John I Tzimiskes (you can tell he's the bad guy with a name like that) killed his uncle Nikephoros Phokas while Nikky was asleep, on the floor of his room, in front of his icons. Apparently, Tzimiskes had been having an affair and was in league with Theophano, Nikephoros' wife (in name only, as Phokas had been living a chaste life after his first wife's death -romantic) and the Empress had let John and the plotters in the palace -they were dressed as women.
Says Leo the Deacon, contemporary chronicler.
On the left, nice manuscript image of Nikephoros Phokas, on the right, a coin with John Tzimiskes, being crowned by the Virgin.
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