
Mosaic of Emperor Constantine IX at the Hagia Sophia
Constantine IX Monomachos, Latinized as Constantine IX Monomachus (Medieval Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος Θ΄ Μονομάχος, romanized: Kōnstantinos IX Monomachos; c. 1000 – 11 January 1055), reigned as Byzantine emperor from 11 June 1042 to 11 January 1055. He had been chosen by the Empress Zoë as a husband and co-emperor in 1042, although he had been exiled for conspiring against her previous husband, Emperor Michael IV the Paphlagonian. They ruled together until Zoë died in 1050.
During Constantine's reign, the Byzantine Empire fought wars against groups which included the Kievan Rus' and the Seljuq Turks. In the year before his death, the split between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches took place.