Everything was pretty fine; till Michael III the drunkard came in

People call him the drunkard because he was lazy and ineffective

He was actually pretty good contrary to what was branded upon him

The byzantine made a lot of territorial gains

Overall, approaching the 9th century the byzantine empire was faring off pretty well.

Basil I the Macedonian ruled until 886? AD after him.

Basil was good. Great financial administrator and conqueroror

Died in a hunting accident after getting dragged by a deer for 16 KM.

The empire was fine for many years after basil died under Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos and Romanos Lekapenos

Enter 960.

The empire’s all fine and dandy, but Romanos’ successor Romanos II is ineffective.

When he dies, a lad named Nikephoros II pinches the throne

Nikephoros was an ugly person, but one of the best military conquerors.

He was eventually killed after a 6 year reign after a conspiracy from a minister that he demoted for ineffectivity

His successor John Tzismiskes was great too, excellent conqueror until his untimely death in 976 from the plague

Then came the best Byzantine emperor

Basil II Boulgaroktonos.

Basil expanded the Empire’s territories all the way to the danube and was a brilliant financial admin. All was great at that time.

His successors were poorly chosen men who were husbands of the Empress Zoe, except for Constantine Monomachos who was fairly good

Then a bloke came along by 1060~ named Constantine X Doulas

Doukas

What about the Great Schism?

Doukas was pathetic, destroyed the army, and economy

Oh the schism?

I’ll get into that later

His successor Romanos IV diogenes suffered a horrible defeat at Manzikert in 1071 to the turks and all was in shambles since he was taken captive

His successors weren’t great either until a certain fellow named Alexios I Komnenos came along

Until 1185 the Komnenids were good and competent rulers who held the empire upright

Alexios John and Manuel were all good and well meaning.

Manuel too, except in 1176 towards the end of his reign

He suffered a defeat to the turks at Myriokephalon.

Whoops! And in the early 1180s when he died, his successor was his 14 year old son.

John’s cousin Andronikos I Komnenos had the youth strangled and took reign

Andronikos was cruel.

He was eventually killed after a week of public torture

Coming around the late 12th century we see the most spineless rulers

The Angelids.

Isaac II Angelos was a pathetic ruler who did almost nothing

His relative Alexios III Angelos wasn’t better at all. Cruel and lavish, he emptied the treasury on personal items and dismantled the army

The issue here was the crusaders

Alexios was expelled by the crusaders and Isaac’s son Alexios IV Angelos was put into power