Eudoxia retired to a convent and then died. Basil II did not arrange any marriages for them. His brother Constantine did marry and had three daughters. But he did not marry and he did not have any children to secure the dynasty. Basil II, on the other hand, fought off all his enemies, even overrunning the Tsardom of Bulgaria. Seven were killed before Ethelred II died, and two were killed in battle with Canute. He did, however, fulfil one of the first duties of a monarch. His kingdom was overrun by the Danes under Sweyn Forkbeard and his son, Canute. His mother murdered his way to the throne. In English history that would cover the period from the accession of Ethelred II the Unready in 978AD to the reign of William the Conqueror.Įthelred II was famously a disaster. It covers the period from the accession of the Emperor Basil II (the Bulgar Slayer) in 976AD to the threat of deposition to the Emperor Michael VII in 1078. The Chronographia was written by Michael Psellus, who was a key player in the Empire’s history. Within Byzantine history, the 11th century is probably even more niche. The fact that there is something like a thousand years in between is something that generally seems to have been missed by Western European readers. I grant you that Byzantine history is a rather niche subject, and for those who do read it, as non-academics, the subject generally is either the Emperor Justinian or the fall of the city in 1453.
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