Constantine XVI Comnenus

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Emperor Constantine XVI Comnenus
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Birth
21 December 1589
Accession
7 July 1590
Death
3 March 1600
Titles
By the Grace of God, Emperor of Pantocratoria, Autocrator of the Romans, Caesar Augustus, Equal of the Apostles, God's Vicegerent on Earth, Sebastocrator, Porphyrogenitus, King of Kings Ruling over those who Rule

His Imperial Majesty Emperor Constantine XVI was the only child of Emperor Constantine XIV. He inherited his father's position as senior emperor as a baby barely over six months old. Although Empress Irene, his grandmother, was an Empress Augusta, rendering a regent redundant, the Empress effectively relinquished the reigns of power to her second son, the junior Emperor Demetrius VII, who was Constantine's regent in all but name.

Constantine was a sickly child. At the age of nine he started to exhibit the same symptoms for which his father had been infamous. In addition to this mental illness, he exhibited a rare bleeding disorder apparently inherited through his mother's side of the family (although his father's death during a routine bleeding is somewhat suspicious and suggests that the trait so commonly attributed to the Drakos side of the family may in fact be the product of the Comnenus one), the description of which is consistent with haemophilia. He died in his sleep before his eleventh birthday; the death was popularly attributed to the excommunicated Demetrius VII poisoning his young nephew, but it seems more likely he died of internal bleeding.

Preceded by:

Constantine XIV Comnenus

Emperor of Pantocratoria
1590-1600
Succeeded by:

Constantine XVIII Comnenus

Co-Emperors
Empress Augusta Irene II Palaeologus
Emperor Constantine XV Angelus
Emperor Constantine XVII Angelus
Emperor Demetrius VII Comnenus