The tragic fall of Emperor Maurice. He was a great emperor and capably managed the empire, defeated the Persians, made advances against the Avars and Slavs, and avoided raising taxes despite tough economic times. However “with undeserved cruelty” he ended up watching his sons be executed before he was.
Maurice really had been a successful emperor, “he had concluded the war with Persia with a victory that put the shah in his debt, and he was gradually rolling back the Avar-Slavic advance, all within the limited means at his disposal and without raising taxes. But he had also alienated key constituencies. His failed attempts to reduce army pay and strip soldiers of their booty had taught army how to mutiny and get what it wanted. Too much damning ‘fake news’ circulated about the emperor, who failed to cultivate popularity. It was alleged that he had secretly instructed Komentiolos to throw a battle in 600 to the (Afar) khan in order to punish the army, and then refused to ransom the prisoners.”
It’s highly unlikely Maurice did that but his downfall was unfolding. “The army sent a delegation the court, which included Phokas, but it was treated scornfully. The accusation was, of course, preposterous, but it was a bad idea to humiliate those who thought it was plausible. The emperor was also unpopular in the City(Constantinople), in part because of his partiality towards his own relatives. The populace protested during a food shortage earlier in 602, throwing stones at the imperial family” and insulting them with mocking songs.
Finally, his reckoning had come though, and an army led by Phokas marched on Constantinople. If Maurice had at least fostered popularity within Constantinople, he could have used the Theodosian walls to his advantage. No one wanted to help him though, instead “the populace abused Maurikios with chants and burned down the house of the praetorian prefect.”
On November 22, Maurice fled into Anatolia with little or no support. The next day Phokas was proclaimed Emperor. The people accepted him. Maurice failed to realize that you either need to have the army support you, or at least have Constantinople support and you can hide behind its walls. Maurice had nowhere to go now – and he was captured along with his family and they were hauled to Chalcedon across from Constantinople.
“With undeserved cruelty, his sons were executed before his eyes, and he then shared their fate; their heads were displayed at the Hebdomon.” His daughters were spared and sent to a monastery. This was a new phenomenon. “The eastern empire had not experienced such a political convulsion in its entire history, and emperors had not been directly overthrown by the army since the third century.”
“Maurikios’ successes not withstanding, he had failed, in age of financial austerity, to keep public opinion on his side. Yet the Romans soon found out how much they depended on that one man’s life. Maurikios’ death would unleash the Furies and change the face of the world.” Maurice was not perfect, but he made the Empire stronger, Phokas would destroy it and leave it to Heraclius to admirably try to fix the situation. I think Maurice was the man the empire needed, but not who they wanted. And they paid a harsh price for his brutal death – the Roman Empire would never be a superpower like it was ever again.
Source:
The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium by Anthony Kaldellis
shadowsofconstantinople.com 