Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Comte de Vienne
• FSID: G8XV-QXF
• Appointments / Titles: Between 928 and 930; Count

Notes:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Constantin_de_Vienne

Charles-Constantin de Vienne est un comte de Viennois. Charles Constantin est le fils de Louis III l'Aveugle et d'Anne de Constantinople.

Family/Spouse: de Troyes, Teutberga. Teutberga (daughter of Sens, Garnier and Bosonid, Thietburge) was born in 903 in Troyes, Aube, Champagne-Ardenne, France; died on 14 Feb 961 in Troyes, Aube, Champagne-Ardenne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. de Vienne, Constance was born in 920 in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France; died in 963 in Autun, Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Bourgogne, France; King of Basse Bourgogne
• FSID: 99Y7-Y7P
• Life Event: 21 Jul 905; Blinded by King Berengar of Friuli

Louis married de Constantinople, Anne. Anne (daughter of Macedonicos, Emperor Leo VI and Karbonopsina, Zoe) was born in 880 in Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey; died in 901 in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey; Princess of The Byzantine Empire
• FSID: L8YR-PKK

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: 9KZ2-PL4
• Name: Boson de Provence Roi de Bourgogne Cisjurane
• Birth: 840, Metz, Moselle, Lorraine, France
• Appointments / Titles: 876; Governor in Italy with the title of Duke
• Appointments / Titles: 15 Oct 879, Mantaille, Drôme, Rhône-Alpes, France; King Boson
• Death: 11 Jan 887, Isère, Rhône-Alpes, France

Notes:

Boson son of Buvinus by Richildis
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boson_de_Provence
Laatste wijziging: 8 december 2021

Boson de Provence 1 or Boson V de Provence 2 (lat. Boso 1 ) is the son of Bivin de Gorze 3 , also known as Bivin de Vienne, he married in 876 Ermengarde , daughter of Emperor Louis II the Younger 4 . His sister Richilde d'Ardennes is first the concubine and finally the second wife in 870 of Charles II the Bald , King of West Francia and Emperor of the Westwho grants his brother-in-law Boson many favors, including the abbey of Saint-Maurice d'Agaune which had been owned by his maternal uncle Hucbert 4 . Through his excellent family relations, Boson reached high office before emancipating himself by being crowned king of Provence . He is named Boson V by the genealogists of the Bosonides.

A relative of Charles II the Bald

In the fall of 870 , Boson was the executor of Duke Gérard II of Paris , along with the Marquis Bernard of Gothie [ref. necessary]. That same year, he received the administration of the county of Troyes 5.

In January 871 , Charles II the Bald appointed him Duke of Lyonnais and Viennois (Bourgogne Cisjurane), in succession to Girart de Vienne 6.

In 872 , Charles the Bald appointed him advisor 7 to his son Louis le Bègue , king of Aquitaine since 867 . Appointed count of Bourges , chamberlain and master of bailiffs 7 , Boson received the functions of Count Gérard d'Auvergne (son of Gérard d'Auvergne who died in 841 during the battle of Fontenoy-en-Puisaye ), deposed by the king.

In 875 , on the death of Emperor Louis II the Younger , Boson accompanied King Charles II the Bald who left for Italy to receive the title of emperor from Pope John VIII . The new emperor, Charles, appoints his brother-in-law, duke in Italy, and duke of Provence .

In February 876 or September 877 8, in Pavia , Charles the Bald before leaving for the kingdom of France , appointed Boson viceroy of the kingdom of Italy . That same year in Rome, he married Ermengarde , the only daughter of the deceased Emperor Louis II the Younger 8 .

In March 877, Boson returned to France, recalled by Charles II the Bald. The latter then says the Italian kingdom and duchy of Provence to Abbot Hugh , son of Conrad I st of Burgundy and nephew of the Empress Judith of Bavaria , wife of Emperor Louis the Pious and associates Richard the Justice , brother of Boson 9 . That same year, on the death of his uncle, Count Ecchard , Boson received the county of Mâcon and the county of Chalon. With its two new strongholds, Boson is now master of almost the entire Rhône valley (Viennois and Lyonnais), the Saône valley (Mâconnais and Chalonnais) and Provence.

Boson married de Italy, Queen of Burgundy Ermengarde in 876. Ermengarde (daughter of of Bavaria, Ludwig II and d'Alsazia, Engelberga) was born in 852 in Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France; died on 2 Jun 896 in Vienne, Isère, Rhône-Alpes, France; was buried after 2 Jun 896. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Regent of Bavaria during minority of son Henry the Wrangler
• House: Liutpolding
• FSID: GMJ7-4VN

Notes:

http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ITALY,%20Kings%20to%20962.htm#Ermengardisdied896

Ermengarde is the second daughter of the Western Emperor Louis II the Younger and Engelberge.

Ermengarde (852 / 855-896 in Vienna 1 ) is the second daughter of the Western Emperor Louis II the Younger and Engelberge .

Summary
1 Biography
1.1 Boson's wife
1.2 Regent of the Kingdom of Provence
2 Offspring
3 Notes and references
4 See as well
4.1 Sources and bibliography
4.2 external links
Biography
Boson's wife
In 876 , she married, Duke Boson V of Provence - with Ermengarde, a branch of the Carolingians was founded in the Bosonides - and gave him two daughters and a son, Louis , future emperor of the West .

In May 878 , Pope John VIII, threatened by the Saracens and Italian nobles, took refuge in Arles with her and her husband, Duke Boson.

After the coup d'état of Boson in October 879 , she participated in the defense of Provence against the attempts of the Carolingian kings to reconquer . At the end of 880 , she successfully defended the city of Vienne , in the Rhône valley , capital of the kingdom of Burgondia that her husband Boson had tried to restore, and besieged by the troops of the alliance of the Carolingian kings Charles III the Fat , Louis III of France and Carloman II of France .

In August 881 , during the second siege of Vienna , the troops of Charles III the Fat , newly elected West Germanic Emperor , succeeded in taking the city which was pillaged and burned down. Richard the Justice , brother of Boson, then takes under his protection his sister-in-law and his niece and takes them to Autun , while her husband Boson takes refuge in Provence.

His genealogy on the FMG website [ archive ]
René Poupardin , The Kingdom of Provence under the Carolingians , p. 162-163.
See also
Sources and bibliography
René Poupardin , The Kingdom of Provence under the Carolingians , Lafitte Reprints, 1974.
External links
Notices in general dictionaries or encyclopedias :Dizionario biografico degli italiani [ archive ]Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana [ archive ]
(en) Charles Cawley, “ Italy, emperors & kings - Chapter 4. Kins of Italy 774-887 (Carolingians) ” [ archive ] , at fmg.ac/MedLands (Foundation for Medieval Genealogy) (consulted inapril 2020) , including the dedicated leaflet [ archive ]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Nickname: The Wise
• FSID: L5P9-K8Y
• Appointments / Titles: 886; Emperor of the Byzantine Empire

Notes:

Leo VI 'the Wise', Emperor of Constantinople was the son of Basil I 'the Macedonian', Emperor of Constantinople. He died in 912.

He held the office of Co-regent of Constantinople in 870, and succeeded as Emperor Leo VI of Constantinople in 886.

Child of Leo VI 'the Wise', Emperor of Constantinople
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, Emperor of Constantinople (904-959)

Citations
John Morby, Dynasties of the World: a chronological and genealogical handbook (Oxford, Oxfordshire, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1989), page 52. Hereinafter cited as Dynasties of the World.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_VI_the_Wise
https://www.geni.com/people/Leo-VI-The-Wise-Byzantine-Emperor/6000000000437064603

Imperador de 886-912.
(Cf. Souto, Dom Saul Palma e Dornelles, Homero Corrêa Pires. Livro Família Leães e sua Ascendência. Alegrete-RS-Brasil. 2010)

Leo married Karbonopsina, Zoe on 9 Jan 906 in Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey. Zoe (daughter of Stylianos Basilopator Tzaoutzes and Pordayrogenitus, Anna) was born in 865 in Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey; died in May 899 in Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey; was buried in May 899 in Church of the Holy Apostles (Historical), Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Burial: Istanbul, Turkey
• Appointments / Titles: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
• Nickname: With Coal Black Eyes
• FSID: L5VF-CSX

Notes:

Zoe Karbonopsina, also Karvounopsina or Carbonopsina, lit. 'with the Coal-Black Eyes' (Greek: Ζωὴ Καρβωνοψίνα, romanized: Zōē Karbōnopsina), was a Byzantine Greek empress consort and regent of the Byzantine empire. She was the fourth spouse of the Byzantine Emperor  Leo VI the Wise and the mother of Constantine VII, serving as his regent from 914 until 919.[1]

Contents
Zoe Karbonopsina was born into a Greek family. She was a relative of the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor and a niece of the admiral Himerios.
Empress

Desperate to sire a son, Leo VI married his mistress Zoe on 9 January 906, only after she had given birth to the future Constantine VII at the end of 905. However, this constituted his fourth marriage and was therefore un-canonical in the eyes of the Eastern Orthodox Church,[2] which had already been reluctant to accept his third marriage to Eudokia Baïana, who died in childbirth in 901.

Although the Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos reluctantly baptized Constantine, he forbade the emperor from marrying for the fourth time. Leo VI married Zoe with the assistance of a cooperative priest, Thomas, but Nicholas' continued opposition to the marriage led to his removal from office and replacement by Euthymios in 907. The new patriarch attempted a compromise by defrocking the offending priest but recognizing the marriage.

When Leo died in 912, he was succeeded by his younger brother Alexander, who recalled Nicholas Mystikos and expelled Zoe from the palace. Shortly before his death, Alexander provoked a war with Bulgaria. She returned upon Alexander's death in 913, but Nicholas forced her to enter the convent of St. Euphemia in Constantinople after obtaining the promise of the senate and the clergy not to accept her as empress. However, Nicholas' unpopular concessions to the Bulgarians later in the same year weakened his position and in 914 Zoe was able to overthrow Nicholas and replace him as regent.[3] Nicholas was allowed to remain patriarch after reluctantly recognizing her as empress.

Zoe governed with the support of imperial bureaucrats and the influential general Leo Phokas the Elder, who was her favorite. Zoe's first order of business was to revoke the concessions to Simeon I of Bulgaria, including the recognition of his imperial title and the arranged marriage between his daughter and Constantine VII. This renewed the war with Bulgaria, which began badly for the Byzantines who were distracted by military operations in Southern Italy and on the eastern frontier. In 915 Zoe's troops defeated an Arab invasion of Armenia, and made peace with the Arabs. This freed her hands to organize a major expedition against the Bulgarians, who had raided deep into Byzantine Thrace and captured Adrianople. The campaign was planned on a grand scale and intended the bribing and transportation of Pechenegs into Bulgaria by the imperial fleet from the north.

However, the Pecheneg alliance failed, and Leo Phokas was crushingly defeated in the Battle of Anchialus and again at Katasyrtai in 917. Zoe tried to ally with Serbia and the Magyarsagainst Simeon. This also failed to produce any concrete results, and the Arabs, encouraged by the empire's weakness, renewed their raids. A humiliating treaty with the Arabs of Sicily, who were asked to help subdue revolts in Italy, did little to improve the position of Zoe and her supporters.
Later life[

In 919, there was a coup involving various factions, but the opposition to Zoe and Leo Phokas prevailed; in the end the admiral Romanos Lekapenos took power, married his daughter Helena Lekapene to Constantine VII, and forced Zoe back into the convent of Saint Euphemia.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: France; Count of Lotharingia
• Appointments / Titles: Count of the Ardennes
• Appointments / Titles: Gorze, Moselle, Lorraine, France; Lay Abbot
• House: Bosonid
• FSID: GSDB-V2T
• Appointments / Titles: Between 842 and 864, Metz, Moselle, Lorraine, France; Count

Notes:

"Bivin of Gorze (810/830–863) was a Frank founder of the Bivinids family. He was married to a daughter of Boso the Elder, who may have been called Richildis. During his life he functioned as lay abbot of the Gorze Abbey.[1] His offspring includes:
- Richildis, who married King Charles the Bald;[1]
- Richard the Justiciar, Duke of Burgundy;
- Boso, King of Provence;
- possibly Bivin, Count of Metz.

Notes: Pierre Riche, The Carolingians: The Family who Forged Europe, transl. Michael Idomir Allen, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983), 198.

Sources: Pierre Riché, The Carolingians, a family who forged Europe."

Budwine (Bodun) Metz, D'Ardennes, Ponthieu, Vienne, Ct of Metz 842-862 & Veinne, Roi of Provence 810-877
s/o Hartnid Ou Hardouin Arduin, de Pontieu, Ct of Ponthieu & Richilde of Lommois d'Amiens & Richilde le Lommois d'Amiens
b- 810 -
m- Richilde Teutberge Burgundy d'Arles
d- 877
bur- abbey de Gorze, France

Bivin married d'Arles, Dame Richilde. Richilde (daughter of d'Arles, Boso II and d'Arles, Engeltrude) was born in 820 in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France; died in 883 in Metz, Moselle, Lorraine, France; was buried in 883 in Cathedral of San Martino, Lucca, Toscana, Italy. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Bosonids
• FSID: G823-YZ9
• Alternate Birth: 8 Apr 822, Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France

Notes:

“Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial & Medieval Families,” Douglas Richardson (2013):

“BOSO, Count of Avignon, 911-931, Count of Arles, 926-931, Margrave of Tuscany, 931-936, younger son by his mother's 1st marriage. He married WILLA, conjectured to be a daughter of Rudolf I, King of Burgundy. They had four daughters, Bertha (wife of Boso, Count in Upper Burgundy, and Raymond, Count of Rouergue, Margrave of Septimania, Duke of Aquitaine), Willa, Richilda, and Gisela. BOSO conspired against his brother, Hugo, in 936, and was captured and imprisoned by him.

Schwennicke Europäische Stammtafeln 2 (1984): 186 (sub Italy). Winter Descs. of Charlemagne (800-1400) (1987): VI.17, VII.35-VII.38. Bouchard Those of My Blood (2001): 84 (chart), 87. Jackman Ins Hereditarium Encountered II: Approaches to Reginlint (2008): 22-27.
Child of Count Boso, by Willa:
i. WILLA OF ARLES, married BERENGARIO (or BÉRENGER) II, Margrave of Ivrea, King of Italy [see Line D, Gen. 6].”

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: LTY4-Y72
• Appointments / Titles: Between 839 and 840; König von Italien
• Appointments / Titles: 844; König der Langobarden
• Appointments / Titles: 844; König der Langobarden
• Appointments / Titles: 850; Römischer Mitkaiser
• Appointments / Titles: 850; Römischer Mitkaiser

Ludwig married d'Alsazia, Engelberga on 5 Oct 851. Engelberga was born in 830; died on 2 Apr 900 in San Salvatore, Brescia, Brescia, Lombardia, Italy; was buried after 2 Apr 900 in Parma, Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Impératrice d'Occident (Empress of the West)
• House: Supponids
• FSID: LZ86-129

Notes:

She was probably the daughter of Adelchis I of Parma and a member of one of the most powerful families in the Kingdom of Italy at that time, the Supponids

Died:
Kloster

Other Events and Attributes:

• Nickname: The Macadonian
• FSID: L1YD-94L
• Occupation: Emporer
• Appointments / Titles: Between 867 and 886; Emperor of Byzantium

Notes:

Basil was born to peasant parents in late 811 (or sometime in the 830s in the estimation of some scholars) at Chariopolis in the Byzantine theme of Macedonia (an administrative division corresponding to the area of Adrianople in Thrace).

Basileos married Ingerina, Eudoxia in 855 in Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey. Eudoxia (daughter of Martinakios, Inger Varyagi and Kouropolates, Matinakioi) was born in 838 in Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey; died in 882 in Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey; was buried in 892 in Church of the Holy Apostles (Historical), Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Varangian
• FSID: 9CZC-YR4
• Appointments / Titles: Between 26 May 866 and 882, Byzantine Empire (Historical); Empress

Notes:

Eudokia Ingerina is Michael III 's mistress; she was forced to marry Basil the Macedonien

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_III_(empereur_byzantin)

Michael III (Greek: Μιχαήλ Γ') known as "Ivrogne" (born January 19, 840 and died on September 23, 867) is a Byzantine emperor from 842 to 867.

Regency of Theodora and restoration of the cult of images (842-856)[edit]
He succeeded his father Emperor Theophilus at the age of two on January 20, 842. As regent, his mother Theodora initially exercised the reality of power with the help of his brother the patrice Bardas and the logothet of the Theoctist Drome, and imposed the definitive restoration of the cult of images, which thus ended the iconoclastic crisis on March 11, 843.

Advised by Theoctist, Theodora, however, triggers a terrible persecution against the Paulicians, who are massacred and their property confiscated; the survivors take refuge with the Emir of Malatya, Omar al-Aqta.

On the other hand, the empress greatly neglects the education of her son who quickly becomes a debauched person. Bardas then incited Michael III, who was 15 years old, to kill Theoctist the Logothete on November 20, 855, and then four months later, in March 856, to dismiss Theodora, who had fallen from his Augusta title. The following year, accused of intrigue, she was locked up in a monastery.

Personal reign under the influence of Bardas and then Basil (856-867)[edit]

Michael III.
Unable to govern, Michael III left the government of business to his uncle Bardas, who proved quite effective: under his reign, and under the influence of Patriarch of Constantinople Photios, Saints Cyril and Methodius began the evangelization of Slavic peoples from 863; in 864 the Tsar of Bulgaria Boris I also converted to Christianity; militarily Michael

As for the Arab expansion in Asia Minor, it is contained in a victory at the Battle of Poson of another maternal uncle of the emperor, General Petronas (863), and compensates for the defeat of the Byzantine army led by Michael III himself (860). On the other hand, Crete is not resumed.

The new favorite, Basil the Macedonian, pushed the emperor to get rid of his uncle Bardas in 866. This crime marks the end of the Amorian dynasty: Michael III makes his favorite the co-emperor.

Quickly tired of Michael III'S behavior and unable to control him, Basil had him murdered on September 23, 867 by his cousin Asylaion and became the only emperor under the name of Basil I, thus putting an end to Amorian ladynasty in favor of the Macedonian dynasty. Michael is buried in the monastery of Chrysopolis (Üsküdar).

Union and posterity
In 855, Emperor Michael III had been forced by his mother to marry Eudocie Décapolitissa, whom he hated and from whom he had no children, and had Eudocie Ingérina as his mistress. To legitimize the children he would have with his mistress, he married her to Basil the Macedonian, his favorite.Leo VI the Wise and his brother Stephen I of Constantinople were thus born of Michael III and Eudicie Ingérina. It is not certain whether he is the son of Basil I or Michael III. His father's identity is the subject of many scholarly discussions and has not been formally decided. For the official historiographers of the Macedonian dynasty, Leo VI the Wise and Stephen I of Constantinople are the sons of his predecessor Basil I and his second wife Eudocius Ingérina. However, the majority of contemporary columnists tell a different story.

"After the death of Theophilus son of Michael, king of the Rums [Roman emperor], reigned his son Michael, son of Theophilus son of Michael. He had a general named Basil to whom he had given the first rank. One day, King Michael went out for a walk on the island opposite Constantinople... General Basil attacked and killed him... on the island and seized power. Basil was not of the royal family, he was of Slavic origin. He was told, "Why did you find it lawful to kill the king? - "Michel," he replied, "loved a woman whom he ordered me to marry, but without approaching her, so that she was my wife by name only and he lived with her. This is because he feared that his legitimate wife would learn this and that he was not allowed to marry a woman other than his wife. I accepted, then regretted and feared God. So, I considered that I was allowed to kill the king. ". Basil remained king of the Rums. "
However, Leon and Alexander's youth is disturbed by the feelings of antipathy and disgust that their official father feels towards them. This could help accredit the fact that Basil I is not their biological father.

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: G8DF-N5R
• Occupation: Byzantine Politican

Notes:

Stylianos Zaoutzes was a high Byzantine official of Armenian origin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylianos_Zaoutzes

Stylianos Zaoutzes (Greek: Στυλιανὸς Ζαούτζης, but Ζαουντζᾶς in Skylitzes)[1] was a high Byzantine official of Armenian origin. Rising to high rank under Byzantine emperor Basil I (reigned 867–886), he then rose further to prominence under Basil's successor Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912), who had a close friendship and possibly an affair with Stylianos's daughter Zoe Zaoutzaina. Stylianos Zaoutzes was Leo's leading minister during the first half of his reign, and was awarded the unique title of basileopator. His standing and influence declined after 895, but in 898, he became Leo's father-in-law when the Byzantine emperor married Zoe. He died in 899, in the same year as Zoe. Following an attempted coup by his relatives, the Zaoutzes clan was deprived of the considerable power it had amassed under Stylianos's tutelage.
Biography
Origins and early career[edit]
Zaoutzes was of Armenian descent, and was born in the thema of Macedonia. It has been theorized by the historian Nicholas Adontz that Zaoutzes might be the son of a contemporary strategos of Macedonia named Tzantzes, the name also of Zaoutzes's son, but the connection is ultimately impossible to prove.[1][2] According to Steven Runciman, the surname Zaoutzes derives from the Armenian word Zaoutch, "negro", reflecting Zaoutzes's particularly dark complexion. In the same vein, Zaoutzes was known among Byzantines as "the Ethiopian".[3] Whatever his exact ancestry, he shared ethnic and geographical origin with the Emperor Basil I the Macedonian, a factor that probably played an important role in his ascent to high office during the latter's reign.[2]
In late 882, the young Leo, Basil's second son and heir after the death of his elder brother Constantine in 879, was wedded to Theophano, a member of the Martinakes family. The bride was the choice of empress Eudokia Ingerina, and did not please Leo, who instead preferred the company of Zoe Zaoutzaina, the beautiful daughter of Stylianos Zaoutzes. Whether Zoe was actually his mistress is uncertain; Leo himself strenuously denied this in later accounts.[4] At that point, Zaoutzes held the post of mikros hetaireiarches, i.e. commander of the junior regiment of the Byzantine emperor's mercenary bodyguard, the hetaireia.[5] Leo's relations with his father Basil were always strained, and when Theophano informed him of this affair, Basil reportedly became enraged, beat Leo until he bled, and married Zoe off to one Theodore Gouzouniates.[6] Furthermore, in 883, Leo was denounced as plotting against Basil and was imprisoned; it was only through the intervention of patriarch Photios and Stylianos Zaoutzes that he was not also blinded.[7] This affair does not seem to have hurt Zaoutzes's own standing with Basil or his career, for by the end of Basil's reign he was protospatharios and megas hetaireiarches (senior commander of the hetaireia).[1]
Rise to prominence
Leo spent three years in prison, until released and restored to his rank in late July 886. Here too Zaoutzes played a major role, as he personally pleaded with the Byzantine emperor to secure Leo's release.[8] By that time, Basil was ailing, and on August 12, 886, he was gravely wounded during a hunt. Zaoutzes's participation in the hunt raised suspicions of a conspiracy, but his complicity is generally rejected, as Basil survived for nine days, during which he did not punish Zaoutzes.[9] Upon Basil's death, Leo was crowned emperor, but Zaoutzes, who was awarded the titles of patrikios and magistros and the office of logothetes tou dromou, effectively assumed control of the government, directing state policy.[1] One tradition, based on the Vita Euthymii (the hagiography of Patriarch Euthymios I), holds that Basil himself appointed Zaoutzes as regent (epitropos), but other sources indicate that his ascent to power was more gradual.[10] It is indicative of his authority that most of Leo's ordinances (novels) are directed to him in person, and in 893, he succeeded in getting his protégé, Antony Kauleas, elected as Patriarch of Constantinople.[11] In the same period (between 886 and 893), Emperor Leo VI himself delivered a homily on a church built on Zaoutzes's orders in Constantinople.[12]
Zaoutzes's rise to prominence was consolidated in 891–893, when he was given the newly created title of basileopator ("father of the emperor").[13] His promotion to this new and enigmatic title has been a subject of controversy, as neither the reasons for the creation of the title nor its exact functions are known. The early date of his elevation precludes a relation to the eventual rise of his daughter Zoe to the imperial throne as Leo's empress. Gratitude for Zaoutzes's support against Basil may have played a role, and a common theory is that the office implied some form of tutorship over the emperor.[14] The office certainly confirmed Zaoutzes as the senior secular official of the Byzantine Empire. However, although Zaoutzes has traditionally been regarded as an all-powerful regent over a weak emperor, in no small part due to the account provided in the Vita Euthymii, the actual relationship between the two may have been quite different. A more careful evaluation of the source material has led modern scholarship to conclude that Leo was actively involved in government, and that Zaoutzes as chief minister was loyal and obsequious to his master.[15]
An assessment of his record as the Byzantine Empire's first minister is difficult. Of the few available sources on his career, the Vita Euthymii, compiled years after Zaoutzes's death, is extremely hostile, seeking to pin the responsibility for several of the reign's failures or unpopular decisions on him, and thus preserve Leo from blame.[16] The account of the Vita is further colored by the fierce rivalry between Zaoutzes and Euthymios, then a synkellos and Leo's spiritual father, over influence on the Byzantine emperor.[17] Thus the Vita accuses Zaoutzes of being responsible for the sacking of the successful general Nikephoros Phokas the Elder from the army, as well as for the outbreak of hostilities with Bulgaria in 893: allegedly, two of his protégés moved the main market for Bulgarian goods from Constantinopleto Thessalonica and then proceeded to extract exorbitant fees from the Bulgarian merchants. When Leo, at the behest of Zaoutzes, rejected the merchants' protests, the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon I found a pretext to attack Byzantium.[1][18] It has, however, been recently suggested by the scholar Paul Magdalino that the transfer was in fact Leo's initiative, aiming to enrich Thessalonica, whose patron saint, Saint Demetrius, he showed special favor to.[19]
Fall from favor and death[edit]
Nevertheless, all this has led to the enduring image of an ineffectual leadership in foreign and military affairs under Zaoutzes.[20] This may explain why, despite the resumption of Leo's affair with Zoe, the relationship between Zaoutzes and the emperor became strained: tales of an alleged plot by Zaoutzes's son to murder Leo in 894/895 indicate a rift between the two, and although Zaoutzes himself was not involved, a major quarrel between them ensued shortly after.[21] Although they were reconciled, Zaoutzes's standing seems to have declined further thereafter, as two of his protégés, found guilty of accepting bribes, were punished by Leo.[22] Nevertheless, in late summer 898, following the death of Theophano on 10 November 897, and of Zoe's first husband Gouzouniates in early 898, Leo at last married Zoe, raising her to Augusta. In the next year, however, both Zoe and Stylianos died.[23] Following their deaths, Leo proposed to marry yet again, choosing Eudokia Baïana as his wife. Zaoutzes's numerous relatives, who had benefited from his patronage, were fearful of losing their positions to the new Empress's relations, and conspired to overthrow Leo. Chief among them was Basil, Zoe's nephew. The plot, however, was betrayed by the eunuch servant Samonas, and the conspiracy suppressed. The Zaoutzes relatives were exiled or confined to monasteries, and the clan's power broken.[1][24] Samonas himself was richly rewarded: he was taken into the imperial service and rapidly promoted, becoming parakoimomenos by 908, before he too fell from favor.[25]
Stylianos's daughter Zoe Zaoutzaina. Stylianos Zaoutzes was Leo's leading minister during the first half of his reign, and was awarded the unique title of basileopator. His standing and influence declined after 895, but in 898, he became Leo's father-in-law when the Byzantine emperor married Zoe. He died in 899, in the same year as Zoe. Following an attempted coup by his relatives, the Zaoutzes clan was deprived of the considerable power it had amassed under Stylianos's tutelage.
Origins and early career
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Basil%26leo.jpg

Basil I and Leo. Illumination from the Madrid Skylitzes manuscript.
Zaoutzes was of Armenian descent, and was born in the thema of Macedonia. It has been theorized by the historian Nicholas Adontz that Zaoutzes might be the son of a contemporary strategos of Macedonia named Tzantzes, the name also of Zaoutzes's son, but the connection is ultimately impossible to prove.[1][2] According to Steven Runciman, the surname Zaoutzes derives from the Armenian word Zaoutch, "negro", reflecting Zaoutzes's particularly dark complexion. In the same vein, Zaoutzes was known among Byzantines as "the Ethiopian".[3] Whatever his exact ancestry, he shared ethnic and geographical origin with the Emperor Basil I the Macedonian, a factor that probably played an important role in his ascent to high office during the latter's reign.[2]
In late 882, the young Leo, Basil's second son and heir after the death of his elder brother Constantine in 879, was wedded to Theophano, a member of the Martinakes family. The bride was the choice of empress Eudokia Ingerina, and did not please Leo, who instead preferred the company of Zoe Zaoutzaina, the beautiful daughter of Stylianos Zaoutzes. Whether Zoe was actually his mistress is uncertain; Leo himself strenuously denied this in later accounts.[4] At that point, Zaoutzes held the post of mikros hetaireiarches, i.e. commander of the junior regiment of the Byzantine emperor's mercenary bodyguard, the hetaireia.[5] Leo's relations with his father Basil were always strained, and when Theophano informed him of this affair, Basil reportedly became enraged, beat Leo until he bled, and married Zoe off to one Theodore Gouzouniates.[6] Furthermore, in 883, Leo was denounced as plotting against Basil and was imprisoned; it was only through the intervention of patriarch Photios and Stylianos Zaoutzes that he was not also blinded.[7] This affair does not seem to have hurt Zaoutzes's own standing with Basil or his career, for by the end of Basil's reign he was protospatharios and megas hetaireiarches (senior commander of the hetaireia).[1]
Rise to prominence[edit]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Follis-Leo_VI-sb1729.jpg

Bronze follis of Emperor Leo VI (r. 886–912).
Leo spent three years in prison, until released and restored to his rank in late July 886. Here too Zaoutzes played a major role, as he personally pleaded with the Byzantine emperor to secure Leo's release.[8] By that time, Basil was ailing, and on August 12, 886, he was gravely wounded during a hunt. Zaoutzes's participation in the hunt raised suspicions of a conspiracy, but his complicity is generally rejected, as Basil survived for nine days, during which he did not punish Zaoutzes.[9] Upon Basil's death, Leo was crowned emperor, but Zaoutzes, who was awarded the titles of patrikios and magistros and the office of logothetes tou dromou, effectively assumed control of the government, directing state policy.[1] One tradition, based on the Vita Euthymii (the hagiography of Patriarch Euthymios I), holds that Basil himself appointed Zaoutzes as regent (epitropos), but other sources indicate that his ascent to power was more gradual.[10] It is indicative of his authority that most of Leo's ordinances (novels) are directed to him in person, and in 893, he succeeded in getting his protégé, Antony Kauleas, elected as Patriarch of Constantinople.[11] In the same period (between 886 and 893), Emperor Leo VI himself delivered a homily on a church built on Zaoutzes's orders in Constantinople.[12]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LeonVIDomestikosKatakalonBGhistory.jpg

From the Madrid Skylitzes: Emperor Leo VI receives a Bulgarian embassy (top); the Bulgarian victory at Bulgarophygon in 896 (bottom). The account of the Vita Euthymii holds Zaoutzes and his corrupt clients responsible for the outbreak of the war, which saw several heavy Byzantine defeats.
Zaoutzes's rise to prominence was consolidated in 891–893, when he was given the newly created title of basileopator ("father of the emperor").[13] His promotion to this new and enigmatic title has been a subject of controversy, as neither the reasons for the creation of the title nor its exact functions are known. The early date of his elevation precludes a relation to the eventual rise of his daughter Zoe to the imperial throne as Leo's empress. Gratitude for Zaoutzes's support against Basil may have played a role, and a common theory is that the office implied some form of tutorship over the emperor.[14] The office certainly confirmed Zaoutzes as the senior secular official of the Byzantine Empire. However, although Zaoutzes has traditionally been regarded as an all-powerful regent over a weak emperor, in no small part due to the account provided in the Vita Euthymii, the actual relationship between the two may have been quite different. A more careful evaluation of the source material has led modern scholarship to conclude that Leo was actively involved in government, and that Zaoutzes as chief minister was loyal and obsequious to his master.[15]
An assessment of his record as the Byzantine Empire's first minister is difficult. Of the few available sources on his career, the Vita Euthymii, compiled years after Zaoutzes's death, is extremely hostile, seeking to pin the responsibility for several of the reign's failures or unpopular decisions on him, and thus preserve Leo from blame.[16] The account of the Vita is further colored by the fierce rivalry between Zaoutzes and Euthymios, then a synkellos and Leo's spiritual father, over influence on the Byzantine emperor.[17] Thus the Vita accuses Zaoutzes of being responsible for the sacking of the successful general Nikephoros Phokas the Elder from the army, as well as for the outbreak of hostilities with Bulgaria in 893: allegedly, two of his protégés moved the main market for Bulgarian goods from Constantinople to Thessalonica and then proceeded to extract exorbitant fees from the Bulgarian merchants. When Leo, at the behest of Zaoutzes, rejected the merchants' protests, the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon I found a pretext to attack Byzantium.[1][18] It has, however, been recently suggested by the scholar Paul Magdalino that the transfer was in fact Leo's initiative, aiming to enrich Thessalonica, whose patron saint, Saint Demetrius, he showed special favor to.[19]
Fall from favor and death[edit]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Samonas_informs_the_Emperor_Leo_of_a_plot_to_kill_him.jpg

Samonas revealing Basil's plot against Leo VI. Miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes
Nevertheless, all this has led to the enduring image of an ineffectual leadership in foreign and military affairs under Zaoutzes.[20] This may explain why, despite the resumption of Leo's affair with Zoe, the relationship between Zaoutzes and the emperor became strained: tales of an alleged plot by Zaoutzes's son to murder Leo in 894/895 indicate a rift between the two, and although Zaoutzes himself was not involved, a major quarrel between them ensued shortly after.[21] Although they were reconciled, Zaoutzes's standing seems to have declined further thereafter, as two of his protégés, found guilty of accepting bribes, were punished by Leo.[22] Nevertheless, in late summer 898, following the death of Theophano on 10 November 897, and of Zoe's first husband Gouzouniates in early 898, Leo at last married Zoe, raising her to Augusta. In the next year, however, both Zoe and Stylianos died.[23] Following their deaths, Leo proposed to marry yet again, choosing Eudokia Baïana as his wife. Zaoutzes's numerous relatives, who had benefited from his patronage, were fearful of losing their positions to the new Empress's relations, and conspired to overthrow Leo. Chief among them was Basil, Zoe's nephew. The plot, however, was betrayed by the eunuch servant Samonas, and the conspiracy suppressed. The Zaoutzes relatives were exiled or confined to monasteries, and the clan's power broken.[1][24] Samonas himself was richly rewarded: he was taken into the imperial service and rapidly promoted, becoming parakoimomenos by 908, before he too fell from favor.[25]

Stylianos married Pordayrogenitus, Anna. Anna (daughter of Pordayrogenitus, Leon VI and Zaoutzes, Stylianos) was born in 852 in Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey; died in DECEASED in Byzantine Empire (Historical). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

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