michael viii

Your challenge should you choose to accept is to devise a scenario where the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII has more things go right for him. In otl Michael VIII was a very successful ruler who did the best he could given his current situation, and through cunning and ruthlessness he achieved...

in 1244 emperor of Nicaea John III Doukas Vatatzes married the natural born daughter of holy roman emperor Frederick II, Anna (born Constance) of Hohenstaufen in almost 10 yrs of marriage they had no issue and, after the death of her husband, Anna stayed in Nicaea as an hostage 'till Michael...

Elena Asenina was the wife of Byzantine Emperor Theodore II Laskaris in the mid 13th century. Her husband was a great reformist who attempted to break the power of the big aristocracy, but his early death doomed his dynasty and his reforms. IOTL he was succeeded by his young son John IV, with...