Michael VIII Palaiologos

Lineage and early life

Michael Palaiologos was born in 1224 or 1225, though some traditions place his birth in 1223.^[1][2][7][8] Through both his parents, he belonged to the highest ranks of the Byzantine military aristocracy, counting emperors among his forebears from the Doukas, Komnenos, and Angelos dynasties.^[9][10][11] His father was the megas domestikos Andronikos Doukas Komnenos Palaiologos, a general and administrator who later served as governor of Thessalonica.^[2][7][9] His mother was Theodora Angelina Palaiologina, a daughter of the despotes Alexios Palaiologos and Irene Angelina, the eldest daughter of Emperor Alexios III Angelos and Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamaterina.^{[2][7][9][12]} Had her husband not predeceased Alexios III, Irene would have conveyed the imperial succession to Alexios Palaiologos, placing Michael in direct proximity to the imperial purple.^[2][7] Michael proudly accentuated his illustrious heritage by signing documents as Michael Doukas Angelos Komnenos Palaiologos, distinguishing himself among contemporary Greek nobility.^[10][11][13]

His mother appears to have played a limited role in his upbringing.^[14] For substantial periods of his youth, Michael was raised and educated by his elder sister Martha, also known as Maria, who was married to the megas domestikos Nikephoros Tarchaneiotes, despite being only ten years his senior.^[14][15][16] Nikephoros Gregoras recorded that Michael possessed natural charm, a sharp intellect, generosity, quick decision-making, and military talent.^[8] Gregoras also noted that in his early youth, Michael repeatedly received prophecies concerning his future elevation to the imperial throne, which nourished his ambitions.^{[2][7][8][17]}

Rise to prominence and service under the Laskarids

Michael began his public career at a young age under the authority of his father Andronikos, serving as governor of the Thracian towns of Melnik and Serres.^[15][17][18] Michael quickly gained great popularity at the Nicaean court, and during the reign of Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes he reached an influential position..^[19][20] In the autumn of 1253, while John III was campaigning in Thrace, rumors emerged accusing Michael of plotting against the throne.^[18][20] At an inquiry convened before the emperor, the charges proved flimsy.^[21][22] Metropolitan Phokas of Philadelphia, a persistent adversary of Michael, proposed that Michael prove his innocence through a trial by ordeal by holding a red-hot iron from the altar.^[18][20][21]

Michael avoided the ordeal with a calculated reply, stating that as a sinful man he worked no miracles, but if the metropolitan, as a holy man of God, would robe himself in full priestly vestments, take the burning metal from the altar with his own hands, and place it into Michael's hands, Michael would gladly receive it in faith that Christ would reveal the truth.^{[18][19][21][22]} When Phokas objected that the ordeal was a barbarian custom borrowed by the Romans, Michael replied that since he was an educated Roman, he was entitled to be judged by Roman laws rather than barbarian customs.^{[21][22][23][24]} The accusations were dropped, and Michael was cleared.^[21][22][23] In 1253, Michael married Theodora Doukaina Vatatzina, a grandniece of John III, and was appointed megas konostaulos, commanding the Latin mercenary contingents in the employment of the Empire of Nicaea.^[17][25]

Despite these honors, mistrust persisted among the ruling family, especially following the accession of Theodore II Laskaris in 1254.^{[25][26][27][28]} Theodore II favored men of humble origins such as George Mouzalon, alienating the traditional aristocracy.^[29][30][31] In 1256, while commanding troops in Bithynia, Michael learned that the suspicious emperor had issued orders to have him arrested and blinded on charges of treason and conspiracy.^[26][27][32] Michael fled across the Sangarios River and sought asylum at Konya in the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum.^{[17][25][26][27]} Sultan Kaykaus II received him warmly and gave him command of Christian mercenaries and Byzantine prisoners of war in campaigns against the invading Mongols.^{[17][25][26][27]} Michael fought in the battle of Aksaray on 14 October 1256 against the Mongol general Baiju, escaping to Kastamonu after the Seljuk defeat.^[17][33]

Theodore II recalled Michael and gave him a solemn oath guaranteeing his safety..^{[15][19][25][26][27]} In 1258, Michael returned to Nicaea after an exchange of solemn oaths of loyalty.^[25][26][27] Reappointed megas konostaulos, Michael was assigned a small detachment and sent on campaign against the Despotate of Epirus, where court factions hoped he might perish.^[26][27][34] Instead, Michael achieved battlefield successes, defeated the Epirote forces, killed the opposing commander who was a son of the despot, and captured several fortresses.^[35][36][37] These victories renewed envy and suspicions at the imperial court; accusations of witchcraft were leveled against him, leading to his arrest and imprisonment without imperial audience.^[35][36][37] Michael was facing execution when Theodore II died on 16 August 1258, resulting in his immediate release.^{[35][36][37][38]}

Regency and the coup of 1258

The death of Theodore II Laskaris left the Nicaean throne to his eight-year-old son, John IV Laskaris.^[29][30][38] Before dying, Theodore had appointed his friend George Mouzalon, the protovestiarios, and Patriarch Arsenios Autoreianos as guardians and co-regents for the child.^{[17][29][30][38]} Mouzalon was despised by the military nobility, who resented his humble background and rapid ascent.^[29][31] Aware of his unpopularity, Mouzalon offered to resign his regency, but aristocratic leaders, including Michael, urged him to remain in office while covertly preparing his destruction.^[17]

On 25 August 1258, during a memorial service for Theodore II held on the ninth day after his death at the Sosandra Monastery in Magnesia, soldiers, likely Latin mercenaries, burst into the church with drawn swords.^[39][40][41] George Mouzalon attempted to hide behind the altar, but he, his two brothers, and his secretary were cut down.^{[17][39][40][41]} Michael Palaiologos was most probably the instigator of the assassination, although George Akropolites blamed nobles who had fallen into disgrace under the previous reign.^[17][42] Following the slaughter, Patriarch Arsenios deliberated for days over the choice of a replacement. Michael was the preeminent figure among the army and nobility, and Arsenios entrusted him with the keys to the imperial treasury.^[19][43][44]

Michael used the treasury to distribute generous gifts, stipends, and bribes to influential nobles, soldiers, and clergy around the patriarch.^[19][43][44] When an assembly designated him regent, Michael staged a formal refusal, citing his sworn oath of loyalty to the late Theodore II.^{[45][46][47][48]} Patriarch Arsenios released him from this oath, removing the main threat to the new regent's legitimacy..^[46][48] Michael then pointed out that the rank of megas doux was insufficient for governing the state, as lower offices would stand between him and the child emperor.^[49][50] A joint council of the senate and synod was convened, which elevated Michael to the rank of despotes, making him second in dignity only to the basileus.^[17][49][50]

The Pelagonian campaign and elevation to co-emperor

The regency crisis in Nicaea coincided with an external coalition organized against the empire.^[51][52][53] Michael II Komnenos Doukas, ruler of Epirus whose son Nikephoros was married to Maria Laskarina, laid claim to the Nicaean succession.^[51][52] He allied with King Manfred of Sicily and Prince William II of Villehardouin of Achaea, gathering a combined Western and Greek force that advanced through Macedonia in the summer of 1259.^[51][52] Michael Palaiologos mobilized a large Nicaean army under the joint command of his brother, the sebastokrator John Palaiologos, his brother Caesar Constantine, the megas domestikos Alexios Strategopoulos, and the megas primikerios Constantine Tornikes.^[17][51][52]

The armies met on the plain of Avlona in Macedonia.^[54][55] The Battle of Pelagonia was fought in September 1259..^{[56][57][58][59]} Outmatched in numbers, the Nicaeans sowed discord among the allies.^[54][55] A messenger from the Nicaean camp secretly warned Michael II of Epirus that the Latin princes were conducting covert negotiations to betray him to Nicaea.^[54][55] Believing the report, Michael II and his Epirote contingents fled in the night.^[54][55] At dawn, the Sicilian cavalry and Achaean knights found themselves abandoned and were routed by the Nicaean army.^[54][55] Prince William II of Villehardouin was captured along with thirty of his leading barons, while Nicaean forces occupied Arta and secured Durrës.^{[17][55][56][57]}

The triumph at Pelagonia consolidated Michael's authority, prompting the aristocratic faction to advocate his promotion to the imperial rank.^[59][60][61] The nobility advanced the doctrine that the basileus should be elected by the aristocracy rather than determined by hereditary succession.^[60][61] Michael supported this perspective, openly asserting that if his own son proved unfit, he would remove him from the throne with his own hands.^[60][61] In exchange for their backing, the nobles extracted concessions: Michael promised never to meddle in ecclesiastical governance, to appoint officials based on proven merit rather than kinship, to abolish judicial duels and trials by ordeal, to outlaw arbitrary imprisonments based on anonymous denunciations, and to safeguard military pay and privileges.^[19][62][63]

On 1 January 1260, at Magnesia, Michael was proclaimed co-emperor alongside the minor John IV Laskaris as Michael VIII Palaiologos.^[64][65] Other accounts date his proclamation and coronation to 1 January 1259..^[19][66][67] Patriarch Arsenios, then in Nicaea, initially intended to excommunicate Michael and his supporters for usurping the throne.^[64][65] He relented in the interest of state stability, agreeing to crown Michael on the strict condition that imperial authority would be returned to John IV upon the boy's majority.^[64][65] Michael gave public oaths confirming this arrangement, but simultaneously extracted counter-oaths and written pledges from the young John IV promising not to conspire against his senior co-ruler.^{[64][65][68][69]}

Reign as Emperor of Nicaea

Immediately upon his elevation, Michael VIII consolidated his domestic standing by rewarding the commanders of Pelagonia and rehabilitating individuals exiled or disgraced by Theodore II.^[70][71] To expand his aristocratic base, he arranged marriages between his relatives and influential noble houses.^[72][73] When the coronation ceremony was prepared, Michael arranged with compliant bishops to alter the ceremonial protocol: claiming that his military victories entitled him to walk first, he entered ahead of John IV.^[74][75] The reluctant Patriarch Arsenios was forced to crown Michael with the imperial diadem, while John IV walked behind wearing only a sacred cloth, effectively signaling Michael's supreme position.^[74][75]

Relations between the emperor and Patriarch Arsenios broke down completely within months.^[76][77] Protesting imperial conduct, Arsenios withdrew voluntarily to Magnesia, leaving the patriarchate vacant.^[76][77] Unable to remove Arsenios through canonical channels, the synod appointed Metropolitan Nikephoros of Ephesus as Patriarch Nikephoros II, who died after a year in office.^[76][77] Seeking an external triumph to overcome domestic discontent, Michael crossed into Thrace in 1260 and laid siege to Constantinople, focusing his assault on the Galata fortress.^[78][79][80] The Latin defenders resisted stoutly despite food shortages.^[79][80] Michael was deceived by Anselin of Toucy, a distant relative whom he had released from captivity following Pelagonia, and rumors of impending Western naval relief forced him to lift the siege and agree to a one-year truce with Latin Emperor Baldwin II in August 1260.^{[78][81][82][83]}

During the withdrawal through the Constantinopolitan suburbs in 1260, Nicaean troops discovered the unburied bones of Emperor Basil II Bulgaroktonos, which had been cast out of his imperial tomb by Latin soldiers.^[79][80] Michael ordered the remains wrapped in purple silk and solemnly reinterred at the Monastery of Christ the Savior in Selymbria.^[79][80][84] Upon returning to Asia Minor, Michael managed threats on the eastern border.^[85][86] Mongol armies under Hulagu had captured Baghdad in 1258, crossed the Euphrates, and occupied Iconium, the Seljuk capital.^[85][86] Sultan Kilij Arslan IV sought refuge and military assistance from Michael, reminding him of past hospitality.^[85][86] Michael offered courteous hospitality and vague promises, but declined to commit troops against the Mongols or grant the sultan territorial governance, successfully preserving peace on his eastern frontier.^[85][86]

Reconquest of Constantinople

Recognizing that taking Constantinople required a fleet to counter Venetian naval superiority, Michael VIII initiated diplomatic contacts with the Republic of Genoa.^{[3][87][88][89]} On 13 March 1261, Michael concluded the Treaty of Nymphaeum with Genoa; one account gives the date as 12 March..^{[3][17][56][58][89]} Genoa pledged to supply up to fifty warships at imperial expense in exchange for extensive commercial privileges throughout the restored empire, duty-free trade in all major ports, and exclusive commercial quarters in Constantinople and Black Sea harbors, replacing Venetian preeminence.^{[17][56][89][90]}

Genoese naval assistance was ultimately unnecessary.^[3] In the summer of 1261, Michael sent Caesar Alexios Strategopoulos with a small detachment of 800 horsemen toward the Bulgarian border, ordering him to gather the scattered Nicaean garrisons in Thrace and Macedonia on the way..^{[2][7][91][92]} While encamped near Rhegion, Strategopoulos met local Greek merchants and farmers, known as thelematarioi, coming from the capital. Strategopoulos learned that the Latin garrison had left on Venetian ships to attack the Nicaean island of Daphnousia in the Black Sea, leaving Constantinople almost undefended..^[17][19] The local informants revealed a concealed subterranean passage near the Church of the Pege through which fifty armed soldiers could enter the walls simultaneously.

Acting without direct imperial instructions, Strategopoulos launched a surprise night attack on 24–25 July 1261.^{[3][4][92][93]} A squad of fifty soldiers climbed through the passage, eliminated the guards on the ramparts near the Pege Gate, opened the gates, and let in the Nicaean detachment.^[19] To induce panic, the Greeks set fire to the Venetian commercial quarter and residences along the harbor.^[4][93] Awoken by the commotion, Emperor Baldwin II concluded that the Greeks had brought a large army into the city.^[4][93] Discarding his crown, scepter, and imperial regalia, Baldwin fled to the port and escaped aboard a Venetian vessel to Euboea.^{[4][92][93][94][95]} By the morning of 25 July 1261, Constantinople was back in Greek hands after 57 years, three months, and thirteen days of Latin rule.^{[4][92][93][96]}

The returning Venetian fleet from Daphnousia attempted to approach the harbor, but Strategopoulos assembled local residents, dressed them in arms and armour, and positioned them conspicuously along the seawalls, convincing the Latin command that a large garrison was present.^[97][98] The demoralized Latins evacuated the remaining Western families and sailed for Italy.^[97][98] In Nicaea, news of the recovery first reached Michael's sister Irene Eulogia, who woke her brother..^{[94][99][100][101]} Michael remained skeptical until a courier from Strategopoulos arrived carrying Baldwin II's abandoned crown and sword.^{[15][94][99][100]}

On 14 August 1261, imperial preparations in the city were completed, and on 15 August, the Feast of the Dormition, Michael VIII made his formal entry through the Golden Gate.^[102][103] Preceded by the celebrated icon of the Virgin Hodegetria, credited to Luke the Evangelist, the emperor advanced on foot to the Monastery of Stoudios, proceeded to the Hagia Sophia for prayers of thanksgiving, and took up residence in the Blachernae Palace.^[103]

Restoration and reconstruction of the capital

Constantinople had suffered deep degradation during Latin rule, with entire districts burnt, streets filled with rubble, monuments looted, and former urban centers turned into pastures.^{[5][104][105][106]} When Michael took control of Constantinople, its population was 35,000..^[5] Michael VIII initiated a comprehensive program of urban restoration.^{[5][104][107]} He cleared rubble from streets, restored the land and sea fortifications, repaired water infrastructure, and rebuilt ruined churches, monasteries, and civic buildings.^{[104][105][107][108]} He reestablished the Kontoskalion harbor on the Sea of Marmara, transforming it into an equipped dockyard for the imperial navy.^{[17][28][107]} To repopulate the city, he relocated rural inhabitants from Thrace and Bithynia, offered homes and land allotments, and resettled Tsakonians from Morea to serve as sailors in the fleet, alongside Gasmouloi, men of mixed Greek and Latin parentage who served as rowers.^{[109][110][111][112][113]} By the close of his reign, the population had doubled to around 70,000.^[5]

To revive education, Michael reestablished higher learning institutions in the capital, an initiative that fueled the cultural flowering known as the Palaiologan Renaissance.^[5][114] He re-founded the patriarchal school and established an academy at the Church of the Holy Apostles and Saint Paul, endowing salaries for instructors and providing scholarships for students.^[114][115] He commissioned mosaics, icons, and frescoes to replace treasures looted or destroyed during the Fourth Crusade, including the mosaic of Christ with the Virgin and John the Baptist in Hagia Sophia.^{[28][116][117]} In public squares, he erected commemorative monuments, including a column surmounted by a statue of Archangel Michael at the Church of the Holy Apostles, depicting the emperor kneeling before the archangel holding a model of the city.^[17][115]

The blinding of John IV and the Arsenite schism

Following the recovery of the capital, Michael sought to secure his sole imperial status.^[118] He recalled Patriarch Arsenios from his retreat, who entered Constantinople and accepted the patriarchal throne in Hagia Sophia.^[119][120] Strategopoulos was granted a triumph, crowned with an imperial wreath, and granted the privilege of having his name commemorated alongside the emperors in church litanies.^[121][122] In September 1261, the patriarch crowned Michael and his wife Theodora in Hagia Sophia, and Michael's three-year-old son Andronikos was proclaimed basileus as heir.^[103] Other accounts say Michael had himself crowned on 15 August, the day he entered the city, after leaving John IV in Nicaea..^{[102][105][123][124][125]}

Determined to eliminate any Laskaris dynastic challenge, Michael arranged marriages for the three sisters of John IV to foreign nobles, two Italians and a Bulgarian, requiring them to leave imperial territory.^{[118][126][127][128]} On Christmas Day, 25 December 1261, his eleventh birthday, John IV was taken into a fortress tower at Dakibyza near Nicomedia and blinded by Michael's orders.^{[17][129][130][131]} The executioners used a partially cooled iron so that a minimal degree of sight was preserved.^[129][130] The incapacitated child was confined in perpetuity to the fortress of Dakibyza, living as the monk Joasaph.^{[128][130][132]}

Michael tried to conceal the crime, claiming that John's coronation was merely postponed, but the truth quickly leaked out, producing societal outrage.^[118] When his own imperial secretary, Manuel Holobolos, openly lamented John's fate, Michael ordered his nose and lips mutilated and banished him to a monastery.^[131] In Bithynia, a major peasant rebellion erupted under a pretender known as Pseudo-John, who claimed to be the Laskaris heir.^{[19][133][134]} Michael suppressed the revolt through military force, devastating parts of Bithynia and imposing heavy punitive taxes.^[133][134] In early 1262, Patriarch Arsenios formally excommunicated Michael VIII, barring him from entering Hagia Sophia and sacraments.^{[17][118][135][136][137]}

Michael endured the excommunication for three years, attempting mediation. Arsenios remained uncompromising, stating that he had sheltered a dove that turned into a viper and stung him.^[135][136] In 1265, an open clash occurred when the chartophylax John Bekkos disciplined an imperial priest of the Pharos chapel for conducting a marriage without authorization.^[138][139] Michael ordered the eparch Constantine Tornikes to demolish Bekkos's house; Arsenios intervened physically, striking Tornikes's hand with his pastoral staff and declaring clergy immune from secular jurisdiction.^[138][139] Later that year, when Michael visited Hagia Sophia after campaigning in the Balkans, Arsenios publicly rebuked him for warring against fellow Christians.^[140][141]

In 1266, Michael convoked a synod that deposed Arsenios on various canonical charges and exiled him to the Proconnesian islands.^{[17][137][142][143]} Metropolitan Germanos of Adrianople was installed as Germanos III, but proved unpopular and unable to reconcile the church, resigning on 14 September 1267.^{[142][143][144][145]} The emperor appointed his personal confessor, Abbot Joseph of the Galesios Monastery, as Patriarch Joseph I.^[146][147] On 2 February 1268, the feast of the Presentation of Christ, Patriarch Joseph I and other bishops accepted Michael's repentance at the liturgy in Hagia Sophia.^[148][149] Other accounts date the lifting of his excommunication to 2 February 1267.^[17][137] The deposition of Arsenios created the Arsenite schism, an ecclesiastical divide of monks, clergy, and provincial Greeks who refused communion with the official hierarchy until 1310.^{[17][150][151]}

Domestic and economic policies

In domestic governance, Michael VIII broke with the frugal fiscal policies of John III Vatatzes and Theodore II Laskaris, realigning the crown with the great aristocratic magnates.^[17] He expanded the grant of pronoia (conditional revenue-producing land holdings), converting them into hereditary tenures for prominent noble families and military commanders.^[17][152] While this policy cemented the loyalties of the military aristocracy, it eroded the direct tax base of the central treasury and accelerated the feudal decentralization of the provinces.^[152]

The emperor maintained a standing army of approximately 15,000 to 20,000 men, largely composed of Turkish, Cuman, and Mongol mercenaries, paying each foreign hireling an annual retainer of roughly 24 hyperpyra.^[153][154] The expansion of the army, the construction of an imperial navy of 50 to 80 vessels, lavish diplomatic gifts, and large subsidies exhausted the imperial treasury.^{[17][153][154][155][156]} To meet expenses, Michael resorted to increasing rural taxation and debasing the imperial gold currency, the hyperpyron, whose gold content dropped below two-thirds purity, setting in motion a monetary decline that persisted throughout the fourteenth century.^{[17][157][158]}

Michael's trade agreements further damaged domestic commerce.^{[158][159][160]} Commercial treaties with Genoa in 1261 and 1267, and with Venice in 1268, granted Italian merchants exemptions or low tariffs of 2 to 2.5 percent, alongside autonomous quarters in Constantinople and Black Sea ports.^{[152][159][160]} Genoese entrepreneur Manuele Zaccaria obtained an exclusive monopoly over the lucrative alum mines of Phocaea and convinced Michael to prohibit Black Sea alum imports, generating vast personal fortunes for Italian merchants while depriving the Byzantine treasury of essential customs revenue.^{[159][160][161]}

The neglect and dismantling of the eastern frontier defense system had serious long-term consequences for the empire.^{[5][17][162][163]} Under the Nicaean emperors, the Anatolian borders had been guarded by the akritai, hereditary peasant-borderers who received hereditary land allotments and full tax exemptions in exchange for frontier defense.^{[162][163][164][165]} Prioritizing his European wars, Michael eliminated their tax exemptions, revoked fiscal grants, confiscated frontier properties into state hands, or lowered their military stipends.^{[155][162][163][165]} Deprived of livelihood, the akritai disbanded, abandoned outposts, or defected to neighboring Turkish beyliks.^{[162][163][164][165]} The unmonitored eastern border collapsed, allowing Turkmen nomadic bands to infiltrate Bithynia and Caria.^{[155][162][163][166]}

Diplomatic and military struggles in Greece and the islands

Following the victory at Pelagonia, Michael VIII sought to dismantle Frankish power in southern Greece.^[167] In late 1261, Prince William II of Villehardouin secured release from captivity by swearing fealty as an imperial vassal, receiving the title of megas domestikos, and ceding the Peloponnesian fortresses of Monemvasia, Mystras, Maina, and Geraki.^{[17][167][168][169]} Michael appointed his brother, sebastokrator Constantine Palaiologos, as governor of these territories, establishing the foundation of what became the Despotate of the Morea.^[169]

Upon returning to Achaea, William II obtained papal absolution from his oaths, allied with Venice, and resumed hostilities.^{[167][169][170]} In 1263, Michael sent an army of 15,000 men, including 5,000 Seljuk mercenaries, under sebastokrator Constantine to subjugate the principality.^{[167][169][171]} Constantine besieged Sparta without success, and his army was routed in a surprise defeat at Prinitza in 1263.^{[28][169][171]} In the Gulf of Nauplia, a combined imperial and Genoese fleet of 48 ships was defeated by a smaller Venetian squadron at the Battle of Settepozzi.^{[169][171][172]} In 1264, imperial unpaid Seljuk auxiliaries defected to the Franks, leading to a Nicaean defeat at Makryplagi, where general Alexios Philes was captured.^{[171][172][173]}

Disappointed by Genoa's naval performance at Settepozzi, Michael dismissed sixty Genoese galleys, expelled the Genoese merchants from Constantinople, and pursued rapprochement with Venice.^{[172][174][175][176]} In June 1265, Doge Raniero Zeno and imperial diplomats drafted a treaty restoring Venetian privileges, but the Venetian senate delayed ratification.^{[172][174][177]} Utilizing this delay, Michael renewed relations with Genoa in 1267, granting them the commercial quarter of Galata across the Golden Horn.^{[17][172][178][179]} Venice then consented to a five-year treaty on 4 April 1268, which allowed Venetian subjects commercial freedom, prohibited attacks on Genoa, and changed the Venetian representative's title from podestà to bailo.^{[172][180][181]}

Imperial fortunes revived through the services of Licario, an Italian adventurer from Vicenza in Byzantine service who received appointment as megas doux.^[182] Operating with the imperial fleet in the Aegean from 1275, Licario seized Venetian and Lombard strongholds across Euboea (Negroponte) except the citadel of Chalcis.^[182] In 1276, John I de la Roche, Duke of Athens, allied with Giberto da Verona and went to relieve Negroponte, which Michael's forces were besieging, but after landing on the island he lost the Battle of Vatonda, was wounded by an arrow and fell from his horse, and was captured together with Giberto.^[183] Taken to Constantinople, John was ransomed for 30,000 solidi in 1278 after declining Michael's offer of an imperial daughter in marriage.^[183][184] Imperial forces also reestablished authority over the islands of Naxos, Lemnos, Skopelos, and Kos.^[17]

Relations with the Despotate of Epirus and Thessaly

Following Pelagonia, Despot Michael II of Epirus swore vassalage to Nicaea.^[185] In 1264, the emperor's brother John Palaiologos defeated Epirote forces, securing imperial control of Ioannina and arranging the marriage of Michael II's son Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas to Anna Palaiologina Kantakouzene, Michael VIII's niece.^[185][186] When Michael II died (in 1267 or 1268 by one account, in 1271 by another), his lands split between Nikephoros I in Epirus and his illegitimate son, John, in Thessaly.^[185][187] Michael VIII conferred the title of sebastokrator on John I Doukas and married John's daughter to his nephew Andronikos Tarchaneiotes, but John remained a committed opponent of Constantinople.^[187][188]

Thessaly emerged as an anti-unionist bastion.^[182] In 1275, Michael dispatched an army of 30,000 men under his brother John Palaiologos and Alexios Kaballarios to besiege John I Doukas in Neopatras, supported by a fleet of 73 ships under Alexios Philanthropenos in the Pagasetic Gulf.^{[155][182][189][190]} John Doukas slipped through the siege lines, reached Athens, and secured 300 Burgundian cavalrymen from Duke John I de la Roche.^[182] In the Battle of Neopatras, the allied cavalry routed the imperial army.^{[155][189][190]} Days later, Philanthropenos's fleet achieved victory at the Battle of Demetrias, destroying a combined Lombard-Venetian naval force and restoring imperial dominance in Aegean waters.^{[155][182][189][190]}

Ecclesiastical conflict intensified in 1277 when John Doukas summoned an anti-unionist council at Neopatras.^[188][191] Eight bishops, several abbots, and one hundred monks anathematized the Emperor, Patriarch John Bekkos, and the Pope as heretics.^{[188][191][192]} Michael convened a synod in Hagia Sophia on 16 July 1277 anathematizing Nikephoros of Epirus and John of Thessaly in return.^[192] Michael sent another army into Thessaly in late 1277, but at the Battle of Pharsalos, John Doukas's forces forced the imperial army to retreat, although Nogai's allied Tatar cavalry devastated the Thessalian countryside.^[188]

Balkan policy: Bulgaria and Serbia

Tsar Constantine Tikh of Bulgaria, married to Irene Laskarina, sister of blinded John IV, invaded Thrace in 1261 to avenge the boy.^[193] Michael led counter-offensives in 1262–1263, capturing the Black Sea ports of Anchialos and Mesembria and taking Philippopolis and Stanimaka.^{[194][195][196]} In 1265, Constantine Tikh joined forces with Despot Michael II of Epirus and 20,000 Mongols from the Golden Horde, ravaging Thrace.^{[197][198][199]} Michael VIII was ambushed on his return to Constantinople, abandoned by fleeing officers, and narrowly reached safety by crossing the Ganos mountains and boarding Latin ships.^{[15][197][199]}

After the death of Irene Laskarina, Michael arranged for Constantine Tikh to marry his niece Maria Kantakouzene, promising Anchialos and Mesembria as her dowry.^[200][201] Accounts date these events differently: Irene's death and the marriage in 1270, Constantine becoming a widower in 1272, or the offer in 1268 and the wedding in 1269.^{[200][201][202][203]} When Michael withheld the cities, Bulgarian armies attacked in 1272, but were deterred by Mongol troops under Nogai Khan, whom Michael had secured through an alliance.^{[200][201][202][203]} In 1277, a peasant uprising under Ivaylo overthrew Constantine Tikh.^{[155][204][205]} Michael attempted to install Ivan Asen III, son of former Tsar Mitso Asen and husband of Michael's daughter Irene, as tsar in 1279.^{[155][204][205]} Byzantine forces under Michael Glabas entered Tarnovo, but Ivaylo defeated two relief armies, forcing Ivan Asen III to flee to Constantinople.^[155][205] George I Terter seized the Bulgarian throne in 1280 and aligned with Charles of Anjou against Byzantium.^[205][206]

Relations with the Kingdom of Serbia remained tense. King Stefan Uroš I had joined the anti-Nicaean coalition prior to Pelagonia, capturing Skopje and Prilep before returning them in 1259.^[53][207] In 1265, Michael proposed a dynastic marriage between his daughter Anna and Uroš's younger son, Stefan Milutin, but Serbian opposition aborted the alliance after Serbian envoys deemed the imperial court haughty and imperial ambassadors criticized Serbian living conditions.^{[208][209][210]} In 1273, Uroš joined Charles of Anjou's anti-Byzantine league.^{[193][211][212]} Stefan Dragutin deposed Uroš in 1276, maintaining peace until 1282, when King Stefan Milutin invaded imperial Macedonia and conquered Skopje, permanently detaching it from Byzantine rule.^{[210][213][214]}

Eastern policy: Mongols, Seljuks, Mamluks, and Trebizond

Michael prioritized diplomatic stability with the Mongol realms.^{[215][216][217][218]} In 1263, he concluded a treaty with Berke, Khan of the Golden Horde, and in 1265 arranged a defensive pact with the Ilkhanate ruler Abaqa Khan, marrying his illegitimate daughter Maria Despina Palaiologina to Abaqa.^{[215][216][217]} Berke, Khan of the Golden Horde, displeased by the alliance with the Ilkhanate, organized a joint Mongol-Bulgarian campaign against Byzantium in 1265; in 1266 Michael married another illegitimate daughter, Euphrosyne, to Nogai Khan, gaining a loyal ally and checking the hostile Bulgarians.^[219] Another account dates the Tatar-Bulgarian invasion to 1264 and the agreement with Nogai, sealed by the marriage to Euphrosyne, to the spring of 1272.^[17][220] Nogai's Mongol auxiliaries subsequently defended Byzantine frontiers against Bulgarian incursions in 1273 and 1279, and provided a 4,000-man cavalry detachment for Michael's campaigns in Thessaly in 1282.^{[221][222][223][224]} In 1278, Metropolitan Cyril III of Kiev and Khan Mengu-Timur of the Golden Horde dispatched Bishop Theognost of Sarai to Constantinople with joint letters and gifts for Michael VIII and Patriarch Bekkos.^[225][226]

In 1262, deposed Sultan Kaykaus II sought political shelter in Constantinople.^[227][228] Because Kaykaus was opposed by the pro-Ilkhanate Pervane Mu'in al-Din Suleyman, Michael imprisoned his former ally in Ainos to maintain relations with Abaqa Khan.^[227][229] Mongol forces from the Golden Horde liberated Kaykaus in 1265, transporting him to the Crimea.^[227][229] In Egypt, Michael established ties with Mamluk Sultan Baibars in 1262, signing an accord granting Egyptian vessels access through the Turkish Straits to trade with the Black Sea and Kipchak steppe.^{[215][218][230][231]} Friendly diplomatic relations were maintained under Baibars's successor, Sultan Qalawun, united by their opposition to Latin crusader ambitions.^{[232][233][234]}

The Empire of Trebizond, governed by the Grand Komnenos dynasty, refused to acknowledge Michael's imperial restoration, claiming the Roman title for themselves.^[235][236] Emperor George of Trebizond allied with anti-unionist factions within Byzantium and joined Charles of Anjou's coalition.^[235][236] In 1282, George's successor, John II Megas Komnenos, arrived in Constantinople and married Michael's third daughter, Eudokia Palaiologina.^{[237][238][239]} As a condition of the alliance, John II renounced the title of 'Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans', accepting the title of 'Emperor and Autocrat of all the East, the Iberians, and the Perateia', recognizing Michael VIII as the sole legitimate Roman emperor.^[237][238]

Relations with the papacy and the threat of Charles of Anjou

The capture of Constantinople dealt a severe blow to the prestige of the Roman papacy.^{[240][241][242]} Pope Urban IV proclaimed a crusade against Byzantium and placed Genoa under interdict for aiding the schismatics.^{[175][176][241][243]} Michael immediately dispatched two envoys to Rome to negotiate, but in Italy one envoy was flayed alive by Latin partisans while the second fled.^{[15][109][110][244]} Urban invited Charles of Anjou, Count of Provence and brother of King Louis IX of France, to claim the Sicilian crown from the Hohenstaufen Manfred.^{[241][245][246]} On 26 February 1266, Charles defeated and killed Manfred at the Battle of Benevento, establishing Angevin rule in southern Italy and Sicily.^{[247][248][249][250]}

Charles pursued the reconstitution of the Latin Empire of Constantinople.^{[247][250][251]} On 27 May 1267, under the auspices of Pope Clement IV, Charles signed the Treaty of Viterbo with exiled Latin Emperor Baldwin II and Prince William II of Villehardouin.^{[249][250][252]} Baldwin transferred sovereignty over Achaea and one-third of conquered Byzantine territories to Charles, who promised an army to reclaim Constantinople, cementing the pact with the betrothal of his daughter Beatrice to Baldwin's son Philip of Courtenay.^[249][250] Charles eliminated the final Hohenstaufen claimant, Conradin, at the Battle of Tagliacozzo on 23 August 1268, executing him at Naples.^{[252][253][254]}

Michael VIII tried to weaken papal support for the Treaty of Viterbo by resuming negotiations on church union with Pope Clement IV.^{[255][256][257][258]} Clement insisted on full dogmatic submission to the Roman confession of faith, but his death in November 1268 left the Holy See vacant for nearly three years.^{[255][256][257][258]} Charles prepared to invade Byzantium in the summer of 1270.^{[258][259][260]} Michael countered by sending embassies to King Louis IX of France, appealing to his crusading piety.^{[258][261][262][263]} Louis induced his brother Charles to join the Eighth Crusade against Tunis.^{[258][261][264]} Louis died of dysentery at Tunis on 25 August 1270, and when Charles returned to Sicily in November to resume his Byzantine campaign, a violent gale in the harbor of Trapani wrecked eighteen of his major warships and drowned thousands of his soldiers, forcing him to cancel the expedition.^{[15][261][265][266]}

On 1 September 1271, Tedaldo Visconti was elected Pope Gregory X while on pilgrimage in Palestine.^{[258][267][268][269]} Gregory prioritized church union and a crusade to recover the Holy Land, restraining Charles from attacking Byzantium.^{[258][269][270]} Gregory demanded that the Byzantine church accept papal primacy, the right of canonical appeal to Rome, and liturgical commemoration of the Pope.^[271][272] In April 1271, Gregory convoked the Second Council of Lyon for 1 May 1274.^[270] Michael pressured Patriarch Joseph I and senior metropolitans, arguing that accepting the minimal terms under the principle of oikonomia was essential to preserve imperial survival.^{[271][273][274]} Patriarch Joseph, until then the emperor's ally, sided with the opposition, and on his secret instruction the chartophylax John Bekkos told Michael on behalf of the bishops that the Latins were in fact heretics..^[275][276] Michael imprisoned recalcitrant clerics, including chartophylax John Bekkos, who studied Latin theology while incarcerated and subsequently embraced the unionist position in 1274.^{[275][277][278][279]}

The Second Council of Lyon and the Union of the Churches

Patriarch Joseph I agreed to withdraw to a monastery while the Council of Lyon sat, and to resign if the union was concluded..^[280][281] In March 1274, the Byzantine delegation departed for Lyon, led by former Patriarch Germanos III, Metropolitan Theophanes of Nicaea, and the grand logothete George Akropolites.^[282][283] During a storm off Cape Maleas, one of their transport ships foundered with the loss of valuable gifts, liturgical vestments, and icons intended for the Pope.^[284] The surviving envoys reached Lyon on 24 June 1274 and were welcomed by Gregory X.^[282][283]

On 6 July 1274, during the council's fourth session in Lyon Cathedral, the formal union was solemnized.^{[272][282][285][286][287]} George Akropolites, acting as imperial proctor, swore an oath acknowledging papal primacy, the Roman creed, and Catholic dogma.^[272][287] Envoys read letters from Michael VIII and his son Andronikos acknowledging the Roman See.^[282][287] In exchange, Gregory X recognized Michael's legitimacy as emperor, pledged to restrain Charles of Anjou, and promised to arrange peace among the Christian rulers.^{[285][286][288][289]} In October 1274, Charles agreed to a truce until 1 May 1276.^[182] On 16 January 1275, the union was officially proclaimed in Constantinople..^[17] Patriarch Joseph I refused to recognize the union and was deposed, and John Bekkos replaced him as Patriarch John XI.^{[17][273][283]} One account dates this to 26 May 1276..^[283]

The Union of Lyon triggered severe domestic resistance across Byzantine society.^{[272][290][291][292]} Monks, ordinary citizens, and the aristocracy rallied against the Latin connection.^{[272][290][291][292]} The emperor's sister Irene Eulogia Palaiologina fled to Bulgaria, joining her daughter Empress Maria to organize diplomatic resistance.^{[204][290][293]} Facing defiance, Michael resorted to harsh coercion.^{[290][291][294]} Monks, clerics, and nobles were imprisoned, blinded, mutilated, or exiled.^{[290][294][295]} The prominent monk Meletios had his tongue cut out, while the monk Ignatios was blinded.^[15][290] Mere possession of anti-union pamphlets was made punishable by death.^[15][290] The popes grew skeptical of the union's depth, while Byzantine subjects branded Michael an apostate, calling him a 'second Julian'.^[272]

The collapse of the union and the Siege of Berat

Pope Gregory X died in January 1276, followed by the brief pontificates of Innocent V, Adrian V, and John XXI.^{[296][297][298]} John XXI sent papal legates to verify that the union was being implemented; Michael escorted the legates through state prisons to demonstrate his enforcement measures.^[299] Pope Nicholas III, elected in November 1277, adopted a more demanding stance, presenting ten additional conditions in 1279 that required all Greek clergy to sign the Latin creed with the Filioque and submit Byzantine liturgical rites to papal censorship.^[300] Patriarch Bekkos briefly resigned in protest against imperial intrusions into church administration before resuming office to appease arriving papal nuncios.^[300]

Taking advantage of the pope's ban on Charles making war on them, the Byzantines went on the offensive in Albania in 1274, as soon as their envoys returned from Lyon, capturing Berat and Butrinto..^{[182][189][190][286]} In 1280, Charles resumed the offensive by appointing General Hugh of Sully to command an army of 8,000 men, including 2,000 heavy cavalry, in southern Albania.^[301][302] Sully captured Butrinto and laid siege to the fortress of Berat throughout the winter of 1280–1281.^[301][302] In March 1281, an imperial relief army under the megas domestikos Michael Tarchaneiotes arrived outside Berat.^[301] Sully was ambushed during reconnaissance, thrown from his horse, and captured.^[301] The Angevin army panicked and fled, leaving behind artillery, horses, and equipment.^[301][302] Sully was led in chains through Constantinople, and Michael commissioned a palace fresco depicting his victory.^[2][7]

On 22 February 1281, Pope Martin IV was elected..^[303][304] Martin, a Frenchman subservient to Charles of Anjou, excommunicated Michael on 10 April 1281, disrupting the union of Lyon, and cursed him as a schismatic.^[304][305] On 18 November 1281 he anathematized Michael and ordered him to hand the Byzantine Empire over to Rome by 1 May 1282, under threat of eternal anathema..^{[302][304][305][306][307]} On 3 July 1281, Charles of Anjou, King Philip III of France, and titular Latin Emperor Philip of Courtenay concluded the Treaty of Orvieto with the Republic of Venice, establishing a military league to partition the Byzantine Empire.^[289][304]

The Sicilian Vespers and subversion of the Angevin threat

By early 1282, Charles of Anjou had assembled an armada in the harbors of Messina and Naples comprising 400 vessels, 8,000 cavalrymen, and thousands of infantry, supported by Venice, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Thessaly.^{[214][289][308][309]} Byzantine archival records reveal the extensive siege equipment gathered by Charles, including iron mattocks, stakes, ropes, and shields bearing Angevin lilies.^[308] Isolated diplomatically in the West, Michael VIII established secret diplomatic contacts with King Peter III of Aragon, whose wife Constance was the daughter of Manfred of Hohenstaufen, regarding Charles as an Angevin usurper.^[310][311] Michael funneled financial subsidies, estimated at 60,000 gold hyperpyra, through his Genoese diplomat Benedetto Zaccaria and Sicilian exile John of Procida to finance Aragonese naval preparations.^{[311][312][313]}

On 30 March 1282, the uprising known as the Sicilian Vespers erupted in Palermo during evening prayers on Easter Monday.^{[272][311][314][315]} The rebellion spread throughout Sicily, resulting in the massacre of over two thousand Frenchmen.^[315] When Messina joined the insurrection on 28 April, seventy Angevin ships assembled for the crusade against Constantinople were burned in the docks.^{[272][314][315]} Charles was forced to divert his troops from the Byzantine campaign to besiege Messina.^[314][315] On 30 August 1282, the Aragonese army landed in Sicily.^[315][316] Peter III of Aragon was crowned in Palermo with Manfred's crown and became master of Sicily..^[272][317] On 18 November 1282, Martin IV issued a papal bull renewing the excommunication of Michael VIII, Peter of Aragon, John of Procida, and Benedetto Zaccaria, designating them conspirators behind the revolt.^[315][318]

In his autobiographical typikon, Michael acknowledged his involvement in instigating the Angevin collapse: 'Should I dare to say that God brought the Sicilians freedom and that He did it through my hands, I would be stating only the truth'.^[311][319] Simultaneously, Michael supported insurgencies against Venetian rule on Crete, financing a six-year rebellion led by the brothers Georgios and Theodore Hortatzoi of Mesi, which inflicted heavy damage on Venetian trade and prevented Venice from deploying naval forces in support of Charles.^[320][321]

Final campaign, death, and burial

Though the Angevin threat had dissipated, unrest continued in the Balkans.^[322][323] John I Doukas of Thessaly revolted again in the autumn of 1282.^[322][323] Michael requested 4,000 allied Mongol cavalry from Nogai Khan, combined them with his army, and marched westward from Constantinople in November 1282.^{[322][323][324]} While crossing the Sea of Marmara to Thrace, the imperial ships encountered a violent storm, severely exacerbating the fifty-eight-year-old emperor's failing health.^{[322][323][325]} Michael reached the town of Rhaidestos and traveled to the Thracian hamlet of Pachomios near Lysimachia.^{[17][322][323][326]}

At Pachomios, Michael's condition deteriorated rapidly.^[323][327] Fully conscious, he took leave of his family and commanders, received extreme unction and communion from an attending priest, prayed aloud ('Lord, deliver me from this hour!'), and died on 11 December 1282.^{[1][323][327]} His son and successor, Andronikos II Palaiologos, was present.^[325][328] At night Andronikos and the servants moved the body into a newly built church, but fearing the anger of the Orthodox, who had not forgiven Michael for the Union of Lyon, and of the relatives of those who had suffered during his reign, Andronikos ordered it carried away from the camp and buried in the ground without the usual funeral service..^{[17][328][329]}

Later, Andronikos had the body transferred to the monastery of Nea Mone in the district of Rhaidestos, and then in 1285 to the Monastery of Christ the Savior in Selymbria, placing it near the tomb of Basil II.^{[17][84][328][330]} A synod held in Constantinople in 1283 formally repudiated the Union of Lyon, deposed Patriarch John Bekkos, and decreed that Michael VIII be denied liturgical commemoration, a resolution publicly signed by both Andronikos II and the widowed Empress Theodora.^[331]

Historical assessment and literary works

Medieval and modern historians present a divided verdict on Michael VIII.^[17][332] Contemporary Byzantine historians George Pachymeres and Nikephoros Gregoras characterized him as an exceptionally intelligent, energetic, and resourceful statesman whose diplomatic skill repeatedly preserved the restored empire from Western conquest.^{[17][332][333]} Over a twenty-year period, he successfully navigated relations with eight successive Roman pontiffs, played Venice and Genoa against each other, and orchestrated the collapse of Charles of Anjou's Mediterranean ambitions.^[17][332]

Yet his foreign successes came with financial exhaustion, concessions to the Italian trading republics, neglect of the Anatolian frontier, and deep internal disputes caused by the blinding of John IV and the enforcement of the Union of Lyon..^[17] The blinding of John IV Laskaris shocked contemporaries and sparked the enduring Arsenite schism.^{[17][118][334]} His enforcement of the Union of Lyon alienated the Orthodox clergy and populace, igniting civil violence, while his commercial concessions to Italian republics undermined Byzantine maritime commerce.^{[17][159][160][290]} His concentration of military expenditures on the European front and the revocation of the akritai border defenses opened western Anatolia to gradual Turkish conquest, paving the way for the rise of the Ottoman Empire.^{[17][155][162][163]}

In his final years, Michael composed an autobiographical typikon for the Monastery of St. Demetrios in Constantinople, which he had founded, as well as a typikon for the Monastery of Archangel Michael on Mount Auxentios.^[2][7][17] In his autobiography, Michael defended his reign, claiming: 'I did not seek the throne, but was compelled to accept it as the most worthy'.^[2][7] While the text highlights his military achievements and the restoration of the empire, it omits all mention of John IV Laskaris, the blinding, or the Union of Lyon.^[17] He also authored poetic canons honoring Christian martyrs.^[17]

Family and descendants

In 1253, Michael VIII married Theodora Doukaina Vatatzina, the orphaned grandniece of Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes, raised by her great-uncle.^[17][335] Empress Theodora restored the Lips Monastery in Constantinople, composing its monastic typikon and erecting a southern annex designed as a dynastic mausoleum for the Palaiologos family.^[336] The children of Michael and Theodora were Manuel Palaiologos, who died before 1259; Irene Palaiologina, who married Ivan Asen III of Bulgaria; Andronikos II Palaiologos, later Byzantine emperor; Anna Palaiologina, who married Demetrios Komnenos Doukas, third son of Michael II of Epirus; Constantine Palaiologos, who married his second cousin Irene Raoulaina; Theodora Palaiologina, who married King David VI Narin of Georgia; Eudokia Palaiologina, who married Emperor John II of Trebizond; and Theodore Palaiologos..^{[17][335][337][338][339]}

By a mistress belonging to the Diplovatatzina family, Michael had two illegitimate daughters who were used to seal political alliances: Euphrosyne Palaiologina, who married Nogai Khan of the Golden Horde, and Maria Palaiologina, known as Maria despoina ton Mongolon, who married the Ilkhanid ruler Abaqa Khan of Persia.^[17][340] Michael's niece, Theodora Raoulaina, daughter of his sister Irene, was an intellectual, scribe, and opponent of the Union of Lyon who restored the Monastery of St. Andrew in Krisei.^[336]

Coinage and cultural depictions

Following the recovery of Constantinople in 1261, Michael VIII reformed the imperial monetary system, introducing the silver basilikon alongside traditional billon and copper trachia, while striking gold hyperpyra at Magnesia, Thessalonica, and Constantinople. Michael's hyperpyron shows the Virgin Mary on one side..^[341] The reverse portrayed the emperor kneeling before Christ, with Archangel Michael standing behind him as patron and protector.^[341]

Contemporary depictions of Michael VIII survive in Byzantine manuscripts.^[17] A miniature in a fourteenth-century manuscript of George Pachymeres' Historia (Cod. Monac. gr. 442, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich) portrays Michael standing on a cushion decorated with single-headed eagles, wearing a purple sakkos, jeweled loros, and imperial stemma with pendilia, holding a cruciform scepter.^[17] A fifteenth-century miniature in an evangeliary at the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg depicts the emperor in ceremonial robes and Western-style headwear, while a lost fresco at the Peribleptos Monastery in Mystras portrayed him alongside Empress Theodora and their son Constantine.^[17] In modern culture, Michael is the subject of Greek author Georgios Leonardos's historical novel Michael VIII Palaiologos the Liberator, and was portrayed by actor Vyacheslav Gostinsky in the 1989 Soviet film Sultan Beybars, directed by Bolat Mansurov.

References

1. PLP, 21528. Παλαιολόγος, Μιχαὴλ VIII. Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς. (Trapp, Erich; Beyer, Hans-Veit; Walther, Rainer; Sturm-Schnabl, Katja; Kislinger, Ewald; Leontiadis, Ioannis; Kaplaneres, Sokrates (1976–1996). Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit (in German). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 3-7001-3003-1.)
2. Величко А. М. История Византийских императоров. Том 5 Архивная копия от 21 июня 2022 на Wayback Machine.
3. Bartusis, Mark C. (1997). The Late Byzantine Army. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-1620-2.
4. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 4, глава 2. С.81, 82.
5. Geanakoplos, Deno John. "Michael VIII Palaeologus". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
6. ДилльШ. История Византийской империи. М., 1948. С.128, 129.
7. Величко А. М. История Византийских императоров. Том 5 Архивная копия от 21 июня 2022 на Wayback Machine.
8. Velichko A.M. Volumen 5.
9. Geanakoplos 1959, p. 17. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
10. Васильев А. А. История Византийской империи. — Т. 2. стр. 274
11. Васильев А. А. История Византийской империи. — Т. 2. — С. 274.
12. Detlev Schwennicke: Europäische Stammtafeln. Neue Folge, Band III. 1, Tafel 198, J. A. Stargaedt 1984
13. Vasiliev A. A. Historia del Imperio Bizantino. - T. 2. - S. 274.
14. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 18f. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
15. Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations (inglise). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
16. Geanakoplos, pp. 17-18.
17. KUŠČ, T. V. MICHAIL VIII PALEOLOG. In: Pravoslavnaja enciklopedija. Tom. 45. Merri Deľ Vaľ – Michail Parecheli. Moskva : Cerkovo-naučnyj centr „Pravoslavnaja enciklopedija“, 2017. [cit. 2026-08-07]. Dostupné online. ISBN 978-5-89572-052-3. S. 694 – 697.
18. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 23f. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
19. Vseviov, David (2004). "Michael VIII Palaiologos". Bütsantsi keisrid. Valitsejad purpuris. Tallinn: Kunst. Lk 424-439. ISBN 9789949437757.
20. Geanakoplos, Michael Palaeologus, pp. 23f.
21. Акрополит Георгий. Летопись великого логофета. Глава 50. стр. 336-339
22. Акрополит Георгий. Летопись великого логофета. Глава 50. С.336-339.
23. Jorge Acropolita. Crónica del gran logoteta. Capítulo 50. P.336-339.
24. Geanakoplos, pp. 23 e sgg.
25. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 26–30. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
26. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 3, глава 2. стр. 65
27. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 3, глава 2. С.65.
28. « Www.monarchies.org : Michel VIII (1224-1282) », sur monarchies.org via Wikiwix (consulté le 10 octobre 2023).
29. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 1, гл. 17. стр. 40, 41
30. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 1, гл. 17. — С. 40, 41.
31. ZÁSTĚROVÁ, Bohumila, a kol. Dějiny Byzance. Praha: Academia, 1992. ISBN 80-200-0454-8. S. 294. [Dále jen Dějiny Byzance].
32. Jorge Paquimeres. La historia de Miguel y Andrónico Paleólogo. Libro 1, capítulo 9. P.22.
33. Treadgold, 1997, p. 730-731. (Treadgold, Warren T. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford, Califòrnia: Stanford University Press, 1997.)
34. Nicéforo Grégoras. La historia romana comienza con la captura de Constantinopla por los latinos. T.1 Libro 3, Capítulo 2. P.65.
35. Успенский Ф. И. История Византийской империи. Т.5. стр. 272, 279, 280
36. Успенский Ф. И. История Византийской империи. Т.5. С.272, 279, 280.
37. Asunción F. I. Historia del Imperio Bizantino. T.5. S.272, 279, 280.
38. Bréhier 2006, p. 318-319.
39. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 3, гл. 3. стр. 68—70
40. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 3, гл. 3. — С. 68—70.
41. Chapman, Michel Paléologue restaurateur de l’Empire byzantin, p. 30-33.
42. Cambridge Medieval History, p. 507.
43. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Кн. 1, гл. 21, 22. стр. 48, 49
44. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Кн. 1, гл. 21, 22. — С. 48, 49.
45. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 1, гл. 7. стр. 55—57
46. Акрополит Георгий. Летопись великого логофета. — Гл. 76. стр. 388
47. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 1, гл. 7. — С. 55—57.
48. Акрополит Георгий. Летопись великого логофета. — Гл. 76. — С. 388.
49. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 3, гл. 4. стр. 73, 74
50. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 3, гл. 4. — С. 73, 74.
51. Васильев А. А. История Византийской империи. Т.2. стр. 209
52. Васильев А. А. История Византийской империи. Т.2. С.209.
53. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 540-541.
54. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 3, глава 5. С.74-76.
55. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 3, глава 5. стр. 74-76
56. Dějiny středověké Evropy, s. 323
57. Encyklopedie Byzance, s. 388
58. Dějiny Řecka, s. 203
59. Geanakoplos, Deno John (1953). "Greco-Latin Relations on the Eve of the Byzantine Restoration: The Battle of Pelagonia – 1259". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 7: 99–141. doi:10.2307/1291057. ISSN 0070-7546. JSTOR 1291057.
60. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 2, глава 1. стр. 65, 66
61. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 2, глава 1. С.65, 66.
62. Успенский Ф. И. История Византийской империи. — Т. 5. стр. 300
63. Успенский Ф. И. История Византийской империи. — Т. 5. — С. 300.
64. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 4, глава 1. С.78.
65. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 4, глава 1. стр. 78
66. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 39–46. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
67. Encyklopedie Byzance, s. 320
68. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 2, глава 4. стр. 68
69. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 2, глава 4. С.68.
70. Акрополит Георгий. Летопись великого логофета. Глава 77. стр. 389
71. Акрополит Георгий. Летопись великого логофета. Глава 77. С.389.
72. Успенский Ф. И. История Византийской империи. Т.5. стр. 301
73. Успенский Ф. И. История Византийской империи. Т.5. С.301.
74. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 2, гл. 8. стр. 71—73
75. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 2, гл. 8. — С. 71—73.
76. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 4, гл. 1. стр. 79
77. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 4, гл. 1. — С. 79.
78. Bon, Antoine (1969). La Morée franque. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d'Achaïe [The Frankish Morea. Historical, Topographic and Archaeological Studies on the Principality of Achaea] (in French). Paris: De Boccard.
79. Успенский Ф. И. История Византийской империи. Т.5. стр. 306
80. Успенский Ф. И. История Византийской империи. Т.5. С.306.
81. Geanakoplos 1959, p. 78. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
82. Cambridge Medieval History, p. 509.
83. Geanakoplos 1959, str. 78.
84. Melvani, N. (2018). The tombs of the Palaiologan emperors (inglise). Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. Lk 237-260.
85. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 4, глава 1. стр. 80
86. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 4, глава 1. С.80.
87. Васильев А. А. История Византийской империи. Т.2. стр. 210
88. Васильев А. А. История Византийской империи. Т.2. С. 210.
89. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 542.
90. Bratianu, Recherches sur le commerce génois dans la mer Noire, p. 79-81.
91. Bréhier 2006, p. 320-321.
92. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 542-543.
93. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 4, глава 2. стр. 81, 82
94. Geanakoplos 1959, p. 119. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
95. George Akropolite, Synopsis Chronike, p. 85-86.
96. Bréhier, 2006, p. 320-321. (Bréhier, Louis. Vie et Mort de Byzance. Albin Michel, 2006. ISBN 2-226-17102-9.)
97. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 4, глава 2. стр. 83
98. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 4, глава 2. С.83.
99. Акрополит Георгий. Летопись великого логофета. Глава 86. С.409, 410.
100. Акрополит Георгий. Летопись великого логофета. Глава 86. стр. 409, 410
101. Akropolites, George (2007). Ruth Macrides (toim). The History (inglise). Oxford University Press. Lk 383–384. ISBN 9780191568718.
102. Akropolites 2007, pp. 383–384. (Akropolites, George (2007) [c. 1261]. The History. Translated by Ruth Macrides. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0191568718.)
103. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 543-544.
104. Füchs, Die Höheren Schulen von Konstantinopel im Mittelalter, стр. 155
105. Füchs, Die Höheren Schulen von Konstantinopel im Mittelalter, p. 155.
106. Pád Cařihradu, s. 20
107. Chapman, Michel Paléologue, p. 47-49.
108. Chapman, Michel Paléologue, стр. 47-49
109. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 2, главы 32, 33. стр. 108, 109
110. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 2, главы 32, 33. С.108, 109.
111. Nicol 2008, p. 62.
112. Nicol, 1993, p. 62.
113. Bartusis, 1997, p. 44-47. (Bartusis, Mark C. The Last Byzantine Army: Arms and Society 1204-1453. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.)
114. Encyklopedie Byzance, s. 467
115. Encyklopedie Byzance, s. 206
116. Herrin, Judith (2008). Byzantium (inglise). Penguin Books. Lk 282-283. ISBN 978-0-14-103102-6.
117. Nicol, 1993, p. 64.
118. Nicol 1993, pp. 44f. (Nicol, Donald M. (1993) [1972]. The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453 (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43991-6.)
119. Акрополит Георгий. Летопись великого логофета. — Гл. 88. стр. 412, 413
120. Акрополит Георгий. Летопись великого логофета. — Гл. 88. — С. 412, 413.
121. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополяь латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 4, гл. 2. стр. 84, 85
122. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополяь латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 4, гл. 2. — С. 84, 85.
123. Madden, pp. 110–113
124. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 3, гл. 2. стр. 114, 115
125. Dějiny Byzance, s. 296
126. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 4, гл. 4. стр. 87
127. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 4, гл. 4. — С. 87.
128. Donald Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453, second edition (Cambridge: University Press, 1993), s. 44f
129. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 3, гл. 10. стр. 125, 126
130. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 3, гл. 10. — С. 125, 126.
131. Georges Pachymères, Histoire, Tome III p. 10-12.
132. Donald M. Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453, 2de uitg. (Cambridge: University Press, 1993), p. 246
133. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 3, главы 11-13. стр. 126-131
134. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 3, главы 11-13. С.126-131.
135. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 3, гл. 19. стр. 138, 139
136. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 3, гл. 19. — С. 138, 139.
137. Pachymère, I, p. 269-271
138. Лебедев А. П. Исторические очерки состояния Византийско-восточной Церкви от конца XI до середины XV века. — СПб., 1998. стр. 88
139. Лебедев А. П. Исторические очерки состояния Византийско-восточной Церкви от конца XI до середины XV века. — СПб., 1998. — С. 88.
140. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 3, гл. 26. стр. 154
141. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 3, гл. 26. — С. 154.
142. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 4, гл. 4. стр. 88, 89
143. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 4, гл. 4. — С. 88, 89.
144. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 4, главы 17, 18, 21. стр. 186, 191, 192
145. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 4, главы 17, 18, 21. С.186, 191, 192.
146. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 4, гл. 8. стр. 97
147. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. — Т. 1. — Кн. 4, гл. 8. — С. 97.
148. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 4, глава 25. стр. 195, 196
149. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 4, глава 25. С.195, 196.
150. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 4, глава 11. С.177.
151. Trapp, Erich; Walther, Rainer; Beyer, Hans-Veit; Sturm-Schnabl, Katja (1980). "9072 Ἰωσὴφ I". Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit (in German). Vol. 4. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 3-7001-3003-1.
152. Dějiny Byzance, s. 298
153. Сказкин Ф. И. История Византии. Том 3. Глава 5. Восстановленная Византийская империя. Внутренняя и внешняя политика первых Палеологов. Архивировано 6 декабря 2022 года.
154. Сказкин Ф. И. История Византии. Том 3. Глава 5. Восстановленная Византийская империя. Внутренняя и внешняя политика первых Палеологов. — [Архивировано 6 декабря 2022 года.]
155. D'Amato, Raffaelle (2016). Byzantine Naval Forces 1261–1461. Osprey Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 978-1472807281.
156. Bréhier 2006, p. 322.
157. Donald M. Nicol, Les Derniers Siècles de Byzance, éditions Texto, p. 63
158. Nicol, 1993, p. 63.
159. Соколов, 1957, стр. 84–85 harvnb грешка: no target: CITEREFСоколов,1957 (help).
160. Соколов, 1957, с. 84—85. (Соколов М. П. Венеция и Византия при первых Палеологах (1263–1328) // Византийский временник. — 1957. — № 12. — С. 75—96.)
161. W. Miller Essays on the Latin Orient, p. 284 et suite.
162. Васильев А. А. История Византийской империи. Т.2. стр. 298, 299
163. Васильев А. А. История Византийской империи. Т.2. С.298, 299.
164. Paul Lemerle, Histoire de Byzance, p. 114.
165. RUNCIMAN, Steven. Pád Cařihradu. Praha: Epocha, 2003. ISBN 80-86328-16-3. S. 40. [Dále jen Pád Cařihradu].
166. Nicol, 1993, p. 106.
167. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 547.
168. Nicol, Donald (1993). The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453. Cambridge: University Press. стр. 44.
169. Donald M. Nicol, Les Derniers Siècles de Byzance, éditions Texto, p. 67
170. Treadgold, 1997, p. 736. (Treadgold, Warren T. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford, Califòrnia: Stanford University Press, 1997.)
171. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 151–160. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
172. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 548-549.
173. John Deno Geanakoplos, Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258-1262 - A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations, Harvard University Press, 1959, p. 154-159
174. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 182–185. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
175. Васильев А. А. История Византийской империи. Т.2. стр. 286
176. Васильев А. А. История Византийской империи. Т.2. С.286.
177. Соколов 1957, стр. 80 harvnb грешка: no target: CITEREFСоколов1957 (help)
178. Герцберг Г. Ф. История Византии. стр. 415- 417
179. Герцберг Г. Ф. История Византии. С.415- 417.
180. Соколов, 1957, стр. 82–83 harvnb грешка: no target: CITEREFСоколов,1957 (help).
181. Соколов, 1957, с. 82—83. (Соколов М. П. Венеция и Византия при первых Палеологах (1263–1328) // Византийский временник. — 1957. — № 12. — С. 75—96.)
182. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 556-557.
183. Setton, Kenneth M. (general editor) A History of the Crusades: Volume II — The Later Crusades, 1189—1311.
184. Setton, Kenneth M. (general editor) A History of the Crusades: Volume II — The Later Crusades, стр. 1189–1311
185. Васильев А. А. «История Византии» Т.2 — Москва: Алетейя, 2000
186. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 547-548.
187. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 552.
188. Успенский Ф. И. История Византийской империи; 8; 3,5-6
189. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. стр. 198-201, 212, 213
190. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. С.198-201, 212, 213.
191. Geanakoplos 1959, p. 275. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
192. Geanakoplos 1959, p. 309. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
193. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 550.
194. Иречек К. Ю. История болгар. стр. 361, 362
195. Иречек К. Ю. История болгар. С.361, 362.
196. Dějiny Bulharska, s. 110 - 111
197. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 181f. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
198. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 4, глава 6. стр. 92
199. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 4, глава 6. С.92.
200. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 552-553.
201. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 5, глава 4. стр. 219, 220
202. Dějiny Bulharska, s. 112 - 113
203. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 5, глава 4. С.219, 220.
204. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 558-559.
205. Dějiny Bulharska, s. 113 - 114
206. Cambridge Medieval History, p. 527-530.
207. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 541-542.
208. J. Fine. The Late Medieval Balkans. стр. 204.
209. J. Fine: The Late Medieval Balkans. s. 204.
210. Cambridge Medieval History, p. 532.
211. G. Ostrogorski. Dzieje Bizancjum. стр. 361.
212. G. Ostrogorski: Dzieje Bizancjum. s. 361.
213. J. Fine. The Late Medieval Balkans. стр. 219.
214. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 560.
215. Cambridge Illustrated History of the Middle Ages: 1250–1520, p. 304.
216. Канал Д.-А., Рюнсиман С. История Крестовых походов. стр. 320
217. Канал Д.-А., Рюнсиман С. История Крестовых походов. С. 320.
218. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 553-554.
219. Джексон П. Монголы и Запад, 1221—1410. С. 202—203: «С 1273 г. Михаил, заключив союз с Ногаем и отдав ему свою внебрачную дочь в жёны, использовал его с целью оказать давление на Болгарию.»
220. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 554-555.
221. Джексон П. Монголы и Запад, 1221—1410. стр. 202–203
222. Джексон П. Монголы и Запад, 1221—1410. стр. 203
223. Джексон П. Монголы и Запад, 1221—1410. С. 202—203.
224. Джексон П. Монголы и Запад, 1221—1410. С. 203.
225. Монголы и Русь. Правление Менгу-Тимура. Дата обращения: 10 января 2012. Архивировано 24 марта 2013 года.
226. Монголы и Русь. Правление Менгу-Тимура . Дата обращения: 10 января 2012. Архивировано 24 марта 2013 года.
227. Cahen, Claude (2004). Pre-Ottoman Turkey: A General Survey of the Material and Spiritual Culture and History. Translated by J. Jones-Willian. New York: American Council of Learned Societies. p. 279.
228. Chapman, Michel Paléologue, p. 120.
229. Cahen (2004). Jones-Williams, J. (toim). Pre-Ottoman Turkey: a general survey of the material and spiritual culture and history (inglise). New York: American Council of Learned Societies. Lk 279.
230. Baybars I — статья из Британской энциклопедии
231. Baybars I — статья из Британской энциклопедии
232. Васильев А. А. История Византийской империи. Т.2. стр. 297, 298
233. Васильев А. А. История Византийской империи. Т.2. С.297, 298.
234. Canard, Le traité de 1281 entre Michel Paléologue et le sultan Qala'ûn p. 669, traduction française d’un traité arabe du XIIIe ou XIVe siècle
235. Trebizond. Дата обращения: 10 января 2012. Архивировано 20 мая 2015 года.
236. Trebizond . Дата обращения: 10 января 2012. Архивировано 20 мая 2015 года.
237. Герцберг Г. Ф. История Византии. стр. 456
238. Герцберг Г. Ф. История Византии. С.456.
239. Dějiny středověké Evropy, s. 323 - 324
240. Geanakoplos 1959, p. 140. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
241. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 545-546.
242. Geanakoplos 1959, str. 140.
243. Norden, Das Papsstum und Byzanz, p. 405.
244. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 140f. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
245. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. стр. 88-91
246. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. С.88-91.
247. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 189f. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
248. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. стр. 118, 119
249. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. С.118, 119.
250. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 549.
251. Louis Bréhier, Vie et mort de Byzance, p. 323.
252. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 195–200. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
253. Грегоровиус Фердинанд. История города Рима в Средние века (от V до XVI столетия). стр. 917
254. Грегоровиус Фердинанд. История города Рима в Средние века (от V до XVI столетия). С.917.
255. Geanakoplos 1959, p. 216. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
256. Катанский А. История попыток к соединению церквей Греческой и Латинской в первые четыре века по их разделении. стр. 134
257. Катанский А. История попыток к соединению церквей Греческой и Латинской в первые четыре века по их разделении. С.134.
258. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 550-551.
259. Герцберг Г. Ф. История Византии. стр. 418
260. Герцберг Г. Ф. История Византии. С.418.
261. Geanakoplos 1959, p. 228. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
262. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 5, глава 8. стр. 225, 226
263. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 5, глава 8. С.225, 226.
264. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. С.169-171.
265. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. стр. 169-171
266. Мишо Жозеф. История Крестовых походов. Глава XXXIV.
267. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. стр. 173-176
268. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. С.173-176.
269. Georges Pachymères, Histoire, p. 11.
270. Мишо Жозеф. История Крестовых походов. Глава XXXIII.
271. Deno Geanakoplos, « Michael VIII Palaeologus and the Union of Lyons »
272. Dějiny Řecka, s. 204 - 205
273. Nicol 1993, p. 56. (Nicol, Donald M. (1993) [1972]. The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453 (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43991-6.)
274. Пападакис Аристидис. Христианский Восток и возвышение папства. Церковь в 1071—1453 годах. стр. 319, 320
275. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 5, глава 2. С. 108, 109.
276. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 5, глава 2. стр. 108, 109
277. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 5, главы 14, 15. стр. 238, 239
278. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. — Кн. 5, гл. 16. стр. 240
279. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 5, глава 2. С.109.
280. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 5, глава 17. С.242.
281. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 5, глава 17. стр. 242
282. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 258–264. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
283. Louis Bréhier, Vie et mort de Byzance, p. 327.
284. Herrin, Judith (2008). Byzantium (inglise). Penguin Books. Lk 300-303. ISBN 978-0-14-103102-6.
285. Грегоровиус Фердинанд. История города Рима в Средние века (от V до XVI столетия). стр. 925
286. Грегоровиус Фердинанд. История города Рима в Средние века (от V до XVI столетия). С.925.
287. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 556.
288. Geanakoplos 1959, p. 278. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
289. Dějiny středověké Evropy, s. 324 - 325
290. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 264–275. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
291. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 557-558.
292. Alian Ducelier, Michel Kaplan, Byzance du IVe au XVe siècle, p. 127.
293. Иречек К. Ю. История болгар. стр. 364, 365
294. Bréhier 2006, p. 321.
295. Dějiny Byzance, s. 300
296. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 286–290. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
297. Васильев А. А. История Византийской империи. Т.2. стр. 291
298. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. стр. 207-209
299. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. стр. 210, 211
300. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 6, главы 14-16. стр. 284-286
301. Geanakoplos 1959, p. 334. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
302. Deno John Geannakoplos, Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West
303. Geanakoplos 1959, p. 340. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
304. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 559-560.
305. Geanakoplos 1959, p. 341. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
306. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. стр. 232, 233
307. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. С.232, 233.
308. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 361f. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
309. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 6, глава 30. С.314
310. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 345f. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
311. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 560-561.
312. Treadgold, 1997, p. 745. (Treadgold, Warren T. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford, Califòrnia: Stanford University Press, 1997.)
313. J. Harris, Byzantium and The Crusades, 180
314. Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 365f. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
315. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. стр. 263, 264
316. Рансимен С. Сицилийская вечерня. История Средиземноморья в XIII веке. С.263, 264.
317. Г.Острогорски. Историја на Византија. Скопје, 1992, стр.: 561-562.
318. Geanakoplos 1959, p. 347. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
319. Ostrogorky, p. 423.
320. Agelarakis, P. A. (2012), "Cretans in Byzantine foreign policy and military affairs following the Fourth Crusade", Cretika Chronika, 32, 41–78.
321. Agelarakis, P. A. (2012), Cretans in Byzantine foreign policy and military affairs following the Fourth Crusade. Cretika Chronika, 32, 41–78.
322. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 5, глава 7. стр. 123
323. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 5, глава 7. С.123.
324. Jacques Heers, Chute et mort de Byzance
325. Lygo, Kevin (2022). The Emperors of Byzantium (inglise). London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-02329-7.
326. Akropolites 2007, p. 16. (Akropolites, George (2007) [c. 1261]. The History. Translated by Ruth Macrides. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0191568718.)
327. Пахимер Георгий. История о Михаиле и Андронике Палеологах. Книга 6, глава 36. стр. 327-330
328. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 5, глава 7. стр. 125, 126
329. Григора Никифор. Римская история, начинающаяся со взятия Константинополя латинянами. Т.1. Книга 5, глава 7. С.125, 126.
330. Melvani, N., (2018) 'The tombs of the Palaiologan emperors', Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 42 (2) pp. 237–260.
331. Каллист Влатос. Марк Эфесский и Флорентийский Собор. стр. 96
332. Катанский А. История попыток к соединению церквей Греческой и Латинской в первые четыре века по их разделении. стр. 171–173
333. Gregoras, 123, ll. 8–15; 144, ll. 16ff. Translated in Geanakoplos 1959, p. 190. (Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.)
334. Д. Норвич. История Византии. стр. 469-470
335. PLP, 21380. Παλαιολογίνα, Θεοδώρα ∆ούκαινα Κομνηνή. (Trapp, Erich; Beyer, Hans-Veit; Walther, Rainer; Sturm-Schnabl, Katja; Kislinger, Ewald; Leontiadis, Ioannis; Kaplaneres, Sokrates (1976–1996). Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit (in German). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 3-7001-3003-1.)
336. Cavallo, G. (2002). Bütsantsi inimene. Avita.
337. Talbot 1992, pp. 295f. (Talbot, Alice-Mary (1992). "Empress Theodora Palaiologina, Wife of Michael VIII". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 46. Washington, D.C.: 295–303. doi:10.2307/1291662. JSTOR 1291662.)
338. Багратиони — цари объединённой Грузии. Дата обращения: 11 января 2012. Архивировано 7 апреля 2014 года.
339. Багратиони — цари объединённой Грузии . Дата обращения: 11 января 2012. Архивировано 7 апреля 2014 года.
340. Ilnur Mirgalyev, The Golden Horde in world history, Sh. Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, coll. « Tartaria Magna », 2017 (ISBN 978-5-94981-254-9)
341. David R. Sear, Byzantine coins & their values, Seaby Ltd., 2nd edition 1996