Constantine VII (from ‘Rulers of the Byzantine Empire’ published by KIBEA)
Ivory plaque showing the coronation of Constantine VII by Christ
David composing the Psalms from the Paris Psalter, an illuminated Byzantine manuscript produced during the 10th century.
The Limburg reliquary was created to hold a piece of the true cross. Basil Lekapenus sponsored its creation
We explore the life of Constantine VII. What was it like spending 25 years under the thumb of the Lecapeni? What did he really think of them? What did he do with his time? We also look at the many works published during his reign for clues to his personality.
Period: 905-946
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The History of Byzantium 
Happy to support the podcast. Thanks for the wonderful work, Robin!
Buying to support the podcast as a whole. 🙂
Excellent episode as always!
Great episode. Nice when we have a lot of sources!
Out of curiosity, how do you pick which episodes will be fundraisers? Just the next one in the narrative, one that might be especially interesting to entice people to buy, or one that won’t interrupt the narrative too much for non-donors?
The first criteria is just timing, when am I going to be in need of support. And when has it been long enough so that I feel its fair to ask. Then, as you suspected, I aim to not disrupt the narrative too much if I can. 77 and 129 have both fallen on a character where I can talk about a lot of personality/palace details without moving too far forward. It is a balance between offering something people will enjoy hearing without choosing something so vital that I will just have to explain what happened again later.
Great episode indeed! Fascinating what impact an emperor who spent most of his reign under house arrest had on our understanding of the Byzantines! Also tempting to wonder what his wife and children thought of his bad-mouthing the Lekapinos name as uncouth barbarians.