Editing John V Palaiologos

{{short description|Byzantine emperor from 1341-1376, 1379-April 1390, and September 1390-1391}}
{{Moresources|date=November 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox monarch
| name         = John V Palaiologos
| full name    = John Palaiologos<br/>{{lang|grc|Ἰωάννης Παλαιολόγος}}
| image        = Restored mosaic of John V Palaiologos (head).jpg
| caption      = Restored mosaic of John V Palaiologos in the eastern arch of [[Hagia Sophia]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Byzantine Constantinople: Monuments, Topography and Everyday Life|first=Nerva |last=Necipoğlu |publisher=Brill |year=2001 |author-link= Nevra Necipoğlu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tG0p_sZH-fEC&pg=PA226|page=226|isbn=9004116257 |quote=This mosaic, known to us from drawings prepared by the Fossatis during their restoration of the building in 1847–1849, accidentally came to light when part of the plaster covering it fell off due to dampness caused by water leakage from the dome.}}</ref>
| succession   = [[Byzantine emperor]]
| reign        = 19 November 1341<ref>''[[Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit]]'', "[https://archive.org/details/ErichTrappProsopographischesLexikonDerPALAIOLOGENZEIT/page/n3911/mode/2up Palaiologos Ioannes V. Komnenos]"</ref> –<br/>12 August 1376
| reign-type   = 1st reign
| predecessor  = [[Andronikos III Palaiologos]]
| successor    = [[Andronikos IV Palaiologos]]{{efn|Later co-emperor from May 1381 to June 1385, in [[Selymbria]] and the [[Sea of Marmara|coast of Marmara]].}}
| reign1       = 1 July 1379 – 14 April 1390
| reign-type1  = 2nd reign
| successor1   = [[John VII Palaiologos]]
| reign2       = 17 September 1390 –<br/>16 February 1391
| reign-type2  = 3rd reign
| successor2   = [[Manuel II Palaiologos]]{{efn|Co-emperor since September 1373.}}
| regent       = [[John VI Kantakouzenos]]{{efn|Rival emperor since 1341, senior co-emperor from February 1347 to December 1354.}}<br/>[[Matthew Kantakouzenos]]{{efn|Co-emperor from April 1353 to December 1357, in [[Thrace]], later recognized as [[despot of the Morea]].}}
| reg-type     = Co-rulers
| spouse       = [[Helena Kantakouzene]]
| issue        = {{plainlist|
*[[Andronikos IV Palaiologos]]
*Irene Palaiologina
*[[Manuel II Palaiologos]]
*[[Theodore I Palaiologos]]
*[[Michael Palaiologos (son of John V)|Michael Palaiologos]]
*Maria Palaiologina
*Four daughters (names unknown)
*[[Zampia Palaiologina]] (ill.)}}
| house        = [[Palaiologos]]
| father       = [[Andronikos III Palaiologos]]
| mother       = [[Anna of Savoy]]
| birth_date   = 18 June 1332
| birth_place  = [[Didymoteicho]], [[Byzantine Empire]]<ref>Επίτομο Γεωγραφικό Λεξικό της Ελλάδος (Geographical Dictionary of Greece), Μιχαήλ Σταματελάτος, Φωτεινή Βάμβα-Σταματελάτου, εκδ. Ερμής, ΑΘήνα 2001</ref>
| death_date   = 16 February 1391 (aged 58)
| death_place  = [[Constantinople]]
| place of burial = 
| title        = [[List of Byzantine emperors|Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans]]
| religion     = [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] then converted to [[Eastern Catholicism]]
}}

'''John V Palaiologos''' or '''Palaeologus''' ({{langx|el|Ἰωάννης Παλαιολόγος}}, ''Iōánnēs Palaiológos''; 18 June 1332&nbsp;– 16 February 1391) was [[Byzantine emperor]] from 1341 to 1391, with interruptions. His long reign was marked by constant civil war, the spread of the [[Black Death]] and several military defeats to the [[Ottoman Turks]], who rose as the dominant power of the region.

John V became emperor at age eight, which resulted in a [[Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347|civil war]] between his regent [[John VI Kantakouzenos]] and a rival council led by his mother [[Anna of Savoy]], who pawned the crown jewels to [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] in order to raise funds. Kantakouzenos was recognized as emperor in 1347, coinciding with the [[Black Death#European outbreak|arrival of the Black Death]]. Shortly after, another [[Byzantine civil war of 1352–1357|civil war erupted in 1352]], with John V seeking help from [[Serbian Empire|Serbia]] against John VI's son [[Matthew Kantakouzenos|Matthew]] and his enlisted [[Ottoman Turks]]. The Turks used the ensuing chaos to gain their first European territory on former Byzantine soil.

John V assumed real power in 1354, removing John VI and his son Matthew. He attempted to gain Western support for the war against the Turks, resulting in his conversion to Catholicism in 1369 in presence of the Pope. These efforts were useless, as he was imprisoned in Venice due to his debts and was eventually forced to recognize Ottoman suzerainty. Political intriguing continued to plague his late reign; John was twice usurped from the throne, first by his son [[Andronikos IV Palaiologos|Andronikos IV]] in 1376 and then by his grandson [[John VII Palaiologos|John VII]] in 1390. He died in 1391 and was succeeded by his son [[Manuel II Palaiologos|Manuel]], while his younger son [[Theodore I Palaiologos|Theodore]] ruled the [[Despotate of the Morea]].

==Biography==
John V was the son of Emperor [[Andronikos III Palaiologos|Andronikos III]] and his wife [[Anna of Savoy|Anna]],{{sfn|Nicol|1996a|p=84}} the daughter of Count [[Amadeus V, Count of Savoy|Amadeus V of Savoy]] by his wife [[Marie of Brabant, Countess of Savoy|Maria of Brabant]]. His long reign was marked by the gradual dissolution of imperial power amid numerous civil wars and the continuing ascendancy of the [[Ottoman Turk]]s.

==Early rule and first civil war==
John V came to the throne at age eight. His reign began with an immediate [[Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347|civil war]] between his self-proclaimed [[regent]], his father's friend [[John VI Kantakouzenos]], and a self-proclaimed council of regency composed of his mother Anna, the [[List of Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople|patriarch]] [[John XIV Kalekas]], and the ''[[megas doux]]'' [[Alexios Apokaukos]]. During this civil war in 1343 Anna pawned the [[Byzantine crown jewels]] for 30,000 [[ducat (Italian coin)|Venetian ducats]]. From 1346 to 1349, the [[Black Death]] devastated [[Constantinople]].

==Second civil war==
Victorious in 1347, John VI Kantakouzenos ruled as co-emperor until his son [[Matthew Kantakouzenos]] was attacked by John V in 1352, leading to a [[Byzantine civil war of 1352–1357|second civil war]]. John V asked the ruler of Serbia, [[Stefan Dušan]] for help, and Dušan obliged by sending 4,000 Serbian horsemen to his aid. Matthew Kantakouzenos asked his father for help, and 10,000 Ottoman Turks showed up at Demotika ([[Didymoteicho]]) in October 1352 and engaged the forces of John V's Serbian allies in an [[Battle of Demotika|open field battle]] that resulted in the destruction of the allies and a victory for the more numerous Turks in the service of the Byzantines. The [[Ottoman Empire]] thus acquired its first European territory, at [[Çimpe]] and [[fall of Gallipoli|Gallipoli]]. Able to retake Constantinople in 1354, John V removed and [[tonsure]]d John VI Kantakouzenos; by 1357, he had deposed Matthew as well, who had been captured by the Serbs and was ransomed to John V.

==Rule and defeats==
[[File:157 - John V Palaiologos (Mutinensis - color).png|thumb|Depiction of John V Palaiologos in the 15th-century ''[[Mutinensis gr. 122]]''.]]
In 1366, John V reached the [[Kingdom of Hungary]], arriving at the Royal city of [[Buda]] to meet King [[Louis I of Hungary]]. However, the Byzantine emperor offended the king by staying on his horse, while Louis descended and approached him on foot. The Hungarian monarch then offered him help on the condition that John join the Catholic Church, or at least achieve recognition by the Patriarch of the Pope's supremacy. The Emperor left the court of Buda with empty hands and continued his trip through Europe searching for assistance against the Ottomans.<ref>Küküllei János: Lajos király krónikája, Névtelen szerző: Geszta Lajos királyról; Osisris Kiadó, Budapest, 2000. (Millenniumi Magyar Történelem)</ref>

The Ottomans, who had been allied with the Kantakouzenoi, continued to press John. [[Suleyman Pasha (son of Orhan)|Suleyman Paşa]], the son of the Ottoman sultan, led their forces in Europe and was able to take [[Adrianople]] and [[Philippopolis (Thracia)|Philippopolis]] and to exact tribute from the emperor. John V appealed to the West for help, proposing to Pope Urban V in 1367 to end the [[East-West Schism|schism]] between the [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Byzantine]] and [[Latin Church|Latin]] churches by submitting the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|patriarchate]] to the supremacy of the [[Pope]]. In October 1369, John, having travelled through Naples to Rome, formally converted to Catholicism in Saint Peter's Basilica and recognized the Pope as supreme head of the Church.<ref>"...in the presence of four cardinals, he acknowledged, as a true Catholic, the supremacy of the Pope, and the double procession of the Holy Ghost. After this purification, he was introduced to a public audience in the church of St. Peter: Urban, in the midst of the cardinals, was seated on his throne; the Greek monarch, after three genuflections, devoutly kissed the feet, the hands, and at length the mouth, of the holy father, who celebrated high mass in his presence, allowed him to lead the bridle of his mule, and treated him with a sumptuous banquet in the Vatican." – [[Edward Gibbon]], ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]'', [https://www.ccel.org/g/gibbon/decline/volume2/chap66.htm Chapter 66] (Visit of John Palaeologus to Urban V. at Rome, A.D. 1369, 13 October etc.), via the [[Christian Classics Ethereal Library]]</ref> He was not accompanied by the clergy of the Byzantine Church and the move failed to bring about an end to the Schism.<ref>Alexander Vasiliev ''History of the Byzantine Empire 324–1453''. University of Wisconsin Press, 1952. pp. 671</ref> He became the last Byzantine emperor (the first since emperor [[Constans II]]' visit in 663) to make a visit to Rome.

Impoverished by war, he was detained as a debtor when he visited [[Venice]] in 1369 on his way back from Rome and was later captured on his way back through Bulgarian territories. In 1371, he recognized the suzerainty of the Ottoman sultan [[Murad I]]. Murad later assisted him against his son [[Andronikos IV Palaiologos|Andronikos]] when the latter [[Byzantine civil war of 1373–1379|deposed him]] in 1376.

==Deposition and second rule==

In 1390, his grandson [[John VII Palaiologos|John VII]] briefly usurped the throne, but was quickly overthrown. The same year, John V ordered the strengthening of the [[Walls of Constantinople#Yedikule Fortress|Golden Gate]] in Constantinople, utilizing marble from the decayed churches in and around the city. Upon completion of this construction, [[Bayezid I]] demanded that John raze these new works, threatening war and the blinding of his son Manuel, whom he held in captivity. John V carried out the Sultan's order but is said to have suffered from this humiliation and died soon thereafter on 16 February 1391, and was buried in the [[Hodegon Monastery]] in Constantinople.<ref>Melvani, N., (2018) 'The tombs of the Palaiologan emperors', ''Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies'', 42 (2) pp.237–260</ref>

John V was finally succeeded to the imperial throne by his son [[Manuel II Palaiologos|Manuel]]. His younger son [[Theodore I Palaiologos|Theodore]] had already acceded to the [[Despotate of Morea]] in 1383.

==Family==
John V married [[Helena Kantakouzene]], daughter of his co-emperor [[John VI Kantakouzenos]] and [[Irene Asanina]], on 28 May 1347. They had at least eleven children – five sons and at least six daughters.<ref>Anthony Luttrell, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1291531 "John V's Daughters: A Palaiologan Puzzle"], ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'', 40 (1986), pp. 103–112</ref> Their known children include:
* [[Andronikos IV Palaiologos]] (2 April 1348 – 28 June 1385);
* Irene Palaiologina (c. 1349 – after 1362), who married her first cousin [[Halil Bey (son of Orhan)|Halil Bey]], son of [[Orhan I]] and Helena's sister [[Theodora Kantakouzene (wife of Orhan)|Theodora Kantakouzene]]. The couple had two sons, Gündüz Bey and Ömer Bey.
* [[Manuel II Palaiologos]] (27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425);
* [[Theodore I Palaiologos, Lord of Morea]] (c. 1355 – 24 June 1407). In 1404 his daughter married [[Süleyman Çelebi]], son of Bayezid I; 
* [[Michael Palaiologos (son of John V)|Michael Palaiologos]] (d. 1376/1377), who claimed the throne of the [[Empire of Trebizond]] from [[Alexios III of Trebizond|Alexios III]];
* Maria Palaiologina, married [[Murad I]], son of Orhan; 
* One daughter betrothed to [[Peter II of Cyprus]];
* A daughter (name unknown) reported to have entered a monastery in 1373;
* A daughter (name unknown) who married [[Bayezid I]], son of Murad I;
* A daughter (name unknown) who married [[Yakub Çelebi]], son of Murad I.

John V also had an illegitimate daughter, [[Zampia Palaiologina]], who married the official [[Hilario Doria]].

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. '''John V Palaiologos'''
|2= 2. [[Andronikos III Palaiologos]]
|3= 3. [[Anna of Savoy]]
|4= 4. [[Michael IX Palaiologos]]
|5= 5. [[Rita of Armenia]]
|6= 6. [[Amadeus V, Count of Savoy]]
|7= 7. [[Marie of Brabant, Countess of Savoy|Maria of Brabant]]
|8= 8. [[Andronikos II Palaiologos]]
|9= 9. [[Anna of Hungary]]
|10= 10. [[Levon II of Armenia (King)|Levon II of Armenia]]
|11= 11. [[Queen Keran of Armenia|Keran of Armenia]]
|12= 12. [[Thomas II, Count of Piedmont]]
|13= 13. Beatrice Fieschi
|14= 14. [[John I, Duke of Brabant]]
|15= 15. [[Margaret of Flanders, Duchess of Brabant|Margaret of Flanders]]
}}

==See also==
{{portal|Byzantine Empire}}
* [[List of Byzantine emperors]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==Sources==
* Harris, Jonathan, ''The End of Byzantium''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-300-11786-8}}
* Alexander Vasiliev, ''History of the Byzantine Empire 324–1453''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1952. {{ISBN|0299809269}}
* {{cite book |title=The Byzantine Lady: Ten Portraits, 1250–1500 |first=Donald M. |last=Nicol |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996a }}
* {{Cite book|last=Nicol|first=Donald M.|author-link=Donald M. Nicol|title=The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453|orig-year=1972|year=1993|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521439916|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2d6OHLqwEsC}}
* {{Cite book|last=Nicol|first=Donald M.|author-link=Donald M. Nicol|title=The Reluctant Emperor: A Biography of John Cantacuzene, Byzantine Emperor and Monk, c. 1295-1383|year=1996b|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521522014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7bXGTfK_ogAC}}
* {{Cite book |last=Radić |first=Radivoj |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vrASyQEACAAJ |title=Vreme Jovana V Paleologa (1332–1391) |publisher=Institute for Byzantine Studies SANU |year=1993 |location=Belgrade |language=sr, en |trans-title=The Time of John V Palaiologos (1332–1391) |issn=0584-9888 |author-link=Radivoj Radić}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Palaiologos]] dynasty||1332|16 February|1391}}
{{s-reg|}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Andronikos III Palaiologos]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Byzantine emperors|Byzantine emperor]]|years=1341–1376
|regent1=[[John VI Kantakouzenos]]|years1=1347–1354
|regent2=[[Matthew Kantakouzenos]]|years2=1353–1357
|regent3=[[Andronikos IV Palaiologos]]|years3=1352–1373
|regent4=[[Manuel II Palaiologos]]|years4=1373–1376}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Andronikos IV Palaiologos]]}}
{{s-bef|before=Andronikos IV Palaiologos}}
{{s-ttl|title=Byzantine emperor|years=1379–1390
|regent1=[[Manuel II Palaiologos]]|years1=1379–1390
|regent2=[[Andronikos IV Palaiologos]]|years2=1381–1385}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John VII Palaiologos]]}}
{{s-bef|before=John VII Palaiologos}}
{{s-ttl|title=Byzantine emperor|years=1390–1391
|regent1=[[Manuel II Palaiologos]]|years1=1390–1391}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Manuel II Palaiologos]]}}
{{s-end}}

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