Constantine Monomachos' role in the eleventh century crisis of the Byzantine Empire

Abstract

This thesis examines the Byzantine Empire during the tenth and eleventh centuries focusing primarily on the rule of the emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (1042–1055). It argues that the traditional historiography concerning the causes of the “eleventh-century crisis” must be reevaluated. It also argues that Constantine Monomachos should not be vilified for the Empire's social, economic and political problems in the eleventh century. By examining the eleventh century works of Michael Psellos and Johannes Skylitzes, supplemented by modern historians such as Michael Angold, Alexander Kazhdan, Alan Harvey and Paul Stephenson, I demonstrate that it was the policies of Constantine IX's predecessor Basil II and social and economic changes occurring within and outside the Empire in the eleventh century that were the real reasons for the Empire's difficulties.