Justinian I made the Byzantine Empire very big, but many years after his death barbarian invasions caused the Empire to lose land. In 1025 the Empire won back the north part of what they used to own because of Emperor Basil II. After he died there was some military breakdown causing the empire to just own the northern part. Alexios and his son John II Komnenos made another comeback for the Byzantine Empire. They got back some of the eastern part of the land where it was fertile and populated. John’s son, Manuel Komnenos, made the Empire strong and wealthy. After his death the empire fell apart and a new Latin Empire was established where the ruins of the Byzantine Empire was. In 1261 Emperor Michael VIII Paliologos restored the Byzantine Empire.
