Manuel II Palaiologos

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Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus (Template:Langx; 27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425) was Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425. Shortly before his death he was tonsured a monk and received the name Matthaios ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). Manuel was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, which sometimes threatened to capture his territory outright. Accordingly he continued his father's practice of soliciting Western European aid against the Ottomans, and personally visited several foreign courts to plead his cause. These efforts failed, although an Ottoman civil war and Byzantine victories against Latin neighbors helped Manuel's government survive and slightly expand its influence. His wife Helena Dragaš saw to it that their sons, John VIII and Constantine XI, became emperors. He is commemorated by the Greek Orthodox Church on 21 July.<ref>Great Synaxaristes: Template:In lang Ὁ Ὅσιος Μανουὴλ Αὐτοκράτωρ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. 21 Ιουλίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.</ref>

LifeEdit

File:Palaeologoi eagle XV c Byzantine miniature.jpg

Byzantine double-headed eagle with the Palaiologos family cypher.

Manuel II Palaiologos was the second son of Emperor John V Palaiologos and his wife Helena Kantakouzene.Template:Sfn Granted the title of despotēs by his father, the future Manuel II traveled west to seek support for the Byzantine Empire in 1365 and in 1370, serving as governor in Thessalonica from 1369. The failed attempt at usurpation by his older brother Andronikos IV Palaiologos in 1373 led to Manuel's being proclaimed his father's heir and he was proclaimed emperor on 25 September 1373.<ref>Çelik 2021, p. 63.</ref> In 1382 Manuel II Palaiologos set himself up as emperor in his own right in Thessalonica.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1376–1379 and again in 1390, Manuel and his father were supplanted by Andronikos IV and then his son John VII, but Manuel personally defeated his nephew in 1390 with help from the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I. After the conflict Manuel was sent to Prousa (Bursa) as an honorary hostage of Bayezid, who forced him to participate in the Ottoman campaign that reduced Philadelpheia, the last Byzantine enclave in Anatolia.

Siege of Constantinople and letters to European courtsEdit

Having heard of his father's death in February 1391, Manuel II Palaiologos fled the Ottoman court and secured the capital against any potential claim by his nephew John VII.Template:Sfn Following Manuel's joint marriage-coronation in 1392 with Helena Dragaš, the daughter of fellow Ottoman vassal Constantine Dragaš, the Sultan was initially content to leave New Rome in comparative peace.<ref>Çelik 2021, pp. 157-160</ref> However, in 1393 a large insurrection erupted in Bulgaria which, although successfully put down by the Ottomans, caused Bayezid to lapse into an episode of paranoia in which he believed his various Christian vassals were plotting against him. Bayezid called all his Christian vassals to a meeting at Serres, with the intention of massacring them, a decision he relented on only at the last moment. The episode is said to have left all of the Christian vassal rulers shaken and convinced Manuel that continued appeasement towards the Ottomans was not a guarantee of his own personal safety or the continued survival of the empire and that efforts must be made to obtain Western aid.Template:Sfn

Sultan Bayezid I blockaded Constantinople from 1394 to 1402. In the meantime, an anti-Ottoman crusade led by the Hungarian King Sigismund of Luxemburg failed at the Battle of Nicopolis on 25 September 1396. Manuel II had sent 10 ships to help in that Crusade. In October 1397, Theodore Kantakouzenos, Manuel's uncle, alongside John of Natala arrived at the court of Charles VI of France, bearing the Emperor's letters (dated 1 July 1397) requesting the French king's military aid. In addition, Charles also provided funds for the two nobles to treat with King Richard II of England in April 1398, with the aim of soliciting further aid.Template:Sfn However, the latter was too preoccupied by domestic troubles at this point to provide any support.Template:Efn

However, the two nobles returned home with the Marshal of France Jean II Le Maingre who was sent from Aigues-Mortes with six ships carrying 1,200 men to assist Manuel II. The Marshal encouraged the latter to go personally to seek assistance against the Ottoman Empire from the courts of western Europe. After some five years of siege, Manuel II entrusted the city to his nephew, aided by a French garrison of 300 men led by Seigneur Jean de Châteaumorand and embarked (along with a suite of 40 people) on a long trip abroad along with the Marshal.Template:Sfn

Emperor's trip to the WestEdit

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On 10 December 1399, Manuel II embarked on his trip by starting to sail to the Morea, where he left his wife and children with his brother Theodore I Palaiologos to be protected from his nephew's intentions. He later landed in Venice in April 1400, then he went to Padua, Vicenza and Pavia, until he reached Milan, where he met Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti, and his close friend Manuel Chrysoloras. Afterwards, he met Charles VI of France at Charenton on 3 June 1400.Template:Sfn During his stay in France, Manuel II continued to contact European monarchs.Template:Sfn

According to Michel Pintoin who chronicled the visit to Paris: Template:Quote

File:Manuel II Palaiologos with Henry IV of England.png

CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In December 1400, he embarked to England to meet Henry IV of England who received him at Blackheath on the 21st of that month,Template:Sfn making him the only Byzantine emperor ever to visit England, where he stayed at Eltham Palace until mid-February 1401, and a joust took place in his honour.<ref>Brian Cathcart An emperor in Eltham New Statesman 25 September 2006. The Latin Emperor of Constantinople, Baldwin II, visited the court of Henry III on two occasions, in 1238 and 1247, in search of assistance against the Byzantine successor state of Nicaea. Cf. Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora, ed. H.R. Luard, London: 1872–1883, 7 vols. (Rolls series, 57): vol. 3, 480–481; vol. 4, 625–626.</ref> In addition, he received £2,000, acknowledging receipt of the funds in a Latin document sealed with his own golden bull.Template:Sfn Template:Efn

Thomas Walsingham wrote about Manuel II's visit to England: Template:Quote

Moreover, Adam of Usk reported: Template:Quote

However, Manuel II sent a letter to his friend Manuel Chrysoloras, describing his visit to England: Template:Quote

Manuel II later returned to France with high hopes of substantial help and funds for Constantinople. In the meantime, he sent delegations with relics including pieces of the tunic of Christ and a piece of the Holy Sponge to Pope Boniface IX and Antipope Benedict XIII, Queen Margaret I of Denmark, king Martin of Aragon and king Charles III of Navarre to seek further assistance.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He eventually left France on 23 November 1402,Template:Sfn and finally returned to Constantinople in June 1403.

Renewed Ottoman siegesEdit

The Ottomans under Bayezid I were themselves crushingly defeated by Timur at the Battle of Ankara in 1402. As the sons of Bayezid I struggled with each other over the succession in the Ottoman Interregnum, John VII was able to secure the return of the European coast of the Sea of Marmara and of Thessalonica to the Byzantine Empire in the Treaty of Gallipoli. When Manuel II returned home in 1403, his nephew duly surrendered control of Constantinople and received as a reward the governorship of newly recovered Thessalonica. The treaty also regained from the Ottomans Mesembria (1403–1453), Varna (1403–1415), and the Marmara coast from Scutari to Nicomedia (between 1403–1421).

File:Map of the southern Balkans, 1410.svg

Map of the southern Balkans and western Anatolia in 1410, following the Treaty of Gallipoli

File:Manuel II - half stavraton - sb2551.jpg

Half stavraton coin by Manuel. On the reverse, Manuel's bust.

However, Manuel II kept contact with Venice, Genoa, Paris and Aragon, by sending envoy Manuel Chrysoloras in 1407–8, pursuing to form a coalition against the Ottomans.Template:Sfn

On 25 July 1414, with a fleet consisting of four galleys and two other vessels carrying contingents of infantry and cavalry, departed Constantinople for Thessalonica. The purpose of this force soon became clear when he made an unannounced stop at Thasos, a normally unimportant island which was then under threat from a son of the lord of Lesbos, Francesco Gattilusio. It took Manuel three months to reassert imperial authority on the island. Only then did he continue on to Thessalonica, where he was warmly met by his son Andronicus, who then governed the city.

In the spring of 1415, he and his soldiers left for the Peloponnese, arriving at the little port of Kenchreai on Good Friday, 29 March. Manuel II Palaiologos used his time there to bolster the defences of the Despotate of Morea, where the Byzantine Empire was actually expanding at the expense of the remnants of the Latin Empire. Here Manuel supervised the building of the Hexamilion (six-mile wall) across the Isthmus of Corinth, intended to defend the Peloponnese from the Ottomans.

Manuel II stood on friendly terms with the victor in the Ottoman civil war, Mehmed I (1402–1421), but his attempts to meddle in the next contested succession led to a new assault on Constantinople by Murad II (1421–1451) in 1422. During the last years of his life, Manuel II relinquished most official duties to his son and heir John VIII Palaiologos, and went back to the West searching for assistance against the Ottomans, this time to the King Sigismund of Hungary, staying for two months in his court of Buda. Sigismund (after suffering a defeat against the Turks in the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396) never rejected the possibility of fighting against the Ottoman Empire. However, with the Hussite wars in Bohemia, it was impossible to count on the Czech or German armies, and the Hungarian ones were needed to protect the Kingdom and control the religious conflicts.<ref>Szalay, J. y Baróti, L. (1896). A Magyar Nemzet Története. Budapest, Hungría: Udvari Könyvkereskedés Kiadó.</ref> Unhappily Manuel returned home with empty hands from the Hungarian Kingdom, and in 1424 he and his son were forced to sign an unfavourable peace treaty with the Ottoman Turks, whereby the Byzantine Empire had to pay tribute to the sultan.

DeathEdit

Manuel II was paralyzed by a stroke on 1 October 1422, but his mind was unaffected and he continued to rule for three more years. He lived his last few days as a monk, taking the name of Matthew. He died on 21 July 1425, aged 75, and was buried at the Pantokrator Monastery in Constantinople.Template:Sfn<ref>Melvani, N., (2018) 'The tombs of the Palaiologan emperors', Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 42 (2) pp.237-260</ref>

WritingsEdit

Manuel II was the author of numerous works of varied character, including letters, poems, a Saint's Life, treatises on theology and rhetoric, and an epitaph for his brother Theodore I Palaiologos and a mirror of princes for his son and heir John. This mirror of princes has special value, because it is the last sample of this literary genre bequeathed to us by Byzantines.

FamilyEdit

File:Manuel II Helena sons.JPG

Miniature made Template:Circa depicting Manuel II, Helena and three of their sons, the co-emperor John VIII and the despots Theodore and Andronikos.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

By his wife Helena Dragas, the daughter of the Serbian prince Constantine Dragas, Manuel II Palaiologos had several children, including:

A daughter. Mentioned as the eldest daughter but not named.
John VIII Palaiologos (18 December 1392 – 31 October 1448). Byzantine emperor, 1425–1448.
Constantine Palaiologos. Born Template:Circa/8, died before 1405 in Monemvasia.<ref>Template:Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit</ref>
Andronikos Palaiologos, Lord of Thessalonica (d. 1429).
A second daughter. Also not named in the text.
Theodore II Palaiologos, Lord of Morea (d. 1448).
Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos (8 February 1404 – 29 May 1453). Despotēs in the Morea and subsequently the last Byzantine emperor, 1448–1453.
Michael Palaiologos. Born 1406/7, died 1409/10 of the plague.<ref>Template:Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit</ref>
Demetrios Palaiologos (c. 1407–1470). Despotēs in the Morea.
Thomas Palaiologos (c. 1409 – 12 May 1465). Despotēs in the Morea.

AncestryEdit

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Pope Benedict XVI controversyEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In a lecture delivered on 12 September 2006, Pope Benedict XVI quoted from a dialogue believed to have occurred in 1391 between Manuel II and a Persian scholar and recorded in a book by Manuel II (Dialogue 7 of Twenty-six Dialogues with a Persian) in which the Emperor stated: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."