Byzantine Empire - Theodora and Bardas
Now the Empire again had a woman in charge. The Empress
Theodora became regent for her two-year-old
son, Michael. She was an iconodule,
and allowed artists to make icons again. But she was smarter than Irene,
and went slowly and carefully, and there were no riots.
Once her son grew up, in 856, Theodora's brother Bardas
led a coup (pronounced COO) against her, and placed Michael III on the
throne. Bardas told Michael what to do, and won several battles against
the Abbasid Caliphs. In 860, a new and unexpected enemy appeared just
outside Constantinople: two hundred Russian ships, probably sailed by
Vikings emigrating from Scandinavia.
The Russians and Vikings couldn't get past the walls of Constantinople,
and sailed back north after burning and pillaging everything outside
the walls (including a lot of monasteries).
But this was only the beginning of battles with Russia.
In 866, this dynasty came to a sudden end, when Basil, a friend of Michael's, only recently promoted from being an illiterate peasant soldier who was good with horses, first killed Bardas, and then a few months later, in 867, also killed Michael.
