Isaac I Komnenos
Emperor of the East Roman (Byzantine) Empire
1007 CE to 1060 CE
Isaac I Komnenos (or Comnenus) (c. 1007[1] – 1061) is Byzantine Emperor from 1057 to 1059, the first reigning member of the Komnenos dynasty.
During his brief reign, he attempts to restore the depleted finances of the empire and the former strict organization of the government.
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Cerularius, having had a role in bringing Isaac I Komnenos to the throne, next quarrels with the emperor over his stringent financial policies, including the confiscation of some church property, and over the Patriarch's attempt to subordinate civil power to the church.
Michael goes so far as to take the highly symbolic step of donning the purple shoes ceremonially reserved for the Emperor.
Michael apparently plans a rebellion to overthrow the Emperor and claim the Imperial Throne for himself or for his relative Constantine Doukas.
Isaac exiles Michael to Proconnesus in 1058 and, as Michael refuses to step down, has Michael Psellos draw up an accusation of heresy and treason against him.
Constantine Doukas is the son of Andronikos Doukas, a Paphlagonian nobleman who may have served as governor of the theme of Moesia.
The Doukas family is perhaps connected with the earlier one through the female line.
Constantine, addicted to endless debates about philosophy and theology, had gained influence after he married, as his second wife, Eudokia Makrembolitissa, is the niece of Patriarch Michael Cerularius.
Cerularius, charged with treason and heresy, dies before his trial can take place.
In the spring of 1059, Isaac leads a military expedition against the Hungarians, and in the summer of this year, he ably defends the Empire's northern frontiers against the ravages of the Pechenegs.
In November 1059, he contracts a sudden and debilitating malady.
Constantine had in 1057 supported the usurpation of Isaac I Komnenos, gradually siding with the court bureaucracy against the new emperor's reforms.
In spite of this tacit opposition, Constantine is chosen as successor by the ailing Isaac in November 1059, under the influence of Michael Psellos.
Believing his illness to be mortal, Isaac abdicates, and on December 25, Constantine X Doukas is crowned emperor.
Although Isaac recovers, he does not resume his throne, but retires to a monastery, where he will spent the remaining two years of his life as a monk, alternating menial offices with literary studies.