When you hear something described as Byzantine, it usually refers to something that is complicated and full of deception. This timeline of Byzantine politics in the 11th century CE shows where the expression comes from, and makes one wonder how anyone was able to rule the Byzantine Empire effectively. In brief, the main disputes were between those who favored the military and those who favored civilian leaders (i.e. bishops and the Church), but politics were also influenced by individual greed, the presence or lack of competence, and by pressure from outside forces, notably the Seljuk Turkish military leaders of the Abbassid caliphate.

1025-1028: Constantine VIII was emperor. He distrusted the military, and used his position to reward his friends. In 1027, the barbarian Patzinaks were driven out of the Balkans, north of the Danube River.

1028-1050: Constantine VIII's third daughter, Zoë, aged 48, held real power while each of her three husbands held the office of emperor.

1028-1034: Romanus III was sixty years old when he married Zoë. He could be considered more "pro-military" than his predecessor, since he tried to curry favor with the military nobility, ordinary people, and the Church. He permitted the persecution of the Syrian Monophysites (Christians who rejected the divinity of Jesus) and they fled to Muslim lands where they helped to ignite Seljuk expansion later in the century. During his reign, a Byzantine army was defeated by Muslims in Syria in 1030, but by 1032, a "combined Byzantine- Ragusan fleet" drove Muslim pirates out of the Adriatic Sea.

1034-1041: Zoë's second husband, Michael IV, was born into a non-noble family, and he faced much opposition from Byzantine leaders. Michael IV tried to control the military by using Scandanavian mercenaries and the civilian bureaucracy by appointing his brothers (all able men) to high offices. In 1034- 1035, Byzantine fleets led by a Norseman Harald Hardrada and manned by Scandinavians defeated Muslim fleets along the Anatolian coasts and raided along the North African coast. A Byzantine army that employed Scandinavian mercenaries landed on Sicily and conquered the Muslim city of Messina in 1038. The Byzantine army also suppressed a revolt in Bulgaria and incorporated it and its church (of Ochrid) into the Byzantine Empire in 1040.

1041-1042: Michael V, a "favorite" of Zoë, attempted to gain sole power by shutting Zoë away in a cloister, but the Byzantine nobility rebelled against him and imprisoned him in a monastery.

1042-1050: Zoë's third husband, Constantine IX, was an opponent of the military. During his reign, funding was shifted away from the military and the defense of the borders was neglected. Although the Byzantine empire had some military successes during this period, most of the benefits were reserved for civilian officials who governed the new territories. Although generals revolted in 1043 and 1047, they failed to dislodge Constantine IX.

1050: Zoë died and Constantine IX ruled on his own until 1054.

1051: Byzantine forces pushed the Patzinaks farther back by expelling them from Bulgaria after years of struggle.

1054: Empress Theodora, Zoë's older sister took over. She was capable, but already more than 74 years old. That year, Normans conquered part of Byzantine-controlled southern Italy with support from Pope Leo IX, after Theodora failed to send aid to the Byzantine patriarch of southern Italy, Michael Kerularios.

1056-1057: Michael VI succeeded Empress Theodora, but was overthrown almost immediately in a revolt by Anatolian feudal (military) barons. They selected Isaac Comnenus, an elderly army man, to reform the imperial government. He started the work in 1057, but then abdicated in 1059 in favor of Constantine X, a high official of the finance department. [This was the year of the Patzinak invasion described by Michael Psellus.]

1059: Constantine X was the emperor, but the army felt that he favored civil servants over the army, so there was a great deal of hostility between military and civilian officials. During his reign, the Normans completed the conquest of southern Italy in 1060 and the Seljuk Turks conquered Ani and raided Armenia in 1064. In addition, the barbarian Cumans crossed the Danube River into the Balkans in 1065 and it took a large military campaign to dislodge them.

1067-1071: After Constantine X died, a soldier named Romanus Diogenes married the widowed empress Eudoxia and reigned as emperor until 1071. The Normans expelled the last Byzantine outpost from Italy in 1071, and while the Byzantines were able to halt the advance of the Seljuks (1068-1069), they could not defeat them. Romanus Diogenes was captured by the Seljuks at the battle of Manzikert (1071) after several of his own commanders deserted. The Seljuks later released him, but when he tried to regain the imperial throne, his enemies captured him and put out his eyes. He died soon after.

1071-1078: Michael VII, a son of Constantine X, became emperor, marking a victory of civilian interests over the Byzantine military. With his advisor Michael Psellus, Michael VII strengthened the civilian bureaucracy and allowed the military to decline. In 1074, Michael VII signed a treaty with the Seljuks to get their help against a plot to overthrow him. Although Michael VII kept his throne, the Seljuks occupied large parts of Anatolia, and in 1078, the Seljuks supported a revolt by the Byzantine military commander Nicephorus Botaniates. At the same time, another Byzantine military commander Nicephorus Briennius revolted in Albania. Michael VII abdicated in 1078.

1078-1081: The rebellious military commander Nicephorus III (Botaniates) became the new emperor with Seljuk help. He was overthrown in 1081 by another general, Alexius Comnenus, who seized control of Constantinople using mercenaries.

1081-1118: Alexius Comnenus was emperor, marking the victory of military interests over the civilians in the Byzantine empire. The First Crusade took place during his reign. [His daughter was Anna Comnena, author of one of our readings.]