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Birth:          ABT  890 
Death:           931 

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_II_of_Bulgaria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lekapenos
Christopher Lekapenos or Lecapenus (Greek: ???st?f???? ?a?ap????) was the eldest 
son of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos (r. 920–944) and co-emperor from 921 until his 
death in 931.
Life[edit]

Christopher was the oldest son of Romanos Lekapenos, and the second-oldest child 
after his sister Helena. Younger siblings were Agatha, who married Romanos Argyros, 
Stephen and Constantine (co-emperors from 924 until 945), Theophylact (Patriarch of 
Constantinople in 933–956), and two unnamed younger sisters.[1][2]

Nothing is known of Christopher's early life. He was certainly an adult by 919–920, and 
had a daughter of marriageable age in 927,[3] hence he was probably born around 
890–895. Already before his father's rise to power, he had been married to Sophia, the 
daughter of the wealthy patrikios Niketas, a Slav from the Peloponnese.[4]

When Romanos succeeded in having his daughter Helena Lekapene married to the 
young emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos in spring 919 and assumed the role of 
guardian of the emperor with the title basileopator, Christopher succeeded him in his 
post as megas hetaireiarches, commander of the palace guard.[5][6] Romanos soon 
crowned himself emperor (December 920), and eventually advanced himself before the 
young Constantine in precedence. To further cement his position, and planning to 
advance his own family over the legitimate Macedonian line, Romans crowned 
Christopher also as co-emperor on 20 May 921.[3][6][7] Furthermore, when 
Christopher's mother, the Augusta Theodora died in February 922, his wife Sophia was 
raised to the dignity of Augusta alongside Helena Lekapene.[8]

In 927, as part of a peace agreement, Christopher's daughter Maria, renamed Eirene 
("peace") for the occasion, was married to the Bulgarian emperor Peter I (r. 927–969).
[9] Romanos used the occasion to advance Christopher before Constantine 
Porphyrogennetos, making him first among the rather large group of co-emperors (in 
924, Christopher's younger brothers Stephen and Constantine had also been crowned 
as co-emperors).[3][6][10] In 928, his father-in-law, the patrikios Niketas, 
unsuccessfully tried to incite Christopher to depose his father, and was banished. The 
motive behind this was perhaps Christopher's poor health, and fears by his wife and 
her father that, should he die prematurely, they would lose their status.[6][11] In the 
event, Christopher died in August 931, much mourned by his father, who shed tears 
"like the Egyptians" and thereafter increasingly became devoted to religious pursuits. 
Soon after Christopher's death, Sophia too retired from the court and entered a 
monastery, where she died.[12][13]

Family[edit]

Through his marriage to Sophia, Christopher had three children:[1][12]
Maria-Eirene (died ca. 965), the Empress-consort of Peter I of Bulgaria.[9][14]
Romanos, still a child at the time of Christopher's death. According to Zonaras he was 
favoured by his grandfather, who thought about promoting him to his father's place as 
senior co-emperor, but for his death soon after.[12]
Michael, an infant at the time of Christopher's death, he was made a cleric at the time 
of the family's fall from power in 945. He eventually reached the high dignities of 
magistros and rhaiktor, but nothing further is known of his later life.[15]

Parents
LEKAPENOS Romanos I (ABT  869 - 15 Jun  948)
____ Theodora (ABT  874 - 20 Feb  923)

Siblings
LEKAPENOS Christopher (ABT  890 -  931)
LEKAPENA Agatha (ABT  903 - )
LEKAPENE Helena (Eleni) (ABT  906 - 19 Sep  961)

Marriage To ____ Augusta Sophia ()
    m.  

Notes


Children by ____ Augusta Sophia 
LEKAPENE Irene (ABT  910 - ABT  966)

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