1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Andronicus III

ANDRONICUS III. (c. 1296–1341), eastern Roman emperor, was the son of Michael, son of Andronicus II. His conduct during youth was so violent that, after the death of his father Michael in 1320, his grandfather resolved to deprive him of his right to the crown. Andronicus rebelled; he had a powerful party, and the first period of civil war ended in his being crowned and accepted as colleague by his grandfather, 1325. The quarrel broke out again and, notwithstanding the help of the Bulgarians, the older emperor was compelled to abdicate, 1328. During his reign Andronicus III. was engaged in constant war, chiefly with the Turks, who greatly extended their conquests. He annexed large regions in Thessaly and Epirus, but they were lost before his death to the rising power of Servia under Stephen Dušan. He did something for the reorganization of the navy, and recovered Lesbos and Chios from the Genoese. He died in 1341.