Andronikos III Palaiologos
1297 – 1341 · Generation XXXVII · Emperor (r. 1328–1341) · Palaiologos
Andronikos (AD 1297 – 1341). Emperor (r. 1328–1341). Married Anna around AD 1326. Son of Michael IX; deposed his grandfather Andronikos II. His youth was clouded by tragedy: in 1320 he was the accidental cause of his brother Manuel's death, and their grieving father died soon after — the rupture that set grandson against grandfather. As emperor he could not save Bithynia, beaten by Orhan at Pelekanon in 1329 and losing Nicaea and then Nicomedia to the Ottomans, while the Bulgarians defeated him at Rusokastro. Yet he recovered Chios, Lesbos, and Phocaea from Genoese lords and brought Thessaly and Epirus back under imperial rule. He reformed the courts, creating four “Universal Justices of the Romans,” while day-to-day government rested with his friend John Kantakouzenos. His early death left a vacuum that broke into ruinous civil war between his widow and that same friend.
One of 20 people of Palaiologos (1190–1503) in this archive. The last and longest-lived house — it retook the city in 1261 and lost it in 1453.
Line of descent: Manuel Komnenos → John Komnenos → Alexios I Komnenos → Theodora Komnene → Andronikos Angelos Doukas → Alexios III Angelos → Irene Angelina → Theodora Palaiologina → Michael VIII Palaiologos → Andronikos II Palaiologos → Michael IX Palaiologos → Andronikos III Palaiologos.
Parents
- Michael IX Palaiologos (1277 – 1320)
- Rita (1278 – ?)
Partners
- Married Anna (1306 – ?) in 1326 — one child together
Children
- John V Palaiologos (1332 – 1391)
Life
- 1297 — Born
- 1326 — Married Anna
- 1341 — Died