Michael VIII Palaiologos
1223 – 1282 · Generation XXXIV · Emperor (r. 1259–1282) · Palaiologos
Michael (AD 1223 – 1282). Emperor (r. 1259–1282). Married Theodora around AD 1253. Recovered Constantinople in 1261; founder of the Palaiologan dynasty; blinded John IV Laskaris. Accused of treason under John III, he offered to prove his innocence by grasping a red-hot iron — but only if the bishop who proposed the ordeal would place it in his hands. After Theodore II’s death he toppled the regent George Mouzalon and took the guardianship of the boy emperor for himself. Victory at Pelagonia in 1259 broke the alliance of Achaea and Epirus, and a treaty with Genoa promised him a fleet. Once inside the recovered capital he doubled its population, restored churches and public buildings, and re-established the University of Constantinople, seeding the Palaiologan Renaissance — though the Anatolian frontier, neglected for the Balkans, would cost his heirs dearly. The patriarch excommunicated him for six years over the blinding of John IV.
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.
Parents
- Andronikos Palaiologos (1190 – 1247)
- Theodora Palaiologina (1190 – ?)
Partners
- Married Theodora Palaiologina (1240 – 1303) in 1253 — 2 children together
Children
- Andronikos II Palaiologos (1259 – 1332)
- Irene Palaiologina (1259 – ?)
Life
- 1223 — Born
- 1253 — Married Theodora
- 1282 — Died