Constantine VI was Byzantine emperor from 780 to 797.
13 Facts About Constantine VI
2.
The only child of Emperor Leo IV, Constantine was named co-emperor with him at the age of five in 776 and succeeded him as sole Emperor in 780, aged nine.
3.
The regency ended when Constantine VI reached maturity, but Irene sought to remain an active participant in the government.
4.
Constantine VI suffered military defeats and made controversial decisions, such as blinding his loyal general Alexios Mosele and illicitly marrying his mistress, Theodote.
5.
Constantine VI was the final ruler to be universally recognized as Roman emperor, being recognized as such by both the Empire which he ruled in the east, the papacy and the Western European powers over which the pope held suzerainty.
6.
Constantine VI was the only child of Emperor Leo IV and Irene.
7.
Constantine VI was crowned co-emperor by his father in 776, and succeeded as sole emperor in 780, at the age of nine.
8.
Nevertheless, after campaigning unsuccessfully in the Balkans, Constantine VI restored his mother in 792 after just two years out of power and made her co-ruler.
9.
Once in control of the state, Constantine VI proved incapable of sound governance.
10.
Constantine VI himself suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Kardam of Bulgaria in the 792 Battle of Marcellae.
11.
Constantine VI had his uncle's eyes put out and the tongues of his father's four other half-brothers cut off.
12.
Constantine VI crushed this revolt with extreme cruelty in 793.
13.
Constantine VI was buried in the Monastery of St Euphrosyne, which Irene had founded.