It contains advice on ruling the heterogeneous empire as well as fighting foreign enemies. Therefore, De Administrando Imperio is one of the most important sources for the study of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) and its neighbors.
DE ADMINISTRANDO IMPERIO VENETIANS MANUAL
The intention of Emperor Constantine VII to write a manual for his successor, Romanos II, reduces the possibility that large untruths have been written. In the beginning of the De Administrando Imperio, Constantine VII wrote that the work was a set of knowledge which his son Romanos II (born in 938, and ruled 959-963) will need. However, for some researchers the whole book known as De administrando imperio is just an unfinished manuscript written between around 926 and November 959. According to other researchers the text of De Administrando Imperio was compiled at some point after 952 and before November 959 when Constantine VII died. From this, it is clear that some parts of DAI were written in the period 948-952 CE. In the 45th chapter author says: “now (today) is the X indiction, the year from the creation of the world 6460 in the reign of Constantine and Romanus ”, and Byzantine year 6460 from the creation of the world corresponds with 951/952 CE. In the 29th Chapter author says: “now (today) is the VII indiction, the year 6457 from the creation of the world”, and Byzantine year 6457 from the creation of the world corresponds with 948/949 CE. Such opinion originate from written in the 27th, 29th and 45th Chapters DAI. With the editions of De Administrando Imperio (DAI) it is said that this work was written between 948 and 952. Obviously, the whole De Administrando Imperio Constantine VII was written when he was alive. In this text his son Romanus II is never designated as a self-sustained ruler. Constantine VII’s direct appeals to his son Romanus II and Constantine’s first-person commentaries are located both at the beginning of the treatise in the Proem and in chapter 13, as well as at the end of the text, in chapter 51. The text known as De Administrando Imperio was written by emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, but he had at least one educated “Anonymous Collaborator”. A circle of educated people formed around Constantine VII written three unfinished books (De Administrando Imperio, De Ceremoniis and On the Themes) and finished a biography of his grandfather, Basil I. He gathered a group of educated people and dedicated himself to writing books about the administration, ceremonies, and history of the Eastern Roman Empire. Constantine VII was a scholar-emperor, who sought to foster learning and education in the Eastern Roman Empire. Ĭonstantine’s father, Leo(n) was known for his learning and writings, and, correctly or not, Constantine VII also believed that his mother, Zoe Karbonopsina, was a relative of the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor, one of the Middle Byzantine Historians. Constantine VII, with the help of his supporters, cloistered his brothers-in-law, and personally ruled by the Eastern Roman Empire from January 945 to his death in November 959. From 920, Constantine VII become increasingly distant from the imperial authorities until December 944, when the sons of Emperor Romanos I suddenly rebelled and cloistered their father. In December 920, Romanos I Lekapenos (920-944) was crowned a co-emperor, but he really took over the imperial reign in Constantinople. Later in May 919 Constantine VII married Helena Lekapene, daughter of Romanos Lekapenos. Ĭonstantine VII was too young to rule on his own, and the governorship was created. Leon VI died in May 912, and his brother and co-emperor Alexander became the ruler of Constantinople, but Alexander died in 913. Leon VI gave the crown to young Constantine VII in 908 and he became the co-emperor. The emperor Constantine VII “Porphyrogenitus” (905-959) was only surviving son of the emperor Leo(n) VI the Wise (886-912).
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