Editing Isaac I Komnenos (section)

====Illness, abdication, and death====
Isaac was a passionate hunter with both the horse and the falcon, spending much time at a hunting lodge outside Constantinople.{{sfn|Sewter|1953|pp=244–245}} On a hunt he fell ill. As the fever lasted for several days, Isaac, fearing he would die soon, named Constantine Doukas as his successor on 22 November 1059,{{efn|In earlier studies the date of Isaac's abdication was commonly accepted as 25 December 1059. In 1966, Paul Gautier revised the date to 22 November, with the proclamation and coronation of Constantine Doukas taking place on 23 November. {{harvnb|Varzos|1984|p=43 (note 12)}}}} and agreed to resign and retire to a monastery. Psellos claims that he was the main author of this nomination, even against the initial opposition of Empress Catherine.{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|p=223}}{{sfn|Sewter|1953|pp=245–252}}{{sfn|Varzos|1984|pp=42–43, 44–45}} 

According to Psellos, Isaac began to recover soon after Doukas' nomination, and started reconsidering his decision. Psellos again took the decisive step of having Doukas publicly acclaimed as emperor on 23 November, with Psellos putting the purple sandals on his feet. Isaac then resigned himself to his fate, and was [[tonsure]]d as a monk, retiring to the Stoudion monastery.{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|p=223}}{{sfn|Sewter|1953|pp=256–257}} Psellos' prominent role in these events may simply be exaggeration and self-promotion, especially as he was writing this part of his history during the reign of Constantine Doukas and his son [[Michael VII Doukas]] ({{reign|1071|1078}}). No contemporary or later source, not even during the [[Komnenian dynasty]] (1081–1180), described or implied a coup by Doukas and his supporters, and the legality of the transition was never questioned.{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|p=223}} 

Empress Catherine remained at the palace, and was even allowed to be mentioned first in the imperial acclamations, with Doukas coming second. This joint reign lasted for a brief while, before she too retired to the [[Myrelaion]] monastery under the [[monastic name]] of Xene.{{sfn|Varzos|1984|pp=46–47}} Isaac lived the remainder of his life as a simple monk in Stoudion, readily performing menial tasks until he died in 1060,{{sfn|Varzos|1984|p=43}} probably on 1 June.{{sfn|Schreiner|1975|p=160. "[Isaac] then lived 6 months and 10 days"}}