LEO V., FLAvtus, emperor of the east, surnamed the Armenian; d. 820; b. Armenia; rose to the rank of gen., but under the accusation of treason made by the emperor Nicephorus, he was imprisoned in a convent, until Michael Rhangabe coming into power in 811, released him and restored him to his command. In 813, having executed a suc cessful campaign against the Saracens, he set out on an expedition against the Bulgari ans, Michael being in chief command, but in the engagement allowed his own army to suffer defeat at Adrianople. Perceiving ,a way to reach the throne himself by profiting by the falling fortunes of his superior, he instigated a rebellion, in the remnant of the army, against his former benefactor, and marching at their head was elected emperor in his place. Receiving the imperial scepter sent by the unresisting hand of the deposed monarch, who retired into a convent, he was crowned at St. Sophia by the patriarch Nicephorus. Me was an iconoclastic prince of the most pronounced type, and caused, so far as he was able, the adoration of images to be abolished by the second synod of Con stantinople in 815, and condemned to punishment those who persisted in it, with Theo- • dams Stndita at their head; exiling the patriarch Nicephorus for the same cause. The
weight of public sentiment was against him; his frequent changes in religious belief gaining for him the nickname of chameleon. In 814 he defeated the Bulgarians at ?es sembria. He arrested Michael, surnamed the stammerer, whom lie suspected of treason, notwithstanding his former valuable services, and condemned him to death; but on Christmas.morning in 820, while he knelt in the chapel of his palace, he was murdered by the adherents of Michael disguised as priests. Nicephorus, then in exile, exclaimed, "The church is freed from an enemy, but the state has lost an able prince." His reign is chiefly remarkable for the strict military discipline which was by him infused into the administration of the civil government.