Manuel II Palaiologos was the second son of Emperor
John V Palaiologos (1341–1376, 1379–1390, 1390–1391) and his wife Helena Kantakouzena. His maternal grandparents were Emperor
John VI Kantakouzenos (1347–1354) and Eirene Asanina.
Created
despotēs by his father, the future Manuel II traveled west to seek support for the
Byzantine Empire in
1365 and in
1370, serving as governor in
Thessalonica from
1369. The failed attempt at usurpation by his older brother
Andronikos IV Palaiologos in
1373 led to Manuel being proclaimed heir and co-emperor of his father. In
1376–1379 and again in
1390 they were supplanted by Andronikos IV and then his son John VII, but Manuel personally defeated his nephew with help from the
Republic of Venice in 1390. Although John V had been restored, Manuel was forced to go as an honorary hostage to the court of the
Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I at Prousa (
Bursa). During his stay, Manuel was forced to participate in the Ottoman campaign that reduced Philadelpheia, the last Byzantine enclave in
Anatolia.
Hearing of his father's death in February
1391, Manuel II Palaiologos fled the Ottoman court and secured the capital against any potential claim by his nephew John VII. Although relations with John VII improved, Sultan Bayezid I besieged
Constantinople from
1394 to
1402. After some five years of siege, Manuel II entrusted the city to his nephew and embarked (along with a suite of 40 people) on a long trip abroad to seek assistance against the
Ottoman Empire from the courts of western Europe, including those of
Henry IV of
England (making him the only Byzantine emperor ever to visit England - he was welcomed from December 1400 to January 1401 at
Eltham Palace, and a
joust was given in his honour
http://www.newstatesman.com/200609250019),
Charles VI of
France, the
Holy Roman Empire, Queen
Margaret I of Denmark and from
Aragon. In 1399, French King
Charles VI sent Marshal
Boucicaut with 6 ships carrying 1,200 men from
Aigues-Mortes to
Constantinople, later 300 men under Seigneur Jean de Chateaumorand was left to defend the city against Bayezid.
Meanwhile an anti-Ottoman crusade led by the
Hungarian King
Sigismund of Luxemburg failed at the
Battle of Nicopolis on
September 25 1396, but the Ottomans were themselves crushingly defeated by
Timur at the
Battle of Ankara in
1402. Manuel II had sent 10 ships to help the Crusade of Nicopolis. As the sons of Bayezid I struggled with each other over the succession in the
Ottoman Interregnum, John VII was able to secure the return of the European coast of the
Sea of Marmara and of Thessalonica to the Byzantine Empire. When Manuel II returned home in
1403, his nephew duly surrendered control of Constantinople and was rewarded with the governorship of newly recovered Thessalonica.
Manuel II Palaiologos used this period of respite to bolster the defenses of the
Despotate of Morea, where the Byzantine Empire was actually expanding at the expense of the remnants of the
Latin Empire. Here Manuel supervised the building of the
Hexamilion wall (six-mile wall) across the
Isthmus of Corinth, intended to defend the
Peloponnese from the Ottomans. Also in 1414, he commands a fleet of 4 galleys and 2 other vessels carrying some infantry and cavalry saves the island of Thasos from an invasion.
Manuel II stood on friendly terms with the victor in the Ottoman civil war,
Mehmed I (1402–1421), but his attempts to meddle in the next contested succession led to a new assault on Constantinople by
Murad II (1421–1451) in
1422. During the last years of his life, Manuel II relinquished most official duties to his son and heir
John VIII Palaiologos, and in
1424 they were forced to sign an unfavorable peace treaty with the Ottoman Turks, whereby the Byzantine Empire was forced to pay tribute to the sultan. Manuel II died on
21 July 1425.
Manuel II was the author of numerous works of varied character, including letters, poems, a Saint's Life, treatises on
theology and
rhetoric, and an epitaph for his brother
Theodore I Palaiologos.
