Andronikos Doukas (general under Leo VI)

Andronikos Doukas
Died	c. 910 Baghdad
Allegiance	Byzantine Empire
Rank	Domestic of the Schools
Relations	Constantine Doukas (son)

Andronikos Doukas or Doux (Greek: Ἀνδρόνικος Δούκας/Δούξ, died circa 910) was a Byzantine general and rebel in the reign of Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912). The first member of the illustrious Doukas line to achieve prominence as a successful general, his rivalry with the powerful eunuch Samonas led to his revolt and eventual defection to the Arabs in 906–907. He died in exile in Baghdad.

Andronikos Doukas is the first prominent member of the Doukas family whose life is known in some detail. He was possibly the son of the first recorded Doukas, an official active circa 855, but nothing is known of his origin and early life. Andronikos first appears in the sources in 904, already a holder of the exalted title of patrikios and a general. In November or December of that year, along with Eustathios Argyros, he campaigned against the Arabs and won a major victory over the combined forces of Mopsuestia and Tarsos near Germanikeia. Alexander Vasiliev suggested that this campaign was possibly waged in retaliation of the Arab sack of Thessalonica, the Byzantine Empire's second-largest city, a few months earlier. Probably after his victory, he was raised to the rank of Domestic of the Schools, i.e. commander-in-chief of the Empire's army.

In 906, he was ordered west to the Aegean coast to join forces with the fleet under Himerios, in order to confront a large Arab naval expedition. Andronikos, however, was reluctant to comply, fearing for his safety: he had received letters from Constantinople warning him that Himerios had been given orders to seize and blind him. In fact, the chroniclers relate that these letters had been sent through the machinations of the eunuch Samonas, Leo's influential Arab-born chamberlain. Samonas bore a personal grudge against the Doukas family ever since Andronikos's son Constantine had seized him during an attempted flight to his native lands a few years earlier. The repeated pleas of Himerios to join him only made Andronikos more suspicious, and he firmly refused to board the former's flagship. In the event, Himerios departed with his own forces and on 6 October secured a major victory over the Arab fleet. At the news of this, Andronikos, fearing punishment for having disobeyed the Emperor's commands, withdrew east with his family and dependants and seized the fortress of Kaballa, near Iconium.

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