Theophylaktos 9

Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
SexM
FloruitL VIII/E IX
Dates793 (n.) / 849 (ob.)
ReligionChristian
LocationsConstantinople (officeplace);
Constantinople (birthplace);
Plate (Prince's Islands) (burialplace);
Plate (Prince's Islands) (deathplace);
Pharos (Church of the, Constantinople);
Hagia Sophia (Constantinople);
Constantinople (residence);
Plate (Princes' Islands) (exileplace);
Constantinople;
Plate (Princes' Islands)
OccupationMonk
TitlesAugustus (office);
Emperor (office)
Textual SourcesBar Hebraeus, Chronographia, tr. E. A. W. Budge, The Chronography of Abu 'l-Faraj (London, 1932; repr. Amsterdam, 1976) (history);
Chronicon Anonymi ad annum 1234 pertinens, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, I = CSCO 81-82 (Paris, 1916-20), II = CSCO 109 (Louvain, 1937) (chronicle);
Genesii, Josephi, Regum Libri Quattuor, eds. A. Lesmüller-Werner and I. Thurn, CFHB 14 (Berlin, 1978) (history);
Scriptor Incertus de Leone Armenio, ed. I. Bekker, Leo Grammaticus (Bonn, 1842), pp. 335-362; app. crit., R. Browning, Byz 35 (1965), pp. 391-41; ed. with comm. and tr., Fr. Iadevaia (Messina, 1987) (history);
Scylitzes, Ioannes, Synopsis Historiarum, ed. J. Thurn (Berlin, 1973) (history);
Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1883-85, repr. Hildesheim/NewYork, 1980); tr. and comm. C. Mango and R. Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford 1997 (chronicle);
Theophanes Continuatus, ed. I. Bekker (Bonn, 1838) (history);
Vita Ignatii Patriarchae, by Nicetas (BHG 817), PG 105.488-574) (hagiography);
Vita Petri Atroensis, by Sabas the monk (BHG 2364), ed. V. Laurent, La Vie merveilleuse de Saint Pierre d'Atroa, Subsidia Hagiographica 29 (Brussels, 1956) (hagiography);
Vita Retractata Petri Atroensis, by Sabas the monk (BHG 2365), ed. V. Laurent, La Vita retractata et les miracles posthumes de Saint Pierre d'Atroa, Subsidia Hagiographica 31 (Brussels, 1958) (hagiography);
Zonaras = Ioannis Zonarae Epitome Historiarum, libri XIII-XVIII, ed. Th. Büttner-Wobst, (Bonn, 1897) (history)

Theophylaktos 9 is called Eustratios in Theophanes Continuatus (see below), and Theophylaktos elsewhere. His original name was Theophylaktos and he used the name Eustratios when he became a monk: Nicetas, Vita Ignatii 492B (cited below). He was the son of the emperor Michael I (Michael 7): Theoph. AM 6304 (εἰς Θεοφύλακτον, τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ), Scriptor Incertus 335, Nicetas, Vita Ignatii 492A (παῖδες), Theoph. Cont. I 10 (p. 20), Scylitzes, p. 8, Zon. XV 17. 9, 18. 21.

His mother was Prokopia 1 (the daughter of the emperor Nicephorus I, Nikephoros 8): Scriptor Incertus 335, Nicetas, Vita Ignatii 489C (πατέρες), Theoph. Cont. I 10 (p. 20), Scylitzes, p. 9. He was born in 793/794 and died in 849 (see below). He had two sisters, Georgo 1 and Theophano 2, and two brothers, Staurakios 12 and Niketas (= Ignatios 1): Nicetas, Vita Ignatii 492A (παῖδες οἱ πάντες, πέντε λέγουσι γενέσθαι: ὧν θήλειαι δύο ... Ἄρρενες δὲ τρεῖς). He was the eldest child (ὁ πάντων πρωτότοκος): Nicetas, Vita Ignatii 492B, Scylitzes, p. 8.

His father had him crowned emperor (εἰς βασιλέα) by the patriarch, Nikephoros 2, on 25 December 811, at the pulpit of Hagia Sophia, and approached the Frankish king Charlemagne (Karoulos 1) about a marriage for him: Theoph. AM 6304 (ἔστεψε Θεοφύλακτον, τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, εἰς βασιλέα ὑπὸ Νικηφόρου πατριάρχου ἐν τῷ ἄμβωνι τῆς μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας), cf. Scriptor Incertus 335 (crowned at the festival, viz. of the Nativity, by his father, in his mother's presence), Nicetas, Vita Ignatii 492B (τῷ διαδήματι πρῶτον τῆς βασιλείας ἐστεφάνωνται, viz. he and his brother Staurakios 12), Zon. XV 17. 9, 18. 21.

Joint ruler with Michael 7 in succession to Nicephoros 8 and Staurakios 2 until Michael 7 surrendered the throne to Leo 15: Vita Petr. Atr. 12, p. 97, Vita Petr. Atr. Retractata 19 (p. 97). At his father's overthrow he was tonsured with his parents and then adopted the name Eustratios: Nicetas, Vita Ignatii 492B (Θεοφύλακτος δὲ ἅμα τοῖς πατράσιν αὐτοῦ καὶ βασιλεῦσι τότε κειράμενος εἰς Εὐστράτιον μετωνομάσθη). When Michael 7 was overthrown (11 July 813, Theoph. AM 6304, p. 502), the whole family fled for refuge to the Church of the Theotokos known as the Pharos; from there Michael I (Michael 7) was sent to the island of Plate together with Eustratios (Theophylaktos 9) and Niketas (Ignatios 1); Eustratios (Theophylaktos 9), then aged twenty (he was therefore born in 793/794), was castrated on the orders of the new emperor Leo V (Leo 15) and tonsured: Theoph. Cont. I 10 (p. 20). After their father's overthrow, he and his (surviving) brother (Ignatios 1) were castrated by Leo V (Leo 15) and tonsured before being exiled to various islands where they were reduced to great poverty: Scriptor Incertus 341, Scylitzes, pp. 8-9 (castrated and exiled with his mother and his brothers), Genesius I 5 (unnamed children of Michael), Zon. XV 18. 21 (castrated and exiled with his mother and brothers), Chron. 1234, §202 (II, p. 14) (castrated with his brother), Bar Hebr., p. 25 (the unnamed sons of Michael were castrated after his downfall). He died five years after his father (Michael 7), on 15 Jan. 849, and was buried on the opposite side of the same church, on the island of Plate: Theoph. Cont. I 10 (p. 20) (giving the date as AM 6307). He therefore died aged 56.

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