Nicephorus Phocas was born sometime in the year 912 to the wealthy and aristocratic Phocas family of Cappadocia. The Phocas family was known as one of the most outstanding military families in all Byzantium, as well as the largest land-holding family in Cappadocia. His father was Bardas Phocas, who was Domestic of the East during the reign of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, but had retired in 942. Nicephorus succeeded him in the post.

Nicephorus, whose name means “Bringer of Victory”, proved to be a better general than his father was. Indeed, he was such an adept military leader that he was feared by the Moslem world as the “White Death of the Saracens.” To the Byzantines, he was respected as one of the empire’s greatest generals. He was known for his almost Cromwellian discipline, and was one of the most Puritannical leaders in all of Byzantine history. He didn’t drink, chase women, or even eat meat. When he was young he had been married to a woman whose name is unknown, and had a son named Bardas. Unfortunately, his wife had died, and Bardas was killed in a javelin-throwing accident, while practicing military tactics with a cousin. Nicephorus was so grieved by the deaths of his wife and son that he vowed never to drink wine, chase women, or eat meat for the rest of his life. He had even intended to enter a monastery, at the urging of his friend, St. Athanasius. However, his plans were changed by unfortunate events in Constantinople. One of his victories was over the city of Tarsus. Here is an old drawing of the inhabitants of Tarsus surrendering to him:

In 963, the reigning emperor, Romanus II, died. The empress, Theophano, was to have a tragic effect on the life of Nicephorus Phocas. The twenty-year old Theophano, was the mother of the four imperial children: the future Basil II Bulgaroctonus, the future Constantine VIII, the princess Theophano, who was to become the wife and Empress of the Western emperor, Otto II, and princess Anna, who was born just two days before Romanus II died.

Romanus II’s will had left the care of Theophano and the children in the care of a court eunuch, Joseph Bringas, who hated the Phocas family. Theophano distrusted Bringas, and thought he might wish to get rid of herself and her children, because, although, as a eunuch, he couldn’t inherit the throne himself, he could put anyone he wanted to on the throne. Therefore, she decided to send an appeal to Nicephorus Phocas, who had now become the most popular man in the empire, thanks to his military victories, and who was with the army on the frontier, to come and protect herself and her children. Nicephorus came, and was given a triumphal parade for his military victories. He also had secret negotiations with Theophano about seizing the imperial throne from Bringas’s control. After much consultation, it was agreed that the widowed fifty-one year-old, Nicephorus would marry the widowed twenty-year-old Theophano, and become Emperor Nicephorus II. Theophano would still be empress, and her minor sons, Basil II and Constantine VIII, the legitimate heirs, would be co-emperors with Nicephorus. This would prove to be one of the most tragic arrangements in Byzantine history.

The six-year reign of Nicephorus II was one of the stormiest in Byzantine history. Nicephorus continued his military successes after he became emperor, and they were celebrated in a poem by a later Byzantine poet, John Geometres:

Other events in Nicephorus’s reign included the debasement of the bezant, the Byzantine coinage that was recognized throughout the then-known world, and the founding of a monastery of the Great Lavra on Mount Athos in Greece, which is still in use today.

The most famous event of Nicephorus II’s reign, however, was the embassy of Liutprand, or Liudprand of Cremona, ambassador of Otto I of Germany in 968. Liutprand’s misson to Constantinople was for the purpose of securing the betrothal of one of the young Byzantine princess to the young prince Otto II. Byzantine diplomats were known to be the finest in the world, but Nicephorus II was one of the worst diplomats in Byzantine history. Liutprand‘s account of his discourteous treatment at Nicephorus’s court, and the subsequent breakdown of the marriage negotiations with no real settlement, was recorded by Liutprand in the most anti-imperial document since Procopius’s secret history criticized Justinian and Theodora’s reign in the 500’s. The lengthy account of Liutprand's embassy to Constantinople in 968 can be found here:

Meanwhile, back at the palace, Theophano was intriguing to murder Nicephorus and place her lover, John Tzimisces on the throne. Nicephorus and Theophano had never really gotten along, and even though Nicephorus loved Theophano and had given her everything she asked for in jewels, money, palaces, etc., she never really cared for him, and the clash between his ascetic personality and her romantic personality doomed the marriage from the start. There was also a thirty-year age difference between them. Theophano loved intrigue, and found a willing co-conspirator in John Tzimisces, the hansome, dashing, forty-five year-old widowed nephew of Nicephorus. Nicephorus had heard rumors of a plot to overthrow him, and had banished John to his estates in Asia Minor across the Bosphorus from Constantinople. John and Theophano were determined to kill Nicephorus, however, and made secret arrangements to have John and some accomplices rowed across the Bosphorus on the night of December 10/11, 969, to murder Nicephorus.

The night of December 10, a strong snow and windstorm was blowing and the murderers finally succeeded in rowing across the Bosphorus after much difficulty. They then climbed up the walls of the Bucoleon Palace by ropes, where they knew Nicephorus was living at the time. Here is a reproduction of what the Bucoleon Palace probably looked like:

Once on the roof, the murderers descended through the labyrinthine corridors of the palace to the imperial bedchamber. They panicked when they didn’t find Nicephorus there, but searched the imperial chamber and finally found the emperor sleeping on the floor in an adjoining room on a panther-skin rug in front of the fire. The murderers stabbed and beat him to death and cut off his head and threw it out into the snow. John Tzimisces put on the imperial purple shoes, the mark of the reigning emperor, and was acclaimed Emperor John I Tzimisces the next day.

Theophano, who had expected to marry John after the murder of Nicephorus, was not destined to marry a third Byzantine emperor. Her plan backfired when John, in fear of his own life due to Theophano’s intriguiging nature, exiled her from Constantinople, and married Theodora, the daughter of the former emperor, Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus instead. Theophano mysteriously disappeared from history after this, and the date of her death is not even known.

Nicephorus II's murder was remembered in a famous poem by a man named John who was Metropolitan of Meitene:

Although he was “conqueror of all but a woman”, Nicephorus’s military victories were long-remembered, and on one occasion in later centuries, people went to his tomb and implored Nicephorus’s ghost to come and defend Constantinople from its enemies. His reign is best remembered in another poem by John Geometres:

Nicephorus is still considered one of the greatest warrior-emperors in Byzantine history, along with John I Tzimisces, and Basil II Bulgaroctonus, who finally succeeded to his rightful throne after John I’s six-year reign ended in 976.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Jenkins, Romilly. "Byzantium: the Imperial Centuries, 610—1071." N. Y.: Barnes and Noble, 1966.

McGeer, Eric. "Sowing the Dragon’s Teeth: Byzantine Warfare In the Tenth Century." Washington, D. C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1995.

Norwich, John Julius. "Byzantium: The Apogee." N. Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.

Ostrogorsky, George. "A History of the Byzantine State and Society." N. J.: Rutgers, 1957.

Treadgold, Warren."A History of the Byzantine State and Society." Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.