The Palaiologos dynasty, also known as Palaeologus or Palaeologue, was the name of a Byzantine Greek[1][2] family, which rose to nobility and ultimately produced the last ruling dynasty of the Byzantine Empire.
Founded by the 11th-century general Nikephoros Palaiologos and his son George, the family rose to the highest aristocratic circles through its marriage into the Doukas and Komnenos dynasties. After the Fourth Crusade, members of the family fled to the neighboring Empire of Nicaea, where Michael VIII Palaiologos became co-emperor in 1259, recaptured Constantinople and was crowned sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire in 1261.[3] His descendants ruled the empire until the Fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Turks on May 29, 1453, becoming the longest-lived dynasty in Byzantine history; some continued to be prominent in Ottoman society long afterwards. A branch of the Palaiologos became the feudal lords of Montferrat, Italy. This inheritance was eventually incorporated by marriage to the Gonzaga family, rulers of the Duchy of Mantua, who are descendants of the Palaiologoi of Montferrat.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 History of the Byzantine Empire volume 2 Aleksandr A. Vasiliev page 583 “The dynasty of the Palaeologi belonged to a very well known Greek family which, beginning with the first Comneni, gave Byzantium many energetic and gifted men, especially in the military field.”
- ↑ Edward Gibbon (1862). Gibbon's History of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green. Retrieved on 24 June 2011.
- ↑ Gill, Joseph (1980). "Family feuds in fourteenth century Byzantium: Palaeologi and Cantacuzeni". Conspectus of History 1 (5).