Constantine IX Monomachos

Constantine IX Monomachos (c. 1000–1055) became Byzantine emperor in 1042 by marrying Empress Zoë, sharing the throne with her and her sister Theodora. Exiled by Michael IV, he was recalled after Michael V’s overthrow.

He won two civil wars and repelled a Kievan Rus’ raid, and annexed the Armenian kingdom of Ani, but was humiliated by the Pechenegs and could not check the rising Seljuq Turks. His lavish spending and the first permanent debasement of the gold coinage since Constantine the Great emptied the treasury. He also attempted legal reform, founding a law school, and in 1054 the Great Schism split Rome and Constantinople. He died in 1055.