Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium, episode 195, King of the Ashes.

Last time we saw the fallout from the battle of Manza Kurt.

With a gaping hold in the Empire's defenses, tribes of Turkic nomads began to raid unchecked

across the Anatolian Plateau.

The government's attempts to halt their advance were hampered by the rebellion of the captain

of their Norman mercenaries, Russelle de Bayer.

The insecure regime in Constantinople was so afraid of empowering a Roman general that

they paid Norman to fight Turk and Turk to fight Norman until Anatolia was defenseless

and the treasury was nearly empty.

Today we will follow the flailing administration of Michael VII as it slowly collapses under

the immense weight of events and watch as the remaining Roman generals line up one after

another as each attempts to burn the Empire down in order to become king of the Ashes.

In our previous episode we covered events between 1072 and 76 from the death of Romanos

the Ojenis to the arrest of Russelle and our focus was solely on Anatolia.

Let's briefly cover that same period but from the perspective of the capital and the

Western provinces.

The man in charge was technically Michael VII, Constantin dukus's eldest son who was

now in his mid-20s.

And as you've heard repeatedly, our sources dismiss him as a non-entity.

Yet, diffident and easily dominated, Michael is praised for being a good person and condemned

for being a bad emperor.

It's hard to tell how much responsibility Michael himself should bear.

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