Romanos IV Diogenes (,
Romanós IV Diogénes),
also known as Romanus IV, was a member of the Byzantine military aristocracy who, after his marriage to the widowed empress
Eudokia Makrembolitissa, was crowned
Byzantine emperor and reigned from 1068 to 1071. During his reign he was determined to halt the decline of the Byzantine military and to stop Turkish incursions into the
Byzantine Empire, but in 1071 he was captured and his army routed at the
Battle of Manzikert. While still captive he was overthrown in a palace coup, and when released he was quickly defeated and detained by members of the
Doukas family. In 1072, he was blinded and sent to a monastery, where he died of his wounds.