Editing Constantine X Doukas

{{short description|Byzantine emperor from 1059 to 1067}}
{{redirect|Constantine Doukas}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox monarch
| name         = Constantine X Doukas
| image        = Constantine X full portrait.jpg
| caption      = Contemporary miniature of Constantine X, previously thought to be [[Alexios I Komnenos|Alexios I]]{{Sfn|Spatharakis|1976|pp=27–34}}
| succession   = [[Byzantine emperor]]
| reign        = 23 November 1059 –<br/>23 May 1067
| predecessor  = [[Isaac I Komnenos|Isaac I]]
| successor    = [[Eudokia Makrembolitissa|Eudokia]] (disputed) or [[Romanos IV Diogenes|Romanos IV]]
| spouse       = [[Constantine Dalassenos (duke of Antioch)|Delassena]]<br />[[Eudokia Makrembolitissa]]
| issue        = '''by Eudocia'''<br/>[[Michael VII Doukas]]<br />A son<br />Anne Doukaina<br/>[[Andronikos Doukas (co-emperor)|Andronikos Doukas]]<br />[[Theodora Anna Doukaina Selvo|Theodora Doukaina]]<br />[[Konstantios Doukas]]<br />Zoe Doukaina
| dynasty      = [[Doukas]]
| father       = Andronikos   Doukas
| mother       = 
| birth_date   = {{circa}} 1006
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1067|5|23|1006|df=yes}}
| title        = [[List of Byzantine emperors|Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans]]
| reg-type1    = {{nowrap|Co-emperors}}
| regent1      = [[Konstantios Doukas|Konstantios]]<br />[[Michael VII Doukas|Michael VII]]
}}

'''Constantine X Doukas''' [[Romanization of Greek|or]] '''Ducas''' ({{langx|el|Κωνσταντῖνος&nbsp;Δούκας|Kōnstantīnos Doúkās}}; {{circa|1006}} – 23 May 1067), was [[Byzantine emperor]] from 1059 to 1067. He was the founder of the [[Byzantine Empire under the Doukas dynasty|Doukid dynasty]]. During his reign, the [[Normans]] took over much of the remaining [[Byzantine Italy|Byzantine territories in Italy]], while in the [[Balkans]] the [[Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1301)|Hungarians]] occupied [[Belgrade]]. He also suffered defeats by the [[Seljuk Empire|Seljuk]] sultan [[Alp Arslan]].

==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.

==Family==
[[File:Constantine X and Eudokia in St. Demetrius' reliquary (detail).jpg|thumb|Constantine X and [[Eudokia Makrembolitissa]] in a reliquary of [[Demetrius of Thessaloniki]].]]
By his first wife, a daughter of [[Constantine Dalassenos (duke of Antioch)|Constantine Dalassenos]], Constantine X Doukas had no issue.{{Sfn|Norwich|1993|p=301}}

By his second wife, [[Eudokia Makrembolitissa]], he had four sons and three daughters:{{Sfn|Norwich|1993|p=301}}

* [[Michael VII Doukas]], co-emperor from 1060 and senior emperor after 1071.
* A son who died in infancy.
*Anne Doukaina, nun.{{Sfn|PBW|loc=Konstantinos 10}}
* [[Andronikos Doukas (co-emperor)|Andronikos Doukas]], co-emperor from 1068 to 1078.
* [[Theodora Doukaina Selvo|Theodora Doukaina]], who married [[Domenico Selvo]], [[Doge of Venice]].
*[[Konstantios Doukas]], co-emperor from 1060 to 1078, died in battle with the Normans in 1081{{Sfn|PBW|loc=Konstantinos 10}}
*Zoe Doukaina, who married [[Adrianos Komnenos]], a brother of Emperor [[Alexios I Komnenos]]. They had a son, Alexios, and two daughters, maybe named Anne and Alexia.{{Sfn|PBW|loc=Konstantinos 10}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Byzantine Empire}}
*[[List of Byzantine emperors]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|colwidth=20em}}

==References==
* {{citation|last=Finlay |first=George |year=1854 |title=History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires from 1057–1453 |volume=2 |publisher=William Blackwood & Sons}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Gauthier|first=Paul|date=1966|title=Monodie inédite de Michel Psellos sur le basileus Andronic Doucas|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rebyz_0766-5598_1966_num_24_1_1367|journal=[[Revue des études byzantines]]|volume=24}}
* {{cite book|title=[[Prosopography of the Byzantine World]]|publisher=[[King's College London]]|isbn=978-1-908951-20-5|editor-last=Jeffreys|editor-first=Michael|publication-date=2016|chapter=Konstantinos X Doukas|ref=CITEREFPBW|chapter-url=https://pbw2016.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/person/107528/}}
* {{Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium|article=Constantine X Doukas|url=https://archive.org/details/odb_20210521/page/504/mode/1up}}
* {{citation | last = Norwich | first = John Julius | year = 1993 | title =Byzantium: The Apogee | publisher = Penguin | isbn = 0-14-011448-3}}
*{{citation |last=Spatharakis|first=Ioannis|title=The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6BEVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA34|publisher=Brill|year=1976|isbn=9789633862971}}
* {{Polemis-The Doukai}}
* {{cite book|last=Psellos|first=Michael|year=c. 1080|url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/psellus-chrono07.asp|title=Cronographia|volume=7|author-link=Michael Psellos |ref={{sfnref|Psellos|1080}}}}

==External links==
* [http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/byz/constantine_X/t.html Coins of Constantine&nbsp;X Doukas]

{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[Doukas|Doukid dynasty]]||{{circa|1006}}|23 May|1067}}
{{S-reg|}}
{{Succession box
| title = [[List of Byzantine emperors|Byzantine emperor]]
| years = 1059–1067
| before = [[Isaac I Komnenos|Isaac I]]
| after = [[Romanos IV Diogenes|Romanos IV]]
}}
{{S-end}}
{{Roman emperors}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Constantine 10 Doukas}}
[[Category:11th-century Byzantine emperors]]
[[Category:Doukid dynasty]]
[[Category:1000s births]]
[[Category:1067 deaths]]