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12 Facts About Michael Dokeianos

1.

Michael Dokeianos, erroneously called Doukeianos by some modern writers, was a Byzantine nobleman and military leader, who married into the Komnenos family.

2.

Michael Dokeianos was recalled after being twice defeated in battle during the Lombard-Norman revolt of 1041, a decisive moment in the eventual Norman conquest of southern Italy.

3.

Michael Dokeianos is next recorded in 1050, fighting against a Pecheneg raid in Thrace.

4.

Michael Dokeianos was captured during battle but managed to maim the Pecheneg leader, after which he was put to death and mutilated.

5.

The family name of Dokeianos is considered to derive from Dok[e]ia in the Armeniac Theme.

6.

Michael Dokeianos is generally considered as the Dokeianos who married an unnamed daughter of Manuel Erotikos Komnenos and sister of the future emperor Isaac I Komnenos, probably ca.

7.

Michael Dokeianos is first mentioned in 1040, as protospatharios and doux, when he was sent to southern Italy to assume command of the local Byzantine province as Catepan of Italy.

8.

Michael Dokeianos hanged or blinded the ringleaders of the various revolts, but he failed to address the underlying cause, the widespread resentment at the oppressive taxation imposed by the Empire as part of the preparations for the Sicilian expedition under Maniakes.

9.

Michael Dokeianos offered the rule of strategic fortress of Melfi to the Milanese mercenary Arduin, with the title of topoteretes.

10.

Michael Dokeianos sought the aid of the Normans who had been established at nearby Aversa since 1030, and received a contingent of 300 men, upon a promise to share his gains equally with them.

11.

Michael Dokeianos himself fell from his horse during the battle and was almost captured, until rescued by a squire.

12.

Michael Dokeianos re-appears in 1050, when he held the titles of patrikios and vestarches, as part of an imperial expedition against the Pechenegs who raided Thrace.