and his successors were a series of weak, often short-lived rulers dominated by court eunuchs and the great aristocratic families. The dynasty ended in 1056, with the death of the empress Theodora, the last of the Macedonian line, and the throne passed to Isaac I Komnenos, the founder of a new dynasty.

The Macedonian achievement was squandered within a generation. The great military families of Anatolia, neglected by the central government, began to build up private power bases that would eventually evolve into Turkish beyliks. The treasury, drained by Basil’s wars, was empty. The bureaucracy, weakened by the sale of offices, was corrupt. Within a few years of Basil’s death, the empire had lost control of its Anatolian heartland, and the great disaster of the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 was only a matter of time.

Conclusion

The Macedonian dynasty was, in many ways, the most brilliant period in Byzantine history. The empire reached its greatest medieval extent, produced a remarkable renaissance of art, literature, and law, and extended Orthodox Christianity to a vast new region of Eastern Europe. The legacy of the Macedonian period is one of the principal foundations of the Orthodox world, and the influence of Byzantium on the Renaissance, the Slavic literary tradition, and the modern legal system of continental Europe all derive in part from the Macedonian inheritance.

History of the Byzantine Empire — the broader context
Byzantine Emperors: A Study of Power — the rulers of the empire
Byzantine Iconoclasm — the controversy that preceded the dynasty
The Battle of Manzikert — the disaster that followed the dynasty
The Reign of Justinian I — the earlier golden age
Byzantine Legacy in Russia and Eastern Europe — the Macedonian inheritance
The Cyrillic Alphabet and Byzantine Missionaries — the work of Cyril and Methodius