George Mouzalon was a high official of the Empire of Nicaea under Theodore II Laskaris.
12 Facts About George Mouzalon
1.
2.
George Mouzalon was assassinated only a few days later by soldiers, as the result of a conspiracy led by the nobles under the soon-to-be emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.
3.
George Mouzalon's family was considered as low-born, but he and his brothers became the childhood friends of the future Theodore II Laskaris, being raised with him in the palace as his paidopouloi.
4.
George Mouzalon supported the majority opinion that Theodore himself should campaign against the invaders.
5.
The aristocrats' hostility was further intensified when the emperor gave his low-born favourites noble brides: George Mouzalon wedded Theodora Kantakouzene, a niece of Michael Palaiologos, and Andronikos married a daughter of the former protovestiarios Alexios Raoul.
6.
George Mouzalon was unpopular with the clergy because he was associated with Theodore's high-handed treatment of the Church, and with the people, who feared that he would try to usurp the throne.
7.
George Mouzalon offered to resign from his post in favour of any person that the assembly chose, but the dignitaries, led by Michael Palaiologos, dissuaded him and encouraged him to stay on and even accepted to take an oath of loyalty to him as well as to the young emperor.
8.
George Mouzalon was mistaken for Mouzalon and killed by the crowd.
9.
The mob proceeded to search the church for them, and George Mouzalon was discovered by a Latin soldier named Karoulos.
10.
George Mouzalon was dragged from under the altar and, despite pleading to ransom his life, was killed.
11.
The Mouzalon family's houses were then ransacked by the mob; and when George Mouzalon's wife fled to her uncle Michael Palaiologos and pleaded for her husband's life, she was brusquely told to be quiet or she would share his fate.
12.
George Mouzalon's death was followed by a purge of Theodore II's other prominent "new men", the protostrator John Angelos and the protovestiarites Karyanites: Angelos was recalled by Palaiologos, but died on the way, while Karyanites was imprisoned.