1. Michael III, known as Michael the Drunkard, was Byzantine emperor from 842 to 867.
19 Facts About Michael III
1. 2.
Michael III was the third and traditionally last member of the Amorian dynasty.
3.
Michael III was given the disparaging epithet the Drunkard by the hostile historians of the succeeding Macedonian dynasty, but modern historical research has rehabilitated his reputation to some extent, demonstrating the vital role his reign played in the resurgence of Byzantine power in the 9th century.
4.
Michael III was the youngest person to bear the imperial title, as well as the youngest to succeed as senior emperor.
5.
Michael III was responsible, as per the writings of Constantine VII, for the subjugation of the Slavs settled in the Peloponnese.
6.
Under the influence of both Bardas and Photios, Michael III presided over the reconstruction of ruined cities and structures, the reopening of closed monasteries, and the fostering of intellecutal life in the form of the reorganisation of the imperial university at the Maganaura palace under Leo the Mathematician.
7.
Michael III then wrote a contemptuous letter about the alleged barbarity of Latin Rome.
8.
Michael III stood as sponsor, by proxy, for Boris at his baptism.
9.
Michael III corresponded with Nicholas, who responded to him by expressing approval of Bulgar customs and severely criticising those of Byzantium.
10.
Michael III presided over a synod in 867 in which Photios and the three other eastern patriarchs excommunicated Pope Nicholas and condemned the Latin filioque clause concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit.
11.
Under the guidance of Patriarch Photios, Michael III sponsored the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodios to the Khazar Khagan in an effort to stop the expansion of Judaism among the Khazars.
12.
Michael III celebrated the birth of Leo with public chariot races, a sport he enthusiastically patronized and participated in.
13.
Michael III's end was grisly; a man named John of Chaldia killed him, cutting off both the emperor's hands with a sword before finishing him off with a thrust to the heart.
14.
Michael III's remains were buried in the Philippikos Monastery at Chrysopolis on the Asian shore of the Bosphoros.
15.
When Leo VI became ruling emperor in 886, one of his first acts was to have Michael III's body exhumed and reburied, with great ceremony, in the imperial mausoleum in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.
16.
The reign and personality of Michael III are difficult to evaluate because of the hostile accounts written by Byzantine authors operating under Basil I and his successors.
17.
Michael III was very active in repairing the Walls of Constantinople.
18.
Chroniclers of Basil accuse Michael III of allowing the registers of military personnel to decline, forcing Basil to undertake a major recruitment effort during his own reign, however the decline could be explained as a natural process due to aging.
19.
Michael III had no children by his wife Eudokia Dekapolitissa but was conjectured to have fathered one or two sons by his mistress Eudokia Ingerina, who was married to Basil I:.