Constantine IV was a son and successor of Emperor Constans II of Constantinople (r. 641-668/669). Constans II, like many emperors of Roman and European tradition of the time, dreamed of creating a power-sharing agreement between his sons. Constantine IV was the senior sibling, crowned as an heir in 654. Constantine’s brothers, Herakleios II and Tiberius, were also crowned as heirs, receiving their designations before Emperor Constans II set off on his ambitious, but ultimately unsuccessful, campaign to reconquer Italy in 662 or 663. Hopeful power sharing agreement aside, most responsibilities were placed on Constantine IV, including administrative control of Constantinople, while the emperor was focusing on the Italian campaign. Unfortunately for Constans II, he would never return from Italy, as the emperor was assassinated while he stayed in Syracuse around 668 or 669.
Upon the death of Constans II, the emperor’s children ascended to the throne. As had been the case when Constans II was still alive, Constantine—now Emperor Constantine IV (r. 668/669-685)—maintained firm control of the most important elements of the empire’s government, to the detriment of his brothers’ influence. Consequently, he was able to immediately mobilize the empire’s military and promptly set out to crush the rebellious forces responsible for the assassination of Constans II in Sicily. The rebels were reportedly defeated and executed within the year, allowing Emperor Constantine IV to quickly return to the capital and consolidate his authority over the government. A medieval chronicle known as the Chronographia, written by the scholar Theophanes (c. 750s-818), reported that Emperor Constantine IV rushed to ruthlessly purge factions that attempted to elevate his brothers to higher influence in government. In an entry for the year Annus Mundi 6161 (September 669-August 670), Theophanes wrote:
“The troops of the Anatolic theme came to Chrysopolis, saying, ‘We believe in a Trinity: let us crown the three.’ Constantine grew alarmed, for he alone had been crowned: his brothers had no rank at all. He sent out the patrician Theodore of Koloneia, who harangued the men and put them to flight in this way: he took their leaders into the city so they could take counsel with the senate and do what they decided. But the Emperor immediately hanged some of them at Sykai; seeing this, the Anatolic troops were dishonored, and went back to their own land in dismay. The emperor slit his brothers’ noses” (Theophanes, Chronographia, entry for the year Annus Mundi 6161).
There are a few historical inaccuracies in the quoted passage that should be addressed—the brothers, Herakleios II and Tiberius, had indeed been crowned as heirs during the reign of Constans II, and their mutilation has been dated to have actually occurred in 681 or 682, instead of the earlier date of 669/670 given in the entry for Annus Mundi 6161. Whatever the case, the quote showcases Emperor Constantine IV’s efforts to consolidate all real power under his own control and to keep his brothers sidelined. The political games ended in 681/682, when Emperor Constantine IV deposed, disowned and mutilated his brothers, cutting their respective branches of the family off from the line of succession. Theophanes, the aforementioned chronicler, wrote of that event, stating, “In this year Constantine removed his brothers Herakleios and Tiberius from imperial power, and ruled alone with his son Justinian [II]” (Chronographia, entry for the year Annus Mundi 6173). Unfortunately, the case of Constantine IV mutilating his brothers was not a unique story; power sharing arrangements, even among siblings, rarely resulted in peaceful successions among the kingdoms and empires of ancient and medieval history.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Picture Attribution: (Middle Ages — costumes and weapons of the Byzantines from the year 700 to 1000, by Friedrich Hottenroth (c. 1840-1917), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons and the Smithsonian).
Sources:
- Theophanes, The Chronicle of Theophanes, translated by Harry Turtledove. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.
- History of the Lombards by Paul the Deacon, translated by William Dudley Foulke (c. 1904). University of Pennsylvania Press, 1907, 1974, 2003.
- The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, edited by Oliver Nicholson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
