Nikephoros II Phokas
Nikephoros II Phokas | |
---|---|
Byzantine emperor | |
Reign | 16 August 963 – 11 December 969 |
Predecessor | Romanos II |
Successor | John I |
Born | c. 912 Cappadocia |
Died | 11 December 969 (aged 57) Constantinople |
Burial | |
Spouse | Theophano |
Dynasty | Phokas |
Father | Bardas Phokas |
Nikephoros II Phokas (
Early life and career
Nikephoros Phokas was born around 912. From his paternal side, he belonged to the
Nikephoros II Phokas | |
---|---|
Emperor of the Romans, Kallinikos | |
Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church |
Feast | December 11 |
Attributes | Imperial attire |
Patronage | Great Lavra of Mount Athos |
Early Eastern campaigns
Nikephoros joined the army at an early age. He was appointed the military governor of the
Conquest of Crete
From the ascension of Emperor
Later Eastern campaigns
Following the conquest of Crete, Nikephoros returned to the east and marched a large and well-equipped army into
Ascension to the throne
On 15 March 963, Emperor Romanos II died unexpectedly at the age of twenty-six of uncertain cause. Both contemporary sources and later historians seem to either believe that the young Emperor had exhausted his health with the excesses of his sexual life and his heavy drinking, or suspect that the Empress Theophano (c. 941–after 976), his wife, poisoned him. Theophano had already gained a reputation as an intelligent and ambitious woman. Unfavorable accounts of her by later historians would characterize her as a woman known for ruthlessness in achieving her goals. Romanos had already crowned as co-emperors his two sons Basil II and Constantine VIII. At the time that Romanos died, however, Basil was five years old and Constantine only three years old, so Theophano was named regent.
Theophano, however, was not allowed to rule alone.
Reign
Western Wars
Nikephoros II was not very successful in his western wars. Under his reign, relations with the
Nikephoros' first military failures came in
In 967, the Byzantines and the Fatimids hastily concluded a peace treaty to cease hostilities in Sicily. Both empires had grander issues to attend to: the Fatimids were preparing to invade
Eastern Wars
From 964 to 965, Nikephoros led an army of 40,000 men which conquered Cilicia and conducted raids in
In June 966, there was an exchange of prisoners between Sayf al-Dawla and the Byzantines, held at
In 967 or 968, Nikephoros annexed the Armenian state of
Civil administration
Nikephoros' popularity was largely based on his conquests. Due to the resources he allocated to his army, Nikephoros was compelled to exercise a rigid economic policy in other departments. He retrenched court largess and curtailed the immunities of the clergy, and while he had an
Nikephoros also disagreed with the church on theological grounds. He wished the church to elevate those soldiers who died in battle against the Saracens to the positions of martyrs in the church – similar to the status of "Shahid" which the Emperor's Muslim foes bestowed on their own fallen soldiers. In the Christian context, this was a highly controversial and unpopular demand.[29]
In 967, he sparked a controversy in the capital by making a display of his military maneuvers in the Hippodrome similar in style to those displayed by the emperor
Nikephoros was the author of extant treatises on military tactics, most famously the
Assassination
The plot to assassinate Nikephoros began when he dismissed Michael Bourtzes from his position following his disobedience in the siege of Antioch. Bourtzes was disgraced, and he would soon find an ally with whom to plot against Nikephoros. Towards the end of 965, Nikephoros had John Tzimiskes exiled to eastern Asia Minor for suspected disloyalty, but was recalled on the pleading of Nikephoros' wife, Theophano. According to Joannes Zonaras and John Skylitzes, Nikephoros had a loveless relationship with Theophano. He was leading an ascetic life, whereas she was secretly having an affair with Tzimiskes. Theophano and Tzimiskes plotted to overthrow the emperor. On the night of the deed, she left Nikephoros' bedchamber door unlocked, and he was assassinated in his apartment by Tzimiskes and his entourage on 11 December 969.[16] He died praying to the mother of God. Following his death, the Phokas family broke into insurrection under Nikephoros' nephew Bardas Phokas, but their revolt was promptly subdued as Tzimiskes ascended the throne.
Legacy
Contemporary descriptions
The tension between East and West resulting from the policies pursued by Nikephoros may be glimpsed in the unflattering description of him and his court by Bishop
Bishop Liutprand described Nikephoros as:
- ...a monstrosity of a man, a pygmy, fat-headed and like a mole as to the smallness of his eyes; disgusting with his short, broad, thick, and half hoary beard; disgraced by a neck an inch long; very bristly through the length and thickness of his hair; in color an Ethiopian; one whom it would not be pleasant to meet in the middle of the night; with extensive belly, lean of loin, very long of hip considering his short stature, small of shank, proportionate as to his heels and feet; clad in a garment costly but too old, and foul-smelling and faded through age; shod with Sicyonian shoes; bold of tongue, a fox by nature, in perjury, and lying a Ulysses.[34]
Whereas Bishop Liutprand describes the emperor's hair as being bristly, Leo the Deacon says it was black with "tight curls" and "unusually long".
John Julius Norwich says, about his murder and burial, "It was a honourable place; but Nikephoros Phocas, the White Death of the Saracens, hero of Syria and Crete, saintly and hideous, magnificent and insufferable, had deserved a better end".[35]
Descendants
During the last decades of the tenth century, the Phokades repeatedly tried to get their hands again on the throne, and almost succeeded when Nikephoros' nephew, Bardas Phokas the Younger, rebelled against the rule of Basil II. His death, possibly by cardiac arrest, put an end to the rebellion, and ultimately to the political prominence of the Phokades, although Bardas the Younger's own son, Nikephoros Phokas Barytrachelos, launched another abortive revolt in 1022 along with Nikephoros Xiphias.
Praecepta Militaria
Phokas was the author of a military manual, the Praecepta Militaria.[36][37]
Modern honours
On 19 November 2004, the Hellenic Navy named its tenth Kortenaer-class frigate in his honour as Nikiforos Fokas F-466 (formerly HNLMS Bloys Van Treslong F-824). Also, in the Rethymno regional unit in Crete, a municipality (Nikiforos Fokas) is named after him, as are many streets throughout Greece.
In popular culture
Nikephoros II appears as a character in:
- Frederic Harrison, Theophano: The crusade of the tenth century (1904). 978-1017148909
- Frederic Harrison, Nicephorus: A tragedy of New Rome (1906). 978-1290581578
- Anastasia Revi, Byzantium 00AD (Stage play 2000).
- Jonathan Harris, Theosis (2023). 979-8668071487
See also
References
- ^ Burke, John (2014). I. Nilsson; P. Stephenson (eds.). "Inventing and re-inventing Byzantium: Nikephoros Phokas, Byzantine Studies in Greece, and 'New Rome'". Wanted: Byzantium. The Desire for a Lost Emperor: 5–10.
- ^ Whittow 1996, p. 9.
- ^ Krsmanović 2003, Chapter 2: "The Maleinos lineage was among the members of the old byzantine aristocracy, emerging during the 9th century. It was a family of greek origin with close bonds to the region of Asia Minor. It has been presumed that the surname Maleinos is related to the name place Malagina of Bithynia, a location in the theme of Boukellarion during the 9th century. If one accepts that presumption, one should look for the old estates of the family in the fertile valley of the Sangarios river. It is safe, however, to consider the region of Charsianon as the homeland of the family, according to evidence dating back to the end of the 9th century, or the whole of Cappadocia in a wider sense. It is known that the members of the wealthy Maleinos family had estates in the area of jurisdiction of the theme of Charsianon, the wider region of Caesarea of Cappadocia and Ankyra of Galatia."
- ^ Kazhdan 1991, p. 1276.
- ^ Treadgold 1997, p. 495.
- ^ Norwich 1991, pp. 175–178.
- ^ McMahon 2021, p. 65.
- ^ Treadgold 1997, pp. 493–495.
- ^ Norwich 1991, p. 961.
- ^ a b Kaldellis 2017, p. 39.
- ^ Kaldellis 2017, p. 49.
- ISBN 978-1-4443-5997-8.
- ^ Kaldellis 2017, p. 41.
- ^ Treadgold 1997, pp. 498–499.
- ^ Whittow 1996, pp. 348–349.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-88402-324-1.
- ^ Kaldellis 2017, p. 56.
- ^ PmbZ, al-Ḥasan b. ‘Ammār al-Kalbī (#22562).
- ^ Brett 2001, p. 242.
- ^ Keller & Althoff 2008, pp. 221–224.
- ^ Treadgold 1997, p. 948.
- ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 278–279.
- ^ Treadgold 1997, pp. 500–501.
- ^ a b Fattori 2013, p. 117.
- ^ Fattori 2013, pp. 117–118.
- ^ Kaldellis 2017, p. 50.
- ^ a b Fattori 2013, p. 119.
- ^ Fattori 2013, pp. 120–121.
- ^ Kaldellis 2017, p. 52.
- ^ McMahon 2016, pp. 22–33.
- ^ George T. Dennis, Three Byzantine Military Treatises, (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2008), p. 139.
- OCLC 1041501028.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ H. Mayr-Harting, Liudprand of Cremona’s Account of his Legation to Constantinople (968) and Ottonian Imperial Strategy, English Historical Review (2001), pp. 539–56.
- ^ Liutprand of Cremona (968), Relatio de legatione Constantinopolitana ad Nicephorum Phocam
- ^ Norwich 1991, p. 210.
- ISBN 978-0-88402-224-4.
- ISBN 978-0-674-03519-5.
Sources
- Brett, Michael (2001). The Rise of the Fatimids: The World of the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the Fourth Century of the Hijra, Tenth Century CE. The Medieval Mediterranean. Vol. 30. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9004117415.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nicephorus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 647–648. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Dennis, George T. (2008). Three Byzantine Military Treatises. Washington, DC: ISBN 978-0-88402-339-5.
- Fattori, Niccolò (June 2013). "The Policies of Nikephoros II Phokas in the context of the Byzantine economic recovery" (PDF). Middle East Technical University.
- Garrood, William (2008). "The Byzantine Conquest of Cilicia and the Hamdanids of Aleppo, 959–965". Anatolian Studies. 58. British Institute at Ankara: 127–140. S2CID 162596738.
- ISBN 978-1138556430.
- ISBN 978-0-19-025322-6.
- ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
- Keller, Hagen; Althoff, Gerd (2008). Die Zeit der späten Karolinger und der Ottonen: 888–1024. Gebhardt Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte Band 3 (in German). Klett-Cotta. ISBN 978-3-608-60003-2.
- ISBN 978-0-367-36690-2.
- Kolias, Taxiarchis, "Nicephorus II Focas 963–969, The Military Leader Emperor and his reforms", Vasilopoulos Stefanos D. Athens 1993, ISBN 978-960-7100-65-8, (Worldcat, Greek National Bibliography 1993, Biblionet).
- Krsmanović, Bojana (2003). Φωκάδες. Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor (in Greek). Athens: Foundation of the Hellenic World.
- McMahon, Lucas (2016). "De Velitatione Bellica and Byzantine Guerrilla Warfare". Annual of Medieval Studies at CEU. 22: 22–33.
- McMahon, Lucas (2021). "Logistical modelling of a sea-borne expedition in the Mediterranean: the case of the Byzantine invasion of Crete in AD 960". Mediterranean Historical Review. 36 (1): 65. S2CID 235676141.
- Ioannes A. Melisseides & Poulcheria Zavolea Melisseidou, "Nikefhoros Phokas (El) Nikfur", ek ton Leontos tou Diakonou, Kedrenou, Aboul Mahasen, Zonara, Ibn El Athir, Glyka, Aboulfeda k.a. Historike Melete, Vol. 1–2, Vergina, Athens 2001, ISBN 978-960-7171-89-4(Vol. 2), (Worldcat, Greek National Bibliography 2001/2007/2009, Biblionet).
- ISBN 978-0-394-53779-5.
- Romane, Julian (2015). Byzantium Triumphant. Pen and Sword Books. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-4738-4570-1.
- Lilie, Ralph-Johannes; Ludwig, Claudia; Pratsch, Thomas; Zielke, Beate (2013). Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit Online. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Nach Vorarbeiten F. Winkelmanns erstellt (in German). Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter.
- ISBN 0-8047-2630-2.
- OCLC 1050969602.