page_title: Constantine XI Palaiologos
section_title: Family and background
hierarchical_section_title: Constantine XI Palaiologos / Early life / Family and background
caption_attribution_description: Български: Миниатюра, изобразяваща византийския император Мануил II Палеолог, императрица Елена Драгаш и трима от синовете им - Йоан, Андроник и Теодор. Ελληνικά: Μικρογραφία από το χειρόγραφο MS. Ivoires 100 φυλασσόμενο στο Λούβρο. Ο αυτοκράτωρ Μανουήλ Β' Παλαιολόγος (ΜΑΝΟΥΗΛ ΕΝ ΧΩ ΤΩ ΘΩ ΠΙCΤΟC ΒΑCΙΛΕΥC ΚΑΙ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΩΡ ΡΩΜΑΙΩΝ Ο ΠΑΛΑΙΟΛΟΓΟC ΚΑΙ ΑΕΙ ΑΥΓΟΥCΤΟC) που πέθανε ως μοναχός, η αυτοκράτειρα Ελένη (ΕΛΕΝΗ ΕΝ ΧΩ ΤΩ ΘΩ ΠΙCΤΗ ΑΥΓΟΥCΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΙCΑ ΡΩΜΑΙΩΝ Η ΠΑΛΑΙΟΛΟΓΙΝΑ) και τρεις από τους έξι γιους τους, ο συναυτοκράτωρ Ιωάννης Η' (ΙΩ ΕΝ ΧΩ ΤΩ ΘΩ ΒΑCΙΛΕΥC Ο ΥΙΟC ΑΥΤΟΥ) και οι δεσπότες Θεόδωρος (ΘΕΟΔΩΡΟC Ο ΠΟΡΦΥΡΟΓΕΝΝΗΤΟC ΕΥΤΗΧΗC ΔΕCΠΟΤΗC Ο ΥΙΟC ΑΥΤΟΥ) και Ανδρόνικος (ΑΝΔΡΟΝΙΚΟC ΑΥΘΕΝΤΟΠΟΥΛΟC ΠΑΛΑΙΟΛΟΓΟC Ο ΥΙΟC ΑΥΤΟΥ). English: А miniature from the Louvre MS. Ivoires 100 manuscript, depicting the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, empress Helena and three of their sons - the co-emperor John VIII and the Despots Theodore and Andronikos. Italiano: Miniatura, rappresentante la famiglia imperiale, Manuele II Paleologo con la moglie Elena Dragaš, insieme ai tre figli, da sinistra, Giovanni VIII Paleologo, Teodoro II Paleologo, Andronico Paleologo.
context_page_description: Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos or Dragaš Palaeologus, known in later Greek folklore as the Marble Emperor, was the last Byzantine emperor, reigning from 1449 to his death in battle at the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Constantine's death marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, an institution tracing its origin to Constantine the Great's foundation of Constantinople as the Roman Empire's new capital in 330. Since the Byzantine Empire was the Roman Empire's medieval continuation, with its citizens continually referring to themselves as Romans, Constantine XI's death and Constantinople's fall also marked the definitive end of the Roman Empire, founded by Augustus almost 1,500 years earlier.
  Constantine was the fourth son of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos and Helena Dragaš, the daughter of Serbian ruler Konstantin Dejanović. Little is known of his early life, but from the 1420s onward, he is repeatedly demonstrated to have been a skilled general. Based on his career and surviving contemporary sources, Constantine appears to primarily have been a soldier.
context_section_description: Constantine Dragases Palaiologos was born on 8 February 1405 as the fourth son of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (r. 1391–1425), the eighth emperor of the Palaiologos dynasty. Constantine's mother (from whom he took his second last name) was Helena Dragaš, the daughter of Serbian ruler Konstantin Dejanović. Constantine is frequently described as Porphyrogénnētos ("born in the purple"), a distinction granted to sons born to a reigning emperor in the imperial palace.
  Manuel ruled a disintegrating and dwindling Byzantine Empire. The catalyst of Byzantium's fall had been the arrival of the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia in the 11th century. Though some emperors, such as Alexios I and Manuel I, had successfully recovered portions of Anatolia through help from western crusaders, their gains were only temporary. Anatolia was the empire's most fertile, populated, and wealthy region, and after its loss, Byzantium more or less experienced constant decline. Although most of it was eventually reconquered, the Byzantine Empire was crippled by the 1204 Fourth Crusade and the loss of Constantinople to the Latin Empire, formed by the crusaders. The Byzantine Empire, under the founder of the Palaiologos dynasty, Michael VIII, retook Constantinople in 1261, though the damage to the empire was irreversible and the empire continued to decline over the course of the 14th century as the result of frequent civil wars. Over the course of the 14th century, the Ottoman Turks had conquered vast swaths of territories and by 1405, they ruled much of Anatolia, Bulgaria, central Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Thessaly. The Byzantine Empire, once extending throughout the eastern Mediterranean, was reduced to the imperial capital of Constantinople, the Peloponnese, and a handful of islands in the Aegean Sea, and was also forced to pay tribute to the Ottomans.
  As the empire dwindled, the emperors concluded that the only way to ensure that their remaining territory was kept intact was to grant some of their holdings to their sons, who received the title of despot, as appanages to defend and govern. Manuel's oldest son, John, was raised to co-emperor and designated to succeed his father. The second son, Theodore, was designated as the Despot of the Morea (the prosperous province constituting the Peloponnese) and the third son, Andronikos, was proclaimed as Despot of Thessaloniki in 1408. The younger sons; Constantine, Demetrios and Thomas, were kept in Constantinople as there was not sufficient land left to grant them.
  Little is known of Constantine's early life. From an early age, he was admired by George Sphrantzes (later a famed Byzantine historian), who would later enter his service, and later encomiasts often wrote that Constantine had always been courageous, adventurous, and skilled in martial arts, horsemanship, and hunting. Many accounts of Constantine's life, both before and after he became emperor, are heavily skewed and eulogize his reign, as most of them lack contemporary sources and were composed after his death. Based on his actions and the surviving commentary from some of his advisors and contemporaries, Constantine appeared to have been more comfortable with military matters than with matters of state or diplomacy, though he was also a competent administrator—as illustrated by his tenures as regent—and tended to heed his councilors' advice on important matters of state. Aside from stylized and smudged depictions on seals and coins, no contemporary depictions of Constantine survive. Notable images of Constantine include a seal currently located in Vienna (of unknown provenance, probably from an imperial chrysobull), a few coins, and his portrait among the other Byzantine emperors in the Biblioteca Estense copy of the history of Zonaras. In the latter he is shown with a rounded beard, in noted contrast to his forked-bearded relatives, but it is unclear whether that reflects his actual appearance.
caption: Miniature from an early 15th-century manuscript depicting Constantine's father Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, his mother Helena Dragaš and his three older brothers John, Theodore and Andronikos
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