Bardas Phocas the Younger

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Skirmish between the troops of Bardas Phokas and Bardas Scleros . Miniature from the Madrid illuminated manuscript of the Skylitz

Bardas Phokas ( Middle Greek Βάρδας Φωκᾶς ; * around 940; † April 13, 989 near Abydos ), called to distinguish it from his great-uncle the Younger of the same name , was a Byzantine patrician , general and usurper against the emperors Johannes Tzimiskes and Basil II.

Life

Bardas Phokas was a son of the Kuropalate Leon Phokas and nephew of the emperor Nikephoros II. When he was murdered in December 969, Bardas officiated in the east of the empire as Dux of Chaldia and Koloneia . The new emperor Johannes Tzimiskes removed him from his offices and banished him to Amaseia . From there Bardas fled to Kaisareia in Cappadocia in the summer of 970 , where he was proclaimed anti-emperor by his followers. His father Leon supported the rebellion from his place of exile, Lesbos , by trying to persuade the troops in the European part of the empire to apostate Johannes Tzimiskes. The uprising of the Phocades , however, was quickly put down. While his father was blinded , Bardas Phokas had to surrender to the general Bardas Scleros in Pisidia . On the orders of the emperor he was sheared to become a monk and exiled to Chios .

When, after Johannes' Tzimiskes death in 976, Bardas Scleros reached for the imperial crown in a large-scale rebellion, Bardas Phokas was recalled from exile by the regent Basileios Lakapenos , awarded the dignity of Magistros and as Domestikos der Scholen (commander-in-chief of the imperial troops) against the usurper sent into the field. The first two clashes on June 19, 978 at Pankalia near Amorion and in autumn / winter 978 at Basilica Therma on the theme of Charsianon , Bardas Scleros won, but in the third battle on March 24, 979 near Sarvenis , Bardas kept Phokas in a personal duel the upper hand. Scleros managed to escape to the Arabs and his rebellion collapsed.

After the victory, Bardas Phokas remained commander in chief of the Byzantine troops in Asia Minor, with whom he led three campaigns against the emirate of Aleppo between 981 and 985 . Soon after the deposition of Parakoimomenos Basileios Lakapenos by Basil II, Bardas was replaced as Domestikos of Scholen in the spring of 986 and sent to Antioch as governor . Against the background of the young emperor's serious defeat by the Bulgarians in August 986 at the Trajan Gate , Bardas Scleros reaffirmed his claim to the Byzantine throne after returning from his exile in Baghdad in the spring of 987. At the same time, Bardas Phokas revolted again. At a first meeting he offered his rival an alliance against Basil II and a partition of the empire, but then surprisingly captured him and arrested him in the fortress of Tyropoion .

On August 15 or September 14, 987, Bardas Phokas was proclaimed a basileus for the second time in Charsianon . With the support of King David II of Tao-Klardschetien, he conquered almost all of Asia Minor until he was captured on April 13, 989 on the Asian side of the Hellespont near Abydos by the army of Basil II. Again Bardas tried to win the duel, but this time he was less lucky: He died on his horse, apparently of a heart attack . The usurper's army was defeated, and his severed head was presented in Constantinople and then in Asia Minor.

Bardas Phokas' widow released Bardas Scleros, who only made peace with the emperor in October 989 and contractually renounced his claims to the throne. His older son Leon had to surrender in November 989 in Antioch on the Orontes ; He was exiled. His younger son Nikephorus was pardoned; he rose again in 1022 together with the general Nikephoros Xiphias in Cappadocia against Emperor Basil II.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Bardas Phocas the Younger
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bardas Phocas; Βάρδας Φωκᾶς (Middle Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine general and usurper
DATE OF BIRTH around 940
DATE OF DEATH April 13, 989
Place of death at Abydos