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Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos (1223 – 11 December 1282) was the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 1259 to his death.
In 1204, Constantinople was captured by crusaders and became the capital of the Latin Empire, a Crusader state. Being the Greek heir to the Byzantine throne, Michael marched on Constantinople in 1261 and won a decisive victory, reclaiming the city for the Byzantine Empire.
By this point however, Constantinople was already in disrepair. The Hippodrome of Constantinople, once a proud symbol of the Empire's Greek origins was in a poor state, and Michael made no attempt to restore it. Michael's Empire only held a fraction of its former territory and influence, and began to decline over the next two hundred years.