1. Biography

John Orphanotrophos was born in a family of moneylenders. It is not known when he became a eunuch. His large family came from Paphlagonia. It is certain that John was its most capable, but at the same time its most ambitious member.¹ His family produced two emperors: his brother, Michael IV, and his nephew, Michael V. Apart from the moneylender and future emperor Michael, John had three other brothers: Niketas was also a moneylender and he had been accused of forgery. Constantine and George were eunuchs, like John, and were selling talismans and objects of magic, an occupation for which John was also known. He also had at least one sister, the mother of the future Michael V.

2. Activity

The date of John’s arrival to Constantinople, as well as the time and the circumstances of his appointment as an imperial official remain unknown. The name under which he became known, orphanotrophos, derived from the title he bore as the man in charge of the large orphanage of St Paul in Constantinople, which he himself renovated in 1032, during the reign of the Emperor Romanos III Argyros.

John Orphanotropos appears to have been in the service of Romanos Argyros before the latter’s coronation as emperor.² According to Michael Psellos, John had also served as an associate of Basil II. After Romanos III Argyros (1028-1034) became emperor, Orphanotrophos increased his influence in the imperial court. The emperor made him a senator and bestowed upon him the title of praepositos. From his part, John assisted Romanos III in his struggles against the rebel Constantine Diogenes in 1032.³

At the same time, however, John seized the opportunity to approach the wife of Romanos III, the Augusta Zoe. Zoe, daughter of Constantine VIII who had died without a male heir, was a member of the Macedonian dynasty and could, therefore, guarantee imperial legitimacy to the man she married; this was indeed the case with her marriage to Romanos III Argyros.⁴ John took advantage of the emperor’s indifference towards the not so young Zoe and pushed his brother Michael towards her. The empress could not resist young Michael, and thus John secured his influence on her. It is probable that the three of them, with Orphanotrophos as the main instigator, systematically poisoned the Emperor Romanos III Argyros. Finally, the emperor was found dead in his bath (11 April 1034). Regardless of the circumstances of the emperor’s death, immediately afterwards, Zoe, John Orphanotrophos and Michael called the Patriarch Alexios Stoudites to the palace and asked him to sanction Zoe’s and Michael’s marriage. In order to overcome the patriarch’s objections, John and Zoe gave him 50 litrai of gold, and another 50 to the clergy; thus the marriage was officially conducted.⁵

2.1. Under Michael IV

After Michael IV’s (1034-1041) coronation, John Orphanotrophos became, in fact, in charge of the empire’s political and military affairs.⁶ When the two brothers rose to power, they placed the Empress Zoe under constraint in the imperial palace, while John was working towards establishing his power by placing some of his relatives in high positions and by demoting his opponents. In August 1034 he was forced to prevent the efforts for usurpation of Constantine Dalassenos, one of the most prominent members of the aristocracy in Asia Minor. The fact that the Paphlagonian brothers prevailed, also affected the other three brothers of the family in a positive way: Niketas became duke of Antioch, Constantine received the land that was confiscated from the supporters of Dalassenos in the theme of Opsikion,⁷ while the youngest brother, George, became protovestiarios, a title previously owned by the eunuch Symeon, another associate of Romanos Argyros.

Orphanotrophos was also carefully engaged in matters of foreign policy: the struggle with the Arabs in Sicily and Italy, and with the Pechenegs, who plundered the Balkans. However, the situation in the Balcan front became even more crucial with the rebellion of the Slavic population, who opposed the economic policy of Constantinople. In 1040 they elected Peter Deljan as tsar in Belgrade. The rebellion started spreading, but was dealt with in 1041 due to disagreements among its leaders.⁸ Orphanotrophos, from his part, made significant errors, influenced by this family’s ambitious members: he replaced the commander of the army in Sicily, George Maniakes, and then the governor of the army in the Balkans, Basil Synadenos with his own relatives, causing the Byzantine army to also experience some failures.

In dealing with internal problems, Orphanotrophos proved very capable: during a famine, after a long period of no rain in Thrace and Macedonia, he took great care for the alimentation of Constantinople, importing grain from the Peloponnese and mainland Greece. With his activities, John had effectively aside his brother Michael. Despite the great real power that he held, he never tried to obtain higher offices. It is possible that he became kourator of the Mangana. However, he was often accused of greed, which made his economic policy insufferable.⁹

2.2. His role in ecclesiastic affairs

Orphanotrophos was also actively involved in ecclesiastic affairs. In 1037, he appointed the former oikonomos of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople as archbishop of Achrida, in the place of the late archbishop John, who had been appointed by Basil II after his victory over Samuel (1020). This choice possibly attributed to the rebellion in the Balkan regions in 1040. In general, John, like Romanos Argyros before him, was appointing his friends and supporters in the metropolitan sees. In 1037, John Orphanotrophos, with the help of some bishops, attempted to dethrone the Patriarch Alexios Stoudites, in order to become leader of the church of Constantinople himself. He adduced as a reason the uncanonical elevation of Alexios to the patriarchal throne, since he had not been elected by a council, as well as the fact that Basil II chose him and proclaimed him patriarch while he was on his deathbed. John’s efforts, however, proved futile. The Patriarch Alexios managed to defend himself against the attacks of the Orphanotrophos and to remain on his throne.

2.3. His involvement in the matter of Michael IV’s succession

John’s brother and Emperor Michael IV suffered from epilepsy, which was gradually getting worse. Therefore, Orphanotrophos attempted to guarantee his family’s presence to the imperial throne. Once again, however, he needed the empress’ consent in order to legitimise such a succession. He was successful in persuading Zoe to adopt his sister’s son, Michael, who had already been proclaimed caesar in 1034, and to name him as the legal heir to the throne. When Michael IV died on 10 December 1041, Michael V Kalaphates became emperor, as was arranged. The citizens of Constantinople were never given the opportunity to react, as Michael had already been crowned by Zoe, thanks to Orphanotrophos’ skilful handling of the situation.¹⁰ However, the new emperor soon showed that he would not tolerate the advice and care of John Orphanotrophos. Instead he chose to rely on his uncle Constantine, John’s brother. Soon after becoming emperor, he banished Orphanotrophos from Constantinople, wanting to prevent any interference of his in political affairs. With the elevation of Constantine IX Monomachos in power (1042-1055), John Orphanotrophos was accused of usurpation and was blinded, while he was in exile in Lesbos. Soon afterwards, in 13 May 1043, he died in Lesbos.

3. Conclusion

Michael Psellos, the historian closest in the time of Orphanotrophos and also a supporter of his opponents, portrayed him in a very negative way in his historical work. Psellos accused him of greed and of working for personal gain, of putting forward his relatives and blindly showering them with titles and land, and also of treating the Empress Zoe very unjustly. In addition, he attributed to Orphanotrophos all the problems that the empire was faced with during the reign of Michael IV, when John was most influential, contrasting Michael’s virtues to John Orphanotrophos’ many faults.¹¹ However big his distaste of John, Psellos left us a very lively description of John’s character, capably portraying how skilful but also, in Psellos’ opinion, how dangerous John Orphanotrophos was. Among other things, the historian narrates that John used to visit secretly the most remote quarters of Constantinople, trying to detect any dissatisfaction or hostilitity towards him (that is to say, towards the government). Psellos also points out Orphanotrophos’ ability to remain clear-headed after consuming a lot of alcohol, a skill that proved extremely useful in banquets, when some guests freely expressed their opinions, assuming that he was drunk; in fact, John listened very carefully and later used their own words to harm them.¹²