Manuel II

Manuel II

(Manuel Palaeologus), 1350–1425, Byzantine emperor (1391–1425), son and successor of John VJohn V
(John Palaeologus) , 1332–91, Byzantine emperor (1341–91), son and successor of Andronicus III. Forced to fight John VI (John Cantacuzene), who usurped the throne during his minority, he came into power in 1354.
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. In his youth he was taken captive by the Turks, and during his reign the Ottomans reduced the empire to Constantinople and its dependencies in the Peloponnesus. After the failure of the crusade of Sigismund of Hungary (later Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund) at NikopolNikopol
, town (1993 pop. 4,897), N Bulgaria, a port on the Danube River bordering Romania. Farming, viticulture, and fishing are the chief occupations. Founded in 629 by Byzantine emperor Heraclius, Nikopol (then Nicopolis) became a flourishing trade and cultural center of the
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 (1396), Manuel appealed to the West for aid and made a futile European journey (1399–1402) for that purpose. His nephew, John VIIJohn VII
(John Palaeologus) , c.1370–1408, Byzantine emperor, grandson of John V. Backed by the sultan Beyazid I, he usurped (1390) the throne from John V but was dethroned by his uncle, Manuel II, six months later.
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, was coemperor during that time and, with BoucicautBoucicaut
, c.1366–1421, marshal of France and crusader against the Ottoman Turks, whose real name was Jean III le Meingre. Captured by Ottoman Sultan Beyazid I at Nikopol (1396), he was ransomed.
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, defended Constantinople against the siege by Sultan Beyazid I. The victory of Timur over Beyazid at Ankara, in the same year, temporarily saved Constantinople. By 1422 the Turks were again strong enough to attack Constantinople, and in 1425 Manuel was forced to pay tribute to the sultan. Afflicted with partial paralysis in his last years, Manuel devoted himself to religious writing, entrusting the government to his son and successor, John VIII.

Manuel II,

1889–1932, king of Portugal (1908–10), second son of Charles ICharles I,
1863–1908, king of Portugal (1889–1908), son and successor of Louis I. A cultured man, learned in language and oceanography, Charles had little opportunity to display his administrative talents in a reign beset by political stagnation and financial
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. He succeeded to the throne after the assassination of his father and elder brother, but in Oct., 1910, a revolution dethroned Manuel and established a republic. The royal family escaped, and Manuel spent most of his remaining years in England enjoying his large fortune.

Manuel II

 

Born Nov. 15, 1889, in Lisbon; died July 2, 1932, in Twickenham. Portuguese king from 1908 to 1910. Manuel acceded to the throne after anarchists assassinated his father, Carlos, and his elder brother, Luis Filipe. In attempting to strengthen the monarchy’s position he promised to carry out a number of reforms, and he granted amnesty to the participants in the navy uprising of 1906. At the same time, however, Manuel intensified the police terror. On Oct. 4, 1910, with a bourgeois-backed revolution under way, he left for Great Britain.