On JanuCE, Romanos married Eudokia and became emperor, promising to protect the rights of the Doukai princes, much like Nikephoros II Phokas promised to protect the Macedonian princes a century earlier. Given that the sources describe Romanos as handsome and muscular, it is even possible that Eudokia had fallen for the general. However, Eudokia and several of the judges thought they had found the emperor the Byzantine Empire needed. Romanos Diogenes was the doux, or duke, of Serdica, but he had plotted with Hungary and was sentenced to death. 1028-1034 CE) for conspiring with the then princess Theodora (later empress in her own right, r. Romanos was from a prominent military family, the son of Constantine Diogenes, who had been an important general before he was imprisoned by Romanos III Argyros (r. A general had to become emperor if the Byzantines would be saved from these dangerous menaces. The raids by Seljuk Turks intensified, and one marauding band under the Turkish general Afshin sacked the major central Anatolian city of Caesarea, and Byzantine defenses were still weak from Constantine’s stingy military financing policy. However, the pressures of rule caught up with Eudokia. 963-969 CE) from emerging as a ‘protector’ of his sons, which would be especially easy if someone married Eudokia.ĪLMOST EVERYONE ACCEPTED ROMANOS, BUT CONSTANTINE’S BROTHER, JOHN DOUKAS, SAW THE POTENTIAL DANGER TO HIS BROTHER’S DYNASTY. Constantine had ordered this to prevent a figure such as Romanos I Lekapenos (r. On Constantine’s death, Eudokia had sworn on the Trinity, prophets, apostles, saints, and everyone else who was Christian and holy that she would not even think about remarrying. However, Michael seemed to have had little interest in ruling and let his mother, Constantine‘s widow Eudokia Makrembolitissa, be the de facto ruler of the Byzantine Empire. 1071-1078 CE), was 19 and could have ruled in his own right. 1059-1067 CE) died, his sons were still young. However, in the aftermath of the Byzantine defeat at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 CE, the civil war that emerged between the treacherous Doukas family and Romanos distracted and greatly weakened the Byzantine army and allowed the Turks to invade and conquer the key Byzantine territory of Anatolia. He was a military emperor, and his policies and campaigns served to shore up Byzantine defenses against the Seljuk Turks. Romanos IV Diogenes ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1068 to 1071 CE.
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