Nikephorus Basilakes

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Nikephoros Basilakes (also Basilakios , Middle Greek Νικηφόρος Βασιλάκης ; † after 1079) was a Byzantine general and usurper against Emperor Nikephorus III.

Follis des Nikephoros Basilakes (assignment uncertain)

Life

The Magistros and Protoproedros Nikephoros Basilakes officiated under Emperor Romanus IV (1068-1071) as Katepan of Theodosiopolis . In August 1071 he was involved with a contingent of Syrians and Armenians in the Byzantium devastating battle of Manzikert against the Seljuks . Like Romanos IV, Basilakes was captured by Sultan Alp Arslan and set free again after the conclusion of the peace treaty.

In 1077 the Dux of Dyrrhachion , Nikephoros Bryennios , with the support of his brother John, revolted against Emperor Michael VII and his powerful minister Nikephoritzes . Nikephoros Basilakes, who had initially secretly participated in the Bryennoi conspiracy, received the order from Nikephoritzes to put down the dangerous rebellion and to replace Nikephoros Bryennios as Dux of Dyrrhachion. The two generals met near Thessaloniki , but agreed on a common approach after a skirmish. Nikephoros Bryennios proclaimed himself the anti-emperor and brought almost all of Macedonia and Thrace under his rule by November 1077 .

In the turmoil of the throne in the spring of 1078 after the abdication of Michael VII, Nikephorus Basilakes behaved cautiously. In Thessaloniki he waited for the outcome of the power struggle between Nikephoros Bryennios and Nikephoros Botaneiates, who had also proclaimed himself emperor on January 7th. After Bryennios' defeat, Basilakes was in turn acclaimed as Basileus by the remaining troops of the Western Army . In a battle on the Vardar he was defeated by the young general Alexios Komnenos , whom Botaneiates had sent against him, and fled to Thessaloniki. While trying to prepare the city's Acropolis for a siege , he was arrested by his own soldiers and handed over to Nikephoros Botaneiates, who blinded him. His further fate is unknown.

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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 , pp. 86-87, No. 108.
  • Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , pp. 262-263.
  • Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 2: Baanes-Eznik of Kolb . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2008, ISBN 978-2-503-52377-4 , pp. 77-78.
  • Basile Skoulatos: Les Personnages Byzantins de l'Alexiade. Analysis Prosopographique et Synthèse (= Recueil de Travaux d'Histoire et de Philologie. Sér. 6, Vol. 20, ZDB -ID 437846-5 ). Nauwelaerts, Louvain-la-Neuve 1980, No. 84 (also: Louvain, Universität, Dissertation, 1978).
  • 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 , pp. 101, 145.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Nikephorus Basilakes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nikephoros Basilakios; Νικηφόρος Βασιλάκης (Middle Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine general and usurper against Emperor Nikephorus III.
DATE OF BIRTH 11th century
DATE OF DEATH 11th century or 12th century