Leo VI the Wise

Leo VI took the throne in 886, second of the Macedonian dynasty, though whispers about his true parentage never quite settled. He inherited his predecessor Basil I's renaissance of letters and pushed it further, a ruler more at home with manuscripts than maps. While the empire bled territory — Bulgaria pressed hard in the Balkans, Arabs took ground in Sicily and the Aegean — Leo codified law, wrote hymns, and formally retired the ancient office of Roman consul, quietly closing doors that had stood open since the Republic. He died in 912, having preserved more in parchment than he managed to ho…