Matthew Kantakouzenos

Matthew Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzenus (Greek: Ματθαίος Ασάνης Καντακουζηνός, Matthaios Asanēs Kantakouzēnos, c. 1325–1383 or 1391) was Byzantine Emperor from 1353 to 1357.

Life

Matthew Asanes Kantakouzenos was the son of Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos and Irene Asanina. In return for the support he gave to his father during his struggle with John V Palaiologos, he was given part of Thrace as an appanage in 1347, and was proclaimed joint emperor in 1353. From his Thracian domain, he led several wars against the Serbians. An attack, which he prepared in 1350, was frustrated by the defection of his Turkish auxiliaries. However with five-thousand Turks he tried to re-establish his former appannage along the Serbian-Byzantine border by attacking this region but failed to take Serres and soon was defeated in battle in late 1356 or early 1357 by a Serb army under Vojvoda Vojin the holder of Drama,a major fortress in the vicinity. The Serbs captured Matthew with the intention of releasing him when he had raised the large ransom they demanded.However John V,who had rapidly moved in to occupy Mathew's lands, offered Vojin an even larger sum to turn Matthew over to the empire . And Vojin found it very profitable to oblige. John V after briefly imprisoning Matthew and making him renounce the imperial title then released him to go to the Morea,where he joined his brother Manuel who was ruling there.(1361) After his brother's death in 1380, Matthew Asanes Kantakouzenos governed the Morea until the appointment of the new governor Theodore I Palaiologos, in 1381, and his arrival in 1382. Before full transition of power in the Morea, from the Kantakouzenos family to that of Palaiologos, Matthew resigned his power in the Morea to his son Demetrios I Kantakouzenos.

Family

By his wife Irene Palaiologina, Matthew Asanes Kantakouzenos had several children including:

1. John Kantakouzenos, despotēs
2. Demetrios Kantakouzenos, sebastokratōr
3. Theodora Kantakouzene
4. Helena Kantakouzene, who married Count Luis Fadrique of Salona
5. Maria Kantakouzene, who married John Laskaris Kalopheros

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 1991.

Matthew Kantakouzenos Palaiologos dynasty Born: c. 1325 Died: unknown
Regnal titles
Preceded by John V Palaiologos and John VI Kantakouzenos	Byzantine Emperor 1353–1357 with John V Palaiologos (1341–1376) John VI Kantakouzenos (1347–1353)	Succeeded by John V Palaiologos
Preceded by Manuel Kantakouzenos	Despot of the Morea 1380–1383	Succeeded by Demetrius I Kantakouzenos