Editing John VII Palaiologos (section)

=== Reconciliation with Manuel II and tenure as regent ===
{{See also|Siege of Constantinople (1394–1402)}}
[[File:Bayezid I by Cristofano dell'Altissimo.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Portrait of Sultan [[Bayezid I]] by [[Cristofano dell'Altissimo]] (1552–1562)]]
Tensions between John VII and Manuel escalated as Bayezid began to threaten to conquer Constantinople.{{Sfn|Leonte|2012|p=48}} In 1394, Bayezid laid siege to the city.{{Sfn|Necipoğlu|2009|p=133}} Encouraged by the French knight [[Jean II Le Maingre|Boucicaut]], who had been placed as the leader of Constantinople's defense and who had good relations with both John VII and Manuel, the two emperors reached an agreement meant to end their dynastic feud in 1399. According to the Byzantine monk [[Symeon of Thessalonica]], John VII's attitude towards Manuel had only changed because Bayezid had attacked his lands around Selymbria in 1397.{{Sfn|Leonte|2012|p=48}}{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|p=64}} The agreement was that Manuel adopted John VII, and that John VII in turn adopted Manuel's sons and daughters, uniting the two branches of the family. Manuel also formally acknowledged John VII as the first co-emperor, outranking Manuel's own son, [[John VIII Palaiologos]], who then became the second co-emperor.{{Sfn|Leonte|2012|pp=48–49}}

The agreement allowed Manuel to leave the city in a three-year long mission to travel around Europe in an attempt to secure military aid, while John was entrusted to remain in Constantinople as regent, governing the city in Manuel's absence.{{Sfn|Leonte|2012|p=48}} Though in effect having become Emperor-regent,{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|p=9}} John's responsibility was mainly the defense of Constantinople, not other matters normally handled by the emperor.{{Sfn|Oikonomides|1977|p=331}}{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|p=9}} Due to a lack of sources, John VII's regency in Constantinople is not well documented, and the extent of his power and how he exercised it is not entirely clear. It does not appear that the 1399 agreement was honoured by Manuel, as he sent his family (now ostensibly John's family) to his brother [[Theodore I Palaiologos|Theodore Palaiologos]] in [[Despotate of the Morea|the Morea]]. The only textual records that survive of John's activities in Constantinople are treaties with the Venetians and Genose, and documentation of his decision to depose Patriarch [[Matthew I of Constantinople|Matthew I]].{{Sfn|Leonte|2012|p=49}} Matthew I had many enemies in Constantinople, for reasons not entirely clear, and the anti-Matthew faction managed to persuade John VII to depose him.{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|p=72}} He would later be restored by Manuel once he returned to Constantinople.{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|p=80}} In the Byzantine Empire, ultimate authority to appoint patriarchs rested with the emperor alone.{{Sfn|Geanakoplos|1965|p=388}}

While besieging the city, Bayezid attempted to appeal to John VII's supporters by posing as a defender of John VII's legitimacy and offering peace on the condition that John was restored to the throne, terms that had been refused by Manuel before he left, a decision which prolonged the siege.{{Sfn|Necipoğlu|2009|p=133}} Once Manuel had left the city, Bayezid tried to negotiate directly with John VII. Perhaps overlooking that he had supported Manuel's deposition of John VII in 1390, his own attack on John VII's lands in Selymbria in 1397, and the reconciliation between the two emperors, Bayezid seemed to still believe that he could rely on John VII to do his bidding.{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|p=64}} Shortly after Manuel's departure from Constantinople, he sent the following message to John VII from [[Edirne|Adrianople]]:{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|p=64}}

{{blockquote|quote= If I have indeed put the Basileus Manuel out of the city, not for your sake have I done this, but for mine. And if, then, you wish to be our friend, withdraw from thence and I will give you a province, whatever one you may wish. But if you do not, with God and his great Prophet as my witness, I will spare no one, but all will I utterly destroy.{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|p=64}}|title=|source=|author=}}

John VII refused to surrender the city and replied defiantly to Bayezid's messenger, recorded as having said the following:{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|p=64}}

{{blockquote|quote=Withdraw, report to your lord: we are in poverty and there is no great power whereunto we may flee, except to God who aids the powerless and Who overpowers the powerful. So if you wish anything, do it!{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|pp=64–65}}|title=|source=|author=}}

[[File:Map_of_Constantinople_(1422)_by_Florentine_cartographer_Cristoforo_Buondelmonte.jpg|thumb|1422 map of [[Constantinople]] by cartographer [[Cristoforo Buondelmonti]], the oldest surviving map of the city]]

The situation grew more grim as time went on and Manuel's absence dragged on. Though Venice had promised to send military aid to lift the siege, the promised forces never arrived. Despite his forces being exhausted and the [[Timurid Empire|Timurids]] appearing in the eastern parts of his empire, Bayezid refused to abandon the siege. Throughout the six-year-long siege, the citizens of Constantinople suffered. Many of them chose to escape from the walls to personally surrender to the Ottoman forces.{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|p=65}}

Despite having refused to surrender the city, John VII maintained some connections to Bayezid.{{Sfn|Leonte|2012|p=49}} Early in January 1401, John VII was away from Constantinople, attempting to sign an agreement with Bayezid. Whatever he did, it appears to have worked momentarily as the siege was lifted for a brief period in the summer.{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|p=71}} In 1402, John VII is recorded as present on an Ottoman military expedition in the Peloponnese.{{Sfn|Leonte|2012|p=49}} On 1 June 1402, as the siege was escalating, John VII sent a letter to [[Henry IV of England]], writing of the urgent danger threatening Constantinople. About a month after this letter was sent, Bayezid finally left the city, having to deal with the Timurids. Bayezid's defeat and capture at the [[Battle of Ankara]] on 20 July 1402, and the subsequent period of [[Ottoman Interregnum|Ottoman civil war]] it sparked, ended the siege of Constantinople and saved the city.{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|p=75}}

The Ottoman defeat at Ankara was used by John to [[Treaty of Gallipoli|negotiate a treaty]] with one of Bayezid I's sons, [[Süleyman Çelebi]], in which the city of [[Thessalonica]], as well as substantial territories in [[Thrace]] and [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], were returned to the Byzantine Empire.{{Sfn|Oikonomides|1977|p=331}} John baptised and christianised two of Bayezid's sons in 1403: [[İsa Çelebi]] and [[Yusuf Çelebi]]. İsa may have been adopted by John, and Yusuf is recorded to have continued to live in Constantinople, attested there as late as 1413.{{Sfn|Savvides|2001|p=|pp=459–460}}

Upon Manuel's return to Constantinople in June 1403, John returned power to him.{{Sfn|Oikonomides|1977|p=331}} Though some contemporary comments seem to suggest that everyone expected John VII to refuse to surrender power, John VII appears to have been content with letting go of his responsibilities after governing the Byzantine capital for three and a half years.{{Sfn|Kapsalis|1994|p=87}} Once Manuel returned, he reversed several of John VII's decisions, for instance disavowing a treaty John VII had arranged with the Ottomans, in which he had granted them religious and financial privileges.{{Sfn|Encyclopaedia Britannica – John VII Palaeologus}}