Editing Michael III (section)

==Assessment and legacy==
[[File:MichaelIIIBeforeTheChurchStMamas.jpg|thumb|Michael III rides a chariot before the Church of Saint Mamas.]]
The reign and personality of Michael are difficult to evaluate because of the hostile accounts written by Byzantine authors operating under [[Basil I]] ({{reign|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. His court's politics were characterised by scandal including the assassinations of [[Bardas]], [[Theoktistos]] and bizarre relationships with his wife, [[Eudokia Dekapolitissa]], mistress, [[Eudokia Ingerina]] and Basil's mistress, Michael's own sister [[Thekla (daughter of Theophilos)|Thekla]]. And finally Michael's own assassination at the hands of his trusted courtier Basil.{{sfn|Tougher|2008|p=300}} The impression gained from Arab sources, however, is one of Michael as an active and often successful military commander.{{sfn|Gregory|2010|p=231}} He was also very active in repairing the [[Walls of Constantinople]].{{sfn|Auzépy|2008|p=265}} Chroniclers of Basil accuse Michael of allowing the registers of military personnel to decline, forcing Basil to undertake a major recruitment effort during his own reign, however the decline could be explained as a natural process due to aging.{{sfn|Brubaker|Haldon|2011|p=755}}

As the end of the iconoclast period, Michael's reign was the beginning of a period of religious peace with an established orthodoxy and liturgy, which was not to be interfered with by the emperor.

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' people|Rus']].{{sfn|Tougher|2008|pp=292–93}}

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]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harl|first=Kenneth W.|author-link=Kenneth W. Harl|title=''Medieval Studies 303: Early Medieval and Byzantine Civilization: Constantine to Crusades''|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416122030/http://www.tulane.edu/~august/H303/handouts/c850.htm# }}</ref> The definitive end to iconoclasm early in his reign led, unsurprisingly, to a renaissance in visual arts. The Empire made considerable advances in internal organisation and religious cohesion, and it had more than held its own against the [[Abbasid Caliphate]]. Most importantly Bulgaria had been transformed into a religious and cultural satellite of Byzantium. Much of the credit for these achievements, however, must go to Theodora and Theoktistos up to 855, and Bardas and Petronas thereafter.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=455}}