Lekapenos

File:Romanos I with co-emperors, miliaresion, 931-944 AD.jpg from 931–944, showing Romanos I's bust on a cross on the obverse and listing the names of Romanos and his co-emperors, Constantine VII, Stephen Lekapenos and Constantine Lekapenos on the reverse]]

Lekapenos ({{langx|el|Λεκαπηνός}}) or Lakapenos ({{langx|el|Λακαπηνός}}), usually Latinized as Lecapenus or Lacapenus, feminine form Lekapene ({{langx|el|Λεκαπηνή}}) or Lakapene ({{langx|el|Λακαπηνή}}), Latinized as Lecapene or Lacapene, was the name of a prominent, assumed, Byzantine-Armenian family of humble background which intermarried with and almost managed to usurp the throne from the Macedonian dynasty in the first half of the 10th century.

The family was founded by Theophylact, surnamed Abaktistos or Abastaktos (the Unbearable), who had rescued the Emperor Basil I from the enemy in battle at Tephrike in 872, saving his life, and had been rewarded by a place in the Imperial Guard and received estates as a reward. The family surname derives from the locality of Lakape; possibly these estates were located there.{{sfn|Kazhdan|1991|pp=1203–1204}} Theophylact's son Romanos became commander-in-chief of the Imperial Fleet and eventually senior emperor in 920 after marrying his daughter Helena to the legitimate emperor Constantine VII, grandson of Basil I. He raised three of his sons, Christopher, Stephen, and Constantine, as co-emperors alongside Constantine VII. Another son, Theophylact, was made Patriarch of Constantinople, and Christopher's daughter Maria-Irene was married to the Tsar Peter I of Bulgaria.{{sfn|Kazhdan|1991|pp=1203–1204}} Romanos was deposed by Stephen and Constantine in December 944, but they too were in turn soon deposed and Constantine VII was restored as sole emperor.{{sfn|Kazhdan|1991|pp=1203–1204}} Their descendants continued to occupy senior palace offices in the next decades, but the most notable member of the family was Romanos' illegitimate son Basil Lekapenos, who as the imperial parakoimomenos was the virtual ruler of the empire until the 980s.{{sfn|Kazhdan|1991|pp=1203–1204}}

The family is barely attested thereafter; only a certain Constantine Lekapenos is known through his seal for the entirety of the 11th century, and the last important member was George Lakapenos, a 14th-century official and writer.{{sfn|Kazhdan|1991|pp=1203–1204}}

List of rulers

Romanos I Lekapenos (Ρωμανός A') (870–948, ruled 919–944) – father-in-law of Constantine VII; co-emperor, attempted to found his own dynasty. Deposed by his sons and entered monastery.
Christopher Lekapenos (ruled 921–931) – son of Romanos I; co-emperor
Romanos (died before 927), son and brief co-emperor of Christopher
Stephen Lekapenos (ruled 924–945) – son of Romanos I; co-emperor
Constantine Lekapenos (ruled 924–945) – son of Romanos I; co-emperor

= Matrilineal descent =

Romanos II the Purple-born (Ρωμανός Β') (938–963, ruled 959–963) – son of Constantine VII and Helena Lekapene
Basil II (Βασίλειος Β') the Bulgar-slayer (958–1025, ruled 976–1025) – son of Romanos II
Constantine VIII (Κωνσταντῖνος Η') (960-1028, ruled 1025–1028) – son of Romanos II; silent co-emperor with Basil II, sole emperor after his brother's death
Zoë Porphyrogenita (Ζωή) (c. 978–1050, ruled 1028–1050) – daughter of Constantine VIII
Theodora Porphyrogenita (Θεοδώρα) (980–1056, ruled 1042) – daughter of Constantine VIII, co-empress with Zoe

Family tree

After Steven Runciman, The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and His Reign: A Study of Tenth-Century Byzantium, Appendix IV:

{{chart/start|align=center| summary=Boxes and lines diagram with 25 boxes}}

{{chart| | | | | | | | | | |ROM1 |y|THEOD| ROM1=Romanos I Lekapenos (870–948),
senior emperor 920–944| boxstyle_ROM1=background-color: #B6A3BF;| THEOD=Theodora (died 922),
Augusta| boxstyle_THEOD=background-color: #B6A3BF;}}

{{chart| |,|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.}}

{{chart| |!| | |CHRIS|y|SOPH |!| | |STEPH|y|ANNA | | |!|DAU1 |~|RSAR |!| |THEL | CHRIS=Christopher Lekapenos (died 931),
junior co-emperor 921–931| boxstyle_CHRIS=background-color: #B6A3BF;| SOPH=Sophia, daughter of Niketas| STEPH=Stephen Lekapenos (910–963),
junior co-emperor 924–945| boxstyle_STEPH=background-color: #B6A3BF;| ANNA=Anna Gabalaina,
Augusta| boxstyle_ANNA=background-color: #B6A3BF;| DAU1=N. Lekapene| RSAR=Romanos Saronites| THEL=Theophylact Lekapenos (917–956),
Patriarch of Constantinople 933–956}}

{{chart| |!| | | | | |!| | | |!| | | | | |!| | | | | |!| | | | | | | |!}}

{{chart|HEL |~|CON7 |!| | |AGAT |~|ROMA |!|HELAD|~|CONLE|~|THEG | |DAU2 |~|MOUS | HEL=Helena Lekapene (died 961),
Augusta| boxstyle_HEL=background-color: #B6A3BF;| CON7=Constantine VII (905–959),
sole emperor 913–920 & 944–959,
junior co-emperor 920–944| boxstyle_CON7=background-color: #B6A3BF;| AGAT=Agathe Lekapene| ROMA=Romanos Argyros| HELAD=Helena, daughter of Adrian| CONLE=Constantine Lekapenos (912–946),
junior co-emperor 924–945| boxstyle_CONLE=background-color: #B6A3BF;| THEG=Theophano Mamas| DAU2=N. Lekapene| MOUS=Mousele}}

{{chart|PETR |~|IREN | |ROMCH| |MICH | |ROMST| | | |ROMCO| PETR=Peter I,
Tsar of Bulgaria 927–969| boxstyle_PETR=background-color: #B6A3BF;| IREN=Maria-Irene Lekapene (died ca. 966)| boxstyle_IREN=background-color: #B6A3BF;| ROMCH=Romanos Lekapenos| MICH=Michael Lekapenos,
magistros and rhaiktor| ROMST=Romanos Lekapenos,
sebastophoros| ROMCO=Romanos Lekapenos,
patrikios and eparchos}}

References

Sources

{{cite encyclopedia | last=Kazhdan | first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Kazhdan | title = Lekapenos | pages = 1203–1204 | editor-last=Kazhdan | editor-first=Alexander | editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan | encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium | year=1991 | location=New York and Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=978-0-19-504652-6 }}
{{cite book | last=Runciman | first=Steven |author-link=Steven Runciman | title=The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and His Reign: A Study of Tenth-Century Byzantium | location=Cambridge, United Kingdom | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1988 |orig-date=1929 | isbn=0-521-35722-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XHVzWN6gqxQC }}