Byzantine civil war of 1373–1379
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The Byzantine civil war of 1373–1379 was a military conflict fought in the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 between Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos
John V Palaiologos
John V Palaiologos was a Byzantine emperor, who succeeded his father in 1341, at age nine.-Biography:...

 and his son, Andronikos IV Palaiologos
Andronikos IV Palaiologos
Andronikos IV Palaiologos was Byzantine Emperor from 1376 to 1379.-Life:...

. It began when Andronikos sought to overthrow his father in 1373. Although he failed, with Genoese
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....

 aid, Andronikos was eventually able to overthrow and imprison John V in 1376. In 1379 however, John V escaped, and with Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 help, regained his throne. The civil war further weakened the declining Empire, which had already suffered several devastating civil wars earlier in the century. The major beneficiary of the war were the Ottomans, whose vassals the Byzantines had effectively become.

Background

When John V
John V Palaiologos
John V Palaiologos was a Byzantine emperor, who succeeded his father in 1341, at age nine.-Biography:...

 assumed sole rule of the Empire in 1354, he pursued a clearly pro-Western foreign policy. He gave Lesbos and his sister's hand in marriage to a Genoese, Pontic Heraclea
Heraclea Pontica
Heraclea Pontica , an ancient city on the coast of Bithynia in Asia Minor, at the mouth of the river Lycus. It was founded by the Greek city-state of Megara c.560-558 and was named after Heracles who the Greeks believed entered the underworld at a cave on the adjoining Archerusian promontory .The...

, Byzantium's last Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

n port, was sold to the Venetians
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

, and he himself converted to Roman Catholicism, an action that alienated him from his subjects and gained little in return. By the 1360s, the Byzantine Empire was a shadow of its former self. Its last domains in Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

 were being overrun by the Ottomans, who in 1365 captured Adrianople (modern Edirne
Edirne
Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...

). Seeking aid from the West, in 1369 John V visited Pope Urban V
Pope Urban V
Pope Urban V , born Guillaume Grimoard, was Pope from 1362 to 1370.-Biography:Grimoard was a native of Grizac in Languedoc . He became a Benedictine and a doctor in Canon Law, teaching at Montpellier and Avignon...

 that summer, and following that he sailed to Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, where he negotiated a treaty in which the Venetians would cancel the emperor's debt in return for the island of Tenedos
Tenedos
Tenedos or Bozcaada or Bozdja-Ada is a small island in the Aegean Sea, part of the Bozcaada district of Çanakkale province in Turkey. , Tenedos has a population of about 2,354. The main industries are tourism, wine production and fishing...

. On leaving Byzantine soil he left his two sons, Andronikos IV and Manuel
Manuel II Palaiologos
Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus was Byzantine Emperor from 1391 to 1425.-Life:...

, to manage Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

 and Thessalonica respectively. Andronikos IV, the elder son and co-emperor, however refused to hand over Tenedos to the Venetians as agreed, and the Emperor was detained by the Venetians for two years until Manuel intervened on his behalf.

First conflict – Failed revolt of Andronikos IV, 1373

Andronikos IV resented his father's acceptance of tributary and vassal status to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 in 1373, and in the same year, he joined Savci Bey, a son of the Ottoman Sultan Murad I
Murad I
Murad I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1361 to 1389...

, in an open rebellion against their fathers. Both revolts were suppressed, although Byzantine military weakness meant that this was largely carried out by Turkish troops. Murad blinded Savci and demanded that John V in turn blind both Andronikos and the latter's son, John
John VII Palaiologos
John VII Palaiologos was Byzantine Emperor for five months in 1390.-Life:...

. John V did so only partially, leaving Andronikos IV with one eye and his son only partially blinded, but he did imprison Andronikos. The younger John greatly resented his grandfather's action and would rebel against him in 1390, reigning for five months. In the aftermath of Andronikos' failure, Manuel was raised to co-emperor and heir to John V as Manuel II.

Second conflict – Andronikos' usurpation, 1376–1379

Shortly after Andronikos was imprisoned, John V sold Tenedos
Tenedos
Tenedos or Bozcaada or Bozdja-Ada is a small island in the Aegean Sea, part of the Bozcaada district of Çanakkale province in Turkey. , Tenedos has a population of about 2,354. The main industries are tourism, wine production and fishing...

 to the Venetians on similar terms to previous failed agreement. The Genoese
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....

 however did not take kindly to the island being in the hands of the Venetians
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

, with whom they were embroiled in a war
War of Chioggia
The War of Chioggia was a conflict between Genoa and Venice which lasted from 1378 to 1381, from which Venice emerged triumphant. It was a part of the larger Venetian-Genoese War which began in 1350.-Background:...

. Thus, in 1376, the Genoese, based in their colony in Galata
Galata
Galata or Galatae is a neighbourhood in the Beyoğlu district on the European side of Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey. Galata is located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn, the inlet which separates it from the historic peninsula of old Constantinople. The Golden Horn is crossed by...

, helped free Andronikos and procure Ottoman troops for him. Andronikos assumed control of Constantinople and imprisoned the Emperor John V and his younger brother Manuel. In return for their help, Andronikos IV now gave Tenedos to the Genoese and Gallipoli
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...

 to the Ottomans.

These acts in turn embroiled him, shortly after his accession, in a war with Venice. Together with his son, John VII, who was crowned as co-emperor in 1376, there were now no less than four emperors in Byzantium, all of them more or less pawns in the policies of the Ottomans and the Italian city-states. Andronikos IV ruled until 1379, when John V and Manuel II escaped and fled to the court of Murad I. After apparently agreeing to cede the virtually independent Byzantine exclave of Philadelphia
Alasehir
Alaşehir, in Antiquity and the Middle Ages known as Philadelphia , i.e. " brotherly love" is a town and district of Manisa Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. It is situated in the valley of the Kuzuçay , at the foot of the Bozdağ...

 to the Ottomans, John V was reestablished on the throne with the help of Venetian ships and the Ottoman army.

Aftermath

After John V entered the capital, Constantinople, Andronikos IV fled to Genoese Galata and stayed there two years. However he held hostage for a time his mother, Helena Kantakouzene
Helena Kantakouzene
Helena Kantakouzene was the Empress consort of John V Palaiologos in the Byzantine Empire.-Family:She was a daughter of John VI Kantakouzenos and Irene Asanina.She was a sister of Matthew Kantakouzenos and Manuel Kantakouzenos...

, and her father, the former emperor John VI Kantakouzenos
John VI Kantakouzenos
John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzenus was the Byzantine emperor from 1347 to 1354.-Early life:Born in Constantinople, John Kantakouzenos was the son of a Michael Kantakouzenos, governor of the Morea. Through his mother Theodora Palaiologina Angelina, he was a descendant of the reigning house of...

. However in 1381 a treaty was signed in which allowed him to return. Later on the Venetians and Genoese ended their war and agreed to depopulate Tenedos and raze its fortifications, hence transforming it to a neutral territory. This conflict further weakened the Byzantine Empire, which was surrounded by the massive and ever-expanding Ottoman Empire.
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