Nikephoros I
Nikephoros I was a capable administrator and fiscally minded emperor who met one of the most dramatic deaths in Byzantine history - the only emperor to be killed in battle since Valens at Adrianople in 378. A former finance minister, he seized power in a bloodless coup against the unpopular Irene in 802 and set about reforming the empire's chronic financial problems. He raised taxes aggressively, including on the church, and compelled wealthy individuals to take on tax burdens - measures that earned him bitter enemies among the clergy and monastics. His wars with the Bulgarian Khan Krum were the defining crisis of his reign. After initial Byzantine successes, Krum inflicted a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Pliska in 811. Nikephoros was killed in the fighting, becoming the first emperor to die in battle in over four centuries. The Bulgarian khan reportedly had his skull lined with silver and used it as a drinking cup. His death plunged the empire into a fresh period of instability.
- Lived: 760 CE – 811 CE
- Nationality: byzantine
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state, administrator
