Andronicus III of Byzantium (25 March 1297-15 June 1341) was Emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 24 May 1328 to 15 June 1341, succeeding Andronicus II and preceding John V.
Biography[]
Andronicus Palaiologos was born in Constantinople, Byzantine Empire in 1297, the son of Michael IX and the grandson of Andronicus II. After Andronicus accidentally killed his brother Manuel in 1320, Michael IX died of grief, causing a rift between the young Andronicus and Andronicus II. In 1321, when Andronicus II disowned the young Andronicus, the latter raiesd an army of rebels and seized power in 1328 following a seven-year civil war, having allied with Serbia and Bulgaria. However, Nicaea fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1331 after Andronicus III's relief attempt was defeated at the 1329 Battle of Pelekanon; also in 1329, Andronicus recaptured Chios and Lesbos from the Principality of Achaea. In 1332, he betrayed his Bulgarian allies by attacking Thrace, only to be defeated at the Battle of Rusokastro. In 1334, Governor of Thessalonica Syrgiannes Palaiologos allied with King Uros IV of Serbia to invade Greece, but Syrgiannes was assassinated and the Serbs made peace with Byzantium in August 1334. That same year, Andronicus reconquered Phocaea from the Republic of Genoa. In 1337, the tide again turned as the Ottoman ruler Orhan Bey captured Nicomedia, leaving only Philadelpheia (Alasehir) and a handful of Anatolian ports under Byzantine rule. He died of chronic malaria in 1341.