V. THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY IN BYZANTINE HISTORY
1300—The emir of Menteshe invades Rhodes.
1301—First Byzantine defeat at hands of Osmanlis at Baphaeon.
1302—Michael IX takes command of Slavic mercenaries in Asia Minor: they force him to allow their return to Europe.
Roger de Flor arrives at Constantinople with eight thousand Catalans, and is married to a niece of Andronicus.
1303—Catalans sack the island of Chios.
1305—Death of Ghazan Khan frustrates Byzantine hopes of a Mongol attack upon the emirs of Asia Minor.
Catalans compel the emir of Karamania to lift the siege of Philadelphia, but quarrel with Greeks and Slavic mercenaries. Roger exacts title of ‘Caesar’ from Andronicus, and is later assassinated by Michael IX at Adrianople.
1306-9—Catalan ‘Grand Company’ forms state at Gallipoli.
1310—Catalans leave for Greece, and set up military democracy in Athens.
The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem capture Rhodes.
1311—The emir of Menteshe fails in attempt to recapture Rhodes.
1311-14—Turkish freebooter Halil defies the Emperor in the Thracian Chersonese, and is finally defeated with the help of the Serbians.
1317—Brusa, Nicaea, and Nicomaedia begin to be menaced.
1326—Brusa falls. Andronicus III, on his wedding trip from Constantinople to Demotika, is set upon and wounded by raiding Turks.
1327-8—Andronicus III plots to oust his grandfather, who, in turn, invites Serbians to attack young Andronicus in the rear; young Andronicus besieges army of his grandfather and Serbians at Serres, and captures Salonika. Old Andronicus calls upon Bulgarians, but before their aid arrives, young Andronicus succeeds in entering Constantinople and deposing his grandfather.
1329—Andronicus III is defeated at Pelecanon by Orkhan in an attempt to relieve Nicaea. Nicaea surrenders.
Andronicus III, at Phocaea, tries to incite emirs of Aïdin and Sarukhan to attack Orkhan.
1333—Turks of Sarukhan make a raid on Macedonia, while their vessels enter the Sea of Marmora and seize Rodosto.
1334—Andronicus is compelled to send army to save Salonika from raiding Turks.
1336—Andronicus asks Turkish emirs to help him in siege of Genoese at Phocaea.
1337 or 1338—Nicomedia and the last Byzantine possessions in north-western corner of Asia Minor are conquered by the Osmanlis.
1340—Stephen Dushan crosses the Vardar, captures Serres, and crowns himself there as ‘master of almost all the Roman Empire’.
1341—After death of Andronicus III, Cantacuzenos crowns himself at Demotika.
1342—Civil war between Cantacuzenos and widow and son of Andronicus III, during which both sides make overtures to Osmanlis, Serbians, and Bulgarians.
1345—Cantacuzenos receives aid from Orkhan, and pays for it by marrying his daughter to the Ottoman emir.
1347—Dushan crowns himself Emperor of Constantinople. Agreement between John Cantacuzenos and John Palaeologos to share Byzantine throne.
Black Death plague reaches Constantinople.
1349—Cantacuzenos calls Osmanlis into Europe again to save Salonika from the Serbians.
1349-53—Civil war between Cantacuzenos and Palaeologos.
Palaeologos flees to Tenedos.
1353—The Osmanlis, who had been helping Cantacuzenos against Palaeologos, capture Gallipoli, and invade Thrace.
1354—Cantacuzenos, having vainly appealed to the Pope, Venice, Bulgaria, and Serbia to aid him against the Osmanlis, is deposed by popular revolution in Constantinople, and becomes a monk.
John Palaeologos recalled from exile.
1355—Dushan dies on his way to attack Constantinople.
1354-8—Palaeologos succeeds finally in subduing Cantacuzenos’ son Matthew.
1358—While Osmanlis are advancing in Thrace, John V, at command of Orkhan, is besieging Phocaea.
1361—Adrianople and Philippopolis captured by the Osmanlis.
1363—John V signs treaty of vassalage to Murad.
1366—John V journeys to Buda to enlist aid of Louis of Hungary, and on return journey is made prisoner by Sisman in Bulgaria.
1373—John V, seeing that his visit to Rome and his appeals to western princes are of no avail, recognizes Murad as his suzerain, promises to do military service in Murad’s army, and gives his son Manuel as hostage.
Thrace and Macedonia are practically lost, and the Byzantine Empire has become merely the city state of Constantinople.
1374—As the result of a rebellion undertaken by Andronicus together with the son of Murad against the two fathers, John V consents to deprive his son Andronicus of his sight, and shuts him up in the Tower of Anemas.
1375-89—Civil war between John and Manuel and Andronicus, in which Venice, Genoa, and Osmanlis play a decisive part. John and Manuel purchase Ottoman aid at the price of giving up Philadelphia, the last Byzantine possession in Asia Minor.
1391—Manuel, serving as vassal in Ottoman army, is threatened with loss of eyes, if Emperor John does not demolish the towers on the walls of Constantinople, which he has rebuilt. He obeys and dies soon after. Manuel escapes from Brusa upon learning of his father’s death. His flight is followed by the first Ottoman siege of Constantinople.
1396—Bayezid contemplates taking Constantinople by assault, but is deterred by arrival of crusaders in Hungary.
1397—Siege of Constantinople is renewed, after Nicopolis.
1399—Crusade of Boucicaut helps Byzantines temporarily.
1400-2—Manuel, having made peace with his nephew John, sails for Italy and spends two years in fruitless endeavour to get aid from western princes.
1401—John makes treaty to give up Constantinople, if Bayezid should win from Timur.
1402—After Bayezid’s defeat at Angora, Manuel returns to Constantinople.
John is banished to Lemnos, and Ottoman colonists expelled from Constantinople. Overtures are made to Timur.
1403—Manuel recognizes Soleiman as successor of Bayezid, and renews treaty with him.