Constantine XI

Constantine XI Paleologus (sometimes numbered Constantine XII or Constantine XIII), also known as Constantine Drageses (Gr. ???????????? ?? ???????? ???????????), (February 9, 1404 – May 29, 1453) was the last reigning emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 1449 to his death. Constantine was born in Constantinople, the eighth of ten children of Manuel II and Helena Dragas, the daughter of the Serbian prince Constantine of Serres. In a variant of the Byzantine practice of adopting the distaff surname where it connoted more prestige, Constantine liked to be known by his mother's name of Dragas (Serb. Dragaš) or Dragases, which she inherited from her Serbian father. He spent most of his childhood in Constantinople under the supervision of his parents. Constantine became the despotes of Morea (the Medieval name for the Peloponnesus) in 1443 which he ruled from the palace in Mystra. In 1443, he launched an invasion of the Latin Duchy of Athens from Morea, swiftly conquering Thebes and Athens and forcing the Florentine duke to pay him tribute. However, his triumph was short-lived, as the Ottomans soon intervened and drove him back into Morea.

Bibliography

• Steven Runciman, The Fall of Constantinople, 1453; Cambridge University Press, 1965; ISBN 0-521-09573-5
• Donald M. Nicol, The Immortal Emperor; Cambridge University Press, 1992; ISBN 0-521-46717-9