Neil Churchill is an independent scholar who specialises in art and politics in Byzantium and the early medieval west. He studied the art and kingship of the Carolingians at the University of Cambridge and completed his doctorate on the art of Basil I, Leo VI and Alexander, the first three Macedonian emperors of Byzantium, at the University of Sussex.

• Introduction / Basil I: usurping power / Laying foundations: Basil’s building work / From emperor to dynasty: family and succession / Leo VI: continuity and change / Leo VI: power contested / Alexander: idler or innovator? / Dynasty destablised: the regency of Zoe / Dynasty under threat: Romanos I and the Lekapenoi / Constantine VII and the re-invention of the dynasty / Conclusion / Bibliography

Neil Churchill is an independent scholar who specialises in art and politics in Byzantium and the early medieval west. He studied the art and kingship of the Carolingians at the University of Cambridge and completed his doctorate on the art of Basil I, Leo VI and Alexander, the first three Macedonian emperors of Byzantium, at the University of Sussex.

• Introduction / Basil I: usurping power / Laying foundations: Basil’s building work / From emperor to dynasty: family and succession / Leo VI: continuity and change / Leo VI: power contested / Alexander: idler or innovator? / Dynasty destablised: the regency of Zoe / Dynasty under threat: Romanos I and the Lekapenoi / Constantine VII and the re-invention of the dynasty / Conclusion / Bibliography

Neil Churchill is an independent scholar who specialises in art and politics in Byzantium and the early medieval west. He studied the art and kingship of the Carolingians at the University of Cambridge and completed his doctorate on the art of Basil I, Leo VI and Alexander, the first three Macedonian emperors of Byzantium, at the University of Sussex.

• Introduction / Basil I: usurping power / Laying foundations: Basil’s building work / From emperor to dynasty: family and succession / Leo VI: continuity and change / Leo VI: power contested / Alexander: idler or innovator? / Dynasty destablised: the regency of Zoe / Dynasty under threat: Romanos I and the Lekapenoi / Constantine VII and the re-invention of the dynasty / Conclusion / Bibliography