A treaty between Charlemagne and Nicephorus (81o) recognized the Venetians as subjects of the Eastern empire, while preserving to them the trading rights on the mainland of Italy which they had acquired under Liutprand.
According to the traditional account he was flayed alive and then crucified with his head downwards, at Albanopolis in Armenia, or, according to Nicephorus, at Urbanopolis in Cilicia.
After their father's death (963) he and his younger brother Constantine were nominal emperors during the actual reigns of Nicephorus Phocas, their stepfather, and John Tzimisces.
At the great ecumenical council held at Constantinople in 381, he was a conspicuous champion of the orthodox faith; according to Nicephorus, indeed, the additions made to the Nicene creed were entirely due to his suggestion, but this statement is of doubtful authority.
But it seems to have been large at first, for according to Nicephorus it consisted of 1400 stichs.
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.
But Nicephorus, profiting by serious disturbances in Khorasan, broke the treaty again, and overran the country as far as Anazarba and Kanisat as-sauda ("the black church") on the frontier, where he took many prisoners, who were, however, recovered by the garrison of Mopsuestia.
By the death of Harun in 809, Nicephorus was left free to deal with the Bulgarian king, Krum, who was harassing his northern frontiers.
By withholding the tribute which Irene had agreed to pay to Harun al-Rashid, Nicephorus committed himself to a war with the Saracens.
Cedrenus and Nicephorus err in dating Abyssinian Christianity from Justinian, c. 542.
During this time the throne was seriously endangered by the rebellion of an ambitious general who aspired to play the part of Nicephorus Phocas or Tzimisces.
Having married an accomplished young nobleman, Nicephorus Bryennius, she united with the empress Irene in a vain attempt to prevail upon her father during his last illness to disinherit his son and give the crown to her husband.
He entered Asia Minor and took Heraclea, plundering and burning along his whole line of march, till Nicephorus, in alarm, sued for peace.
He was frequently employed in missions to the pope, and in 968 to Constantinople to demand for the younger Otto (afterwards Otto II.) the hand of Theophano, daughter of the emperor Nicephorus Phocas.
Hence it was easy for Suleiman, the son of Kutulmish, 3 the son of Arslan Pigu (Israil), to penetrate as far as the Hellespont, the more so as after the captivity of Romanus two rivals, Nicephorus Bryennius in Asia and Nicephorus' Botaneiates in Europe, disputed the throne with one another.
His next move was against the Greeks and Saracens of southern Italy, but seeking to attain his objects by negotiation, sent Liudprand, bishop of Cremona, to the eastern emperor Nicephorus II.
His pupil Nicephorus Gregoras, who delivered his funeral oration, calls him a "living library."
If the stichometry of Nicephorus is right, the existing form of the book is merely fragmentary compared with its original compass.
In 1078 two generals, Nicephorus Bryennius and Nicephorus Botaniates, simultaneously revolted.
In 1904 he published a "romantic monograph" of the 10th century, Theophano, and in 1906 a verse tragedy, Nicephorus.
In 806 he was suddenly raised by the emperor Nicephorus I.
In 927 Taranto was entirely destroyed by the Saracens, but rebuilt in 967 by Nicephorus Phocas, to whom is due the construction of the bridge over the channel to the N.W.
In 967 it was captured by the Russian prince Sviatoslav, whom the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus Phocas had summoned to his assistance.
In face of another rebellious general, Nicephorus Bryennius, his election was ratified by the aristocracy and clergy.
In the 14th century Nicephorus Callisti undertook a complete church history which covers in its extant form the first six centuries.
In the 7th century it was invaded by the Arabs, who held the country until it was reoccupied by Nicephorus II.
Irene's patriarch Nicephorus was now deposed and one Theodotus, a kinsman of Constantine Copronymus, consecrated in his place on the ist of April 815.
It is absent from the so-called Synopsis of Athanasius, the Stichometry of Nicephorus, the List of Sixty Books and other authoritative documents.
It then became a formidable nest of pirates and a great slave mart; it defied all the efforts of the Byzantine sovereigns to recover it till the year 960, when it was reconquered by Nicephorus Phocas.
It was known in later times as the palace of the Bucoleon, and was the scene of the assassination of Nicephorus Phocas.
Krum is said to have made a drinkingcup of Nicephorus's skull.
Nicephorus is the author of a valuable compendium (Breviarium historicum) of Byzantine history from 602 to 770, of a meagre Chronologia compendiaria from Adam to the year of his own death.
Nicephorus of Ephesus was appointed in his stead.
Nicephorus refused to admit the validity of Otto's title, and the bishop was roughly repulsed; but the succeeding emperor, John Zimisces, was more reasonable, and Theophano, daughter of the emperor Romanus II., was married to the younger Otto in 972.
Nicephorus ultimately quarrelled with Alexius, who used his influence with the army to depose the emperor and banish him to a monastery.
Nicephorus was also the author of lists of the emperors and patriarchs of Constantinople, of a poem on the capture of Jerusalem, and of a synopsis of the Scriptures, all in iambics; and of commentaries on liturgical poems.
Nicephorus was less successful in his western wars.
Nicephorus was now so completely beaten that he was compelled to submit to very harsh conditions.
Nicephorus was the author of an extant treatise on military tactics which contains valuable information concerning the art of war in his time.
Nicephorus, who needed large sums to strengthen his military force, set himself with great energy to increase the empire's revenue.
Notwithstanding all the care that has been taken in collecting the fragments of these Acts, only about 900 stichoi out of the 3600 assigned to them in the Stichometry of Nicephorus have as yet been recovered.
Notwithstanding the rigour of the season, Harlan retraced his steps, and Nicephorus was compelled to observe his engagements.
Owing to the care which he lavished upon the proper maintenance of the army, Nicephorus was compelled to exercise rigid economy in other departments.
Scarcely had the caliph returned into winter quarters when Nicephorus broke the treaty.
See the historical works of John Cantacuzene and Nicephorus.
Some modern scholars are of opinion that Nicephorus appropriated and passed off as his own the work of an unknown author of the 10th century.
Strange to say, as Syracuse fell in the reign of Basil the Macedonian, the Saracen occupation was completed in the reign of Nikephoros Phokas (Nicephorus Phocas), the deliverer of Crete.
Thanks to his popularity with the army, Nicephorus was crowned emperor by the side of Romanus's infant sons, and in spite of the patriarch's opposition married their mother Theophano.
The chief objects of his attack were Barlaam, Gregorius Acindynus and Nicephorus Gregoras.
The contemporary historians Cantacuzenus and Nicephorus Gregoras deal very copiously with this subject, taking the Hesychast and Barlaamite sides respectively.
The deposition and death of the empress foiled this plan; and after a desultory warfare in Italy between the two empires, negotiations were recommenced which in 810 led to an arrangement between Charles and the eastern emperor, Nicephorus I.
The great event of his reign was the conquest of Crete by Nicephorus Phocas.
The island was recovered by the Greek emperors and, though again conquered by the Arabs in the reign of Harun al-Rashid (802), it was finally restored to the Byzantine empire under Nicephorus Phocas.
There is more than one meaning of Nicephorus discussed in the 1911 Encyclopedia.
Under Michael Parapinaces (1071-1078) and Nicephorus Botaniates (1078-1081) he was also employed, along with his elder brother Isaac, against rebels in Asia Minor, Thrace and in Epirus (1071).