John V Palaiologos

John V Palaiologos or Palaeologus (, Iōánnēs Palaiológos; 18 June 1332 – 16 February 1391) was Byzantine emperor from 1341 to 1391, with interruptions. Becoming Byzantine emperor at age eight, this resulted in a civil war between his regent John VI Kantakouzenos and a rival council. During this time, Anna, his mother, pawned the crown jewels to Venice. It was during his reign that the Black Death struck Constantinople from 1346 to 1349. Shorty after, another civil war erupted in 1352, with John V seeking help from Serbia and John VI's son Matthew Kantakouzenos enlisted the Ottoman Turks. The Turks won, gaining their first European territory on former Byzantine soil. John V regained power in 1354, removing John VI and his son Matthew. In 1366, he offended Hungary's King Louis I during a visit. The Ottomans pressured him, and he converted to Catholicism in Rome in 1369 but failed to reunite the churches. He was imprisoned in Venice in 1369 and recognized Ottoman suzerainty in 1371. He died in 1391, succeeded by his son Manuel, while his younger son ruled the Despotate of the Morea. Biography John V was the son of Emperor Andronikos III and his wife Anna, the daughter of Count Amadeus V of Savoy by his wife Maria of Brabant. His long reign was marked by the gradual dissolution of imperial power amid numerous civil wars and the continuing ascendancy of the Ottoman Turks. Early rule and first civil war