farmers and stockbreeders and, secondarily, manufacturers and merchants. During the 10th and 11th centuries the state economy saw a change of direction in that new sources of income were sought. To this end the state obtained and exploited more land, trying to turn it into a primary revenue resource. Repeated confiscations of land were conducted, while Basil II abolished all debts regarding estates belonging to the state. Until the 10th century, the state had tried to sell abandoned land back to private citizens in order to collect utilization taxes; now, abandoned land, especially land abandoned due to war, was legally turned into state property: these were the klasmatikai gaiai (fragmental lands) or klasmata (fragments) which, from the reign of Basil II onwards, the state kept for itself and exploited for its own direct financial profit. All of this contributed to the rapid increase of state-owned land and an increase in imperial revenues.A second source of state revenue came from the foundation of charitable institutions, the euageis oikoi. These were hostels, nursing homes, orphanages or workhouses, usually dependent on a church or monastery and were subsidised from the moment of their foundation by a grant of land. They were administered by the abbot of the monastery, who was assisted by a secular chartoularioi or notarioi. These institutions could increase their property by means of private donations. In this way the initial capital was continuously added to and the institutions were not merely self-financing but profitable in their own right. In time they were often renamed euage sekreta ( which indicated their financial stature), and from the beginning of the 11th century their surplus revenue was such as to support officials or relatives of the emperor.