Titans of History

On December 4, 963, the synod found John guilty and deposed him, replacing him with Pope Leo VIII. However, the new appointment was made without following proper canonical procedure and few regarded Leo as a legitimate replacement. As Otto and Adalbert clashed on the battlefield again, a new revolt broke out in Rome, restoring John to the papacy, while Leo fled. Those who had betrayed John now suffered horrible vengeance. Cardinal Deacon John had his right hand cut off by the merciless pope while Bishop Otgar of Speyer was scourged; another official lost his nose and ears, many more were excommunicated. On February 26, 964, John repealed Otto’s decrees in a special synod and re-established his own authority as pope.

John’s position was still precarious and when Otto finally defeated Berengarius on the battlefield and started back for Rome, it seemed highly likely he would be deposed again. However, on May 16, 964, lustful to the last, John collapsed and died eight days after being caught in the act of adultery. Some say he was beaten up by the jealous husband; others that he was murdered; others again that the devil had claimed him as his own. Most believed he had been struck down by divine intervention or carnal exhaustion.

Pope John XII was a stain on the name of the Christian Church. It is said that monks prayed day and night for his death. “You are charged with such obscenities as would make us blush if you were a stage player,” was Emperor Otto’s verdict, writing to him after convening a council of bishops to depose him, “It would require a whole day to enumerate them all.”

BASIL THE BULGAR SLAYER

957/8–1025

The emperor did not relent, but every year marched into Bulgaria and laid waste and ravaged all before him … The emperor blinded the Bulgarian captives—around 15,000 they say—and he ordered every hundred to be led back … by a one-eyed man.

John Skylitzes, late 11th-century Byzantine historian

Basil II was one of the most powerful, effective and brilliant—if merciless—rulers of the Byzantine empire, the ultimate hero-monster. A remarkably successful statesman and soldier, perennially engaged in warfare, Basil—who never married or fathered children—reigned for fifty years, expanding his empire to its greatest extent. He converted the Russians to Christianity, defeated the Bulgars, conquered the Caucasus and patronized the arts.

Accounts of Basil’s appearance tally well with his brutal persona. Athletic in build, with a round face, bushy mustache and piercing blue eyes, he had a habit of twirling his whiskers between his fingers whenever he was angry or agitated—a frequent occurrence given his explosive temper. Reportedly he chose his words sparingly, barking rather than speaking them, in accordance with his generally abrupt manner. Never one to relax, he was always on guard for enemies, his right hand invariably poised to reach for his sword. He scorned jewelry, dressing in armor and eating the same rations as his troops, promising to look after their children if they died in battle for him.

Basil was the grandson of Constantine VII and the son of Romanos II. But Byzantine power politics were treacherous and the early years of Basil’s life were marked by intrigue and rebellion. Romanos II had died in 963, leaving five-year-old Basil and his younger brother Constantine as the joint emperors; although Constantine would succeed Basil in 1025 and rule in his own right for three years, he did not play an active part in Basil’s reign, accepting his brother’s supremacy and preferring to watch the chariot racing at the Constantinople Hippodrome.

In 963, however, Basil was too young to rule the empire himself so his mother Theophano married a general in the army, who became Emperor Nikephoros II in 963. In 969, Theophano had Nikephoros murdered by her next lover, John Tzimisces, who also became emperor until his death in 976. Basil, now eighteen, finally acceded to the throne, but he soon faced open rebellion led by two ambitious landowners: first, Bardas Skleros, whose armies were swiftly destroyed in 979, and second, Bardas Phakos, whose forces were defeated in battle in April 989 after two years of fighting. Legend has it that Basil sat patiently on his horse, with his sword in one hand and a picture of the Virgin Mary in the other, preparing to face Phakos in one-to-one combat, before the latter suddenly died of a stroke.