Constantine and his mother Zoë.

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos ("the Purple-born") (905 – November 9, 959) was the son of Byzantine emperor Leo VI and nephew of Alexander III famous for his two descriptive books, De Administrando Imperio and De Ceremoniis. Zoe Karvounopsina, or Carbonopsina (Coal-Eyes), was fourth wife of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI and mother of Constantine VII. Leo had caused a controversy in the Orthodox church by marrying for a third time. ... The Byzantine Empire had a complex system of aristocracy and bureaucracy. ... Alternate meaning: Area code 905 Events Births Deaths Categories: 905 ... November 9 is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 52 days remaining. ... Events October 1 - Edwy, king of England dies and is succeeded by his brother Edgar. ... This is a list of Byzantine Emperors. ... This article is about the Byzantine Emperor. ... Alexander III (870 - 913) was the brother of Byzantine emperor Leo VI and had been named co-emperor during Leos rule. ... De Administrando Imperio is a scholarly work from ca. ...

His nickname alludes to the Purple Room of the imperial palace, where legitimate children of the emperors were normally born. Constantine was also born in this room, although his mother Zoe had not been married to Leo at that time. Nevertheless, the epithet allowed him to underline his position as the legitimized son, as opposed to all others who claimed the throne during his lifetime. This is a list of monarchs by nickname. ...

Reign

Constantine succeeded to the throne at the age of seven in 913, under the regency of the Patriarch Nicholas Mysticus. His regent was presently forced to make peace with Tsar Simeon of Bulgaria, whom he reluctantly recognized as Bulgarian emperor. Because of this, Nicholas was driven out of the regency by Constantine's mother Zoë. Events The Shiite Fatimid state in modern day Tunisia launches a failed military campaign against Egypt Births Deaths Eadwulf, Anglo-Saxon Earl of Bernicia who ruled the land north of the Tees Alexander III of Byzantium Categories: 913 ... Nicholas Mysticus (d. ... Tsar Simeon the Great (ruled 893-May 27, 927) was 27 when he took the throne of Bulgaria from his brother Vladimir, the son of Prince Boris, who was deposed and blinded by his own father after his attempt to return Bulgaria to paganism. ...

Christ Crowning Constantine VII (945).

Zoë was no more successful with the Bulgars, and in 919 she was replaced with Romanus Lecapenus, who married his daughter Helena to Constantine. Romanus took power for himself until 944, when he was deposed by his sons, who then finally recognized Constantine as emperor. Events King Edward I of England conquers Bedford. ... Romanus I Lecapenus (Romanos I Lakapenos, 870 - 948), who shared the throne of the Byzantine Empire with Constantine VII and exercised all the real power from 919 to 944, was admiral of the Byzantine fleet on the Danube River when, hearing of the defeat of the army at the Battle... Events City of Algiers (re)founded by the Zirid king Buluggin ibn Ziri Abu Yazid launches a rebellion against the Fatimids in the Aures mountains. ...

In 949 Constantine launched another invasion of Crete, but like his father's attempt to retake the island in 911, this attempt also failed. It also provoked the Arabs to attack Byzantine land in Syria, Armenia, and Italy, but the land in the east was eventually recovered by the Greek general John Tzimisces. An Arab fleet was also destroyed by Greek fire in 957. Events Belgian astronomer Jean Meeus asserts that the orbits of all nine planets were within the same 90% arc of the solar system on 1 February 949. ... Greece and Crete Crete, sometimes spelled Krete (Greek Κρήτη / Kriti) is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean Sea. ... This article is about the year 911 A.D. For other uses, see 911 (disambiguation). ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب Ê»arab) are an originally Arabian ethnicity widespread in the Middle East and North Africa. ... John I, last name Kourkouas and surnamed Tzimisces (Greek: Ioannes Tzimisces Kourkouas, written Ιωάννης «Τζιμισκής» Κουρκούας), lived c. ... Depiction of Greek fire in the Madrid Skylitzes manuscript Greek fire (also called Byzantine fire and liquid fire) was a weapon used by the Byzantine Empire, said to have been invented by a Syrian Christian refugee named Kallinikos (Callinicus) of Heliopolis, probably about 673. ... Events Births Deaths Categories: 957 ...

Sometime in the 940s or 950s Constantine was visited by Olga, princess of the Kievan Rus'. She was baptised with the name Helena, and began to convert her people to Christianity. Constantine died in 959 and was succeeded by his son Romanus II. Olga of Kiev Kniaginia Olga (Russian: Ольга also called Olga Prekrasa, or Olga the Beauty, Old Norse: Helga) (died July 11, 969 in Kiev) was a Pskov woman of Varangian extraction who married the future Kniaz Igor of Kiev, arguably in 903. ... Kievan Rus′ (Russian: , Kievskaya Rus; Ukrainian: , Kyivs’ka Rus’) was the early, mostly East Slavic¹ state dominated by the city of Kiev (Russian: Ки́ев, Kiev; Ukrainian: Ки́їв, Kyiv), from about 880 to the middle of the 12th century. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life, teachings, death by crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as portrayed in the New Testament writings of his early followers. ... Events October 1 - Edwy, king of England dies and is succeeded by his brother Edgar. ... Romanus II (939 - 963) succeeded his father Constantine VII as Byzantine emperor in 959 at the age of twenty-one, and died, poisoned, it was believed, by his wife, Theophanu in 963. ...

Books

Although he was a satisfactory emperor, Constantine is more well known for his abilities as a writer and scholar. He wrote, or had others write in his name, the works De Ceremoniis (On Ceremonies), describing the kinds of court ceremonies also described later in a more negative light by Liutprand of Cremona; De Administrando Imperio (On the Administration of the Empire), giving advice on running the empire internally and also how to fight external enemies; and a history of the Empire covering events following the death of the chronographer Theophanes in 817. Though these books are not as insightful as Constantine believed them to be, they nevertheless are a most useful source of information about nations neighbouring with Byzantium. Liutprand (Liudprand, Luitprand) (c. ... Cremona is a city in Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left shore of Po river in the middle of Pianura padana (Po valley). ... De Administrando Imperio is a scholarly work from ca. ... Theophanes (died 817 or 818) was a Byzantine monk and chronicler. ... Events Louis the Pious divides his empire among his sons. ...

References

• Runciman, Steven. The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and his Reign. Cambridge: University Press, 1990. (Originally published 1929.) ISBN 0-521-35722-5
• Toynbee, Arnold. Constantine Porphyrogenitus and his world. Oxford, 1973. ISBN 0-19-215253-X. 768pp.

Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman (7 July 1903 - 1 November 2000) was a British historian known for his work on the Middle Ages. ... Arnold Joseph Toynbee (April 14, 1889 - October 22, 1975) was a British historian whose twelve-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, A Study of History, 1934-1961, is a milestone of historiography. ...

Alexander III (870 - 913) was the brother of Byzantine emperor Leo VI and had been named co-emperor during Leos rule. ... This is a list of Byzantine Emperors. ... Romanus I Lecapenus (Romanos I Lakapenos, 870 - 948), who shared the throne of the Byzantine Empire with Constantine VII and exercised all the real power from 919 to 944, was admiral of the Byzantine fleet on the Danube River when, hearing of the defeat of the army at the Battle... Romanus II (939 - 963) succeeded his father Constantine VII as Byzantine emperor in 959 at the age of twenty-one, and died, poisoned, it was believed, by his wife, Theophanu in 963. ...