Theodore II (Morea)

Theodor II. Palaiologos ( Gr. Θεόδωρος Παλαιολόγος, Theodōros (II.) Palaiológos , * around 1396; † 1448 ) from the dynasty of the palaeologists was ruler (despot) of the despotate Morea from 1407 to 1443 .

Life

Theodor II. Palaiologos was a son of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II. Palaiologos and his wife Helena Dragaš . His brothers were the emperors John VIII Palaiologos and Constantine XI. Palaiologos, as well as the despots of Morea Demetrios Palaiologos and Thomas Palaiologos , as well as Andronikos Palaiologos , despot in Thessalonike .

When he was about 10 years old, his father Manuel appointed him as the successor to his late uncle Theodor I. Palaiologos as despot of Morea.

While Theodor II was a minor, his father stayed in the Morea, rebuilt the Hexamilion , a fortification wall over the Isthmus of Corinth in 1415 , and completed his son's education.

In 1421 Theodor married Cleope Malatesta, an Italian aristocrat and cousin of Pope Martin V , who became Theodor's ally. The court of the capital, Mystras, was an intellectual and religious center of Greco-Byzantine culture at that time. The most important scholar of his time, Georgios Gemistos Plethon , moved his place of work from Constantinople to Mystras. He founded a philosophical school here, the most famous student of which was the theologian and humanist Bessarion . Theodor himself was a gifted mathematician and a patron of the scholars at his court.

In May 1423 the Turks invaded the Morea under Turahan Bey . They stormed the isthmus wall, but withdrew from the peninsula again after they had obliged Theodore to pay tribute to the Sultan Murat II .

In 1428 his brothers Constantine XI. Palaiologos and Thomas Palaiologos co-rulers. In 1428 they defeated the last prince of Achaia Centurione Zaccaria , took his capital Glarentza (Kyllini), and in 1429 conquered Patras .

Theodor II, laid claim to the succession of his childless brother John VIII as Byzantine emperor, but passed his rights and his office as despot to his younger brother Constantine XI. Palaiologos in exchange for his possessions in Selymbria (Silivri), where he died of the plague in 1448 .

family

Theodor II had a daughter from his marriage to Cleope Malatesta († April 18, 1433 as a result of an abortion or miscarriage) - Helena Palaiologina , married to King John II of Cyprus .

literature

• Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, 1991.
• Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall : History of the Ottoman Empire . Pest 1827–1833, 10 volumes
• Edward Gibbon : The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , London, 1. Volume 1776, 2./3. Volume 1781, 4th - 6th Volume 1788
• Georgios Sphrantzes ; Marios Philippides (transl.): The Fall of the Byzantine Empire: a chronicle. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1980.
• Ferdinand Gregorovius History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages . 1859-1872. New edition, 2nd edition, 4 volumes. Beck, Munich 1988. ISBN 3-406-07107-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Luka Petanović: Elena: l'ultima imperatrice bizantina . Editoriale Jaca Book SpA, Milan 2006, ISBN 88-16-43518-6 , pp. 139 (Italian, online preview in Google Book Search).

predecessor	Office	successor
Theodoros I.	Despot of Morea 1407 - 1443	Constantine XI.