a co-emperor (symbasileus). As a sign of good faith, furthermore, Paraspondylos was dismissed from office. When the envoys returned to Isaac with this news, he publicly accepted the proposal and prepared to enter the capital. Back in Constantinople, however, a crowd of officials assembled in the Hagia Sophia and began protesting that by making a deal, the Emperor was forcing them to renounce their oaths to oppose the rebels. Going a step further, they began themselves acclaiming Isaac as emperor. After a short while, on 30 August, Michael Keroularios and the clergy joined their cause, raising suspicions that this "spontaneous" assembly had been planned by the ambitious and wily Patriarch all along. Pressured by Keroularios and wanting to avoid bloodshed in the city, Michael agreed to abdicate. He was quickly tonsured and retired to a monastery. On the next day, 31 August, Isaac and his entourage crossed the Bosporus into Constantinople and entered the palace; on 1 September, he was crowned emperor by the Patriarch in the Hagia Sophia. Reign The first act of the new emperor was to reward his partisans: his fellow conspirators were named to high offices—his own brother John was named domestikos ton scholon of the West and received the high title of kouropalates, which was also awarded to Kekaumenos and Bryennios. The troops that had followed him received a donative and were quickly sent back east, to avoid any trouble with the populace of Constantinople. Patriarch Michael Keroularios was also rewarded for his support, by receiving sole authority for all personnel and financial matters of the Church, which were previously under the purview of the emperor, while the Patriarch's nephews received high court titles. Fiscal reforms 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. 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, and even as expressing an impious belief "that his accomplishments came not from God but from his own prowess". Certainly it highlighted Isaac's determination to