Basil Peteinos

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Basil Peteinos was a high-ranking Byzantine official and a long-time ally of Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos. As a childhood friend and trusted aide, he was already part of the imperial bodyguard by 944 and helped Stephen and Constantine Lekapenos plot to depose their father, Emperor Romanos I. Acting on behalf of Constantine VII, Peteinos urged the Lekapenos brothers to act. On 20 December 944, Romanos I was banished to a monastery, and shortly after Constantine VII became the sole emperor. Peteinos was rewarded with the title of patrikios and named commander of the Hetaireia (the imperial guard).

Some later sources claim Peteinos plotted against Constantine VII, but this is not supported here. Other accounts say he remained loyal and rose to the rank of magistros, was a friend of Patriarch Theophylact, and was even said to have been healed of a kidney disease by Luke the Stylite.

After Constantine VII’s death in 959, Peteinos led a conspiracy against Constantine VII’s son, Romanos II, aiming to kill Romanos II and place Peteinos on the throne. The plot involved several court leaders and was exposed in March 961. Peteinos avoided torture, but the other conspirators were publicly humiliated, tonsured, and exiled. Romanos II pardoned the others, but Peteinos stayed banished on the island of Prokonnesos until his death.