Zoë and the end of the Armenian Dynasty
Although he lived a long time and ruled nearly fifty years, Basil II never had any sons. When he died in 1025, his brother Constantine VIII succeeded. He, too, had no sons, so he left the throne to his fifty-year-old daughter Zoë and her husband Romanus III. Romanus lost several battles against the Abbasids and quickly died, apparently because Zoë poisoned him. Zoë's servant (and boyfriend) Michael IV became co-emperor with the Empress Zoë, and then in 1041, when Michael died, Zoë co-ruled with Michael's nephew, Michael V. In 1042 Michael V tried to get rid of Zoë, but this led to revolts, and he was taken off the throne, blinded, and sent to a monastery. Zoë took over power again with her sister Theodora, but soon remarried to Constantine IX, who outlived her. Zoë died in 1050, and Constantine in 1055. Theodora, Zoë's sister, became Empress, even though she was seventy years old.
When Theodora died in 1056, with no children or living relative, that was the end of the Armenian dynasty. There were a series of civil wars while the Romans tried to decide who was going to take over. While this was going on, the Romans naturally couldn't pay very much attention to protecting their borders, because they were busy fighting each other. Because the Romans were not paying attention, and there were no good rulers, the Seljuks succeeded in taking control of Armenia away from the Roman Empire. When the Roman emperor Diogenes tried to get Armenia back at the great battle of Manzikert in 1071, he not only lost but was captured by the Selkjuks. The Romans had to give up their claims to Armenia and let Alp Arslan, the ruler of the Seljuks, have it in order to get Diogenes back. In the end, Nicolas Comneni took over the rule of the Roman Empire.
