Episode 327 – Vassals and Pawns
Added 2025-05-23 14:11:52 +0000 UTCJohn V Palaiologos faces rebellions from his sons and Grandsons. Forcing the Romans to become both Ottomans vassals and the pawns of Venice and Genoa.
Period: 1371-91
Pic: John V Palaiologos (from ‘Rulers of the Byzantine Empire’ published by KIBEA)
Comments
Essentially yes (more Ottomans, Trebizond etc) but they may take a while to come out. We'll see how many questions people want answered
Robin Pierson
2025-06-03 09:04:33 +0000 UTCListening to the conclusion on this one, I was thinking it would be fun to hear a smashcut of all the closing episodes where Robin has a cheeky comment about what exestential peril will befall the Romans in the next ep. Maybe someone more technologically capable than me will index and edit that together..
Sean McNeill
2025-05-28 17:52:57 +0000 UTCI see a lot of people here (as well as you Robin) struggling with the saddened state of the empire. from my perspective, as someone for whom the Fourth Crusade Part 1 is the single best podcast I've ever listened to, I found episode 327 to be hilarious and I've already relistened to it twice. I knew it would be pretty bad towards the end but I never imagined things would become this pathetic. It sounds more like children fighting and hiding from each other on a playground than a civil war in an empire. I'm not sure I would've believed the story if I heard it from a source I didn't trust. It just seems like the perfect satire of all the Byzantine civil wars covered on the podcast, much like the Fourth Crusade was the perfect satire of the previous 3 crusades. So keep in mind that you're still making some listeners very very happy!
Jacques McDermott
2025-05-24 15:16:36 +0000 UTCThis was an episode for people who like being tied up and dominated. Reminds me of supporting my football team, at the moment.
Mark Simms
2025-05-24 02:31:57 +0000 UTCAnd a bit of a joke question. Robin will you do a series of end of the century episodes?
Paul Astalas
2025-05-23 22:21:33 +0000 UTCI had a small urge to vomit when i heard that a roman emperor kneeled before someone else. What a pointless family these Palaiologos. I tend to concur with the other comment when I say that these dynasty are as worse as the Angeloi. The only difference is that the decline occurred over a longer period. But of the top of my head I can't name a single remotely capable emperor. To side with an enemy against your family and state and for what? It's not like you are better. The only somewhat remarcable person was Constantine XI and only because he had the dignity to fight and die and not to kneel. I feel that hit reign is closer that I thought.
Paul Astalas
2025-05-23 22:20:29 +0000 UTCYeah, what was the point of a civil war, if there's basically nothing to fight over? At least when Kantakouzenos started his civil war, it was still kind of a viable state, but the empire in 1370s or 80s was not. There was really nothing to fight over except an opportunity to be an Ottoman or Latin vassal ... There are some historical events that defy any explanation and are baffling even by the standards of their time, and the Paleologian civil wars are one of them.
Alex Dubrovsky
2025-05-23 18:12:50 +0000 UTCWhat a joke of a dynasty. As bad as the Doukas and Angeloi. But unlike those, the civil wars are never from outside factions, but only within the family. Any particular reason why? Was the empire so small that it wasn't possible anymore to establish an independent power base?
Guillem N
2025-05-23 17:29:53 +0000 UTCThe infighting of the later Palaiologoi is so bizarre, I can only imagine they had various Italian or Turkish friends whispering in their ears telling them they could somehow reverse the Empire’s course if they were in power (and, of course, if they granted the correct favors to the Turks or Italians). Regarding blinding, one of my professors said one common technique was to hold a white hot poker near to someone’s eyes so the heat would cause the eyes to cloud over, but if the poker wasn’t hot enough or was farther away, it could only partially blind them
Liutprand
2025-05-23 17:25:38 +0000 UTCDamn, these episodes are turning depressing, I don't imagine there will be an end of century episode to go over the empire. Still, I've heard that the situation for the Romans in the Morea was improving at the time and I know that almost all of the Peloponnese will be part of the empire by the early 15th century with towns as Patras and Mistras flourishing. Could we get some comments on the subject?
Kωnstantinos T.
2025-05-23 15:07:02 +0000 UTC
