Lekapenos

Lekapenos (Greek: Λεκαπηνός; Armenian: Լեկափենոսներ) or Lakapenos (Λακαπηνός), usually Latinized as Lecapenus, feminine form Lekapene (Λεκαπηνή), was the name of a prominent, assumed, Byzantine-Armenian family of humble background which intermarried with and almost managed to usurp the throne from the Macedonian dynasty in the first half of the 10th century.

The family was founded by Theophylact, surnamed Abaktistos or Abastaktos, an allegedly Armenian peasant who saved the life of Emperor Basil I the Macedonian in 872 and received estates as a reward.

Another son, Theophylact, was made Patriarch of Constantinople, and Christopher's daughter Maria-Irene was married to the Tsar Peter I of Bulgaria.

[1] Their descendants continued to occupy senior palace offices in the next decades, but the most notable member of the family was Romanos' illegitimate son Basil Lekapenos, who as the imperial parakoimomenos was the virtual ruler of the empire until the 980s.

[1] The family is barely attested thereafter; only a certain Constantine Lekapenos is known through his seal for the entirety of the 11th century, and the last important member was George Lakapenos, a 14th-century official and writer.

Miliaresion from 931–944, showing Romanos I 's bust on a cross on the obverse and listing the names of Romanos and his co-emperors, Constantine VII , Stephen Lekapenos and Constantine Lekapenos on the reverse