Palaiologos

Palaiologos Παλαιολόγος Palaeologus, Palaeologue
Imperial dynasty
Double-headed eagle with the family cypher
Country	Byzantine Empire March of Montferrat Ottoman Empire Others
Founded	11th century (11th century) 1259 (as imperial family)
Founder	Nikephoros Palaiologos (first known; possibly founder) Michael VIII Palaiologos (first emperor)
Final ruler	Constantine XI Palaiologos (Byzantine Empire) Thomas & Demetrios Palaiologos (Morea) John George Palaeologus (Montferrat)
Final head	Andreas Palaiologos[a] (c. 1520) Margaret Paleologa[b] (1566) Godscall Paleologue[c] (c. 1694)
Titles	Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans Despot of the Morea Marquis of Montferrat
Traditions	Greek Orthodoxy (predominantly; 11th–15th century) Roman Catholicism (Montferrat lineage, lineages in exile)
Deposition	1453 (Byzantine Empire) 1460 (Despotate of the Morea) 1533 (March of Montferrat)
Cadet branches	Palaeologus-Montferrat Asen Palaiologos (matrilineal)

The House of Palaiologos (pl. Palaiologoi; Greek: Παλαιολόγος, pl. Παλαιολόγοι; female version Palaiologina; Greek: Παλαιολογίνα), also found in English-language literature as Palaeologus or Palaeologue, was a Byzantine Greek noble family that rose to power and produced the last and longest-ruling dynasty in the history of the Byzantine Empire. Their rule as Emperors and Autocrats of the Romans lasted almost two hundred years, from 1259 to the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.

The origins of the family are unclear. Their own medieval origin stories ascribed them an ancient and prestigious origin in ancient Roman Italy, descended from some of the Romans that had accompanied Constantine the Great to Constantinople upon its foundation in 330. It is more likely that they originated significantly later in Anatolia since the earliest known member of the family, possibly its founder, Nikephoros Palaiologos, served as a commander there in the second half of the 11th century. Over the course of the 12th century, the Palaiologoi were mostly part of the military aristocracy, not recorded as occupying any administrative political offices, and they frequently intermarried with the then ruling Komnenos family, increasing their prestige. When Constantinople fell to the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Palaiologoi fled to the Empire of Nicaea, a Byzantine successor state ruled by the Laskaris family, where they continued to play an active role and occupied many offices of high rank.

In 1259, Michael VIII Palaiologos became co-emperor to the young John IV Laskaris through a coup and in 1261, following the recapture of Constantinople from the Latin Empire, John IV was deposed and blinded. Michael's successors ruled the Byzantine Empire at its weakest point in history, and much of the Palaiologan period was a time of political and economic decline, partly due to external enemies such as the Bulgarians, Serbs and Ottoman Turks, and partly due to frequent civil wars between members of the Palaiologos family. By the beginning of the 15th century, the emperors had lost any real power, with the empire effectively having become a client state to the new Ottoman Empire. Their rule of the empire continued until 1453 when Ottoman sultan Mehmed the Conqueror conquered Constantinople and the final Palaiologan emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, died in the city's defense. During their rule as emperors, the Palaiologoi were not well-liked by their subjects, mostly on account of their religious policy. The repeated attempts by the emperors to reunite the Greek Orthodox Church with the Roman Catholic Church, and thus place the Byzantine church in submission under the Papacy, was viewed as heresy and treason. Though Constantine XI died in communion with Rome (and thus as a "heretic"), his death in battle against the Ottomans, defending Constantinople, made the Greeks and the Orthodox church remember him as a hero, redeeming popular opinion of the dynasty as a whole. The role of the Palaiologoi as the final Christian dynasty to rule over Greek lands also accorded them a more positive remembrance among Greeks during the period of Ottoman rule.

The last certain members of the imperial line of the Palaiologoi died out in the 16th century, but female-line descendants survive to the present day. A cadet branch in Italy, the Palaeologus-Montferrat, ruled the March of Montferrat until 1536 and died out in 1566. Because the family was extensive before it produced emperors, the name Palaiologos was legitimately held not only by nobles part of the actual imperial dynasty. As a result, many Byzantine refugees who fled to Western Europe in the aftermath of Constantinople's fall possessed the name and in order to earn prestige, some fabricated closer links to the imperial family. The genealogies of many supposedly surviving branches of the imperial dynasty have readily been dismissed as fantasy by modern researchers. Various lineages of non-imperial Palaialogoi, whose relation to the medieval Palaiologoi and each other are unclear, survived into the modern period and thousands of people, particularly in Greece, still have the last name Palaiologos, or variants thereof, today.

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