John V Palaiologos
A Byzantine emperor whose 50-year reign was a desperate, losing battle to hold a crumbling empire together against plague, civil war, and the Ottoman tide.
1332–1391 (age 59)·Byzantine emperor·Birthday: June 18
Biography
John V Palaiologos inherited a throne that was more a title than a power. Crowned as a child in 1341, his reign was immediately consumed by a brutal civil war against his guardian, John Kantakouzenos, which left the empire bankrupt and divided. His rule was a long, grim exercise in triage, managing a state that had shrunk to little more than the city of Constantinople and parts of Greece. He traveled to Rome in a humiliating, failed bid to secure Western military aid by personally submitting to the authority of the Pope, a move that outraged his own people. Later, he was even forced to become a vassal of the rising Ottoman Sultan, Murad I. His life was a series of depositions and restorations, often by his own sons, as the Byzantine world he was meant to rule steadily evaporated around him.
#1 When John Was Born
The biggest hits of 1332
John's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1332Born
1337Started school
1345Became a teenager
1348Could drive
1350Could vote
1353Turned 21
1362Turned 30
1372Turned 40
1382Turned 50
1391Died at 59
Key Achievements
- His reign of nearly 50 years was one of the longest in Byzantine history, though marked by constant instability.
- He formally reunited the Byzantine Empire after winning the civil war against John VI Kantakouzenos in 1354.
- He traveled to Italy and submitted to the Pope in Rome in 1369 in an attempt to secure military aid against the Ottomans.
- He oversaw the restoration of the Byzantine capital's land walls, a critical defensive structure.
Did You Know?
He was deposed by his own son, Andronikos IV, in 1376 and imprisoned in the Tower of Anemas.
After becoming an Ottoman vassal, he was compelled to contribute troops to Sultan Murad I's army in Asia Minor.
His mother, Anna of Savoy, served as his regent during the early years of his reign and the civil war.
He was the first Byzantine emperor to directly appeal to the Papacy for a crusade against the Ottomans by traveling to Rome.
“I am an emperor of shadows, ruling ruins.”
