
Michael VIII Palaiologos (1223-11 December 1282) was Emperor of Nicaea from 1 January 1259 to 15 August 1261 (succeeding John IV Laskaris) and Emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 15 August 1261 to 11 December 1282 (succeeding the Latin emperor Baldwin of Courtenay and preceding Andronicus II).
Biography[]
Michael Palaiologos was born in 1223, the maternal great-grandson of Alexius III of Byzantium. He served as Governor of Melnik and Serres in Thrace before marrying the granddaughter of Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes, but he was mistrusted by the other nobles and offered his service to the Sultanate of Rum from 1256 to 1258, commanding Kaykaus II's Christian mercenaries. On the death of Theodore II Laskaris in 1258, Michael Palaiologos instigated a coup against John IV Laskaris' regent George Mouzalon and had Mouzalon assassinated before going on to be named co-emperor on 1 January 1259. That same year, Michael defeated a Latin Christian alliance at the Battle of Pelagonia, and, while Michael failed to recapture Constantinople in 1260, his general Alexios Strategopoulos captured the city through treachery on 25 July 1261. Michael entered the city on 15 August 1261 and was crowned Byzantine emperor alongside his son Andronicus II. On 25 December 1261, Michael had John Laskaris blinded and deposed. In 1263, Palaiologos' attempt to recapture Morea from the Principality of Achaea was defeated at the Battle of Prinitza, and the Seljuk mercenaries in the Byzantine army mutinied and defeated the main Byzantine force at the Battle of Makryplagi. In 1265, Michael narrowly evaded capture from Nogai Khan's army of Tatars and Bulgars while returning to Constantinope in defeat. A year later, Charles of Anjou seized power in Sicily, slaying Michael's rival Manfred of Sicily in the process. During the 1270s, Michael fought against Turkish expansion in Anatolia, and the Byzantines suffered several defeats at the hands of the Second Bulgarian Empire while attempting to interfere in a Bulgarian civil war in the late 1270s. In 1275, Michael's army was defeated by the Latins at the Battle of Neopatras, but his fleet was victorious at the Battle of Demetrias. In 1280, Charles of Anjou invaded the Balkans, but, in 1281, Michael's general Michael Tarchaneiotes defeated Charles' general Hugh of Sully at the Siege of Berat and destroyed his army. Charles then planned a naval attack on Constantinople, only for the Sicilian Vespers uprising to distract him from his main goal. Michael then instigated Cretan revolts against the Republic of Venice, forcing them to negotiate. Michael died in Thrace in 1282, having reconquered much of the former Byzantine heartland, but denuded the Anatolian frontier in the process.