Basarab VII

Basarab VII was a Kosmokrator who reigned four centuries after the foundation of the Empire by his progenitor,Basarab I. Although his reign was not as calamitous as many that were to follow, Basarab VII is generally acknowledged by historians at the Emperor who proved to his subjects that, while the Imperial dynasty might have originated from a mythical hero, and been bolstered by enlightened rulers such as Basarab IV  and Basarab V, the twin reigns of Basarab the Proud and his brother Valens I showed that the Emperors might be good men, but they were only men, and that they received no greater guidance from the Archons than any of their subjects.

Despite the poor view in which Imperial chroniclers and his own successors viewed him, Basarab VII was originally a popular ruler. His father, Prince Basarab Michael, died from an illness, meaning that he succeeded his elderly grandfather, John III , while still a teenager. He spent a lot of time meeting the common people of Othery and traveled widely throughout the Empire - notably, he is the first Emperor known to have visited Prester, and a statue of him still stands on the harbourfront of Port Prester. He opened the Imperial treasuries, paying for the construction of new churches and castles, particularly in remote communities.

However, as his reign dragged on, poor administration, favouritism, and lack of foresight took their toll. He had a very contentious relationship with the Privy Council, summoning it, then dispersing it, then summoning it again, and he vaccilated between granting it extensive powers and then withdrawing them when the Council criticised the administration of his favourites. Although he was not personally corrupt, he actively shielded many of his courtly favourites who blatantly enriched themselves from Imperial sinecures. His marriage to a Sulinese noblewoman was a disaster and proved barren. Throughout these viccisitudes his younger brother, Prince Valens, frequently associated with his critics and took a leading role in several Privy Councils, with rumours of screaming matches inside the Imperial Palace between the two brothers frequently spilling out into the taverns of Othery.

Basarab VII's reign brought no great disaster, no massive revolt or catastrophic defeat. But a sense of malaise fell over the Empire, so that when he died, childless, in his late fifties, his brother and successor, Valens I, was greeted with great rejoicing. Despite their personal antipathy, Valens oversaw a lavish and solemn state funeral for his brother, and Basarab VII was interred in the Imperial Crypt according to the ancient custom of the Basarion Dynasty.

Although the grumblings and malaise of Basarab VII's reign pale in comparison to the civil wars and tyranny that blackened the records of the Imperial house in later centuries, he is still remembered poorly as the first Emperor who left the Empire worse than he found it. Some scholars at the Collegium of Othery and the Academy of Knagel have attempted a reappraisal and claimed that some of his personal initiatives to bring religious services to hitherto neglected rural communities were well thought out and timely, even they cannot deny that, while Basarab VII might have had some good ideas, he was not made to be an Emperor.