Nikephoros III Botaneiates

Nikephoros III Botaneiates (Greek: Νικηφόρος Βοτανειάτης, romanized: Nikēphóros Botaneiatēs; 1002–1081), Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates, was Byzantine Emperor from 7 January 1078 to 1 April 1081. He became a general during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos, serving with distinction during the Pecheneg revolt of 1048–1053. In 1057 he aided Isaac I Komnenos in overthrowing Emperor Michael VI Bringas, leading forces at the decisive Battle of Petroe. Under the Emperor Constantine X Doukas Nikephoros was made doux, first of Thessalonica and subsequently of Antioch. In the latter position he repelled numerous incursions from the Emirate of Aleppo. Constantine X died in 1067 and Empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa married Romanos IV Diogenes; Nikephoros, who had also been a candidate for Eudokia's hand and the position of emperor, was exiled and remained in retirement until Emperor Michael VII summoned him to serve as kouropalates and governor of the Anatolic Theme.

Having insulted Emperor Michael with overly frank appeals for help against the Seljuk Turks in Byzantine Anatolia, Nikephoros decided to protect himself from reprisals by seizing the throne. His military acumen and family renown won him strong support, and he took power in 1078 with the approval of the Byzantine Senate and the citizens of Constantinople. As emperor he faced numerous revolts, including those of Nikephoros Bryennios, Nikephoros Basilakes, and Constantine Doukas, as well as an attempted assassination by the Varangian Guard. Nikephoros performed many acts to increase his legitimacy and support, spending large amounts on donatives for the army and his supporters, forgiving all debt in arrears, and instituting minor legal reforms. Diplomatically, he secured the submission of Theodore Gabras and Philaretos Brachamios, governors of Trebizond and Antioch, respectively, who had become de facto independent of the Byzantine Empire.

In 1081, Alexios I Komnenos, sent to counter a Norman invasion, instead conspired to make himself emperor. He captured Constantinople on 1 April and arrested Nikephoros, who abdicated and became a monk in the Monastery of Peribleptus.

The most comprehensive account of Nikephoros III's life and reign is The History, written in the 1070s by the Byzantine historian Michael Attaleiates and dedicated to Nikephoros himself. Attaleiates is the primary contemporary source for Nikephoros's reign and counters the narrative of Byzantine historian Michael Psellos's Chronographia, the only other contemporary source. Attaleiates highlights Nikephoros's achievements, often recording actions which no other source mentions, such as his eleven-day rearguard command after the Battle of Zygos Pass, to which Attaleiates dedicates several pages. Attaleiates's high opinion of Nikephoros was likely shaped by Nikephoros raising him to the rank of vestes, and by his benefiting from Nikephoros's patronage. Much of Attaleiates's work is shaped by his personal opinion of contemporary events, such as his bias against Nikephoros's predecessor, Emperor Michael VII Doukas.

The Battle of Manzikert in 1071 is mentioned only in a single paragraph by Psellos, who chiefly comments that Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes should have studied strategy better; however, Attaleiates devotes an entire chapter to the details of the decisive battle, including the events before and after the battle, while also giving his own commentary and anecdotes of the actions and mistakes which were made. Attaleiates is invaluable in providing an understanding of what the populace of the Byzantine Empire, outside of the nobles of Constantinople, thought of the Turkish invasion of Anatolia. These opinions explain why Attaleiates condemns Michael VII and praises Nikephoros to such a degree: in the view of the average Byzantine, Michael was primarily at fault for the loss of Byzantine Anatolia, Attaleiates's homeland, whereas Nikephoros, a fellow Anatolian, actively worked to prevent the further collapse of the Byzantine Empire.

Psellos's Chronographia is largely useless in understanding the life of Nikephoros; while he provides a contemporary source from the view of the Byzantine nobles, he is far from objective in his review of events, although his retelling of Michael's letter to Nikephoros is useful as it shares both Michael's and Psellos's opinion of the events. While Attaleiates generally provides a favorable account of Nikephoros, he does mention some of his failings, such as his defeat by the Oghuz Turks in 1063, whereas Psellos intentionally fails to mention several failings of Michael VII in his panegyrical chapter on him, including his loss of Anatolia to the Seljuk Turks and the debasement of currency which took place under him. The other main source for Nikephoros's reign is Anna Komnene's Alexiad, although she was born after the events, and the first sections of her account are generally derived from the writings of her husband Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger. She is also biased as a result of being the daughter of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who seized the throne from Nikephoros, causing the account to be from the view of Alexios's rise. While her narrative primarily focuses on the actions of Alexios, it does provide information on Nikephoros's last years in power and his subsequent exile to a monastery.

Nikephoros is briefly mentioned by John Skylitzes in his Synopsis of Histories, which covers the events of 811–1057, but is referenced far more in Skylitzes's Continuatus. Although Skylitzes is a contemporary source, his Continuatus was written under Alexios, whom he is known to have favored; however, he generally follows the more objective account of Attaleiates, who was one of his main sources. Nikephoros Bryennius the Younger's Material for a History chiefly relies on the testimonies of his contemporaries, including his father, Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder, and Alexios himself; however, it also relies on the works of Attaleiates, Psellos, and Skylitzes. Nikephoros Bryennios's bias in favor of Alexios and against Nikephoros III is an inevitable result of being married to Alexios's daughter, and of the fact that his father was blinded by Nikephoros. These authors mostly cover the career of Nikephoros from his role in the Battle of the Zygos Pass in 1053 to his death.

William of Apulia, a Norman historian who wrote in the 1090s, mentions Nikephoros during his account of Robert Guiscard's invasion of the Byzantine Empire in 1081; as a foreigner, he was removed from the court politics of the Byzantine Empire, and thus provides a fair and objective view of Nikephoros. Nikephoros is also mentioned in the accounts of both Matthew of Edessa and Michael the Syrian, who wrote their chronicles several centuries after the events and are therefore quite objective in their treatment of Nikephoros, lacking political intrigue related to him. Michael is quite brief in his account of Nikephoros, but gives a balanced view – while he portrays Michael VII as incompetent and corrupt, he does praise Nikephoros as Attaleiates does. Michael's usefulness is limited by his brevity on the subject, although it is likely, based on the contents of his chronicle, that Attaleiates himself served as a source. Matthew's chronicle is longer, but clearly derived from the work of Psellos, as Matthew openly praises Michael VII while ridiculing Nikephoros, who he portrays as a hedonistic womanizer; ironically the exact accusation which Michael the Syrian makes against Michael VII.