Philippicus

{{Distinguish|text = the 6th century Byzantine general of the same name}}

{{Infobox monarch

|name = Philippicus

|image = Solidus of Philippicus.png

|caption = A solidus of Philippicus

|reign = 4 November 711 – 3 June 713

|coronation =

|full name = Bardanes{{efn|His first name is sometimes spelled as Bardanus{{cite book |first = Theodor |last = Katerkamp |date = 1840 |title = Kerkelijke geschiedenis: bd |page = 56 |publisher = Van Rossum}}{{cite book |author = J. W. van Loon |date = 1863 |title = Beknopt chronologisch Overzigt des Kerkgeschiedenis, in synchronistisch verband met de wereldgeschiedenis, etc |page = 86}} or Vardanus{{cite book |first = Valerius |last = Maximus |date = 1536 |title = VAL. MAX. LIBRI IX |publisher = Henricum Petrum |page = 537}} in outdated sources.}}

|regnal name = Filepicus

|predecessor = Justinian II

|successor = Anastasius II

|spouse =

|dynasty = Twenty Years' Anarchy

|father = Nicephorus

|mother =

|birth_date =

|birth_place = Pergamum
(now Bergama, Izmir, Turkey)

|death_date = 713

|death_place =

|date of burial =

|place of burial =

||title=Emperor of the Romans}}

Philippicus ({{langx|la|Filepicus}};{{Efn|Contemporary coins render his name in Latin as Filepicus.{{Cite book |last=Sear |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aHXKDwAAQBAJ |title=Byzantine Coins and Their Values |date=1987 |publisher=Spink Books |isbn=978-1-912667-39-0 |pages=276 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Garipzanov |first=Ildar H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7D0gb4VX-SgC |title=The Symbolic Language of Royal Authority in the Carolingian World (c. 751–877) |date=2008 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-16669-1 |pages=ix, 28 |language=en}} Philippicus is a modernized version following the Greek rendition of the name.}} {{langx|el|Φιλιππικός|Philippikós}}) was Byzantine emperor from 711 to 713. He took power in a coup against the unpopular emperor Justinian II, and was deposed in a similarly violent manner nineteen months later. During his brief reign, Philippicus supported monothelitism in Byzantine theological disputes, and saw conflict with the First Bulgarian Empire and the Umayyad Caliphate.

Biography

Philippicus was originally named Bardanes ({{Langx|el|Βαρδάνης|Bardánēs}}; {{langx|hy|Վարդան, Vardan |italic=yes }}); he was the son of the patrician Nicephorus, who was of Armenian extraction from an Armenian colony in Pergamum.{{cite journal |last=Charanis |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Charanis |title=Ethnic Changes in the Byzantine Empire in the Seventh Century |journal=Dumbarton Oaks Papers |volume=13 |pages=23–44 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |year=1959 |jstor=1291127 |doi=10.2307/1291127}} The Armenian background of Philippicus has been supported by Byzantinist historians Peter Charanis and Nicholas Adontz,{{sfn|Charanis|1961|pp=197, 205}} and disputed by Anthony Kaldellis.{{Cite book|last=Kaldellis|first=Anthony|authorlink=Anthony Kaldellis|title=Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2019|isbn=978-0674986510|page=185}} Kaldellis adds that Bardanes was probably born and raised in the Byzantine realm, as his father Nicephorus possibly was. Contemporaneous sources attest to Bardanes' tutoring, scholarly interests, learning and eloquence, all of which were in Greek. Byzantine historians Leslie Brubaker and John Haldon suggested Bardanes had some connection or affiliation with the Armenian Mamikonian family,{{cite book |last1=Brubaker |first1=Leslie |author-link1=Leslie Brubaker |last2=Haldon |first2=John |author-link2=John Haldon |date=2011 |title=Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, c. 680–850: A History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=saTPtrgLTQoC |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=587 |isbn=978-0-521-43093-7}} which Kaldellis also denies. Byzantine researcher Toby Bromige felt Kaldellis was too dismissive of the Armenian ancestry of certain Byzantine individuals.{{cite journal |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/byzantine-and-modern-greek-studies/article/anthony-kaldellis-romanland-ethnicity-and-empire-in-byzantium-cambridge-ma-the-belknap-press-of-harvard-university-press-2019-pp-xv-373/EB3A909992BB8876011F96E88D605EA9 |title=Anthony Kaldellis, Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium |last=Bromige |first=Toby |date=8 March 2021 |website=Cambridge Core |doi=10.1017/byz.2020.30 |s2cid=233600380 |access-date=8 March 2021|doi-access=free }} {{citation needed span|Kaldellis disputes this view, pointing to his anti-Armenian policies such as his decision to expel all Armenians from the empire, forcing them to seek refuge among the Arabs, (though this wasn't fully enforced) and his later decree ordering all Armenians to accept the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople. According to Kaldellis, this "shows that despite his ancestry he was not, and did not consider himself to be, 'an Armenian,' as some modern historians call him" and speculated that he may have been Persian.|date=January 2025}}

Relying on the support of the Monothelite party, he made some pretensions to the throne on the outbreak of the first great rebellion against Emperor Justinian II. Instead, the position of emperor was taken first by Leontius and then by Tiberius III, who relegated Bardanes to Cephalonia. When Justinian regained power Bardanes was banished to Cherson, where he took the name Philippicus and incited the inhabitants to revolt with the help of the Khazars. The successful rebels drove Justinian out of Constantinople, and Philippicus took the throne. Justinian was subsequently seized and beheaded; his son Tiberius was likewise apprehended by Philippicus's officers, Ioannes and Mauros, and killed in a church. Justinian's principal officers, such as Barasbakourios, were also massacred.

File:46-manasses-chronicle.jpg for execution. Scene from the 12th century Manasses Chronicle]]

=Reign=

Among the first acts of Philippicus were the deposition of Cyrus (the orthodox patriarch of Constantinople) in favour of John VI (a member of his own sect), and the summoning of a conciliabulum of Eastern bishops, which abolished the canons of the Sixth Ecumenical Council. In response, the Roman Church refused to recognize the new emperor and his patriarch. Meanwhile, the Bulgarian ruler Tervel plundered up to the walls of Constantinople in 712. When Philippicus transferred an army from the Opsikion theme to police the Balkans, the Umayyad Caliphate under Al-Walid I made inroads across the weakened defenses of Asia Minor.

In late May 713 the Opsikion troops rebelled in Thrace. Several of their officers penetrated the city and blinded Philippicus on June 3, 713 while he was in the hippodrome.Theophanes 1982, p. 79. He was succeeded for a short while by his principal secretary, Artemius, who was raised to the purple as Emperor Anastasius II. He died in the same year.

Notes

References

=Sources=

{{cite journal|last=Charanis|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Charanis|title=The Armenians in the Byzantine Empire|journal=Byzantinoslavica|volume=22|date=1961|pages=196–240|location=Prague|issn=0007-7712}}
{{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 | last1 = Theophanes | author-link = Theophanes the Confessor|last2=Translated by Harry Turtledove| author-link2 =Harry Turtledove| title = The Chronicle of Theophanes: an English translation of anni mundi 6095–6305 (A.D. 602–813)| date = September 1982|edition= 1982| publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press| isbn= 0-8122-1128-6 |ref=refTheophanes1982}}
{{EB1911|wstitle=Philippicus}}