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Constantinople in the Late Byzantine Period

Type Object Region Eastern Roman Empire Time 1261–1453

Late Byzantine Constantinople (modern Istanbul) was the capital of the remnant Eastern Roman state and a symbol of the Orthodox world;…

Timeline

  1. 1261–1320Constantinople · Byzantine EmpireMichael VIII Palaiologos recovered Constantinople from the Latin Empire; the Theodosian Walls and Golden Horn still formed strong defenses, and Hagia Sophia and the Great Palace maintained their role as the center of imperial ceremony.
  2. 1320–1341Constantinople · Byzantine EmpireUnder Andronikos III and John V, Anatolian and Balkan territories were steadily nibbled away by the Ottomans and Serbs, trade revenue in Constantinople declined, and the court relied on Genoese and Venetian loans.
  3. 1341–1347Constantinople · Byzantine EmpireAfter the death of Andronikos III, civil war broke out between John V and John VI Kantakouzenos, splitting the capital; the arrival of the Black Death further weakened imperial military strength and population.
  4. 1351–1360Constantinople · Byzantine EmpireAfter the Ottomans gained a European bridgehead at Gallipoli in 1354, strongholds in Thrace and along the Sea of Marmara fell one after another; though still protected by its walls, Constantinople was surrounded by Turkic powers, and the empire was reduced to city-state scale.

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