Constantine X Doukas

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Constantine X Doukas
Theodora Doukaina
Konstantios Doukas
Zoe Doukaina
DynastyDoukas
FatherAndronikos Doukas

Constantine X Doukas

Byzantine emperor from 1059 to 1067. He was the founder of the Doukid dynasty. During his reign, the Normans took over much of the remaining Byzantine territories in Italy while in the Balkans the Hungarians occupied Belgrade. He also suffered defeats by the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan
.

Reign

A gold tetarteron of Constantine X

Constantine's parents are not mentioned in any primary sources,

Michael Psellos.[8] Isaac abdicated on 22 November and Constantine X was crowned emperor on the following day.[9]

The new emperor quickly associated two of his young sons in power,

Seljuk Turks and their Turcoman allies.[10] Undoing many of the necessary reforms of Isaac I Komnenos, he bloated the military bureaucracy with highly paid court officials and crowded the Senate with his supporters.[11]

His decisions to replace standing soldiers with mercenaries[12] and leaving the frontier fortifications unrepaired led Constantine to become naturally unpopular with the supporters of Isaac within the military aristocracy, who attempted to assassinate him in 1061.[7] He also became unpopular with the general population after he raised taxes to try to pay the army.[7]

At the very start of his reign, the

Asia Minor in 1064, resulting in the loss of the Armenian capital,[13] and by the Oghuz Turks in the Balkans in 1065,[14] while Belgrade was lost to the Hungarians.[15]

Already old and unhealthy when he came to power, Constantine died on 23 May 1067.[16] His final act was to demand that only his sons succeed him, forcing his wife Eudokia Makrembolitissa to take a vow not to remarry.[17] Both Michael and Konstantios were too young to rule, so Empress Eudokia ruled as de facto ruler until 1 January 1068, when she married Romanos IV Diogenes and crowned him emperor.

Family

Constantine X and Eudokia Makrembolitissa in a reliquary of Demetrius of Thessaloniki.

By his first wife, a daughter of Constantine Dalassenos, Constantine X Doukas had no issue.[18]

By his second wife, Eudokia Makrembolitissa, he had the four sons and three daughters:[18]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Spatharakis 1976, pp. 27–34.
  2. ^ a b c d e PBW, Konstantinos 10.
  3. ISBN 978-90-04-12097-6
    .
  4. ISBN 978-90-04-25249-3
    .
  5. ^ ODB, p. 504.
  6. ^ Psellos 1080, Constantine X, 21.
  7. ^ a b c d e Kazhdan 1991, p. 504
  8. ^ Norwich 1993, p. 337.
  9. ^ Gauthier 1966, pp. 156. "Polemis proposed the date 24 November 1059, [but] he was wrong by one day [...] These dates are confirmed by the Atheniensis graecus 1429, folio 45".
  10. ^ Norwich 1993, p. 341.
  11. ^ Finlay 1854, p. 17.
  12. ^ Norwich 1993, p. 339.
  13. ^ Norwich 1993, p. 342.
  14. ^ Finlay 1854, p. 27.
  15. ^ Finlay 1854, p. 24.
  16. ^ Gauthier 1966, p. 157–9.
  17. ^ Norwich 1993, p. 343.
  18. ^ a b Norwich 1993, p. 301.

References

External links

Constantine X Doukas
Born: c. 1006 Died: 23 May 1067
Regnal titles
Preceded by Byzantine emperor
1059–1067 		Succeeded by
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