1. General information

The family was of Armenian origin and was mainly active in the region of Asia Minor, as well as in Constantinople, reaching as far as the accession to the Byzantine throne, whereas certain of its members were distinguished high-ranking administrative officials as well. The surname “Lakapenos” appeared after their resettlement (end of 9^th century) in Lakape, a region in the middle of the route from Melitene to Samosata. The most well known members of the family were the droungarios tou ploimou and later emperor Romanos I Lakapenos – of whom the accession to the throne transformed the Lakapenoi from a small provincial family to one of the most powerful noble families of the Empire in the 10^th century – and his illegitimate child Basil Lakapenos. During Romanos I’s reign the family played a leading role in the political life of Byzantium, whereas its influence continued during the second half of the 10^th century, this time with Basil Lakapenos. From the 11^th century the political power of the family of Lakapenoi has been reduced and their careers in high-ranking dignities declined, whereas in the late Byzantine period only few of the representatives of the family are attested in the sources.

2. Emergence of the family in the political life and the reign of Romanos I

The first member of the Lakapenoi ever mentioned in the sources and the one cited as the founder of the family is Theophylaktos Abastaktos or Abaktistos. The family took the epithet Lakapenoi after the year 872, when its social status started getting improved, when Theophylaktos, during the campaign of Basil I in Tephrike, saved the emperor’s life. As a reward, Basil granted him imperial estates in the region of Lakape, which became the powerbase of the family. Theophylaktos’ son, Romanos Lakapenos served as the general of the theme (thema) of Samos during the reign of Leon VI the Wise (886-912) and later as the commander of the imperial fleet. After emperor Alexander’s death (913) Romanos took advantage of the unstable political situation of the period 913-919 and ascended to the throne. The legitimate heir of the throne Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos was under age and his regents, queen-mother Zoe Carbopsina and the patriarch of Constantinople Nikolaos Mystikos, were unable to manage the problems the empire was facing against the Bulgarian tsar Symeon. Thus, in the beginning Romanos took over the regency (spring of 919), by giving his own daughter Helen to marriage to Constantine VII, and later (December 17^th, 920) was crowned emperor, stepping ahead of the legal heir. The presence of the Lakapenos’ family in the Empire’s political life reached its climax during the period of Romanos I’s reign. His wife Theodora was crowned augusta and his first-born son Christopher co-emperor (May 921). On Christmas day of 924 his two other sons, Stephan and Constantine, followed, whereas in 927 Christopher was set first in the succession of the throne, passing over Constantine VII. This way the Lakapenoi were seeking to put aside the Macedonian dynasty. In the meantime, from the four daughters of Romanos, Helen was the wife of Constantine VII and Mary had been married to the Bulgarian tsar Peter, heir of Symeon. In October 931 Theophylaktos, the fourth son of Romanos, which was a eunuch, was appointed patriarch of Constantinople (he stayed in this position until his death in 956), thus giving to his father the possibility to obtain the full control over the Church.

However, the death of Christopher Lakapenos in 931 interrupted the process of the family towards the establishment of a new dynasty. Romanos, who had set all of his hopes for succession to his first-born child, did not have the same confidence on the abilities of his two younger sons, so he decided against placing them in the course of succession before Constantine VII. The two ambitious co-emperors proceeded to an uprising against their father (December 944), aiming at the elimination of their father and of Constantine VII and at the assumption of power by themselves. This conflict inside the Lakapenos’ family marked the end of its hold on the imperial throne, because Constantine VII, already in a mature age, took the chance to get the Lakapenoi out of his way, and to resume power himself (January 945). Nevertheless, the return of the legitimate representative of the Macedonian dynasty to the throne did not mark the disappearance of the Lakapenoi from the political stage. Although they had been kept off the succession to the throne and the most powerful titles, they preserved important offices during the whole of the 10^th century. Michael, son of Christopher Lakapenos, became a cleric and received the title of magistros and the office of raiktor. Romanos, son of Constantine Lakapenos, became patrician and prefect (eparch), whereas another great Romanos Lakapenos, son of Stephan, is referred as sebastophoros (probably the first ever to receive this particular title).

3. The omnipotence of Basil Lakapenos

The most important representative of the family during the second half of the 10^th century was Basil Lakapenos, illegitimate son of Romanos I. Basil was eunuch and started his carrier in high-ranking civil offices during the reign of Romanos I and Constantine VII, when he received for the first time the important office of parakoimomenos. After the temporary withdrawal during the reign of Romanos II (959-963), he reappeared in the political stage during the reign of Nikephoros II Phokas, by receiving the title of proedros, which appeared for the first time during that period. Cooperating with John Tzimiskes in the coup of the latter one against Nikephoros II (969), he succeeded in preserving and upgrading his position in the political life. His power was so great that in 976 he organized the murder of Tzimiskes in order to raise to the throne the legitimate heirs of the Macedonian dynasty, Basil II and Constantine VIII, which were under his immediate control. The period 976-985, during of which he was the essential factor of managing the political power, constituted the climax of his power and at the same time the epilogue of the leading presence of the Lakapenoi in the political life of the empire. At the end of 985 Basil II, reacting powerfully to the authoritarian presence of his parakoimomenos, he banished him, and with him the whole family of Lakapenoi was put aside.

4. The last Lakapenoi

Even after the end of Basil II’s reign the family of Lakapenoi was not able to resume the principal role it possessed in the political life of the empire during the 10^th century. During the whole of the 11^th century the course of the family was declining and it seems that its members were confined to civil offices. In the sigillography of this period some Leon Lakapenos is mentioned, possessing the title of spatharokoubikoularios and the office of logariastes, whereas in the first half of the 12^th century a Constantine Lakapenos is referred, for which we do not know the title and the office. In the early 14^th century George Lakapenos, pupil of Maximos Planoudes, was a writer and a teacher.¹ From his works we know the Epistolarion, a collection of epistles from his correspondence with Andronicos Zarides, a scholar and Planoudes’ pupil, John Zarides, Michael Gabras and the physician John Aktouarios, a correspondence that he used as a manual for the teaching of grammar as well. Beside these, he published a collection of 264 epistles of Libanius and he composed collections of grammatical remarks and commentaries to the first two books of Iliad and to the Encheiridion (or The Manual) of Epictetus.