Romanos IV Diogenes

Romanos IV Diogenes (c. 1030–1072), son of the general Constantine Diogenes, was a Cappadocian commander. In 1068 he was crowned Byzantine emperor after marrying the dowager empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa.

Determined to halt the army's decline and Turkish incursions, he campaigned against the Seljuk Turks amid rivalry with the Doukas family. In 1071 Alp Arslan defeated his army at Manzikert and took him prisoner, a blow that weakened Byzantine authority in Anatolia. The Doukai proclaimed Michael VII emperor; defeated in Cilicia and promised his life, Romanos was blinded, exiled to Prote, and died in 1072.