Constantine Gongyles was a Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 eunuch

Eunuch

A eunuch is a person born male most commonly castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences...

 and court official who led a failed expedition against the Emirate of Crete

Emirate of Crete

The Emirate of Crete was a Muslim state that existed on the Mediterranean island of Crete from the late 820s to the Byzantine reconquest of the island in 961....

 in 949.

Nothing is known of Constantine's early life, except that he came from Paphlagonia

Paphlagonia

Paphlagonia was an ancient area on the Black Sea coast of north central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia by a prolongation to the east of the Bithynian Olympus...

. The Life of St. Basil the Younger hagiography

Hagiography

Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...

 indicates that he and his brother Anastasios were relatives of the eunuch Constantine the Paphlagonian, who rose to power at court as a favourite of the powerful parakoimomenos

Parakoimomenos

The parakoimōmenos was a Byzantine court position, usually reserved for eunuchs. Many of its holders, especially in the 9th and 10th centuries, functioned as the Byzantine Empire's chief ministers.-History and functions:...

Samonas

Samonas

Samonas was an Arab-born eunuch, who was captured by the Byzantines and became one of the most influential officials of the Byzantine Empire during the first decade of the 10th century.- Life :...

 and of Emperor Leo VI the Wise

Leo VI the Wise

Leo VI, surnamed the Wise or the Philosopher , was Byzantine emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty , he was very well-read, leading to his surname...

 (r. 886–912). Constantine first rose to prominence in 913/914, when following the death of Emperor Alexander (r. 912–913), the Empress-regent Zoe Karbonopsina

Zoe Karbonopsina

Zoe Karbonopsina, also Karvounopsina or Carbonopsina, i.e., "with the Coal-Black Eyes" , was fourth wife of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise and the mother of Constantine VII....

 selected him and his brother as her personal councillors. On this occasion, Constantine was raised to the supreme noble rank of patrikios.

Constantine Gongyles wielded great influence during the regency of Zoe (913–919), but he fell from power under Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos (r. 920–944). Although Gongyles had intervened to save Lekapenos from blinding

Blinding

Blinding can refer to:*The act of making someone blind**Metaphorical and extended uses of same: see blindness#Metaphorical uses*Blinding , a technique by which an agent can provide a service to a client in an encoded form without knowing either the real input or the real output*Blinding , a novel...

 for his role in the disastrous Battle of Acheloos, the Gongyles brothers supported the general Leo Phokas the Elder in his struggle for the throne against Emperor Lekapenos. The brothers were quick to change sides when Emperor Lekapenos gained the upper hand, but they are not mentioned in the sources during the latter's reign. Upon Emperor Lekapenos's deposition in December 944, however, Constantine Gongyles was appointed as head of the Byzantine navy

Byzantine navy

The Byzantine navy was the naval force of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. Like the empire it served, it was a direct continuation from its imperial Roman predecessor, but played a far greater role in the defense and survival of the state then its earlier iterations...

. Thus, in 949 he was placed in charge of a large-scale attempt to recover the island of Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

 from the Saracens

Emirate of Crete

The Emirate of Crete was a Muslim state that existed on the Mediterranean island of Crete from the late 820s to the Byzantine reconquest of the island in 961....

. The expedition ended in a disastrous failure owing to his lack of military experience: he neglected to fortify the camp of the expedition force, which was routed and well-nigh destroyed in a surprise night attack by the Saracens. Gongyles himself barely escaped on his flagship. His fate thereafter is largely unknown; at the time of the composition of the Life of St. Basil the Younger (probably in the 960s), he and his brother lived in retirement and were spending their fortune on philanthropic and charitable causes.

Sources