Nicephorus Phocas the Elder ( , - , ) - Byzantine commander of the late 9th century from the family. He fought in southern Italy, where his victories laid the foundation for the Italian catepanate and led to successful campaigns against the Arabs and Bulgarian king Simeon .
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Biography
Nicephorus was the son of the founder of the Fok family, a tourmarch from Cappadocia named Fok [1] [2] .
Nicephorus began his military career during the reign of Emperor Basil I , who reigned in 867–886. Probably at the same time when his father was appointed to the post of tourmarch (c. 872). Initially, Nicephorus was assigned to the guard corps and may have participated in the campaign of Basil against Samosata in 873 [3] . Shortly afterwards, at least until 878, Nicephorus was promoted to the rank of protostrator and strategist of the Harsian theme [3] .
Nicephorus made his name as a monostrateg in the wars against the Arabs in southern Italy ; he was appointed to this post at the end of 885 or after the accession to the throne of Leo VI the Wise in July 886. He commanded the forces of several Western Themes ( Thrace , Macedonia , Kefallia , Longobardia and Calabria ) before he was recalled to Constantinople , probably in 887 [3] [4] [5] . As a reward for his successes in Italy, he was promoted to patrician and appointed to the post of domestic schol, in fact the commander-in-chief of the Byzantine army [3] [4] .
Little is known about his activities over the next few years and before the outbreak of war with Bulgaria in 894 [3] . An undated report of a successful raid on the Arab lands of Cilicia, led by Nicephorus, probably refers to this period [6] . In 895, he was sent at the head of a large army against the Bulgarians. It is unclear whether Nicephorus participated in the battle with the Bulgarians, since the Byzantine-provoked invasion of the Magyars from the north and the hostilities of the Byzantine fleet on the Danube forced the Bulgarian king Simeon to ask for a truce; the Byzantines retreated [3] [5] .
This is the last campaign associated with Nicephorus Foca. Some chroniclers report that he died in the year 895/896. His death prompted Simeon to resume hostilities, which led to a crushing defeat at the Battle of Bulgarofigon [7] [8] . The later chronicle of the Continuer Theophanes tells another story, according to which Nicephorus was disgraced and dismissed after rejecting the proposal for a marriage with the daughter of the powerful Stylian Zauttsa . Then Nicephorus was appointed strategist of the Thracian theme . He died in about 900, fighting against the Arabs. This version is disputed by modern historians [5] [7] [9] .
By all accounts, Nicephorus Foka was a talented military leader. Leo VI praises his military talents in his Tactics [5] ; he is credited with inventing a weapon to fight cavalry during his campaign against the Bulgarians, consisting of a pointed stake pierced into the ground [7] .
Nicephorus was the father of Varda Foki the Elder and Leo Foki the Elder , both of whom became domestics of the schol. Through Varda, Nicephorus was the grandfather of Nicephorus II Foki , commander and emperor in 963–969, and Leo Foki the Younger [1] [2] .
Notes
Literature
- Guilland, Rodolphe. Le Domestique des Scholes // Recherches sur les institutions byzantines, Tome I: [] . - Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1967. - P. 426-468.
- Kreutz, Barbara M. Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries . - Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press., 1996 .-- ISBN 0-8122-1587-7 .
- Stankovic, Vlada Nikephoros Phokas (the Old) . Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor . Foundation of the Hellenic World. Date of treatment August 22, 2012.
- Tougher, Shaun. The Reign of Leo VI (886–912): Politics and People . - BRILL, 1997 .-- ISBN 978-90-04-10811-0 .