‘The triumph of his [Galerius’] arms served only to establish the reign of the eunuchs over the Roman world. Those unhappy beings, the ancient production of oriental jealousy and despotism, were introduced into Greece and Rome by the contagion of Asiatic luxury. Their progress was rapid and the eunuchs, who, in the time of Augustus, had been abhorred, as the monstrous retinue of an Egyptian queen [Cleopatra], were gradually admitted into the families of matrons, of senators and of the emperors themselves.’

- Edward Gibbon [blaming future Roman Emperor Galerius’ capture in 298CE of the Persian king’s harem for the original introduction of eunuchs as a major fashion commodity into the Empire in ‘Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire’, chapter xix]

Chapter ά – The Widow

(Imperial palace, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, 19th of September 871)

Byzantine Emperor Basil I’s supposed young son by the half-Viking Empress Eudocia Ingerina, Leo, who was in fact the secret illegitimate offspring of the previous murdered Emperor, Michael III, was celebrating his 5th birthday. He was doing so with a new playmate of the same age named Eudocius, who was his first cousin, the son of his mother’s brother. The two boys therefore looked very similar, sharing some Nordic blood and the fair blue-eyed features common to that race.

Leo and Eudocius were fatefully also to become inseparably close lifelong friends, with the latter eventually helping the former to become a great Emperor, or ‘Basileus’, in the future. Their story is described in ‘Byzantines ά : Sophōtatos’.

Meanwhile, Emperor Basil I, the ‘Macedonian’, was receiving another formal visit from a fabulously wealthy widowed noblewoman named Danielis, who was from Patras at the north-west of the Peloponnese Peninsula of Greece, on the Gulf of Corinth. She owned vast stretches of land in the area, as well as a flourishing carpet and textile business.

Being a good judge of character and ambition, Danielis had first befriended Basil when he had just been a servant of Michael III. She was helped in doing so not only through her undoubted charms but also by her munificent gifts, which included property and land.

As Danielis had astutely anticipated, her generosity had helped fund Basil to the throne and she rather fancied having a beholden Emperor as a close friend.

Chapter β – The Abbot

(Monastery of St. Lazaros, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, over 40 years later, 18th May 912)

Having been tearfully present at the death of Emperor Leo VI one week previously, the eunuch Eudocius left the Imperial palace and court to become an Abbot. His appointment to the monastery of St. Lazaros in Constantinople had been the late Basileus’ final gift to his lifelong best friend.

Leo VI had actually established the monastery of St. Lazaros in honour of the sagacious Eudocius. The religious retreat was exclusively reserved for monks who were eunuchs.

Eudocius was, of course, immensely distraught about Leo’s relatively early death at the age of only 45. However, he was comforted by the fact that his best friend’s achievements had been considerable, although he could not help contemplating what wonders might have been attained if God had allowed the Emperor to live a lot longer.

Eudocius was naturally concerned that the new Emperor, Leo’s younger 41 year-old half-brother, the drunken and debauched Alexander, might destroy his great predecessor’s legacy, especially as he had despised his deceased sibling and quickly appeared intent on deliberately undermining his achievements. He had unfortunately now been chosen to succeed to the throne instead of the late Basileus’ own young son, the sadly rather sickly 6 year-old Constantine Porphyrogentius, to avoid the need for a regency for someone whose health suggested that he might not survive his boyhood.

Young Constantine had been given his nickname of ‘Porphyrogentius’ because he had been ‘born in the purple’, in other words he had been the first son of a reigning Emperor, who was therefore supposedly naturally destined to succeed his father as Basileus. Unfortunately, this sobriquet subsequently quickly appeared to be mistaken as far as the latter destiny was concerned.

Eudocius also worried that Alexander might have malevolent intentions for Constantine, son of the half-brother whom he had so irrationally hated, whose fate was now entirely at the mercy of his uncle. The new Emperor might want to ensure that the boy never became a potential future rival for the throne or simply ruin or destroy him just because of whom his father had been.

As described in ‘A Byzantine Christmas’ by the same author, Emperors did not necessarily resort to murder to eliminate potential rivals. Every Basileus professed to being a pious Christian, aware of the proscription against such acts in the Ten Commandments.

Mutilating potential rivals by chopping off or seriously damaging their noses was instead once tried, in the belief that no one would support such an obscenely facially injured person as Emperor. However, this theory proved defective when the previously deposed and disfigured Justinian II, the ‘Slit-Nosed’, was restored to power in Constantinople in 705 CE.

Blinding was subsequently tried. However, castration eventually became the fashionable main method of eliminating potential rivals as threats after the usurping Leo V had his predecessor’s two sons, aged 16 and 14, emasculated in 813 CE. Apparently, contemporary Byzantine society could accept an Emperor with a slit nose but definitely not one who no longer possessed his testes.

Over seven years later, on Christmas Day 820 CE, Leo V was assassinated. Ironically, having established the fashion, his own four sons, aged 17, 6, 5 and 3, were subsequently castrated on the orders of his own successful usurper.

As described in ‘Byzantines ά : Sophōtatos’, Basil I had also, in a moment of rage, ordered the castration of Leo. However, Eudocius had self-sacrificingly saved his friend from this fate.

Eudocius now feared that Alexander could be planning to castrate young Constantine. He had therefore originally hoped to be allowed to delay becoming an Abbot in order instead to serve the prince, perhaps as his tutor, so that he could keep a furtive protective watch on the boy. However, the new Emperor had rather disconcertingly dismissed the idea of such an appointment, instead quickly despatching the eunuch to take up his monastic position.

Alexander worryingly did not appear to want Constantine to have any protectors. Seemingly especially unwelcome were people who had been closely allied to Leo VI.

Eudocius was currently especially haunted by a sentence muttered by his beloved Leo VI on his deathbed. He had whispered without clarification “Thirteen months, and an evil time!”

Eudocius hoped that Leo was not prophesising a particularly evil beginning to Alexander’s reign, during which time serious harm would befall anyone closely associated with the late Emperor. The Abbot was bravely not concerned for his own safety but only for that of the likes of young Constantine Porphyrogentius and his mother, the Empress Zoe.

Eudocius, however, also recognised that he was now powerless to do anything to protect young Constantine Porphyrogentius and his mother, the Empress Zoe. He could only now expect to spend his final days peacefully in contemplative solitude within his monastery unless the new Emperor Alexander decided to harm him too.

God, though, apparently had other ideas, for Eudocius had one final key task to perform for his beloved Leo VI before he too died, the successful fulfillment of which was to be of immense importance for the Byzantine Empire and posterity.

Chapter γ – The Slav

(Balaton Principality, 47 years previously, Spring 865)

As described in ‘Byzantines ά : Sophōtatos’, Basil the Macedonian had by now recently been controversially installed by Emperor Michael III as ‘Parakoimomenos’, or ‘Imperial High Chamberlain’, which was a post normally only occupied by eunuchs. He also now married Eudocia Ingerina but just as a façade in a return favour so that the Basileus could have ready access to her in order to carry on their affair. Coincidentally at about the same, a young and very pretty 7 year-old Slav boy, with fair hair and blue eyes named Kocel, was playing alone near to his village on a wooded western bank of the wide River Danube.

Kocel and his people were currently inhabitants on the eastern river border of what turned out to be the short-lived Slavic state known today as the Balaton Principality. The country occupied the western Pannonian Plain, which is essentially now western Hungary, and was named after the eponymous lake dominating the geography of the region, being the largest in central Europe.

The current ruler of the country was Prince Pribina. Kocel had been named after his eldest son and presumptive heir.

Young Kocel was playing alone on the riverbank despite being told by his mother not to stray from the village, which was circled by a protective wooden stockade, a necessary precaution against possible attackers. The Principality was surrounded by potential enemy peoples, who, though, were as likely to launch small raids in search of plunder as war.

Increasingly likely to form such raiders were a certain fierce people, who had originated on the Asian steppes to the south-east of the Ural Mountains. However, since the 5th century CE, they had become migratory and had begun to move slowly westwards.

By the mid-9th century, this certain people had reached a land that they called Etelköz, between the Carpathian Mountains and the Dnieper River in what is now the Ukraine, from where they began to launch plundering raids into central and southern Europe. Principal targets for current attack were the Eastern Frankish Empire [modern Germany], Great Moravia [modern Czech Republic and Slovakia] and Bulgaria, plus, fatefully for the boy on the riverbank, the Balaton Principality.

Kocel was disobeying his mother and playing by himself on the riverbank because he had just had an upsetting argument with a friend and consequently wanted to be alone. The dispute was over something very trivial and the boy was later forever never able to forgive himself for his resultant stupidity in leaving his village.

The first time that Kocel recognised that he was in serious trouble was when he heard loud rustling in the wood behind him and then the noise of many horses. When the boy turned round, he discovered to his horror that he was no longer alone on the riverbank.

Kocel was horrified because the many horsemen now sharing the riverbank with him were not of his own people. They were riding sturdy Arabian steeds and were dramatically dressed and heavily armed. They wore helmets with horns, colourful and warm cloth tunics with similar trousers, plus fur cloaks. They carried bows around their torsos, quivers full of arrows linked to their mounts, swords and round shields. They also all sported extravagant moustaches.

Although Kocel was only a 7 year-old, the boy recognised instinctively who were the horsemen now about to capture him. Consequently, he could not prevent himself from wetting his own trousers in terror.

The horsemen, intent on plunder, were fearsome Magyars.

Chapter δ – The Captive

(Etelköz [modern Ukraine], a few months later, Summer 865)

Kocel had by now experienced a traumatic few months. The boy had stood no chance of escaping the Magyars, even after jumping into the River Danube in an effort to do so.

A couple of Magyar horsemen had simply followed him, still mounted and apparently enjoying the chase. Their steeds quickly proved to be adept at swimming, even with the heavy loads of armed men on their backs.

The horses had rapidly overtaken Kocel, who shortly afterwards was returned to the riverbank draped over one of them and in the firm custody of the rider, with all of them soaking wet. The only consolation for the petrified boy in the immediate aftermath of his capture was the fact that the Magyar raiding party subsequently did not attack his fortified village.

The village inhabitants had somehow been alerted to the presence in the vicinity of the Magyars and had retreated behind their wooden stockade and armed themselves in readiness for an assault. However, the raiders, realising that a surprise attack was no longer an option, decided to bypass the settlement to seek easier pickings.

Kocel was later to discover that the Magyars had split themselves into two, comprising the actual band of raiding warriors and a back-up well-guarded baggage-train. The latter carried both essential supplies plus their plundered loot, including prospective slaves like their latest captive.

Kocel subsequently spent over month with this baggage-train, constantly tethered to prevent escape, as the caravan, ever-increasing in plunder, including that of the human kind, followed the raiders around his homeland. During this period, the boy was well fed, as his captors did not want to lose any of their precious loot. However, by the time that the Magyars had decided that they had acquired enough and began their heavily-laden return to Etelköz, his unwashed attire was very soiled and tatty.

Another month passed before Etelköz was reached, by which time Kocel was not only even more dishevelled but also very weary after so much forced marching. The boy’s feet were especially sore because his simple thin leather footwear had not been designed for extensive walking and had almost disintegrated.

On arrival in the huge semi-nomadic Magyar encampment of his captors, though, his one consolation now was that the young diminutive boy formed a rather obscure part of a large group of numerous prisoners. He was therefore somewhat sheltered from the scorn hurled at them by the local population, especially the children.

Kocel’s pride was not, however, later spared when he and the rest of the group, men, women and children, were subsequently ordered to strip naked and wash themselves under close guard in a cold stream running besides the settlement. His one consolation on this occasion proved to be the provision afterwards of second-hand but clean and in a reasonable state of repair garments, which proved to be a little big for him but were nevertheless very welcome.

Not long afterwards, Kocel met the man who would determine his ultimate fate.

Chapter ε – The Trader

(Etelköz [modern Ukraine], shortly afterwards)

The man had been in the Magyar encampment for several weeks, patiently awaiting the return of the raiding party. However, the middle-aged Jewish trader, with a long dark wispy beard, was now eager to inspect the plundered goods brought back, in which he specialised in one particular type of merchandise, make his purchases and return from whence he had come.

The man was a Rhadanite, which means ‘one who knows the way’. He was one of the adventurous group of Jewish merchants who at this time dominated much of the international trade in Europe, Africa and Asia, providing the expert means by which goods were traded between the Christian, Muslim and Chinese worlds.

Given that the Jews in this era had no homeland and that the Christians and Muslims were often at loggerheads with each other, they proved useful wandering neutrals, who could maintain lucrative commerce even in times of tension or actual conflict. Their well-established and comprehensive trade routes extended from modern France to China and included North Africa.

This particular Rhadanite specialised in one product and consequently Kocel was soon brought before and humiliatingly stripped naked in front of the man. The boy’s acute shame was subsequently quickly intensified when the Jewish trader then began to examine his body both visually and manually most intimately, including the careful scrutiny of his pre-pubescent genitals.

Kocel, whose pretty face was scarlet with shame, would have liked to resist such humiliating intimate inspection but knew better than to attempt to do so. The Magyars had proved to be brutal towards any captives who displayed resistance and he did not want to suffer similarly.

Consequently, Kocel just stood and allowed the man to fondle him to the point of creating a little erection, which the watching Magyars appeared to find was funny. The amazed boy, though, found the unprecedented sight deeply degrading.

Kocel was not to be subjected to auction. Having traded with the Rhadanite merchant over many years and found his offers for his specialised purchases always acceptable, the Magyars simply agreed, after a bit of the usual haggling, to the price ultimately proffered.

The Rhadanite trader later bought about a dozen more of the goods in which he specialised, namely young and pretty pre-pubescent boys. On the next day, he took his new purchases in a small caravan, guarded by a few mercenary ex-soldiers, heading westwards.

Thankfully for Kocel’s sore feet, he and the other boys rode in the back of covered wagons. The Rhadanite trader intended to mollycoddle his young human cargo because they should eventually prove very lucrative for him and he did not want any to turn into damaged goods.

Despite Kocel’s initial hopes, given that he knew from the sun that he was heading back westwards, the boy was not returned to his homeland during the subsequent very long journey. The Balaton Principality, which ironically would one day be permanently occupied by the Magyars, forefathers of the modern Hungarians, would instead be bypassed.

Kocel and the other purchased boys were heading instead for the even more westerly kingdom of Lotharingia.

Chapter ζ – The Arrival

(Verdun, Lotharingia [modern Lorraine, France], another few months later, Autumn 865)

In the Treaty of Verdun of 22 years earlier, the three surviving grandsons of Charlemagne had divided his vast Frankish Kingdom between themselves. Lothair accepted the central portion, which ran from the modern Netherlands to northern Italy.

Verdun, where the treaty was agreed, became part of the new kingdom of Lotharingia, which was named after the Latin for ‘Lothair’s realm’. The city was situated in a lovely location on the River Meuse, in a green valley surrounded by wooded hills.

Verdun was, however, not to be remembered for the lovely surrounds by Kocel, now brought to the city with others in a similar predicament by the Rhadanite trader and having consequently criss-crossed Europe from centre to east and then back to west. The boy’s long journeying was also far from over.

Verdun was the home of a small colony of Rhadanite traders, the city being their centre of operations in this part of Europe. Kocel and the other captive boys were taken to the home, which doubled as a workplace, of the particular merchant who had bought him.

The Rhadanite trader’s combined home and workplace comprised a rather nondescript building with a central arch, well away from the heart of Verdun in a dark street, which was so narrow that the wagons in which the boys were travelling could barely enter. In fact, the vehicles’ wheels scraped some walls along the way.

The wagons nevertheless somehow managed to reach the building and pass through the archway into the cramped small yard beyond. The Rhadanite merchant was greeted here ecstatically by his similarly middle-aged wife and his several children, plus some domestic staff, who were always glad to see the family bread-winner arrive home safely after his long annual trading missions to the east.

Meanwhile, Kocel and the other boys were unloaded from the wagons by the mercenary guards. The latter would now be paid off and would probably also soon spend all of the money earned in Verdun’s taverns and brothels.

On disembarking from the wagons, the boys suddenly became the centre of attraction for the Rhadanite trader’s household. After all, they represented much of the income that would support the family in comfort this year.

Because the boys had been so well looked after during their long journey west from Etelköz, including being decently fed and being given regular opportunities to wash, wear fresh clothes and exercise, albeit under close supervision, they were presented to the family in good physical condition. However, their minds remained somewhat traumatised, both by horror at what they had recently been through and fear for their futures.

The Rhadanite trader’s wife took the trouble of walking around the group of boys, closely examining each one individually with clear interest. The merchant’s sons and daughters were less fussy but Kocel did not like the smirks on their faces and the regular outburst of giggles as they exchanged comments about the new young arrivals with each other.

Kocel was therefore happier when not long afterwards such scrutiny ended and he and the other boys were locked in a small stable, temporarily converted into a makeshift dormitory for their use, with the usual resident horses accommodated elsewhere. As he subsequently lay on his chosen simple bed to rest, he wondered what would now happen to and become of him.

Kocel’s mind, although highly intelligent, could never, though, ever conceive the horror of what would now imminently occur.

Chapter η – The Loss

(Verdun, Lotharingia [modern Lorraine, France], a few days later)

Kocel and the other boys were no longer in good physical condition because they had been given no food since their arrival a few days earlier and had now also not been provided with water for over 24 hours. They could hardly credit the change in attitude to their welfare on the part of the Rhadanite trader.

There was, however, method behind the Rhadanite trader’s new attitude and the boys were about to discover what this was, as they were eventually led by him from their makeshift stable dormitory to a bare and empty room at the opposite side of the outside yard. On their way, he ignored desperate pleas from some of them for food and water. Although he did not know their various languages, he could understand from their circumstances what they were begging.

On their way across the yard, the boys were also again confronted by the Rhadanite trader’s smirking and giggling children, whose excitement appeared to Kocel to be greater than before. His intelligent mind instinctively worried that they knew something that he did not, which was presumably about to happen to him and the others and they found funny.

On arrival in the bare and empty room, the starved and thirsty boys were instructed through gestures to sit on the cold stone floor by the Rhadanite trader, who subsequently personally stood guard over them. All obeyed until one by one over the next few hours each was individually taken away by a male household servant at roughly half-hour intervals through a door opposite to the one through which they had entered.

Kocel waited about two hours for his turn and, after he was taken through the door, he found himself being guided down a long narrow dark corridor to another room at the end. Inside, the boy found that the Rhadanite trader’s wife awaited him. She was standing next to a bloodstained table, which had embedded leather restraining straps at each corner.

Another smaller table was nearby. On top was a pot with steaming contents and a ladle.

The Rhadanite trader’s wife was wearing a bloodstained leather apron. She was additionally carrying a knife in her right hand.

Kocel was initially too shocked by this highly disturbing scene to prevent himself being quickly stripped naked by the attendant household servant. However, the boy did offer stiffer resistance when the man attempted to lead him to the sinister bloodstained table.

Kocel’s resistance, though, was short-lived. The diminutive 7 year-old boy was no match for a strong man, especially after being punched in his smooth pre-pubescent genitals.

Kocel was completely incapacitated by the temporarily paralysing punch, and could not consequently subsequently recall being picked up from his feet and strapped firmly, lying on his back and in a spreadeagled posture, to the sinister bloodstained table. The boy’s ability to remember only returned when he felt his genitals next being fondled by the Rhadanite trader’s wife.

Kocel looked down through tearstained eyes to notice that the woman was closely and carefully inspecting his small genitals, as if sizing them up to do something to them. The boy then considered the knife in her hand.

Kocel could not believe the connection that his bright mind immediately arrived at, as he had never considered the possibility that anyone would want to harm a boy’s genitalia outside an enemy in war. His ignorance was caused because of the fact that he had not heard about eunuchs.

Kocel nevertheless concluded correctly in horror that the woman was indeed about to do some damage to his genitals, although he could not really think of why. Perhaps, he considered, she was just some form of sadistic monster.

Kocel was about to cry out for the woman to stop when he discovered that his mouth had been gagged. The boy’s entreaty therefore just emerged as an incoherent muffled sound, which the Rhadanite trader’s wife ignored.

The Rhadanite trader’s wife instead visually ascertained the best way in which to do a certain imminent deed in respect of this particular set of young pre-pubescent genitalia. She subsequently simply rested her well-used but still extremely sharp knife, which had committed this act many times over the years, against one side of Kocel’s scrotum. With a subsequent quick highly practised and therefore skilled slice of her blade, she then nullified the boy, with his sexual organs soon resting in the bloody palm of her hand.

Kocel now barely had time to appreciate the horrific enormity of what had just been perpetrated on him and the associated agony before thankfully he fell unconscious. The spur for this development had been an action by the household servant who had brought the boy to this terrible place in the first place.

The man had used the ladle to pour some of the scalding tar-like liquid, a special well-proven healing remedy, from the steaming pot on the adjacent table onto the terrible wound now present in Kocel’s groin instead of his genitals.

Chapter θ – The Awakening

(Verdun, Lotharingia [modern Lorraine, France], shortly afterwards)

When Kocel awoke shortly afterwards, he found himself still bound firmly, lying on his back and in a spreadeagled posture. However, he was now tied to his bed in the makeshift stable dormitory, where he remained naked, apart from a large cloth dressing applied to his seriously damaged groin.

Kocel felt the excruciation in his groin immediately. However, any attempt to cry out in agony was efficiently muted by the gag maintained in his mouth, which was designed not just to quieten him so that the neighbours were not disturbed by the noise. The muzzle also prevented him from seriously biting his tongue and lips and so injuring possibly permanently now very precious goods.

Kocel’s tight bondage proved effective too, preventing him from squirming much in his delirium of pure excruciation, let alone grasp the source of his acute agony. The appalling groin wound must not be touched if proper healing was to occur, hence the bondage.

The scalding tar-like liquid that had been applied to Kocel’s appalling groin wound had now cooled and set. The resultant solid covering would assist haemostasis, or stoppage of the flow of blood, and help prevent contagion by blocking the boy’s urethra, which was currently particularly highly vulnerable to infection.

A little nail had also been placed inside Kocel’s urethra to prevent potentially fatal stricture of the aperture. Meanwhile, the banning of drinking water would be continued because the likely consequent need to urinate later if he consumed any might damage the protective blockage of his urethra.

At first, Kocel’s torment was so great that he did not realise that those boys, who had gone before him to suffer at the hands of the Rhadanite trader’s wife, were now also tied in a similar state to him to other beds in the makeshift stable dormitory. The rest would soon join them, also freshly nullified.

Over the next few days, the Rhadanite trader’s wife and the manservant frequently visited the makeshift stable dormitory to check the condition of the boys and carefully clean them and provide fresh dressings. They also regularly gently changed the bedding, which the latest young victims of the woman’s nullification knife had soiled because of their inability to move.

As the Rhadanite trader’s wife and her manservant performed these chores, the boys, if not granted the mercy of sleep, were invariably uttering muted groans of agony and usually crying. Their excruciation would take several days to subside, if they survived their terrible ordeal, which a few sadly did not.

Such sad attrition was unfortunately common and expected when attempting to create carzimasia, or fully nullified, eunuchs. The operation required was more complex and physically devastating than the mere removal of testes and so more dangerous and potentially fatal, with great expertise required to achieve success.

The rewards of developing such expertise were, though, lucrative because carzimasia eunuchs were much rarer because of the difficulties in creating them. Both because of such fashionable scarcity and the fact that they were considered by potential buyers to be safer with their womenfolk because of their lack of penises, they invariably attracted far higher prices than those who had simply lost their testes.

The Rhadanite trader, like a few others of his kind in Verdun who shared his mercantile specialism, just hoped that not too many of his precious goods were lost in creation. The resultant reduction in revenue might seriously affect his finances for the year and thereby the quality of living enjoyed by his family.

The Rhadanite trader, being religiously pious, paid for proper burials for the boys lost to him, albeit in paupers’ graves. Despite being Jewish and the fact that most of the young victims were probably from Christian Orthodox or heathen peoples, he arranged for Roman Catholic interments, as he lived in a land practising that faith.

None of Verdun’s civic or religious leaders questioned the creation of eunuchs and the deaths of some of them in their city. They did not believe in interfering with the lucrative commerce of important local taxpayers whose businesses only involved alien and uncivilised foreign boys, who were not of the correct faith.

As events now materialised, Kocel did not require a Roman Catholic paupers’ burial because fortunately he was one of the survivors amongst the latest batch of nullified eunuchs to be created in Verdun.

Chapter ι – The Import

(Qurţuba, al-Andalus [modern Córdoba, Spain], early 866)

After recovering physically from his ordeal, with the mental scars of his nullification never healing, Kocel was sent with the other surviving new eunuchs, despite the winter weather, in covered wagons south to Spain, then known as al-Andalus. The country was currently under Moorish control, being particularly dominated by the Muslim Emirs of Qurţuba [modern Córdoba].

The rich amongst the Muslim inhabitants of al-Andalus had an enormous appetite for emasculated slaves to fill various menial roles. Those of the rarer carzimasia, or fully nullified, type were the most fashionable and therefore expensive and prized.

The castrations conducted in Verdun were performed to serve this market with relevant white slaves. Their black equivalents were imported from North Africa.

Not all eunuchs were imported, though, with market needs dictating that many castrations had to be performed locally. The small and largely Jewish town of Pechina, just south of modern Almería, Spain, was a major centre for such operations, mainly conducted on young slaveboys, as in Verdun, by Rhadanite traders.

In fact, the only reason that Rhadanite traders based in Verdun conducted castrations there rather than in Pechina was that they did not want to go to the bother and expense of taking boys to al-Andalus who were not going to survive their physically and mentally traumatising nullifications. They considered importing the ready-made products to be less troublesome and cheaper and therefore preferable.

Castration was against Jewish and Muslim religious laws but these were only applied to believers. Boys who were unfortunate enough to be from people professing infidel faiths, such as Christianity or paganism, which was still significant in contemporary Europe, were therefore excused this right.

By the time of Kocel’s arrival in al-Andalus, the import and local creation of eunuchs had became so efficient that, despite the size of the domestic market, surpluses were being produced so that potentially lucrative export markets could also be catered for. Gelded slaves were similarly prized in other parts of the Muslim world, which by now dominated North Africa and the Middle East, plus the Christian Byzantine Empire.

Kocel’s first destination in al-Andalus proved to be Qurţuba [modern Córdoba, Spain], seat of the eponymous Emir. The Rhadanite merchants used this effective capital of the country as their main regional trading base and here the latest young eunuchs to be created in Verdun were sold.

The nullified boys were initially sold by the Rhadanite merchant from Verdun to another similar trader based in Qurţuba, with whom he had dealt regularly for many years. For both men, the arrangement had benefits.

For the Verdun merchant, he could cash-in his latest acquired assets at a fair price quickly and so speedily return with his profits to northern Europe in order to repeat the lucrative mercantile cycle. In doing so, he fully appreciated that he might have made more money if he did not deal with a Qurţuba Rhadanite middleman but instead attempted to sell direct to potential customers. However, he also realised that he did not know the local markets and so trying to do so might be too consuming of his precious time, with no guarantee of increased revenue sufficient to compensate. He additionally recognised that the other trader was as always offering a reasonable deal, being keen for repeat business in future.

For the Qurţuba merchant, he could sell the fresh ready-made eunuchs at a good profit, benefiting from the fact that he did possess a thorough knowledge of the local market. As usual, he would attempt first to sell the latest new merchandise to the palace of the local Emir of the Umayyad dynasty, currently Muhammad I, who had been on the throne for fourteen years.

There were many eunuch slaves in Emir Muhammad’s palace. However, their presence was not only due to the fact that they were considered more appropriate for the decorum and protection of a household in which the ruler had many women, including in his female harem.

Emir Muhammad also had a harem consisting entirely of young and exceptionally beautiful white carzimasia eunuchs, mainly of Slavic origin, which was a common taste amongst the Moors of the era.

Chapter κ – The Catamite

(Qurţuba, al-Andalus [modern Córdoba, Spain], over three years later, Summer 869)

Being himself exceptionally beautiful, Kocel was unsurprisingly bought for a very high price by Emir Muhammad’s palace chamberlain. However, despite his qualifications, the young carzimasia eunuch was not immediately destined for his new owner’s special harem and there were two reasons for this.

First, Kocel had to be inducted into the ways of the palace, learning how to act in all given circumstances. In order properly to do so, he had, of course, also to master the Arabic language. Given that he was a clever 7 year-old, though, the boy was fortunately quickly able to acquire these skills to avoid an abundance of beatings from his supervisors for ineptitude.

Second, Kocel was currently a little too young for Emir Muhammad’s tastes. The boy was therefore left to mature for a few years, whilst performing a variety of menial tasks around the palace.

The maturing process took over three years before Kocel was finally adjudged at the age of ten to be ready to serve Emir Muhammad in another way, namely sexually. He was instructed in this degrading role by a handsome young man, who proved to be a former favoured member of the ruler’s carzimasia harem.

Instruction began with how to groom, perfume and dress correctly in readiness for the liaison with the Emir. Tuition also extended to how to conduct oneself during the actual encounter. This included shedding clothing with discreet speed and tidiness at a given signal, initial positioning on the bed and what to do in foreplay and during the ultimate sex-act in order to maximise the ruler’s pleasure, as well as finally how to handle the post-coitus situation.

Kocel’s pride, of course, encouraged him not to want to be one of Emir Muhammad’s carzimasia catamites but he also appreciated that, if he wanted to remain alive and not be executed horribly, he had no choice. Nevertheless, he did consider suicide as an alternative, as attempting to run away was not a realistic option. The chances of fatal recapture were just too great.

Kocel’s pride, though, eventually did not extend to killing himself. The 10 year-old boy somehow considered that his ultimate destiny was to be something other than a young suicide.

Kocel therefore instead swallowed his pride and allowed himself to be taken for his first of many demeaning and initially painful sexual encounters with Emir Muhammad.

Chapter λ – The Dismissal

(Qurţuba, al-Andalus [modern Córdoba, Spain], about 1 year later, Summer 870)

Emir Muhammad liked variety in his sex-life, including in his special carzimasia harem, which therefore encountered a high turnover of personnel. Kocel lasted longer than many others but eventually, after about a year’s degrading service, he was dismissed.

The now 11 year-old Kocel was also not just dismissed from the harem. The boy was additionally completely expelled from Emir Muhammad’s service.

This development was common. Apart from a select enthusiastic, which Kocel certainly was not, and highly-skilled few, chosen for retention in order to train future carzimasia catamites, all former members of the harem were invariably completely dismissed from service by being sold on. The Emir apparently did not like to see old sexual partners around his palace or indeed his emirate.

Consequently, most former members of Emir Muhammad’s carzimasia harem were inevitably sold on to Rhadanite merchants who specialised in the export of eunuchs.

Chapter μ – The Export

(Mālaqah, southern al-Andalus [modern Malaga, Spain], a few weeks later)

‘A well-known article of export [in al-Andalus] is slaves; boys and girls who have been taken from France and Galicia, as well as Slavic eunuchs. All of the Slavic eunuchs found on the face of the Earth come from Spain. They suffer castration in that country. The operation is done by Jewish merchants.’

So wrote Ibn Hawqal, a 10th century Arabic chronicler, about trade from al-Andalus in what was then Moorish Spain. He was, of course, mistaken because many, albeit not all, Slavic eunuchs were created in Verdun. However, his error is understandable because all subsequently found themselves in Spain.

Mālaqah [modern Malaga], on the Mediterranean coast of southern al-Andalus, was an ancient port-city, originally founded by Phoenicians from Tyre about two thousand years before Kocel’s arrival there. At this time, the local harbour represented a major trading outlet for the Qurţuba Emirate.

The Rhadanite merchant who had purchased Kocel had quickly found another buyer for the boy. He was an agent middleman, who generally acted on behalf of rich Greeks.

The agent happened to be acting on this occasion for a fabulously wealthy widowed noblewoman from Patras at the north-west of the Peloponnese Peninsula of Greece, on the Gulf of Corinth.

Chapter ν – The Gift

(Imperial palace, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, over 1 year later, 19th of September 871)

Danielis had, as usual, travelled in great pomp to visit Byzantine Emperor Basil I, the ‘Macedonian’, in Constantinople. Her caravan easily equated to that of many monarchs in size and splendour.

Amongst the marvellous valuable gifts Danielis planned to offer Basil on the occasion of this formal visit were 300 young and beautiful slaves. In return for her latest magnificent munificence, the grateful Emperor now awarded her the title of ‘Basilomitor’, meaning his honorary mother.

One of the more exotic of these human gifts was offered, amongst about 100 others of similar type, because Danielis “knew that there was always room for them in the Imperial palace!” In fact, this particular individual offering was to prove especially valuable to a certain Byzantine Emperor.

The name of this particular precious and clever gift, which by now was conversant with the Greek language, was Kocel.

Chapter ξ – The Assignment

(Imperial palace, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, a few days later)

‘….nine excellent cuirasses, seven excellent shields with gilded bosses, two silver-gilt cups, some swords, spears and spits and, more appreciated by the Emperor than anything else, four carzimasia, that being the Greek name for young eunuchs who have been deprived not only of their testicles but of their penises as well, an operation performed by merchants at Verdun, who export them to Spain at huge profit to themselves.’

So wrote Liudprand, Bishop of Cremona [Italy] and emissary to Constantinople of Berengar, Marquis of Ivrea. He was describing the gifts that he had taken for the Byzantine Emperor in 949 CE, 78 years after Kocel’s arrival in the city.

The current distribution of 100 new carzimasia eunuchs to duties within the Imperial palace took the court chamberlain a few days to complete. Because of his background of already having served royalty, Kocel was assigned to the personal service of a member of the Emperor’s family.

Kocel was assigned to Basil I’s wife, the Empress, or ‘Basilissa’, Eudocia Ingerina.

Chapter ο – The Succession

(Imperial country palace, Apamea, Byzantine Empire, almost 15 years later, 29th August 886)

Kocel was to serve the Empress well and loyally for over ten years until her death. Because of his recognised excellent abilities, he was then transferred directly to her husband’s retinue of eunuchs.

Basil I later died in a hunting accident that occurred near to his country palace at Apamea on the 29th of August 886. He was succeeded by his supposed eldest son, Leo VI, as described in ‘Byzantines ά : Sophōtatos’.

Kocel was now transferred at the age of 26 to the service of Leo VI, who, in light of the eunuch’s apparent efficient expertise in serving his mother, was mainly to assign him to his wives.

Chapter π – The Son

(Imperial palace, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, 19 years later, September 905)

Leo VI’s fourth, and according to the Orthodox Church of the time, essentially illegitimate wife, the beautiful Zoe Carbonopsina, whose suffix nickname meant ‘with eyes as black as coal’, finally succeeded in September 905 where her three predecessors had failed. She provided her husband with a son.

The son was to be christened Constantine, with the nickname of Porphyrogentius.

Chapter ρ – The Visitor

(Monastery of St. Lazaros, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, 6 years later, September 912)

About four months after settling in as Abbot of the Monastery of St. Lazaros in Constantinople, Eudocius received a welcome visitor. He was an older 51 year-old eunuch whom he knew well and highly respected from his own time spent in the Imperial palace.

“Welcome,” Eudocius cordially greeted his visitor, “to the Monastery of St. Lazaros. How are you and how is your mistress, the Empress Zoe?”

“I’m fine but the Empress is extremely worried for the welfare of her son,” the visitor replied, “because, as I’m sure you know, she’s currently debarred from seeing him. Emperor Alexander has expelled her and all of her friends and advisors from the palace. However, young Constantine has not been allowed to go with her.”

“The poor sickly pale boy is apparently often seen wandering miserably around the palace, crying for his mother,” the visitor continued. “However, such distress in one so delicate and young,” he added, “is actually not the Empress’ major current concern. Instead, she has been secretly made aware that Alexander plans to have the child castrated in order to remove him from the Imperial succession, despite the fact that the Emperor himself has no sons.”

“I have to confess,” Eudocius replied, “that I feared such a development. Alexander has already attempted to ruin much of Leo VI’s legacy, reversing wise policies just because they were initiated by his predecessor. I suppose ruining the son the previous Emperor left behind is a natural further development of such evil actions.”

“The Empress Zoe has requested me to ask you,” the visitor now revealed, “if you might care to intercede on her behalf in order to attempt to dissuade Alexander from perpetrating his nefarious plan.” However, Eudocius answered “I’d be happy to try but, being closely associated with Leo, I have very little influence over his successor.”

“I realise that,” the visitor responded, “but, having spent so long living and working in the palace when the wise Leo was ruling, you know many of Alexander’s key advisors. The Empress Zoe has authorised me to pass on to you my plan that, if you influenced them, they might in turn persuade the Emperor to desist from having Constantine castrated.”

“Having been the wise Leo’s most senior counsellor yourself,” the visitor went on, “and now being an important man of God, you would certainly have more influence over such advisors than myself or any of the Empress’ expelled entourage.” “But what argument could I use?” Eudocius retorted.

“I’ve thought of that too,” the visitor informed. “Alexander’s advisors are not stupid,” he explained, “and fully know that their master has quickly become very unpopular with the populace because of his treatment of Zoe and Constantine, his reversal of many of Leo’s worthy policies and his own dissolute lifestyle.”

“The advisors surely know that one more especially unpopular act could easily provoke revolt,” the visitor contended, “and the castration of the revered Leo VI’s son could be the spark, particularly if the clearly sickly boy dies as a result. The Empress is sure that her child could not survive being gelded and I agree with her.”

“Another argument that could be mooted with Alexander’s advisors,” the visitor suggested, “is that young Constantine is so sickly that he probably will never survive boyhood anyway, let alone succeed as an adult to the Imperial throne. Castration would therefore be an unnecessarily dangerous provocation to public opinion.”

“Do you really believe that young Constantine is unlikely to live for much longer?” asked Eudocius with melancholy, sadly fully anticipating the answer to be positive in respect of his beloved Leo’s only son. However, his expectation proved incorrect.

“Not if I am appointed to be his personal attendant,” the visitor instead answered with confidence, “which I hope that your influence will also be able to arrange. After all, I’m sure that you still have allies amongst those charged with the palace domestic arrangements. I’m also a minor and insignificant eunuch who, I’m sure, Alexander doesn’t know even exists. Consequently, there should be no objection to such a change in the boy’s personal arrangements from either the Emperor or from his supporters within his household.”

“Having personally known you for years,” Eudocius commented, “I know that you under-value yourself by describing yourself as a minor and insignificant eunuch. It’s true, though, that your worth is little known because you have been even more discreet in your various roles than I was when in Leo’s service.”

“However, why are you so confident in being able to ensure Constantine lives into adulthood?” enquired the intrigued Eudocius. “Because I have been in Empress Zoe’s intimate service since before the boy was born and have, in fact, helped to bring him up. I know him and his frailties well and indeed have helped minister to all his health problems.”

“I firmly believe,” the visitor concluded, “that, with good friendly care, Constantine can survive, perhaps someday to become as great an Emperor as his late father.” “I hope that God,” Eudocius exclaimed in response, “could grant me sufficient life to see that glorious day!”

“I sincerely share your aspiration,” declared Eudocius’ visitor. “Then, let’s hope that God grants both our wishes,” remarked the Abbot, “which, though, surely must begin with success in putting your immediate clever plans into action!”

Eudocius next collected a jug of wine and poured some into goblets for his visitor and himself. He then toasted to success.

“To success!” repeated his visitor, who was, of course, named Kocel.

Chapter ς – The Collapse

(Monastery of St. Lazaros, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, 9 months later, Friday, 4th June 913)

“Welcome again,” Eudocius cordially greeted Kocel, “to the Monastery of St. Lazaros. How are you and how is your master, young Constantine?”

Kocel was actually one of the few slaves gifted by Danielis who remained in Byzantine service. After his succession, Leo VI had felt compassion for them and offered them their freedom and resettlement opportunities in southern Italy, which was then part of his Empire, and most had accepted.

Kocel, however, had politely declined. Just as, as a 10 year-old relatively freshly nullified boy in al-Andalus he had somehow considered that his ultimate fate was to be something other than a young suicide, he now believed that his destiny lay in the Byzantine court.

Kocel appreciated that he was unlikely to achieve personal greatness. However, Eudocius’ example proved that he might be able to help another to do so.

“I’m fine,” Kocel answered in response to Eudocius’ greeting, “and so, more importantly, is Constantine. Your quiet influence with Emperor Alexander’s advisors continues to work, for his uncle still refrains from harming the boy to avoid possible popular revolt.”

“Constantine remains frail, though,” Kocel reported, “but not as much as he was when I returned to his service through your discreet auspices nine months ago. Without boasting, he does seem to have benefited from my almost constant attendance.”

“So I have heard,” Eudocius advised, “and I congratulate you for the improvement, which I’m sure is completely due to your loyal and expert attentions. I also congratulate you for the success so far of your plan to save Constantine from harm.”

“The successes could not have been achieved without your help,” Kocel correctly commented in response. “True,” Eudocius replied, “but I never came up with the auspicious plan of action and….”

Eudocius, however, never completed his sentence because one of his eunuch monks, who appeared very agitated, interrupted his private meeting with Kocel. “I’m sorry to disturb you, Abbot,” the excited intruder announced, “but I have important news.”

“Emperor Alexander has collapsed in the hippodrome,” the monk informed, “after profanely conducting some pagan sacrifices in an attempt to cure his impotence. He’s been taken seriously ill back to the Imperial palace. Some say that death is inevitable.”

“Thirteen months, and an evil time,” Eudocius immediately spurted out in response. “What?” asked an incredulous Kocel, wondering to what the Abbot could possibly be referring.

“Thirteen months, and an evil time,” Eudocius repeated before explaining “was how my beloved Leo described on his deathbed what would occur after he died. It’s been that period since Alexander succeeded.”

“I couldn’t work out at the time what Leo was exactly prophesising,” Eudocius advised, “but now I understand. He was not only telling us that Alexander’s reign would be evil but also that it would only last thirteen months!”

Eudocius and Kocel now exchanged serious glances with each other. Both eunuchs fully appreciated what the childless Alexander’s death would mean.

Young Constantine would be the only survivor of the current Imperial dynasty and so, at just 7 years old, should now succeed as Emperor unless a powerful usurper used the excuse of the boy’s age and frailty to seize the throne. Given the realities of Byzantine politics, such a development was definitely possible.

“I must return to the palace immediately,” Kocel therefore declared, “because young Constantine will now need more protection than ever!”

Chapter σ – The Death

(Monastery of St. Lazaros, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, 2 days later, Sunday, 6th June 913)

Kocel was not the only person to rush back to the Imperial palace with the aim of protecting young Constantine. The boy’s mother, Empress Zoe, did too, despite her earlier banishment.

Zoe now particularly feared that the clearly dying Alexander, in one final act of animosity, would nominate someone other than her son to succeed to the throne. In the event, the Emperor did not.

Perhaps because Alexander realised that he was lying on his deathbed, with the prospect of accounting for his actions to God imminent, the Emperor’s conscience finally spurred him into doing something moral for his dynasty. He nominated, albeit undoubtedly reluctantly, as his successor young Constantine, who would be the seventh of that name to ascend the throne.

There was, though, a serious setback to Zoe’s hopes both for her son and herself amidst Alexander’s dying proclamations. He as expected and with for him uncommon wisdom established a regency council to rule on behalf of the boy Emperor until the child reached maturity. However, he additionally spitefully not only nominated the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nicholas I Mysticus, as the head but also unprecedentedly excluded the Empress from the body.

A Byzantine Empress was not simply a ruler’s wife or mother but held a recognised rank of significance, which required a special coronation. Once crowned, the Basilissa’s role normally entailed considerable power, including her own court and vast revenues, and an important part in state ceremonials. Excluding Zoe from the regency council was therefore not only unprecedented but also a great insult to tradition as well as herself.

Zoe’s exclusion from the regency council was also not her only problem. The appointment of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nicholas I Mysticus, as the head of the body additionally promised much trouble.

The Patriarch of Constantinople, Nicholas I Mysticus, had been deposed in 907 by Leo VI because he had vehemently opposed the Emperor’s marriage to his fourth wife, Zoe. Following St. Basil’s stringent strictures, the Orthodox Church and the Byzantine Civic Code of the time did not allow such unions.

St. Basil, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, Asia Minor [modern Kayseri, central Anatolia, Turkey], had been a very important 4th-century theologian, whose teachings were greatly influential in the Eastern Church. He had declared reluctantly that widowers and widows could indulge in second marriages but only after both partners had performed suitable penance.

St. Basil, however, forbid third marriages, declaring them to be ‘moderated fornication’ for which the penalty was to be the denial of the Sacrament for four years. For him, fourth weddings were naturally even more beyond the pale, being polygamy and ‘a practice bestial and wholly alien to humankind’.

Consequently, the Byzantine Civic Code stated ‘Let it now be absolutely clear to all that if any shall dare to proceed to a fourth marriage, which is no marriage, not merely shall such a pretended marriage be of no validity and the offspring of it be illegitimate but it shall be subject to the punishment prescribed for those who are soiled with the filth of fornication, it being understood that the persons who have indulged in it shall be separated from each other.’ Earlier in life, Leo VI had actually ironically been a signatory to this legislation. However, after the deaths of three wives and being still without an heir, he had sought dispensation to marry a fourth.

In the end, because of the Patriarch’s fervent opposition to allowing such a dispensation, Leo VI had become involved in a church coup. As a result, Nicholas I Mysticus was deposed, exiled and replaced with a more amenable cleric, Euthymius I.

Leo VI’s successor, Alexander, had, however, naturally, given his hatred for his half-brother, reversed this situation and restored Nicholas I Mysticus as Patriarch. The cleric subsequently sought in a very ungodlike manner revenge on those involved in his original deposition.

Euthymius I was arraigned before a tribunal, where he was very injudiciously treated. He was humiliated and physically attacked and almost killed before being despatched into exile to the remote monastery of Agathon. Nicholas I Mysticus also embarked on a purge of other clerics.

Such happenings had caused Nicholas I Mysticus and Zoe to be implacable enemies. After all, if the Patriarch had had his way, both the Empress’ marriage and son would have been illegitimate.

The dying Emperor Alexander had now nominated Zoe’s implacable enemy to head young Constantine VII’s regency council. The Empress suspected that the Patriarch Nicholas might use this powerful position, from whose deliberations and decisions she was excluded, to re-open the question of her son’s legitimacy, with the ultimate aim of eventually having him replaced with a usurper friendly to the cleric.

Zoe’s fears proved well founded and Patriarch Nicholas was to act swiftly on his nefarious scheme as soon as Emperor Alexander died on Sunday, 6th June 913, two days after collapsing in the hippodrome.

Chapter τ – The Haircut

(Imperial palace, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, 2 days later)

Zoe was crying. She did so as she was being forcibly shorn of all of her hair.

Not long afterwards, on the orders of the head of her son’s regency council, Zoe was sent into exile to the distant convent of St. Euphemia in Petrium. As she travelled, she knew that she had not just lost her hair.

Zoe had also lost her name and title because in the convent she was to be called simply, again on the orders of the vengeful Patriarch Nicholas, nothing more than ‘Sister Anna’.

Chapter υ – The Plot

(Imperial palace, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, same time)

Kocel had been powerless to prevent Empress Zoe’s further and even harsher banishment from the Imperial palace. However, he was determined to try to use his intimate position as young Constantine VII’s close personal servant to protect the boy Emperor from harm as best as he could.

Kocel had shared Zoe’s worries about Nicholas I Mysticus and his plans and hoped that he could somehow prevent the Patriarch from deposing the young Emperor. The eunuch expected to be helped by the trusted friends and allies that he and the boy had within the palace household.

In the event, one of these friends, a senior groom in the palace stables, gave Kocel the first clue about what the scheming Nicholas I Mysticus was plotting. The Patriarch had sent a courier with a secret message to the commander-in-chief of the Byzantine army, titled ‘Domestikos tōn Scholōn’, or

‘Domestic of the Schools’, ‘scholai’ or ‘schools’ originally being units of guards, Constantine Ducas, who was from a renowned aristocratic family and a known ally of the cleric.

Kocel realised that there was no better ally candidate from Nicholas I Mysticus’ viewpoint to usurp the throne. Constantine Ducas could probably rely on the support of most of the army and other aristocratic families.

Kocel therefore guessed what the secret message might be conveying, namely a call to return to Constantinople to seize the throne from Constantine VII. The eunuch also considered likely that the Patriarch would aid the usurpation by declaring the boy to be an illegitimate bastard and so unworthy of the Imperial diadem.

Kocel shivered when he additionally realised that the plotters would be unlikely to allow young Constantine to live for very long after their coup.

Chapter φ – The Coup

(Imperial palace, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, a week later)

Constantine Ducas responded quickly and purposefully to Patriarch Nicholas’ summons, which was not unexpected. After all, the pair had been plotting the scenario even before the death of Emperor Alexander, whose dissolute lifestyle had suggested that he might suffer an early death.

Constantine Ducas rapidly marched eastwards to Constantinople from his camp headquarters in Thracia in what is now European Turkey. However, he did not then enter the Imperial capital with an army.

Constantine Ducas instead expected, in line with his plotting with Nicholas I Mysticus, to discover that his way into both Constantinople and the Imperial palace would be unimpeded. He therefore rode on horseback into the city on a rainy night with only a small number of supporters, including his son, Gregory.

Constantine Ducas and his small group of supporters anticipated that the gates of the Imperial palace would be opened from within by confederates of Patriarch Nicholas to allow them easy access. They would then complete their coup, with perhaps the only blood being spilt being that of the boy Emperor.

Constantine Ducas and his small group of supporters, who had drawn their swords in case they encountered any unexpected opposition to their coup attempt, were, however, to receive a shock because they were ambushed at the gates of the Imperial palace by militia, led by a certain John Eladas. The latter ‘Magister’, which was an ancient title for a very senior civilian or military official but currently essentially an honorific one, was another member of the regency council but loyal to young Constantine VII.

The fact that Constantine Ducas and his small group of supporters had drawn their swords on their approach to the Imperial palace verified to John Eladas that the men were indeed up to no good. The deed had removed all doubts about their intentions and so the Magister acted accordingly in defence of his boy Emperor.

Fortunately for young Constantine VII, Kocel had recognised John Eladas’ loyalty and ability. He had therefore trusted him with both his worries about an imminent coup and the subsequent destruction of the plot.

Kocel’s trust proved well founded. He observed from a vantagepoint as several of Ducas’ supporters, including his son, were cut down.

Kocel himself was no coward. He bravely would have liked to have participated in the fighting against men plotting his beloved Constantine’s downfall and probably murder but was untrained in the use of arms. He therefore realised that entering the fray would be folly and anyway his priority was to live on to afford his young and currently highly vulnerable Emperor with as much continued protection as he could possibly provide.

Consequently, Kocel also observed whilst, in attempting to flee, Constantine Ducas’ horse slipped on the damp paving and he fell heavily to the ground, where his treacherous head was quickly severed from his torso with a single stroke of a militia sword.

Chapter χ – The Toast

(Monastery of St. Lazaros, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, 8 months later, February 914)

“Welcome again,” Eudocius once more cordially greeted his visitor, “to the Monastery of St. Lazaros. How are you and how is your master, young Constantine or should I more reverently say ‘Young Emperor Constantine VII’?”

“I remain fine but our beloved young Emperor,” Kocel answered, “is still frail. However, he is also now much happier that Empress Zoe has not only been returned from exile but also been appointed to head his regency council in place of Patriarch Nicholas.”

“I’m sure he is,” Eudocius replied with satisfaction. The Abbot was, of course, himself also very content that the young son of his late beloved friend, Leo VI, remained Emperor, with his early reign now apparently under the protection of his mother.

“I too am very happy,” Kocel commented, “that Patriarch Nicholas’ influence over secular government has ended. As you know, nothing could be proved against him for being involved in Constantine Ducas’ treasonous plot but I’m sure that he was chief planner. However, his actions in covering up his participation have proved successful.”

“The aftermath of his undoubted but sadly unproven involvement, though,” Eudocius remarked, “reveals to me at least that he is even more evil than I credited, which is appalling for a supposed sincere man of God and the head of our sacred Church. After all, he authorised terrible retribution against others accused of complicity, with whole army companies being fatally impaled along the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus, whilst other alleged conspirators have been blinded, whipped almost to death or compulsorily tonsured to monasteries. He also ordered Constantine Ducas’ younger and undoubtedly innocent son to be castrated. I understand that he only eventually stopped the culling when the rest of the regency council began to complain about the excessive bloodshed.”

“This unnecessarily bloodthirsty retribution reveals the extent of his evil,” Eudocius continued, “because his actions show how far he was prepared to go to cover up his own treacherous deeds by attempting to play the role of the young Emperor’s righteous angel of revenge. I can only assume that his long political battle with the Empress and before her my beloved Leo has adversely affected his mind, as a result of which his Christianity has been subsumed by a wicked desire to win the squabble and retain power at all costs.”

“I agree,” Kocel advised, “but thankfully in the end Patriarch Nicholas over-reached himself, leading to his downfall.” “Yes,” Eudocius responded, “and many thanks to the Bulgars for being the people who tipped the political balance by losing him the support of most of the rest of the regency council, forcing his retirement from the body.”

Eudocius was referring to the incident, which occurred less than two months after the attempted coup by Constantine Ducas, when King Symeon of Bulgaria arrived before the walls of Constantinople with an army so vast that his forces encamped along four miles of the city’s land walls. They extended from the Sea of Marmara to the upper Golden Horn but nevertheless found, as many similar military expeditions had done before them, that the municipal defences were too strong to breach.

Symeon’s grouse with the Byzantines was that the Bulgars had not recently been paid their customary annual tribute, given to keep them peaceable and remain a bulwark to even worse barbarians from the north, such as the Magyars. In response to the siege, though, Patriarch Nicholas quickly opened secret negotiations with the King without reference to the rest of the regency council.

As a result of the negotiations, Symeon withdrew with his vast army back to Bulgaria, loaded with Byzantine gold and other gifts and with the promise that young Constantine VII would eventually marry one of his daughters. However, when the rest of the regency council discovered that the Patriarch had negotiated these humiliating terms in secret without reference to them, they were outraged.

Many of the regency council had already become increasingly unhappy about Nicholas I Mysticus’ arrogance and cruelty, especially towards his predecessor as Patriarch, the family and supporters of Constantine Ducas and the Empress Zoe. Many were also upset about the heart-rendering effect the treatment of his mother had had on the young Emperor.

Many of the regency council also shared the belief of Eudocius and Kocel that the Patriarch had been heavily involved in Constantine Ducas’ attempted coup, despite him launching the bloody retributions of the aftermath. Now, his secret dealings with the Bulgarian King proved to be the final straw.

Patriarch Nicholas was eventually forced from his post as head of the regency council by the other members, who instead summoned Empress Zoe back from her role as Sister Anna in her nunnery to lead a re-formed body. She returned to Constantinople in February 914 and quickly appointed to key Imperial posts her closest friends and advisors, many of whom were eunuchs.

In fact, when King Symeon of Bulgaria was appraised of the political changes in Constantinople, he described with contempt Empress Zoe’s regency body as a ‘council of eunuchs’. However, his disdain was to be short-lived because the new government quickly proved to be in the short-term at least far more competent than the last.

“I was very sorry to hear,” Kocel now commented, revealing the main reason behind his current visit to see the Abbot, “that you have declined a seat on Empress Zoe’s regency council. She has actually sent me to try to persuade you to change your mind. She considers that your experience of being a key advisor to her late husband would be invaluable.”

“I meant no disrespect to the Empress or her offer when declining,” Eudocius answered, “and in normal circumstances I would have been both greatly honoured and very keen to accept. After all, good governance of the Empire in the name of young Constantine VII, son of my beloved Leo, would be very dear to my heart.”

“However, God decrees,” Eudocius advised with calmness, “that I shall have no time to be of assistance to the regency council. You see, the best physician amongst my eunuch monks advises me that I shall be going to face my maker very soon as a result of a malignant tumour.”

Kocel was shocked to hear this revelation because Eudocius, who at 47 was about five years younger than him, looked in perfect health. He therefore asked “Are you sure because you don’t appear to be ill?”

“Appearances can be deceptive,” Eudocius replied, “and I have been assured that there is no doubt. I shall apparently be lucky to live for another month. However, I’m not unhappy because, God willing, my death will surely reunite me for ever with my Leo!”

“I should be very content also,” Eudocius added, “to recommend to the Empress that you instead take my proposed place on the regency council. You undoubtedly possess the attributes necessary to serve young Constantine VI and the Empire most worthily in such an important position.”

“I am very sorry to learn of your illness”, responded the still shocked and genuinely saddened Kocel, “and your offer is very kind but I have already also declined an invitation from the Empress to join her regency council. I persuaded her instead that I could best serve the Empire by remaining her son’s closest attendant.”

“As I have mentioned previously,” Kocel informed, “I have helped to bring young Constantine up from birth. I know him and his frailties well and indeed have helped minister to all his health problems, so far successfully. I wish to continue that important work, which I consider as important for the future of the Empire as any decisions made by the regency council.”

“Despite his sickliness,” Kocel remarked, “young Constantine is a very caring and intelligent boy, keen to acquire knowledge. He avidly attends to his studies when with his tutors and reads books with similar passion, many of which would be beyond the understanding of most ordinary children.”

“In those regards, he certainly resembles his father,” Eudocius interrupted, whilst he momentarily reflected on the childhood shared with Leo. “I can assure you, Abbot,” Kocel responded, “that the similarity does not end there. If you disregard his frailty, the boy’s features appear to be blossoming into the fair and handsome ones also possessed by the late Emperor.”

Kocel’s response caused Eudocius briefly to reflect further on his life spent with Leo. In particular, he privately recalled his secret and never requited sexual longing, after he had passed puberty and before his castration, for his friend’s extremely handsome youthful form.

“As an adult,” Kocel now continued, breaking Eudocius’ brief reverie about the past, “I’m sure that Constantine would make a fine Emperor. My aim in my role is therefore to try to ensure that he survives to become one.”

“However, I am fully aware,” Kocel suggested, “that the dangers still confronting the young Emperor are not just related to his health. Given Byzantine politics, the advent of a regency council headed by his mother might not survive. There are other powerful magnates within the Empire besides Constantine Ducas who might attempt to seize the throne.”

“I therefore believe,” Kocel announced, “that my role will consequently also entail attempting to protect my young master from such potential usurpers too, at least physically, given that I’m not of any political significance. That might be more difficult to achieve than helping him to avoid dangerous illness, despite my success with the attempted coup by Constantine Ducas. There’s no guarantee that we might be so fortunate again!”

“I therefore hope that you enjoy better health and a longer life than me,” Eudocius declared with absolute sincerity, “so that you can oversee young Constantine’s advent into adulthood and Imperial power in his own right. I also wish that God will grant you the good fortune that you suggest you might need to achieve these goals. I’m just so very sorry that I cannot share your role with you.”

Eudocius had astutely recognised, from both Kocel’s passionate words and expressions as he spoke, that he clearly cared for young Constantine as much as the Abbot had once done for Leo. In other words, there was intense love involved, albeit for a carzimasia eunuch only, of course, of the completely platonic kind.

Eudocius could therefore also recognise why Kocel was so passionate in his desire to protect and nurture young Constantine. The Abbot also appreciated that his fellow eunuch did indeed have the attributes to help the boy not only to survive but someday to become a great Emperor like his father.

“Eunuchs like us, Kocel,” Eudocius consequently suggested, whilst again contemplating his life with Leo and in what was effectively a valedictory explanation, “who are granted the blessing of playing significant roles, usually only do so discreetly in the shadow of others. Rarely are we given functions that do not involve serving these others. Consequently, if with our assistance these others achieve greatness, our roles are invariably discounted and forgotten by posterity, even if they are not by those we have helped to greatness. Nevertheless, we must accept this unglamorous and unheralded lot for the sake of those we serve and for the greater good. God has afforded us this fate and our earthly reward lies in seeing the achievements of the great reach fruition with our help.”

Eudocius’ accurate valediction actually explains why many of the factual stories of the author of this tale have similar themes. There is a saying that ‘Behind every great man, there is a great woman’. Well, up to at least the 19th century, there was often in certain societies, as Pueros has discovered and written about, also a great eunuch.

“I once advised you,” Eudocius added, “, in response to your aspiration that Constantine could survive to become someday as great an Emperor as his late father, that I hoped that God could grant me sufficient life to see that glorious moment. Alas, my wish is not to be.”

As on the occasion to which he was referring, Eudocius next collected a jug of wine and poured some into goblets for Kocel and himself. “At that time, we uttered a toast to the success of our missions,” the Abbot recalled, “but instead today we must make an amended one.”

“To your success, Kocel,” toasted Eudocius, “for which I shall pray to God daily until I breathe my last!”

Chapter ψ – The Prayers

(Monastery of St. Lazaros, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, less than 1 month later, early March 914)

Eudocius kept his promise and conveyed such prayers to God daily until he died in his monastery, which indeed happened within the month. The sad event occurred less than two years after the death of his beloved Leo VI.

Whether, however, Eudocius’ prayers in respect of Kocel’s success with young Constantine were met or not will not be related until the next story in this occasional series, titled ‘Byzantines γ: Porphyrogentius’.