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| 5. Christian States in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1000–1300 |
| a. The Byzantine Empire |
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(See 1020) |
| THE COMNENI AND ANGELI (1057-1204) |
| For a complete list of the Byzantine emperors, see Appendix II. | 1 |
| The period of the later Macedonian emperors (to 1055) and the succeeding century was marked by barbarian invasions in the Balkans, advances of the Normans on the remaining Byzantine possessions in Italy, pressure from the Seljuk Turks on the eastern frontier, popular hostility to mercantile privileges granted to Pisan and Venetian businessmen, and political disputes between the clerical bureaucratic nobility in the capital and the military baronage in the countryside. | 2 |
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| 1025–28 |
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| CONSTANTINE VIII, the younger brother of Basil II. | 3 |
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| 1027 |
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| The Patzinaks, who had invaded the Balkans, were finally driven back over the Danube by General Constantine Diogenes. | 4 |
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| 1028–50 |
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| ZOË, empress. She was the third daughter of Constantine and, though 48 years old at her accession, married three times, associating her husbands: Romanos, Michael, and Constantine IX seriatum in the imperial office. | 5 |
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| 1028–34 |
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| ROMANUS III (Argyropolus), an official 60 years old, first husband of Zoë. He made great efforts to gain popularity by catering to the populace, the nobility, and especially the Church. The patriarchate was permitted to persecute the Monophysites of Syria, thousands of whom fled to Muslim territory. The hatred engendered by this policy helps to explain the Seljuk advance in subsequent years. | 6 |
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| 1030 |
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| Romanus suffered a severe defeat in a campaign against the Muslim emirs who attacked Syria. | 7 |
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| 1031 |
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| The situation was saved by the victories of Georgios Maniakes, greatest imperial general of the period. | 8 |
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| 1032 |
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| A combined Byzantine-Ragusan fleet defeated the Saracen pirates in the Adriatic. | 9 |
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| 1034–41 |
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| MICHAEL IV (the Paphlagonian), second husband of Zoë. He was a man of lowly origin who promptly established his brothers (mostly men of energy and ability) in high office. | 10 |
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| 1034–35 |
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| The Byzantine fleets, manned by the Norseman Harald Haardraade and Scandinavian mercenaries, repeatedly defeated the Saracen pirates off the Anatolian coast and ravaged the coasts of North Africa. | 11 |
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| 1038 |
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| Maniakes and Haardraade, with Scandinavian and Italian mercenaries and with the support of the Byzantine fleets, stormed Messina and defeated the Sicilian Saracens, first at Rametta (1038), then at Dragina (1040). | 12 |
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