Michael VI Bringas
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Michael VI Bringas (Template:Langx; died Template:Circa), also called Stratiotikos (Template:Langx, "the military one, the warlike") and the Old (Template:Langx, Geron), reigned as Byzantine emperor from 1056 to 1057.Template:Sfn
CareerEdit
Apparently a relative of the powerful courtier Joseph Bringas (influential during the reign of Romanos II),Template:Sfn Michael Bringas was an elderly patrician (hence the nickname "Geron") and a member of the court bureaucracy when he ascended to the throne.Template:Sfn He had formerly served as a military finance minister (logothetes tou stratiotikou, hence the epithet Stratiotikos).Template:SfnTemplate:Efn Michael Bringas was chosen for his pliability by the empress Theodora as her successor shortly before her death on 31 August 1056.Template:Sfn The appointment had been secured through the influence of Leo Paraspondylos, Theodora's most trusted adviser, who remained chief minister.Template:Sfn
Although Michael managed to survive a conspiracy organized by Theodosios, a nephew of the former emperor Constantine IX Monomachos,Template:Sfn he was faced with the disaffection of the military aristocracy. His most costly error was to ignore the perceived rights of the general Nikephoros Bryennios, who had been demoted and reduced to poverty after falling out with the Empress Theodora; Michael restored Bryennios's military rank, but not his confiscated wealth and estates.<ref name="Finlay, p. 533">Finlay, p. 533</ref> Michael compounded his error by rebuffing Bryennios after he had already ordered the restored general to lead a division of 3,000 men to reinforce the army in Cappadocia.<ref name="Finlay, p. 533" /> From here Bryennios began plotting to overthrow Michael VI, and it was his capture that precipitated the military nobility to rally around the general Isaac Komnenos, who was proclaimed emperor in Paphlagonia on 8 June 1057.Template:Sfn
Soon after, the government's army was routed at the Battle of Petroe (20 August 1057) near Nicaea,Template:Sfn and Isaac Komnenos advanced on Constantinople. Michael VI attempted to negotiate with the rebels through the famous courtier Michael Psellos, offering to adopt Isaac as his son and to grant him the title of kaisar (caesar),Template:Sfn but his proposals were publicly rejected. Privately Isaac showed himself more open to negotiation, and he was promised the status of co-emperor. However, during the course of these secret negotiations, a riot in favor of Isaac broke out in Constantinople. Patriarch Michael Keroularios convinced Michael VI to abdicate in Isaac's favor on 30 August 1057.Template:Sfn The emperor duly followed the patriarch's advice and became a monk. He retired to his private home and died there shortly thereafter.Template:Sfn
SourcesEdit
Primary sourcesEdit
- Michael Psellus, Chronographia.
- Template:Cite book
Secondary sourcesEdit
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
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