ANDRONICO II PALEOLOGO, emperor of BISANZIO. - Son of Michele VIII Paleologo, he was co-regent with his father, just as he in turn associated his son Michele IX with the throne in 1294. A weak and incapable man, he was unable to sustain his father’s active and vigorous policy; thus, very soon the Byzantine empire declined from a great Mediterranean power to the status of a small state, exposed to the ambitions of the other neighbouring countries. A., moreover, abandoned all his father’s negotiations with the Roman Curia for the reconciliation of the Churches and consented to the definitive triumph of the most rigid “orthodoxy.” The two great dangers that emerged for the Byzantine empire during the reign of A. (1282-1328) were the formation of the new Turkish sultanate of the Ottomans in Anatolia and the rise of the Serbs to power. The empire’s financial resources did not permit the government to react against these most serious dangers; A. sought assistance from the Catalan mercenary company of Roger de Flor, but was unable to make use of it and ended by alienating Roger de Flor himself, who soon became a terrible enemy of the emperor.
ANDRONICO II PALEOLOGO ANELLI LUIGI
A. sought in various ways to strengthen his power through peace negotiations and alliances, without, however, deriving any advantage from them.