Nikephorus Diogenes

Nikephoros Diogenes ( Middle Greek Νικηφόρος Διογένης ; * 1070 in Constantinople ; † after 1094) was a Byzantine co-emperor from 1070 to 1071 and pretender to the throne against Alexios I in 1094 .

Life

Nikephorus was the youngest son of the Emperor Romanus IV. Diogenes and the Eudokia Makrembolitissa . He had an older brother Leon and at least one older half-brother on his father's side, Konstantin . Shortly after his purple birth , Nikephorus was made co-emperor ( Symbasileus ) . He moved up to an imperial college to which, in addition to his father and brother, the sons of Constantine X and Eudokias, Michael , Andronikos and Konstantios Dukas belonged.

When Romanos IV was overthrown after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, Nikephorus was still a toddler. At the instigation of the emperor Johannes Dukas , the new sole ruler Michael VII withdrew his imperial dignity and banished him to a monastery on the Bosporus together with his mother Eudokia and his brother Leon . Only Alexios Komnenos brought the two boys back to the imperial court in 1081 , while Eudokia voluntarily stayed in the monastery.

At a young age, Nikephoros Diogenes was appointed Dux of Crete by Alexios . Nevertheless, in contrast to his brother, he proved to be unreliable and soon sought the throne of Constantinople himself openly. At the beginning of a punitive expedition against the Serbian - Dalmatian Župan Vukan (Bolkan) of Raszien , who had invaded the issue of Bulgaria in the spring of 1094 , he attempted an assassination attempt on the emperor sleeping in the tent in the suburb of Daphnution , but took it at the last minute for fear of being discovered distance from the execution of the act. In a renewed attempted assassination in the house of Konstantin Dukas Porphyrogennetos near Serres , he was then overpowered with sword in hand.

After his arrest, Nikephorus revealed the Empress Maria as an accomplice of the plot, but she only approved Alexios' removal, not his murder. Because Nikephoros revealed numerous other co-conspirators, including prominent military officials, Alexios feared a rebellion of the troops in the event of a comprehensive, severe punishment. In order to set an example, he left it at that to blind Nikephorus as the head of the conspiracy . He withdrew from the imperial court to his private property and from then on devoted himself to scientific studies; According to Anna Komnena , servants had to read the scriptures aloud to the blind man.

swell

• Anna Komnena , Alexiade 4 , 106; 7 , 169-170, 174-176; 9 , 222-234
• Johannes Zonaras 18, 23

literature

• Alexander Canduci: Triumph and Tragedy. The Rise and Fall of Rome's Immortal Emperors. Murdoch Books, Sydney 2010, ISBN 978-1-74196-598-8 , p. 272.
• Jean-Claude Cheynet: Grandeur et décadence des Diogénai. In: Βασιλική Ν. Βλυσίδου (Ed.): Η αυτοκρατορία σε κρίση (;). Το Βυζάντιο τον 11ο αιώνα (1025-1081) . = The Empire in Crisis (?). Byzantium in the 11th Century (1025-1081) (= Ινστιτούτο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών. Διεθνή Συμπόσια . 11). Εθνικό Ίδρυμα Ερευνών (Ε.Ι.Ε.) - Ινστιτούτο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών, Αθήνα 2003, ISBN 960-371-020-2 , pp. 119-137.
• 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. 98-99, No. 128.
• Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY et al. 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 .
• 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, Leuven 1980, p. 146, (also: Leuven, Universität, Dissertation, 1978).

Web links

• Nikephoros Diogenes in the Prosopography of the Byzantine World