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Birth:          1 Sep  866 of Constantinople
Death:          12 May  912 

Notes
King of Byzantium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_VI_the_Wise
Leo VI, called the Wise or the Philosopher (Greek: ???? S?? ? S?f??, Leon VI ho 
Sophos, 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. 
The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his parentage is unclear), he 
was very well-read, leading to his epithet. During his reign, the renaissance of letters, 
begun by his predecessor Basil I, continued; but the Empire also saw several military 
defeats in the Balkans against Bulgaria and against the Arabs in Sicily and the 
Aegean. His reign also witnessed the formal discontinuation of several ancient Roman 
institutions, such as the Roman consul and Senate (in this period also known as the 
Byzantine Senate), which continued to exist in name only and lost all of its original 
functions and powers.
Born to the empress Eudokia Ingerina, Leo was either the illegitimate son of Emperor 
Michael III[2][3][4] or the second son of his successor, Basil I the Macedonian.[5][6]
[7] Eudokia was both Michael III's mistress and Basil’s wife. In 867, Michael was 
assassinated by Basil, who succeeded him as Emperor.[8] As the second eldest son of 
the Emperor, Leo was associated on the throne in 870[9] and became the direct heir 
on the death of his older half-brother Constantine in 879.[10] However, Leo and Basil 
did not like each other; a relationship that only deteriorated after Eudokia's death, 
when Leo, unhappy with his marriage to Theophano Martiniake, took up a mistress in 
the person of Zoe Zaoutzaina. Basil married Zoe off to an insignificant official, and 
later almost had Leo blinded when he was accused of conspiring against him.[11][12] 
On August 29, 886, Basil died in a hunting accident, though he claimed on his 
deathbed that there was an assassination attempt in which Leo was possibly 
involved.[13]
Leo's marriages[edit]

Leo VI caused a major scandal with his numerous marriages which failed to produce a 
legitimate heir to the throne.[32] His first wife Theophano, whom Basil had forced him 
to marry on account of her family connections to the Martinakioi, and whom Leo 
hated,[33] died in 897, and Leo married Zoe Zaoutzaina, the daughter of his adviser 
Stylianos Zaoutzes, though she died as well in 899.[34] Upon this marriage Leo 
created the title of basileopator ("father of the emperor") for his father-in-law.[35]

After Zoe's death a third marriage was technically illegal,[36] but he married again, 
only to have his third wife Eudokia Baļana die in 901.[28] Instead of marrying a fourth 
time, which would have been an even greater sin than a third marriage (according to 
the Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos)[37] Leo took as mistress Zoe Karbonopsina.[38] He 
married her only after she had given birth to a son in 905,[36] but incurred the 
opposition of the patriarch. Replacing Nicholas Mystikos with Euthymios,[16] Leo got 
his marriage recognized by the church (albeit with a long penance attached, and with 
an assurance that Leo would outlaw all future fourth marriages).[17]

Succession[edit]

The future Constantine VII was the illegitimate son born before Leo's uncanonical 
fourth marriage to Zoe Karbonopsina.[36] To strengthen his son's position as heir, Leo 
had him crowned as co-emperor on May 15, 908, when he was only two years old.[39] 
Leo VI died on May 11, 912.[16] He was succeeded by his younger brother Alexander, 
who had reigned as Emperor alongside his father and brother since 879.[40]
Family[edit]

By his first wife, Theophano Martiniake, Leo VI had one daughter:
Eudokia, who died in 892.[41]

By his second wife, Zoe Zaoutzaina, Leo had one daughter:
Anna,[35] betrothed and married to the Holy Roman Emperor Louis the Blind,[42] 
though Dr. Shaun Tougher, Reader in Ancient History at Cardiff University, doubts 
they were married.[43]

By his third wife, Eudokia Baļana, Leo had one son:
Basil, who survived for only a few days.[32]

By his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, Leo had two children:[38]
Anna
Constantine VII

Parents
____ Basil I "the Macedonian" ( 827 - 29 Aug  889)
INGERINA Eudoxia (ABT  835 - ABT  882)

Siblings
____ Leo VI "the Philosopher" (1 Sep  866 - 12 May  912)

Marriage To ZAOUTZAINA Zoe (ABT  855 - May  899)
    m.  898 

Notes

Parents
TZAUTZES Stylianos (ABT  825 -  899)
----- ----- ()

Children by ZAOUTZAINA Zoe ABT  855 - May  899
OF BYZANTIUM Anna (EST  898 - )

Marriage To KARBONOPSINA Zoe ()
    m.  

Notes


Children by KARBONOPSINA Zoe 
____ Konstantinos VII (18 May  905 - 9 Nov  959)

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