Constantine Gongyles (; ) was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...

and court official who led a failed expedition against the

Emirate of Crete The Emirate of Crete ( or , ; ) was an Arab Islamic state that existed on the Mediterranean island of Crete from the late 820s to Siege of Chandax, the reconquest of the island by the Byzantine Empire in 961. Although the emirate recognized the ...

in 949.

Biography

300px, The Cretan Saracens defeat the Byzantines. Miniature from the '' Madrid Skylitzes'' The Cretan Saracens slay the sleeping Byzantines

Nothing is known of Constantine's early life, except that he came from

Paphlagonia Paphlagonia (; , modern translit. ''Paflagonía''; ) was an ancient region on the Black Sea coast of north-central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus (region), Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia (later, Galatia ...

.. The ''Life of St. Basil the Younger''

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

indicates that he and his brother Anastasios were relatives of the eunuch Constantine Barbaros, who rose to power at court as a favourite of the powerful ''

parakoimomenos The ''parakoimōmenos'' (, literally "the one who sleeps beside

he emperor's chamber He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...

) was a Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy, court position, usually reserved for eunuch (court official), eunuchs. The position' ...

Samonas Samonas (, 875 – after 908) was an Arab eunuch, who was captured by the Byzantines and became one of the most influential officials of the Byzantine Empire during the first decade of the 10th century. Biography Samonas was born in circa 875 in ...

and of Emperor

Leo VI the Wise Leo VI, also known as Leo the Wise (; 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his parentage is unclear), he was very well read, leading to his epithet. During ...

(r. 886–912). Constantine first rose to prominence in 913/4, when following the death of Emperor

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

(r. 912–913), the Empress-regent

Zoe Karbonopsina Zoe Karbonopsina, also Karvounopsina or Carbonopsina, (), was an empress and regent of the Byzantine Empire. She was the fourth spouse of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise and the mother of Constantine VII, serving as his regent from 913 u ...

selected him and his brother as her personal councillors. On this occasion, Constantine was raised to the supreme noble rank of ''

patrikios The patricians (from ) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders (494 BC to 287 B ...

''. Constantine Gongyles wielded great influence during the regency of Zoe (914–919), but he fell from power under Emperor

Romanos I Lekapenos Romanos I Lakapenos or Lekapenos (; 870 – 15 June 948), Latinisation of names, Latinized as Romanus I Lacapenus or Romanus I Lecapenus, was Byzantine emperor from 920 until his deposition in 944, serving as regent for and senior co-ruler of ...

(r. 920–944). Although Gongyles had intervened to save Lekapenos from blinding for his role in the disastrous

Battle of Acheloos The Battle of Achelous or Acheloos (, ), also known as the Battle of Anchialus,Stephenson (2004), p. 23 took place on 20 August 917, on the Achelous river near the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, close to the fortress Tuthom (modern Pomorie) between ...

, the Gongyles brothers supported the general

Leo Phokas the Elder Leo Phokas (, ) was an early 10th-century Byzantine general of the noble Phokas clan. As Domestic of the Schools, the Byzantine army's commander-in-chief, he led a large-scale campaign against the Bulgarians in 917, but was heavily defeated at the ...

in his struggle for the throne against Lekapenos. The brothers were quick to change sides when Lekapenos gained the upper hand, but they are not mentioned in the sources during the latter's reign. Upon Lekapenos's deposition in December 944, however, Constantine Gongyles was appointed as the

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

of the

Byzantine navy The Byzantine navy was the Navy, naval force of the Byzantine Empire. Like the state it served, it was a direct continuation from its Roman navy, Roman predecessor, but played a far greater role in the defence and survival of the state than its ...

. Thus, in 949 he was placed in charge of a large-scale attempt to recover the island of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

from the

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

. The expedition ended in a disastrous failure, which the Byzantine chroniclers attribute to his lack of military experience: he neglected to fortify the camp of the expedition force, which was routed and well-nigh destroyed in a surprise night attack by the Saracens. Gongyles himself barely escaped on his flagship. His fate thereafter is largely unknown; at the time of the composition of the ''Life of St. Basil the Younger'' (probably in the 960s), he and his brother lived in retirement and were spending their fortune on philanthropic and charitable causes..

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gongyles, Constantine 9th-century births 10th-century deaths 10th-century Byzantine military personnel Byzantine admirals Byzantine eunuchs Patricii Byzantine Paphlagonians Byzantine courtiers Emirate of Crete