Nikephoros I seized power in 802 by deposing Empress Irene through a palace coup backed by senior bureaucrats who resented her tax policies. His reign ended at the Battle of Pliska in 811, where Bulgarian Khan Krum routed the Byzantine army and had Nikephoros killed — the first Byzantine emperor slain in battle since Valens at Adrianople in 378. Krum reportedly used his skull as a drinking cup.
Stauracius, wounded in the same engagement, died of his injuries two months later after a failed attempt to divert succession to his wife.
Nikephoros I seized power in 802 by deposing Empress Irene through a palace coup backed by senior bureaucrats who resented her tax policies. His reign ended at the Battle of Pliska in 811, where Bulgarian Khan Krum routed the Byzantine army and had Nikephoros killed — the first Byzantine emperor slain in battle since Valens at Adrianople in 378. Krum reportedly used his skull as a drinking cup.
Stauracius, wounded in the same engagement, died of his injuries two months later after a failed attempt to divert succession to his wife.