Raictor
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Raiktor or Raictor was an
Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...
monk who assumed the identity of
Byzantine Emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...
Michael VII Michael VII Doukas or Ducas (), nicknamed Parapinakes (, , a reference to the devaluation of the Byzantine currency under his rule), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 1071 to 1078. He was known as incompetent as an emperor and reliant on ...
. He participated in the
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...
campaigns of
Robert Guiscard Robert Guiscard ( , ; – 17 July 1085), also referred to as Robert de Hauteville, was a Normans, Norman adventurer remembered for his Norman conquest of southern Italy, conquest of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century. Robert was born ...
to overthrow the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
.


Background

By 1081, the Byzantine Empire was in a state of chaos.
Alexios I Komnenos Alexios I Komnenos (, – 15 August 1118), Latinization of names, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine Emperor, Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurper, usurping the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and ...
had just overthrown
Nikephoros III Botaneiates Nikephoros III Botaneiates (; 1002–1081), Romanization of Greek, Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates, was Byzantine Empire, Byzantine List of Byzantine Emperors, Emperor from 7 January 1078 to 1 April 1081. He became a general du ...
, and was confronted with the challenge of dealing with the imminent invasion of the Balkans by Robert Guiscard, the Norman
Duke of Apulia The County of Apulia and Calabria (), later the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria (), was a Norman state founded by William of Hauteville in 1043, composed of the territories of Gargano, Capitanata, Apulia, Vulture, and most of Campania. It becam ...
. Guiscard had used the overthrow of Emperor Michael VII by Nikephoros III in 1078 as a pretext for launching a full-scale assault against the empire. By 1081, either by a stroke of good fortune or by some creative manipulation there was waiting for him at
Salerno Salerno (, ; ; ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located ...
a man who claimed to be Robert's
son-in-law In law and in cultural anthropology, affinity is the kinship relationship created or that exists between two people as a result of someone's marriage. It is the relationship each party in the marriage has to the family of the other party in th ...
, the deposed emperor Michael VII. It was soon clear that this monk, Raiktor, was not in fact the deposed emperor. Though Michael had indeed become a monk after he was deprived of his throne, by 1081 he had been elevated in the church hierarchy by becoming first a
bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
and then an
archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
, and was currently residing at
Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
. Nevertheless, it was too good an opportunity for Guiscard to resist. Needing a good pretext to launch a war that many of his nobles were unsure about, he accepted Raiktor's claims to be his imperial relative by marriage. Receiving a letter from Raiktor which stated, "Your son-in-law Michael, who has been expelled from his kingdom has arrived here to solicit your assistance", he read it privately to his wife, and then in an assembly of all the Counts he showed it to them. In it, he recounted Raiktor's tale about how he'd been robbed of his wife and son and all his possessions by the usurper Botaneiates, and that against his will he had been clothed in a monk's garb instead of wearing a crown, and that he had now appeared as a suppliant. Swearing that he would no longer be held back, his nobles all agreed to launch a war against the Eastern Roman Empire. Declaring that because of their relationship he must restore the empire to Raiktor, daily he showed honor to the monk, continuing the charade that he was the Emperor Michael, giving him the best place at table, a higher seat, and excessive respect. Inevitably, he would commiserate himself on the sad fate of his daughter, and that because of consideration for his son-in-law, he did not like to speak about Michael's misfortune. Not everyone was taken in by the deception. Guiscard's
ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...
to Constantinople, Raoul, had just returned with news of the overthrow of Botaneiates. Laying eyes on Raiktor, he declared that the monk was an imposter, and that his story was a complete fabrication. He told Guiscard that he had seen the ex-emperor with his own eyes in Constantinople, apparently living in a monastery. At these words, the pseudo-emperor Michael became furious and began berating the Norman nobleman, unhappy that his deception had been uncovered. Guiscard, nevertheless, continued with his plans to replace Alexios with Raiktor.


Campaigning with the Normans

Passing over into the Balkans, he accompanied Guiscard in the Norman's attempt to take the important city of Dyrrachium. Robert approached the city and declared he was there to restore his son-in-law Michael to the throne of Byzantium. The city governor declared that if they were to see Michael and recognize him, they would immediately open the gates and hand the city over to him. Raiktor was paraded before the city walls in a magnificent procession, escorted by soldiers and nobles, with a band playing music to accompany him. But when the city defenders saw him, they shouted insults at Raiktor, swearing that they did not recognize him. Seeing that his ruse was not working, Guiscard settled down for a lengthy
siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...
. Nevertheless, word soon reached Alexios that Raiktor was deceiving many people, and increasing the numbers of Guiscard's troops. He sought the aid of the Venetians, who approached Dyrrachium with all speed. When Guiscard became aware of their arrival, he sent his son Bohemund to greet them in the name of the emperor Michael and of Robert. Soon after this, Guiscard drops all mention of his son-in-law, as events in Italy soon saw him return there and Bohemund continued the campaign that Alexios eventually overcame. It is suspected that once his usefulness had passed, Raiktor was disposed of quickly and quietly.


Identity

At the time, there was much discussion as to the identity of the monk. It is certain that he was a monk at the time he approached Guiscard, but prior to his taking monastic vows, it was widely believed that Raiktor was probably the cupbearer of the Emperor Michael Ducas. It is certain that he was not the ex-emperor himself.


See also

*
Pseudo-Alexios II Pseudo-Alexios II was the most famous among several pretenders to the throne of the Byzantine Empire who appeared in the early reign of Isaac II Angelos (r. 1185-1195 and 1203–1204). He claimed to be the Emperor Alexios II Komnenos, who had been ...
*
Andriscus Andriscus (, ''Andrískos''; 154/153 BC – 146 BC), also often referenced as Pseudo-Philip, was a Greek pretender who became the last independent king of Macedon in 149 BC as Philip VI (, ''Philipos''), based on his claim of being Philip, a n ...
*
Eumenes III Eumenes III (; ; (died 129 BC) originally named Aristonicus; in Greek Aristonikos Ἀριστόνικος) was a pretender to the throne of Pergamon. He led the revolt against the Pergamene regime and found success early on, seizing various cities ...
*
False Dmitry I False Dmitry I or Pseudo-Demetrius I () reigned as the Tsar of all Russia from 10 June 1605 until his death on 17 May 1606 under the name of Dmitriy Ivanovich (). According to historian Chester S.L. Dunning, Dmitry was "the only Tsar ever raise ...


References

{{Reflist * Anna Comnena,'' The Alexiad'', translated by E.R.A. Sewter, Penguin Classics, 1969 * George Finlay, ''History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires from 1057 - 1453'', Volume 2, William Blackwood & Sons, 1854 11th-century Byzantine monks Impostor pretenders Byzantine pretenders