Watch List notes:

THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
Michael I Rangabè, 2 October 811 – 11 July 813, with Theophylact from December 811

Solidus 811-813, AV 4.34 g. mIXA – HL bASILEℵ? Facing bust of Michael, wearing crown with cross on circlet and chlamys, holding cross potent and anexikakia; in l. field, pellet. Rev. ΘEFVLA – CtOS dESPℵ?X Facing bust of Theophylactus, wearing crown with cross on circlet and loros, holding globus cruciger and sceptre cruciger. DO 1a. Sear 1615.
Very rare. Insignificant mark on obverse, otherwise about extremely fine


Ex Christie's London sale, 22 April 1986, 208. From the Goodacre and Sir Arthur Evans Collections acquired in Athens in 1928.
Late in the reign of the unfortunate and unpopular emperor Nicephorus I a contest was growing between the Romans and the Bulgars, then under the Khan Krum. Nicephorus had little option but to lead an army against them, scoring an impressive victory at Pliska. But he unwisely pursued the enemy into the wilds, where the Byzantine army was ambushed and much of it destroyed. Nicephorus was killed – the first emperor to suffer that fate in more than four centuries.
To make matters worse, the emperor's son and heir, Stauracius, had his spine severed in the battle, but he was carried to Adrianople, where he was hailed emperor in place of his father. He then returned to Constantinople where for months he suffered increasingly from his wound, until he realized he would soon pass. We are told that Stauracius resented the popularity of his brother-in-law, the master of the palace Michael I, who all presumed to be his successor. Apparently he tried to have Michael murdered on the pretence that he intended to introduce democracy to the Byzantine state. The plot failed and Stauracius resigned himself to his fate. He named his brother-in-law his successor and entered a monastery where he later died of his paralyzing wound. Soon after being crowned, Michael named his son Theophylactus co-emperor, for whom he tried to arrange a marriage to a daughter of the Frankish King Charlemagne. Their joint reign was brief and unsuccessful, for it seems that Michael was too great a humanitarian to succeed in that office, and he was not an experienced general.
The Bulgars intended to build upon their recent triumph, which caused Michael to meet Krum with a superior army, which he failed to use to his advantage: it is impossible to know if it was poor judgment or a lack of courage. After having lost the spirit of the moment, Michael reluctantly led his legions into battle at Versinikia, where he was abandoned by his Asian troops, who were loyal to their commander, the future emperor Leo V the Armenian.
Michael had suffered enough, and returned to Constantinople. During his absence the inevitable discussions took place among generals and common soldiers wintering at their encampment in Thrace. The army proclaimed Leo V, commander of the imperial army in Armenia, their candidate and marched on the capital. Michael offered no opposition despite it being the will of the people that he remained at the helm.
No harm came to Michael, who was deposed and sent into exile, where he survived for more than three decades. Michael's family was not so fortunate. His son Theophylactus was blinded before being exiled and his wife Procopia, whose forceful and insolent personality offended the soldiers, was separated from him. Under the skilled generalship of Leo V, the next Bulgar assault on Constantinople failed, not long after which a longstanding peace was made.