Michael V Kalaphates

Michael V was the son of a couple named Stephen and Maria. Maria was a sister of the Byzantine emperor Michael IV and Stephen had been a caulker before becoming an admiral under Michael IV and then botching an expedition to Sicily. Although the emperor preferred another of his nephews, the future Michael V was advanced as heir to the throne by his other uncle John the Orphanotrophos and the Empress Zoe.[1] Shortly before his death, Michael IV granted Michael V the title of Kaisar (Caesar), and, together with Zoe, adopted his nephew as a son.[2] Michael IV died on 10 December 1041 and Michael V was proclaimed emperor three days later by Zoe.[3]

Histamenon of Michael IV

Determined to rule on his own, Michael V came into conflict with his uncle John the Orphanotrophos, whom he almost immediately banished to a monastery.[4] Michael now reversed his uncle's decisions, recalling the nobles and courtiers who had been exiled during the previous reign, including the future patriarch Michael Keroularios and the general George Maniakes. Maniakes was promptly sent back to Southern Italy in order to contain the advance of the Normans.

On the night of 18 April to 19 April 1042, Michael V banished his adoptive mother and co-ruler Zoe, for plotting to poison him, to the island of Principo,[2] thus becoming sole Emperor. His announcement of the event in the morning led to a popular revolt; the palace was surrounded by a mob demanding Zoe's immediate restoration.[5] The demand was met, and Zoe was brought back, though in a nun's habit.[2] Presenting Zoe to the crowds in the Hippodrome did not quell the public's outrage over Michael's actions. The masses attacked the palace from multiple directions. The Emperor's soldiers attempted to fight them off and by April 21, an estimated three thousand people from both sides had died. Once inside the palace, the mob pillaged valuables and tore up the tax rolls.[6] Also on 21 April 1042 Zoe's sister Theodora, who had been removed from her nunnery against her will earlier in the uprising, was declared Empress.[7][8] In response, Michael fled to seek safety in the monastery of the Stoudion together with his remaining uncle.[7] Although he had taken monastic vows, Michael was arrested, blinded[2] (according to legend by future Norwegian king Harald Hardrada),[9] castrated and sent to a monastery. He died as a monk on 24 August 1042.

• List of Byzantine emperors

• Skylitzes, John (2010) [c. 1100]. Synopsis of Histories. Translated by Wortley, John. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139489157.
• Thurn, Hans, ed. (1973). Ioannis Scylitzae Synopsis historiarum. Berlin-New York: De Gruyter. ISBN 9783110022858.
• Gregory, Timothy E. (2010). A History of Byzantium. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Hussey, J.M., ed. (1966). The Cambridge Medieval History:The Byzantine Empire Part 1. Vol. IV. Cambridge University Press.
• Tougher, Shaun (2008). The Eunuch in Byzantine History and Society. Routledge.
• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
• Krallis, Dimitrios (2006). "Democratic Praxis and Republican Ideology in the Eleventh Century". Byzantine Studies Conference. Dumbarton Oaks.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Michael (emperors)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 359–360.

• Michael Psellus, Fourteen Byzantine Rulers, trans. E.R.A. Sewter (Penguin, 1966). ISBN 0-14-044169-7
• Michael Angold, The Byzantine empire 1025–1204 (Longman, 2nd edition, 1997). ISBN 0-582-29468-1
• Jonathan Harris, Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium (Hambledon/Continuum, 2007). ISBN 978-1-84725-179-4
• The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Oxford University Press, 1991) ISBN 0-19-504652-8
• Warren Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and Society (Stanford University Press, 1997) ISBN 0-8047-2630-2