Editing Isaac I Komnenos (section)

====Fiscal reforms====
[[File:Histamenon of Isaac I.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Gold ''[[histamenon]]'' struck by Isaac. His martial posture, bearing a naked sword, is unique among [[Byzantine coinage]].{{efn|Constantine IX Monomachos was the first emperor to introduce the sword as an element, being depicted holding a spear and a sheathed sword in his silver ''[[miliaresion|miliaresia]]''. Isaac's depiction with a drawn sword on the prestigious gold coinage was novel and, following the outcry it raised, abandoned by subsequent rulers. The iconography of Isaac's coinage may have drawn inspiration from similar portrayals of [[caliphs]] in [[gold dinars]].{{sfn|Grotowski|2007|pp=110–111}}}}]]
Isaac's rise to power was a turning point in Byzantine history, marking the definitive end of the long-lived Macedonian dynasty. Although powerful generals had previously suborned power, they had ruled alongside the Macedonian emperors; Isaac was the first military strongman to usurp power outright since the 9th century.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=598}} This was reflected in the coinage struck in his name, which uniquely showed him holding a drawn sword; while it may have simply indicated his intention to restore "capable military rule" (Kaldellis), it came to be understood as a claim to rule by right of conquest. Certainly it highlighted Isaac's determination to make reforms and restore the effectiveness of the army.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=599}} 

The task he faced was truly herculean, as the politically weak emperors of the previous thirty years had fostered corruption and inefficiency, handing out titles and their attendant state salaries (''rogai'') in exchange for support.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=599}}{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|p=220}} The devaluation of the coinage under Constantine IX had been a first reaction to the brewing crisis, but Isaac was the first emperor in this period who certainly faced a budget deficit.{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|p=220}} To fund his cherished army, Isaac was therefore obliged to begin strict economies: he reduced or abolished the ''rogai'' of those who had been awarded titles, enforced a stricter and more efficient collection of taxes, reclaimed misappropriated imperial estates, and cancelled grants of such lands and tax exemptions made under Constantine IX and Michael VI, particularly those that had been granted to monasteries and churches, using a law of [[Nikephoros II Phokas]].{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=599}}{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|pp=220–221}} Even though salaries of officials, especially members of the [[Byzantine Senate|Senate]], were cut,{{sfn|ODB|loc="Isaac I Komnenos" (C. M. Brand, A. Cutler), pp. 1011–1012}} Isaac's efforts were enthusiastically received even among some senior members of the civil bureaucracy, judging by the comments of Psellos and [[Michael Attaleiates]].{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|pp=220–221}}

{{Quote
 |quote = [Isaac Komnenos] was eager to lose no time in cutting out the dead wood which had long been accumulating in the Roman Empire. We can liken it to a monstrous body, a body with a multitude of heads, an ugly bull-neck, hands so many that they were beyond counting, and just as many feet; its entrails were festering and diseased, in some parts swollen, in others wasting away, here afflicted with dropsy, there diminishing with consumption. Now Isaac tried to remedy this by wholesale surgery.
 |author = [[Michael Psellos]]
 |source = ''Chronographia'', VII.51{{sfn|Sewter|1953|pp=233–234}}
}}