Andronikos III. (Byzantium)

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Andronikos III. (Miniature from the 14th century in the Württemberg State Library )

Andronikos III. Palaiologos ( Middle Greek Ἀνδρόνικος Γʹ ὁ Νέος Παλαιολόγος , born March 25, 1297 in Constantinople ; † June 15, 1341 ibid) was Byzantine emperor from 1328 until his death . He was the son of Michael Palaiologos and the little Armenian princess Rita (Maria), a daughter of Leon III. Andronikos was the grandson and successor of Emperor Andronikos II .

Life and domination

In his youth, the sporty Andronikos was considered violent. After the death of his brother, partly to blame, in 1320, the death of his deeply troubled father, co-emperor Michael IX. followed, his grandfather excluded him from the line of succession. Andronikos rebelled. He used Didymoticho as a safe base against Constantinople. After a civil war , he was crowned co-regent of his grandfather in 1325 . However, the dispute broke out again and despite the help of the Bulgarian Tsar Mikhail III. Schischman , the elder Andronikos, was forced to abdicate in 1328.

During his reign Andronikos III. to temporarily slow down the decline of the Byzantine Empire . He tried to regain the military initiative in Europe and Asia Minor and was constantly involved in wars. The emperor's efforts were of variable success. In the east, the Ottomans were able to expand their territory and conquer Byzantine Asia Minor with the exception of a few enclaves. Andronikos III lost in the west. 1332 with the battle of Rusokastro against the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander the last great battle of the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars . However, by 1337 he annexed large parts of the Latin- dominated areas of Thessaly and Epirus , with which the Byzantines succeeded for the last time in a powerful military offensive. The new conquests were lost to the Serbs under Stefan Dušan in 1348, seven years after Andronikos' death . Andronikos also reorganized the fleet that had been largely dismantled by his grandfather. In 1329 he conquered the islands of Chios and Samos , and in 1336 Lesbos from Genoa .

Andronikos' highest minister was Johannes Kantakuzenos, who later became Emperor John VI . While Emperor Andronikos tried mainly to fight the enemies of the Byzantine Empire militarily, Johannes Kantakuzenos successfully arranged the administration. In the dispute over hesychasm , Andronikos supported its leader Gregorios Palamas against the attacks of Barlaam of Calabria , who was finally condemned in 1341 at a synod chaired by Andronikos. When trying to reorganize the state budget, Andronikos failed as well as when trying to curb corruption and the purchase of offices by setting up a supreme court.

Andronikos was married to Adelheid-Irene von Braunschweig-Grubenhagen (1293-1324) for the first time. After her death, he entered into a second marriage with Anna of Savoy , who ruled after Andronikos' death for his heir to the throne, John V , who was only eight years old at the time . Andronikos' daughter Asporça Hatun was next to Nilüfer (Nenuphar) and Teodora a wife of the Ottoman sultan Orhan Gazi .

Death and succession

Andronikos died surprisingly in 1341 at the age of 44 and left his eight-year-old son John V as his successor. With the death of the energetic emperor, the unstoppable decline and fall of the Byzantine Empire finally began. John was too young to be able to govern himself and therefore dependent on his rulers and administrators, who soon began to feud with one another . The result was several civil wars, in which the remaining resources of the empire were consumed, so that all resistance to its external enemies was lost.

literature

predecessor Office successor
Andronikos II. Emperor of Byzantium
1328–1341 		John V.
personal data
SURNAME Andronikos III.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Andronikos III. Palaiologos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine emperor
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1297
PLACE OF BIRTH Constantinople
DATE OF DEATH June 15, 1341
Place of death Constantinople