Bardas

Bardas (; died 21 April 866) was a Byzantine noble and high-ranking minister. As the brother of Empress Theodora, he rose to high office under Theophilos (. Although sidelined after Theophilos's death by Theodora and Theoktistos, in 855 he engineered Theoktistos's murder and became the de facto regent for his nephew, Michael III (). Rising to the rank of Caesar, he was the effective ruler of the Byzantine Empire for ten years, a period which saw military success, renewed diplomatic and missionary activity, and an intellectual revival that heralded the Macedonian Renaissance. He was assassinated in 866 at the instigation of Michael III's new favourite, Basil the Macedonian, who a year later would usurp the throne for himself and install his own dynasty on the Byzantine throne. thumb|Caesar Bardas and his nephew in Hagia Sophia

==Biography== ===Early life=== Bardas was born to the droungarios Marinos and Theoktiste, and was the elder brother of Empress Theodora, the wife of Emperor Theophilos, and of Petronas. Three other sisters, Maria, Sophia and Irene, are recorded by Theophanes Continuatus. The family was of Armenian origin and had settled in Paphlagonia. Some modern genealogists, including Cyril Toumanoff and Nicholas Adontz, have suggested a link of Bardas's family with the Armenian noble clan of the Mamikonian. According to Nina Garsoïan in the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, however, "[a]ttractive though it is, this thesis cannot be proven for want of sources."