Nikephoros III Botaneiates - Reign

Reign

To solidify his position, on the death of his second wife Nikephoros III sought to marry Eudokia Makrembolitissa, the mother of Michael VII and the widow of Constantine X and Romanos IV. This plan was undermined by the Caesar John Doukas, and Nikephoros instead married Maria of Alania. They married in contravention of church canons, as Maria was still at that time, the wife of Michael VII who had entered the monastery of Stoudios. Nevertheless, Nikephoros did not recognize the succession rights of Maria's son Constantine Doukas, while his plan to promote his worthless nephew Synadenos as co-emperor exposed him to the suspicion and plots of the surviving portions of the Doukas faction at court. Nikephoros' administration did not win him much support, as his favored courtiers alienated much of the older court bureaucracy and failed to stop the devaluation of the Byzantine currency.

Almost immediately, the uprisings began. Apart from the discontent of the Byzantine aristocracy, several Armenian princes in Asia Minor attempted to establish their independence from the empire. Two Paulician leaders launched their own rebellion in Thrace, in a brutal religious conflict that was not easily suppressed. Consequently, Nikephoros became increasingly dependent on the support of Alexios Komnenos, who successfully defeated the rebellion of Nikephoros Basilakes in the Balkans (1079) and was charged with containing that of Nikephoros Melissenos in Anatolia (1080). The Byzantine Empire also faced foreign invasion, as the Norman Duke Robert Guiscard of Apulia declared war under the pretext of defending the rights of young Constantine Doukas, who had been engaged to Robert's daughter Helena. As Alexios was entrusted with substantial armed forces to combat the impending Norman invasion, the Doukas faction, led by the Caesar John, conspired to overthrow Nikephoros and replace him with Alexios. Failing to secure the support of either the Seljuk Turks or Nikephoros Melissenos (both parties being his traditional enemies), Nikephoros III was forced to abdicate in favour of the Komnenos dynasty, to which he was connected through the engagement of his grandson to the daughter of Alexios's older brother Manuel. The deposed emperor retired into the monastery that he had endowed, and died later the same year.