Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium, episode 108, known unknowns.

Last time we covered the improbable rise of Basil the Macedonian, from Hunky Stable Boy to Emperor of the Romans.

Whether he charmed or connived his way up the ladder, surely he never dreamt of being the Vassiless.

We don't know if Michael meant him to be an active partner on the throne or if he was just there to help rear the next generation.

It's irrelevant now, Michael is dead and 35-year-old Basil is soul-emperor.

It might sound like a blindingly obvious thing to say, but the fact that Basil had been crowned Emperor by Michael 16 months earlier was very significant.

I say that because Basil killing Michael III feels an awful lot like when Michael II killed Leo the Armenian.

As you know doubt recall, that nasty business set off a civil war which consumed the empire for three years.

And part of what fueled Thomas the Slav was the knowledge that Michael of Amorium was no more royal than he was.

Basil was from even lolliest stock than Michael who had been mocked for being well acquainted with farm work.

And yet the Ahir Sophia was full, the day that Basil was crowned.

Men had acclaimed him and thus sworn loyalty to their new sovereign.

As news filtered out that Michael was dead most likely at Basil's hand, what were men to think?

If the rumors were true, could they overthrow the Macedonian on the grounds that killing your co-emperor was wrong?

The emperor presumably put it about, but Michael was unfit to rule and had threatened his life, etc., etc.

It wasn't really about right or wrong, it was about whether there was an alternative candidate and whether anyone would support him.

And no one came forward.

The government had been run by Theodora and Theoktisters for a decade, then Badas for another, all members of Michael's family.

And one or two key allies of Badas had been purged along with the general, so there didn't seem to be anyone standing to object to Basil's coup.

We should also assume that Basil had gone around pressing the flesh during his years in the palace.

Once he was Michael's Chamberlain, he would have met all the great and the good.

And if they frowned at this peasant upstart, he presumably laughed it off and shook their hands even harder.

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