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Nicephorus I Logothetes (, 811 ) was a Byzantine Emperor ( 802 - 811 ). He was a native of Seleucia In Pisidia , who was raised by the Empress Irene to the office of '' Logothetes '' or lord high treasurer. With the help of the Patrician s and Eunuch s he contrived to dethrone and exile Irene, and to be elected emperor in her stead. His sovereignty was endangered by Bardanes Tourkos , one of his ablest generals, who revolted and received support from other commanders, notably the later emperors Leo The Armenian and Michael The Amorian . But Nicephorus gained over the latter two, and by inducing the rebel army to disperse achieved the submission of Bardanes, who was relegated to a Monastery . A conspiracy headed by the patrician Arsaber had a similar issue. Nicephorus, who needed large sums to strengthen his military force, set himself with great energy to increase the empire's revenue. By his rigorous imposts he alienated the favour of his subjects, and especially of the clergy, whom he otherwise sought to control firmly. In 803 and 810 he made a treaty with Charlemagne , by which the limits of the two empires were amicably fixed. Venice , Istria , the Dalmatia n coast and South Italy were assigned to the East, while Rome , Ravenna and the Pentapolis were included in the Western realm. By withholding the tribute which Irene had agreed to pay to Harun Al-Rashid , Nicephorus committed himself to a war with the Saracens . Compelled by Bardanes's disloyalty to take the field himself, he sustained a severe defeat at Crasus in Phrygia ( 805 ), and the subsequent inroads of the enemy into Asia Minor induced him to make peace on condition of paying a yearly contribution of 30,000 gold pieces. With the death of Harun in 809 , Nicephorus was left free to deal with the Bulgarian Khan, Krum , who was harassing his northern frontiers. In 811 Nicephorus invaded Bulgaria and this campaign drove Krum to ask for terms, but at the Battle Of Pliska on July 26 , Krum stood lucky exploiting the negligence of the much more powerful Byzantine troops who hadn't rearguard , to close the passages and trapping them in the hinterland of Bulgaria.Krum surprised and slew Nicephorus along with a large portion of the Byzantine army.Niceforus was the second Eastern Roman emperor who was captured by the enemy after Valens . Krum is said to have made a drinking-cup of Nicephorus's skull. External links References |