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 516 BYZANTINE EMPIRE Constantinople with a large fleet, but effected nothing. The Lombard dukes took from the Byzantines the greater part of what remained to them in Italy. The Arabs took Thessa- lonica, but were driven back by Ducas; Leo then sent an army into Asia, which penetrated into Mesopotamia, and achieved an advanta- geous peace. After Leo reigned his son Con- stantino VII., Porphyrogenitus (911-959), at first jointly with his brother Alexander, who soon died. His mother Zoe then administered affairs, and protected the empire from the Bul- garians for seven years. Romanus Lecapenus (919) then obtained a share in the government, and subsequently associated with himself his three sons, Christopher, Stephen, and Constan- tine VIII. They fought against the Bulgari- ans, Hungarians, and Russians. In 945 they were obliged to retire and give place to the em- press Helen, who governed while her husband Constantine VII. studied. At this period Rus- sian and Hungarian princes came to Constan- tinople, were baptized, took Byzantine women in marriage, and spread Christianity in their native lands. Constantine's son Romanus II. succeeded (959-963). Crete was recaptured from the Saracens by Nicephorus Phocas, the emir of Aleppo was forced to pay tribute, and the Russians were driven back. Nicephorus II., Phocas, succeeded (963-969), after marrying Theophano, the widow of Romanns. He was defeated in Sicily, but recaptured from the Saracens Syria and Cilicia, and the island of Cyprus. His wife had him murdered, and gave her hand to his successor, the victorious gen- eral John Zimisces (969-976). He fought vic- toriously against the Arabs in Asia Minor, and against the Russians and Bulgarians in Europe. He extinguished for a time the political inde- pendence of the latter. His successor, Basil II., son of Romanus (976-1025), was for a long time occupied in combating two rebellious gen- erals, Bardas Phocas and Bardas Sclerus. In 1018 the Bulgarian kingdom was annihilated and Bulgaria became a Greek province, and re- mained so till 1186. It was he who put out the eyes of 15,000 Bulgarian prisoners and sent them back to their king, who fell down sense- less at the spectacle, and soon afterward died. Constantine IX., his brother, reigned from 1025 to 1028. Then followed in succession Romanus III. (1028-'34) and Michael IV. (1084-'41), both husbands of Zoo, the daugh- ter of Constantine IX. Michael V. succeeded, and was driven out by the people because he would not marry Zoe. In 1042 Zoe and her sister Theodora were joint empresses, until Zoo married Constantine X. (1042-'54). Du- ring this period the Russians, Petchenegs, and Arabs ravaged the empire. The Seljuk Turks appeared as formidable enemies, and the Nor- man adventurers wrested from the Byzantines all their remaining possessions in lower Italy, except the city and territory of Otranto. After Constantine, Theodora again became empress (1054-'56.) In 1054 occurred the total separa- tion of the Greek from the Latin church. With Michael VI., Stratioticus, the Macedonian dy- nasty became extinct (1057). Isaac Comnenus, the first of the Comneni, reigned from 1057 to 1059. To him succeeded Constantine XL, Ducas (1059-'67). The Seljuks invaded the empire on the east and south, and the Scythian TTzes on the north. The latter were defeated. Eudoxia, widow of Constantine XL, married Romanus IV., Diogenes (1067-'71). He defeated the Seljuks under Alp Arslan in three campaigns in Cilicia and Cappadocia, but in the fourth was taken prisoner. During his absence Mi- chael VII., with Andronicus I. and Constantine XII., his brothers, was proclaimed emperor (1071-'78). The Serbs and Seljuks invaded the empire, the latter conquering almost all Asia Minor. Michael resigned, and his suc- cessor Nicephorus III., Botaniates (1078-'81), had a stormy reign, troubled by numerous rival claimants to the imperial dignity. His general, Alexis Comnenus, dethroned him, and reigned from 1081 to 1118. His adminis- tration is remarkable for its relations to this western crusaders. Robert Guiscard, the Nor- man duke of Calabria, advancing the claims of his relative Michael VII., defeated Alexis in Epirus, who, however, gained brilliant victories over the Petchenegs and the Kumans. The encroachments of Mohammedan power, and the dangers that threatened all Christendom therefrom, now drew the attention of western Europe to this complication of affairs. The Turks had invaded Bithynia, and Alexis called the courts of the West to his aid. Pope Urban II. authorized the preaching of the first crusade. The first host of crusaders left an unfavorable impression upon the Byzantines. With the second a treaty was concluded ; Alexis was to furnish a number of troops, and the crusaders were to hold the provinces reconquered from the Moslems as fiefs of the empire. Neither party kept faith. Bohemond, the son of Rob- ert Guiscard, laid siege to Durazzo, but shortly afterward concluded a peace with the emperor. His son, John or Kalo-Joannes Comnenus, suc- ceeded him (1118-'43). He fought victoriously against the Seljuks, reconquered many towns, defeated the Petchenegs and the Hungarians, and reconquered Lesser Armenia. He was suc- ceeded by his son Manuel Comnenus (1143-'80), who was victorious over the sultan of Iconium, and over Raymond of Toulouse, the Christian prince of Antioch. In 1147 a new army of crusaders arrived at Constantinople, to the consternation of the inhabitants. Manuel con- quered the island of Corfu from the king of Sicily, in retaliation for an invasion of Greece by the latter. Between 1180 and 1183 reign- ed Alexis Comnenus II., son of the preceding. Andronicus, the last of the Comneni, occupied the throne two years, and was succeeded by Isaac II., Angelus(1185-'9o). In his reign the king of Sicily undertook the conquest of the Byzantine empire, but was eventually beaten back. The Bulgarians recovered their inde-