The Reluctant Emperor - A Biography of John Cantacuzene, Byzantine Emperor and Monk, c.1295–1383

This was the first biography in English of one of the most unusual Byzantine emperors in Constantinople who reigned from 1347 to 1354, and who subsequently spent thirty years as a monk. John Cantacuzene was unique in that he wrote his own memoirs and in his range of talents and interests as a soldier, scholar, and theologian.