Miliaresion - Romanus I, Constantine VII, Stephen and Constantine Lecapenus

Romanus I Lecapenus seized power as co-emperor in 920 after installing himself as father-in-law to the young Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, then methodically elevated his own sons — Christopher, Stephen, and Constantine — above the legitimate Macedonian heir in the succession order. This coin dates to the period after Christopher's death in 931, when Stephen and Constantine Lecapenus held the senior co-imperial positions ahead of Constantine VII, a humiliation the Porphyrogennetos endured for over a decade. The arrangement collapsed in January 945 when Constantine VII's allies helped him exile the Lecapenus brothers to a monastery, ending the usurpation without bloodshed.