Editing Michael II (section)

==Assessment and legacy==
Because of his iconoclasm, Michael was not popular among the clergy, who depicted him as an ignorant and poorly educated peasant, but he was a competent statesman and administrator. Empress [[Theodora (wife of Theophilos)|Theodora]] ({{reign|842|856}}) defended her husband [[Theophilos (emperor)|Theophilos]], which mitigated the ''[[damnatio memoriae]]'' against him and his father Michael, nevertheless the later iconodule sources were highly critical of them. The civil war, which was the most ferocious since the [[Heraclian revolt]] (608–610), gravely weakened the imperial government, which saw the beginning of the century-long struggle over [[Sicily]] with the [[Aghlabids]] and the loss of [[Crete]] to [[Arab]] pirates from [[al-Andalus]]. Both islands became bases for future raids of the coasts of southern [[Italy]] and in the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]], as well as the conquest of [[Bari]] in 842. However, by the end of Michael's reign he had begun a restoration of the Byzantine military. The system of government and military built by Michael enabled the Empire under his grandson [[Michael III]] to gain ascendancy in their struggles with the [[Abbasids]] and to withstand all the vicissitudes of Byzantine palace life. Michael II's direct descendants, the [[Amorian dynasty]] followed by the so-called [[Macedonian dynasty]], ruled the Empire for more than two centuries, inaugurating the [[Macedonian Renaissance|Byzantine Renaissance]] of the 9th and 10th centuries.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=436}}{{sfn|Brubaker|Haldon|2011|p=386}}{{sfn|Auzépy|2008|pp=254, 256}}

Although he arranged the assassination of Leo V, Michael continued with his form of iconoclasm in what came to be known as the "second" [[Byzantine iconoclasm]]. This iconoclasm was less intransigent than the first; iconodules were not accused of [[idolatry]] and images that were suspended high up (and thus unable to be venerated) were permitted to remain in churches. Nevertheless, many iconodule clergymen remained staunchly opposed, especially Patriarch [[Nikephoros I of Constantinople]] who was deposed by Leo V but remained active in polemics against imperial authority during Michael's reign.{{sfn|Auzépy|2008|p=289}}