# The New International Encyclopædia/Palæologus

Edition of 1905. See also Palaiologos on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
​PA′LÆOL′OGUS (Lat., from Gk. Παλαιόλογος, Palaiologos). The name of an illustrious Byzantine family, which first appears in history in the eleventh century, and attained the Imperial dignity in the person of Michael VIII. (q.v.), who became Emperor of Nicæa in 1259, and mounted the throne of Constantinople in 1261. His successor on the throne was his son Andronicus II., in whose reign, which extended from 1282 to 1328, the Turks commenced a series of assaults on the Byzantine dominions. He associated his son, Michael IX., with himself, but was dethroned by his grandson, Andronicus III., who reigned from 1328 to 1341. The latter was an able warrior and ruler, who repeatedly defeated the Bulgarians, the Tatars of the Golden Horde, and the Servians, but was unsuccessful against the Catalans in Greece, while the Turks during his reign ravaged the coasts of Thrace as far as the Balkans. He was greatly esteemed by his subjects, and well merited the title of ‘father of his country.’ Andronicus III. was succeeded by his son, John V., who ruled, with some interruptions, from 1341 to 1391. During his minority his mother, Anna, and John Cantacuzenus were regents. The latter in self-protection had himself proclaimed co-Emperor as John VI. in 1341. (See Cantacuzenus.) During John V.’s reign the Turks made great progress, and the Emperor was compelled in 1370 to agree to pay them an annual tribute. In 1376 John was overthrown by his son, Andronicus IV., but regained the crown in 1379. In 1390 the son of Andronicus IV., John VII., dethroned him and ruled for a few months, but John V. ultimately regained the crown, and retained it until his death, February 16, 1391. John VII. sought Turkish aid, and compelled the son and successor of John V., Manuel II. (q.v.), to make him co-Emperor in 1398, but in 1402 he was sent to the island of Lemnos, and in 1407 some land was given to him in Thessaly and Macedonia which the Turks soon conquered. He died about 1408. The successor of Manuel II. was his son, John VIII., who ruled from 1425 to 1448. On being pressed by the Turks he held out to the Popes the old bait of the union of the Greek and Western churches under his sway, and even presented himself at the Council of Florence, where, in July, 1439, the union of the churches was brought about. ​But on his return to Constantinople the opposition of the Greek ecclesiastics to the union, supported by the people, rendered the agreement of Florence a dead letter. The Pope, however, stirred up Ladislas of Hungary and Poland to attack the Turks, but they could not be driven back. John was succeeded by his brother Constantine XI., who ruled from 1448 to 1453, and with him the Byzantine Empire ended. (See Constantine XI.) A branch of the Palæologi ruled Montferrat, in Italy, from 1306, but became extinct in the sixteenth century. The Palæologi were connected by marriage with the ruling families of Hungary and Servia, and the niece of the last Byzantine Emperor married Ivan III., Czar of Russia—a fact which the Czars of Russia were wont to bring forward as an argument in favor of their claims to European Turkey.