548 Palamas, Gregory, Saint
planned Western expedition by CHARLES I OFANJOU
against him. He also died in 1282.
ANDRONIKOS II AND ANDRONIKOS IIIMichael’s Son, Andronikos II (r. 1282–1328), succeeded
him as emperor and ruled from 1282 to 1328, a long and
unsuccessful reign. He was an intellectual who patron-
ized intellectual and artistic endeavors. He also ended
the union of churches that had been worked out at Lyon.
Combined attacks by Westerners, SERBS, mercenary
Catalans, and TURKS produced an influx of refugees
into Constantinople. In 1320 civil war broke out between
Andronikos II and his grandson, Andronikos III
(r. 1328–41). Andronikos III took power in 1328 after
overthrowing his grandfather. Andronikos III battled
ethical problems such as government corruption and
usury and the external threats of the Serbs and the
OTTOMAN TURKS.ANATOLIAwas lost to the Turks in
1330s. His reign saw the inception of a serious ecclesias-
tical controversy between Barlaam the Calabrian (d.
1350) and Gregory PALAMAS over monastic practices
concerning bodily function.
John Hawkwood
The death of Andronikos III in 1341 led to a confronta-
tion between the supporters of the young John VI Kan-
takouzenos (r. 1347–54) and those of the regent, the
grand domestic John Kantakouzenos. The regent upheld
the supporters of Palamas and sought a religious settle-
ment with the West. In 1354, after three years of civil
war, John V Palaiologos took back the throne, which he
periodically held with difficulty from 1341 to 1354,
from 1355 to 1376, and from 1379 to 1391. Faced with
the progress of the Turkish conquest and outbreaks of
the PLAGUE, he desperately sought a Western alliance.
He even became a Roman Catholic himself in 1369.
Despite these efforts, in 1373 he became a vassal of
Sultan MURADI. The Ottomans profited from the rebel-
lion of his son, Andronikos IV (r. 1376–79), between
1376 to 1379, by consolidating their conquests around
Constantinople.
MANUEL II, JOHN VIII,
CONSTANTINE XI DRAGASESManuel II (r. 1391–1425) became emperor in 1391. He
followed his father’s accommodating Western policy. For
four years, he left the government the empire to his
nephew, John VII (1399–1408), the son of Andronikos
IV. He traveled throughout Europe, vainly seeking
alliances against the Ottomans. The defeat of BAYAZIDI
IN1402 by TAMERLANEprovided the empire more time.
During the rule of John VIII (r. 1425–48), Byzantium
had no alternative to defeat than a Western political and
religious alliance. In 1438 the emperor and many of his
clergy attended the Council of FLORENCE, where this
ecumenical council proclaimed a union of the two
churches with a vague promise of military assistance.
This union was disavowed by the Byzantine Church back
in Constantinople. A crusading army assembled to save
Byzantium was annihilated by the Ottomans at the Battle
of Varna in 1444. Constantine XI Dragases (r. 1448–53),
the despot of MOREA, succeeded his brother in 1449. He
assumed the throne at Constantinople in time to fall in
the final siege of the town by the Ottomans. He died
fighting in 1453.
Further reading: Manuel II Palaeologus (1350–
1425), The Letters of Manuel II Palaeologus: Text, Transla-
tion, and Notes, ed. George T. Dennis (Washington,
D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies,
1977); John W. Barker, Manuel II Palaeologus
(1391–1425): A Study in Late Byzantine Statesmanship
(New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1969);
Deno John Geanakoplos, Emperor Michael Palaeologus
and the West, 1258–1282(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1959); Donald M. Nicol, The Last Cen-
turies of Byzantium, 1261–1453, 2d ed. (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1993); Donald M. Nicol,
The Immortal Emperor: The Life and Legend of Constan-
tine Palaiologos, Last Emperor of the Romans(Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1992); John Julius Nor-
wich, Byzantium: The Decline and Fall (New York:
Knopf, 1996).Palamas, Gregory, Saint (ca. 1296–1359)Byzantine
monk, theologian
Born in CONSTANTINOPLE of a noble Anatolian family,
Gregory Palamas became a monk at Mount ATHOSin
about 1314 and was ordained a priest in about 1326 at
THESSALONIKI, where he had fled to escape the
Ottomans. He lived as a HERMITfor a while and then
returned in 1331 to Mount Athos, where he became
familiar with the Hesychast tradition of mystical prayer.
He persuaded his brothers, sisters, and mother to enter
the religious life. Between 1335 and 1341 he engaged in
a polemical debate with Barlaam the Calabrian (d. 1350).
During this Palamas wrote his first major work, the
Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts.He defended
Christianity as a true experience of GOD. The doctrine
developed by Palamas in these debates became known
as Palamism. A council at Constantinople in 1341
condemned Barlaam.SECOND CONTROVERSY
This debate was followed by a second period of contro-
versy over divine substance and uncreated energies. Pala-
mas was subjected to a period of EXCOMMUNICATION,
condemnation, and imprisonment between 1342 and- Councils in 1347 and 1351 then confirmed his
doctrines. From 1347 to his death, he was metropolitan
of Thessaloniki. Captured by the Turks in 1354, he
remained imprisoned for more than a year. During the