In June 1270, Constantine Meliteniotes was sent by Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282) on an embassy to King Louis IX of France, together with the then-"chartophylax" John Bekkos. The purpose of the embassy was to induce Louis to persuade his brother, Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily, to call off a planned assault upon Constantinople, which Michael VIII had recently recaptured from the Latins (1261). Louis was at that time outside the walls of Tunis, fighting a crusade against the Moslems; after a dangerous voyage, the two ambassadors reached Carthage on 3 August, and delivered to Louis gifts and a letter from the Byzantine emperor; when, finally, on 24 August 1270, they were granted an audience with the French king, Louis promised to do what he could to create better relations between Michael and his brother, but he in fact could do nothing, because he died the next day of dysentery; the Greek ambassadors had to sail home empty-handed.