Leo I (emperor)

He was born in Thracia or in Dacia Aureliana province in the year 401 to a Thraco-Roman family.{{sfn|Friell|1998|pp=170, 261}} His Dacian origin{{sfn|Friell|1998|p=170}} is mentioned by Candidus Isaurus,{{sfn|Bury|1958|p=315}}Candidus, F.H.G. IV, p. 135 while John Malalas believes that he was of Bessian Thracian stock.{{sfn|Bury|1958|p=315}}John Malalas, XIV, p. 369 According to the Patria of Constantinople he had one sister, Euphemia, who never married; Leo is said to have visited her in Constantinople on a weekly basis, and she later erected a statue in his honor. The late and not particularly reliable source for Euphemia leaves her existence open to doubt.Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vol. 2 Leo served in the Roman army, rising to the rank of comes rei militaris. He was the last of a series of emperors placed on the throne by Aspar, the Alan serving as commander-in-chief of the army, who thought Leo would be an easy puppet ruler. Instead, Leo became more and more independent from Aspar, causing tension that would culminate in Aspar's assassination.

File:Roman Empire 460 AD.png

{{See also|Coronation of the Byzantine emperor#Coronation of Leo I}}

Leo's coronation as emperor on 7 February 457,{{sfn|Bury|1958}} was the first to add a Christian element to the traditional Roman procedure. Though he was already crowned by the campidoctor in the official coronation ceremony at Hebdomon,Constantine Porphyrogennetos, Book of Ceremonies I.91 he went to Hagia Sophia and deposited his crown at the altar. As he left the church, Patriarch of Constantinople placed the crown back on his head, a fact which symbolized the transformation of Roman imperial traditions into Medieval Roman and Christian ones. This Christian coronation ritual was later imitated by courts all over Europe.{{Cite book|last=Herrin|first=Judith|title=Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire|publisher=Penguin|year=2007|isbn=978-0713999976|pages=53–54}}

His coronation adventus gave a key role to Aspar, who rode with Leo in his chariot during the procession in Constantinople and offered him a golden crown when they arrived at the Forum of Constantine.Croke, Brian, "Dynasty and Ethnicity: Emperor Leo and the Eclipse of Aspar", Chiron 35 (2005), 152.

{{multiple image

| total_width = 350

| image1 = Rare Miliarense of Leo I (obverse).jpg

| image2 = Leo I solidus (obverse).jpg

| align = center

| footer = A rare miliarense (left; from Constantinople), and a solidus (right; Thessaloniki) of Leo, both from 474

}}

Leo I made an alliance with the Isaurians and was thus able to eliminate Aspar. The price of the alliance was the marriage of Leo's daughter to Tarasicodissa, leader of the Isaurians, who, as Zeno, became emperor in 474. In 469, Aspar attempted to assassinate ZenoNorwich, John Julius (1989), Byzantium: The Early Centuries. pg 167 and very nearly succeeded. Finally, in 471, Aspar's son Ardabur was implicated in a plot against Leo but was killed by palace eunuchs acting on Leo's orders.{{Cite web |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.html?term=Leo%20I.,%20emperor |title=Wace, Henry. Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresie |access-date=16 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222180247/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.html?term=Leo%20I.,%20emperor |archive-date=22 February 2014 |url-status=dead }}

Leo sometimes overestimated his abilities and made mistakes that threatened the internal order of the Empire. The Balkans were ravaged by the Ostrogoths, after a disagreement between the Emperor and the young chief Theodoric the Great, who had been raised at Leo's court in Constantinople, where he was steeped in Roman government and military tactics. There were also some raids by the Huns. However, none of these attackers had the siege engines necessary to capture Constantinople, whose walls had been rebuilt and reinforced in the reign of Theodosius II.

{{Main|Vandal War (461-468)}}

File:Vandal Kingdom at its maximum extent in the 470s.png at its maximum extent in the 470s]]

Leo's reign was also noteworthy for his influence in the Western Roman Empire, marked by his appointment of Anthemius as Western Roman emperor in 467. He attempted to build on this political achievement with an expedition against the Vandals in 468. 1,113 ships carrying 100,000 men participated in the expedition, which ended in defeat because of bad leadership from Leo's brother-in-law Basiliscus. This disaster drained the Empire of men and money. Procopius estimated the costs of the expedition to be 130,000 pounds of gold; John the Lydian estimated the costs to be 65,000 pounds of gold and 750,000 pounds of silver.{{sfn|Bury|1958|p=337}}

In 472, Leo issued an edict which stipulated that high-ranking officers who permitted pagan sacrifices on their land were to be demoted and have their possessions confiscated. Lower-ranking offenders were to be tortured and condemned to labour in the mines.Codex Justinianus 1.11.8{{cite book |first = Christopher P. |last = Jones |title = Between Pagan and Christian |publisher = Harvard University Press |page = 28 |year = 2014 |isbn = 9780674369511 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8HruAgAAQBAJ}}

Leo died of dysentery at the age of 73 on 18 January 474.Auctarium Prosperi Havniense [https://archive.org/details/chronicaminorasa09momm/page/307/mode/1up?view=theater 474.] "Leo maior defunctus est XV k. Febr."John Malalas [https://es.calameo.com/read/000675905f2f4bf509d49 Book XIV, 46]. "On the following 3rd February the emperor Leo the Elder was stricken with illness and died of dysentery at the age of 73."{{Cite book|last=Croke|first=Brian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRgoEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT151|title=Roman Emperors in Context|publisher=Routledge|year=2021|pages=150–151|isbn=9781000388305|quote=The correct date must be 18 January [...] Theophanes says merely 'January'. As corroboration for 18 January, Cyril of Scythopolis notes that Euthymius died on 20 January 473 and that the emperor Leo I died 'at the end of the first year after the death of the great Euthymius'.}}

Leo and Verina had three children. Their eldest daughter Ariadne was born prior to the death of Marcian (reigned 450 – 457).[http://www.roman-emperors.org/leo1.htm Hugh Elton, "Leo I (457–474 A.D.)"] Ariadne had a younger sister, Leontia. Leontia was first betrothed to Patricius, a son of Aspar, but their engagement was probably annulled when Aspar and another of his sons, Ardabur, were assassinated in 471.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} Leontia then married Marcian, a son of Emperor Anthemius and Marcia Euphemia. The couple led a failed revolt against Zeno in 478–479. They were exiled to Isauria following their defeat.

An unknown son was born in 463. He died five months following his birth. The only sources about him are a horoscope by Rhetorius and a hagiography of Daniel the Stylite.

The Georgian Chronicle, a 13th-century compilation drawing from earlier sources, reports a marriage of Vakhtang I of Iberia to Princess Helena of Byzantium, identifying her as a daughter of the predecessor of Zeno.[https://web.archive.org/web/20020823041230/http://rbedrosian.com/gc5.htm "Georgian Chronicle", Chapters 13–14. Translation by Robert Bedrosian (1991)] This predecessor was probably Leo I, the tale attributing a third daughter to Leo. Cyril Toumanoff identified two children of this marriage: Mithridates of Iberia; and Leo of Iberia. This younger Leo was father of Guaram I of Iberia. The accuracy of the descent is unknown.

{{clear}}

{{portal|Byzantine Empire}}

• Church of St. Mary of the Spring (Istanbul)
• Life-giving Spring
• List of Byzantine emperors

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book|last=Ostrogorsky|first=George|year=1956|title=History of the Byzantine State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bt0_AAAAYAAJ|publisher=Basil Blackwell|place=Oxford}}
• {{cite book

|last = Bury

|first = John Bagnell

|author-link = John Bagnell Bury

|title = History of the Later Roman Empire: from the death of Theodosius I to the death of Justinian

|volume = 1

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HqA9NA7MQ6kC

|publisher = Dover Publications

|year = 1958

|series = Dover books

|isbn = 978-0-486-20398-0

}}

• {{cite book

|last = Friell

|first = Gerard

|title = The Rome That Did Not Fall: The Survival of the East in the Fifth Century

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=M_SfLnZt68QC

|publisher = Taylor & Francis

|location = London

|year = 1998

|series = Ancient history

|isbn = 978-0-415-15403-1

}}

• {{Cite book|last=Meyendorff|first=John|author-link=John Meyendorff|year=1989|title=Imperial unity and Christian divisions: The Church 450–680 A.D.|series=The Church in history|volume=2|location=Crestwood, NY|publisher=St. Vladimir's Seminary Press|isbn=978-0-88-141056-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J_YAAAAMAAJ}}
• {{cite video |people= Thomas F. Madden (Presenter) |date=2006 |title=Empire of Gold: A History of the Byzantine Empire; Lecture 2: Justinian and the Reconquest of the West, 457–565 |medium=Audio book |publisher=Recorded Books |location=Prince Frederick |isbn=978-1-4281-3267-2}}
• [https://archive.org/details/plre-ii/page/663/mode/1up Profile of Leo I] in the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire.
• [https://archive.org/details/odb_20210521/page/1206 Profile of Leo I] in the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium.
• Stephen Williams, Gerard Friell, The Rome that Did Not Fall The Survival of the East in the Fifth Century, Routledge Press, 1999, {{ISBN|0-415-15403-0}}
• {{cite book | last = Rösch | first = Gerhard | title = Onoma Basileias: Studien zum offiziellen Gebrauch der Kaisertitel in spätantiker und frühbyzantinischer Zeit | language = de | series = Byzantina et Neograeca Vindobonensia | publisher = Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften | year = 1978 | isbn = 978-3-7001-0260-1 }}

• {{Commons-inline}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170614101318/http://lexicorient.com/e.o/leo1.htm Leo I Timeline]

{{S-start}}

{{S-hou|Leonid dynasty||400 / 401|18 January|474}}

{{S-reg}}

{{S-bef| before = Marcian}}

{{S-ttl| title = Eastern Roman emperor| years = 457–474}}

{{S-aft| after = Leo II}}

{{S-off}}

{{S-bef| before = Constantinus|before2=Rufus}}

{{S-ttl| title = Roman consul| years = 458| regent1 = Majorian Augustus}}

{{S-aft| after = Ricimer|after2=Patricius}}

{{S-bef| before = Severinus|before2=Dagalaifus}}

{{S-ttl| title = Roman consul| years = 462| regent1 = Libius Severus Augustus}}

{{S-aft| after = Caecina Decius Basilius|after2=Vivianus}}

{{S-bef| before = Hermenericus|before2=Basiliscus}}

{{S-ttl| title = Roman consul| years = 466| regent1 = Tatianus (Gallia)}}

{{S-aft| after = Pusaeus|after2=Iohannes}}

{{S-bef| before = Messius Phoebus Severus|before2=Iordanes}}

{{S-ttl| title = Roman consul| years = 471| regent1 = Caelius Aconius Probianus}}

{{S-aft| after = Rufius Postumius Festus|after2=Marcianus}}

{{S-bef| before = Rufius Postumius Festus|before2=Marcianus}}

{{S-ttl| title = Roman consul| years = 473}}

{{S-aft| after = Leo junior Augustus}}

{{S-end}}

{{Roman emperors}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leo 01}}

Category:400s births

Category:474 deaths

Category:5th-century Byzantine emperors

Category:5th-century Christian saints

Category:5th-century eastern Roman consuls

Category:Byzantine royal saints

Category:Deaths from dysentery

Category:House of Leo

Category:Roman-era Thracians