Encyclopedia > John VIII Palaeologus

  Article Content

John VIII Palaeologus

John VIII (1390-Constantinople October 31, 1448), surnamed Palaeologus, Byzantine emperor, son of Manuel II, succeeded to the throne in 1425.

To secure protection against the Turks he visited the pope and consented to the union of the Greek and Roman churches, which was ratified at Florence in 1439. The union failed of its purpose, but by his prudent conduct towards the Ottomans he succeeded in holding possession of Constantinople, and in 1432 withstood a siege by Sultan Murad I.

He was succeeded by his brother Constantine XI

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

Preceded by:
Manuel II
Byzantine emperors Succeeded by:
Constantine XI



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
KANU

... the constitution, making Kenya officially a one-party state, and parliamentary elections were held in September 1983. The 1988 elections reinforced the one-par ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 42.5 ms