Online Encyclopedia

case of two or more co-regnant basileis only one governed. Basil was a brave soldier and a superb horseman; he was to approve himself a strong ruler and an able See also:

general. He did not at first display the full extent of his See also:

ENERGY (from the Gr. ivipyela; iv, in, ipyov, work)

energy. The See also:

ADMINISTRATION (Lat. administrare, to serve)

administration remained in the hands of the See also:

EUNUCH (Gr. Evvoi3Xos)

eunuch Basileios (an illegitimate son of Romanus I.), See also:

PRESIDENT (Fr. president, from Lat. praesidens, post-Augustan Lat. for praeses, director, ruler, from praesidere, to sit in front of, preside)

president of the See also:

SENATE (Lat. senatus, from root sen-, as in senex, old; the root is the Sanskrit sana, cf. Gr. 'vos; the same element appears in senor, seigneur, seneschal)

senate, a wily and gifted See also:

man, who hoped that the See also:

young emperors would be his puppets. Basil waited and watched without interfering, and devoted himself to learning the details of administrative business and instructing himself in military See also:

SCIENCE (Lat. scientia, from scire; to learn, know)

science. During this See also:

time the See also:

THRONE

throne was seriously endangered by the See also:

REBELLION

rebellion of an ambitious general who aspired to See also:

PLAY

play the See also:

PART

part. of Nicephorus Phocas or Tzimisces. This was Bardas Sclerus, whom the eunuch deposed from his See also:

POST

post of general in the East.

He belonged to the powerful landed See also:

ARISTOCRACY (Gr. apuvror, best; «paria, government)

aristocracy of See also:

ASIA

Asia See also:

Minor, whose pretensions were a perpetual menace to the throne. He made himself See also:

MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master of the See also:

ASIATIC

Asiatic provinces and threatened See also:

Constantinople. To oppose him, Bardas Phocas, another general who had revolted in the previous reign and been interned in a monastery, was recalled. Defeated in two battles, he was victorious in a third and the revolt was suppressed (979). Phocas remained general in the East till 987, when he rebelled and was proclaimed emperor by his troops. It seems that the See also:

MINISTER (Lat. minister, servant)

minister Basileios was privy to this See also:

ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act, and the cause was dissatisfaction at the energy which was displayed by the emperor, who showed that he was determined to take the administration into his own hands and personally to See also:

CONTROL (Fr. contrdle, older form contre rolle, from Med. Lat. contra-rotulus, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the original; there is no instance in English of the use of " control " in this, its literal, meaning)

control the See also:

army. Phocas advanced to the See also:

HELLESPONT (i.e. " Sea of Helle "; variously named in classical literature `EXX oirov-ros, o "EXXns a6vros, Hellespontum Pelagus, and Rectum Hellesponticum)

Hellespont and besieged See also:

ABYDOS

Abydos. Basil obtained timely aid, in the shape of Varangian mercenaries, from his brother-in-See also:

law See also:

Vladimir, the See also:

RUSSIAN

Russian See also:

prince of See also:

Kiev, and marched to Abydos. The two armies were facing. each other, when Basil galloped forward, seeking a See also:

PERSONAL

personal combat with the usurper who was See also:

RIDING

riding in front of his lines. Phocas, just as he prepared to See also:

FACE (from Lat. fades, derived either from facere, to make, or from a root fa-, meaning " appear "; cf. Gr. cbatvstv)

face him, See also:

fell from his See also:

HORSE (a word common to Teutonic languages in such forms as hors, hros, ros; cf. the Ger. ross)

horse and was found to be dead. This ended the rebellion. The fall of Basileios followed; he was punished with See also:

EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap, consul, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)

exile and the See also:

CONFISCATION (from Lat. confiscare, to consign to the fiscus, or imperial treasury)

confiscation of his enormous See also:

PROPERTY

property.

Basil made ruthless See also:

war upon the See also:

SYSTEM

system of immense estates which had grown up, in Asia Minor and which his predecessor, Romanus I., had endeavoured to check. (For this evil and the legislation which was aimed at it see ROMAN See also:

EMPIRE

EMPIRE, LATER.) He,sought to protect the See also:

LOWER

lower and See also:

MIDDLE

middle classes. Basil gained some successes against the See also:

SARACENS

Saracens (995); but his most important See also:

WORK

work in the East was the See also:

ANNEXATION (Lat. ad, to, and nexus, joining)

annexation of the principalities of See also:

ARMENIA (old Persian Armina, Armenian Hayasdan, or Hayq)

Armenia. He created in those See also:

HIGHLANDS, THE

highlands a strongly fortified frontier, which, if his successors had been capable, should have proved an effective barrier against the invasions of the Seljuk See also:

TURKS

Turks. The greatest achievement of the reign was the subjugation of See also:

Bulgaria. After the death of Tzimisces (who had reduced only the eastern part of the Bulgarian See also:

KINGDOM

kingdom), the power of Bulgaria was restored by the See also:

TSAR, or CZAR

Tsar See also:

SAMUEL

Samuel, in whom Basil found a worthy foe. The emperor's first efforts against him were unsuccessful (981), and the war was not resumed till 996, Samuel in the meantime extending his See also:

RULE

rule along the Adriatic See also:

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

coast and imposing his lordship on See also:

SERVIA

Servia. Eastern Bulgaria was finally recovered in IOOO; but the war continued with varying successes till 1014, when the Bulgarian army suffered an overwhelming defeat. Basil blinded 15,000 prisoners, leaving a one-eyed man to every See also:

HUNDRED

hundred to See also:

lead them to their tsar, who fainted at the sight and died two days later. The last See also:

SPARKS, JARED (1789-1866)

sparks of resistance were extinguished in Io18, and the great See also:

SLAVONIC, OLD

Slavonic See also:

REALM

realm See also:

lay in the dust. The power of See also:

BYZANTIUM

Byzantium controlled once more the Illyrian See also:

peninsula. Basil died in See also:

DECEMBER (Lat. decent, ten)

December 1025 in the midst of preparations to send a See also:

NAVAL

naval expedition to recover See also:

SICILY (Ital. Sicilia)

Sicily from the Saracens.

Basil's reign marks the highest point of the power of the Eastern empire since Justinian I. Part of the See also:

CREDIT (Lat. credere, to believe)

credit is due to his predecessors Nicephorus and Tzimisces, but the greater part belongs to him. He dedicated himself unsparingly to the laborious duties of ruling, and he had to reckon throughout with the See also:

ill-will of a See also:

rich and powerful See also:

section of his subjects. He was hard and cruel, without any refinement or See also:

INTEREST

interest in culture. In a contemporary psalter (preserved in the library of St See also:

Mark at See also:

Venice) there is a portrait of him, with a See also:

grey See also:

beard, crowned and robed in imperial See also:

costume.

End of Article: BASIL H

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.

» Add information or comments to this article.

Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.

Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
BASIL (Russ. VASILY)

[next]
BASIL I