the Komnenoi, and the Empire descended into civil war as the aristocracy and military elite grappled for control. This led to military weakness, allowing the Turks to regain much of their territory in Anatolia. Within two centuries Constantinople would, for the first time in its thousand-year history as capital of the Byzantine Empire, be conquered by a foreign power. The decline of the Empire began almost immediately, for without the strong Komnenoi emperors, the previous financial and military problems of the Empire became clear and unstoppable. References Bibliography Norwich, John Julius (1997). A Short History of Byzantium. Viking. Angold, Michael (1997). The Byzantine Empire, 1025–1204: A Political History. Longman. Haldon, John (2001). The Byzantine Wars. Tempus. Komnenos dynasty 11th-century crusades 12th-century crusades 11th century in the Byzantine Empire 12th century in the Byzantine Empire