Byzantine Civil War (1341-1347)

The Byzantine Civil War from 1341 to 1347 was one after the death of the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III. War broke out for supremacy in the Byzantine Empire .

prehistory

As the main advisor and close friend of the late emperor, Johannes Kantakuzenos was named after Andronikos' III. Death in June 1341 regent for his only nine-year-old son Johannes . During an absence from Constantinople in September of that year, the Megas Doux Alexios Apokaukos and the Patriarch of Constantinople John XIV staged a coup against Kantakuzenos and, with the support of the Empress Dowager Anna of Savoy, set up a new Regency Council. In response, his troops and other supporters called Kantakuzenos to co-emperor John VI in October. what drove the rift between the two camps and almost immediately led to military clashes.

course

The war split the empire's society along the lines of the social fabric, with the nobility mainly supporting Kantakuzenos and the lower classes mainly supporting the legitimate emperor and his regency council. To a lesser extent, religious motives also formed a break point for the supporters, as the adherents of the hesychasm popular at the time almost unanimously supported the opposing emperor.

In the first years of the war, the armed forces of the Regency Council retained the upper hand. In the wake of various revolts directed against the ruling aristocracy, he was able to bring the majority of the cities in Thrace and Macedonia under his control. With the help of Stefan Dušan of Serbia and Umur Bey of Aydın , John VI succeeded. to win the initiative and to conquer many of the cities. In 1345, despite Stefan Dušan's change to the side of the Regency Council and Umur Beg's withdrawal, he had gained the upper hand. He received support from Orhan I , Sultan of the Ottomans .

The assassination of Alexios Apokaukos in June of the same year represented a further setback for the Regency Council. After his formal coronation as emperor in Adrianople in 1346 , John VI marched. on February 3, 1347 in Constantinople. An agreement secured him the position as regent and ruling emperor for ten years until John V came of age and became his co-emperor. Despite his victory, a new civil war that broke out in 1352 forced John VI. to abdicate in 1354 and become a monk.

consequences

The consequences of the conflict arose for the Byzantine Empire, which was under Andronikos III. to some extent had stabilized when disastrous. Years of war, the presence of plundering armies, social upheavals and the looming Black Death devastated the realm. The internal conflicts allowed external enemies to take over areas of the empire. So Stefan Dušan conquered Albania , Epirus and most of Macedonia and established the Serbian Empire in this area. The Second Bulgarian Empire also occupied areas north of the Maritsa .

swell

• Nikephoros Gregoras , Rhomean History 2 (ed. Ludwig Schopen , CSHB , 1830)
• Johannes Kantakuzenos , Geschichte 3 (ed.Peter Wirth , transl. Georgios Fatouros / Tilman Krischer , BGL Vol. 71, 2011)

literature

• Mark C. Bartusis: The Late Byzantine Army. Arms and Society 1204-1453. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 1997, ISBN 0-8122-1620-2 , OCLC 40455898 .
• Eva de Vries-Van der Velden: L'élite byzantine devant l'avance turque à l'époque de la guerre civile de 1341 à 1354. JC Gieben, Amsterdam 1989, ISBN 90-5063-026-X , OCLC 22210318 .
• John Van Antwerp Fine: The Late Medieval Balkans. A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 1994, ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5 , OCLC 13860868 .
• Elizabeth Jeffreys , John Haldon, Robin Cormack (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook on Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2009, ISBN 978-0-19-925246-6 , OCLC 804390444 .
• Alexander Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1991, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6 , OCLC 66437027 .
• Angeliki E. Laiou: Political History. An outline. In: Angeliki E. Laiou (Ed.): The Economic History of Byzantium. From the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC 2002, ISBN 978-0-88402-332-6 , OCLC 319214833 , pp. 9-28, here: p. 26 ( PDF; 2.0 MB ).
• Donald M. Nicol : Church and Society in the Last Centuries of Byzantium. Cambridge University Press, New York 1979, ISBN 0-521-22438-1 , OCLC 4492377 .
• Donald M. Nicol: The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1993, ISBN 978-0-521-43991-6 , OCLC 27187224 .
• Donald M. Nicol: The Reluctant Emperor. A Biography of John Cantacuzene, Byzantine Emperor and Monk, c. 1295-1383. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 978-0-521-52201-4 , OCLC 59487573 .
• Nicolas Oikonomides: Byzantium between East and West (XIII-XV cent.) In: JD Howard-Johnston: Byzantium and the West c.850-1200. Proceedings of the XVIII Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Oxford 30th March-1st April 1984. AM Hakkert, Amsterdam 1988, ISBN 0-902566-19-9 , OCLC 214706087 .
• Stephen W. Reinert: Fragmentation (1204-1453) In: Cyril Mango : The Oxford History of Byzantium. Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York 2002, ISBN 0-19-814098-3 , OCLC 59464232 .
• George Christos Soulis: The Serbs and Byzantium during the reign of Tsar Stephen Dušan (1331-1355) and his successors. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC 1984, ISBN 0-88402-137-8 , OCLC 59251762 .
• Warren T. Treadgold : A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA 1997, ISBN 0-8047-2630-2 , OCLC 37154904 .
• Günter Weiss: Joannes Kantakuzenos - aristocrat, statesman, emperor and monk - in the development of society in Byzantium in the 14th century. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1969, OCLC 512774 .