Constantine X Doukas
Constantine X Doukas was an aristocratic civilian who reversed Isaac Komnenos's military reforms and presided over a critical deterioration of Byzantine defensive capacity at precisely the moment when new and formidable enemies were pressing on every frontier. He favored civil servants over generals, reduced military expenditure, and alienated the military aristocracy whose cooperation was essential for the empire's defense. This was happening simultaneously with the rise of the Seljuk Turks under Alp Arslan, who began raiding deep into eastern Anatolia and Armenia from the early 1060s. The Normans under Robert Guiscard were meanwhile pressing hard on Byzantine possessions in southern Italy, and the empire lost its last Italian foothold, Bari, in 1071 - though that was after Constantine's death. Constantine X died in 1067 and left the empire in the hands of his wife Eudokia Makrembolitissa as regent for their young sons. She remarried rapidly, choosing the general Romanos Diogenes as emperor in an attempt to provide military leadership, a decision that led to the catastrophe of Manzikert. Constantine X's reign is remembered as a monument to the consequences of privileging civilian ideology over strategic necessity.
- Lived: 1006 CE – 1067 CE
- Nationality: byzantine
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state
