The Vita Basilii: Understanding The Macedonian Dynasty

The Vita Basilii is an important work to understand the Byzantine empire and particularly the Macedonian Dynasty. Its title means “The Life of Basil.” Its subtitle is “Historical Narrative of the Life and Deeds of Emperor Basil of Glorious Memory, which his grandson Constantine, by the Grace of God Emperor of the Romans, Assiduously Gathered from Various Accounts and Submitted to the (-- removed HTML --) Writer.”
The title of the work, as extensive as it is, tells the reader quite a bit about the text that follows. This is a text that chronicles the life of Basil, emperor of Byzantium from 867-886. It was commissioned by his Grandson, Emperor Constantine VII, who reigned from 944-959. The writing is from around the 950s. The author is unknown. The title “Life of Basil” is meant to emulate saint’s life titles, which gives Basil a closer connection to God as well as elevates him to a pseudo-saintly status.
The account starts with tracking the lineage

While this work is notable for the many things it provides us in the modern day about Byzantium in the 9th and 10th centuries, what it tells us about Constantine VII is perhaps most interesting.
What is notable about Constantine VII’s relationship to the The Life of Basil is the fact that it was commissioned by Constantine VII, but not written by him. Constantine was a scholar and a writer. In his youth, while he was held in a semi-hostage state under the twenty-four-year long reign of Romanos Lekapenos, Constantine spent his time reading and writing extensively. The fact that he left such an important document, one that establishes the greatness of the Macedonian dynasty, to someone else is somewhat perplexing, unless we look through the lens that Constantine VII didn’t think it was all that