Following the deposition of the Byzantine empress Irene of Athens, the throne of the Byzantine Empire passes to a relatively short-lived dynasty, the Nikephorian dynasty, named after its founder, Nikephoros I.

The empire is in a weaker and more precarious position than it had been for a long time and its finances are problematic.

During this era, Byzantium is almost continually at war on two frontiers which drains its resources, and like many of his predecessors, Nikephoros (802-811) himself dies campaigning amongst the Bulgars to the north.

Furthermore, Byzantium's influence continues to wane in the west with the crowning of Charlemagne (800-814) as Holy Roman emperor by Pope Leo III at Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome in the year 800 and the establishment of a new empire in Western Europe laying claim to the universal Roman monarchy.