CONSTANTINE V, BYZANTINE EMPEROR

Reigned June 19, 741, to Sept. 14, 775; b. Constantinople, 718; d. Bulgaria. Constantine was the son of Emperor leo iii. He was crowned coemperor on March 20, 720, by his father; when the latter died in 741, Constantine ascended the throne as sole emperor. He was soon challenged, however, by his brother-in-law, Artabasdus, but was able to dispose of him after some fighting. Constantine's first wife was a Khazar princess. He died while on a campaign.

Constantine's reign is noted for the vigor with which the iconoclastic policy was pursued and for the success of the byzantine empire against its enemies. He made several expeditions against the Arabs in the East, took the frontier towns of Germaniceia, Militene, and Theodosiopolis, and transplanted many of their inhabitants to Thrace. Though these towns were recovered by the Arabs, their capture by the Byzantines showed that Byzantium was no longer on the defensive. It was against the Bulgars in the Balkan Peninsula, however, that Constantine exerted his greatest military activity. He led nine campaigns on Bulgar soil; and though in the end he failed to destroy the Bulgar kingdom, he dealt it crippling blows. In Italy, however, the Empire lost ravenna to the lombards (751), and the rapprochement between the papacy and the franks, initiated in 754, further weakened its position in the West.

In promoting iconoclasm, Constantine resorted to two expedients: the calling of the Council of Hieria (754), which declared in favor of iconoclasm, and the use of rigorous measures against those who opposed it. Particularly severe were his acts against monastic establishments: monks were persecuted, monasteries were closed, and their properties were confiscated. Constantine himself participated in the theological discussions over iconoclasm and developed ideas somewhat related to monoph ysitism.

Bibliography: a. lombard, Constantin V, empereur des Romains (Paris 1902). f. dÖlger, Corpus der griechischen Urkunden des Mittelalters und der neueren Zeit, series A, Regesten (Munich 1924–32) 308–337. g. ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State, tr. j. hussey from 2d German ed. (Oxford 1956); American ed. by p. charanis (New Brunswick, N.J. 1957), 147–155. m. v. anasios, "The Ethical Theory of Images Formulated by the Iconoclasts in 754–815," Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Harvard Univ., 8 (1954) 151–160. h. g. beck, Kirche und theologische Literature im byzantinischen Reich (Munich 1959) 301–303.

[p. charanis]