Philippicus Bardanes (the leader of the last insurrection against Justinian II.) was next raised to the throne (711); but having made himself odious by favoring the meta physical tenets of the Monothelites, he was deposed, and brutally deprived of eye-sight (713). His successor, Anastasius II., prudently screened himself from a mutinous army by retiring into a monastery (716), and left the crown to Theodosius III., who abdicated in 717 when Leo, the Isaurian, and gen. of the army of the east, did not recognize him, and marched with hostile intent to Constantinople. Leo (q.v.) himself ascended the throne in 717, and drove back the Arabs from Constantinople, but unhappily gave occa sion, in 726, for that contest concerning the worship of images, which rent the empire for more than a century. In 728, the exarchate of Ravenna was lost, and the eastern provinces became the prey of the Arabs, over whom, however, he won a great victory in Phrygia. He died in 741. Constantine V. (741-775), son of Leo III., on account of his zeal as an iconoclast, was hated by the monks, who gave him the surname "Cop ronymos," because (according to their malicious and uncleanly statement) he had polluted the font at his baptism. He was a brave ruler, recovered from the Arabs parts of Syria. and Armenia, and ultimately defeated the Bulgarians, against whom he had long been unsuccessful. His son, Leo IV. (775-780), was a mild ruler; but by the ability of his generals, he made the boundaries of the empire secure against the Arabs. After him, Constantine VI. ascended the throne under the guardianship of his ambitious mother, Irene (q.v.), who raised a powerful party in favor of image-worship. Constantine having made an attempt to liberate himself front the influence of his mother and her paramour, Stauratius, Irene barbarously caused her own son to be blinded (797). He died soon after this atrocity; and Irene, who had boldly conceived the design of marrying the emperor Charlemagne, and thus uniting the e. and w. of Europe in one vast realm, excited the opposition which, in 802, placed her treasurer, Nicephorus, on the throne. Irene was banished to Lesbos, where she died in 803. Nicephorus, who fell in battle against the Bulgarians (811), was succeeded by his son, Stauratius, who soon yielded the throne to his brother-in-law, Michael I., from whom it was taken by the Armenian gen., Leo V., a powerful ruler, who conquered the Bulgarians, but fell (820) in a con spiracy excited by his zeal against image-worship. Michael II., the stammerer, was raised from a dungeon to the throne, and ruled until 829. In his reign, Crete and Sicily passed into the hands of the Arabs. Under the rule of his son, Theophilus, who is praised by the Byzantine historians for his love of justice (829-842), the gen., Manuel, gained some indeci.sive victories over the Arabs. Theodora, widow of Theophilus, and guardian of Michael III. (842-867), brought the controversy about images to a close at the council of Nica (842), when the worship of these was fully sanctioned and re-intro duced. Daring this reign the government busied itself in the persecution of the Pauli clans (q.v.), while the Arabs devastated the Asiatic provinces. Theodora, having been banished to a convent by her son, the government was for some time held by Bardas, uncle of Michael III., and after his assassination, by Basilius I., the Macedonian, who caused Michael to be put to death, and afterwards ruled ably from 867 to 886. But though on the whole successful against the Arabs, the latter contrived to make them selves masters of Syracuse. His dynasty (the Macedonian) maintained itself on the Byzantine throne, with some few interruptions, until 1059. The reign of his son, Leo VI., the philosopher, (886-912), was not prosperous. The inroads of the Bulgarians and of the Arabs, who, in 904, plundered Thessalonica, continued to increase during the government of his son, Constantine VII., Porphyrogenitus, who ruled but feebly (912-959). Under his son, the dissolute Romanus II. (959-963), Crete was retaken from the Arabs by the vigor of his gen., Nicephorus Phocas, who, on the death of the empe ror, married his widow, Theophania. She, however, caused him to be murdered in 969, as she wished to marry John Tzimiskes, who ruled till 970, and, like his predecessor, was victorious against the Arabs and Bulgarians, as also the Russians, who about this time began to emerge from obscurity as an enemy of the Byzantine power. His succes sor, Basilius II. (976-1025), the son of Roinanus, conquered the Bulgarian kingdom, and attached it as a province to the empire, which it remained till 1186, when it again became tndependent. His brother, Constantine VIII. (1025-28), did not resemble him. Romanus III. next ascended the throne, but was assassinated by his wife, Zoe, a profligate but crafty princess, who raised successively to the imperial dignity Michael IV. (1034), Michael V. (1041), and Constantine IX. (1042). Meanwhile, Russians and Arabs devastated the realm. In Asia, the Seljuk Turks proved dangerous enemies; while in lower Italy, the Normans narrowed the Byzantine power to the possession of Otranto. After Constan tine's death in 1014, Theodora, sister of Zoe, was elected empress; and on her death in 1056, Michael VI., who was deposed by Isaac I., Comnenus.
With Isaac I., Comnenus, who came to the throne in 1057, the dynasty of the Com nenian emperors began. He retired to a monastery (1059), and was succeeded by Con stantine "X, whose widow, Eudocia, married Romanus Iv., and raised him to the throne. Romanus was deposed in 1071 by ;Michael VII. (son of Constantine X.), who,
in his turn, was dethroned by Nicephorus III. (1078), who reigned until 1081, when he was deposed by Alexius I., Comnenus (q.v.), (1081-1118). This last reign was marked by the commencement of the crusades. The successors of Alexius—his son, Kalo-Joan nes (1118-43), and Manuel I. (1143-80)—were able rulers, and victorious in their engage ments with the Turks. 3lanuel's son, Alexius II., was murdered by his guardian, Andronicus (grandson of Alexius I.), who raised himself to the throne. He was the last prince of the Coinnenian dynasty, and fell in an insurrection excited by his own cruelty, 1185.
After the first turbulent rei,gn of Isaac II., who was blinded and deposed by his brother, Alexius m., who took the surname of Comnenus in 1195, the crusaders restored Isaac to the throne (1203), and also crowned his son Alexius IV.; but the rest less citizens of Constantircple elected Nicolas Kanabus, who took the title of Alexius V., and pursuing the usual bloody course, put his predecessor to death.
In 1204, the French and fuel enetians (collectively named Latirm) advanced on Con stantinople, and captured the city, April 12, having made thenfselves masters of the European provinces. The whole was divided into four parts, of which the first, includ ing the metropolis, fell to the lot of Baldwin, count of Flanders, who was made emperor, and to whom the other participants in ,the eXpedition did fealty for their respective shares. The Venetians obtained the coasts of the Adriatic and iEgean seas, a part of the Morea, and several islands; Bonifacius, count of Montferrat, Macedonia, and part of Greece; several dukedoms, countships, etc., were also established at Athens, Philip popolis, and other places for French knights; white a number of Greek princes, both on the mainland and in the islands, maintained their independence. In the w. of Asia Minor, Theodorus Lascaris, who had been elected emperor at Constantinople, formally transferred the seat of government to Nictea; and finally, in the me. of Asia Minor, the governor of the province of Coichis, Alexius Comnenus, ruled at Trebizond with abso lute authority; while one of his successors, John Comnenus, even assumed the title of emperor. At Constantinople, neither Baldwin nor his successors could strengthen the sinking empire. Baldwin himself died (1206) a prisoner in the hands of the Bulgarians. After him came his brother Henry, who ruled bravely and wisely till 1216. For the next four years, the empire was 'actually without a ruler, and a prey to utter anarchy. In 1221, Robert, son of Peter, count of Auxerre and Courtenay, came to the throne; and was succeeded by John of Brienne, titular king of Jerusalem (1228-37); and the latter by Baldwin II. (1237-61). During these reigns, a great part of the empire was seized by John Vatazes, successor of Theodorus Lascaris of Nielca (1222-55). This ruler was followed in Nicrea by Theodorus II. (1255-59), whose son, Johannes, during his minority, was superseded by Michael VIII., Palreologus, who, by the help of the Genoese, captured Constantinople (July 25, 1261), and thus put an end to the Latin dynasty; though some few Latin principalities maintained themselves till the fall of the Byzantine empire.
Michael, the first of the Palreologi, a powerful prince, really endeavored to strengthen the realm; but, by his unhappy attempt to unite the Greek church with the Latin, from which it had decisively separated (1054), he gave great offense to the clergy and the people. His son, Andronicus II., who came to the throne, 1282, re-established the Greek ritual. After the death of his son and co-regent, Michael IX. (1320), Andronicus II. was compelled to divide the throne with his grandson, Andronicus III., who became sole emperor, 1328. This monarch unsuccessfully opposed the Turks, who took Nicrea and Nicomedia in 1339, and wasted the European coasts. He died in 1341. Under his son, Johannes V., the Turks first gained a firm footing in the European provinces, and spread themselves from Gallipoli (which they captured in 1357) over other districts. Sultan Murad took Adrianople, 1361, and made it the seat of government. He and his follower, Bajazet, conquered all the Byzantine territories as far as Constantinople. Manuel II., son and successor of Johannes, was besieged in Constantinople by Bajazet, who defeated an army under Sigismund of Hungary, at Nicopolis, in 1396, and com pelled the Byzantine monarch to cede to the Turks one of the main streets of the city, which was saved from capture only by Thnur's incursions into the Turkish territories, 1402. By this diversion Manuel recovered some portion of the Byzantine provinces; but made so little use of the occasion, that, in 1422, the metropolis was again besieged by Murad II., who, after lie had overthrown the force sent to aid the emperor by Ladislaus, king of Hungary, at the battle of Varna, made Constantinople, in 1444, the limit of the domains of Johannes VI., son of Manuel, and compelled him to pay tribute. Constantine XI., brother of Johannes, bravely but fruitlessly contended against the overwhelming Turkish forces, and fell heroically in the defense of Constantinople, which was captured by Mohammed II., May 29, 1453, when the B. E. was brought to it close. The petty Latin princes who existed here and there in Greece, and the despots, Demetrius and TiomfIS, who ruled in the Morea, were subdued by Mohammed in 1460; while David, a member of the Comnenian dynasty, the last emperor of Trebizond, sub mitted in 1461.