Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" (Greek: Kovoravtivos Z son of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife Zoe Karbonopsina. He was also the nephew of the Emperor Alexander. He is famous for his four descriptive books, De Administrando Imperio. De Ceremoniis, De Thematibus and Vita Basilii. His nickname alludes to the Purple Room of the imperial palace, decorated with the stone porphyry, where legitimate children of reigning emperors were normally born. Constantine was also born in this room, although his mother Zoe had not been married to Leo at that time. Nevertheless, the epithet allowed him to underline his position as the legitimized son, as opposed to all others who claimed the throne during his lifetime. Sons born to a reigning Emperor held precedence in the Byzantine line of ascension over elder sons not born "in the purple" Reign Constantine was born at Constantinople, an illegitimate son born before an uncanonical fourth marriage. To help legitimize him, his mother gave birth o him in the Purple Room of the imperial palace, hence his nickname Porphyrogennetos. He was symbolically elevated to the throne as a two-year-old child by his father and uncle on May 15. 908. After the death of his uncle Alexander in 913 and the failure of the usurpation of Constantine Doukas, he succeeded to the throne at the age of seven, under the regency of the Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos. His regent was presently forced to make peace with Isar Simeonn of Bulgaria, whom he reluctantly recognized as Bulgarian emperor. Because of this unpopular concession, Nicholas was driven out of the regency by Constantine's mother Zoe Zoe was no more successful with the Bulgarians. by whom her main supporter, the general Leo Phokas, was defeated in 917, and in 919 she was replaced by the admiral Romanos Lekapenos, who married his daughter Helena Lekapene to Constantine. Romanos used his position to advance to the ranks of basileopator in May 919. kaisar (Caesar) in September 920, and finally co-emperor in December of the same year. Thus, just short of reaching nominal majority, Constantine was again eclipsed by a senior emperor. Constantine's youth had been a sad one for his unpleasant appearance, his taciturn nature and his relegation at the third level of succession behind the eldest son of Romanos I Lekapenos. Nevertheless, he was a very intelligent young man with a large range of interests, and dedicated those years to study the court's ceremonial. Romanos kept power for himself and maintained it until 944, when he was deposed by his sons Stephen and Constantine. Romanos spent the last years of his life in exile on the Island of Prote as a monk and died on June 15, 948. With the help of his wife, Constantine VII succeeded in removing his brothers-in-law and on January 27, 945, Constantine VII was once again sole emperor at the age of 39, after a life spent in the shadow. Several months later, Constantine VII crowned his own son Romanos Il co-emperor. Having never exercised executive authority, Constantine remained primarily devoted to his scholarly pursuits and relegated his authority to bureaucrats and generals, as well as his energetic wife Helena Lekapene. In 949 Constantine launched a new fleet of 100 ships (20 dromons, 64 chelandia, and 10 galleys) against the Arab corsairs hiding in Crete, but like his father's attempt to retake the island in 911, this attempt also failed. On the Eastern frontier things went better, even if with alternate success: in 949 the Byzantines conquered Germanicea, repeatedly defeated the enemy armies and in 952 crossed the upper Euphrates. But in 953 the Arab amir Sayf al-Daula retook Germanicea and entered the imperial territory. The land in the east was eventually recovered by Nikephoros Phokas, who conquered Hadath, in northern Syria, in 958, and by the Armenian general John Tzimiskes, who one year later captured Samosata, in northern Mesopotamiaa. An Arab fleet was also destroyed by Greek fire in 957. Constantine's efforts to retake themes lost to the Arabs were the first such efforts to have any real success. Constantine had intense diplomatic relationships with foreign courts, including the caliph of Cordoba Abd ar-Rahman III and Otto I, King of Germany. In the autumn of 957 Constantine was visited by Olga, princess of the Kievan Rus'. The reasons for this voyage have never been clarified: in any case, she was baptized with the name Helena, and began to convert her people to Christianity, Constantine VII died at Constantinople in November 959 and was succeeded by his son Romanos II. It was rumored that Constantine had been poisoned by his son or his daughter-in-law Theophano.

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