About 1053, Constantine IX disbanded what the historian John Skylitzes calls the "Iberian Army", converting its obligations from military service to the payment of tax, and it was turned into a contemporary Drungary of the Watch. Two other knowledgeable contemporaries, the former officials Michael Attaleiates and Kekaumenos, agree with Skylitzes that by demobilising these soldiers Constantine did catastrophic harm to the Empire's eastern defences.