Uzes defeated by cold, famine, epidemic, escaping Byzantine generals & Balkan neighbours

Summary:
News came to the capital that the Uzes had been annihilated by famine, plague, and attacks by Bulgarians and Pechenegs, although their leaders managed to escape across the Danube. Basileios Apokapes and Nikephoros Botaneiates, who had escaped from captivity, spread the miraculous information. Konstantinos X with his tiny army received messengers from the Danube with the good news, and he rejoiced, thanked God and the Virgin, and returned to Constantinople to find the population celebrating 
Dates:
1065 
Basileios Apokapes, doux of Edessa (Basileios 101)
  • Fought bravely against the Uzes, was captured, but then escaped and spread news of the enemy's annihilation by famine, plague, and the Bulgarians and Pechenegs who attacked them (:) Attaleiates: History 83.15-85.24 / 63.5-64.25
  • Escaped from captivity in the hands of the Uzes when the latter, having suffered from famine and plague, were annihilated by Bulgarians and Pechenegs while their leaders managed to cross the Istros (Danube): in association with Nikephoros 3 (in the 6th regnal year of Doukas (1065-66) in the 3rd indiction (1064-65) in the year 6573 from creation (1064-65): Ἧν δὲ τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἔτος μὲν ἕκτον βασιλεύοντι τῷ Δούκᾳ, ἰνδικτιὼν γ ´, ἐν τῷ φογ ´ ἔτει τῆς κοσμικῆς κτίσεως) τήν τε τῶν ἡγεμόνων λύτρωσιν Skylitzes Continuatus 115.13-17
Emperor Konstantinos X Doukas (Konstantinos 10)
  • Meanwhile the ruin of the [Uzes] nation was reported to him: for when plague struck them, the Pechenegs and the neighbouring Bulgars attacked them while they were severely affected by it and weakened, and destroyed them completely (:) Zonaras 18.9.7-8
  • He gathered a small army and sent it against (the Uzes), but the enemy scattered and fled before them as if by a miracle (:) ὀλίγον δε τι στράτευμα συλλεξάμενος ἐπ’ ἐκείνους ἀφῆκε Psellos: Chronographia VIIa 23.6-13
  • While preparing for war against the Uzes, messengers returned from the Danube with news that the enemy had been completely destroyed, and he rejoiced, thanked God and the Virgin, and returned to Constantinople to find the population celebrating (:) εὗρε δὲ ταύτην ἐκπλήξεως καὶ θαύματος γέμουσαν Attaleiates: History 85.13-86.8 / 64.16-65.5
  • Was informed by envoys that the Uzes had been annihilated by famine, plague, and a Bulgarian-Pecheneg attack, although their leaders managed to escape across the Istros (Danube), and that Basileios 101 and Nikephoros 3 had escaped from captivity (in the 6th regnal year of Doukas (1065-66) in the 3rd indiction (1064-65) in the year 6573 from creation (1064-65): Ἧν δὲ τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἔτος μὲν ἕκτον βασιλεύοντι τῷ Δούκᾳ, ἰνδικτιὼν γ ´, ἐν τῷ φογ ´ ἔτει τῆς κοσμικῆς κτίσεως) Skylitzes Continuatus 115.11-17
  • He defeated the Uzes by showing them the cross at a distance and wounding them with his secret tears - though they had crossed the Danube as a whole people and suddenly overrun the whole area (:) Psellos Orationes panegyricae X, 30-39
Emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates (Nikephoros 3)
  • Escaped from captivity in the hands of the Uzes when the latter, having suffered from famine and plague, were annihilated by Bulgarians and Pechenegs while their leaders managed to cross the Istros (Danube): in association with Basileios 101 (in the 6th regnal year of Doukas (1065-66) in the 3rd indiction (1064-65) in the year 6573 from creation (1064-65): Ἧν δὲ τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἔτος μὲν ἕκτον βασιλεύοντι τῷ Δούκᾳ, ἰνδικτιὼν γ ´, ἐν τῷ φογ ´ ἔτει τῆς κοσμικῆς κτίσεως) τήν τε τῶν ἡγεμόνων λύτρωσιν Skylitzes Continuatus 115.13-17
  • Escaped from captivity in the hands of the Uzes and spread news of their annihilation by famine, plague, and the Bulgarians and Pechenegs who attacked them (:) Attaleiates: History 85.15-24 / 64.18-25