Andronicus III



         


Andronicus III Palaeologus (c. 1296 - June 15, 1341), Byzantine emperor, was the son of Michael, son of Andronicus II.

His conduct during his youth was so violent that, after the death of his father Michael in 1320, his grandfather resolved to deprive him of his right to the crown. Andronicus rebelled; he had a powerful party, and the first period of civil war ended in his being crowned and accepted as colleague by his grandfather, 1325. The quarrel broke out again and, notwithstanding the help of the Bulgarians, the older emperor was compelled to abdicate in 1328.

His chief minister during this period was John Cantacuzene, later Emperor John VI. During his reign Andronicus III was engaged in constant war, chiefly with the Ottoman Turks, who greatly extended their territory, conquering almost all of Asia Minor. He annexed large regions in Thessaly and Epirus, but they were lost before his death to the rising power of Serbia under Stephen Dusan. Andronicus worked on the reorganization of the navy, and recovered Lesbos and Chios from the Genoese. He died in 1341, and was succeeded by his son, John V.

This is a list of Byzantine Emperors.

Note: It is difficult to determine when exactly the Roman Empire ends and the Byzantine Empire begins; Diocletian split the Roman Empire into eastern and western halves for administrative purposes in 284. Candidates for the "first" Byzantine emperor include Constantine I (the first Christian emperor, who moved the capital to Constantinople), Valens (the Battle of Adrianople (378) provides one of the traditional cut-off events to mark the start of the medieval period), Arcadius (treating Theodosius I as the last emperor of a single Roman Empire), and Zeno I (as the last western emperor Romulus Augustus was deposed during his reign). Others date the beginning of the Empire even as late as Heraclius (who replaced the traditional Roman imperial title of "Augustus" with "Basileus", the Greek word for "Emperor", and discontinued the use of Latin by making Greek the official language). Numismatists note the monetary reforms of Anastasius I in 498, which used the Greek numbering system. Of course, the Byzantines themselves continued to think of their empire as "Roman" for over a millennium.

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Constantinian dynasty

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Non-dynastic

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Valentinian-Theodosian dynasty

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Dynasty of Leo

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Justinian dynasty

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Non-dynastic

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Heraclian dynasty

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Non-dynastic

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Isaurian dynasty

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Non-dynastic

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Amorian (or Phrygian) dynasty

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Macedonian dynasty

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Non-dynastic

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Ducaian-Comnenan dynasty

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Angelan dynasty

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Lascaran dynasty (in exile in the Empire of Nicaea during the time of the Latin Empire)

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Palaeologan Dynasty (restored at Constantinople)

In 1453 Mehmed II overthrew the Byzantine Empire and claimed the title of Caesar; his successors continued this claim. See Osmanli for the complete list of Ottoman sultans.

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