Matthew Asanes Kantakouzenos was the son of Emperor
John VI Kantakouzenos and
Irene Asanina. In return for the support he gave to his father during his
struggle with
John V Palaiologos, he was given part of
Thrace as an
appanage in 1347, and was proclaimed joint emperor in 1353, when
open civil war broke out again with John V. From his Thracian domain, centred on
Gratzianous, he led several wars against the
Serbs. An attack, which he prepared in 1350, was frustrated by the defection of his Turkish auxiliaries. With five thousand Turks, Matthew tried to re-establish his former appanage along the Serbian-Byzantine border by attacking this region, but failed to take
Serres. He was soon defeated in battle in late 1356 or early 1357 by a Serb army under Vojvoda
Vojihna, who was the holder of
Drama (a major fortress in the vicinity). The Serbs captured Matthew with the intention of releasing him when he had raised the large ransom they demanded. However John V, who had rapidly moved in to occupy Matthew's lands, offered Vojihna an even larger sum to turn Matthew over to him. After imprisoning Matthew first on
Tenedos, then on
Lesbos under the watchful eye of
Francesco I Gattilusio, John forced him to renounce the imperial title. John then released him to go to the
Morea, where he joined his brother
Manuel, who was ruling there (1361). After his brother's death in 1380, Matthew Asanes Kantakouzenos governed the Morea until the appointment of the new governor
Theodore I Palaiologos, in 1381, and his arrival in 1382. Before full transition of power in the Morea, from the
Kantakouzenos family to that of
Palaiologos, Matthew resigned his power in the Morea to his son
Demetrios I Kantakouzenos. ==Family==