Page:Constantinople by Brodribb.djvu/149

 order of succession. Certain disturbances, and the unpopularity of the old emperor, precipitated the movements of the conspirators. One battle only was fought, and Isaac Comnenus mounted the throne.

The House of Comnenus pretended, like most great Byzantine families, to be descended from a Roman stock. The first Comnenus who appears in history was Manuel, a favourite of the Emperor Basil II. He left two sons, Isaac and John: their family estates were on the Asiatic side.

During the administration of the Macedonians, and especially during the thirty years of confusion when Zoe and Theodora held the reins, the strength of the empire had steadily deteriorated. From many causes the capital was ceasing to be looked upon as the real centre of authority and administration. The roads, which once gave an easy means of communication, had been neglected or broken up; the census and great survey of the empire, which for eleven centuries had been carefully renewed every fifth year, so that there was always ready to hand full information on every province, was allowed to be dropped, perhaps from this very difficulty, the want of roads; the direction of public affairs had been transferred from the great families to the stewards of the imperial household, and these men gave the lower offices of the state to their own friends, so that the organisation of the departments was destroyed. There were no longer councils of state; there was only a cabinet of secretaries. Distant fortresses, harbours, and outposts were neglected, in order that the imperial household might be maintained