BYZANTINE
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BYZANTINE
of the fall of old Nieephorus and of the elevation of
light-hearted young John Zimisces to the throne.
Still, even under John Zimisces and Basil II, the
struggle of the great landed interests continued.
It was only the reaction after the death of Basil that
gave the aristocratic party the final victory. It
gained strength under the regime of the civilian
emperors. Ultimately this party was strong enough
to decide the succession to the imperial crown.
(5) Period of Centrifugal tendencies; 1057-1203.
which was to give the empire three more brilliant
rulers, Alexius I, John II, and Manuel I.
The splendour of the Comneni was the splendour of the setting sun. It was a period of restoration. Men hoped again to raise literature to the standard of the classic authors and to revive the ancient language, and thus they hoped to restore the glory of the Roman Empire. Only too often it was merely a jugglery
Comnenus
Ducas
Diogenes
Isaac I John Constantine X Eudocia Romanus IV
Alexius I Michael VII Nieephorus III
I
I I I
John II Isaac . .
Manuel I Andronicus I
Angelus
Alexius III Isaac II
Alexius II
Alexius V, Murtzuphlos Eudocia Alexius IV
The powerful body of landed proprietors were of ad-
vantage to the empire in one particular. Since the
decline of the old military organization they upheld
the military prestige of the empire. This was all
the more significant because, unfortunately, since the
revival of learning an antagonism had arisen between
the civil officials, who had studied in the schools of
the rhetoricians, and the officers of the imperial
army. We have already noted that during the last
years of the so-called Macedonian dynasty, under the
empresses Zoe and Theodora, the influence of the
civil-service party was all-powerful. For that very
reason a council of the landed proprietors of Asia
Minor raised Isaac Comnenus (1057-59), much against
his will, to the throne. Isaac regarded the crown as a
burden. Weary of strife with the senatorial aris-
tocracy, he soon gave up the sceptre and retired to
the monastery of Studium. He considered himself
defeated and accordingly designated as his successor
not his capable brother John, and his sons, but an
official high in the civil service, Constantine X,
Ducas (1059-67), a man who during Isaac's brief
reign had greatly assisted the emperor, who was
wholly unversed in affairs of administration. This
meant a fresh victory fur the civil bureaucracy,
who signalized their accession to power by setting
aside army interests, and even the most pressing
requirements for the defence of the empire. This
naturally led to a severe retribution, ami as a eon-
sequence popular sympathy reverted to the military
party. V.1 the death of Constantine, the widowed
I Impress Eudocia took a step decisive for the fate of
the empire by recognizing the need and choosing as
her husband Romanus IV, Diogenes (1067 71), an able officer and one ol t he heroic figures of Byzantine history. Romanus was pursued by misfortune, and after four years the government again fell into the hands of the civil party. Michael VII, Parapinaces
111)71 78), the pupil of Psellus, was raised to the
throne. Soon the crisis became so serious thai an- other military emperor was placed on the throne, Nieephorus [II, Botaniatee (1078 81). The old man, however, was unable to bring order out of the uni- versal chaos. The Comneni Were recalled. Alexius I, Comnenus (1081 1118), who had been excluded from the .succession by Ins uncle, took the reins of govern- in. hi and founded the last of the great dynasties,
with high sounding words. Never were the titles of
state officials more imposing than during the period
of the Comenni; and never, on the other hand, was
the empire in a more precarious position, despite all
its outward splendour. The old Byzantine army
was demoralized; foreign mercenaries had replaced
the native troops. Saddest of all was the decay of
the fleet. Things had come to such a pass that no
shame was felt at lining dependent on the allied
Italian seaports. Still, not a little was achieved.
Clever diplomacy replaced actual power, and suc-
ceeded in preserving for some time the semblance of
Byzantine supremacy. Moreover, the Greeks seem
to have learned the art of husbanding their resources
better than they had, and this was due largely to the
co-operation of the Western nations. We know for a
certainty that during the time of the Comneni ground-
rents were levied in coin. This income was increased
by the heavy receipts from custom duties. In a word,
the economic administration of both public and pri-
vate business was admirable during this period. It
was most unfortunate that this splendour should be
darkened by the deep shadows of official corruption,
the depreciation of currency, and a total disregard of
the Byzantine national, or rather civic, conscience.
Abroad, the Byzantine State was menaced, as of old, on three sides: on the East by the Seljuk Turks, who had supplanted the Arabs; on the West by the Normans, who had succeeded the Arabs in that quar- ter; on the North by the Slavs. Bulgarians, and Finnic- I'grian peoples (Magyars, Petchenegs, and Cumani). All three perils were bravely met. though at the cost of heavy losses. In 1004 the Seljuk Turk Alp-Arslan destroyed Ani, the centre of Armenian civilization, whereupon many Armenians emigrated to Little Armenia in the Cilician Taurus. In 11)71 the brave Romanus IV was made a prisoner by the Seljuks near Mantzikert. Having been released by the chivalrous Alp-Arslan, he was put to death in the most barbarous manner in his own country, during the frightful revolution which placed Michael VII on the throne. In the same year 1,1071) Bari was lost to the Normans, and in 1085 Ahtioch was captured by the Turks. This period also marked the beginning of the Norman raids on the Balkan Peninsula. Be- tween 1081 and 1085 Mbania and Thcssaly were
threatened by Robert Guiscard and his son Bohe-
mund who were twice defeated in naval encounters
by the Byzantines in league with the Venetians, On
land, however, they proved their superiority in se\ eral places, until the death of the elder ('.Discard put an end to their projects and gave the Byzantine State half-a-century of peace in that direction. After that period, however, the raids were renewed. In 1147 Thebes and Corinth were taken by King Roger, on which occasion many silk-weavers were deported to
