Andronikos IV Palaiologos
Andronikos IV Palaiologos was the eldest son of John V who twice seized power from his father through coup and revolt, adding yet another layer of catastrophic civil war to the final Byzantine decades. In 1373 he refused to participate in the suppression of a revolt against the Ottoman sultan Murad I and was imprisoned by his father. In 1376, allied with the Genoese of Galata and Sultan Murad, he seized power from John V, imprisoned his father and brothers, and ceded Gallipoli back to the Ottomans as payment for Ottoman support. He reigned until 1379, when John V escaped and, with Ottoman support, retook Constantinople. Andronikos IV was then given Thessaloniki and adjacent territories as a kind of separate domain where he ruled until his death in 1385. His reign represents another downward turn in the spiral of Byzantine civil wars that benefited nobody but the Ottomans.
- Lived: 1348 CE – 1385 CE
- Nationality: byzantine
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state
