Theophylact Botaniates was an 11th-century Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 general and governor of Thessalonica. In 1014 the Byzantine Emperor Basil II

Basil II

Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...

 invaded Bulgaria

First Bulgarian Empire

The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...

 and reached the ramparts around the village of Klyuch

Klyuch

Klyuch , in Medieval Greek known as Kleidion and in Latin known as Clidium, is a village in south-westernmost Bulgaria, part of Petrich municipality, Blagoevgrad Province. It lies at , 455 metres above sea level...

 (Kleidion in Greek). To distract his attention, the Bulgarian emperor Samuel sent a large army under Nestoritsa

Nestoritsa

Nestoritsa was a Bulgarian noble and general during the reign of Emperors Samuil ; Gavril Radomir and Ivan Vladislav...

 towards Thessalonica. Botaniates and his son Michael met the Bulgarians and defeated them in the vicinity of the city, after which he joined Basil's troops. After the Byzantine victory in the subsequent battle of Kleidion

Battle of Kleidion

The Battle of Kleidion took place on July 29, 1014 between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire...

 he was sent with an army to clear the road to Thessalonica. On his way back to Basil's main camp however, his army was ambushed by the Bulgarians under Gavril Radomir

Gavril Radomir of Bulgaria

Gavril Radomir , normally rendered as Gabriel Radomir in English and Gavriil Romanos in Greek, was the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire from October 1014 to August or September 1015. He was the son of Samuel of Bulgaria. During his father's reign, his cousin Ivan Vladislav and Ivan's entire...

and Botaneiates himself was killed by Radomir's spear.