Spoke 10: The Biblewheel and The 10th Century - Leo VI Marriage, Family and Behavior

Spoke 10: The Biblewheel and The 10th Century
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Leo VI Marriage, Family and Behavior

Just as David had a son after he committed adultery in the 10th book of the Bible 2Samuel with Bathsheba but he died, however his second son through her was Solomon who became king, Leo VI (the Wise) at the turn of the 10th century had one son in his third marriage, who died. But in the 4th marriage he had a surviving son, who succeeded him as Emperor, Constantine VII.

The 3rd marriage was considered to be illegal by the Byzantine Rite. However, his 3rd wife passed away. Leo decided to take a 4th woman as a mistress. The patriarch legalized the 4th mistress as Leo's wife after Leo did penance as he entered the church of Hagia Sophia on his knees.

The Moechian Controversy (meaning adultery in Greek) is related to him. This relates to David in the 10th book of the Bible, 2Samuel who committed adultery with Bathsheba. But when he repented he was fasting and sat on the ground to seek compassion from God to save his sick child through her. But God chose to take his life to show his enemies that he didn't approve what David did. But Solomon, David's son through Bathsheba gained favor from God.

His son Constantine was the 7th (Constantine VII). Perhaps the number 7 would bear significance since the 7th Commandment is not to commit adultery. Also Bathsheba, whom David committed adultery with, means the daughter of an oath (or seven since the meaning of seven is an oath).

David had many wives (and concubines) of which, 3 were mentioned in 1Samuel 25:

1. Michal - king Saul's daughter;
2. Abigail - the Carmelitess the wife of the deceased Nabal;
3. Ahinoam - the Jezreelitess.

But the rest were mentioned in 2Samuel 5 and 11 (Bathsheba) and 1Chronicles 3.

https://hagiasophiaturkey.com/mosaic-leo-vi/

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/632826185165573569

Marriages

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 basileopatōr ("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 Baïana 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

Gold solidus of Leo VI and Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, 908–912

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

By his first wife, Theophano, 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 Baïana, 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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_VI_the_Wise#Family

Leo VI the Wise : biography

19 September 0866 - 11 May 0912

The supposed Book of the Eparch and the Kletorologion of Philotheos were also issued under Leo's name and testify to his government’s interest in organization and the maintenance of public order. The Book of the Eparch described the rules and regulations for trade and trade organizations in Constantinople, while the Kletorologion was an attempt to standardize officials and ranks at the Byzantine court. Leo is also the author, or at least sponsor, of the Tactica, a notable treatise on military operations.Kazhdan, pg. 1211

Succeeding generations saw Leo as a prophet and a magician, and soon a collection of oracular poems and some short divinatory texts, the so-called Oracles of Leo the Wise, at least in part based on earlier Greek sources, were attached to the Emperor's name in later centuries and were believed to foretell the future of the world.

Finally, Leo is credited with translating the relics of St. Lazarus to Constantinople in the year 890. There are several stichera (hymns) attributed to him that are chanted on Lazarus Saturday in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He also composed hymns that are sung on the Great Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.

The Moechian Controversy

Leo VI caused a major scandal with his numerous marriages which failed to produce a legitimate heir to the throne.Norwich, pg. 114 His first wife Theophano, whom Basil had forced him to marry on account of her family connections to the Martinakioi, and whom Leo hated,According to the Patriarch Euthymios' biographer, Leo once told Euthymios that "the whole Senate knows that it was against my will and in great sorrow that I married [Theophano]. Apud Gilbert Dagron, Emperor and Priest:the Imperial Office in Byzantium. Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-03697-9, pp. 203 died in 897, and Leo married Zoe Zaoutzaina, the daughter of his adviser Stylianos Zaoutzes, though she died as well in 899.Treadgold, pg. 465 Upon this marriage Leo created the title of basileopatōr ("father of the emperor") for his father-in-law.Norwich, pg. 113

After Zoe's death a third marriage was technically illegal,Gregory, pg. 227 but he married again, only to have his third wife Eudokia Baïana die in 901.Treadgold, pg. 466 Instead of marrying a fourth time, which would have been an even greater sin than a third marriage (according to the Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos)Finlay, pg. 312 Leo took as mistress Zoe Karbonopsina.Norwich, pg. 115 He married her only after she had given birth to a son in 905, but incurred the opposition of the patriarch. Replacing Nicholas Mystikos with Euthymios,Kazhdan, pg. 1211 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) but opened up a conflict (the so-called "Moechian Controversy" from the Greek moichos, "adulterer")) within it and allowed new grounds for papal intervention into Byzantine affairs when he sought and obtained papal consent.Canduci, pg. 241

Succession

The future Constantine VII was the illegitimate son born before Leo's uncanonical fourth marriage to Zoe Karbonopsina. 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.Kazhdan, pg. 502 Leo VI died on May 11, 912.Kazhdan, pg. 1211 He was succeeded by his younger brother Alexander, who had reigned as Emperor alongside his father and brother since 879.Gregory, pg. 228

http://www.fampeople.com/cat-leo-vi-the-wise_3

Mosaic of Leo VI in the Narthex of Hagia Sophia - the Royal Doors

Leo found a priest who married him to Zoe Karbonopsina "Dark Eyes".  When the church resisted his pressure to recognize this forth marriage Leo went around the back of the Patriarch and negotiated with the Pope in Rome.  The Roman church recognized forth marriages as long as the previous spouses were all dead, which was the case with Leo.  On two occasions (Christmas 906 and Epiphany, 6 January 907) the emperor arrived in procession with the senate at this very door - only to be denied entry by the Patriarch Nicholas for his forth illegal marriage to Zoe Karbonopsina.  For this he was compelled to make penance for the sin of marrying too many times.  In the mosaic you can see Leo prostrated before Christ.  During his penance, although he was forbidden to enter the nave of the church, Leo was allowed to enter the Hagia Sophia through the right aisle to walk to the private Imperial Metatorian at the end of the aisle where he could watch and listen to the liturgy in disgrace. In time the crisis was resolved and Leo was allowed to enter the nave again and receive the sacrament.

The church never really forgave Leo.  He deposed the patriarch who had opposed his forth marriage, Nicholas Mysticus, and replaced him with Euthymius. Leo died in 912, only 45 years old, and Euthymius was deposed, Nicholas, returned to the patriarchal throne and became regent to Leo's now six year old son.

Hagia Sophia was a patriarchal church, it did not belong to the emperor and any changes or additions to it were ordered by church authorities.  This mosaic was ordered by Nicholas Mysticus and executed by church artists.  Leo was gone and could do nothing to stop it.  It was intended to be a permanent warning to future emperors that Christ and his church had authority over all men, regardless of their position.  Nicholas took further revenge on Leo by omitting his name from the mosaic, robbing him of his name and title.  Leo had done the same thing to Nicholas when he had him deposed and his name erased from the lists of Patriarchs, now the tables were reversed. Now, over a thousand years later, Leo continues to grovel before Christ and the Archangel Michael for mercy and forgiveness!  I believe the mosaic of Justinian and Constantine in the South Vestibule was ordered by Nicholas as a part of the same redecoration of Hagia Sophia and is meant to contrast good emperors with a bad one.

https://www.pallasweb.com/deesis/leo-hagia-sophia.html

Comparing 2Samuel the 10th Book of the 1st Cycle with the 10th Century

2Samuel 11 - Listen 1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth [to battle], that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. 2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman [was] very beautiful to look upon. 3 And David sent and enquired after the woman. And [one] said, [Is] not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I [am] with child. 6 And David sent to Joab, [saying], Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded [of him] how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered. 8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess [of meat] from the king. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. 10 And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from [thy] journey? why [then] didst thou not go down unto thine house? 11 And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? [as] thou livest, and [as] thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. 12 And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow. 13 And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house. 14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent [it] by the hand of Uriah. 15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die. 16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men [were]. 17 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell [some] of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also. 18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war; 19 And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king, 20 And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. 22 So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for. 23 And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate. 24 And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and [some] of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. 25 Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him. 26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.

Comparing 2Samuel the 10th Book of the 1st Cycle with the 10th Century

2Samuel 12 - Listen 1 And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2 The rich [man] had exceeding many flocks and herds: 3 But the poor [man] had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. 4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. 5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, [As] the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this [thing] shall surely die: 6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 7 And Nathan said to David, Thou [art] the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; 8 And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if [that had been] too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. 9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife [to be] thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give [them] unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For thou didst [it] secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. 13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. 14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also [that is] born unto thee shall surely die. 15 And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. 16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth. 17 And the elders of his house arose, [and went] to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. 18 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead? 19 But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. 20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed [himself], and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. 21 Then said his servants unto him, What thing [is] this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, [while it was] alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. 22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell [whether] GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? 23 But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. 24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him. 25 And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD. 26 And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27 And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters. 28 Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it: lest I take the city, and it be called after my name. 29 And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. 30 And he took their king's crown from off his head, the weight whereof [was] a talent of gold with the precious stones: and it was [set] on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance. 31 And he brought forth the people that [were] therein, and put [them] under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.