Romanos II.

Romanos II (Greek Ρωμανὸς B ', * 938, † 963) was Byzantine emperor and son of the Emperor Constantine VII and Helene Lakapene.

Life

Romanos was later followed his father Constantine VII as Byzantine emperor in the year 959 at the age of 21 years on the throne. He was already married to Bertha 944, the daughter of the King of Italy Hugo of Arles, and co-emperor since 945. After the death of Bertha (which took the name of Eudocia ) married Romanos 956 Anastaso, who came from very humble beginnings as empress Theophano was called.

The previously stated hypothesis, the Byzantine princess Theophano, who married Otto II was the daughter of Romanos ' been, is no longer regarded as tenable today.

Romanos to have been a pleasure -seeking ruler who has hardly taken care of the government, but was right in his choice of advisors (especially Joseph Bringas, the direction of public affairs fell to factual). The most important event of his reign was the reconquest of Crete in the year 960/61 by the successful general Nicephorus Phocas, the successor to the Romanos as emperor. In addition, Nicephorus also led successful campaigns in Syria.

Romanos died 963, where the circumstances of his death - by poisoning or due to over-indulgence - remain unclear. The main narrative source for his reign are the histories of Leon Diakonos dar. also is the story of John Kaiser Skylitzes important.

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