Romanos VI Melissenos

Romanos VI Melissenos (Greek: Ρωμανός Ϛ΄ Μελισσηνός, Rōmanos VI Melissenos, 13 April 1257, Philadelphia – 20 January 1313, Princes' Islands) was Byzantine emperor from 1292 until his overthrow in 1312. A Byzantine general and aristocrat, he firstly rose to the throne due to his marriage to Eudoxia Laskarina, Theodore II Laskaris' daughter, sharing joint rule with his grandfather and senior emperor Romanos V Melissenos from 1286 until the latter's death in 1292. To distinguish him from his predecessor, he is sometimes referred to as Romanos the Younger.
A deeply unpopular ruler at the time due to the means of his ascension, expansionist policy and heavy taxation of the Byzantine population, his reign nonetheless successfully oversaw the conclusion of the Anatolian reconquest, completing the process begun under the Komnenean Restoration. In spite of his military accomplishments, during his reign religious strife arose in the Byzantine Empire, as well as anti-Latin sentiments. His unpopularity ultimately led to his downfall during the 1312 Constantinople bread riots, when the local populace blamed him for the rise in grain prices. Romanos VI was deposed by his wife Eudoxia and their son Theodore III Laskaris in a bloodless palace coup and sent to monastic exile in the Princes' Islands, where he died the next year.
Category:Rulers