Basil II And the Governance of Empire, 976-1025

The reign of Basil II (976-1025) is usually considered the high-water mark of medieval Byzantium. During Basil's reign, Byzantine political authority extended from southern Italy to the Euphrates. With the conversion of the Rus to Orthodoxy in 988 the empire's cultural influence stretched still further. Basil portrayed himself as a soldier emperor who was as implacable towards his domestic opponents as against his foreign neighbours. His brutal military conquests later earned him the sobriquet 'Bulgar-slayer'.
Catherine Holmes considers the problems inherent in governing such a large, multi-ethnic empire, and the solutions that Basil adopted. She explains how the extant sources make unmasking the political realities of this period so difficult, and demonstrates that a convincing picture of Basil's reign only emerges when these sources are understood in their original contexts. Particular attention is paid to the impact that the Synopsis Historian of John Skylitzes, a little-studied text from the reign of Alexios Komnenos (1081-1118), has on our understanding of Basil. As the late eleventh-century context in which Skylitzes operated is exposed, so the political, military, and administrative history of Basil's reign is reconstructed. Basil's Byzantium is revealed as a state where the rhetoric of imperial authority became reality through the astute manipulation of force and persuasion.

Catherine Holmes is Tutor and Fellow in Medieval History, University College, University of Oxford.