Nestor (rebel)
Nestor ( Middle Greek Νέστωρ ; † after 1074) was a Byzantine general and rebel against Emperor Michael VII.
Life
Nestor was supposedly of Illyrian (possibly Petschenegian ) descent and was believed to be a eunuch . He served as a slave at the court of Emperor Constantine X , where he rose to Vestarches , Praipositos and Patrikios .
Under Constantine's son Michael VII, an uprising broke out on the subject of Paristrion at an unspecified time between 1072 and 1074 , because the powerful minister Nikephoritzes , a rival of Nestor, had stopped making annual payments to the local Mixobarbaroi and the Pechenegs. Nestor was appointed Dux of Paristrion or Katepan of Dristra and entrusted with the restoration of government power in the city, whose residents had defected to the Pechenegs.
When Nestor discovered on the spot that the order was unfeasible in view of the hostility of the population and massive supply difficulties for his troops, and at the same time he learned that his possessions had been confiscated by Nikephoritzes in his absence, he decided to openly rebellion. He entered into a war alliance with the Petschenegian warlord of Dristra, Tatous (Tatrys) , and penetrated through the barely defended themes of Macedonia and Thrace as far as Constantinople . Remarkably, the rebels' demands were limited to the release of Nestor's intimate enemy, but Emperor Michael VII did not respond. Because their forces were insufficient to siege the heavily fortified capital, Nestor and his allied Pechenegs attacked the Thracian Raidestos and burned the main grain store there. The rebels then withdrew to Paristrion, which slipped out of imperial control for the next two decades. When and by what circumstances Nestor died is unknown.
swell
- Michael Attaleiates 205; 208
- Skylitzes Continuatus 166
- Johannes Zonaras 18, 17
literature
- Jean-Claude Cheynet: Pouvoir et contestations à Byzance (963-1210) (= Publications de la Sorbonne. Series Byzantina Sorbonensia. Vol. 9). Reimpression. Publications de la Sorbonne Center de Recherches d'Histoire et de Civilization Byzantines, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-85944-168-5 , p. 81 No. 102.
- Paul Stephenson: Byzantium′s Balkan Frontier. A Political Study of the Northern Balkans 900-1204. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2000, ISBN 0-521-77017-3 , p. 98.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nestor |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Νέστωρ (Middle Greek) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Byzantine general and rebel against Emperor Michael VII. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 10th century or 11th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 1074 |