Andronikos IV Palaiologos

Andronikos IV Palaiologos (or Andronicus IV Palaeologus) (Greek: Ἀνδρόνικος Δ' Παλαιολόγος, Andronikos IV Palaiologos) (2 April 1348 – 28 June 1385) was Byzantine Emperor from 1376 to 1379.

Life

Andronikos IV Palaiologos was the eldest son of Emperor John V Palaiologos by his wife Helena Kantakouzene. His maternal grandparents were John VI Kantakouzenos and Irene Asanina.

Although associated as co-emperor with his father since the early 1350s, Andronikos IV rebelled when the Ottoman sultan Murad I forced John V into vassalage in 1373. Andronikos IV had allied with Murad's son Savcı Bey, who was rebelling against his own father, but both rebellions failed. Murad I blinded and executed his son and demanded that John V have Andronikos IV blinded as well, but John V blinded Andronikos in only one eye.^[1]

Reign

In July 1376, the Genoese helped Andronikos to escape from prison, whence he went straight to sultan Murad I, and agreed to return Gallipoli in return for his support. Gallipoli had been retaken by the Byzantines ten years before, with the assistance of Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy. The sultan duly provided a mixed force of cavalry and infantry and with these, Andronikos was able to take control of Constantinople. Here he was able to capture and imprison both John V and his son Manuel.

However, he made the mistake of favouring the Genoese too highly by awarding it Tenedos. The governor there refused to hand it over, and passed it on to Venice. In the same year, 1377, he crowned his young son John VII as co-emperor. However in 1379 John and Manuel escaped to sultan Murad, and with the assistance of the Venetians, overthrew Andronikos later in the year. The Venetians restored John V to the throne, and Manuel II. Andronikos fled to Galata, staying there until 1381, when he was once again made co-emperor and heir to the throne despite his earlier treachery. Andronikos IV was also given the city of Selymbria (Silivri) as his personal domain. However, he predeceased his father there in 1385, never to rule as legitimate emperor.

Family

By his wife Keratsa of Bulgaria (nun Makaria), a daughter of Emperor Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria and his second wife Sarah-Theodora, Andronikos IV had three children:

• John VII Palaiologos, emperor in 1390;
• two daughters.

Ancestry

References

Further reading

• Harris, Jonathan, The End of Byzantium. Yale University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-11786-8
• Nicol, Donald M., The Last Centuries of Byzantium. Cambridge University Press, 1993, 2nd edition. ISBN 0-521-43991-4
• Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press, 1991.