| Notes |
- Nicephorus II Phokas, Emperor of Constantinople was the son of Bardas Phokas.2 He married Theophano (?) after 963.2 He died between 10 December 969 and 11 December 1969, assassinated.1,2
He held the office of Governor of the Anatolikon Theme in 945.2 He succeeded as the Emperor Nicephorus II of Constantinople in 963.1
Citations
[S38] John Morby, Dynasties of the World: a chronological and genealogical handbook (Oxford, Oxfordshire, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1989), page 52. Hereinafter cited as Dynasties of the World.
[S130] Wikipedia, online http;//www.wikipedia.org. Hereinafter cited as Wikipedia.
Nikephoros II Phokas (Latinized: Nicephorus II Phocas; Νικηφόρος Β΄ Φωκᾶς, Nikēphóros II Phōkãs; c. 912 – 11 December 969) was Byzantine Emperor from 963 to 969. His brilliant military exploits contributed to the resurgence of the Byzantine Empire during the 10th century.
Early exploits Edit
Nikephoros Phokas was born in about 912 and belonged to a Cappadocian family which had produced several distinguished generals, including Nikephoros' father Bardas Phokas, brother Leo Phokas, and grandfather Nikephoros Phokas the Elder, who had all served as commanders of the field army (domestikos tōn scholōn). His mother, whose name is unknown, was a member of another powerful Anatolian clan, the Maleinoi.
Nikephoros joined the army at an early age. He was appointed the military governor of the Anatolikon Theme in 945 under Emperor Constantine VII. When his father was wounded in battle in 953, Nikephoros was promoted to supreme commander on the eastern frontier. In the war with the Abbasid Caliphate under Al-Muti, Nikephoros began with a severe defeat in 954, from which he recovered in the following years with victories in Syria, starting in 957.
From the accession of Emperor Romanos II in 959, Nikephoros and his younger brother Leo were placed in charge of the eastern and western field armies, respectively. In 960, 27,000 oarsmen and marines were assembled to man a fleet of 308 ships carrying 50,000 troops.[1][2] At the recommendation of the influential minister Joseph Bringas, Nikephoros was entrusted to lead this expedition against the Saracen Emirate of Crete. After a nine-month siege, Nikephoros stormed Chandax and wrested control of the entire island from the Muslims in 961. Upon returning to Constantinople, he was denied the usual honor of a triumph, permitted only a mere ovation in the Hippodrome.[3]
He soon returned to the east with a large and well-equipped army. In the campaigns of 962–963, he employed a brilliant strategy to conquer the cities of Cilicia and to advance into Syria. There he captured Aleppo, in collusion with his nephew, John Tzimiskes, but they made no permanent conquests. It was on these campaigns that he earned the sobriquet, "The Pale Death of the Saracens". During the capture of Aleppo, the Byzantine army took possession of 390,000 silver dinars, 2,000 camels, and 1,400 mules.
On 15 March 963, Emperor Romanos II died unexpectedly at the age of twenty-six of uncertain cause. Both contemporary sources and later historians seem to either believe that the young Emperor had exhausted his health with the excesses of his sexual life and his heavy drinking, or suspect Empress Theophano (c. 941–after 976), his wife, of poisoning him. Theophano had already gained a reputation as an intelligent and ambitious woman. She would later gain a reputation for ruthlessness in achieving her goals. Romanos had already crowned as co-emperors his two sons Basil II and Constantine VIII. At the time that Romanos died, however, Basil was five years old and Constantine only three years old, so Theophano was named regent.
Theophano was not allowed to rule alone. Joseph Bringas, the eunuch palace official who had become Romanos' chief councilor, maintained his position. According to contemporary sources he intended to keep authority in his own hands. He also tried to reduce the power of Nikephoros Phokas. The victorious general had been accepted as the actual commander of the army and maintained his strong connections to the aristocracy. Joseph was afraid that Nikephoros could claim the throne with the support of both the army and the aristocracy. Joseph's intrigues during the following months turned both Theophano and Nikephoros against him. Unknown to Joseph, Nikephoros was urged to seize the throne by his nephew John Tzimiskes, and he entered into negotiations with Theophano.
With the help of Theophano and the patriarch, Nikephoros Phokas received supreme command of the eastern forces and, after being proclaimed Emperor by them on 2 July 963, he marched upon the capital, where his partisans had overthrown his enemy Bringas. Thanks to his popularity with the army, Nikephoros II Phokas was crowned emperor by the side of Romanos's young sons on 16 August 963, and in spite of the opposition of the patriarch, he married their mother, the regent Theophano.
With unrest mounting around him, his second wife Theophano took as her lover Nikephoros II's nephew and general John Tzimiskes. Theophano and Tzimiskes would meet in secret and plot Nikephoros' death, with the plot eventually growing to include others – namely Michael Bourtzes (the disgraced commander who captured Antioch a few months earlier) and his servant Theodoros, Leo Balantes (who was ransomed by the emperor in 966) and Leo Pediasimos, one of Tzimiskes trusted retainers. On a blustery night, the conspirators went into the palace dressed as women. Nikephoros was warned that assassins were in the palace, and he demanded the palace be searched. The guards left the room of the empress unsearched, however, and the assassins avoided capture.[8] Later, when Nikephorus was asleep on the floor before the holy icons,[8] Tzimiskes and the others sneaked into his bed chamber, alarmed at first to find the bed empty (Nikephoros frequently slept on the floor). Aroused by the noise, Nikephoros rose just as one of the assassins swung his sword in an attempt to decapitate him. It struck him in the face, and he was then dragged to the foot of the bed, where Tzimiskes sat. Tzimiskes then shouted:
"Tell me, most senseless and malicious tyrant, was it not through my actions that you attained the heights of Roman power? How therefore did you pay no regard to such a good service? How, blinded by malice and madness, did you thus not hesitate to remove me, your helper, from command of the army?...."[8]
His head was cut off and paraded on a spike, while his body was thrown out the window. He was buried at the Church of the Holy Apostles, and John Tzimiskes became Emperor John I. An inscription carved on the side of his tomb reads: "You conquered all but a woman" (Ώ πλην γυναικός τα δ' άλλα Νικηφόρος).[9]
John Julius Norwich says "It was a honourable place; but Nikephoros Phocas, the White Death of the Saracens, hero of Syria and Crete, saintly and hideous, magnificent and insufferable, had deserved a better end".[10]
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912 - 969 (57 years)
[1, 2, 3] 
