He was given the disparaging epithet the Drunkard (ὁ Μέθυσος) by the hostile historians of the succeeding Macedonian dynasty, but modern historical research has rehabilitated his reputation to some extent, demonstrating the vital role his reign played in the resurgence of Byzantine power in the 9th century.

During Michael's minority, the empire was governed by a regency headed by his mother Theodora, her uncle Sergios, and the eunuch Theoktistos, who was Postal Logothete and the most powerful of the three.

Stories of Theodora's secret devotion to images during Theophilos' reign are dubious and she was likely motivated not only by religious but also political and pragmatic concerns.

In 855, the regency was overthrown when Theoktistos was murdered in the Great Palace of Constantinople, and in 857, Theodora was barred from government and relegated along with her daughters to a monastery in 857.

The Byzantine Empire wanted to regain its control over some areas of Thrace, including Philippopolis and the ports around the Gulf of Burgas on the Black Sea.

Byzantine forces, led by the emperor and the caesar Bardas, were successful in reconquering a number of cities – Philippopolis, Develtus, Anchialus and Mesembria among them – as well as the region of Zagora.

[13] Following an expedition led by Michael's uncle and general, Petronas, against the Paulicians from the eastern frontier and the Arab borderlands in 856, the imperial government resettled them in Thrace, thus cutting them off from their coreligionists and populating another border region.

[16] Michael took an active part in the wars against the Abbasids and their vassals on the eastern frontier from 856 to 863, and particularly in 857 when he sent an army of 50,000 men against Emir Umar al-Aqta of Melitene.

The subsequent relationship with the Rus' was mixed; they requested a Byzantine mission which was short-lived, and engaged in further raids but also trade in the tenth century.

Under the influence of both Bardas and Photios, Michael presided over the reconstruction of ruined cities and structures, the reopening of closed monasteries, and the fostering of intellecutal life in the form of the reorganisation of the imperial university at the Maganaura palace under Leo the Mathematician.

[d] Ignatios was a castrated son of Michael I Rhangabe (r. 811–813) and had deposed one of his predecessor Methodios' associates, Gregory Asbestas, the archbishop of Syracuse.

The stalemate prompted Michael and Photios to send an embassy to Pope Nicholas I, whose legates Radoald of Porto and Zacharias of Anagni approved the deposition of Ignatios at the Council of Constantinople of 861.

However, perhaps partly due to the presence of Ignatios' supporters in Rome, Nicholas convened a council in 863 to overrule his legates, declaring that Photios and Asbestas were deposed, leading to the Photian schism.

Photios responded by enumerating western doctrinal and disciplinary deviations in an encyclical, deposing Nicholas and requesting Louis the German's aid in overthrowing him.

Michael presided over a synod in 867 in which Photios and the three other eastern patriarchs excommunicated Pope Nicholas and condemned the Latin filioque clause concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit.

[25] The conflict over the patriarchal throne and supreme authority within the church was exacerbated by the success of the active missionary efforts launched by Photios.

Despite Ignatios' papal leanings in the Photian schism, he allowed Boris to procure a Byzantine-rite archbishop in 870, and the eastern patriarchs forcefully denied any Roman authority in Bulgaria.

Michael's end was grisly; a man named John of Chaldia killed him, cutting off both the emperor's hands with a sword before finishing him off with a thrust to the heart.

Basil, as the sole remaining emperor (Basiliskianos had presumably been disposed of at the same time as Michael), automatically succeeded as the ruling basileus.

When Leo VI became ruling emperor in 886, one of his first acts was to have Michael's body exhumed and reburied, with great ceremony, in the imperial mausoleum in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.

[36] The reign and personality of Michael are difficult to evaluate because of the hostile accounts written by Byzantine authors operating under Basil I (r. 867–886) and his successors.

Byzantine accounts describe Michael's habitual drunkenness, his obsession with chariot racing and his orchestration of public displays mocking the processions and rituals of the church.

Despite the bias of the sources, there was a clear continuity in policy between Michael and Basil, which was in the security of the borders with the Abbasid Caliphate and First Bulgarian Empire, as well as opportunism regarding the Moravians, Armenians and Rus'.

[39] Though Michael was allegedly prone to squander money, his reign stabilised the economy, and by the year 850 the empire's annual revenues had increased to 3,300,000 nomismata.