Editing Isaac I Komnenos (section)

====Michael VI and the military leadership====
When [[Michael VI Bringas]] came to the throne in 1056, Isaac was chosen to lead a deputation of eastern generals to the new emperor. Michael VI engaged in mass promotions of individuals—in the eyes of the contemporary courtier [[Michael Psellos]], to an excessive degree—and the military sought to partake in the emperor's bounty.{{sfn|Sewter|1953|pp=209–210}}{{sfn|Wortley|2010|pp=450–451}} This was not a trivial matter: the [[debasement]] of the [[Byzantine currency]] under [[Constantine IX Monomachos]] ({{reign|1042|1054}}) had affected military pay—not coincidentally presided over by none other than Michael Bringas, who was then [[military logothete]]—and while civil officials were compensated by being raised to higher dignities (which commanded higher salaries, ''rogai''), the army was not.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=597}} This exacerbated the already simmering dislike of the military aristocracy for the "regime of eunuchs and civilian politicians" that had dominated the empire during the last decades of the [[Macedonian dynasty]].{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|p=217}}
[[File:Histamenon of Michael VI.jpg|thumb|295x295px|Gold ''[[tetarteron]]'' of Michael VI.]]
At Easter 1057, the traditional time when the emperor paid title holders their stipends, the delegation presented itself before the emperor. Along with Isaac, the delegation included the ''magistros'' [[Katakalon Kekaumenos]], who had just been dismissed as ''[[dux|doux]]'' of [[Antioch]]; the ''[[vestarches]]'' Michael Bourtzes, whose [[Michael Bourtzes|namesake grandfather]] had [[Siege of Antioch (968–969)|captured]] Antioch for Byzantium a century earlier; [[Constantine X Doukas|Constantine Doukas]], married to a niece of the [[Patriarch of Constantinople]] [[Michael Keroularios]]; his brother [[John Doukas (Caesar)|John Doukas]], a friend of Psellos; and others not explicitly named.{{sfn|Sewter|1953|p=210}}{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|pp=216–217}} As the historian Anthony Kaldellis comments, this was a formidable assemblage, as the families represented in it, all of them descended from military men promoted by the warrior-emperor [[Basil II]], would define "the future of the empire for the next thirty years, indeed for the next century and more".{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|p=217}} 

Psellos himself was an eyewitness at the reception of the generals' delegation, and claims that the emperor began abusing them at once; he then made Isaac, as the leader of the deputation, and his second, Kekaumenos, stand forth, and proceeded to denounce him, claiming that he was responsible for "all but losing Antioch" and "corrupting his army", being a coward and incompetent, and of having misappropriated army funds for his own use. [[John Skylitzes]], who wrote later in the century, reports that the emperor treated the generals courteously, but agrees that he refused outright to consider the honours they claimed for themselves, notably the promotion of Isaac and Kekaumenos to the rank of ''proedros''.{{sfn|Sewter|1953|p=210}}{{sfn|Wortley|2010|pp=450–451}} 

The effect of the emperor's attitude on the army leadership was profound, and turned them against Michael. A second delegation to the chief minister, the ''[[protosynkellos]]'' [[Leo Paraspondylos]], was received in similar manner, and according to Psellos Isaac could barely restrain his colleagues from attacking the emperor then and there, in his own throne room. At length, a plot was formed against the emperor, and despite Isaac's own reluctance, according to Psellos, he was nominated as its leader.{{sfn|Sewter|1953|pp=210–211}}{{sfn|Wortley|2010|pp=454–455}} 

The conspirators contacted the veteran general [[Nikephoros Bryennios (ethnarch)|Nikephoros Bryennios]], who had unsuccessfully tried to usurp the throne from Theodora{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|p=215}} but had recently been recalled by Michael VI as commander of the [[Macedonia (theme)|Macedonia]]n army, and he apparently agreed to support them. Soon after, however, Bryennios left with his troops for Asia Minor, to campaign against the Turks. Once in the [[Anatolic Theme]] he quarreled with the army treasurer, threw him in prison, and appropriated the funds to pay his soldiers as he saw fit. This was seen by another local commander as a sign of rebellion; Bryennios was arrested and [[political mutilation in Byzantine culture|blinded]].{{sfn|Wortley|2010|pp=454–455}}{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|pp=217–218}}