the church. The underpaid army tended to mutiny, and the Byzantines lost Bari, their last possession in Italy, to the Normans of Robert Guiscard in 1071. Simultaneously, they faced a serious revolt under Georgi Voyteh in the Balkans, where they faced an attempt at the restoration of the Bulgarian state. Although this revolt was suppressed by the general Nikephoros Bryennios, the Byzantine Empire was unable to recover its losses in Asia Minor. After Manzikert, the Byzantine government sent a new army to contain the Seljuk Turks under Isaac Komnenos, a brother of the future emperor Alexios I Komnenos, but this army was defeated and its commander captured in 1073. The problem was made worse by the desertion of the Byzantines' western mercenaries under Roussel de Bailleul who were setting up an independent principiality in the region of Galatia and Lycaonia. They became the object of the next military expedition in the area, led by Michael's uncle, Caesar John Doukas. This campaign also ended in failure, and John was likewise captured by the enemy. The victorious Roussel now forced John Doukas to stand as pretender to the throne and sacked Chrysopolis, just opposite Constantinople. The government of Michael VII was forced to recognize the conquests of the Seljuks in Asia Minor in 1074, and to seek their support. A new army under Alexios Komnenos (the future emperor), reinforced by Seljuk troops sent by Malik Shah I, finally defeated the mercenaries and captured John Doukas in 1074. These misfortunes caused widespread dissatisfaction, exacerbated by the devaluation of the currency, which gave the emperor his nickname Parapinakēs. In 1078 two generals, Nikephoros Bryennios and Nikephoros Botaneiates, simultaneously revolted in the Balkans and Anatolia, respectively. Botaneiates gained the support of the Seljuk Turks, and he reached Constantinople first. Michael VII resigned the throne with hardly a struggle on 24 or 31 March 1078 and retired into the Monastery of Stoudios. He later became metropolitan of Ephesus and died in Constantinople in c. 1090. Before his resignation from the throne, Michael VII may have sent an embassy to Song China, following a series of Byzantine embassies to the earlier Tang Empire of China. From the Wenxian Tongkao, written by Chinese historian Ma Duanlin (1245–1322), and the 14th century work the History of Song, it is known that the ruler "Mie-li-yi-ling-kai-sa" (滅力伊靈改撒) of Fu-lin (i.e. Byzantium) sent an embassy to the Song dynasty which arrived on