Reign
During the reign of Nikephoros, he had to contend with four revolts and plots before the revolt of Alexios I Komnenos which ultimately ended his reign. The first revolt was that of Nikephoros Bryennios, who had contended for the throne of Michael VII at the same time as Nikephoros III; Nikephoros, now too old to command armies, sent Alexios Komnenos to defeat him. Once Bryennios was defeated, Nikephoros III had him blinded, but granted him and his partisans amnesty. The second revolt came from a supporter of Bryennios, Nikephoros Basilakes the protoproedros, rebelled in Dyrrhachium (modern-day Durrës) in 1078, but he was quickly defeated by Alexios, and similarly blinded. In 1079 the Varangian Guard attempted to murder Nikephoros during an evening inspection, but they were unsuccessful as Nikephoros was able to command his retinue and defend himself until his imperial guards could arrive to defeat the Varangians. Nikephoros had the ringleaders of the plot sent to remote forts and granted amnesty to the rest. Around this time, Michael of Nicomedia, the hypertimos (head of the imperial administration), who may be the same person as Michael Psellos, died in Nicomedia; it is not known if his death was related to the assassination plot of the Varangians.
Around the same time, Michael VII's brother Konstantios Doukas plotted against Nikephoros. Meanwhile, Nikephoros was planning to deal with Byzantine Anatolia, now practically overrun by the Seljuk Turks. Nikephoros hired mercenaries to strengthen his forces, as he viewed his native forces as being too little in number; however, the mercenaries were rowdy and disloyal. At one point Nikephoros had to personally address the mercenaries to attempt to make them cooperate. Konstantios Doukas's rebellion put an end to Nikephoros's eastern campaign, but Nikephoros was popular enough that none outside of the immediate army under Doukas joined him, allowing Nikephoros to quickly assemble an army of levies and his imperial guard to challenge Doukas. Nikephoros quickly sent emissaries to Doukas to inquire why he had rebelled and was able to persuade the soldiers under Doukas to surrender their general through an offer of amnesty; after Doukas was handed over to Nikephoros by his own troops, he was sent into exile at a monastery.
In 1078 the Paulician sect attempted to use the chaos of the rebellions of Bryennios and Basilakes and their growing popularity in the Balkans to rise up against Nikephoros; Leca the Paulician agitated against Nikephoros and attempted to convince the Pechenegs, with whom Basilakes had earlier attempted to ally, to invade Byzantine land. At the same time, Dobromir the Paulician stirred up a revolt in Mesembria, in co-operation with Leca, and began to pillage the surrounding areas. Leca and Dobromir soon abandoned their rebellion after they were informed that Nikephoros was quickly assembling an army to defeat them. Knowing their few loyalists would not be able to confront the Byzantine army, they begged Nikephoros for forgiveness, fearing that they would share the same punishment as Bryennios and Basilakes; Nikephoros showed mercy and granted them amnesty, along with both gifts and titles.
Another problem was the matter of the succession, as Nikephoros had no sons. His wife Maria initially hoped to persuade him to restore her son Constantine Doukas to the office of junior emperor and heir which he had held under his father Michael VII. Robert Guiscard therefore launched an invasion of the Byzantine Empire, using the broken betrothal as a pretext. Nikephoros refused, preferring a distant relative, Nikephoros Synadenos, of whom almost nothing is known other than that he later married a niece of Alexios. Maria and the Doukas family were dissatisfied with this decision, and secretly formed an alliance with Alexios and the rest of the Komnenos family.
Norman Duke Robert Guiscard of Apulia prepared to invade the Byzantine Empire in 1081 under the pretext of defending the succession of Constantine Doukas, who had been engaged to Robert's daughter Helena; at the same time, the Seljuks captured the town of Cyzicus. Alexios was entrusted with a substantial army to defeat the Norman threat but conspired with his relative John Doukas to instead take the throne for himself. Alexios raised a rebellion against Nikephoros and was able to quickly surround Constantinople and put it to siege due to the lack of a defensive army. Nikeophoros was unable to secure the support of either the Seljuk Turks or Nikephoros Melissenos, his traditional rivals, and thus was forced to prepare to abdicate. Nikephoros decided that his only choice was to abdicate in favor of Melissenos, who was nearby in Damalis in Anatolia, and sent messengers to him across the Bosphorus; however, these messengers were intercepted by George Palaiologos, a general of Alexios, who persuaded them to support Alexios. Alexios and his forces broke through the walls of Constantinople on 1 April 1081 and sacked the city; Patriarch Cosmas convinced Nikephoros to abdicate to Alexios rather than prolong the civil war. Nikephoros then fled to the Hagia Sophia and sought sanctuary inside of it. Michael, the future logothete of Alexios, then escorted Nikephoros to the Monastery of Peribleptus, where he abdicated and became a monk. He died later that year. Daniel Maynard comments that both Anthony Kaldellis and João Vicente de Medeiros Publio Dias tend to characterize Nikephoros's reign as part of the Doukas dynasty, with Kaldellis stating that "Botaniates' reign was basically an extension of the Ducas dynasty", and de Medeiros Publio Dias stating that "His government is normally only seen as a prelude to the important, but at the same time controversial rule of Alexios I Komnenos".
Nikephoros performed many acts to secure the support of the Byzantine populace, as he lacked the legitimacy of imperial succession as a usurper. He spent large amounts of money on donatives for his army and supporters, which severely sapped the imperial treasury, and distributed many titles to them; he also donated generously to charities. He returned the gold and silver ornaments that Michael VII had confiscated from the churches to fund his civil war against him. Whether or not these acts managed to gain the support of the people cannot be ascertained, as Nikephoros's reign was filled with revolts and political uncertainty; however, it can be assumed that he was determined to prevent the betrayal which many previous emperors had suffered, and as such freely handed out gifts and titles. Many of the reforms which Nikephoros enacted were more likely intended to solidify his tenuous hold on the throne, rather than for the security of the empire.
Nikephoros issued a chrysobull that forgave all debt which was in arrears in order to gain support and to attempt to remedy the debt crisis which had occurred under the Doukas dynasty; he also forbade creditors from demanding debt repayment before the terms of the contract stated, likely to improve the financial stability of the empire by preventing sudden impoverishment, and forbade creditors from seizing the property of their debtors in payment of debt after their debts were canceled. Attaleiates says that these laws "put an end to the fear of debt", which he said had been a source of much suffering for the Byzantine citizens under the Doukas dynasty.
Nikephoros may have revoked the edicts of Michael VII to secure more legitimacy and to reward the citizens of Constantinople who had supported him; one such measure involved the restoration of rights to owners of small jetties around Constantinople, allowing them to again use these ports, called skalai. Attaleiates states that Nikephoros "diligently attended the festivals of the capital and frequently bestowed gifts to his subjects", suggesting that Nikephoros did not hesitate to embrace the trappings of an emperor to ensure that he was viewed as the legitimate emperor rather than a mere usurper. Nikephoros worked to not only gain the favor of the masses, but also the previous dynasty, which Romanos IV had failed to do, leading to his downfall. He brought Eudokia Makrembolitissa out of her monastic exile and allowed her to live among her family, and may have attempted to make Konstantios Doukas his heir, likely in an attempt to appease the civil officials who he had just deposed. Additionally, succession was a strong concern, as Nikephoros was a widower, old, and childless in 1078. His marriage to Maria, the wife of Michael VII, and attempt to take Konstantios as his heir, show Nikephoros's determination to both secure his succession and restore stability to the empire. On the other hand, his refusal to name his stepson Constantine Doukas as heir, and preference for his own relative Synadenos, would later be cited as a factor in his downfall.
Attaleiates praised Nikephoros for his reforms to the legal code and his diligence in the performance of his imperial duties. Nikephoros presided over court cases and in his free time read books to improve his ability to judge cases. Nikephoros settled several pressing legal issues in 1079, first enacting a law regarding spousal insanity, the second increasing the time between sentencing and execution to thirty days to allow new evidence to be presented or the judge to review whether the crime merited capital punishment. Nikephoros also issued a law that extended the same legal rights and protections enjoyed by private servants to imperial servants. While the reforms of Nikephoros are quite minor, they provide insight into Nikephoros's desire to relieve some of the issues plaguing the Byzantine Empire and correct the rampant corruption of the Byzantine courts; that his reforms were quite minor is unsurprising in light of the fact that Nikephoros was nearly eighty and had to suppress several revolts and defend against the Turks in Anatolia.
The situation of Byzantine Anatolia worsened after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, as the Seljuk Turks began to take the Byzantine lands for themselves, rather than simply raid them. Theodore Gabras and Philaretos Brachamios, the governors of Trebizond and Antioch, respectively, had become separated from the rest of the Byzantine Empire as the Turks invaded other regions of Anatolia which were almost undefended, and thus became de facto independent of the Byzantine Empire. Nikephoros negotiated with Philaretos for the submission of his fief in 1078 and granted him the title of doux, leaving him the legitimate ruler of the newly returned Byzantine province. This reincorporation benefited the Byzantine Empire as Philaretos had been attacking some nearby Byzantine towns in order to incorporate them into his domain, dividing the Byzantines' focus upon the Seljuk Turks in the area. This successful negotiation may also have reflected the prestige of the Botaneiates family, as Michael Doukas had failed to negotiate a similar agreement with Philaretos because of Philaretos's dislike of the corrupt Nikephoritzes the Logothete. While a diplomatic victory, it did not effectively change the situation of either party, as Philaretos remained effectively independent, and Nikephoros had little to gain from reasserting control over the land. The only real success to come from it is that he may have gained legitimacy due to achieving something which his predecessor was never able to; that Attaleiates deigns to mention it as one of Nikephoros's successes lends credence to it largely benefiting only Nikephoros's legitimacy.
