Nikephoros III Botaneiates

Nikephoros III Botaneiates (; 1002–1081), Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates, was Byzantine Emperor from 7 January 1078 to 1 April 1081. He became a general during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos, serving with distinction during the Pecheneg revolt of 1048–1053. In 1057 he aided Isaac I Komnenos in overthrowing Emperor Michael VI Bringas, leading forces at the decisive Battle of Petroe. Under the Emperor Constantine X Doukas Nikephoros was made doux, first of Thessalonica and subsequently of Antioch. In the latter position he repelled numerous incursions from the Emirate of Aleppo. Constantine X died in 1067 and Empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa married Romanos IV Diogenes; Nikephoros, who had also been a candidate for Eudokia's hand and the position of emperor, was exiled and remained in retirement until Emperor Michael VII summoned him to serve as kouropalates and governor of the Anatolic Theme.

Having insulted Emperor Michael with overly frank appeals for help against the Seljuk Turks in Byzantine Anatolia, Nikephoros decided to protect himself from reprisals by seizing the throne. His military acumen and family renown won him strong support, and he took power in 1078 with the approval of the Byzantine Senate and the citizens of Constantinople. As emperor he faced numerous revolts, including those of Nikephoros Bryennios, Nikephoros Basilakes, and Constantine Doukas, as well as an attempted assassination by the Varangian Guard. Nikephoros performed many acts to increase his legitimacy and support, spending large amounts on donatives for the army and his supporters, forgiving all debt in arrears, and instituting minor legal reforms. Diplomatically, he secured the submission of Theodore Gabras and Philaretos Brachamios, governors of Trebizond and Antioch, respectively, who had become de facto independent of the Byzantine Empire.

In 1081, Alexios I Komnenos, sent to counter a Norman invasion, instead conspired to make himself emperor. He captured Constantinople on 1 April and arrested Nikephoros, who abdicated and became a monk in the Monastery of Peribleptus.

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 Nikephoross 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. Attaleiatess high opinion of Nikephoros was likely shaped by Nikephoros raising him to the rank of vestes, and by his benefiting from Nikephoross patronage. Much of Attaleiatess work is shaped by his personal opinion of contemporary events, such as his bias against Nikephoross 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, Attaleiatess 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 Pselloss 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 Nikephoross 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 Nikephoross last years in power and his subsequent exile to a monastery.

Nikephoros is briefly mentioned by John Skylitzes in his Synopsis of Histories, which covers the events of 811–1057, but is referenced far more in Skylitzess Continuatus. Although Skylitzes is a contemporary source, his Continuatus was written under Alexios, whom he is known to have favored; however, he generally follows the more objective account of Attaleiates, who was one of his main sources. Nikephoros Bryennius the Youngers Material for a History chiefly relies on the testimonies of his contemporaries, including his father, Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder, and Alexios himself; however, it also relies on the works of Attaleiates, Psellos, and Skylitzes. Nikephoros Bryennioss bias in favor of Alexios and against Nikephoros III is an inevitable result of being married to Alexioss daughter, and of the fact that his father was blinded by Nikephoros. These authors mostly cover the career of Nikephoros from his role in the Battle of the Zygos Pass in 1053 to his death.

William of Apulia, a Norman historian who wrote in the 1090s, mentions Nikephoros during his account of Robert Guiscard's invasion of the Byzantine Empire in 1081; as a foreigner, he was removed from the court politics of the Byzantine Empire, and thus provides a fair and objective view of Nikephoros. Nikephoros is also mentioned in the accounts of both Matthew of Edessa and Michael the Syrian, who wrote their chronicles several centuries after the events and are therefore quite objective in their treatment of Nikephoros, lacking political intrigue related to him. Michael is quite brief in his account of Nikephoros, but gives a balanced view – while he portrays Michael VII as incompetent and corrupt, he does praise Nikephoros as Attaleiates does. Michael's usefulness is limited by his brevity on the subject, although it is likely, based on the contents of his chronicle, that Attaleiates himself served as a source. Matthew's chronicle is longer, but clearly derived from the work of Psellos, as Matthew openly praises Michael VII while ridiculing Nikephoros, who he portrays as a hedonistic womanizer; ironically the exact accusation which Michael the Syrian makes against Michael VII.

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, Nikephoross grandfather Nikephoros and father Michael both served as commanders under Basil II () 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' 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 Nikephoross 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 () 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.

By October 1061 at the latest, Nikephoros was serving as doux of Thessalonica. The evidence for his time in Thessalonica comes from several surviving signed and dated documents from the Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos. The first of these is an engraphon dated to December 1061. It mentions that Iveron's abbot and two of its monks had delivered an order from Constantine X Doukas () to Nikephoros, doux of Thessalonica, in October (so Nikephoross tenure must have begun by then). The next two documents are a praktikon and a hypomnema both dated to August 1062. The praktikon still has a seal of Nikephoross attached to it, and all three documents also have Nikephoross signature. He misspelled his own name on all three.