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Nikephoros Proteuon was suitable for this. And so a swift messenger was sent to Bulgaria to bring him from there; for at that time he happened to be girded with the command of Bulgaria. But those in service to the empress Theodora, having learned this (for Zoe had already ended her life), namely Niketas Xylinites, Theodore and Manuel, put her on a dromon, led her to the royal chambers of the Great Palace and proclaimed her autocrat. And so the emperor, having died on the 11th of the month of January, of the 8th indiction, in the year #22φξγʹ, received a common burial in the Mangana, while those around the empress sent and detained Proteuon in Thessalonica, and from there they took him away to the Thrakesian theme to the monastery of Kouzenos, and there they confined him.

Theodora, having taken over the ancestral empire, straightaway prosecuted all those who had planned for Proteuon to become emperor, 2.611 stripping them of their possessions and sending them into exile. She also promoted all her eunuchs to the highest offices, appointing Theodore as Domestic of the Schools of the east, and sending him to the east in order to hinder the incursions of the Turks, having removed the magistros Isaac Komnenos from the command of the army. For Monomachos had happened to have transported all the Macedonian forces to the east, having Macedonians as all their leaders, one of whom was Bryennios; for a story was current among the Turks that it was fated for the Turkish race to be destroyed by such a force as Alexander the Macedonian had when he destroyed the Persians. She also appointed Niketas as Logothete of the Drome, and Manuel as Drungary of the Watch. And on account of his great experience, she took on Leo the syncellus, called Strabospondylos, to manage public affairs, who had formerly served the emperor Michael. And so the affairs of the city were conducted in this way, but Bryennios, having heard of the emperor's death, set out with the Macedonians and came down to Chrysopolis. And the empress, because he had retreated without orders, arrested him, confiscated his property, and sent him into exile, and she prepared the army to turn back. So the empress, having lived through the whole of the 9th indiction of the year #22φξδʹ, 2.612 and around the end of the month of August of the same indiction, fell ill with an intestinal disease and died. Her eunuchs, along with the syncellus Leo, raised to the empress's throne, while she was still breathing her last, Michael the patrician, the Stratiotikos, a man originating from Byzantium, but simple and unadorned and occupied only with military matters since childhood and knowing nothing more, and already past his prime and having reached old age, for which inactivity is fitting, as the poet Archilochus declared. They did this so that he would have only the form and name of imperial power, while they themselves would manage public affairs as they wished and be masters of all, after he himself had first sworn an oath to do nothing ever without their opinion and will. When Michael was proclaimed emperor on the 31st day of the month of August, of the 9th indiction, Theodosios the proedros, son of the paternal uncle of the emperor Constantine Monomachos, learning of the proclamation and being terribly upset, and without deliberating or considering the difficulty and failure of the undertaking, nor what sort of die he was about to cast, having gathered his household members and slaves and others who served him, and many of his neighbours and some of his associates, as many as were rather fickle-minded, set out late in the afternoon from his 2.613 house (this is situated near the so-called Leomakellion) and proceeded through the main street as if to the palace, being indignant and vexed, and crying out about the injustice to those he met, as if he had been wronged in the extreme, and the empire

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ἐπιτή δειος εἰς τοῦτο Νικηφόρος ὁ Πρωτεύων. καὶ δὴ πέμπεται ταχυ δρόμος ἐν Βουλγαρίᾳ, ἄξων αὐτὸν ἐκεῖθεν· ἔτυχε γὰρ τότε τὴν τῆς Βουλγαρίας περιεζωσμένος ἀρχήν. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο γνόντες οἱ τῇ Θεοδώρᾳ τῇ βασιλίδι ὑπηρετούμενοι (ἡ Ζωὴ γὰρ ἤδη προκατέ στρεψε τὴν ζωήν), ὅ τε Νικήτας ὁ Ξυλινίτης, Θεόδωρος καὶ Μανουήλ, δρόμωνι αὐτὴν ἐμβιβάσαντες ἄγουσιν εἰς τὰ τοῦ μεγά λου παλατίου ἀνάκτορα καὶ αὐτοκράτορα ἀναγορεύουσι. καὶ ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ἀποθανὼν κατὰ τὴν ιαʹ τοῦ Ἰανουαρίου μηνός, τῆς ηʹ ἰνδικτιῶνος, τοῦ #22φξγʹ ἔτους, ἐν τοῖς Μαγγάνοις ταφῆς ἔτυχε τῆς τυχούσης, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὴν βασιλίδα πέμψαντες ἐπέσχον τὸν Πρωτεύοντα ἐν Θεσσαλονίκῃ, κἀκεῖθεν ἀπάγουσιν εἰς τὸ Θρᾳκή σιον ἐν τῇ μονῇ τοῦ Κουζηνοῦ, κἀκεῖσε περιορίζουσι.

Τὴν προγονικὴν δὲ παραλαβοῦσα βασιλείαν ἡ Θεοδώρα εὐ θὺς μὲν μέτεισι τοὺς ὅσοι βασιλεῦσαι τὸν Πρωτεύοντα ἐβουλεύ 2.611 σαντο, τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ψιλώσασα καὶ ὑπερορίσασα. προβιβάζει δὲ καὶ τοὺς εὐνούχους αὐτῆς ἅπαντας εἰς τὰς μεγίστας ἀρχάς, δομέστικον μὲν τῶν σχολῶν τῆς ἀνατολῆς τὸν Θεόδωρον προβαλο μένη, καὶ εἰς τὴν ἑῴαν ἐκπέμψασα ἐφ' ᾧ τὰς ἐκδρομὰς τῶν Τούρκων κωλύειν, τὸν μάγιστρον Ἰσαάκιον τὸν Κομνηνὸν μετακινήσασα τῆς στρατοπεδαρχίας. ἔτυχε γὰρ ὁ Μονομάχος διαπε ραιωσάμενος πάσας ἐν ἑῴᾳ τὰς Μακεδονικὰς δυνάμεις, ἀρχηγοὺς ἐχούσας ἅπαντας Μακεδόνας, ὧν εἷς ἦν καὶ ὁ Βρυέννιος· ἐφέρετο γὰρ ἐν Τούρκοις λόγος ὡς εἴη πεπρωμένον καταστραφῆναι τὸ Τούρκων γένος ὑπὸ τοιαύτης δυνάμεως ὁποίαν ὁ Μακεδὼν Ἀλέξανδρος ἔχων κατεστρέψατο Πέρσας. προεβάλετο δὲ καὶ λογο θέτην τοῦ δρόμου τὸν Νικήταν, καὶ δρουγγάριον τῆς βίγλας τὸν Μανουήλ. προσελάβετο δὲ διὰ πολυπειρίαν εἰς τὸ τὰ κοινὰ διοι κεῖν τὸν σύγκελλον Λέοντα τὸν λεγόμενον Στραβοσπόνδυλον, τὸν πάλαι τῷ βασιλεῖ Μιχαὴλ ὑπουργήσαντα. καὶ τὰ μὲν τῆς πόλεως ἐφέρετο τῇδε, ὁ δὲ Βρυέννιος τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐνωτισθεὶς θάνα τον, ἄρας μετὰ τῶν Μακεδόνων, κάτεισιν ἐν Χρυσουπόλει. καὶ τοῦτον μὲν ἡ βασιλίς, ὅτι ἀσυντάκτως ὑπεχώρησε, κατασχοῦσα δημεύει καὶ εἰς ἐξορίαν ἐκπέμπει, τὸν δὲ λαὸν ὑποστρέψαι εἰς τοὐπίσω παρασκευάζει. ὅλην οὖν τὴν θʹ ἰνδικτιῶνα τοῦ #22φξδʹ 2.612 ἔτους βιώσασα ἡ βασιλίς, καὶ περὶ τὰ τέλη τοῦ Αὐγούστου μηνὸς τῆς αὐτῆς ἰνδικτιῶνος εἰλεῷ νοσήματι περιπεσοῦσα ἀπέθανεν. Οἱ δὲ ταύτης εὐνοῦχοι σὺν τῷ συγκέλλῳ Λέοντι ἀναβιβά ζουσιν εἰς τὸν τῆς βασιλίδος θρόνον, ἔτι ψυχορραγούσης ἐκείνης, Μιχαὴλ πατρίκιον τὸν Στρατιωτικόν, ἄνθρωπον ἐκ Βυζαντίου μὲν ὁρμώμενον, ἀφελῆ δὲ καὶ ἀποίκιλον καὶ μόνοις τοῖς στρατιω τικοῖς ἐκ παίδων ἀπασχοληθέντα καὶ πλέον ἄλλο εἰδότα μηδέν, καὶ ἤδη παρηβηκότα καὶ τῆς πρεσβυτικῆς ἁψάμενον ἡλικίας, ᾗ τινὶ συμφέρειν τὴν ἀπραγμοσύνην Ἀρχίλοχος ὁ ποιητὴς ἀπεφή νατο. τοῦτο δὲ πεποιήκασιν, ἵνα σχῆμα μόνον καὶ ὄνομα αὐτὸς ἔχῃ τῆς βασιλείας, αὐτοὶ δὲ διεξάγωσιν ὡς βούλονται τὰ κοινὰ καὶ πάντων τυγχάνωσι κύριοι, ἐπομοσαμένου πρότερον καὶ αὐτοῦ μηδέν τι πρᾶξαί ποτε τῆς ἐκείνων δίχα γνώμης τε καὶ θελήσεως. Ἀναρρηθέντος δὲ τοῦ Μιχαὴλ αὐτοκράτορος κατὰ τὴν λαʹ ἡμέραν τοῦ Αὐγούστου μηνός, τῆς θʹ ἐπινεμήσεως, Θεοδόσιος πρόεδρος ὁ τοῦ πατραδέλφου τοῦ βασιλέως Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ Μονομάχου υἱός, πυθόμενος τὴν ἀνάρρησιν καὶ δεινοπαθήσας, καὶ μὴ βουλευσάμενος μηδὲ λογισάμενος τὴν τοῦ ἔργου δυσχερείαν καὶ ἀπότευξιν, μηδ' οἷον κύβον μέλλει ἀναρριπτεῖν, ἀνειληφὼς τοὺς οἰκογενεῖς καὶ δούλους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλως ὑπηρετουμένους αὐτῷ, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν γειτόνων καί τινας τῶν συνήθων, ὅσοι περ ἦσαν τὰς φρένας κουφότεροι, ἄρας περὶ δείλην ὀψίαν ἐκ τῆς 2.613 οἰκίας (κεῖται δὲ αὕτη περὶ τὸ λεγόμενον Λεωμακέλλιον) προῄει διὰ τῆς πλατείας ὡς εἰς τὸ παλάτιον, ἀγανακτῶν καὶ δυσχεραί νων, καὶ τὴν ἀδικίαν ὡς ἂν τὰ ἔσχατα ἠδικημένος πρὸς τοὺς πα ρατυχόντας ἐπιβοώμενος, καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν