Michael Palaiologos
A few days after the death of Emperor Theodore Laskaris in 1258, Michael Palaiologos instigated a coup against the influential bureaucrat George Mouzalon, seizing from him the guardianship of the eight-year-old Emperor John IV Doukas Laskaris. Michael was invested with the titles of "megas doux" and, on 13 November 1258, of "despotēs". On 1 January 1259 Michael VIII Palaiologos was proclaimed co-emperor (basileus), most likely without John IV, in Nymphaion.