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Manuel II Palaeologus



         


Manuel II Palaeologus (1350-July 21 1425) was Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425, and son of Emperor John V Palaeologus. By Helena Dragas, the daughter of a Serbian prince, he had seven sons: Michael (died 1406), John, Theodore, Andronikos, Constantine, Demetrius, and Thomas.

At the time of his father's death he was a hostage at the court of the Ottoman emperor Beyazid I at Brusa (modern Bursa), but succeeded in making his escape; he was forthwith besieged in Constantinople by the sultan, whose victory over the Christians at Nicopolis, however (September 28, 1396), did not secure for him the capital.

Manuel subsequently set out in person to seek help from the West, and for this purpose visited Italy, France, Germany and England, but without material success; the victory of Timur at the Battle of Ankara in 1402, and the death of Beyazid in 1403 were the first events to give him a genuine respite from Ottoman oppression. He stood on friendly terms with Mehmed I, but was again besieged in his capital by Murad II, in 1422. Shortly before his death he was forced to sign an agreement whereby the Byzantine Empire undertook to pay tribute to the sultan.

Manuel was the author of numerous works of varied character — theological, rhetorical, poetical and letters.

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.

See also:








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