The empire under the Palaeologi: 1261 - 1453
Andronicus II
Michael's son Andronicus II (reigned 1282 - 1328) unwisely attempted
to economize by cutting down the size of the army and disbanding
the navy. Unemployed Byzantine sailors sold their services to the
new Turkish emirs, who were already raiding the Aegean islands.
The Genoese became the suppliers and defenders of Constantinople
by sea, which excited the jealousy of the Venetians to the pitch
of war and led to the first of a series of naval battles off Constantinople
in 1296. In reaction against his father's policy, Andronicus II
pursued a line of almost total isolation from the papacy and the
West. The union of Lyon was solemnly repudiated and Orthodoxy restored,
to the deep satisfaction of most Byzantines. But there were still
divisive conflicts in society. The Arsenite schism in the church
was not healed until 1310; the rulers of Epirus and Thessaly remained
defiant and kept contact with the successors of Charles I in Italy;
and the people of Anatolia aired their grievances in rebellion.
As the Turks encroached on their land, refugees in growing numbers
fled to the coast or to Constantinople, bringing new problems for
the government. In 1302 a band of Turkish warriors defeated the
Byzantine army near Nicomedia in northwestern Anatolia. Its leader,
Osman I, was the founder of the Osmanli, or Ottoman, people, who
were soon to overrun the Byzantine Empire in Europe.
In 1303 Andronicus hired a professional army of mercenaries, the
Grand Catalan Company. The Catalans made one successful counterattack
against the Turks in Anatolia. But they were unruly and unpopular,
and when their leader was murdered they turned against their employers.
For some years they used the Gallipoli Peninsula as a base from
which to ravage Thrace, inviting thousands of Turks to come over
and help them. The Catalans finally moved west; in 1311 they conquered
Athens from the French and established the Catalan Duchy of Athens
and Thebes. The Turks whom they left behind were not ejected from
Gallipoli until 1312. The cost of hiring the Catalans, and then
of repairing the damage that they had done, had to be met by desperate
measures. The face value of the Byzantine gold coin, the hyperpyron,
was lowered when its gold content was reduced to a mere 50 percent;
and the people had to bear still greater burdens of taxation - some
payable in kind by farmers. Inflation and rising prices led to near
famine in Constantinople, the population of which was swollen by
vast numbers of refugees.
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