Andronikos IV Palaiologos
1348 – 1385 · Generation XXXIX · Emperor (r. 1376–1379) · Palaiologos
The eldest son of the emperor John V and Helena Kantakouzene, Andronikos IV Palaiologos spent much of his life fighting his father for the throne. Born on 11 April 1348, he was made co-emperor in 1352, and in 1356 he married Keratsa, a daughter of Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria. When John V went to Italy in 1369, Andronikos was left as regent. Stranded in Venice by his debts, John offered the Venetians the island of Tenedos, but Andronikos, probably urged on by the Genoese, refused to honour the deal or to sell church treasures to free him, and it took his brother Manuel to bring their father home.
In 1373 Andronikos rebelled together with Savcı Bey, the son of the Ottoman sultan Murad I, who was rising against his own father. Both risings failed, and Andronikos was imprisoned and blinded, though only in one eye, and Manuel replaced him as heir. In July 1376 the Genoese helped him escape. He went to Murad, promised him Gallipoli in return for troops, took Constantinople and imprisoned John V and Manuel, and in October 1377 he was crowned with his son John VII as co-emperor.
In 1379 his father and brother escaped and, with Venetian and Ottoman help, overthrew him. He fled to Galata with his mother and grandfather as hostages, but in 1381 he was restored as co-emperor and heir and given Selymbria as his domain. He rebelled again in 1385 and died soon afterwards at Selymbria, in late June, and was buried in the Pantokrator monastery. The handover of Gallipoli and the years of civil war did much to open the Balkans to the Ottomans.
Place in the family
- Andronikos IV Palaiologos was the elder of 2 children of John V Palaiologos and Helena Kantakouzene recorded in this archive.
One of 19 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 → John V Palaiologos → Andronikos IV Palaiologos.
Parents
- John V Palaiologos (1332 – 1391)
- Helena Kantakouzene (1333 – 1396)
Siblings
- Manuel II Palaiologos (1350 – 1425)
Partners
- Married Keratsa (1350 – ?) — one child together
Children
- John VII Palaiologos (1370 – 1408)
Sources
- Andronikos IV Palaiologos · Wikipedia
- John V Palaiologos · Wikipedia