Constantine IX Monomachos

Constantine Monomachos came from the urban aristocracy and claimed the Byzantine throne in June 1042 by marrying the sitting empress Zoë Porphyrogenita; he shared power with her and her sister Theodora. He inherited a treasury fattened by Basil II and burned through it on gifts, building projects, and a wholesale expansion of the aristocracy during a period of economic growth. Constantine tried reforms — a new office to manage civil judges, a law school, tax exemptions through an early pronoia system — but most landed weakly. He won two civil wars and beat back a Kievan Rus' raid, but the Pech…