Editing Constantine X Doukas (section)

==Reign==
[[File:Constantine X Doukas tetarteron.png|left|thumb|160px|A gold ''[[tetarteron]]'' of Constantine X]]
Constantine's parents are not mentioned in any primary sources,{{Sfn|PBW|loc=Konstantinos 10}} but some scholars theorize that he was the son of Andronikos Doukas, a nobleman who served as ''[[strategos]]'' of [[Preslav]] during the reign of [[Basil II]] ({{reign|976|1025}}).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Magdalino |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CSZQ-VPFKoMC&pg=PA92 |title=Byzantinum in the Year 1000 |publisher=Brill |year=2003 |isbn=978-90-04-12097-6 |pages=92 |author-link=Paul Magdalino}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Madgearu |first=Alexandru |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=24S4DkCsjz8C&pg=PA89 |title=Byzantine Military Organization on the Danube|publisher=Brill |year=2013 |isbn=978-90-04-25249-3}}</ref> Historians often give his birthdate as {{circa}} 1006,{{sfn|ODB|p=504}} as he is said to have died aged "slightly over sixty years".{{sfn|Psellos|1080|loc=Constantine X, 21}}{{Sfn|PBW|loc=Konstantinos 10}} He was an academic, addicted to endless debates about philosophy and theology, and he gained influence after he married, as his second wife, [[Eudokia Makrembolitissa]], a niece of Patriarch [[Michael I Cerularius|Michael Keroularios]].<ref name="Kazhdan 1991, p. 504">Kazhdan 1991, p. 504</ref> In 1057, Constantine supported the usurpation of [[Isaac&nbsp;I Komnenos]], gradually siding with the court bureaucracy against the new emperor's reforms.<ref name="Kazhdan 1991, p. 504"/> In spite of this tacit opposition, Constantine was chosen as successor by the ailing Isaac in 1059, under the influence of [[Michael Psellus|Michael Psellos]].{{Sfn|Norwich|1993|p=337}} Isaac abdicated on 22 November and Constantine&nbsp;X was [[Coronation of the Byzantine emperor|crowned emperor]] on the following day.{{Sfn|Gauthier|1966|pp=156. "Polemis proposed the date 24 November 1059, [but] he was wrong by one day [...] These dates are confirmed by the ''Atheniensis graecus'' 1429, folio 45"}}

The new emperor quickly associated two of his young sons in power, [[Michael VII Doukas]] and [[Konstantios Doukas]], and appointed his brother [[John Doukas (Caesar)|John Doukas]] as ''kaisar'' ([[Caesar (title)|caesar]]), and also embarked on a policy favorable to the interests of the court bureaucracy and the church.<ref name="Kazhdan 1991, p. 504"/> Severely undercutting the training and financial support for the [[Byzantine military|armed forces]], Constantine X disbanded the Armenian local militia of 50,000 men at a crucial point of time, coinciding with the westward advance of the [[Seljuk Turks]] and their Turcoman allies.{{Sfn|Norwich|1993|p=341}} Undoing many of the necessary reforms of [[Isaac I Komnenos]], he bloated the military bureaucracy with highly paid court officials and crowded the [[Byzantine senate|Senate]] with his supporters.{{Sfn|Finlay|1854|p=17}}

His decisions to replace standing soldiers with mercenaries{{Sfn|Norwich|1993|p=339}} and leave the frontier fortifications unrepaired led Constantine to become naturally unpopular with the supporters of Isaac within the military aristocracy, who attempted to [[assassinate]] him in 1061.<ref name="Kazhdan 1991, p. 504" /> He also became unpopular with the general population after he raised taxes to try to pay the army.<ref name="Kazhdan 1991, p. 504"/>

At the very start of his reign, the [[Normans]] under [[Robert Guiscard]] completed the conquest of Byzantine [[Calabria]], but Constantine showed a resurgent interest in retaining [[Apulia]]. He appointed at least two [[catepans of Italy]] ([[Marules]] and [[Sirianus]]) and sent reinforcements on two further occasions (under "[[Miriarcha]]" and [[Michael Maurex]]). He also suffered invasions by [[Alp Arslan]] in [[Asia Minor]] in 1064, resulting in the loss of the Armenian capital,{{Sfn|Norwich|1993|p=342}} and by the [[Oghuz Turks]] in the [[Balkans]] in 1065,{{Sfn|Finlay|1854|p=27}} while [[Belgrade]] was lost to the Hungarians.{{Sfn|Finlay|1854|p=24}}

Already old and unhealthy when he came to power, Constantine died on 23 May 1067.{{Sfn|Gauthier|1966|p=157–9}} His final act was to demand that only his sons succeed him, forcing his wife Eudokia Makrembolitissa to take a vow not to remarry.{{Sfn|Norwich|1993|p=343}} Both Michael and Konstantios were too young to rule, so Empress Eudokia ruled as the ''[[de facto]]'' ruler until 1 January 1068, when she married [[Romanos IV Diogenes]] and crowned him emperor.