Information about Emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates of the Eastern Roman Empire

Emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates of the Eastern Roman Empire (1002 - 10 December 1081)

Nikephoros III Botaneiates, Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates (Greek: Νικηφόρος Βοτανειάτης), was Byzantine emperor from 1078 to 1081. He belonged to a family claiming descent from the Byzantine Phokas family.

In 1078 he revolted against Michael VII and his finance minister Nikephoritzes. With the support of the Seljuk Turks, who provided him with valuable troops, he marched upon Nicaea, where he proclaimed himself emperor. In the face of another rebellious general, Nikephoros Bryennios, his election was ratified by the aristocracy and clergy, while Michael VII abdicated and became a monk. On 24 March 1078, Nikephoros III Botaneiates entered Constantinople in triumph and was crowned by Patriarch Kosmas I of Constantinople. With the help of his general Alexios Komnenos, he defeated Bryennios and other rivals but failed to clear the invading Turks out of Asia Minor.

In 1081 Nikephoros III was forced to abdicate in favour of the Komnenos dynasty, to which he was connected through the engagement of his grandson to the daughter of Alexios's older brother Manuel. The deposed emperor retired into the monastery he had endowed at the Church of St. Mary Peribleptos, where he died later the same year.

Emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates of the Eastern Roman Empire reigned in...
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