Andronikos III Palaiologos: Difference between revisions

| death_place = [[Constantinople]], [[Byzantine Empire]]

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'''Andronikos III Palaiologos''' ({{lang-grc-x-medieval|Ἀνδρόνικος Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνός Παλαιολόγος|Andrónikos Doúkās Ángelos Komnēnós Palaiológos}}; 25 March 1297 – 15 June 1341), commonly [[Latinization of names|Latinized]] as '''Andronicus III Palaeologus''', was the [[Byzantine emperor]] from 1328 to 1341.{{sfn|PLP|loc=21437. Παλαιολόγος, Ἀνδρόνικος III. Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνός}} He was the son of [[Michael IX Palaiologos]] and [[Rita of Armenia]]. He was proclaimed co-emperor in his youth, before 1313, and in April 1321 he [[Byzantine civil war of 1321–28|rebelled against his grandfather]], [[Andronikos II Palaiologos]]. He was formally crowned co-emperor in February 1325, before ousting his grandfather outright and becoming sole emperor on 24 May 1328.

[[File:1340withKey.png|thumb|The Byzantine Empire in 1340, including Bulgaria, Serbia and the Ottoman Beylik.]]

His reign included the last failed attempts to hold back the [[Ottoman Turks]] in [[Bithynia]] and the defeat at [[Battle of Rusokastro|Rusokastro]] against the [[Second Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarians]], but also the successful recovery of [[Chios]], [[Lesbos]], [[Phocaea]], [[Thessaly]], and [[Despotate of Epirus|Epirus]].{{sfn|PLP|loc=21437. Παλαιολόγος, Ἀνδρόνικος III. Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνός}} His early death left a [[power vacuum]] that resulted in the disastrous [[Byzantine civil war of 1341–47|civil war]] between his widow, [[Anna of Savoy]], and his closest friend and supporter, [[John VI Kantakouzenos]], leading to the establishment of the [[Serbian Empire]] and the entry of the [[Ottoman Empire]] into the Balkans.

==Life==

Andronikos was born in [[Constantinople]] on 25 March 1297. His father, [[Michael IX Palaiologos]], began reigning in full imperial style as co-emperor {{Circa|1295}}.