PALEOVOGUS,the name of an illustrious Byzantine family, which first appears in history about the 11th c., and attained to imperial dignity in the person of Michael VIII. in 1200. This emperor succe.ssfully undertook many expeditions to Greece and the Archipelago, and used his utmost endeavors, to heal the schism between the Roman and Greek churches, though with exceedingly little success. His successor on the throne was his son Andronicus II. (1282-1329), under whose reign the Turks commenced in earnest a series of assaults on the Byzantine dominions. Andronicus attempted to oppose them with a force composed of mercenaries, but his success was very doubtful, as these troops, with perfect impartiality, attacked both his enemies and his subjects. To pay them lie was compelled to levy such imposts as went far to destroy Byzantine commerce. He associated his son, Michael IX., with himself in the government, and was dethroned by his grandson, Andronicus III. (1328-41), an able warrior and wise ruler, who repeatedly defeated the Bulgarians, Tartars of the Golden Horde, and the Servians, and diminished the oppresive imposts of the previous reign. He wits, however, unsuccessful against the Catalans in Greece, and the Turks during his reign ravaged Thrace as far as the Balkan. He was greatly esteemed' by his subjects, and well merited the title of "father of ,his country," which they bestowed upon him. His son, John VI. (1355-91), a weak and voluptuous prince, attempted in vain, both by force and bribery, to stop the progress of the Turks; at last the pope, moved by his urgent entreaties, which were backed by a promise to submit the Greek church to his (the pope's) supremacy, urged the Hungarians and Servians to arm in defense of the Greek emperor, but the result was only an additional triumph to Sultan Amurath. The imbecile emperor was several times deposed, and on his final reinstatement by the sultan, acknowledged hiinsel f as his vassal for the capital and a small tract along the Propontis and Black sea. Indeed, so degraded had the Byzan- . tines become that they obeyed the sultan Bajazet's summons to aid him in reducing Philadelphia, the last Greek stronghold in Asia Minor. His sop, Andronicus IV.
(1355-73), who had been associated with him in the government, died in exile. Manuel (1391-1425) pursued the same tactics as his father John VI., and with the same result. The allied army of the Hungarians, Germans, and French, which he had summoned to his aid against the Turks, was totally routed at Nieopolis by Bajazet. and Constantinople itself closely beseiged. The invasion of Asia Minor by Tunfir, however, compelled the
sultan to withdraw his whole force, and his subsequent defeat and capture at Angora iu 1402. and the contests among his sons for the supremacy, gave the Greek empire a breathing-space. Having aided Mohammed I. in his contests with his brothers, Manuel was, by the grateful sultan, presented with some districts in Greece, Thessalonica, and on the Enxine. John VII. (1425-49), on being pressed by the Turks, again held out to the pope the old bait of the union of the Greek and western churches under his sway, and even presented himself at the council of Florence, where, in July, 1439, the union of the churches was agreed to. But on his return to Constantinople, the opposition of the Greek ecclesi astics to the union, supported by the people, rendered the agreement of Florence a dead letter. The pope, however, saw that it was for his interest to fulfill his part of the agree ment, and accordingly stirred up Wbulislas of Hungary to attack the Turks (see JAGELLONS), but this act only hastened the downfall of the Paleologi. John's brother, Constantine XIII. (1449-53), a heroic scion of a degenerate race, accepted the crown after much hesitation, knowing his total inability to withstand the Turks, and even then took the precaution of obtaining the sultan's consent before lie exercised the imperial authority; but some rebellions in Caramania which now occurred,- battling sultan Mohammed IL's efforts to quell them, the emperor was willingly persuaded by his rash advisers that the time had now arrived for rendering himself independent of the Turks. The attempt, however, only brought swifter destruction on the wretched remnant of the Byzantine empire, for Mohammed invested the capital by sea and land, and after a siege, which lasted from April 6 to May 29, 1453, Constantinople was taken by storm, and the last of the Paleologi tell fighting bravely in the breach. A branch of this family ruled Mont ferrat, in Italy, from 1306, but became extinct in 1533.. The Paleologi were connected by marriage with the ruling families of Hungary, Servia, and the last of the family married Ivan, czar of Russia—a fact which the czars of Russia have persisted till lately in bringing forward as a claim in favor of their pretensions to the possession of European Turkey. It is said that direct descendants of the Paleologi exist to the present day iu France. (For further information see the separate articles on some of the emperors, and BYZANTINE EMPIRE.)