* 1261 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is crowned Byzantine emperor in Constantinople.

* 1258 – Regent George Mouzalon and his brothers are killed during a coup headed by the aristocratic faction under, paving the way for its leader, Michael VIII Palaiologos, to ultimately usurp the throne of the Empire of Nicaea.

* Eirene Angelina, who married ( 1 ) Andronikos Kontostephanos, and ( 2 ) Alexios Palaiologos, by whom she was the grandmother of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.

He was the last Byzantine Emperor to reign in Constantinople before the establishment of the Latin Empire, which controlled the city for the next 57 years, until it was recovered by the Nicaean Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.

He was the eldest surviving son of Michael VIII Palaiologos and Theodora Doukaina Vatatzina, grandniece of John III Doukas Vatatzes.

He was acclaimed co-emperor in 1261, after his father Michael VIII recovered Constantinople from the Latin Empire, but he was crowned only in 1272.

Although besieged on numerous occasions by various peoples, it was taken only in 1204 by the army of the Fourth Crusade, in 1261 by Michael VIII, and in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II.

In 1261, Constantinople was captured from its last Latin ruler, Baldwin II, by the forces of the Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus.

Although Constantinople was retaken by Michael VIII, the Empire had lost many of its key economic resources, and struggled to survive.

When Michael VIII captured the city, its population was 35, 000 people, but, by the end of his reign, he had succeeded in increasing the population to about 70, 000 people.

At the insistence of Charles, Martin IV excommunicated the Roman Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus, who stood in the way of Charles's plans to restore the Latin Empire of the East that had been established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade.

The latter proposed a Franco-Mongol alliance between his forces, those of the West, and the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologos ( Abaqa's father-in-law ).

The Latin Empire of Constantinople came to an end with the capture of the city by the Greeks ( led by their Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos ) a fortnight before Urban IV's election.

He was proceeding to send legates to Michael VIII Palaeologus, the Byzantine emperor, in connection with the recent decisions of the Second Council of Lyons, when he died at Rome.

* 1261 — Byzantines under Michael VIII retake Constantinople from the Crusaders and Venice.

* Michael VIII Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor -( December 11 )

* Michael VIII Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor ( d. 1282 )

* 1261 – July 25 – The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Michael VIII Palaeologus, thus re-establishing the Byzantine Empire.

* 1282 – December 11 – Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus of the Byzantine Empire ( b. 1225 )

Michael VIII Palaeologus was greatly alarmed at the prospect: he wrote to King Louis, suggesting that he was open to a voluntary union of the Roman and Latin churches, and pointing out the interference a descent on Constantinople would pose to Louis ' own crusading plans.

* The Constantinople suburb of Beyoğlu ( then known as Pera ) is given to the Republic of Genoa by the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus, in return for Genoa's support of the Empire after the Fourth Crusade and the sacking of Constantinople.

* August 15 – Michael VIII Palaeologus is crowned Byzantine emperor in Constantinople.

John travelled to Sicily to stir up the discontents in favour of Peter and thence to Constantinople to procure the support of Michael VIII Palaeologus.

His regent was originally the bureaucrat George Mouzalon, but that position was usurped by the aristocrat Michael Palaiologos, who later made himself co-emperor as Michael VIII on January 1, 1259.

Andronikos III was the son of Michael IX Palaiologos and Rita of Armenia ( renamed Maria ).

* Michael Palaiologos, despotes

Andronikos II also attempted to marry off his son and co-emperor Michael IX Palaiologos to the Latin Empress Catherine I of Courtenay, thus seeking to eliminate Western agitation for a restoration of the Latin Empire.

The dissolute behavior of Michael IX's son Andronikos III Palaiologos led to a rift in the family, and after Michael IX's death in 1320, Andronikos II disowned his grandson, prompting a civil war that raged, with interruptions, until 1328.

* Michael IX Palaiologos ( 17 April 1277 – 12 October 1320 ).

Byzantine Emperor Michael VII Palaiologos succeeded in recapturing Constantinople in 1261.

* October 12 – Michael IX Palaiologos, Byzantine co-emperor ( b. 1277 )

He sent Michael Palaiologos and John Doukas, both of whom held the high imperial rank of sebastos, with Byzantine troops, 10 Byzantine ships, and large quantities of gold to invade Apulia ( 1155 ).

* Michael Palaiologos.

This action caused the excommunication of Michael VIII Palaiologos by the Patriarch Arsenius Autoreianus, and a later revolt led by a Pseudo-John IV near Nicaea.

# redirect Michael VIII Palaiologos

Michael Palaiologos

Michael VIII Palaiologos was the son of the megas domestikos Andronikos Doukas Komnenos Palaiologos by Theodora Angelina, the granddaughter of Emperor Alexios III Angelos and Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamaterina.

Andronikos II and Michael IX Palaeologus ( Silver basilikon ).

* 1278 – Michael IX Palaeologus, co-ruling Eastern Roman Emperor ( d. 1320 )

The Greek commander Michael Palaeologus alienated some of his allies by his arrogance, and this stalled the campaign as rebel Count Robert of Loritello refused to speak to him.

Ghibelline revolts broke out across the north of Italy, and increasingly occupied the attention of Charles, even as Michael Palaeologus was negotiating a union of churches with the Pope.

In 1263 the Latins ceded Mystras as ransom for William II of Villehardouin, and Michael VIII Palaeologus made the city the seat of the new Despotate of Morea, ruled by his relatives, although the Venetians still controlled the coast and the islands.

* Geanakoplos, Deno J., Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West ( Harvard University Press, 1959 )

la: Michael VIII Palaeologus

The conflict led to the exile of one of the leaders of the aristocratic faction, the future Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus, who was accused of conspiring with the Seljuks of Rum.

Building on the strong military infrastructure built up in the area over the last century, Theodore I and his successors slowly expanded their domains, and in 1259 Michael VIII Palaeologus usurped the throne.

By the late 13th century, with the Treaty of Nymphaeum of 1261, the offensive-defensive alliance between Michael VIII Palaeologus and Genoa that opened up the Black Sea to Genoese commerce, Varna had turned into a thriving commercial port city frequented by Genoese and later also by Venetian and Ragusan merchant ships.

Upon the recovery of The City from the Latin Empire by Michael VIII Palaeologus, Pachymeres settled in Constantinople, studied law, entered the church, and subsequently became chief advocate of the church and chief justice of the imperial court.

His literary activity was considerable, his most important work being a Byzantine history in thirteen books, in continuation of that of George Acropolites from 1261 ( or rather 1255 ) to 1308, containing the history of the reigns of Michael and Andronicus II Palaeologus.

In 1261 Constantinople was captured by Michael VIII Palaeologus, and Baldwin ’ s rule came to an end.