Andronikos V Palaiologos or Andronicus V Palaeologus ( el, Ανδρόνικος Παλαιολόγος; 1400–1407) was the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
ruler of the city of
Thessalonica
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
and surrounding territories from 1403 to his death in 1407, alongside his father
John VII Palaiologos
John VII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Ἰωάννης Παλαιολόγος, Iōánnēs Palaiológos; 1370 – 22 September 1408) was Byzantine emperor for five months in 1390, from 14 April to 17 September. A handful of sources suggest that ...
. Though they did not control
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
, John and Andronikos ruled Thessalonica with the full Byzantine imperial title, recognized by the ruling senior emperor, John VII's uncle
Manuel II Palaiologos
Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( gr, Μανουὴλ Παλαιολόγος, Manouēl Palaiológos; 27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425) was Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425. Shortly before his death he was tonsured a monk and received the na ...
.
Recognized as third-in-line to Constantinople, Andronikos' parents had high hopes for his future and regarded him as the future legitimate senior Byzantine emperor. These hopes were dashed when Andronikos died in 1407, just seven years old. On account of his ephemeral status and short life, Andronikos is a shadowy historical figure of whom little is known. He was not acknowledged by modern historians until 1967, who had previously believed John VII to be childless.
Life
Andronikos V Palaiologos was born 1400. The only son of
John VII Palaiologos
John VII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Ἰωάννης Παλαιολόγος, Iōánnēs Palaiológos; 1370 – 22 September 1408) was Byzantine emperor for five months in 1390, from 14 April to 17 September. A handful of sources suggest that ...
( 1390, 1403–1408) and his wife
Irene Gattilusio Irene Gattilusio (died 1 January 1440 under the monastic name Eugenia) was a Byzantine Empress consort by marriage to John VII Palaiologos, a Byzantine Emperor in 1390. She was a daughter of Francesco II of Lesbos (a maternal grandson of Androniko ...
, Andronikos was named after his paternal grandfather,
Andronikos IV Palaiologos
Andronikos IV Palaiologos or Andronicus IV Palaeologus ( gr, Ἀνδρόνικος Παλαιολόγος; 11 April 1348 – 25/28 June 1385) was the eldest son of Emperor John V Palaiologos. Appointed co-emperor since 1352, he had a troubled rel ...
( 1376–1379). John VII had briefly ruled the Byzantine Empire in 1390, after usurping the throne from his grandfather,
John V Palaiologos
John V Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Ἰωάννης Παλαιολόγος, ''Iōánnēs Palaiológos''; 18 June 1332 – 16 February 1391) was Byzantine emperor from 1341 to 1391, with interruptions.
Biography
John V was the son of E ...
( 1341–1391). Although John VII had been deposed after just five months on the throne, he never gave up his claim to be the legitimate senior emperor, even after the accession of John V's successor,
Manuel II Palaiologos
Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( gr, Μανουὴλ Παλαιολόγος, Manouēl Palaiológos; 27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425) was Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425. Shortly before his death he was tonsured a monk and received the na ...
( 1391–1425), John VII's uncle, in 1391. After a long feud between the two, and risking civil war, Manuel and John VII reached an agreement in 1403, in which John VII, still officially a junior emperor, would reign alone after Manuel's death. Per the agreement, John VII would then be succeeded by Manuel's son,
John VIII Palaiologos
John VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( gr, Ἰωάννης Παλαιολόγος, Iōánnēs Palaiológos; 18 December 1392 – 31 October 1448) was the penultimate Byzantine emperor, ruling from 1425 to 1448.
Biography
John VIII was ...
( 1425–1448), who in turn would be succeeded by John VII's son, Andronikos V. Additionally, John VII was granted the city of
Thessalonica
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
, whom he had recently been responsible for returning to Byzantine control, and was also allowed to keep the title of emperor. Shortly after arriving in Thessalonica in 1403, John VII established his own imperial court there and crowned Andronikos V as co-emperor.
The emperors in Thessalonica continued to use the full imperial title, which they were entitled to per the agreement with Manuel, employing both the styles ''
basileus
''Basileus'' ( el, ) is a Greek term and title that has signified various types of monarchs in history. In the English-speaking world it is perhaps most widely understood to mean "monarch", referring to either a "king" or an "emperor" and al ...
'' (emperor) and ''
autokrator'' (autocrat). John VII regarded Andronikos V not just as his own successor, but also the future legitimate senior Byzantine emperor. John VII's entry into Thessalonica was commemorated in a Byzantine ivory
pyxis
Pyxis is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. Abbreviated from Pyxis Nautica, its name is Latin for a mariner's compass (contrasting with Circinus, which represents a draftsman's compasses). Pyxis was introduced by Nicolas-Lo ...
(a cylindrical box with a lid), today housed at
Dumbarton Oaks
Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and garden of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, M ...
, which depicts the families of both John VII and Manuel. The pyxis notably depicts Andronikos V more prominently than Manuel's son John VIII, despite John VIII being both older and higher in the line of succession.
The plans and hopes for Andronikos V's future fell through when he died 1407, at the age of seven.
Monodies
In music, monody refers to a solo vocal style distinguished by having a single melodic line and instrumental accompaniment. Although such music is found in various cultures throughout history, the term is specifically applied to Italian song of ...
(lamentations for a death) were composed for Andronikos and John VII succumbed to intense grief. The
Metropolitan of Thessalonica
The Metropolis of Thessaloniki ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Θεσσαλονίκης) is a Greek Orthodox metropolitan see based in the city of Thessaloniki in Central Macedonia, Greece. It is part of the so-called "New Lands", belonging to ...
,
Gabriel I, wrote a consolatory letter to John VII. In his letter, Gabriel wrote that he too grieved, since he had prayed that the young emperor would grow to adulthood and succeed his father and also stated that he regretted not being present in Thessalonica at the time to offer consolation and sympathy in person. John VII died not long after Andronikos, on 22 September 1408, ending the Byzantine
diarchy
Diarchy (from Greek , ''di-'', "double", and , ''-arkhía'', "ruled"),Occasionally misspelled ''dyarchy'', as in the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' article on the colonial British institution duarchy, or duumvirate (from Latin ', "the office of ...
established in 1403 and John VII's rival imperial lineage.
Historiography
![Byzantine Ivory Pyxis from Thessalonica](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Byzantine_Ivory_Pyxis_from_Thessalonica.png)
As a short-lived child emperor, Andronikos is a shadowy and ephemeral figure of whom little source material survives. He was only recently acknowledged by
Byzantinists
Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music, science, economy, coinage and politics of the Eastern Roman Empire. T ...
. Andronikos was first identified by
George T. Dennis in 1967, with John VII previously believed to have been childless. Dennis based his argument for Andronikos' existence mainly on two previously unpublished manuscripts, one containing a monody and the other containing a consolatory letter to an emperor from a bishop. The monody is titled "Monody on the death of the Lord Emperor Andronikos Palaiologos, the son of Lord John the nephew of Lord Emperor Manuel, at the age of seven years", expliclity identifying the name, father, and age of the child, as well as confirming that he was emperor. The consolatory letter was identified as written by Gabriel of Thessalonica, which means that the timeframe only fits if he wrote to John VII concerning Andronikos' death. Dennis also used the 1403 succession agreement between John VII and Manuel as evidence. The surviving documents only state that John VII would become senior emperor after Manuel, and then be followed by "Manuel's son", who would be followed by "the son of John". Though this could be interpreted as a future supposed child of John, Dennis interpreted it as evidence that John already had a son (Andronikos) by this point.
The sole surviving depiction of the emperor, the ivory pyxis from Thessalonica, was first studied in 1899, though the researcher,
Josef Strzygowski
Josef Rudolph Thomas Strzygowski (March 7, 1862 – January 2, 1941) was a Polish-Austrian art historian known for his theories promoting influences from the art of the Near East on European art, for example that of Early Christian Armenian arch ...
, was uncertain as to what imperial family was depicted given that the father John, mother Irene and son Andronikos did not appear to match any known family. In 1960,
André Grabar
André Nicolaevitch Grabar (July 26, 1896 – October 3, 1990) was an historian of Romanesque art and the art of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Bulgarian Empire. Born in Ukraine and educated in Kyiv, St. Petersburg and Odessa, he spent his car ...
proposed that the artwork depicted
John VI Kantakouzenos
John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzene ( el, , ''Iōánnēs Ángelos Palaiológos Kantakouzēnós''; la, Johannes Cantacuzenus; – 15 June 1383) was a Byzantine Greek nobleman, statesman, and general. He served as grand domestic under An ...
, his wife
Irene
Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace".
Irene, and related names, may refer to:
* Irene (given name)
Places
* Irene, Gauteng, South Africa
* Irene, South Dakota, United States
* Irene, Texas, United Stat ...
and their grandson Andronikos IV Palaiologos, an explanation also accepted by
Kurt Weitzmann
Kurt Weitzmann (March 7, 1904, Kleinalmerode (Witzenhausen
Witzenhausen is a small town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeastern Hesse, Germany.
It was granted town rights in 1225, and until 1974, it was a district seat.
The University of ...
in 1972. This identification presents problems due to difficulties in then identifying the second imperial family depicted (Manuel II, his wife
Helena and their son John VIII) and their connection to the first family. The identification of the first family as that of John VII was first proposed by
Nicolas Oikonomides
Nikolaos or Nikos Oikonomides ( el, Νικόλαος Οικονομίδης, 14 February 1934 – 31 May 2000) was a Greek Byzantinist, and one of the leading experts in the field of Byzantine administration.
Biography
Oikonomides was born in A ...
in 1977.
Whether Andronikos is most appropriately considered a
despot of Thessalonica, a purely nominal or titular co-emperor, or a full emperor varies between sources. It is general practice among Byzantinists to only view actually reigning senior rulers as emperors, eliminating junior co-rulers who, though they had the same titles, often only had nominal power. There are some exceptions, notably the earlier
Michael IX Palaiologos
, image = 154 - Michael IX Palaiologos (Mutinensis - color).png
, caption = 15th-century portrait of Michael IX (from a 15th-century codex containing a copy of the ''Extracts of History'' by Joannes Zonaras)
, succession ...
(1294–1320), whose rule was fully encompassed by that of his father,
Andronikos II Palaiologos
, image = Andronikos II Palaiologos2.jpg
, caption = Miniature from the manuscript of George Pachymeres' ''Historia''
, succession = Byzantine emperor
, reign = 11 December 1282 –24 May 1328
, coronation = 8 Novembe ...
( 1282–1328). Regardless of the status ascribed to Andronikos V, his enumeration as emperor is unproblematic given that no further emperors named Andronikos reigned after him. The numeral was first assigned to Andronikos by George T. Dennis in 1967.
Notes
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Andronikos 05
1400 births
1407 deaths
Palaiologos dynasty
Eastern Orthodox monarchs
15th-century Byzantine emperors
Byzantine junior emperors
Sons of Byzantine emperors