ABSTRACT
In the history of the Roman army, the eleventh century is considered by many authors to have been a transitional period between a force that originated in late antiquity and the Byzantine military of the Middle Ages. The entire organization of the Roman army, its structures, its equipment and its tactics were the culmination of many centuries of evolution, but in the eleventh century, the system began to change, due to external processes, which were the expression of a deeply troubled state of the empire,2 but also due to the evolving principles of combat on medieval battlefields. To understand the ongoing changes in the Byzantine army in the eleventh century, readers first need to sketch the political situation that led to the systemic breakdown of the Roman armed forces after the death of Basil II. The military situation of the empire began deteriorating drastically under the rule of Constantine IX Monomachos, who was a member of the bureaucratic faction.
