Reign
In 1347, he entered Constantinople in triumph with an army of 1,000 men, and forced his opponents to an arrangement by which he became joint emperor with John V Palaiologos and sole administrator during the minority of his colleague. His triumph in the six-year civil war is the subject of the poem "John Kantakouzenos Triumphs" by the modern Greek poet Constantine Cavafy.
He made his own son Matthew Kantakouzenos a co-emperor in 1353.
During this period, the empire, already broken up and reduced to narrow limits, was assailed on every side. There was an unsuccessful war with the Genoese, and in particular their colony at Galata, across from Constantinople itself. His later involvement in the Venetian–Genoese War of 1350–1355 also brought no concrete results, and was terminated by a treaty with Genoa in May 1352. War also erupted against the Serbians, who were at that time establishing an extensive empire on the north-western frontiers; and there was a hazardous alliance with the Ottoman Turks, who made their first permanent settlement in Europe, at Gallipoli in Thrace, towards the end of his reign. In 1349, he sent a newly-built fleet of 9 fair-sized ships and about 100 smaller ones against the Genoese, but it was captured in its entirety. Then in 1351, he sent 12 ships to help Venice against Genoa, but the fleet was defeated.
Kantakouzenos was far too ready to invoke the aid of foreigners in his European quarrels; and as he had no money to pay them, this gave them a ready pretext for seizing upon a European town. The financial burdens imposed by him had long been displeasing to his subjects, and a strong party had always favoured John V Palaiologos. Hence, when the latter entered Constantinople at the end of 1354, his success was easy.
Read more about this topic: John VI Kantakouzenos
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