Basil I.

Basil I., the Macedonian Byzantine emperor 867-886, came to Constantinople when still a young man, and was in 861 appointed chamberlain to the Emperor Michael III. After the assassination of this monarch in 867, Basil became sole emperor of the East. His first care was to heal the wounds of the state; and, as the prodigality of Michael had exhausted the public treasury, he took means to refill it by a wise economy. His valour made him the terror of the Saracens, from whom he reconquered Asia Minor. He sent missionaries to the Russians of Kiev, who, from that time, began to embrace Christianity and acknowledge the authority of the Greek Church. He died in 886. Basil founded a pure despotism, and, as part of a system of centralisation, placed eunuchs at the head of the departments of state, who, as they could not found a dynasty, would be less tempted to rebellion. He also introduced the principle of legitimacy in succession, and initiated the custom of having his descendants born in the 'porphyry chamber,' so that the title Porphyrogenitus might be equivalent to Prince Royal. He left his dynasty so secure that it reigned in greater or less prosperity for 200 years.