Michael VIII, Byzantine Emperor.

He is murdered in 1265, only a few years after the recovery of Constantinople. There was a conspiracy to get rid of him, mainly consisting of a pro-Lascarid faction. What happens next?
 
He is murdered in 1265, only a few years after the recovery of Constantinople. There was a conspiracy to get rid of him, mainly consisting of a pro-Lascarid faction. What happens next?


It depends... does John IV Laskaris survives???
 

Sargon

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It depends... does John IV Laskaris survives???


Well, he was blinded in 1261, but he is still around. Theoretically that makes him ineligible for the throne, but it didn't stop Isaac II Angelus, who of course came along with Alexius IV Angelus to help him as his faculties had deteriorated somewhat (I sometimes wonder how he possibly could have become worse given how disastrous he was anyway), and perhaps to act as his eyes. Fat lot of good it did him though. And the Empire.

John IV Lascaris could possibly come back, but would probably have to have a co-ruler. And the quality of that co-ruler will determine things. As long as they don't neglect Nicaea, then things should be better than under Michael VIII Palaeologus. John could well have a long reign though as he didn't die until the early 1300s in OTL.


Sargon
 
If John IV comes back in 1265 he would be around 14-15 yo... So he would need a Regent to rule... Maybe a powerful General who would protect him by a Palaeologian conspiracy...
 
The big question is who becomes the next emperor. John IV is 15, nearly an adult, but he's blind. Michael VIII's sons are even younger - Andronicus is 6 and Constantine is 4. Alexios Strategopoulos , the man who actually conquered Constantinople, is a prisoner in Epirus.

The last Latin Emperor, Baldwin II almost got support from Charles of Anjou for a bid to retake Constantinople in OTL. In TTL they might actually try for it.

OTOH, Michael had a brother John, who won the Battle of Pelagonia in 1259. If I'm reading is http://genealogy.euweb.cz/byzant/byzant8.html correctly, he lived until 1274, so he might have worked as a regent for his brother's son or seized the throne for himself.
 
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