Rise To Power
Becoming increasingly influential at court, Romanos exiled his rivals and strengthened his links with the underage Emperor Constantine VII. In May 919 he married his daughter Helena Lekapene to Constantine and was proclaimed basileopator ("father of the emperor"). On September 14, 920, Romanos was invested as kaisar (Caesar), and finally on December 17 of the same year he was crowned co-emperor, becoming the effective head of the Byzantine Empire.
In subsequent years Romanos crowned his own sons co-emperors, Christopher in 921, Stephen and Constantine in 924, although, for the time being, Constantine VII was regarded as first in rank after Romanos himself. It is notable that, as he left Constantine untouched, he was called 'the gentle usurper'. Romanos strengthened his position by marrying his daughters to members of the powerful aristocratic families of Argyros and Mouseles, by recalling the deposed patriarch Nicholas Mystikos, and by putting an end to the conflict with the Papacy over the four marriages of Emperor Leo VI.
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