Christopher Lekapenos

Christopher Lekapenos or Lecapenus ( gr, Χριστόφορος Λακαπηνός, Christóphoros Lakapenōs) was the eldest son of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos () and co-emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire from 921 until his death in 931. Christopher was given the position of ''megas hetaireiarches'' (commander of the palace guard) in spring 919, after Romanos assumed the position of ''basileopator''. Romanos, in order to give his family precedence over the Macedonian line, raised Christopher to co-emperor on 21 May 921. In 928 Christopher's father-in-law, Niketas, unsuccessfully attempted to incite Christopher to usurp his father, resulting in Niketas being banished. Christopher died in August 931, succeeded by his father and two brothers, Stephen Lekapenos and Constantine Lekapenos, and Constantine VII. In December 944 his brothers overthrew and exiled his father, but they themselves were exiled after attempting to oust Constantine VII.

Life

Christopher was the eldest son and the second-oldest child (after his sister Helena) of Romanos Lekapenos and his wife Theodora. His younger siblings were Agatha, who married Romanos Argyros; Stephen and Constantine (co-emperors from 924 until 945); Theophylact ( Patriarch of Constantinople in 933–956); and two unnamed younger sisters. Nothing is known of Christopher's early life. He was certainly an adult by 919–920, and had a daughter of marriageable age in 927, hence he was probably born around 890–895. Already before his father's rise to power, he had been married to Sophia, the daughter of the wealthy ''patrikios'' Niketas, a Slav from the Peloponnese.

When Romanos succeeded in having his daughter Helena Lekapene married to the young emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos in spring 919 and assumed the role of guardian of the emperor with the title ''basileopator'', Christopher succeeded him in his post as ''megas hetaireiarches'', commander of the palace guard. Romanos soon crowned himself emperor (December 920), and eventually advanced himself before the young Constantine in precedence. To further cement his position, and planning to advance his own family over the legitimate Macedonian line, Romanos crowned Christopher also as co-emperor on 20 May 921. Furthermore, when Christopher's mother, the '' Augusta'' Theodora, died in February 922, his wife Sophia was raised to the dignity of ''Augusta'' alongside Helena Lekapene.

In 927, as part of a peace agreement, Christopher's daughter Maria, renamed Irene (meaning "peace") for the occasion, was married to the Bulgarian emperor Peter I (). Romanos used the occasion to advance Christopher before Constantine Porphyrogennetos, making him first among the rather large group of co-emperors (in 924, Christopher's younger brothers Stephen and Constantine had also been crowned as co-emperors).

In 928, his father-in-law Niketas unsuccessfully tried to incite Christopher to depose his father, but was banished. The motive behind this was perhaps Christopher's poor health, and fears by his wife and her father that, should he die prematurely, they would lose their status. In any event, Christopher died three years later in August 931. As Romanos' favourite son, he was much mourned by his father, who shed tears " like the Egyptians" and thereafter increasingly became devoted to religious pursuits. Soon after Christopher's death, Sophia too retired from the court and entered a monastery, where she died. Christopher's death resulted in the weakening of the alliance between the Byzantine and Bulgarian empires. Irene, the empress of Bulgaria, ceased making her frequent visits to her homeland in the years following her father's passing, only returning once during that time.

After Christopher's death, he was succeeded by his father and his two brothers, Stephen Lekapenos and Constantine Lekapenos, and Constantine VII. In December 944 Stephen and Constantine deposed their father, forcing him to live in a monastery on Prince's Islands, but when they attempted to also depose Constantine VII, the people of Constantinople revolted and overthrew them, resulting in them being likewise exiled. Romanos died in June 948, Stephen on Easter 963, and Constantine sometime between 946 and 948, while trying to escape.

Family

Through his marriage to Sophia, Christopher had three children:
# Maria-Eirene, the Empress-consort of Peter I of Bulgaria.
# Romanos, still a child at the time of Christopher's death. According to the chronicler Zonaras, he was favoured by his grandfather, who considered promoting him to his father's place as senior co-emperor, which ultimately failed due to his death shortly thereafter.
# Michael, an infant at the time of Christopher's death, he was made a cleric at the time of the family's fall from power in 945. He eventually reached the high dignities of ''magistros'' and ''rhaiktor'', but nothing further is known of his later life.

References

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Further reading

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lekapenos, Christopher
Macedonian dynasty
931 deaths
Armenian Byzantine emperors
Christopher
Christopher
Byzantine junior emperors
Year of birth unknown
Burials at Myrelaion Monastery (Constantinople)
Constantine VII
Sons of Byzantine emperors
Sons of emperors
Megaloi hetaireiarchai