Editing Theme (Byzantine district) (section)

=== Change and decline: 11th–12th centuries ===
[[File:Map Byzantine Empire 1045.svg|300px|thumb|Map of themes within the Byzantine Empire in 1045.]]

The [[Byzantine Empire under the Komnenos dynasty|Komnenian era]] saw a brief restoration of the empire's fortunes as the force now known as the '[[Byzantine army (Komnenian era)|Komnenian army]]' was established by [[Alexios I Komnenos]], marking a decisive break with the thematic system. The new army was highly centralized in the person of the emperor and the ruling dynasty, and provided an element of stability which characterized the Komnenian restoration. It was noticeably more reliant on mercenaries such as the [[Varangian guard]] than the previous army, reducing the importance of the themes. The ''strategoi'' increasingly lost power as the empire centralized. The emperors often appointed relatives to the governorships, reducing their autonomous character and solidifying centralized imperial administration.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Birkenmeier |first=John |title=The Development of the Kommenian Army: 1081-1180 |publisher=Brill |year=2002 |isbn=9789004117105 |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=242}}</ref>

The [[Komnenian restoration]] required a new system to manage the severely weakened themes of [[Anatolia]] due to the catastrophe of [[Battle of Manzikert|Manzikert]]. The themes followed the Kommenian era trend of greater imperial centralization with the governors being members of the imperial family, owing their allegiance solely to the emperor. This eroded the old independent character of the once large Anatolian themes. The new military governors (called [[Dux|Doux]] or [[Katepano|''Katepanos'']] indiscriminately) assumed strongly centralized roles on the emperor's behalf so that the influx of landed ''[[pronoia]]'' foreigners in military service could be regulated and counteracted in cases of uprising. The governorships were specifically reserved for relatives of the Komnenian family alone and though efficient emergency measures, it successfully turned the empire into a dependency on foreign mercenaries, yielding the mass of native Greeks and making it unprecedentedly subordinate to the will of its European counterparts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frankopan |first=P. |date=2007-02-01 |title=Kinship and the Distribution of Power in Komnenian Byzantium |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cel378 |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=CXXII |issue=495 |pages=1–34 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cel378 |issn=0013-8266}}</ref>

Each Theme was overseen by a ''Katepanos'' or ''Doux'', whose authorities was both military and civil, subdivided into [[Katepano|''Katepanakias'']] encompassing the old [[Tourma|''Tourmas'']], now each ruled by a [[Praetor|Praktor]] instead of a ''[[Tourmarches]]'' fulfilling the same civic and military roles now widely in the hands of [[Pronoia|''pronoiars'']]. The pronoiars became the bulk of the imperial tagmata's reserves, slowly taking their place side by side with the totally lawless landed monasteries and the ''[[dynatoi]],'' who after Alexios's tax reforms could formalize the various illegally acquired towns and communes as long as they could secure the full taxation of their new domains by the fisc, a process worse fueled by the extensive [[Golden bull|chrysobulas]] of different institutions granted by the monarch.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haldon |first=John |date=2020-07-08 |title=Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, 565–1204 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1201/9781003070832 |doi=10.1201/9781003070832|isbn=9781003070832 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=C. |first=Bartusis, Mark |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/40455898 |title=The late Byzantine army : arms and society, 1204-1453 |date=1997 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=0-8122-1620-2 |oclc=40455898}}</ref>

The [[Byzantine army (Komnenian era)|Byzantine army of the Komnenian era]] never managed to field the manpower of the themes in their heyday, and the new system proved more expensive to maintain in the long run. It also relied on a succession of strong soldier-emperors to be effective. With the death of [[Manuel I Komnenos]] in 1180, a new period of decline set in.