Nikephoros III Botaneiates
In 1078, he played a crucial role in the marriage of Nikephoros III Botaneiates (r. 1078–1081) to the Empress Maria of Alania. The marriage was against canon law, as she was still married to the recently deposed emperor Michael VII Doukas (r. 1071–1078), but on the instructions of his grandfather the "Caesar", Michael procured a priest willing to conduct the ceremony. In 1081, when Alexios Komnenos rebelled against Botaneiates, Michael accompanied the "Caesar" to Alexios's camp at Schiza. There, they supported Alexios's candidacy for the Byzantine throne against his elder brother Isaac Komnenos. After Alexios's successful accession to the throne, Michael was rewarded with the title of "sebastos" and the office of "protostrator", one of the Byzantine Empire's highest military positions.