Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantine

episode 307, healing the divisions.

Last time, we watched on with trepidation as a French army prepared to board a Venetian fleet with the Pope waving them off.

Thankfully the Fourth Crusade was not reenacted in large part thanks to the diplomatic efforts of Michael Paliologos. The Emperor spent the best part of 20 years

doing whatever it took to make sure that the city would not be sacked again.

I felt that telling that story all in one go was the most effective way to explain the threat that Bizantium faced.

I could have broken it up into five or ten year segments as we usually do,

but I thought that would end up down playing the threat which Charles Av Anjou represented.

The downside of that approach is that Michael's long reign has not received the focus it deserves.

And I'm afraid Michael is going to have to make do with a slightly bitty approach to his time in power.

His reign actually began nine episodes ago, before Constantinople was retaken.

Then two episodes ago I described his efforts to rebuild and rebutify

his capital which obviously took place across a 20-year period. Then last episode we rushed

past a lot of what he achieved in Europe because our focus was elsewhere.

And the final insult is I'm going to kill him off today

before resurrecting him next week to talk about his time in Anatolia.

I will try to make it up to Michael with my conclusion to this episode.

For now, I want to talk about the damage which Michael's actions did at home.

By trying to appease the Pope, Palia locos had unleashed bitter divisions which would not heal until well after his death.

The reality is that despite pulling off one of the great achievements of Byzantine diplomacy, Michael was hated by a lot of his subjects.

He had betrayed and blinded the air to the throne, John Laskaris.

He had repeatedly humiliated and tortured those who refused to accept

...