desired Romanos over Nikephoros. Upon taking power, Romanos exiled Nikephoros to his holdings in the Anatolic Theme and excluded him from the Manzikert campaign due to questionable loyalty, likely because he had been Eudokia's other candidate for the throne, and thus posed a threat to Romanoss rule. After Romanos was captured by the Seljuks at the disastrous Battle of Manzikert, Nikephoros did not involve himself in the coup d'état of Michael VII against the still-captive Romanos, and would not again lead troops until the uprising of the mercenary leader Roussel de Bailleul. Emperor Michael VII () brought Nikephoros, who was now in his early seventies, out of retirement and declared him kouropalates and governor of the Anatolic Theme. The title of kouropalates was reserved for esteemed members of the imperial court who were not related to the ruling dynasty, and officially designated him as a high-ranking general; the title of kouropalates was below the rank of nobilissimus and two ranks below the title of Caesar. None of the sources specifically mention why Nikephoros was recalled to lead forces, but it is likely due to a few reasons: Nikephoros was a renowned commander who had served under the Doukas emperors, he did not have any loyalty to Romanos IV, and the main theater of war was in the eastern portion of the Byzantine Empire, the terrain of which Nikephoros knew well; he likely gained the military governorship of the Anatolic Theme because it was his homeland. Michael VII then sent Nikephoros and the Caesar John Doukas to defeat the rebellion of Roussel de Bailleul. Nikephoros warned John not to cross the Zompos Bridge and engage the forces of Roussel, but John disregarded him and led his troops to defeat at the Battle of the Zompos Bridge in 1074. Nikephoros, who commanded the rearguard, held his troops back from fighting in the battle; modern historians have debated exactly why he chose to withhold his troops, and whether they could have turned the tide of the battle. After the defeat of the forces under John, Nikephoros gathered the survivors and led them with his troops back to his estates in the Anatolic Theme. Revolt Nikephoros, seeing how dire the situation of the Byzantine Empire was, sent a letter to Emperor Michael in 1077 pleading with him to address the rapidly worsening situation in Byzantine Anatolia. Michael was insulted by the directness of one