An early supporter of Isaakios’s rebellion who eventually sided with opponents of his reforms, Constantine Doukas nevertheless succeeded the former general through the intervention of Michael Psellos. After taking office, he returned to a modus ante quem by reopening the Senate, neglecting the military, debasing the coinage, and instituting heavy taxation in order to pay for lavish generosity to monasteries and individuals. Without imperial support the army was unable to fend off its growing number of enemies. In Italy the Normans, under Robert Guiscard, were moving against the Byzantine province, and in the Balkans Cumans and Uzes raided across the Danube, and the Hungarians conquered Belgrade. The greatest threat came from the East where the Seljuk Turks had conquered Mesopotamia and were moving into Armenia. In 1067 they broke through the Byzantine defenses, and advanced deep into Byzantine Asia Minor, sacking the important city of Caesarea. John Doukas, his brother, and the grandfather-in-law of Alexios I Komnenos formed a regency with the Patriarch John Xiphilinos during the period of Constantine’s serious illness of 1066/67, at the end of which the emperor died. Constantine’s poor governance provoked harsh judgment even from his benefactor Psellos, who otherwise spoke well of his character.
- Constantine X, issued 1065–67 (BZS.1958.106.4326)
Constantine was the first emperor to consistently depict himself full-length on seals since the second reign of Justinian II, at the beginning of the eighth century (there is one specimen of Isaakios full-length as well). The emperor is shown wearing a crown and loros and holding a labarum. Constantine preserved the obverse of Christ Emmanuel favored by his predecessors. A later design shows the first depiction of Christ enthroned to appear on imperial seals on the obverse, and the emperor, being blessed by the Mother of God on the reverse. This was the first time that a divine figure accompanied the imperial portrait on seals. In addition, although not appearing on his seals, several issues of coins depict Constantine with his wife, Eudokia Makrembolitissa, the first appearance of an empress on coins with her husband since Theodora with Theophilos in the first half of the ninth century. For the seals of Eudokia's family see the Doukas Dynasty in the Dynasties of Empire section.
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Romanos was outflanked in his short reign and in all parts of his life: in his family by his wife and the Doukas clan, in his governing by his own shortcomings in administration and authority, and, most importantly, in the field by the Turks at Mantzikert in 1071. Brought in to restore the army, Romanos's position was resented by the Doukas clan who felt he was an outsider, neglecting the rights of Michael VII. In order to protect the Byzantine possessions in Asia, he neglected Italy where the Normans under Robert Guiscard captured Bari, the last Byzantine town, in 1071. Romanos campaigned in 1068 and 1069 in eastern Anatolia and Armenia but was unable to prevernt he Turks from raiding into the empire. In 1071 Romanos confronted the army of the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan at Mantzikert in Armenia. His defeat and capture, for which a large amount of responsibility falls to Andronikos Doukas’s premature departure from the field of battle, led to his deposition in abstentia. The caesar John Doukas, brother of Constantine X and uncle of Michael VII, placed his nephew on the throne. Thereafter Romanos, though released from captivity by the Turkish Sultan Alp Arslan, was unable to regain his former place. The civil war was brief, and Romanos surrendered and was blinded on John Doukas’s orders.
Placed on the throne by his uncle, the caesar John Doukas, after Romanos IV’s defeat and capture at Mantzikert, Michael suffered by comparison with the strong figures around him. A student of Michael Psellos, he appears favorably in his Chronographia, but the reign was one of economic and military disaster. Although the defeat at Mantzikert was not the military catastrophe that it was once thought to be, the resulting civil wars, accompanied by the government in Constantinople's complete inability to resist Turkish incursions, resulted in the progressive loss of Asia Minor. Economically, the reign saw a rapid and deep debasement of gold, and the reduction of the measure of wheat (modios) by a quarter (para pinakiou), which effectively raised the price of wheat by a third. These economic changes attest to the high level of inflation in the 1070s, and earned Michael the nickname “Parapinakion.” His logothetes tou dromou Nikephoritzes took over the administration of the government, and is noted in sources as being fiscally severe. Michael's unpopularity and incompetence led to a number of rebellions, most notably by Roussel de Bailleul, Nikephoros Bryennios, and the future emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates, which left Michael besieged in the capital. The elderly Botaneiates was ultimately successful, and Michael abdicated and entered a monastery.
Niece of the patriarch Michael I Keroularios, Eudokia served as regent for seven months after the death of her husband Constantine X. In 1068 she married Romanos Diogenes, a member of the military aristocracy. It was hoped that under his leadership the empire would be able to resist the mounting pressure exerted by its enemies. After the defeat of Romanos at Mantzikert in 1071 and his subsequent release, Eudokia hesitated to accept him back as emperor. The decision was taken out of her hands by her brother-in-law John Doukas. John had Michael VII (Eudokia’s son by Constantine X) named autokrator, and made it known that Romanos’s claim was not to be recognized. Eudokia was shortly after confined to a monastery at Piperoudion.
John Komnenos Doukas was the son of Theodore Komnenos Doukas, first Emperor of Thessaloniki. When Theodore was captured and blinded by the Bulgarian tsar Ivan II Asen at the battle of Klokotnica in 1230, his brother Manuel seized the throne in Thessaloniki. In 1237 Ivan II Asen released Theodore, who chased his brother from Thessaloniki. He chose not to assume the imperial title himself, but crowned his son John as emperor. Theodore, however, controlled the state from his residence at Vodena in Macedonia. In 1242 John III Vatatzes of Nicaea advanced on Thessaloniki and captured Theodore. At this point John was persuaded to renounce his imperial title and accept the lesser dignity of despotes. John died two years later.
Vatatzes cultivated a close relationship with the German emperor, Frederick II, and negotiated with the papacy about the possibility of reuniting the Church. John was an able administrator and fiscal manager. He encouraged his realm to be self-sufficient, discouraging or banning Western imports, and encouraged his subjects to carefully manage their lands and farms. He led by example, demonstrating his success by buying his wife a jeweled crown from the proceeds of selling eggs. John died in 1254 and was remembered fondly by his people; the inhabitants of Asia Minor revered him as a saint soon after his death.