ABSTRACT
Nicephorus I rigorously attempted to put the treasury on a sound basis and to maintain the iconoclastic reforms, but he was never able to mollify the monastic party, which remained a source of constant trouble. He was forced to recognize Charlemagne's suzerainty over Benevento and Spoleto in Italy. In 806 the Arabs ravaged Cyprus, Rhodes and Asia Minor and forced a humiliating treaty upon the Empire. An ambitious army officer, Thomas, set up as a pretender in the eastern themes of Asia Minor and intercepted taxes bound for Constantinople. To the vast chagrin of Pope Nicholas I, who had warmly aided missionary efforts in Bulgaria, the Bulgarians in 867 were converted to Greek Catholicism. Under Romanus II and then as Emperor himself, Nicephorus Phokas fought successfully against the Arabs in the Mediterranean, increased Byzantine strength in Lower Italy and thereby frustrated the designs of Otto the Great, and extended the Empire again in Syria and Mesopotamia.
