page_title: Constantine Doukas (usurper)
section_title: Attempted usurpation
hierarchical_section_title: Constantine Doukas (usurper) / Life / Attempted usurpation
caption_attribution_description: English: The coronation of the young Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos as Byzantine co-emperor in 908. Miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes chronicle. Ελληνικά: Η στέψη του Κωνσταντίνου Ζ' Πορφυρογέννητου ως συναυτοκράτορα το 908. Μικρογραφία από τη χρονογραφία του Ιωάννη Σκυλίτζη.
context_page_description: Constantine Doukas was a prominent Byzantine general. In 904, he stopped the influential eunuch court official Samonas from defecting to the Arabs. In return, Samonas manipulated his father, Andronikos Doukas, into rebelling and fleeing to the Abbasid court in 906/7. Constantine followed his father to Baghdad, but soon escaped and returned to Byzantium, where he was restored by Leo VI the Wise to favour and entrusted with high military offices. Upon the death of the Emperor Alexander, Constantine with the support of several aristocrats unsuccessfully tried to usurp the throne from the young Constantine VII, but was killed in a clash with supporters of the legitimate emperor.
context_section_description: Leo VI died in May 912 and was succeeded by his brother Alexander (r. 912–913), who reigned for little over a year before dying in June 913. Leo's empress, Zoe Karbonopsina, and his son and titular co-emperor, Constantine VII (r. 913–959), were sidelined during the reign of Alexander, who also restored Zoe's old adversary, Nicholas Mystikos, as Patriarch of Constantinople. Thus, at the death of Alexander (6 June 913), with Constantine VII not even eight years old, a power struggle ensued between Zoe and Patriarch Nicholas, who headed the regency council. It was at this point that Constantine Doukas launched a rebellion aiming for the throne. The Life of Euthymius hagiography, a source hostile to Patriarch Nicholas, reports that the Patriarch was also involved, although the other Byzantine sources include this as a widespread rumour rather than a fact. According to these sources, unaware that he would be appointed regent (Alexander named him to the regency council on his deathbed), fearful of losing his pre-eminent position, and anxious about the military threat posed by the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon, which required a more experienced hand at the helm of the state, the Patriarch summoned Doukas to assume the throne.
  Doukas, enjoying wide support among both the aristocrats and the populace, accepted the summons and headed to Constantinople with a few trusted friends. Barely three days after Alexander's death, he entered the capital in secret during the night through a postern on the sea walls, and hid in the house of his father-in-law, Gregoras Iberitzes, where he was soon joined by high-ranking courtiers such as the patrikios Constantine Helladikos. Already before dawn on the following morning, Constantine and his supporters, bearing torches, marched to the Hippodrome, joined along the way by a great multitude of people. Constantine was duly proclaimed emperor before the people at the Hippodrome, and headed in triumph towards the Chalke Gate of the imperial palace. After crossing the iron gate of the Chalke, however, at the hall of the Exkoubitoi, he was  opposed by the soldiers of the Hetaireia guard and armed oarsmen of the imperial fleet, assembled by the magistros John Eladas, a member of the regency council. A clash followed, in which many were killed, including Constantine's son Gregory, his nephew Michael and his friend Kourtikes. Disheartened, Constantine turned and tried to flee, but his horse slipped and fell. Constantine was killed by an arrow; according to the Life of Euthymius cursing the Patriarch Nicholas as he died. His head was cut off and presented to Constantine VII.
  The Life of Basil the Younger on the other hand reports a slightly different version, according to which the summons to Doukas were undertaken by the entire regency council, which proposed to Doukas to assume the governance of the state while Constantine VII would be limited to his ceremonial duties. According to this source, the proposal met with refusal from Doukas, and the regents had to send a second letter with their own enkolpia to persuade him otherwise. By the time he entered Constantinople, however, the regents had changed their minds and barricaded the palace against him. After his proclamation at the Hippodrome, Doukas resolved to besiege the palace, but finally tried to enter through the Chalke, while ordering his followers not to draw their swords so as to avoid bloodshed. There he was ambushed by archers placed by the regents, and killed along with a number of his followers.
  Numerous supporters of the usurper—800 according to the Life of Euthymius, over 3,000 according to the Life of Basil the Younger—were harshly punished; some were blinded and exiled, while others—including those who had sought sanctuary in the Hagia Sophia—were tonsured and confined to monasteries, while many of the common folk were affixed to stakes on the eastern shore of the Bosporus.
  Constantine Doukas' wife was shorn and exiled to her husband's estate in Paphlagonia and his younger son Stephen was castrated. Along with the deaths of Constantine's son and n
caption: The coronation of the young Constantine VII. Miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes chronicle
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