Andronikos Palaiologos, Lord of Thessaloniki

Andronikos Palaiologos or Andronicus Palaeologus (Greek: Ανδρόνικος Παλαιολόγος) (1403 – 4 March, 1428) was governor of Thessalonica with the title of despot ("despotēs") from 1408 to 1423.

Andronikos Palaiologos was a son of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos and his wife Helena Dragaš. His maternal grandfather was the Serb prince Constantine Dragaš. His brothers included emperors John VIII Palaiologos and Constantine XI Palaiologos, as well as Theodore II Palaiologos, Demetrios Palaiologos and Thomas Palaiologos, who ruled as despots in Morea.

In childhood Andronikos survived the sickness which killed his brothers Michael and an elder Constantine. He never recovered in full, remaining a man of poor health for the rest of his life. When he was only five years old his father made him a despot ("despotēs") and appointed him imperial representative in Thessalonica, where he was succeeding his deceased cousin John VII Palaiologos.

After John VIII assumed control of the imperial government in 1421, the Byzantine Empire faced an increasingly hostile Ottoman Empire. Constantinople, and then Thessalonica were besieged in 1422–1423. Under siege Andronikos lost hope and started diplomatic initiatives for the surrender of the city to the Republic of Venice. Venetian troops entered the city against the wishes of the population in 1423. The turn over of Thessalonica to Venice contributed to the outbreak of the first in a series of wars between Venice and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans conquered Thessalonica in 1430.

Andronikos became a monk less than a year after surrendering Thessalonica to Venice. He spent the rest of his life in a monastery, dying in 1429.

Ancestry

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1= 1. Andronikos Palaiologos
2= 2. Manuel II Palaiologos
3= 3. Helena Dragaš
4= 4. John V Palaiologos
5= 5. Helena Kantakouzene
6= 6. Constantine Dragaš
8= 8. Andronikos III Palaiologos
9= 9. Anna of Savoy
10= 10. John VI Kantakouzenos
11= 11. Irene Asanina
12= 12. Dejan
13= 13. Theodora of Serbia
16= 16. Michael IX Palaiologos
17= 17. Rita of Armenia
18= 18. Amadeus V, Count of Savoy
19= 19. Maria of Brabant
20= 20. Michael Kantakouzenos
21= 21. Theodora Palaiologina Angelina Kantakouzene
22= 22. Andronikos Asen
26= 26. Stefan Uroš III Dečanski of Serbia
27= 27. Theodora of Bulgaria

Bibliography

*Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall "Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches"
*Edward Gibbon "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"
*George Phrantza : The Fall of Byzantine empire