Nikephoros III Botaneiates

Nikephoros Botaneiates rose as a general under Constantine IX, distinguished himself crushing the Pecheneg revolt of 1048-1053, and helped Isaac I Komnenos seize power at the Battle of Petroe in 1057. He governed Thessalonica and Antioch, holding off repeated raids from Aleppo, but when Constantine X died in 1067 and Empress Eudokia chose Romanos IV over him, he was exiled. Michael VII recalled him years later as governor of the Anatolic Theme; Nikephoros appealed too bluntly for help against the Seljuks, feared punishment, and seized the throne in 1078 with Senate and popular backing. His reign churned through revolts - Bryennios, Basilakes, Constantine Doukas, even an assassination attempt by the Varangian Guard - which he countered with donatives, debt forgiveness, and minor reforms. In 1081 Alexios Komnenos, sent to fight the Normans, turned his army on Constantinople instead, took the city on 1 April, and arrested the emperor, who abdicated and retired to the Monastery of Peribleptus.