Michael I Rangabe

Michael was the son of the patrician Theophylact Rhangabe, the admiral of the Aegean fleet.^[2] The Rangabé family was of Greek origin.^[4]

Michael survived Nikephoros' disastrous campaign against Krum of Bulgaria, and was considered a more appropriate candidate for the throne than his severely injured brother-in-law Staurakios.^[3] When Michael's wife Prokopia failed to persuade her brother to name Michael as his successor, a group of senior officials (the magistros Theoktistos, the Domestic of the Schools Stephen, and Patriarch Nikephoros) forced Staurakios to abdicate in his favor on 2 October 811.

Michael I attempted to carry out a policy of reconciliation, abandoning the exacting taxation instituted by Nikephoros I. While reducing imperial income, Michael generously distributed money to the army, the bureaucracy, and the Church.^[5] Elected with the support of the Orthodox party in the Church, Michael diligently persecuted the iconoclasts and forced the Patriarch Nikephoros to back down in his dispute with Theodore of Stoudios, the influential abbot of the monastery of Stoudios. Michael's piety won him a very positive estimation in the work of the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor.

In 812 Michael I reopened negotiations with the Franks, and recognized Charlemagneasimperator and basileus (Emperor), but not Emperor of the Romans.^[6][7][8] In exchange for that recognition, Venice was returned to the Empire. However, under the influence of Theodore, Michael rejected the peace terms offered by Krum and provoked the capture of Mesembria (Nesebar) by the Bulgarians. After initial success in spring 813, Michael's army prepared for a major engagement at Versinikia near Adrianople in June.^[3] The imperial army was defeated, while Leo the Armenian fled from the battle.^[3] With conspiracy in the air, Michael preempted events by abdicating on 11 July 813 in favor of the general Leo the Armenian and becoming a monk (under the name Athanasios).^[9][3] His sons were castrated to end the dynasty and were relegated to monasteries,^[9] one of them, Niketas (renamed Ignatios), eventually becoming Patriarch of Constantinople.^[10] Michael died on 11 January 844.^[11]

By his wife Prokopia, Michael I had at least five children:

• Georgo, a daughter^[12]
• Theophylact, crowned co-emperor on Christmas 811, became a monk after 813.^[13]
• Niketas, later Patriarch Ignatios of Constantinople (c. 798 – 877)^[10]
• Staurakios, crowned co-emperor on Christmas 811, pre-deceased his father^[14]
• Theophano, a daughter^[15]

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  Solidus of Michael I and his son Theophylact
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  Coronation of Michael I from the 12th-century Madrid Skylitzes, probably drawn from an earlier unrelated source.^[16]
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  Byzantines and Bulgarians clash at Versinikia in 813.
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  The armies of Michael I (below) and Krum (above) prepare for battle after negotiations failed.
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  Michael I abdicates the throne to Leo V. From the 16th century Facial Chronicle.
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  Depiction of Michael I in the 15th-century Mutinensis gr. 122.

• Joseph Genesius (1998) [10th century]. Genesios on the Reigns of the Emperors: Translation and Commentary. Translated by Anthony, Kaldellis. Brill.
• Bradbury, Jim (2004). The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare. Routledge.
• Bury, John Bagnell (1912). A History of the Eastern Roman Empire from the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil I, (802–867). Macmillan and Co.
• Kazhdan, Alexander (1991). "Michael I Rangabe". The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. p. 1362. ISBN 0195046528..
• Canning, Joseph (1996). A History of Medieval Political Thought: 300–1450. Routledge.
• Luttwak, Edward N. (2009). The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire. Harvard University Press.
• Martindale, J.R. (2001). Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire. ISBN 978-1897747322.
• Ostrogorsky, George (1986). History of the Byzantine State. Rutgers University Press.
• Venning, T., ed. (2006). A Chronology of the Byzantine Empire. Palgrave Macmillan.

• Treadgold, Warren (1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-2630-2.
• Gregory, T. (2005). A History of Byzantium (Blackwell History of the Ancient World), Wiley-Blackwell .

• List of Byzantine emperors