Revolt of the Bulgarians under Peter Delyan, a descendant of Tsar Samuel. The revolt was directed against the harsh fiscal policy of the government. The Bulgars attacked Salonika (Thessalonica), but the city held out. Ultimately the movement collapsed as a result of dissension among the leaders. Bulgaria was then incorporated in the empire and the autocephalous church of Ochrid became the prey of the patriarchal hierarchy.
CONSTANTINE IX (Monomachus), the third husband of Zoë, a scholarly person wholly out of sympathy with the army and with the military aristocracy. He systematically neglected the frontier defenses and the forces.
Revolt of Maniakes, representing the disaffection of the military classes. Maniakes landed at Durazzo and prepared to march on the capital, but he was accidentally killed on the way.
Final schism between Rome and Constantinople. The long-standing friction between the papacy and the Eastern patriarch had come to a head with the conquest of parts of southern Italy by the Normans, who were supported by the papacy. The patriarch Michael Kerularios disputed the claim of Pope Leo IX to jurisdiction in southern Italy. Negotiations were opened, but each side assumed an uncompromising attitude, and the rift became unbridgeable.
Isaac I Comnenus, proclaimed by the insurgents. He was an able and energetic army man who promptly abolished a host of sinecures, undertook the reform of the finances. Isaac, already advanced in years, soon found his work too arduous and abdicated.
CONSTANTINE X (Dukas), a high official of the finance department, ascended the throne after Isaac's abdication. Constantine introduced a period of domination by the civil officials, church, and scholars, during which the army was viewed with suspicion, neglected, and driven to hostile acts.
