Constantine Dalassenos (duke Of Antioch)

Constantine Dalassenos ( gr, Κωνσταντίνος Δαλασσηνός, Kōnstantinos Dalassēnos) was a prominent Byzantine aristocrat of the first half of the 11th century. An experienced and popular general, he came close to ascending the imperial throne by marriage to the ''porphyrogenita'' Empress Zoe () in 1028. He accompanied the man Zoe did marry, Emperor Romanos III Argyros (), on campaign and was blamed by some chroniclers for Romanos' humiliating defeat at the Battle of Azaz.

He suffered a long period of imprisonment under Michael IV the Paphlagonian (), who feared that Dalassenos plotted against him. When Michael's successor was deposed in 1042, Zoe invited Dalassenos to an audience with a view to marrying him and making him emperor; displeased by his haughty manner she chose a more pliant man, Constantine IX Monomachos.

Biography

Early life

Constantine may have been born at some point between 965 and 970. He was the eldest son of the ''magistros'' Damian Dalassenos, who held the important post of '' doux'' of Antioch from 995 or 996 until his death in battle against the Fatimids at Apamea in 998. Constantine, with his brothers Romanos and Theophylact, was also present at the battle... He was probably one of the two sons of the ''magistros'' who, according to the Christian Arab historian Yahya of Antioch, were captured by the Fatimids, taken to Cairo, and ransomed only in 1008..

High rank

Constantine's career between 1008 and 1024 is unknown, but historians speculate he probably held a succession of military commands. He reappears in spring 1024, when he held his father's old post as ''doux'' of Antioch, with the rank of ''patrikios'', the Empire's senior honorific title, which was limited to a small number of holders. He enjoyed the favour of Emperor Constantine VIII (). The Dalassenoi were one of the few powerful patrician families who had been unswervingly loyal to the Macedonian dynasty. On his deathbed, Constantine summoned Dalassenos to marry his oldest daughter Zoe. Constantine Dalassenos set out from his estates in the Armeniac Theme, but before reaching Constantinople the situation changed: the Emperor's advisors, who preferred a weak ruler whom they could control, had persuaded the dying Emperor to choose Romanos III Argyros instead. Dalassenos was ordered to return home.

Under Romanos III, Dalassenos served as a commander in the 1030 campaign against the Emir of Aleppo which concluded in the Battle of Azaz. After the Byzantine scouts were ambushed, Dalassenos led an attack against the Arabs, but was defeated, and fled back to the camp. That night Dalassenos took part in an imperial council at which the demoralised Byzantines resolved to abandon the campaign and return to Byzantine territory. Romanos also ordered his siege engines to be burned. On 10August 1030 the army abandoned its camp and marched for Antioch. Discipline broke down in the Byzantine army, with Armenian mercenaries using the withdrawal as an opportunity to pillage the camp's stores. The Emir launched an attack and the imperial army broke and fled. Both Dalassenos and Romanos had close escapes during the rout; according to the chronicler Yahya, two senior commanders were killed and another captured. Arab sources and the chronicle of Matthew of Edessa blame Dalassenos and his conspiring against Romanos for the expedition's failure.

During the reign of Argyros's successors, Michael IV the Paphlagonian () and Michael V