Isaac I Comnenus

(Greek, Isaakios Komnenos). Born 1005(?); died 1060(?), in Constantinople. Byzantine emperor from 1057 to 1059.

Isaac I came to the throne as a result of a revolt of the landowning aristocracy of Asia Minor. He attempted to weaken the influence of the capital’s aristocracy and the monks and to limit the political and economic independence of the church. Isaac I confiscated part of the aristocracy’s lands. This policy brought him into conflict with Michael Cerularius, the patriarch of Constantinople, who was exiled and tried by a church court in 1058 at Isaac’s order. In 1059, he forced the Pechenegs, who had threatened the northern frontiers of the empire, to make peace. The opposition of the capital’s aristocracy headed by Michael Psellus compelled Isaac I to abdicate.