Heraklonas

Heraklonas was born on 3 May 626, in the suburban Palace of Sophianae. He was the son of Emperor Heraclius, and his niece-wife Martina.[3][4][5] Under Heraclius, the Byzantine Empire was invaded in 639 by the Arabs, due to the failure of the Theme of Mesopotamia to pay tribute. The cities of Edessa and Dara were quickly captured. In the same year, another group of Arabs, led by 'Amr ibn al-'As, invaded Byzantine Egypt. He quickly occupied the coastal towns of Egypt, but was unable to cross the Nile, due to stiff resistance by Byzantine forces led by John. After a bloody battle between John and 'Amr, in which John perished, 'Amr was forced to appeal to the Rashidun Caliph Umar for more troops. John was replaced by Heraclius' brother, Theodore, who gathered his forces around Babylon Fortress, a major fortress in Egypt. By summer 640, 'Amr's forces had swelled to around 15,000 men.[6] With these men, 'Amr decisively defeated Theodore north of Babylon, before laying siege to the fortress itself.[7]

Heraclius died of edema on 11 February 641, leaving The Empire jointly to his eldest son, Constantine III, and Heraklonas,[5][7][8] who were both proclaimed emperor in late May 641.[5] At the time of his elevation to co-emperor, Heraklonas was only 15 years old, whereas Constantine was 28 or 29, which effectively gave the real power to Constantine. Much of the Byzantine public objected to Heraclius' will, as Heraklonas was the result of an avunculate marriage—a marriage between an uncle and niece—which many felt was illegal, thereby making Heraklonas a bastard. Also considered objectionable was the fact that Constantine's ten-year-old son, Constans II, was not elevated alongside Constantine and Heraklonas, breaking the tradition of the succession of senior emperorship from father to eldest son, when possible. It was also thought that the lack of elevation could have precluded him from the succession entirely.[4][8]

Shortly after Constantine took the throne, he was informed by his finance minister, Philagrius, that Heraclius had created a secret fund for Martina, administered by Patriarch Pyrrhus. Constantine confiscated this account, using it to help meet the budget for the spring military payroll, which, along with the traditional accessional donatives that comprised half of the payroll,[9] totaled 2,016,000 nomisma.[10] Constantine appointed Valentinus as the commander of the main eastern army, in the hopes of retaining at least the Egyptian coastline. However the Byzantine general Theodore was still unable to repel the Arab attacks. Constantine summoned Cyrus of Alexandria, made him Prefect of Egypt, and instructed him to prepare to reinforce Alexandria. Before this invasion could take place, Babylon surrendered to the Arabs, allowing them to besiege Alexandria.[10]

Heraclius' will also stated that Martina should server as mother and empress-regent, but this part was rejected by the Senate. Because of Heraklonas' young age, Martina ruled through him, consistently opposing the policies of Constantine, leading to the creation of two different political factions. Constantine's faction was initially the more powerful of the two, but this control was weakened by a flagging economy and the loss of Egypt to the Arabs. Shortly after, on 20/24 April or 26 May 641, Constantine died of an advanced case of tuberculosis, although some supporters of Constantine alleged that Martina had him poisoned, leaving Heraklonas as the sole ruler, under the regency of Martina.[8][11][12]

Martina maintained the plans of Constantine, and sent Cyrus to Alexandria, with much of the praesental army. She then summoned the Thracian army to Constantinople, to replace them.[10][13][14] Around this time, the Patriarch Pyrrhus, an influential advisor of Martina, succeeded in reviving the policy of Monothelitism. As a result of this policy, Kyros, a monothelete, regained control of the see of Alexandria, giving him both religious and secular control. Martina instructed Kyros to attempt to negotiate with the Arabs, as they believed that they were unable to defeat them militarily.[8]

Martina was opposed by Valentinus, who was beyond her reach in Anatolia, although she exiled his patron, Philagrius, to Africa.[10][13][14] Heraklonas and Martina lost the support of the Byzantine Senate and people due to the rumors that Martina had poisoned Constantine and their support for Monothelitism;[8] Also at this time, both Heraklonas and Martina's relations with the army suffered as a result of Martina's inability to raise enough funds to match the donative given by Constantine.[10][13][14]

In August 641, Valentinus marched his troops to Chalcedon, to force Martina to elevate Constans II to co-emperor. While Valentinus was encamped across the Bosphorus from Constantinople, a mob rose up in the city, demanding that Pyrrhus crown Constans II as emperor,[10][13][14] and then abdicate, to be replaced by his steward Paul II. Martina, now in a truly desperate situation, offered the military further donatives, recalled Philagrius from Africa, and offered Valentinus the title of Count of the Excubitors.[10][12] In late September/October, Martina elevated Constans to co-emperor, but also raised Heraklonas' brothers, Martinos and Tiberius to co-emperors alongside them.[5] Despite these offers, Valentinus entered the city in September/October, deposed Heraklonas and Martina, and then elevated Constans to emperor.[10][12] Valentinus was unwilling to kill a woman and child, but had Martina's tongue slit and Heraklonas' nose cut off in January 642, then exiled them to Rhodes; this is believed to be the first time that the political mutilation of Byzantine prisoners was utilized to signify that the person could no longer hold political power.[8] After this, nothing is known of them, although it is believed that Heraklonas died in 642.[5][12][15]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Heracleonas". Encyclopædia Britannica. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 308.

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