Fiona’s Reviews > Byzantium and the Crusades > Status Update

The 1330s marked a change in attitudes where the threat to Latin territories in the Levant no longer came from Byzantium but the new Turkish emirates of Asia Minor that emerged from the wreck of the old Seljuk sultanate. By that time, Byzantium was starkly different, Mistra & Thessalonica became more important & people began to define themselves through their language descent from the ancient Greeks & Orthodoxy.

Under Andronicus II, the memory of his father Michael was erased, the latter was not even given a proper Orthodox burial as he was considered to have died a heretic.
The West launched no crusade at Andornicus' break with the union of the Churche as more momentous events were to seize Christendom's attention:
1) the fall of Tripoli in 1289 under Sultan Qalawun
2) the fall of Jerusalem in 1291 under Al-Ashraf

Michael VIII did not live to enjoy his victory for long. In December 1282, while campaigning in Thrace, he fell ill & died aged 58. With him at the time of his death was his son Andronicus who was immediately proclaimed emperor. Upon his return to Constantinople, Andronicus II abrogated the union of Lyon & proclaimed the restoration of Orthodoxy, those who were imprisoned by Michael were released & greeted by crowds.

Both Greek & Latin inhabitants of Sicily were seething with resentments at the tax imposed on them by their French rulers to pay for Charles' invasion. Michael's agents set to work, gold was distributed & on 30th March 1282 a riot broke out which led to the Sicilian Vespers revolt reinforced by Peter III. Charles was forced to divert his attention & Constantinople slipped off his agenda; the threat had been averted.

In the Great Palace of Constantinople news was constantly arriving from pilgrims, refugees & merchants. So Michael & his advisers learnt that the enemy of Charles was king of Aragon, Peter III, who had been planning military action against Sicily for a long time. In 1281 & amidst great secrecy, an alliance was formed to wed Peter's daughter to Michael's son & Peter was promised 60,000 gold pieces to invade Italy.

At this point, Pope Gregory X had died & the new Pope, Martin IV, was a Frenchman sympathetic to Charles, the former excommunicated Michael & urged Charles to launch a crusader attack on the heretics of Constantinople. Charles, having just bought Jerusalem itself for a thousand gold pieces, was happy to comply & began to build a fleet.

Following the events of the sack of Constantinople, Byzantines placed greater emphasis on their Orthodox faith & now refused to accept the union with the Church, those who did were ostracised as traitors. Amongst the opposition were Michael's own sister Eulogia who was imprisoned but later escaped to Bulgaria. Rumours of all this made it back to Rome & triggered accusations that the agreement isn't being implemented.

Michael's plan had worked, since the Byzantines were now seen as righteous Christians who had brought back their Church to the authority of Rome, any military action against them was invalid & Pope Gregory X insisted Charles proclaim a truce with Byzantium.
However, at home, the Byzantines were the ones showing unwillingness & resistance to the new cooperation with the Latins who had conquered them decades prior.

Byzantium's strained resources could no longer buy allies or armies as it had in the past, so Michael VIII turned to the papacy itself. In 1273 he sent a letter to Pope Gregory X voicing his willingness to work on the union of the churches, in the council of the Church at Lyon in May 1274, a Byzantine delegation arrived & the Pope's authority over the whole church, even minor details during communion, were accepted.

Charles agreed that he would send an army & fleet to Constantinople & restore Baldwin to the throne in return for 1/3 of the lands recovered in the Balkans & Aegean. The former indifference to a papal call for a crusade had been replaced by the ambitions of a powerful Western leader who had the material resources to claim them.