Nikephoros III Botaneiates

Historiography and sources

The most comprehensive account of Nikephoros III's life and reign is The History, written in the 1070s by the Byzantine historian Michael Attaleiates and dedicated to Nikephoros himself. Attaleiates is the primary contemporary source for Nikephoros's reign and counters the narrative of Byzantine historian Michael Psellos's Chronographia, the only other contemporary source. Attaleiates highlights Nikephoros's achievements, often recording actions which no other source mentions, such as his eleven-day rearguard command after the Battle of Zygos Pass, to which Attaleiates dedicates several pages. Attaleiates's high opinion of Nikephoros was likely shaped by Nikephoros raising him to the rank of vestes, and by his benefiting from Nikephoros's patronage. Much of Attaleiates's work is shaped by his personal opinion of contemporary events, such as his bias against Nikephoros's predecessor, Emperor Michael VII Doukas.

The Battle of Manzikert in 1071 is mentioned only in a single paragraph by Psellos, who chiefly comments that Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes should have studied strategy better; however, Attaleiates devotes an entire chapter to the details of the decisive battle, including the events before and after the battle, while also giving his own commentary and anecdotes of the actions and mistakes which were made. Attaleiates is invaluable in providing an understanding of what the populace of the Byzantine Empire, outside of the nobles of Constantinople, thought of the Turkish invasion of Anatolia. These opinions explain why Attaleiates condemns Michael VII and praises Nikephoros to such a degree: in the view of the average Byzantine, Michael was primarily at fault for the loss of Byzantine Anatolia, Attaleiates's homeland, whereas Nikephoros, a fellow Anatolian, actively worked to prevent the further collapse of the Byzantine Empire.

Psellos's Chronographia is largely useless in understanding the life of Nikephoros; while he provides a contemporary source from the view of the Byzantine nobles, he is far from objective in his review of events, although his retelling of Michael's letter to Nikephoros is useful as it shares both Michael's and Psellos's opinion of the events. While Attaleiates generally provides a favorable account of Nikephoros, he does mention some of his failings, such as his defeat by the Oghuz Turks in 1063, whereas Psellos intentionally fails to mention several failings of Michael VII in his panegyrical chapter on him, including his loss of Anatolia to the Seljuk Turks and the debasement of currency which took place under him. The other main source for Nikephoros's reign is Anna Komnene's Alexiad, although she was born after the events, and the first sections of her account are generally derived from the writings of her husband Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger. She is also biased as a result of being the daughter of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who seized the throne from Nikephoros, causing the account to be from the view of Alexios's rise. While her narrative primarily focuses on the actions of Alexios, it does provide information on Nikephoros's last years in power and his subsequent exile to a monastery.

Biography

Early life and family

Nikephoros was born in 1002 to Michael Botaneiates and his wife, members of the Botaneiates family, a prominent military family from the Anatolic Theme. According to Attaleiates, Nikephoros's grandfather Nikephoros and father Michael both served as commanders under Basil II (r. 976–1025) during his campaigns against the Georgians and his conquest of Bulgaria; Attaleiates is the only source which gives this information. Attaleiates also states that the Botaneiatai family was related to Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas and the Phocas family. This was almost certainly used by Nikephoros to add legitimacy to his later rule, and this is corroborated by Psellos, who calls Nikephoros III "Phocas" in his reproduction of Byzantine Emperor Michael VII Doukas's letter to him. Christian Settipani speculates that Nikephoros III's great-grandfather Michael married an unnamed daughter of Nikephoros II. At an unknown date, Nikephoros married a woman named Vevdene, but he later married Maria of Alania, the former wife of Michael VII. He seems to have had at least one child with Vevdene, as Anna Komnene mentions his grandson in the Alexiad. Little else is known of Nikephoros's life before 1053, other than that he served as a commander under Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos during the Pecheneg revolt of 1048–1053.

Early career

Nikephoros first attracts the attention of his Byzantine contemporaries and historians for his actions after the Battle of Zygos Pass in 1053. Attaleiates records that Nikephoros was able to wield effective command over his retreating mounted troops, preventing them from being overrun by Pecheneg forces during the Pecheneg revolt. Nikephoros ordered his cavalry to hold a tight formation, limiting the damage the horse-archers of the Pechenegs could inflict and deployed scouts to prevent his troops from being ambushed. During his maneuvering, the Pechenegs attempted to assault his troops and break their formation several times, but each time they were rebuffed. Nikephoros led his troops for eleven days in spite of constant harassment. According to Attaleiates, the Pechenegs attempted to convince the Byzantines to surrender and killed their horses with their bows when this failed. Nikephoros had them continue on foot and refused to flee when offered a horse, proclaiming he would prefer death to the dishonor of cowardice, which reinforced the morale of his troops. After eleven days of constant attacks, they reached the Byzantine city of Adrianople, where the Pechenegs finally gave up their pursuit. For his actions, Emperor Constantine IX awarded Nikephoros the high court rank of magistros. While it is possible that his actions were exaggerated by Attaleiates, it fits comfortably with his reputation as a strong commander.

Nikephoros is next mentioned for his role in the revolt of Isaac I Komnenos against the Byzantine Emperor Michael VI Bringas (r. 1056–1057) in 1057. This revolt was a result of Michael's favoritism toward the civil officials of Constantinople, and his scorn toward the military elites. After the Dynatoi were humiliated by Michael by his refusal to grant them any gifts, Isaac attempted to reconcile with Michael, only to be personally insulted by him, sparking a civil war, which is mentioned by Skylitzes, Psellos, and Attaleiates; Psellos himself led the embassy from Michael to Isaac. Isaac then gathered the support of other military elites before marching for Constantinople. At Constantinople, the Battle of Petroe took place on 20 August 1057, a decisive victory for Isaac, and reportedly one of the bloodiest battles the Byzantines engaged in during a civil war. Isaac's victory placed the military aristocracy firmly back in control and marked the first time a general had held the throne since the death of Emperor Basil II in 1025. Nikephoros led a wing of Isaac's forces during the battle, suggesting he had been a part of Isaac's inner circle; Skylitzes mentions that during this battle Nikephoros fought a duel against one of Michael's mercenaries, Randolf the Frank. In 1059, Isaac placed Nikephoros in command of the Danube frontier, where he remained until 1064. During his time at this command, he saved the life of the future Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes during Isaac's campaign against the Hungarians.

Later military career

Nikephoros was reassigned as doux of Antioch in c.1065 by Constantine X due to the mismanagement of the province by its previous doux, Nikephoritzes, who would later serve as logothetes under Michael VII. Although his troops were inexperienced and under-equipped, Nikephoros was able to repel numerous raids against Antioch from the Emirate of Aleppo, largely due to his own military prowess, his well-trained retinue, and his use of local levies. Nikephoros was relieved of his command in c. 1067, likely due to the political efforts of the civil officials, who wished to eliminate the military aristocracy, of which Nikephoros was a member. The political machinations of the civil officials, and their willingness to undermine the military elites, had built up under previous emperors such as Romanos III (r. 1028–1034) and Michael VI; during this period the civil officials had become increasingly powerful, until Isaac I's reforms definitively curbed their power. Constantine X had become emperor when Isaac abdicated in 1059 and was considerably weaker than Isaac had been, allowing the civil officials to manipulate him, thereby preventing him from gaining the level of control that Isaac had. This was largely accomplished by undermining the military aristocracy, even while the Turks had begun to invade Byzantine Armenia.

Upon the death of Constantine X in 1067, his wife, Empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa, considered taking Nikephoros as husband and emperor, but instead chose Romanos IV Diogenes (r. 1068–1071). The need for an emperor was made pressing by the constant raids of the Turks into the Byzantine territories of Antioch, Cilicia, and Armenia; Eudokia, Patriarch John VIII of Constantinople, and the Byzantine Senate agreed that their top priority was the defense of the empire and that they needed an emperor to lead troops to repel the Turks. Nikephoros was the favorite candidate of the senate, but was in the field leading troops in Antioch, and was still married to Vevdene. Romanos was already in Constantinople and had no wife, making him a much more suitable candidate; Matthew of Edessa also suggests that Eudokia already desired Romanos over Nikephoros. Upon taking power, Romanos exiled Nikephoros to his holdings in the Anatolic Theme and excluded him from the Manzikert campaign due to questionable loyalty, likely because he had been Eudokia's other candidate for the throne, and thus posed a threat to Romanos's rule. After Romanos was captured by the Seljuks at the disastrous Battle of Manzikert, Nikephoros did not involve himself in the coup d'état of Michael VII against the still-captive Romanos, and would not again lead troops until the uprising of the mercenary leader Roussel de Bailleul.

Revolt

Nikephoros, seeing how dire the situation of the Byzantine Empire was, sent a letter to Emperor Michael in 1077 pleading with him to address the rapidly worsening situation in Byzantine Anatolia. Michael was insulted by the directness of one of his subordinates, and turned against Nikephoros, forcing him to rebel against Michael to protect himself from imprisonment. Nikephoros declared himself emperor shortly after, on 2 July/October 1077, mobilizing an army of native troops and Turkish mercenaries. Michael sent Nikephoros a letter in which he reminded Nikephoros that he owed much to the emperor who had brought him out of exile. A month later, in November 1077, the general Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder raised his own revolt against Michael. The military acumen and family renown of Nikephoros (III) helped him to solidify his support base, and the tyranny of Michael ensured that even some of the elites of Constantinople sided with Nikephoros—something Attaleiates notes as being very rare, since generally people defect from the usurper's side to the emperor's side. The defection of some of the capital elites was even more astonishing because the march from the Anatolic Theme to Constantinople was not safe due to Turkish raids, which had reached deep into Anatolia by 1078, meaning that Nikephoros's rebellion might be destroyed before it even reached Constantinople. On 7 January 1078, the Byzantine Senate proclaimed Nikephoros III as emperor, although he was still far from the city. Michael's wife, Maria of Alania, seeing that Michael would soon be overthrown, defected to the side of Nikephoros. Michael VII abdicated after a popular uprising and was forced to become a monk on 31 March. Three days later, on 3 April, Nikephoros entered Constantinople and seized the throne. Upon taking power, Nikephoros married Maria of Alania, exiled Michael to a monastery, a common Byzantine practice for removing threats to the throne since the 7th century, and according to Michael the Syrian castrated Michael's son or sons. Michael the Syrian reports that castration of the sons was viewed poorly by the Byzantine nobility, possibly due to the brutality of the act, although he does not provide an in-depth explanation of exactly why the Byzantine elite opposed it.

Reign

During the reign of Nikephoros, he had to contend with four revolts and plots before the revolt of Alexios I Komnenos which ultimately ended his reign. The first revolt was that of Nikephoros Bryennios, who had contended for the throne of Michael VII at the same time as Nikephoros III; Nikephoros, now too old to command armies, sent Alexios Komnenos to defeat him. Once Bryennios was defeated, Nikephoros III had him blinded, but granted him and his partisans amnesty. The second revolt came from a supporter of Bryennios, Nikephoros Basilakes the protoproedros, rebelled in Dyrrhachium (modern-day Durrës) in 1078, but he was quickly defeated by Alexios, and similarly blinded. In 1079 the Varangian Guard attempted to murder Nikephoros during an evening inspection, but they were unsuccessful as Nikephoros was able to command his retinue and defend himself until his imperial guards could arrive to defeat the Varangians. Nikephoros had the ringleaders of the plot sent to remote forts and granted amnesty to the rest. Around this time, Michael of Nicomedia, the hypertimos (head of the imperial administration), who may be the same person as Michael Psellos, died in Nicomedia; it is not known if his death was related to the assassination plot of the Varangians.

Around the same time, Michael VII's brother Konstantios Doukas plotted against Nikephoros. Meanwhile, Nikephoros was planning to deal with Byzantine Anatolia, now practically overrun by the Seljuk Turks. Nikephoros hired mercenaries to strengthen his forces, as he viewed his native forces as being too little in number; however, the mercenaries were rowdy and disloyal. At one point Nikephoros had to personally address the mercenaries to attempt to make them cooperate. Konstantios Doukas's rebellion put an end to Nikephoros's eastern campaign, but Nikephoros was popular enough that none outside of the immediate army under Doukas joined him, allowing Nikephoros to quickly assemble an army of levies and his imperial guard to challenge Doukas. Nikephoros quickly sent emissaries to Doukas to inquire why he had rebelled and was able to persuade the soldiers under Doukas to surrender their general through an offer of amnesty; after Doukas was handed over to Nikephoros by his own troops, he was sent into exile at a monastery.

In 1078 the Paulician sect attempted to use the chaos of the rebellions of Bryennios and Basilakes and their growing popularity in the Balkans to rise up against Nikephoros; Leca the Paulician agitated against Nikephoros and attempted to convince the Pechenegs, with whom Basilakes had earlier attempted to ally, to invade Byzantine land. At the same time, Dobromir the Paulician stirred up a revolt in Mesembria, in co-operation with Leca, and began to pillage the surrounding areas. Leca and Dobromir soon abandoned their rebellion after they were informed that Nikephoros was quickly assembling an army to defeat them. Knowing their few loyalists would not be able to confront the Byzantine army, they begged Nikephoros for forgiveness, fearing that they would share the same punishment as Bryennios and Basilakes; Nikephoros showed mercy and granted them amnesty, along with both gifts and titles.