1423 Manuel assumes monastic habit, taking name of Matthew. Joannes sole emperor. The empire is now reduced to the city of Constantinople and vicinity, Thessalonica, and a part of the Peloponnesus. The finances are exhausted through payment of tribute to the Turks. The empire enters its final stage of lethargy. 1430 Murad II conquers Thessalonica. The Genoese of Galata attack Constantinople on account of trade dispute in Black Sea. 1431 Terrible epidemic in Constantinople. 1439 Joannes and the Greek patriarch attend council of Florence and ratify union of the Greek and Roman church. The pope promises to aid the empire, but forgets agreement to send fleet to Constantinople. 1440 On return of the emperor, the bishop of Ephesus succeeds in confining the union only to the palace. The emperor’s brother Demetrius attempts to gain throne, but fails. 1447 Murad marches against the emperor’s brother Constantine, who is ruling over the Peloponnesus. Corinth and Patras taken. Treaty with Constantine, who pays tribute. 1448 Death of Joannes. His brother =Constantine (XIII) Palæologus= or =Dragazes=, despot of Sparta, succeeds. 1449 Muhammed II succeeds Murad II. His chief ambition is the conquest of Constantinople, and he at once prepares for it. Builds a fort on the Bosporus. 1452 Joannes appeals to Pope Nicholas V for aid. Cardinal Isidore and a small body of auxiliaries are sent. 1453 Siege and capture of Constantinople by Muhammed II. Death of Constantine in battle. Muhammed enters his new capital. End of the Eastern Empire. THE EMPIRE OF TREBIZOND (1204-1461 A.D.) Isaac Angelus, as soon as he is placed on the throne by the exasperated mob that slew the tyrannical Andronicus I (1185), has the eyes of Manuel Comnenus, the murdered emperor’s eldest son, put out. Manuel dies under the operation, leaving two sons, Alexius and David. They live in obscurity in Constantinople until the crusaders besiege the capital (1203), when they escape to the coast of Colchis. Alexius gathers around him a small force and 1204 about the time of the fall of Constantinople enters Trebizond, the ancient Trapezus, on the Black Sea, having been proclaimed “emperor of the Romans.” He calls himself =Alexius (I) Grand-Comnenus=, to distinguish himself from the family of Alexius Angelus-Comnenus. The weakness of the expelled house of Angelus permits Alexius to found his empire and begin a career of conquest. In the course of a few months the whole country from the Phasis to the Thermodon is his. David Comnenus adds the coast from Sinope to Heraclea to the new empire.