John V Palaiologos in the context of "Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347"

Andrea II Muzaka (c. 1318–1372), or Andrew II, was an Albanian nobleman of the Muzaka family and the ruler of the Principality of Muzaka in the 14th century. He inherited the principality from his father, Teodor I Muzaka, who died around 1331. Andrea II is known for having expanded the Principality of Muzaka to its greatest extent, from the southern Adriatic coastline of Albania in the west to Kastoria in the east by the time of his death in 1372.

He was recognised as Despot of the Kingdom of Albania and as Marshal of Albania by the Angevin Kingdom of Albania in 1336-37. In the next decade, he led the resistance against the Serbian invasions of Albania, and after the fall of the Serbian Empire, he regained his former territories and began to expand again. During his wars against the Serbian successor states, Andrea II succeeded in defeating both Vukašin of Serbia and his son, Prince Marko, solidifying his family's principality. He was recognized as Despot of Epirus by the Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos for his victories against the Serbians.

Murad I (Ottoman Turkish: مراد اول; Turkish: I. Murad), nicknamed Hüdavendigâr (from Persian: خداوندگار, romanized: Khodāvandgār, lit. 'the devotee of God' – meaning "sovereign" in this context; 29 June 1326 – 15 June 1389) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1362 to 1389. He was the son of Orhan Gazi and Nilüfer Hatun. Murad I came to the throne after his elder half-brother Süleyman Pasha's death.

Murad I conquered Adrianople in 1360s and made it the new capital of the Ottoman Sultanate. Then he further expanded the Ottoman realm in Southern Europe by bringing most of the Balkans under Ottoman rule, and forced the princes of Serbia, the emperor of Bulgaria as well as the Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos to pay him tribute. Murad I administratively divided his sultanate into the two provinces of Anatolia (Asia Minor) and Rumelia (the Balkans).

The rock inscriptions of the Grama Bay Albanian: Mbishkrimet shkëmbore në Gjirin e Gramës) is an archaeological site in Southwestern Albania, Vlorë County, in the Grama Bay located on the Ionian coast of the Karaburun Mountains, including roughly 1,500 rock inscriptions that date from the 3rd century BC to the 15th-16th centuries. The name of the bay originates from the Greek word γράμμα meaning 'letter'.

The little bay with difficult overland access but with abundant springs had always been a favorite stopping place and shelter for the ones sailing along the coast: mariners, soldiers, merchants and pirates. The city of Oricum, located 12 km to the north, was founded in the 7th century BC, and the inhabitants started to use the Grama Bay as a quarry in the 3rd century BC from where they could extract limestone of good quality. The first inscriptions carved into the eastern rock face of the bay were made by the quarry workers themselves. During the following 2,000 years further mariners made their signs on the rock which ended up in the former quarry covered by 1,500 inscriptions. Majority is written in Ancient Greek and Latin, but inscriptions in Messapian language as well as ones made by Byzantine Greeks or Ottoman Turks are also included. These typically give the name of the people and that of their vessels and often invoke the Dioscuri. Historical figures also showed up in the Grama Bay and put their marks on the rock, such as Pompey in 48 BC or John V Palaiologos in around 1369. The Roman statesman Sulla was actually never visiting the bay, but in 86 BC after defeating Mithridates VI of Pontus during the First Mithridatic War he ordered to commemorate his triumph with a new inscription made on the Grama Bay's rocks. The medieval inscriptions call upon the Lord for his help.

The House of Gattilusio was a Genoese noble family that ruled several lordships in the northern Aegean Sea between 1355 and 1462. Their rise began in 1354, when Francesco I Gattilusio assisted Emperor John V Palaiologos in regaining Constantinople from John VI Kantakouzenos. As a reward, Francesco married the emperor's sister Maria and received the island of Lesbos as her dowry.

From their base at Mytilene, the Gattilusi extended their authority to Imbros, Samothrace, Thasos, Lemnos, and the Thracian port of Aenus (modern Enez). Controlling these islands gave them a strategic role in safeguarding the sea routes between Constantinople and the Aegean and in defending the northern approaches to the Dardanelles.

John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzene (Greek: Ἰωάννης Ἄγγελος [Κομνηνός] Παλαιολόγος Καντακουζηνός, romanized: Iōánnēs Ángelos [Komnēnós] Palaiológos Kantakouzēnós; Latin: Iohannes Cantacuzenus; c. 1292 – 15 June 1383) was a Byzantine Greek nobleman, statesman, and general. He served as grand domestic under Andronikos III Palaiologos and regent for John V Palaiologos before reigning as Byzantine emperor in his own right from 1347 to 1354. Deposed by his former ward, he was forced to retire to a monastery under the name Joasaph Christodoulos (Greek: Ἰωάσαφ Χριστόδουλος, romanized: Joásaph Christódoulos) and spent the remainder of his life as a monk and historian. At age 90 or 91 at his death, he was the longest-lived of the Roman emperors. His two disastrous civil wars led to the loss of much of the remaining territory in the Balkans under Byzantine control to the Serbian and Bulgarian empires, but the most severe loss during his civil war was the loss of the Gallipoli peninsula to the Ottoman Turks, allowing the Ottomans to gain territory in Europe and setting the stage for the destruction of the Byzantine Empire a century later.

Anna of Savoy, born Giovanna (1306–1365), was a Byzantine Empress consort, as the second spouse of Andronikos III Palaiologos. She served as regent, with the titles augusta and autokratorissa, during the minority of her son John V Palaiologos from 1341 until 1347. In Byzantium, she was known as Anna Palaiologina, owing to her marriage to Andronikos.

The Byzantine civil war of 1352–1357 was an armed conflict resulting from and following the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347. The war pitted Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos against John VI Kantakouzenos and his eldest son Matthew Kantakouzenos. John V emerged victorious as the sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire, but the destruction brought about by the civil war left the Byzantine state in ruins.

Theodore I Palaiologos (or Palaeologus) (Greek: Θεόδωρος Α΄ Παλαιολόγος, romanized: Theodōros I Palaiologos) (c. 1355 – 24 June 1407) was despot (despotēs) in the Morea from 1383 until his death on 24 June 1407. A son of Emperor John V Palaiologos, Theodore was the first member of the Palaiologos dynasty appointed as the Despot of the Morea, following the final defeat of the rival Kantakouzenos clan, who under John VI Kantakouzenos had attempted to usurp rule of the Byzantine Empire.

Theodore conducted several military campaigns to expand his province, successfully annexing several Latin possessions that remained there since the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. He died without known heirs and was succeeded as Despot of the Morea by Theodore II, a son of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos.