Constantine Doukas is the son of Andronikos…

Constantine Doukas is the son of Andronikos Doukas, a Paphlagonian nobleman who may have served as governor of the theme of Moesia.

The Doukas family is perhaps connected with the earlier one through the female line.

Constantine, addicted to endless debates about philosophy and theology, had gained influence after he married, as his second wife, Eudokia Makrembolitissa, is the niece of Patriarch Michael Cerularius.

Cerularius, charged with treason and heresy, dies before his trial can take place.

In the spring of 1059, Isaac leads a military expedition against the Hungarians, and in the summer of this year, he ably defends the Empire's northern frontiers against the ravages of the Pechenegs.

In November 1059, he contracts a sudden and debilitating malady.

Constantine had in 1057 supported the usurpation of Isaac I Komnenos, gradually siding with the court bureaucracy against the new emperor's reforms.

In spite of this tacit opposition, Constantine is chosen as successor by the ailing Isaac in November 1059, under the influence of Michael Psellos.

Believing his illness to be mortal, Isaac abdicates, and on December 25, Constantine X Doukas is crowned emperor.

Although Isaac recovers, he does not resume his throne, but retires to a monastery, where he will spent the remaining two years of his life as a monk, alternating menial offices with literary studies.