Editing Michael III (section)

===Early life and regency===
[[File:Byzanz- Michael III., Theodora und Thecla - Münzkabinett, Berlin - 5480493.jpg|thumb|220px|left|[[Solidus (coin)|Solidus]] of empress [[Theodora (wife of Theophilos)|Theodora]] with [[Thekla (daughter of Theophilos)|Thekla]] and Michael III.{{efn|group="n."|This coin struck during the regency of Theodora shows how Michael was less prominent than his mother, who is represented as sole ruler on the obverse, and even less than his sister Thekla, who is depicted together with the young Michael on the reverse.}}]]

Michael was the youngest child of the emperor [[Theophilos (emperor)|Theophilos]] and his empress [[Theodora (wife of Theophilos)|Theodora]]. His precise date of birth is uncertain, but the balance of available evidence supports a birthdate in early 840, probably on 9 or 10 January.{{sfn|Mango|1967|pp=253–258}} He was [[coronation of the Byzantine emperor|crowned co-emperor]] soon after, probably on 16 May of the same year.{{efn|Patriarch [[Photios I of Constantinople|Photius I]] notes that Michael was emperor "from the very cradle", that is, emperor since birth. Given that the coronation of a junior emperor almost always took place on a holiday, and [[Whitsunday]] is the closest event to Michael's birth, historians often place the coronation on 16 May.{{sfn|Grierson|1973}} For comparison, [[Staurakios]] and [[Michael I Rangabe|Michael I]]'s children were crowned on Christmas (25 December); [[Constantine VI]] on Holy Saturday (14 April); [[Leo IV the Khazar|Leo IV]] on Whitsunday (6 June); and [[Constantine V]] on Easter Sunday (31 March).}}{{efn|"Theophilos crowned Michael, his son, in the Great Church and, as the custom was, he gave gifts to everyone at the coronation" ([[Symeon Logothete]], 130, 41).{{sfn|Wahlgren|2019|p=174}} Coins featuring Michael and Theophilos address him as ''[[despotes]]''.{{sfn|Grierson|1973}}}} Michael had just turned two years old when his father died, and Michael succeeded him as sole emperor on 20 January 842.

During Michael's [[Minor (law)|minority]], the empire was governed by a [[regency]] headed by his mother Theodora, her uncle Sergios, and the [[eunuch]] [[Theoktistos]], who was [[Logothetes tou dromou|Postal Logothete]] and the most powerful of the three. Within a year the regents had begun to carefully plan a program of restoring iconophile orthodoxy. 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. Theoktistos had been an enthusiastic supporter of Theophilos and so was clearly motivated by pragmatism in endorsing the later iconophile program. Yet there was little opposition other than from John VII and the clergy of the [[Hagia Sophia]]. The future Patriarch [[Methodios I of Constantinople|Methodios I]] held a synod in the [[Palace of Blachernae]] rather than in the patriarchal church, which suggests that they resisted the changes. However in March, the ''Acts'' of the [[Second Council of Nicaea]] (787) were reaffirmed and the leading iconoclasts of the [[Council of Constantinople (815)|Council of Constantinople]] of 815 declared to be heretics. Theophilos was not mentioned in order to not alienate the ruling imperial family and its supporters. Theodora had also explicitly demanded that her husband not be dishonoured. Patriarch [[John VII of Constantinople]] was then asked to resign, and replaced him with the iconophile Methodios, who, despite his iconophilism, was a close associate of Theophilos. The occasion was marked with a solemn procession on the first Sunday of [[Lent]] (11 March 843), from [[Blachernae]] to the Hagia Sophia, followed by a liturgy in the church. These events came to be known as the "[[Triumph of Orthodoxy]]". Methodios carried out an expulsion of iconoclast clergy and was later accused of fomenting dissension within the church. The sources, which are sympathetic to iconophilism, do not report much dissent among the clergy or general population, which suggests a general passivity or neutrality on the issue. With these events the second spell of [[Byzantine iconoclasm]] was put to an end, and the autonomy of the Church was affirmed against imperial power.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=447}}{{sfn|Brubaker|Haldon|2011|pp=447–452}}{{sfn|Auzépy|2008|pp=290–91}}

[[File:Coronation of Emperor Michael III.jpg|thumb|Coronation of the young Michael III, miniature from the ''Madrid Skylitzes'', 12th century]]
As the emperor was growing up, the courtiers around him fought for influence. Theoktistos disliked Michael's uncle [[Bardas]], and excluded him from court politics. When Theodora and Theoktistos arranged the marriage of [[Eudokia Dekapolitissa]] to Michael, who preferred [[Eudokia Ingerina]], Bardas won his nephew's favour by persuading him to allow a plot to murder Theoktistos. 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.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=450}}{{sfn|Tougher|2008|p=293}}