Chronographia

Summary

The Chronographia of Michael Psellos is a history of the Byzantine court across roughly a century, from the accession of Basil II in 976 to the reign of Michael VII Doukas in the 1070s. It is arranged by reign rather than by year and covers fourteen emperors and empresses. Psellos knew most of its later rulers personally, served several of them as secretary, adviser or tutor, and writes as an eyewitness of palace life. The library holds no text of the work: the only complete English translation, by E. R. A. Sewter (London, 1953; later reissued as Fourteen Byzantine Rulers), is still in copyright, so this entry offers a description and a study guide but no quotations. The early reigns rest on older informants. Basil II emerges as a severe, unmarried, tireless soldier who doubled the empire's power and filled its treasury, and his brother Constantine VIII as an easygoing pleasure-lover. Romanos III Argyros, married to Constantine's daughter Zoe, wastes his energy on building and dies in his bath. Michael IV the Paphlagonian, Zoe's young second husband, is a capable ruler afflicted by seizures and dropsy, guided by his brother John the Orphanotrophos; he dies a monk. His nephew Michael V exiles Zoe, the city rises in her defense, and Psellos, present as a young official, describes the crowds, the flight of Michael V to the Stoudios monastery and his blinding. The longest section treats Constantine IX Monomachos, Zoe's third husband, a cheerful and generous ruler who installs his mistress Skleraina at court beside the aged empress, suffers crippling gout, and spends freely; Psellos, now prominent, describes his own rise and his studies. After Constantine come the sole rule of Theodora, the last of the Macedonian dynasty, and the brief reign of Michael VI, overthrown by the generals' revolt that brings Isaac I Komnenos to the throne in 1057. Psellos takes part in the embassy to Isaac and describes the negotiations in detail. Isaac's reforms and his illness and abdication in 1059 close the first part of the work. The second part, written later under the Doukas emperors, is more favorable to its patrons. It covers Constantine X Doukas, the regency of his widow Eudokia, her marriage to the general Romanos IV Diogenes, his defeat and capture by the Seljuks at Manzikert in 1071, and the accession of Psellos's pupil Michael VII, whom he praises warmly. Throughout, Psellos sketches character with unusual vividness, attends to faces, voices and bodily ailments, and places himself near the center of events. The work survives in a single medieval manuscript in Paris.

Plot or Argument

• Basil II and Constantine VIII (976–1028)

  From older witnesses Psellos portrays Basil II as an austere, unmarried soldier-emperor who subdued rebellions by the generals Bardas Skleros and Bardas Phokas and left a full treasury, and his brother Constantine VIII as an indulgent ruler who enjoyed the wealth Basil had gathered.

• Romanos III and Michael IV (1028–1041)

  Romanos III Argyros marries Zoe, builds lavishly and dies in his bath. Zoe raises her young chamberlain Michael the Paphlagonian to the throne; he governs conscientiously while suffering seizures and dropsy, relies on his brother John the Orphanotrophos, and dies after taking monastic vows.

• Michael V and the rising of 1042

  Michael V, adopted by Zoe, sends her into exile; the people of Constantinople rise for the old empress and her sister Theodora. Psellos describes the riot, the emperor's flight to a monastery and his blinding, and the joint rule of the two sisters.

• Constantine IX Monomachos (1042–1055)

  Zoe's third husband rules genially and extravagantly, brings his mistress Skleraina to court, and suffers severe gout. Psellos describes his own rise as a court official and teacher, and the emperor's buildings, rebellions and illnesses.

• Theodora and Michael VI (1055–1057)

  The last of the Macedonian line rules alone and names the elderly official Michael VI as successor; his slights to the army lead the generals to proclaim Isaac Komnenos.

• Isaac I Komnenos (1057–1059)

  Psellos serves as envoy to the rebel camp and recounts the negotiations that bring Isaac to the throne, his stern financial reforms, and his illness and abdication to a monastery, ending the work's first part.

• The Doukas emperors and Romanos IV (1059–c. 1078)

  The later part, more encomiastic, covers Constantine X Doukas, Eudokia's regency, Romanos IV Diogenes and the defeat at Manzikert in 1071, and the rule of Michael VII, Psellos's former pupil.

Characters

• Michael Psellos, author and participant

  Courtier, scholar and imperial adviser who narrates events he witnessed and often stands near their center.

• Basil II, emperor

  Severe and indefatigable soldier-ruler whose long reign opens the work.

• Zoe, empress

  Daughter of Constantine VIII whose three husbands and one adopted son successively hold the throne.

• Theodora, empress

  Zoe's sister, co-ruler in 1042 and sole ruler in 1055–1056, the last of the Macedonian dynasty.

• Michael IV the Paphlagonian, emperor

  Capable ruler whose seizures and later dropsy Psellos describes closely.

• John the Orphanotrophos, imperial minister

  Eunuch brother of Michael IV and the real director of government during his reign.

• Constantine IX Monomachos, emperor

  Genial, generous and gout-stricken husband of Zoe and patron of Psellos.

• Isaac I Komnenos, emperor

  General raised to power by the army, reformer of finances, who abdicates when gravely ill.

• Romanos IV Diogenes, emperor

  Soldier-emperor married to Eudokia, defeated and captured at Manzikert in 1071.

• Michael VII Doukas, emperor

  Psellos's former pupil, praised in the closing part of the work.

Lessons

• Character shapes the fortunes of a state

  Psellos explains events chiefly through the personalities of rulers: Basil's discipline, Constantine VIII's indulgence, Monomachos's generosity, Isaac's severity. His portraits invite students to ask how far a single person's virtues and faults decide a nation's course.

  • How does Psellos contrast Basil II with his brother Constantine VIII?
  • Which ruler in the Chronographia seems to Psellos the best balance of strength and gentleness, and why?
  • Is history better explained by the character of leaders or by larger forces such as armies, money and geography?

• The witness who is also a player

  Psellos was present at many of the events he records and often describes his own advice and influence. This makes his account vivid and also asks readers to weigh how a participant's loyalties and memory shape his story, especially in the later part written under his patrons.

  • Where in the work does Psellos describe his own role in events?
  • How might writing under the Doukas emperors have shaped his account of them?
  • What are the advantages and the risks of history written by an insider?

• The people and the purple

  The rising of 1042 shows the people of Constantinople defending the legitimate heirs of the Macedonian dynasty against an emperor who had exiled them. Psellos shows that even an autocrat depended on the loyalty of the city.

  • Why did the crowds rise for Zoe and Theodora?
  • What does the fate of Michael V suggest about the limits of imperial power?
  • Where does legitimacy come from in a monarchy: birth, consent, success or God?

Context

The Byzantine empire, which called itself the empire of the Romans, reached a height of power under Basil II, who annexed Bulgaria and extended the eastern frontier. In the following half century a series of short reigns, rivalries between the civil officials of the capital and the military aristocracy of the provinces, and pressure from the Normans in Italy and the Seljuk Turks in the east weakened the state, culminating in the defeat at Manzikert in 1071. The same period saw a revival of learning in Constantinople, of which Psellos was the leading figure, and the mutual excommunications of 1054 between Rome and Constantinople.

Composition

Scholars generally hold that the Chronographia was written in two stages: a first part ending with the abdication of Isaac I in 1059, apparently composed in the early 1060s at a friend's request, and a second part covering the Doukas emperors, written under Michael VII in the 1070s and largely an encomium of that family. The Greek text survives in a single manuscript, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 1712. Émile Renauld's two-volume French edition and translation (Paris, 1926–1928) became the standard modern edition; E. R. A. Sewter's English translation appeared in London in 1953 and is still in copyright, which is why no text or quotations are included in this library.

Reception

The Chronographia was little read in the Middle Ages, but Anna Komnene drew on Psellos and praised his learning, and modern historians regard it as the most important source for eleventh-century Byzantium and one of the most original works of Byzantine literature. Its psychological portraits and the author's frank self-presentation have been widely admired. Historians differ over how far to trust Psellos's account of his own influence and over how to read the second part, written for his patrons; some stress its self-interest, while others read it as a sophisticated and deliberately shaped literary work.

Comparisons

• anna-komnene-alexiad

  Anna Komnene continues the story from her father's accession in 1081, writes with similar classical learning, and acknowledges Psellos as a man of great erudition.

• procopius-secret-history

  Five centuries earlier, Procopius also wrote an insider's account of the palace, of a powerful empress and of court intrigue, in a far more hostile tone than Psellos.

• the-twelve-caesars

  Suetonius's lives of the emperors arrange history by ruler and dwell on appearance, habits and health, a method Psellos's reign-by-reign portraits resemble.

• herrin-byzantium

  Judith Herrin's survey of Byzantine civilization gives the background of court, church and empire against which Psellos's narrow focus on the palace can be read.

• kaldellis-the-new-roman-empire

  Anthony Kaldellis, a leading interpreter of Psellos, places the eleventh-century crisis within a full history of Byzantium as the continuing Roman state.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The contrast between the brothers Basil II and Constantine VIII at the start.
• How Zoe's marriages and adoptions carry the throne from one man to the next.
• The rising of 1042, told by an eyewitness.
• Psellos's own entrances into the story, especially under Constantine IX and Isaac I.
• The change in tone in the later part on the Doukas emperors.

Key terms and names

Macedonian dynasty

The ruling family from Basil I (867) to Theodora (died 1056), whose prestige explains the people's loyalty to Zoe and Theodora.

Porphyrogenita

'Born in the purple': a child born to a reigning emperor, as Zoe and Theodora were.

Orphanotrophos

Director of the great orphanage of Constantinople, the office held by Michael IV's powerful brother John.

Consul of the philosophers

The title given to Psellos as head of philosophical teaching in the capital under Constantine IX.

Manzikert

Battle of 1071 in eastern Anatolia where the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan defeated and captured Romanos IV.

Encomium

A speech or writing of praise; much of the work's second part praises the Doukas family.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension Which emperor opens the Chronographia, and what qualities does Psellos give him?
2. Comprehension How did Michael V lose his throne in 1042?
3. Comprehension What role does Psellos himself play in Isaac Komnenos's rise to power?
4. Interpretation Why might Psellos write so much about the health and bodies of emperors?
5. Interpretation How does the second part, written under the Doukas emperors, differ in tone from the first?
6. Big Question Can a historian who served the rulers he describes still tell the truth about them?
7. Big Question What makes a ruler legitimate in the eyes of the people?

Faith Connections

• Psalm 146:3–4 (Scripture)

  'Put not your trust in princes' fits a history in which fourteen rulers rise and fall within a century, several of them ending their days in monasteries.

• Proverbs 16:18 (Scripture)

  Michael V's exile of the empress who adopted him, followed by his swift fall, illustrates pride going before destruction.

• Augustine, City of God V.24 (Great Conversation)

  Augustine's portrait of the happy Christian emperor, who rules justly, is slow to punish and remembers he is a man, offers a standard by which to judge Psellos's rulers.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: The fortunes of the empire follow the characters of its rulers. A disciplined ruler like Basil II strengthens the state, while indulgence, favoritism and weakness invite rebellion and decline. Therefore the historian should study rulers closely, as Psellos, who saw them at first hand, is able to do.

Rhetorical device: characterization (ethopoeia). Psellos builds each reign around a detailed portrait of the ruler's appearance, habits and temperament, as in his contrast between the austere Basil II and the pleasure-loving Constantine VIII.

Debate: Resolved: That the character of rulers matters more than institutions in determining a nation's fortunes.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Using the reigns of Basil II, Constantine IX and Isaac I as Psellos presents them, explain what he thinks makes a good emperor and evaluate his standard.

Comparison with The Alexiad: Compare how Psellos and Anna Komnene present the emperors they knew personally, and what each reveals about the historian's own place at court.

Medical Lens

Psellos was learned in medicine as in the other sciences and observed the bodies of rulers closely. His account of Michael IV's seizures, which the emperor tried to hide behind curtains and attendants, and of his later swelling with dropsy, is among the fullest descriptions of an epileptic ruler from the Middle Ages; the identification of the condition follows Psellos's own description and is a reading, not a modern diagnosis. He describes the severe gout and joint pain that crippled Constantine IX, the death of Romanos III in his bath, and the blinding of Michael V after the rising of 1042, a common Byzantine way of disqualifying a ruler. In Isaac I's final illness Psellos says he examined the emperor and judged his condition from the pulse, an instance of a scholar-courtier practicing the Galenic medicine he had studied. These passages make the work a useful source for medicine at the Byzantine court.

• Reign of Michael IV

  The emperor's seizures, the efforts to conceal them, and his final illness with dropsy.

  Epilepsy Seizures Death Dying
• Reign of Michael V

  The blinding of the deposed emperor and his uncle after the rising of 1042.

  Disability Deformity
• Reign of Constantine IX Monomachos

  The emperor's gout and the pain that crippled his hands and feet.

  Pain
• Reign of Isaac I Komnenos

  Psellos at the bedside of the ailing emperor, judging his condition by the pulse before his abdication.

  Physicians Doctors Ancient Medicine

Creative Prompts

• Fiction

  Narrate the rising of 1042 from the streets of Constantinople, as a young clerk like Psellos might have seen it, from the news of Zoe's exile to the flight of Michael V.

• Essay

  Choose two rulers from the Chronographia and compare the qualities Psellos praises and blames in each. What does his choice of qualities tell us about his idea of a good emperor?

• Classroom

  Make a chart of the fourteen rulers with their dates, how each came to power and how each lost it. Discuss what patterns appear.

• Dialogue

  Write the conversation between Psellos and Isaac Komnenos at the rebel camp in 1057, as each tries to secure the best terms for his side.

Further Reading

• Fourteen Byzantine Rulers, Michael Psellus, trans. E. R. A. Sewter

  The complete English translation of the Chronographia (copyrighted).

• Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire, Judith Herrin

  Thematic introduction to Byzantine history and culture.

• Psellos and the Patriarchs, Anthony Kaldellis and Ioannis Polemis (trans.)

  Translations of Psellos's funeral orations on churchmen, showing his rhetoric outside the Chronographia.

• The Argument of Psellos' Chronographia, Anthony Kaldellis

  A study of the work's purpose and literary design.