place_of_death alexios apokaukos
The megas doux was one of the highest positions in the hierarchy of the later ___MASK42___ , denoting the commander - in - chief of the Byzantine navy . It is sometimes also given by the half - Latinizations megaduke or megadux ( from Greek  ). The Greek word  is the Hellenized form of the Latin term " dux ", meaning leader or commander . Alexios Apokaukos ( Greek :   ; died 1345 ) was a leading Byzantine statesman and high - ranking military officer ( megas doux ) during the reigns of emperors Andronikos III Palaiologos ( r . 1328 -- 1341 ) and John V Palaiologos ( r . 1341 -- 1357 ) . Although he owed his rise to high state offices to the patronage of John VI Kantakouzenos ( r . 1347 -- 1354 ) , he became , together with Patriarch John XIV Kalekas , one of the leaders of the faction supporting Emperor John V in the civil war of 1341 -- 1347 against his one - time benefactor . Apokaukos died when he was lynched by political prisoners during an inspection of a new prison . The Palaiologos dynasty ( Palaiologoi ), also romanized as Palaeologus or Palaeologue , was the name of a Byzantine Greek family , which rose to nobility and ultimately produced the last ruling dynasty of the ___MASK42___ . Andronikos III Palaiologos ( 25 ___MASK1___ 1297  15 June 1341 ), commonly Latinized as Andronicus III Palaeologus , was Byzantine emperor from 1328 to 1341 . Born Andronikos Doukas Angelos Komnenos Palaiologos , he was the son of Michael IX Palaiologos and Rita of Armenia . He was proclaimed co - emperor in his youth , before 1313 , and in April 1321 he rebelled in opposition to his grandfather , Andronikos II Palaiologos . He was formally crowned co - emperor on February 1325 , before ousting his grandfather outright and becoming sole emperor on 24 May 1328 . Michael IX Palaiologos or Palaeologus (" Mikhal IX Palaiologos "), ( 17 April 1277  12 October 1320 , Thessalonica , reigned as Byzantine co - emperor with full ___MASK50___ style 1294 / 1295  1320 . Michael IX was the eldest son of Andronikos II Palaiologos and Anna of Hungary ( 1260 - 1281 ), daughter of Stephen V of Hungary . The ___MASK42___ , also referred to as the Eastern ___MASK43___ Empire , was the continuation of the ___MASK43___ Empire in the East during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages , when its capital city was ___MASK39___ ( modern - day Istanbul , which had been founded as ___MASK5___ ). It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western ___MASK43___ Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 . During ___MASK37___ of its existence , the empire was the ___MASK37___ powerful economic , cultural , and military force in Europe . Both " ___MASK42___ " and " Eastern ___MASK43___ Empire " are historiographical terms created after the end of the realm ; its citizens continued to refer to their empire as the " ___MASK43___ Empire " ( tr . ), or " Romania ", and to themselves as " Romans ". Rita of ___MASK38___ ( 10 / 11 January 1278  July 1333 ) was a Byzantine Empress consort . She was a daughter of King Levon II of ___MASK38___ and Queen Keran . She was the wife of Byzantine co - emperor Michael IX Palaiologos , making her a junior empress - consort of the ___MASK42___ . In 1317 , she became the only empress upon the death of the senior empress , ___MASK17___ of Montferrat . She was known as Maria in ___MASK39___ . John VI Kantakouzenos , Cantacuzenus , or Cantacuzene (" Ianns ST  Kantakouznos "  15 June 1383 ) was a Greek nobleman , statesman , and general . He served as Grand Domestic under Andronikos III Palaiologos and regent for John V Palaiologos before reigning as Byzantine emperor in his own right from 1347 to 1354 . Usurped by his former ward , he retired to a ___MASK98___ under the name and spent the remainder of his life as a monk and historian . A ___MASK98___ is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics , monks or nuns , whether living in communities or alone ( hermits ). A ___MASK98___ generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel , church or temple , and may also serve as an oratory . Andronikos II Palaiologos ( 25 ___MASK1___ 1259  13 February 1332 ), usually Latinized as Andronicus II Palaeologus , was Byzantine emperor from 11 December 1282 to 23 or 24 May 1328 . The Byzantine navy was the naval force of the East ___MASK43___ or Byzantine Empire . Like the empire it served , it was a direct continuation from its ___MASK50___ ___MASK43___ predecessor , but played a far greater role in the defence and survival of the state than its earlier iteration . While the fleets of the unified ___MASK43___ Empire faced few great naval threats , operating as a policing force vastly inferior in power and prestige to the legions , the sea became vital to the very existence of the Byzantine state , which several historians have called a " maritime empire ". The title of Grand Domestic (" mégas doméstikos ") was given in the 11th  15th centuries to the commander - in - chief of the Byzantine army , directly below the Byzantine Emperor . It evolved from the earlier office of the Domestic of the Schools , and came to rank as one of the senior dignities in the Byzantine state during the last centuries of its existence . From ___MASK5___ , it was also adopted by the breakaway Empire of Trebizond , as well as by the 14th - century Serbian Empire .