Michael VIII Palaiologos [SEP] father
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Michael VIII Palaiologos was the son of the "megas domestikos" Andronikos Palaiologos by Theodora Angelina Palaiologina, the granddaughter of Emperor Alexios III Angelos and Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamaterina. According to Deno John Geanakoplos, Michael's ancestry could be traced back to all three imperial houses that ruled the empire in the centuries before the capture of Constantinople in 1204 by the Fourth Crusade. His mother does not appear to have played a significant role in his early life; at least for a time he was brought up by his elder sister Martha
II's forced abdication in 1328 after which he retired to a monastery.
Life.
Andronikos II was born Andronikos Doukas Angelos Komnenos Palaiologos () at Nicaea. He was the eldest surviving son of Michael VIII Palaiologos and Theodora Palaiologina, grandniece of John III Doukas Vatatzes.
Andronikos was acclaimed co-emperor in 1261, after his father Michael VIII recovered Constantinople from the Latin Empire, but he was not crowned until 1272. Sole emperor from 1282, Andronikos II immediately repudiated his father's unpopular Church union with the