1. Biography

Andronikos was the second-born son of Michael VIII and Theodora (their first-born was Manuel, who died at childhood)¹ and was born in 1258. By 1265 he had already been proclaimed co-emperor of his father and in 1272 he was crowned co-emperor receiving wide jurisdiction, wider than any former co-emperor.

He was married twice. With his first spouse, the princess Anna of Hungary (they married in 1272), daughter of Stephen V, he had two sons, Michael IX and Constantine. From his second marriage to Eirene-Yolanda of Montferrat (1285) he had five sons –John, Theodore, Demetrios, Isaac and Bartholomaios– and two daughters, Simonis and Theodora. Three of his children, Theodora, Isaac and Bartholomew, died very early in life. He also had two illegitimate daughters, Maria and Eirene.

2. Evaluation of Andronikos II's reign

Andronikos II’s reign was one of the longest in Byzantine history, but at this point Byzantium was but a small state staggering under the weight of its glorious past; this significantly reduced the purview of Andronikos' political action.

Andronikos II was not particularly popular in his empire. He was rather wary of the people of the capital, for he had come to realize the strength and importance of the Constantinopolitan public opinion. He was no warrior or a man of action. He preferred to stay in Constantinople keeping company with a close circle of scholars, avoiding participation in military campaigns. However, many of his views, whether on external or internal policy, imply that he was an exceptionaly prudent ruler. Notwithstanding his many errors, he managed to adopt important and substantial measures. The effectiveness of these measures, though, was curtailed by the severity of the conditions in which he was forced to rule. For this reason, his reign is often considered a period of ‘rude awakenings’.

3. Politics

3.1. Ecclesiastical policy

Andronikos II’s ecclesiastical policy was radically different from that of his father: Andronikos was a zealous Orthodox, being under the sway of the patriarch Athanasios I (1289-1293, 1304-1310). Upon ascending to the throne he repudiated the Union of the Churches that had been decided at Lyons in 1274; at any rate, this union was not in effect, at least since the time of the Sicilian Vespers. He also managed to put an end to the dispute between the Church and the party of the arseniatai in 1310.

During the reign of Andronikos II the importance and influence of the Church increased, especially the influence of monasticism. Monasteries, particularly those of Mt Athos, experience a golden age during this period. Furthermore, in November 1312 through a chrysobull Andronikos places the monasteries of Athos under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople (until then they were under the jurisdiction of the emperor).

3.2. Domestic policy

Andronikos II’s first priority was to counter the severe financial crisis, manifest in the depreciation of the Byzantine golden coinage, which now contained other metals of lesser value. In the early 14th century, when the Empire was facing new and serious difficulties, the hyperpyron lost half of its original value.² Under these dire financial conditions, Andronikos II introduced fiscal reforms which raised state income to one million hyperpyra. At the same time, he increased levies in kind: in 1304 a new tax was imposed, the so-called sitokrithon, a forced contribution in wheat and barley. Nonetheless, the empire’s financial state remained deplorable.

Defending the idea of a united empire, Andronikos II decisively rejected the plans of his second wife Eirene of Montferrat for the dismemberment of Byzantium, which caused the breaking up of the couple, for Eirene relocated permanently to Thessalonica.

Andronikos II realized an important judicial reform, establishing in 1296 the institution of the ‘universal judges of the Romans’. In this institution twelve high-ranking ecclesiastical leaders and lay officials, accompliced juridists, assumed the responsibility, after swearing an oath, of passing legal judgements in an impartial and without accepting bribes, even if the case under consideration involved the emperor himself.³ This idea did not yield the expected results, thus the emperor’s grandson, Andronikos III, introduced a new reform of the supreme Byzantine judiciary body in 1329.

Andronikos II was a ruler of exceptional education and was particularly interested in science and literature. Fine scholars, like Nikephoros Choumnos, Τheodoros Metochites and Nikephoros Gregoras, served as his close associates and advisors. For this reason his contribution to the cultural flowering of the empire, known as Palaiologan Renaissance, is considered immense. Notwithstanding the political decline, Constantinople remained an international intellectual centre.

4. Foreign political difficulties

The drastic austerity measures implemented by Andronikos II in order to curtail the huge public spending and to improve the empire’s ruined economy had dire consequences for the army and especially the navy; the emperor dismantled the latter altogether with an edict in 1284. Nikephoros Gregoras mentions that the Latins would not have been so audacious vis-à-vis the Byzantines, and the Ottomans would have never set eyes on sea sand had the Byzantine fleet dominated the seas as in earlier times.⁴ Andronikos reduced the number of the infantry to such an extent that, in the words of the same author, ‘it caused mirth’ and was ‘considered non-existant’.⁵ The military decline of Byzantium contributed to the empire’s degradation to the status of a lesser power, unable to resist the much stronger forces of the Ottomans and the Serbs. Furthermore, a series of internal crises precluded the possibility of maintaining a consistent policy vis-à-vis the state’s numerous external enemies.

The dereliction of the eastern border, already visible since the time of the Empire’s restoration in 1261, had unforeseen consequences. Andronikos II did not overlook the danger threatening Asia Minor. For this reason, from 1290 to 1293 the emperor had settled in this region, wishing through his presence and by strengthening the existing fortifications to encourage the Byzantines, who were so deeply dejected by the continuous Ottoman raids that they gradually abandoned the region of Asia Minor seeking refuge in the empire’s European provinces.⁶ With this move, however, he did not achieve much. By c.1300 the whole of Asia Minor, with the exception of some large cities, was under Ottoman rule. His attempt to alleviate conditions in the region by recruiting the help of the Alans was also unsuccessful. The help of the Catalan Company was also enlisted; despite some initial successes, it soon turned against Byzantium and as a result the empire endured hardships in the period of 1305-1309, when the Catalans pillaged and ravaged the provinces of Thrace and Macedonia. On the other side, the Ottomans, especially after 1318, began launching piratical attacks, targeting Venetian as well as Byzantine possessions in the Aegean. In 1326 they also captured the most important city of Bithynia, Prusa (Bursa), seizing Lopadion in 1327. Byzantine presence in Asia Minor was now only symbolic.

The Byzantine Empire also faced difficulties in its relations with the Italian naval republics. While Michael VIII had tried to prevent either the Genovese or the Venetians from acquiring great influence, Andronikos II sided unilaterally and unreservedly with Genoa. With the increase of Genoa’s power its old antagonism with Venice was intensified. Byzantium became enmeshed in the war that broke out between them in 1294, where the Empire only suffered great loses and was humiliated. The Genovese Benedetto Zaccaria, ruler of Phocaea and in control of its rich mines, captured in 1304 the Byzantine island of Chios.

During Andronikos’ reign, the Serbian advance towards the south and the annexation of Byzantine lands enters a decisive phase. The Serbs, after capturing Skopje in 1282 and parts of Macedonia, began causing border skirmishes, with the borders gradually moving to the south. The failure of the Byzantine counter-offensive of 1297 forced the emperor to begin negotiations; these were concluded in 1299 with the signing of a peace treaty and the marriage of the Serbian king Stefan Uroš II Milutin to the emperor’s young daughter Simonis. The Serbs received the populated areas above the line Ohrid-Prilep-Štip as dowry. In the cultural sphere, however, there followed a period during which Serbia was Byzanticised.

The autonomous Greek states of Epirus and Thessaly deteriorated faster than Byzantium, and as a result Andronikos II was able to achieve some successes in this region. His troops managed to capture Durrës early in 1296 and thus the empire acquired once more a port on the shores of the Adriatic, if only for a short period, for the Serbs soon managed to wrest it from Byzantium. The emperor also sought to secure Epirus following the death of the despotes Nikephoros I (1296) and the predominance of the pro-Byzantine party, supported by Princess Anna, who assumed the regency of Epirus.

5. Civil war (1321-1328)

The civil war between Andronikos II and his grandson Andronikos III broke out largely for personal reasons; it was a conflict between the old and the new generation and marked the beginning of an era of internecine strife which marred the 14th century in Byzantium. The conflict broke out after Easter 1321 and ended with the capitulation of the emperor and the ceding of the Thracian territory from Christopolis to the shores close to Constantinople, which Andronikos III was to rule as emperor. Andronikos II retained the capital and the area west of Christopolis, together with the Aegean islands and maintained the right to pursue his own external policy. In 1322, however, a new conflict erupted when Syrgiannis, Andronikos III’s general, sided with Andronikos II. A few peaceful years followed, a period during which the elderly emperor turned to external policy, cultivating especially his relations with the West.

In the third and decisive phase of the civil war (1327-1328), in which the southern Slavic states were involved, with the Serbs siding with the elderly emperor and the Bulgarians with the younger emperor, Andronikos III emerged victorious. His grandfather abdicated in May 1328. He was already at an advanced age and had problems with his eyesight. When the young emperor fell ill in January 1330, his associates forced Andronikos II to become a monk and proclaim his relinquishment of the throne in writing.⁷ Not long after, Andronikos II, now named monk Antonios, died during the night between the 12th and the 13th of February 1332. He was buried in the Lips monastery (Fenari Isa Camii) at Constantinople.