But also, I thought you had suggested that Basil thought he was Michael's kid... although maybe it's just that he wasn't sure!
Unless we're assuming Eudokia and Basil did not have sex as long as Michael was still alive, I don't think there's any way anyone could have known who the father of those children born during that time was, including Eudokia. I mean, it's not like the Byzantines could have done a blood test. In any event, the general assumption in Constantinople gossip was that Michael was the bio dad, but the problem with this, as Robin the podcaster points out, is that Michael and Eudokia Ingerna had been having a sexual relationship for ten years before Basil's arrival on the scene, and did not have a child. Nor did Michael have a child with anyone else. (Not just his unwanted wife.) Which would argue for Basil as the bio dad. But then again, unlikely things do happen, and maybe Michael's semen had a low fertility but it finally worked during the Basil era. In any event, like I said, there was no way to be sure if Eudokia was sleeping with both of them, which it looks like she was.
Mind you: Basil was the legal father of the following sons, and let's compare and contrast his behavior towards them:
1) Constantine (died young; we don't know who his mother was, as she does not get named in the primary sources, but the asusmption is it was Basil's first, pre coming to Constantinople wife from ye olde Macedonia days); Constantine was supposed to be Basil's successor in the first few years of Basil's reign, he made hm Caesar, and then young Constantine died. The next oldest son was:
2.) Leo the future Emperor, definitely the son of Eudokia and ?. Famously bookish (wrote poetry, lectures, legal commentary etc.); Basil's behavior towards him comes across as the Byzantium version of FW and Fritz. Tried not to have him as his successor. This, btw, is why Leo never was on campaign with his dad as a boy, and had two years of house arrest as a teenager after having been accused of conspiring against his father.
3.) Stephen (Eudokia was pregnant with him when Michael got murdered, so he's another one whose paternity has a question mark): Basil had him castrated and dedicated to the church as a baby. This was the first time an Emperor did this to his own legal son. (Doing it to either bastards or other people's sons had precedent, with the goal of preventing them from ever claiming the throne. Here of course it also had the double purpose, since presumably Stephen was supposed to be not just a simple monk but have a career in the church.) This was the brother whom Leo later made Patriarch of Constantinople after firing the previous Patriarch.
4.) Alexander (born years after Michael's death, thus definitely Basil's son. Basil loved him and made him Caesar after Constantine had kicked the bucket).
Now that certainly makes it look like Basil thought Constantine and Alexander were his kids and Leo and Stephen were not, so I don't blame the majority of Byzantines for assuming the same. Otoh, see above re: Michael not siring any children with anyone before Basil appeared on the scene.
What learning about this taught me: am I glad FW wasn't a Byzantine Emperor. I don't know who'd have gotten castrated if he'd been one, but someone would have been...
Re: Royal Remarriages: Byzantine Edition
Unless we're assuming Eudokia and Basil did not have sex as long as Michael was still alive, I don't think there's any way anyone could have known who the father of those children born during that time was, including Eudokia. I mean, it's not like the Byzantines could have done a blood test. In any event, the general assumption in Constantinople gossip was that Michael was the bio dad, but the problem with this, as Robin the podcaster points out, is that Michael and Eudokia Ingerna had been having a sexual relationship for ten years before Basil's arrival on the scene, and did not have a child. Nor did Michael have a child with anyone else. (Not just his unwanted wife.) Which would argue for Basil as the bio dad. But then again, unlikely things do happen, and maybe Michael's semen had a low fertility but it finally worked during the Basil era. In any event, like I said, there was no way to be sure if Eudokia was sleeping with both of them, which it looks like she was.
Mind you: Basil was the legal father of the following sons, and let's compare and contrast his behavior towards them:
1) Constantine (died young; we don't know who his mother was, as she does not get named in the primary sources, but the asusmption is it was Basil's first, pre coming to Constantinople wife from ye olde Macedonia days); Constantine was supposed to be Basil's successor in the first few years of Basil's reign, he made hm Caesar, and then young Constantine died. The next oldest son was:
2.) Leo the future Emperor, definitely the son of Eudokia and ?. Famously bookish (wrote poetry, lectures, legal commentary etc.); Basil's behavior towards him comes across as the Byzantium version of FW and Fritz. Tried not to have him as his successor. This, btw, is why Leo never was on campaign with his dad as a boy, and had two years of house arrest as a teenager after having been accused of conspiring against his father.
3.) Stephen (Eudokia was pregnant with him when Michael got murdered, so he's another one whose paternity has a question mark): Basil had him castrated and dedicated to the church as a baby. This was the first time an Emperor did this to his own legal son. (Doing it to either bastards or other people's sons had precedent, with the goal of preventing them from ever claiming the throne. Here of course it also had the double purpose, since presumably Stephen was supposed to be not just a simple monk but have a career in the church.) This was the brother whom Leo later made Patriarch of Constantinople after firing the previous Patriarch.
4.) Alexander (born years after Michael's death, thus definitely Basil's son. Basil loved him and made him Caesar after Constantine had kicked the bucket).
Now that certainly makes it look like Basil thought Constantine and Alexander were his kids and Leo and Stephen were not, so I don't blame the majority of Byzantines for assuming the same. Otoh, see above re: Michael not siring any children with anyone before Basil appeared on the scene.
What learning about this taught me: am I glad FW wasn't a Byzantine Emperor. I don't know who'd have gotten castrated if he'd been one, but someone would have been...