Manuel II, Patriarch of Constantinople
MANUEL II, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Reigned 1244–1254; d. 1254. Because of the Latin occupation of Constantinople (1204–61), Manuel resided at the temporary Byzantine capital in Nicaea. He worked in close collaboration with Emperor john iii ducas vatatzes, particularly in negotiations concerning possible union with the Roman Church. In 1247–48 he wrote to the Armenian King and the Catholicos regarding their relations with the Byzantine Church, and in July 1250 he composed a series of responses to canonical questions. About the same time he sent envoys to Pope innocentiv to discuss ecclesiastical union in the summer of 1253, and renewed these negotiations. In 1253–54 he received solemn assurance, under pain of censure, from the regent michael viii palaeologus, that he would not intrigue against the Emperor of Nicaea, Theodore II Lascaris (1254–58); and early in 1254 he addressed a letter to the emperor instructing him on his duties. Manuel died in office that year, before November 3.
Bibliography: v. grumel, Les Regestes des actes du patriarchat de Constantinople v.1.4. w. norden, Das Papsttum und Byzanz (Berlin 1903) 368–378, 756–759, letter to Innocent IV.
[g. t. dennis]