John VI Kantakouzenos

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John VI Kantakouzenos bigraphy, stories - Generals

John VI Kantakouzenos : biography

1292 – 15 June 1383

John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzenus ({{el}}, Iōannēs VI Kantakouzēnos) (c. 1292 – 15 June 1383) was the Byzantine emperor from 1347 to 1354.

Notes

Family

By his wife Irene Asanina, a daughter of Andronikos Asan (son of Emperor Ivan Asen III of Bulgaria by Eirene Palaiologina, herself daughter of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos), John VI Kantakouzenos had several children, including:

  1. Matthew Kantakouzenos, co-emperor 1353–1357, later despotēs in Morea
  2. Manuel Kantakouzenos, despotēs in Morea
  3. Andronikos Kantakouzenos
  4. Maria Kantakouzene, who married Nikephoros II Orsini of Epirus
  5. Theodora Kantakouzene, who married Sultan Orhan of the Ottoman EmpirePeter F. Sugar, Southeastern Europe Under Ottoman Rule, 1354-1804, (University of Washington Press, 1996), 15-16.
  6. Helena Kantakouzene, who married Emperor John V Palaiologos

Retirement as a monk

Kantakouzenos retired to a monastery (where he assumed the name of Joasaph Christodoulos) and occupied himself in literary labours.

In 1367 Joasaph was appointed the representative of the Eastern Orthodox Church to negotiate with Paul of Smyrna then the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople to attempt a reconciliation of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. They agreed to call a grand ecumenical council to be attended by the Pope, all the Patriarchs and bishops and archbishops of both the eastern and western churches.Norwich, John Julius. Byzantium: The Decline and Fall (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996) p. 332 This plan was subsequently refused by Pope Urban V and so nothing came of it.

He died in the Peloponnese and was buried by his sons at Mistra in Laconia.

Reign

In 1347, he entered Constantinople in triumph with an army of 1,000 men, and forced his opponents to an arrangement by which he became joint emperor with John V Palaiologos and sole administrator during the minority of his colleague. His triumph in the six-year civil war is the subject of the poem "John Kantakouzenos Triumphs" by the modern Greek poet Constantine Cavafy.

He made his own son Matthew Kantakouzenos a co-emperor in 1353.

During this period, the empire, already broken up and reduced to narrow limits, was assailed on every side. There was an unsuccessful war with the Genoese, and in particular their colony at Galata, across from Constantinople itself. His later involvement in the Venetian–Genoese War of 1350–1355 also brought no concrete results, and was terminated by a treaty with Genoa in May 1352. War also erupted against the Serbians, who were at that time establishing an extensive empire on the north-western frontiers; and there was a hazardous alliance with the Ottoman Turks, who made their first permanent settlement in Europe, at Gallipoli in Thrace, towards the end of his reign. In 1349, he sent a newly-built fleet of 9 fair-sized ships and about 100 smaller ones against the Genoese, but it was captured in its entirety. Then in 1351, he sent 12 ships to help Venice against Genoa, but the fleet was defeated.

Kantakouzenos was far too ready to invoke the aid of foreigners in his European quarrels; and as he had no money to pay them, this gave them a ready pretext for seizing upon a European town. The financial burdens imposed by him had long been displeasing to his subjects, and a strong party had always favoured John V Palaiologos. Hence, when the latter entered Constantinople at the end of 1354, his success was easy.

Early life

Born in Constantinople, John Kantakouzenos was the son of Michael Kantakouzenos, governor of the Morea. Through his mother Theodora Palaiologina Angelina, he was a descendant of the reigning house of Palaiologos. He was also related to the imperial dynasty through his wife Eirene Asanina, a second cousin of Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos. Kantakouzenos became a close friend to Andronikos III and was one of his principal supporters in Andronikos’ struggle against his grandfather, Andronikos II Palaiologos. On the accession of Andronikos III in 1328, he was entrusted with the supreme administration of affairs. On the death of the emperor in 1341, John Kantakouzenos was left as the designated regent, and guardian of his son John V Palaiologos, who was nine years old.