Miliaresion - Michael VII Doukas

Michael VII Doukas ruled from 1071 to 1078, a reign bracketed by catastrophe. The Battle of Manzikert in 1071 had just shattered Byzantine control of Anatolia before he even took the throne, and his government's fiscal response — debasing the gold nomisma so aggressively that contemporaries coined the term tetarteron as an insult — made silver issues like this miliaresion increasingly marginal in daily transactions. Michael was ultimately deposed by Nikephoros Botaneiates and retired to a monastery, later becoming Archbishop of Ephesus.