Heraclius.

This is coolbert:

Here is a man who is perhaps the archetype of the warrior/king? A man who gets very marks indeed from the military historian Trevor Dupuy! Heraclius [Hercules?], the emperor of Byzantium [610]!

A man, who, when beset by enemies from all sides simultaneously, was able to re-organize his army, almost singlehandedly, and then LEAD his troops, personal fashion, into combat. LEAD and emerge victorious against all odds.

[a man leading and fighting in the fashion of the English kings Arthur, Alfred, Henry, Richard.]

A man, also, establishing [this is disputed to some degree] an institutionalized legacy that enabled the Byzantines to last as a sovereign entity for eight hundred years longer.

According to Dupuy:

"Heraclius became emperor at Constantinople in 610, when it appeared that the Byzantine Empire was about to disintegrate from a combination of internal decay and corruption and apparently irresistible external threats from east [Persian] and west [Avars]. When he died thirty-one years later, he had eliminated both of the external threats and established a sound administrative system as a basis for a sturdy military organization and political region control. A new external threat [Muslim Arabs] had appeared, but the system bequeathed to them by Heraclius enabled his successors to hold that threat a bay for more than eight centuries."

Again, according to Dupuy, after re-organizing his defeated and dispirited army:

"[Heraclius began] six years of campaigning in which Heraclius fought the Persians across eastern Anatolia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Media, and Persia itself. He won battle after battle"

Also, NOT neglecting the Avar threat, Heraclius:

"supervise[d] the construction of new fortifications to cover the approaches to the city [Constantinople] from the north and west and to conduct occasional raids against the Black Sea coast of the Avar kingdom."

[make the enemy bleed, make him wonder where you are coming from, make him keep his head down!! - - G.S. Patton.]

Finally defeating an alliance comprised of Avars and Persians, "Heraclius supervised a series of campaigns that soon cleared the Avars from the region south of the Danube."

In response to yet one more threat [Muslim Arab], at a latter stage of his reign:

"Heraclius contented himself by organizing the security of Anatolia with the theme system, which was to become the basis for Byzantine military organization and regional governments for centuries to come." [this is disputed?]

Again, we find the history of the Byzantine gettidng short shrift by the scholars? NOT held in high esteem as it perhaps should be? Who else has never heard of Heraclius?

Heraclius was not only the archetype of the warrior/king, but he had outstanding intuitive military understanding of combined arms [navy/army] and how to keep the enemy off balance! And an excellent administrator to boot. Rare combinations to find all in one man!

AND, ONCE MORE, ALL THE WHILE PERSONALLY LEADING HIS TROOPS INTO COMBAT!! MOST SUCCESSFULLY SO!!

coolbert.