Answer:
Wealthy Landowners is the correct Answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Byzantine Empire was the continuation of the Roman Empire in the Eastern provinces. It was a result of the fragmentation that came with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD.
The empire lasted through Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The empire was the most powerful economic and military force in Europe at the time.