Michael II - Reign

Reign

Michael was immediately proclaimed Emperor, still wearing the chains from the prison on his legs. Later the same day, he was crowned by Patriarch Theodotos I of Constantinople. In his internal policy, Michael II supported iconoclasm, but tacitly encouraged reconciliation with the iconodules, whom he generally stopped persecuting and allowed to return from exile. These included the former Patriarch Nikephoros and Theodore of Stoudios, who failed, however, to influence the emperor to abandon iconoclasm. One of the few victims of the Emperor's policy was the future patriarch Methodios I.

Michael's accession whetted the appetite of his former comrade-in-arms Thomas the Slav, who set himself up as rival emperor in Anatolia and successfully transferred his forces into Thrace, effectively besieging the capital in December 821. Although Thomas did not obtain the support of some of the Anatolian themes, he secured the support of the naval theme and their ships, allowing him to tighten his grip on Constantinople. In his quest for support, Thomas presented himself as the champion of the poor, reduced taxation, and concluded an alliance with Al-Ma'mun of the Abbasid Caliphate, having himself crowned Emperor by the Patriarch of Antioch Job.

Michael II gained the support of Omurtag of Bulgaria who came to his aid. Michael II forced Thomas to lift his siege of Constantinople in the spring of 823. Michael besieged Thomas in Arkadiopolis (Lüleburgaz)and forced his surrender in October. Michael inherited a seriously weakened military, and was unable to prevent the conquest of Crete by 10,000 Arabs (who had 40 ships) in 824, or to recover the island with an expedition in 826. In 827 the Arabs also invaded Sicily, taking advantage of local infighting, and besieged Syracuse.

After the death of Thekla, in c. 823, Michael II married Euphrosyne, a daughter of Constantine VI and Maria of Amnia. This marriage was probably intended to strengthen Michael's position as Emperor, but it incurred the opposition of the clergy, as Euphrosyne had previously become a nun. Michael II died on October 2, 829.

Because of his Judeo-Christian origin and iconoclasm, Michael II was not popular among Orthodox clergy, who depicted him as an ignorant and poorly educated peasant, but Michael II was a competent statesman and administrator. He brought stability to most of the Byzantine Empire for the first time in many generations and began restoration of the Byzantine military. The system of government and military built by Michael II enabled the Empire under his grandson Michael III to gain the Byzantines the ascendency in their struggles with the Abbasid Caliphate and to withstand all the vicissitudes of Byzantine palace life. Michael II's direct descendants, the Amorian dynasty followed by the so-called Macedonian dynasty, ruled the Empire for more than two centuries, inaugurating the Byzantine Renaissance of the ninth and tenth centuries.