Nikoulitzas Delphinas

Nikoulitzas Delphinas (Greek: Νικουλιτζάς Δελφινάς^[a]) was an 11th-century Byzantine magnate and local lord of Larissa, in Thessaly. He took part in a revolt initiated by the Vlachs of Thessaly in 1066.^[1]

It is uncertain whether Nikoulitzas may have been an ethnic Greek or an ethnic Vlach, as Vlachs could have been considered by Byzantine chroniclers at the time as Greeks.^[2] He was the grandson of Nikulitsa, the governor of Servia and archon of the Vlachs of Hellas.^[1] The younger Nikoulitzas bore the rank of protospatharios, but is not known to have had any official position.^[3]

Nikoulitzas had his own fortress with a garrison of men, and was one of the most powerful lords of Thessaly.^[4] The Vlachs and Slavs of the region started planning a revolt in 1065, prompted by the taxation increases and corruption in the same area. When Nikoulitzas heard this from his spies^[5] he went to Constantinople to warn the Emperor Constantine X Doukas, but the Emperor dismissed him and no measures were taken.^[4]

Upon returning to Larissa, Nikoulitzas saw the growing movement and tried to talk the rebels out of it. They insisted on Nikoulitzas becoming their leader, as he had a fort and a private army. Nikoulitzas declined, as his two sons were in Constantinople, fearing they would come in harm's way. The rebels, however, forced Nikoulitzas to take a leadership position and the revolt began.^[4]

The revolt ended by negotiation, but the Emperor captured Nikoulitzas and imprisoned him in Amaseia, on the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor.^[1] His son-in-law was the writer Kekaumenos, whose Strategikon is the only source on him and the revolt.^[1][6]

• Bury, J. B. (1897). "The History of the Roumanians". The Scottish Review. 29: 30–55.
• Cheynet, Jean-Claude (1996). Pouvoir et contestations à Byzance (963–1210) (in French). Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne. ISBN 978-2-85944-168-5.
• Curta, Florin (2006). Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81539-0.
• Fine, John V. A. Jr. (1991) [1983]. The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08149-7.
• Winnifrith, Tom (1987). The Vlachs: The History of a Balkan People. London: Duckworth. ISBN 978-0-7156-2135-6.