title: Cough

text: A foreign body can sometimes be suspected, for example if the cough started suddenly when the patient was eating. Rarely, sutures left behind inside the airway branches can cause coughing. A cough can be triggered by dryness from mouth breathing or recurrent aspiration of food into the windpipe in people with swallowing difficulties.


title: Cough

text: ACE inhibitors are drugs often used to treat high blood pressure that can sometimes be the cause of a cough as a side effect, and stopping their use will stop the cough.


title: Cough

text: A tic cough, previously called a "habit cough", is one that responds to behavioral or psychiatric therapy after organic causes have been excluded. Absence of the cough during sleep is common, but not diagnostic. A tic cough is thought to be more common in children than in adults.


title: Cough

text: Some cases of chronic cough may be attributed to a sensory neuropathic disorder. Treatment for neurogenic cough may include the use of certain neuralgia medications. Coughing may occur in tic disorders such as Tourette syndrome, although it should be distinguished from throat-clearing in this disorder.


title: Cough

text: Cough may also be caused by conditions affecting the lung tissue such as bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, interstitial lung diseases and sarcoidosis. Coughing can also be triggered by benign or malignant lung tumors or mediastinal masses. Through irritation of the nerve, diseases of the external auditory canal (wax, for example) can also cause cough. Cardiovascular diseases associated with cough are heart failure, pulmonary infarction and aortic aneurysm. Nocturnal cough is associated with heart failure, as the heart does not compensate for the increased volume shift to the pulmonary circulation, in turn causing pulmonary edema and resultant cough. Other causes of nocturnal cough include asthma, post-nasal drip and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Another cause of cough occurring preferentially in supine position is recurrent aspiration.


title: Cough

text: Given its irritant nature to mammal tissues, capsaicin is widely used to determine the cough threshold and as a tussive stimulant in clinical research of cough suppressants. Capsaicin is what makes chili peppers spicy, and might explain why workers in factories with these fruits can develop a cough.


title: Cough

text: Coughing may also be used for social reasons, and as such is not always involuntary. A voluntary cough, often written as "ahem", can be used to attract attention or express displeasure, as a form of nonverbal, paralingual metacommunication.


title: Cough

text: Coughing, and huffing are important ways of removing mucus as sputum in many conditions such as cystic fibrosis, and chronic bronchitis.


title: Cough

text: A cough is a protective reflex in healthy individuals which is influenced by psychological factors. The cough reflex is initiated by stimulation of two different classes of afferent nerves, namely the myelinated rapidly adapting receptors, and nonmyelinated C-fibers with endings in the lung.


title: Cough

text: The type of cough may help in the diagnosis. For instance, an inspiratory "whooping" sound on coughing almost doubles the likelihood that the illness is pertussis.


title: Cough

text: Blood may occur in small amounts with severe cough of many causes, but larger amounts suggests bronchitis, bronchiectasis, tuberculosis, or primary lung cancer.


title: Cough

text: A cough can be classified by its duration, character, quality, and timing. The duration can be either acute (of sudden onset) if it is present less than three weeks, subacute if it is present between three or eight weeks, and chronic when lasting longer than eight weeks. A cough can be non-productive (dry) or productive (when phlegm is produced that may be coughed up as sputum). It may occur only at night (then called "nocturnal cough"), during both night and day, or just during the day.


title: Cough

text: A number of characteristic coughs exist. While these have not been found to be diagnostically useful in adults, they are of use in children. A barky cough is part of the common presentation of croup. A staccato cough has been classically described with neonatal chlamydial pneumonia.


title: Cough

text: The treatment of a cough in children is based on the underlying cause. In children half of cases go away without treatment in 10 days and 90% in 25 days.


title: Cough

text: According to the American Academy of Pediatrics the use of cough medicine to relieve cough symptoms is supported by little evidence and thus not recommended for treating cough symptoms in children. There is tentative evidence that the use of honey is better than no treatment or diphenhydramine in decreasing coughing. It does not alleviate coughing to the same extent as dextromethorphan but it shortens the cough duration better than placebo and salbutamol. A trial of antibiotics or inhaled corticosteroids may be tried in children with a chronic cough in an attempt to treat protracted bacterial bronchitis or asthma respectively. There is insufficient evidence to recommend treating children who have a cough that is not related to a specific condition with inhaled anti-cholinergics.


title: Cough

text: Because coughing can spread disease through infectious aerosol droplets, it is recommended to cover one's mouth and nose with the forearm, the inside of the elbow, a tissue or a handkerchief while coughing.


title: Cough

text: Marine mammals such as dolphins and whales cannot cough. Some invertebrates such as insects cannot cough or sneeze. Domestic animals such as dogs and cats can cough, because of diseases, allergies, dust or choking. In particular, cats are known for coughing before spitting up a hairball.


title: Cough

text: In other domestic animals, horses can cough because of infections, or due to poor ventilation and dust in enclosed spaces. Kennel cough in dogs can result from a viral or bacterial infection.


title: Cough

text: Deer can cough similarly to humans as a result of respiratory tract infections, such as parasitic bronchitis caused by a species of Dictyocaulus.


title: Sathuranga Vettai 2

text: Sathuranga Vettai 2 () is an upcoming Indian Tamil-language heist film directed by Nirmal Kumar and written by H. Vinoth. A spiritual successor to Vinoth's "Sathuranga Vettai" (2014), the film stars Arvind Swamy, Trisha and Indrajith Sukumaran, with Prakash Raj, Daniel Balaji and Nassar in supporting roles. The film began production in October 2016 and wrapped in March 2017, but has not released as of 2022.


title: Sathuranga Vettai 2

text: In early 2015, H. Vinoth, who had directed the successful heist film "Sathuranga Vettai" (2014), agreed to make his next film for the production studio, Thirrupathi Brothers, who had helped distribute the earlier film. Vinoth submitted two scripts to them, including a sequel to his earlier film. Soon after, "Thirrupathi Brothers" ran into financial difficulties and Vinoth went on to narrate the script of the sequel, to actors Ajith Kumar and Suriya, and potentially be produced by Sathya Jyothi Films and Studio Green, but neither venture materialised.


title: Sathuranga Vettai 2

text: In August 2016, the original film's producer, Manobala, came forward and decided to produce the film himself, bringing in Arvind Swamy and Trisha, to play the lead roles. Vinoth parted with his script, because he was busy working on the pre-production of another film starring Karthi, so N. V. Nirmal Kumar, who had previously made "Salim" (2014), was signed on as director. The film subsequently began production in mid-October 2016. Arvind Swamy finished shooting his portions in March 2017, while Trisha finished hers the following month. Few portions of the film were shot at Penang. In June 2017, the crew has completed the filming and it is a complete wrap. However, for over five years the film remained in post-production hell due to Arvind Swamy refusing to dub for his character amidst Manobala's financial troubles.


title: Sathuranga Vettai 2

text: The film was scheduled to release on 7 October 2022, but was postponed indefinitely, reportedly due to the success of "" resulting in non-availability of screens.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: Air India Express Flight 1344 was a scheduled international flight on 7 August 2020 from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Kozhikode, India, landing at Calicut International Airport. The flight was part of the Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indian nationals stranded due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The flight crew aborted two landing attempts because of heavy rain and tailwind. On the third landing attempt, the aircraft touched down on runway 10, but skidded off the end of the tabletop runway and slid down a slope, killing 19 passengers and both pilots. The four cabin crew members and 165 passengers survived, of whom all but two were injured. This was the second fatal accident involving Air India Express, after the 2010 Mangalore crash.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: Calicut International Airport in Karipur, Malappuram, is considered one of the most dangerous airports in India, according to India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). It has a tabletop runway, a runway that is located on the top of a plateau or hill with one or both ends adjacent to a steep precipice which drops into a gorge. The DGCA designated Calicut Airport as a "critical airfield", which means that only the captain (and not the first officer) can perform takeoffs and landings there. The Airports Authority of India says that the airport is licensed for use in all weather conditions under instrument flight rules, but that the pilots operating flights to and from Calicut Airport (both day and night) should have sufficient flying hours at night to handle the dangerous conditions.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: Captain Mohan Ranganathan, a member of a safety advisory committee of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, said in 2011 that Calicut Airport is "unsafe". He recommended that Calicut Airport not be used for landing during wet weather. He observed that the airport had a tabletop runway with a steep down-slope from one-third of the runway 10 and inadequate "buffer zones", referring to the runway end safety areas (RESA) at both ends of the runway. Instead of the recommended safety area, it had only . The width of runway 10 is only half of the minimum width that existing regulations require, with very little buffer zone on either side, whereas the recommend is . Calicut Airport also lacked an engineered materials arrestor system (EMAS), which could have prevented the accident. He also reported that there were heavy rubber deposits on the runway. Calicut Airport's management ignored several warnings about the dangerous conditions at Calicut Airport, especially during wet conditions. Many international airlines stopped landing wide-body aircraft at Calicut because of the dangerous conditions. Ranganathan said "The warnings were ignored... in my opinion, it is not an accident but a murder. Their own audits have had flagged safety issues".


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: Conditions at Calicut Airport were investigated in 2019, following a tailstrike during the landing of Air India Express aircraft. The investigation revealed several safety hazards, including multiple cracks in the runways, pools of stagnant water, and excessive rubber deposits. In July 2019, the DGCA issued a show-cause notice to the director of Calicut Airport because of these hazards.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: The accident involved a Boeing 737-800 with a short-field performance package, registered as VT-AXH, manufacturer's serial number 36323 and line number 2108. The aircraft that first flew on 15 November 2006, was operated by Air India Express and had a tail livery with India Gate on the left and Gateway of India on the right. The crew consisted of Captain Deepak Sathe (59), first officer Akhilesh Kumar (32); and four flight attendants. Sathe had landed successfully at Calicut airport at least 27 times, including more than ten times in 2020. He had 10,000 hours of flying experience on the Boeing 737, including 6,662 as commander.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: The aircraft departed stand E6 and took off from runway 30R at Dubai International Airport on 7 August 2020, at 14:14 GST (7 August 2020, 10:14 UTC) and was scheduled to arrive at Calicut International Airport at 19:40 IST (7 August 2020, 14:10 UTC), covering a distance of . It was a repatriation flight for people who had been stranded abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic, under the Vande Bharat Mission.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: The aircraft reached the airport on schedule. The approach was for runway 28, but two landings were aborted due to tailwind and the aircraft circled, waiting for clearance before making a landing on runway 10. At around 19:37 IST (14:07 UTC), they were given clearance to land on runway 10. Due to the monsoon and floods in Kerala at the time, inclement weather conditions reduced visibility at the time of landing to . Runway 28 was operational and in the first landing attempt, the pilot could not see the runway thus requested for runway 10. On the second attempt on runway 10, the aircraft touched down near taxiway <nowiki>"C"</nowiki>, which is approximately beyond the runway threshold. The aircraft failed to stop before the end of the tabletop runway and plunged into a gorge, splitting the fuselage into two sections upon impact. The accident site was around from the airport terminal. No post-crash fire was reported. It was suggested that the crew shut off the engines on landing, which may have saved lives by preventing a fire. According to a CISF officer, the aircraft did not slide into the gorge. It took off from the cliff and then collapsed.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: The accident was the second fatal accident of Air India Express and was similar to Air India Express Flight 812 which also overran the runway 10 years earlier at Mangalore International Airport, killing 158 people on board.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: A total of 184 passengers, four cabin crew and two cockpit crew were on board, all Indian. Seventeen people died on-spot from the crash, including both pilots. Later the death toll rose to twenty-one people on 24 August. and more than 100 people were injured. The chief minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, announced a state funeral for late Wing commander Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe in Mumbai.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: The Government of India and Kerala each announced an interim compensation of for the families of the deceased above the age of 12 years, for below the age of 12 years, for seriously injured, and for those who sustained minor injuries. It was also announced that the medical expenses of the injured would be borne by the state government.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: Air India Express completed the disbursement of interim compensation to all passengers and next of kin of the deceased passengers soon after the accident.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: Interim compensation of was paid to the next of kin of 15 deceased passengers who were above the age of 12, to the next of kin of 4 deceased passengers who were below the age of 12, each to 92 passengers and 2 crew members who were critically injured, and each to 73 passengers who suffered minor injuries.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: Following the incident, local people from the surrounding Karipur village rushed to the crash site to rescue trapped victims from the aircraft, followed by 40 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel who were guarding the perimeter of the airport, a quick reaction team and the Chief Airport Security Officer. Family members of the CISF personnel living nearby also joined. Police and firefighters were also deployed for the initial rescue operations. All passengers were evacuated in about three hours and taken to various hospitals in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. Emergency response team, GO Team and special assistance team of Air India (officially known as 'Angels of Air India') from Kochi, Mumbai and Delhi were sent to the accident site. Three CISF officers were awarded Director General commendation disc for their rescue efforts after the mishap. The accident is predicted to cost the insurers and their reinsurers , which includes aircraft or hull and liability for third party and passengers. It is around 90 per cent of the insured value and Air India will recover this amount since the aircraft has been totally damaged. The insurer is an Indian insurance consortium led by New India Assurance. Claim settlement survey has already started. The airline had engaged a US-based firm, Kenyon International, to recover the baggage along with Angels of Air India.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: Two passengers on the flight who survived tested positive for COVID-19, after arriving at a hospital after the accident. To check the spread among other passengers and rescue personnel, CISF and Kerala Health Department asked their personnel and other passengers who were on the flight to undertake testing and quarantine. One week later, 24 officers involved in the rescue operation tested positive. Kondotty municipality, the place where the airport is located, was subsequently declared as a containment zone.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: The International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (IFALPA) tightly monitored the actions after the accident and responded "Our thoughts are with the families of the pilots, crew members, and passengers who lost their lives aboard the aircraft. We send support and wishes to all the survivors, many of them injured and in hospital in critical condition." They got in touch with the Indian association, Air Line Pilots’ Association-India (ALPA-India) and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) for technical expertise and assistance in investigation.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: Following the accident, many pilot associations in the country soared up against the director of the DGCA, Arun Kumar, and wanted him to be replaced with someone more technically sound in aviation, after he referred to the late pilots as "fellows” and also said, "...and the landing it seems was not appropriate...", "The landing was not smooth". The pilot associations pointed that these comments from the director were amateurish and made them "the laughing stock of the aviation world".


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: According to Yeshwant Shenoy, a lawyer fighting for safer airports in India, the DGCA should have put restrictions on conditions when airlines could land or take off. He blamed the DGCA for being incompetent and negligent after the 2010 crash in Mangalore, and called it a state-run syndicate. He filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Kerala High Court after the crash, to shut down operations of Calicut airport as it is not compliant with air regulations. Shenoy demanded for an open inquiry by a Court of Inquiry instead of a closed one by AAIB. He also demanded that the investigation should be conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation as local police weren't experienced in these.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Flight Safety Departments investigated the accident. The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were recovered the next day and sent to Delhi for analysis. Boeing was to send its investigation team to examine the debris of the aircraft for defects and assist the probe.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: Initial findings suggested that at the time of landing, the tailwind was around . The aircraft was at at an altitude of approximately above the surface of runway 10, which is not considered ideal for short finals during poor weather conditions. The throttle was found to be in a fully forward position (takeoff or go-around position) and the spoilers were retracted from the position of the speed brake lever, which indicates that the pilots might have tried for a go-around. The tailwind, rubber deposits and wet runway affecting the braking performance of the aircraft are thought to be contributory factors to the accident. Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Puri, in a press conference at Kozhikode on 8 August, said that there had been sufficient fuel onboard for the aircraft to have flown to a diversion airport. The possibility of pilot error as a cause of the accident was suggested by DGCA's Arun Kumar.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: Several concerns were raised on the inquiry on this incident, by Captain Mohan Ranganathan, Yeshwant Shenoy and others, that it might get covered up and the truth would never surface. Royal Aeronautical Society fellow and aviation safety expert Amit Singh alleged that evidence in the crash site was being tampered, as few unidentified people were spotted near the wreckage, thus asked for an open investigation. He also pointed out that investigations were flawed and instead of punishing real culprits, actions were taken against the pilots.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: The AAIB team in Kozhikode probed the incident with the assistance of Airports Authority of India officials, air traffic control, ground staff, CISF, the fire team and the rescue team. It found evidence of waterlogging of the runway at the time of landing. It also checked whether ATC was aware of waterlogging and whether the pilots adhered to rules. The preliminary investigation report was expected to be ready in a week after the accident, however this did not happen.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: A five-member committee was set up by AAIB on 13 August, to investigate the incident, with the final report to be submitted on 13 January 2021. The committee headed by Captain S.S. Chahar, former designated examiner on Boeing 737 Next Generation, was to also provide recommendations to avoid such accidents in future.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: The civil aviation ministry cited delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and granted a two-month extension to the AAIB to submit its draft final probe report on the crash.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: The report was released on September 11, 2021, where it said that the probable cause of the accident was "the non-adherence to standard operating procedures by the pilot flying". The pilot in command did not do a Go Around despite the call for it by the co-pilot, who also failed to take over the controls.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: Shortly after the crash, operations of wide-body aircraft at Kozhikode were put on hold. As a result, Etihad and Saudia removed their services to Calicut.


title: Air India Express Flight 1344

text: "Vande Bharat Flight IX 1344: Hope to Survival" is a 2021 Discovery+ original documentary based on the crash. The 45-minute documentary creates graphical simulations of the accident.


title: Palaiologos

text: The House of Palaiologos ( Palaiologoi; , , female version Palaiologina; ), also found in English-language literature as Palaeologus or Palaeologue, was a Byzantine Greek family that rose to nobility and produced the last and longest-ruling dynasty in the history of the Byzantine Empire. Their rule as Emperors and Autocrats of the Romans lasted almost two hundred years, from 1259 to the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.


title: Palaiologos

text: The origins of the family are unclear. Their own medieval origin stories ascribed them an ancient and prestigious origin in ancient Roman Italy, descended from some of the Romans that had accompanied Constantine the Great to Constantinople upon its foundation in 330. It is more likely that they originated significantly later in Anatolia since the earliest known member of the family, possibly its founder, Nikephoros Palaiologos, served as a commander there in the second half of the 11th century. Over the course of the 12th century, the Palaiologoi were mostly part of the military aristocracy, not recorded as occupying any administrative political offices, and they frequently intermarried with the then ruling Komnenos family, increasing their prestige. When Constantinople fell to the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Palaiologoi fled to the Empire of Nicaea, a Byzantine successor state ruled by the Laskaris family, where they continued to play an active role and occupied many offices of high rank.


title: Palaiologos

text: In 1259, Michael VIII Palaiologos became co-emperor to the young John IV Laskaris through a coup and in 1261, following the recapture of Constantinople from the Latin Empire, John IV was deposed and blinded. Michael's successors ruled the Byzantine Empire at its weakest point in history, and much of the Palaiologan period was a time of political and economical decline, partly due to external enemies such as the Bulgarians, Serbs and Ottoman Turks, and partly due to frequent civil wars between members of the Palaiologos family. By the beginning of the 15th century, the emperors had lost any real power, with the empire effectively having become a client state to the new Ottoman Empire. Their rule of the empire continued until 1453, when Ottoman sultan Mehmed the Conqueror conquered Constantinople and the final Palaiologan emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, died in the city's defense. During their rule as emperors, the Palaiologoi were not well-liked by their subjects, mostly on account of their religious policy. The repeated attempts by the emperors to reunite the Greek Orthodox Church with the Roman Catholic Church, and thus place the Byzantine church in submission under the Papacy, was viewed as heresy and treason. Though Constantine XI died in communion with Rome (and thus as a "heretic"), his death in battle against the Ottomans, defending Constantinople, made the Greeks and the Orthodox church remember him as a hero, redeeming popular opinion of the dynasty as a whole. The role of the Palaiologoi as the final Christian dynasty to rule over Greek lands also accorded them a more positive remembrance among Greeks during the period of Ottoman rule.


title: Palaiologos

text: The last certain members of the imperial line of the Palaiologoi died out in the 16th century, but female-line descendants survive to the present day. A cadet branch in Italy, the Palaeologus-Montferrat, ruled the March of Montferrat until 1536 and died out in 1566. Because the family was extensive before it produced emperors, the name Palaiologos was legitimately held not only by nobles part of the actual imperial dynasty. As a result, many Byzantine refugees who fled to Western Europe in the aftermath of Constantinople's fall possessed the name and in order to earn prestige, some fabricated closer links to the imperial family. The genealogies of many supposedly surviving branches of the imperial dynasty have readily been dismissed as fantasy by modern researchers. Various lineages of non-imperial Palaialogoi, whose relation to the medieval Palaiologoi and each other are unclear, survived into the modern period and thousands of people, particularly in Greece, still have the last name Palaiologos, or variants thereof, today.


title: Palaiologos

text: The origins of the Palaiologos family are unclear. According to several later oral traditions, the family had originated in Italy, supposedly in the city of Viterbo. As per this version, the family name Palaiologos ("Palaios logos", "old word") was a Greek translation of "vetus verbum", a dubious etymology of Viterbo. Another version of the Palaiologos origin story maintained that they had ancient Roman origin and that they were descended from Romans who had travelled to Constantinople alongside Constantine the Great when the city was founded and designated as the Roman Empire's new capital in 330. This second origin story is similar to family traditions of other Byzantine noble families, such as the Doukas or Phokas clans, who also used stories of ancient Roman descent to bolster their prestige and somewhat legitimize their claims to the throne of the Byzantine Empire, the Roman Empire's medieval continuation.


title: Palaiologos

text: In contrast to these ancient and prestigious origin stories, the Palaiologoi probably actually originated relatively late in Anatolia, possibly in the Anatolic Theme. The etymology of their family name was believed to be "ragman" by Soviet-American Byzantinist Alexander Kazhdan, possibly referencing humble origins, whereas the French Byzantinist Jean-François Vannier believes the correct etymology to be "antique collector". The earliest known member of the family, possibly its founder, was Nikephoros Palaiologos, commander (possibly "doux") of the Theme of Mesopotamia in the second half of the 11th century, in the reign of Emperor Michael VII Doukas. Nikephoros supported the revolt of Nikephoros III Botaneiates against Michael VII, but his son, George Palaiologos, married Anna Doukaina and thus supported the Doukas family and later Alexios I Komnenos, Anna's brother-in-law, against Botaneiates. George served as the "doux" of Dyrrhachium in the reign of Alexios I and was accorded the title of "kouropalates".


title: Palaiologos

text: In the 12th century, the Palaiologoi are mainly recorded as members of the military aristocracy, not occupying any administrative political offices. They are recorded numerous times as donors to monasteries, and intermarried several times with the Komnenos dynasty during its rule over the Byzantine Empire (1081–1185). When the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade took Constantinople in 1204 and overthrew the Byzantine Empire in favor of the new, Catholic, Latin Empire, the Palaiologoi followed Theodore I Laskaris to the Empire of Nicaea, where they played an active role and continued to occupy offices of high rank. Andronikos Palaiologos, father of the later emperor Michael VIII, was proclaimed "megas domestikos" (commander-in-chief), probably by Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes.


title: Palaiologos

text: The Palaiologoi's many marriages with prominent Byzantine families was reflected in their choice of surnames, with earlier members of the imperial dynasty using the surnames of several of the previous ruling dynasties to reinforce their legitimacy. For instance, Michael VIII Palaiologos's full name was "Michael Komnenos Doukas Angelos Palaiologos".


title: Palaiologos

text: Michael Palaiologos, born in 1223, was the son of Andronikos Palaiologos, "megas domestikos" in the Empire of Nicaea. Through the preceding century or so of Palaiologan marriages to other imperial families, his ancestry could be traced back to the three most recent dynasties that had ruled the empire before the Fourth Crusade (Doukas, Komnenos and Angelos). In his youth, Michael had served as the governor of the towns of Melnik and Serres in Thrace, and though he and his family were distinguished among the aristocracy, he was frequently mistrusted by the ruling Laskaris dynasty. In 1253, Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes accused him of plotting against the throne, though Michael escaped the accusation without punishment following a trial by ordeal of holding a red-hot iron. Though Michael continued to be mistrusted even after this, he married John III's grandniece Theodora Vatatzaina and was appointed as the "megas konostaulos" of the Latin mercenaries employed by the empire.


title: Palaiologos

text: After John III's death in 1254, Michael briefly took service with the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, frequent enemies of the empire, and from 1256 to 1258 he was the commander of the Christian mercenaries fighting for the Seljuk Sultan Kaykaus II. John III's son and successor, Theodore II Laskaris, recalled Michael in 1258 and after they had exchanged guarantees of safety and oaths of loyalty, Michael returned to service within the empire. Theodore II died in that same year and was succeeded by his eight-year-old son John IV Laskaris. Just a few days after Theodore's death, Michael led a coup against the bureaucrat George Mouzalon, who had been appointed regent by Theodore II. Michael seized the guardianship of the child emperor and was invested with the titles of "megas doux" and "despotes". On 1 January 1259, Michael was proclaimed as co-emperor at Nymphaion, probably without John IV being present.


title: Palaiologos

text: On 25 July 1261, Nicene forces under general Alexios Strategopoulos recaptured Constantinople from the Latin Empire, restoring the city to Byzantine rule after almost sixty years in foreign hands. After the recapture of the capital and the restoration of the Byzantine Empire, Michael took care to be crowned emperor in Hagia Sophia, as Byzantine emperors had been before the city was lost to the crusaders. John IV, the last representative of the imperial Laskaris dynasty, was pushed aside in order to consolidate the Palaiologos family on the throne. On John IV's eleventh birthday, 25 December 1261, the boy was deposed, blinded and confined to a monastery.' Once news of the act, the blinding of not only the legitimate emperor, but an underage boy, got out, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Arsenios Autoreianos, excommunicated Michael. The emperor's excommunication was not lifted until nine years into his reign, upon the appointment of Patriarch Joseph I.' The blinding of John IV was a stain on the Palaiologan dynasty. In 1284, Michael's son and successor Andronikos II Palaiologos visited the blinded and then 33-year-old John IV during a journey in Anatolia, hoping to demonstrate his disapproval with his father's actions.


title: Palaiologos

text: The Palaiologoi ruled Byzantium at its weakest point in history, and the empire underwent significant economical and political decline. Even in this state, the empire, famous for its frequent civil wars, was unable to stay united. In 1320, Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos attempted to disinherit his grandson Andronikos III Palaiologos, despite the death of Andronikos II's son, heir and co-emperor Michael IX Palaiologos (Andronikos III's father). Andronikos III secured the support of a significant number of the aristocracy and a period of civil war, not ended until 1328, ensued. Although Andronikos III was ultimately victorious and Andronikos II was deposed, the empire was damaged economically and for the first time, foreign states such as Bulgaria and Serbia had appeared as significant regulating factors in imperial dynastic disputes (joining opposite sides of the civil war).


title: Palaiologos

text: When Andronikos III died in 1341, his underage son John V Palaiologos inherited the throne. Disputes between John V's mother Anna of Savoy and the Patriarch John XIV on one side and Andronikos III's friend and "megas domestikos" John Kantakouzenos on the other led to a new and devastating civil war, lasting until 1347 and won by John Kantakouzenos, who became senior co-emperor as John VI. The weakening of Byzantium as a result of the civil war allowed Stefan Dušan of Serbia to invade Macedonia, Thessaly and Epirus in 1346–1348, creating the Serbian Empire. In the meantime, John VI Kantakouzenos attempted to consolidate his own dynasty on the imperial throne, marrying his daughter Helena to John V and proclaiming his son Matthew Kantakouzenos as co-emperor. Clearly intending to usurp the throne, a new series of civil wars from 1352 to 1357 were eventually won by John V, deposing the Kantakouzenoi. In 1382, the Kantakouzenoi were also driven out of the Morea (the modern-day Peloponnese) and John V's son Theodore was placed to govern it as the semi-independent Despot of the Morea, an important victory as the region was quickly becoming the most important Byzantine province. The Byzantine civil wars, and the collapse of Stefan Dušan's Serbian Empire following his death in 1355, had allowed the Ottoman Turks to expand almost unopposed through the Balkans and in the second half of the 14th century, the empire passed almost without a fight under Ottoman sovereignty, forced to pay tribute and offer military aid if needed.


title: Palaiologos

text: In 1373, John V's son and heir Andronikos IV Palaiologos rebelled against his father in an attempt to seize the throne, instigating a fourth series of Palaiologan civil wars. John V was initially victorious, imprisoning and disinheriting Andronikos IV and appointing a younger son, Manuel II Palaiologos, as his successor instead. However, Andronikos eventually escaped from prison and successfully took the throne in 1376 with aid from Genoa, imprisoning his father and his younger brother. John V retook the throne in 1379 but reached an agreement with Andronikos in 1381, wherein Andronikos was to succeed him as emperor, passing over Manuel. Andronikos died in 1385 and his son, John VII Palaiologos briefly managed to usurp the throne in 1390. Following this, Manuel II was firmly established as John V's successor, becoming senior emperor upon John's death in 1391.


title: Palaiologos

text: Though most of the Palaiologan era was defined by decline and war, it was also an age of cultural flourishing, beginning in the late 13th century. Advances in science and the arts, referred to as the Palaiologan Renaissance, lasted throughout the dynasty's rule, encouraged by the efforts of some emperors such as Andronikos II and Manuel II.


title: Palaiologos

text: By the 15th century, the Byzantine emperors had lost any real power, with the Ottoman sultans increasingly becoming the real regulators of political matters within the empire. Despite their "de facto" submission under the Ottomans, the Byzantines continued to act with hostility against them. In 1394, Manuel II ceased to pay tribute to the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I, who responded by besieging Constantinople. Bayezid's siege lasted for more than a decade, with Western aid through the Crusade of Nicopolis (1396) failing to stop the sultan. The situation was so dire that Manuel left Constantinople to travel around Western Europe asking for further aid against the Ottomans, visiting Italy, France and England. Ultimately, the siege was resolved peacefully by Manuel through signing a peace treaty with Bayezid's son and successor, Mehmed I, in 1403, which among other things returned the city of Thessaloniki, captured by the Ottomans in 1387, to Byzantine rule.


title: Palaiologos

text: There was peace between the Palaiologans and the Ottomans until 1421, when Mehmed I died and Manuel retired from state affairs, to pursue scholarly and religious interests. Manuel's son, John VIII Palaiologos, co-emperor since before 1416, ignored the fragile peace with the Ottomans and supported Mustafa Çelebi, a pretender to the Ottoman throne, in a rebellion against Mehmed I's successor Murad II. Murad defeated Mustafa's rebellion and besieged Constantinople in 1422, though the Byzantines successfully repulsed him. Even during the final decades of the Byzantine Empire, the Palaiologoi often found it difficult to cooperate with each other. During Manuel II's reign, John VIII and the younger son Constantine appear to have got on well with each other, but the relations between Constantine and the younger brothers Demetrios and Thomas were not as friendly.


title: Palaiologos

text: Through most of John VIII's reign, Constantine and Thomas ruled as Despots of the Morea, with Demetrios governing a stretch of land in Thrace. Demetrios was unhappy with his subordinate position and assaulted Constantinople in 1442, with Ottoman help, in an attempt to seize the city and become emperor himself. John VIII, aided by Constantine, successfully repulsed this attack and Demetrios was briefly imprisoned as punishment. After John VIII's death in June 1448, the candidates for the throne were brothers Constantine, Demetrios and Thomas. To avoid infighting, their mother Helena Dragaš decided that Constantine was to be the next emperor. Constantine XI Palaiologos's rise to the throne was also accepted by Murad II, who by now had to be consulted for any appointments.


title: Palaiologos

text: Constantine XI's reign would prove to be brief. Murad II's young son and successor, Mehmed II, who became sultan in 1451, was obsessed with the idea of conquering Constantinople. In an effort to extort money from Mehmed, Constantine implicitly threatened to release Orhan Çelebi, Mehmed's cousin and the only other known living member of the Ottoman dynasty (and as such a potential rival to Mehed), who was held prisoner in Constantinople. The ill-advised threat gave Mehmed a "casus belli" and late in 1451, preparations were already underway for a new Ottoman siege of Constantinople. To prevent aid coming from the Morea, now governed by Thomas and Demetrios, Mehmed II sent one of his generals, Turahan Bey (who had raided the Morea twice before) to devastate the peninsula. Constantine also sent desperate pleas for aid to Western Europe, though little help ever arrived. After a 53-day long siege, the city finally fell to the Ottomans on 29 May 1453. Constantine XI died fighting in its defense.


title: Palaiologos

text: In the aftermath of Constantinople's fall, one of the most pressing threats to the new Ottoman regime was the possibility that one of Constantine XI's relatives would secure support and return to reclaim the empire. However, it soon became apparent Constantine's closest relatives, his brothers in the Morea, represented little more than a nuisance to Mehmed II and they were thus allowed to keep their titles and lands as Ottoman vassals. Under their rule, the Morea was transformed into somewhat of a Byzantine government-in-exile, as Byzantine refugees from Constantinople and elsewhere fled to their courts, some even wishing to proclaim Demetrios, the elder brother, as Constantine's successor and the new Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans. The brothers were divided in their policies. Thomas retained hope that the Papacy might yet call for a crusade to restore the Byzantine Empire whereas Demetrios, probably the more realistic of the two, had more or less given up hope of Christian aid from the West and believed it to be best to placate the Turks.


title: Palaiologos

text: In January 1459, rivalry between the brothers broke out into civil war as Thomas, with the aid of some of the Albanian lords in the Morea, seized a series of fortresses held by Demetrios. The ongoing civil war, and the possibility that Thomas could receive aid from the West since he had proclaimed the war against his brother as a holy war against the muslims, caused Mehmed to invade the Morea in 1460. Mehmed was victorious and annexed the region directly into the Ottoman Empire, ending Palaiologan rule in Greece. Demetrios surrendered to the Ottomans without a fight and Thomas escaped into exile. Demetrios lived in the Ottoman Empire for the rest of his life, dying in 1470. His only child, his daughter Helena, never married the sultan nor entered the sultan's harem, possibly because the sultan feared that she would poison him. She predeceased her father, dying in 1469.


title: Palaiologos

text: Thomas had four children; Helena, Zoe, Andreas and Manuel. Helena had already been married to Lazar Branković, the Despot of Serbia, but the three younger children, and Thomas's wife Catherine Zaccaria, and a retinue of other refugees, accompanied him as he escaped to the Venetian-held island of Corfu. The local authorities on Corfu were not eager to house the despot out of fear of provoking the Ottomans, so Thomas soon left the island and travelled to Rome, hoping to convince Pope Pius II of calling for a crusade against the Ottomans. Though Pius II was eager to go through with the idea, and Thomas rode around Italy in the hopes of drumming up support for the venture, no crusade materialized this time either. Thomas died on 12 May 1465 and shortly thereafter Zoe, Andreas and Manuel arrived in Rome.


title: Palaiologos

text: In Rome, the three children were taken care of by Cardinal Bessarion, also a Byzantine refugee. In 1472, according to Bessarion's plans, Zoe (whose name was later changed to Sophia) was married to Duke Ivan III of Moscow. As the oldest son, Andreas was recognized by the Papacy as Thomas's heir and the rightful Despot of the Morea. From the 1480s onwards, Andreas also claimed the title "Imperator Constantinopolitanus" ('Emperor of Constantinople'). Some Byzantine refugees, such as historian George Sphrantzes, recognized Andreas as the rightful heir of the old emperors. Andreas and Manuel soon faced financial problems, with the pension once provided to their father having been split between the two of them and constantly cut back by the Papacy. Andreas attempted to sell his claims to various Byzantine titles to earn money, but since Manuel did not have any claims to sell (as he was the second son), he instead travelled around Europe hoping to enter into the service of some noble. After not receiving any satisfactory offers, Manuel surprised the establishment in Rome by travelling to Constantinople in 1476 and presenting himself before Sultan Mehmed II. The sultan generously received him and Manuel stayed in Constantinople for the rest of his life.


title: Palaiologos

text: Andreas died poor in Rome in 1502. Whether he had any children is uncertain. It is possible that a Constantine Palaiologos, employed in the Papal Guard and dead in 1508 was his son. According to Russian sources, he might also have had a daughter, Maria Palaiologina, who married a Russian prince. A Fernando Palaiologos, referred to as the "son of the Despot of the Morea" by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, in 1499 might also have been a son of Andreas. Andreas's brother Manuel died in Constantinople at some point during the reign of Mehmed II's son and successor Bayezid II (1481–1512). Manuel had two sons; John Palaiologos, who died young, and Andreas, probably named after Manuel's brother. Manuel's son Andreas converted to Islam and might have served as an Ottoman court official. He is last attested in the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520–1566) and is not believed to have had children of his own. Thus, the documented male line of the imperial branch of the House of Palaiologos probably went extinct at some point in the early 16th century.


title: Palaiologos

text: When the Byzantines reconquered Constantinople in 1261 under Michael VIII Palaiologos, the Papacy suffered a loss of prestige and endured severe damage to its spiritual authority. For 57 years, Constantinople had been under Catholic rule through the Latin Empire and now the easterners had once more asserted their right not only to the position of Roman emperor but also to a church independent of the one centered in Rome. The Popes in the immediate aftermath of the Latin Empire's fall pursued a policy of attempting to assert their religious authority over the Byzantine Empire. Some Western pretenders who wished to restore the Latin Empire, such as the King of Sicily, Charles of Anjou, periodically enjoyed Papal support, and several Popes considered the idea of calling for a new crusade against Constantinople to once more impose Catholic rule.


title: Palaiologos

text: Michael VIII succeeded in achieving a union of the Catholic and Orthodox churches at the Second Council of Lyons in 1274, legitimizing him and his successors as rulers of Constantinople in the eyes of the West. Michael's son and successor Andronikos II wished to further legitimize the rule of the Palaiologan dynasty. Other crusader states had been formed in Greece as a result of the Fourth Crusade, notably the Kingdom of Thessalonica, which had been ruled by the Aleramici family of Montferrat. In an effort to rid himself of the threat that an Aleramici pretender might launch an invasion and attempt to seize Thessaloniki in the future, Andronikos married Yolande of Montferrat in 1284, bringing her dynastic claims to Thessaloniki into his own family line. Since Yolande was second-in-line to the throne of the March of Montferrat, the marriage had the unexpected result of creating the possibility that a Byzantine prince might inherit Montferrat. When Yolande's brother, John I of Montferrat, died without children in 1305, Montferrat legitimately passed to Yolande and her children.


title: Palaiologos

text: The Byzantine aristocracy were less than eager of sending one of Andronikos II's sons to claim Montferrat. That a Byzantine prince, born in the purple, would be sent to live among, and rule over, Latins, was bad enough but there were also fears that he and his descendants might become 'Latinized' and that the Italians, as a result of the Montferrat inheritance, could launch an invasion in the future in hopes of placing a Catholic Palaiologos on the Byzantine throne. In the end, Andronikos II's fourth son (in order to not jeopardize the line of succession), Theodore, was chosen to travel to Montferrat, arriving there in 1306. Byzantine fears of Latinization became true; Theodore converted to Catholicism and on his visits to Constantinople, Theodore shocked the Byzantines with his shaven face and Western customs.


title: Palaiologos

text: Theodore's descendants, the Palaeologus-Montferrat family, ruled at Montferrat until the 16th century, though they were sometimes given Greek names, such as Theodore and Sophia, most of the Palaiologan Marquises of Montferrat paid little attention to affairs in the eastern Mediterranean. The only Marquis to seriously consider using his Byzantine connection was Theodore's son, John II of Montferrat, who wished to take advantage of the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347, between Andronikos II's great-grandson John V and John VI Kantakouzenos, in order to invade the empire and conquer Thessaloniki. In his will from 1372, John II claimed that Andronikos II's deposition in 1328 by his grandson Andronikos III (John V's father) had been unlawful and thus disqualified Andronikos III and all his heirs from the legitimate line of succession to the throne of Byzantium. John II also pointed out that since Andronikos II had disinherited Andronikos III, John II was thus the rightful emperor as the only true heir to Andronikos II. John II even petitioned the Papacy to recognize his claims to Thessaloniki and to the empire, and to help him conquer them. An expedition to "recover" these territories was never organized.


title: Palaiologos

text: The final Palaeologus Marquis, John George, Marquis of Montferrat, died in 1533 and rule of Montferrat was then given to Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The last female member, Margaret Paleologa, married to Federico II, died in 1566, rendering the Montferrat cadet branch extinct. Her and Federico II's descendants, with the Gonzaga name, ruled Montferrat until they were supplanted by the House of Savoy, which had also intermarried with the Palaeologus-Montferrat family in the past, in the 18th century. The name "Montferrato-Paleologo" is recorded on the Greek island of Cephalonia until the 17th century, though it is uncertain how they were connected to the Italian family. A modern Italian family, called the Paleologo-Oriundi, claim that they descend from Flaminio, an illegitimate son of John George.


title: Palaiologos

text: The Asens in Byzantium largely descend from Ivan Asen III, who ruled briefly as Emperor of Bulgaria before fleeing to Constantinople as Ivaylo's uprising was gaining momentum in 1280. A "despotes" under Michael VIII Palaiologos, Ivan Asen III had already been married to the Byzantine Emperor's eldest daughter, Irene Palaiologina. The couple's five sons and two daughters were the progenitors of one of the highest-regarded Byzantine noble families of their time, along with the Palaiologoi. Among the Byzantine Asens, three bore the title of "despotes", three that of "sebastokrator", two "panhypersebastos", one was a "megas doux" and two were titled "megas primikerios". In Greek, the male form of the family name is rendered as Ἀσάνης ("Asanis") and the female as Ασανίνα ("Asanina").


title: Palaiologos

text: A smaller branch descends from Elena Asenina of Bulgaria, wife of Nicaean Emperor Theodore II Laskaris.


title: Palaiologos

text: The Asens of Byzantium intermarried with other prominent noble dynasties, including the Kantakouzenos, Doukas, Laskaris, Tornikios, Raoul and Zaccaria families. Notable members of the Asen family in the Byzantine Empire include:


title: Palaiologos

text: The last tsar of Bulgaria, Simeon II is descended from this branch via the Kantakouzenoi, Brankovici families.


title: Palaiologos

text: From Byzantium, the Asens spread as far as Frankish Greece, the Principality of Theodoro, the Principality of Moldavia, the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Aragon.


title: Palaiologos

text: The probable extinction of the senior branch of the imperial Palaiologos family at some point in the 16th century did little to stop individuals in various parts of Europe from claiming descent from the old imperial dynasty. The family name "Palaiologos" had been relatively widespread in the Byzantine Empire, and the family had been quite extensive before a branch of it acceded to the imperial throne. Many of the non-imperial Byzantine Palaiologoi were part of the nobility and served as generals or powerful landowners. In addition to the non-imperial Palaiologoi that were descendants of older collateral lines, Byzantine genealogy is also made complicated by the fact that it was common in Byzantium to adopt the family name of your spouse or mother, if that was more prestigious.


title: Palaiologos

text: Many Byzantine nobles found themselves in Constantinople in 1453, fighting against the Ottomans in their final attack. Some, such as Theophilos Palaiologos, lost their lives in the battle, whereas others were taken prisoner and executed. Nobles that could escape mostly did, many fleeing to the Morea where they had estates. There, they faced a dilemma. The Byzantine Empire had fallen and the rulers of the Morea, Thomas and Demetrios, appeared more interested in their own rivalry than in organizing resistance against the Ottomans. As such, many of them escaped into Western Europe either before or after the Morea fell in 1460.


title: Palaiologos

text: Many Byzantine refugees, though unrelated to the emperors, legitimately bore the name Palaiologos due to the extensive nature of the family. Because the name could lend whoever bore it prestige (as well as possible monetary support), many refugees fabricated closer links to the imperial dynasty. Many Western rulers were conscious of their failure to prevent Byzantium's fall and welcomed these men at their courts. The refugees were helped in that many in Western Europe would have been unaware of the intricacies of Byzantine naming customs; to Western Europeans, the name Palaiologos meant the imperial dynasty. Though such Palaiologoi, imperial or not, were mainly concentrated in northern Italy, such as in Pesaro, Viterbo or Venice, other Greek refugees travelled across Europe, many ending up in Rome, Naples, Milan, Paris or in various cities in Spain.


title: Palaiologos

text: 'Palaiologos' as a last name continues to survive to this day in various variants. Common versions of the last name used today include the standard "Palaiologos" (approximately 1,800 people, most common in Greece), "Palaiologou" (approximately 2,000 people, again most common in Greece), "Paleologos" (approximately 500 people, most common in the United States but present worldwide) and "Paleologo" (approximately 250 people, most common in Italy). These modern Palaiologoi cannot be confidently proven to descend from the imperial dynasty, or the medieval family which produced it. Because people with the name live throughout the world and might not even be related in the first place, creating an all-encompassing modern Palaiologos genealogy is next to impossible.


title: Palaiologos

text: It is possible that many of the modern people who bear the name are descended from wealthy Greeks in the Ottoman period, who commonly assumed Byzantine surnames and claimed descent from the famous noble houses of their Byzantine past.' Some might be genuine descendants of the imperial family as several of the imperial Palaiologoi are recorded as having had illegitimate children; for instance, Theodore II, Despot of the Morea, is known to have had several illegitimate children.'


title: Palaiologos

text: The Paleologus family in Pesaro, attested from the early 16th century onwards, claimed descent from 'John Palaiologos', a purported third son of Thomas Palaiologos. Their genealogy mainly derives from the tombstone of Theodore Paleologus (d. 1636), which lists Theodore's male-line ancestors five generations back, reaching Thomas.' With the sole exception of Thomas's purported son John, the existence of the rest of Theodore's immediate ancestors can be verified through records at Pesaro.' The earliest record of John's existence other than Theodore's tombstone are the writings of the Greek scholar Leo Allatius, who wrote in 1648, too late for his works to be considered independent evidence. Allatius was the keeper of the Vatican Library and would have had access to its vast collection of books and records and might have deduced his findings from there.' As such, it is possible that Allatius had access to earlier documents, now lost, which would have proven the legitimacy of the Pesaro line. Allatius gives the sons of Thomas as "Andrea, Manuele and Ioanne".' It would be difficult to explain why Allatius, a respected scholar, would simply make up a member of an ancient dynasty.' The absence of any mentions of John Palaiologos in contemporary sources means that the Paleologus family's status as genuine male-line descendants of the last few Byzantine emperors can not be proven, but it is not impossible. None of their own contemporaries appear to have doubted their imperial descent.'


title: Palaiologos

text: In 1578, the members of the family living in Pesaro were embroiled in a scandal as brothers Leonidas and Scipione Paleologus, and their nephew Theodore, were arrested for attempted murder.' What happened to Scipione is not known, but Leonidas was executed. On account of his young age, Theodore was exiled from Pesaro rather than executed.' Following his exile, Theodore established himself as an assassin and appears to have garnered an impressive reputation.' In 1599, he entered into the service of Henry Clinton, the Earl of Lincoln, in England.' Theodore lived in England for the rest of his life and fathered six children,' whose fates were caught up in the English Civil War of 1642–1651. His son Ferdinand Paleologus, escaping the war, settled on the recently colonized island of Barbados in the Caribbean, where he became known as the "Greek prince from Cornwall" and owned a cotton or sugar plantation.'


title: Palaiologos

text: Ferdinand died in 1670 and was survived only by his son, Theodore.' Theodore left Barbados to work as a privateer, serving aboard a ship called "Charles II", and died at A Coruña, Spain in 1693.' Theodore had a son, who probably predeceased him,' and was survived only by a posthumous daughter, Godscall Paleologue, born in January 1694.' Nothing is known of Godscall's life, the only record of her existence being her baptismal records. She was the last recorded member of the family and, if their claim to descend from the imperial dynasty was true, the last true heir of the Palaiologan emperors.


title: Palaiologos

text: Because Venice was the only major non-Muslim power in the Eastern Mediterranean, it represented an appealing destination for Byzantine refugees as the empire fell. Numerous people with the last name Paleologus are recorded in Venice in the 15th and 16th centuries, many serving as "stratioti" (mercenary light-armed cavalrymen of Greek or Albanian origin). Venetian documents frequently refer to their "strenuous" prowess in service to the Venetian Republic. Venice had first become interested in hiring "stratioti" after witnessing the prowess of Greek and Albanian soldiers in the First Ottoman–Venetian War of 1463–1479.


title: Palaiologos

text: The Venetian Palaiologoi were not related to the imperial family, but they might have been distant cousins. One of the earliest references to Palaiologoi in Venice is a 1479 Senate decision concerning Theodore Palaiologos, who had recently proven himself in a campaign in Friuli. Theodore had a well-documented career as a "stratiote". Born in 1452, and probably originally from Mystras in the Morea, Theodore was originally a debt collector for the Ottomans in the Morea. In 1478, Theodore travelled to Venice with his father, Paul, and became a "stratiote". For his merits in the service of Venice, Theodore was granted the island Cranae, though he later ceded it to another family. In 1495, Theodore partook in a siege of Novara and also partook in later battles in Savona and Cephalonia. Due to his knowledge of the Turkish language, Theodore also accompanied Venetian ambassadors in diplomatic missions to the Ottoman Empire, visiting Constantinople several times. He died in 1532, being buried in the Orthodox church of San Giorgio dei Greci.


title: Palaiologos

text: Theodore had married Maria, a daughter of a man by the name Demetrios Kantakouzenos. That he could marry a genuine member of the noble Kantakouzenos family indicates that he held a certain noble status. Theodore was one of the key players in the Greek community in Venice, having helped the Greek refugees there achieve permission to construct the San Giorgio dei Greci church in the first place, and his family was highly regarded by the locals. Theodore's descendants and relatives lived on in Venice and its territories long after his death. His nephew, Zuanne Paleologo, and two of Zuanne's sons, died on Cyprus, fighting the Ottomans during the 1570 Siege of Nicosia in the Fourth Ottoman–Venetian War. The 1570 will of Demetri Paleologo, a son of Theodore, begins with "Io Demetri Palleollogo, da Constantinopoli ...". Over a century had passed since Constantinople, a city Demetri had never seen, had fallen and yet he retained lingering dreams of the city.


title: Palaiologos

text: A man by the name Andrea Paleologo Graitzas, attested in Venice in 1460, supposedly has living descendants, with numerous people with the last name Palaiologos (or variations thereof) living in Athens today claiming to descend from him.


title: Palaiologos

text: Some nobles with the last name Palaiologos remained in Ottoman Constantinople, and even prospered in the immediate post-conquest period. In the decades after 1453, Ottoman tax registers show a consortium of noble Greeks co-operating to bid for the lucrative tax farming district including Constantinople and the ports of western Anatolia. This group included names like "Palologoz of Kassandros" and "Manuel Palologoz". This group stood in close contact with two powerful viziers, Mesih Pasha and Hass Murad Pasha, both of whom were reportedly nephews to Constantine XI Palaiologos and had been forced to covert to Islam after Constantinople's fall, as well as with other converted scions of Byzantine and Balkan aristocratic families like Mahmud Pasha Angelović, forming what the Ottomanist Halil İnalcık termed a "Greek faction" at the court of Mehmed II.


title: Palaiologos

text: Numerous people with the last name Palaiologos, living on the island of Syros in Greece, have historically claimed descent from a supposed son of Andronikos Palaiologos, one of Emperor Manuel II's sons and Despot of Thessaloniki. Their descent is questionable since there is no surviving contemporary evidence that Andronikos had children. That Andronikos suffered from elephantiasis and epilepsy, and that he died at a young age, makes it unlikely that he married and had a son.


title: Palaiologos

text: Another family which claims to descend from the old imperial dynasty are the Paleologu of Romania, claiming to be the descendants of an otherwise unattested son of Theodore II Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea, called Emanuel Petrus (Manuel Petros in Greek). The Paleologu also live in Malta and France, one of the most famous members of the family being the French diplomat Maurice Paléologue, who in his lifetime repeatedly asserted his imperial descent.' The ancestry of the Paleologu can be traced to Greeks with the name Palaiologos, but not to the imperial family. In the 18th century, several Phanariots (members of prominent Greek families in the Fener quarter of Constantinople) were granted governing positions in the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (predecessors of Romania) by the Ottomans. The Phanariots sent to Wallachia and Moldavia included people with the last name Palaiologos, ancestors of the Paleologu family.'


title: Palaiologos

text: Some Italian genealogies from the 17th century onwards ascribe further sons to Thomas Palaiologos, in addition to both Andreas, Manuel and the unverified John. Notably, these include a supposed older son called Rogerio or Ruggerio, supposedly born around 1430 and sent as a hostage to Alfonso the Magnanimous of Aragon and Naples. Supposedly, Rogerio was responsible for erecting the "Spirito Santo" church, which still stands, in Casalsottano, a hamlet of the Italian "comune" San Mauro Cilento.' Rogerio was supposedly survived by his two children John (Giovanni) and Angela.' Giovanni was supposedly granted Perito and Ostigliano in Salerno' and his descendants adopted the name "Paleologo Mastrogiovanni" (or just "Mastrogiovanni") in his honour.' The Paleologo Mastrogiovanni family is an extant family in Italy, but their claimed family history mainly derives from oral tradition, with few documents supporting it. None of the documents have been authenticated and there are several issues with the overall reconstruction of events and descent.' Modern researchers overwhelmingly dismiss the existence of Rogerio as fantasy, given his clearly Italian first name, the unlikelihood of a potential imperial heir being kept as a hostage in Italy and that there are no mentions of such a figure in Byzantine records. The contemporary historian George Sphrantzes, who described the life of Thomas Palaiologos in detail, wrote on the birth of Andreas Palaiologos on 17 January 1453 that the boy was "a continuator and heir" of the Palaiologan lineage, a phrase which makes little sense if Andreas was not Thomas's first-born son.'


title: Palaiologos

text: During most of their tenure as Byzantine emperors, the Palaiologan dynasty was not well-liked by their subjects. Not only were the means the family had used to gain the throne grim, but their religious policy alienated many within the empire. The Palaiologan emperors aspired to reunite the Eastern Orthodox Church with the Catholic Church of Rome, to ensure legitimacy in the eyes of the West and in an attempt to secure aid against the many enemies of their empire. Michael VIII succeeded in a union at the Second Council of Lyons in 1274, which formally reunited the churches after more than two centuries of schism. Michael VIII was taunted with the words "you have become a Frank", which remains a term in Greek to taunt converts to Catholicism to this day. The union was passionately opposed by the Byzantine people and of Byzantine rulers not actually under Michael VIII's control, such as John II Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond, and Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas, the ruler of Epirus. Despite Michael VIII's efforts, the union was disrupted in 1281, after just seven years, when he was excommunicated by Pope Martin IV. When Michael VIII died in 1282 he died condemned as a traitor and a heretic by his people, who saw him as someone who had bullied them into submission under the Church of Rome. He was denied the traditional funeral pomps of an Orthodox Emperor.


title: Palaiologos

text: Though Michael's successor Andronikos II quickly repudiated the Union of the Churches, many of the Palaiologan emperors worked to ensure its restoration. As the Ottoman Empire grew to encompass more and more Byzantine territory, emperors such as John V and Manuel II labored intensely to restore the union, much to the dismay of their subjects. At the Council of Florence in 1439, Emperor John VIII reaffirmed the Union in the light of imminent Turkish attacks on what little remained of his empire. To the Byzantine citizens themselves, the Union of the Churches, which to John VIII served as an assurance of a great western crusade against the Ottomans, was a death warrant for their empire. John VIII had betrayed their faith and as such their entire imperial ideology and world view. The promised crusade, the fruit of John VIII's labor, ended only in disaster as it was defeated by the Turks at the Battle of Varna in 1444. In 1798, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Anthemus, wrote that the Ottoman Empire had been imposed by God himself as the supreme empire on Earth due to the heretical dealings of the Palaiologan emperors with Christians in the West.


title: Palaiologos

text: There is no evidence that the final emperor, Constantine XI, ever repudiated the union achieved at Florence in 1439. Many of his subjects had chastized him as a traitor and heretic while he lived and he, like many of his predecessors before him, died in communion with the Church of Rome. Nevertheless, Constantine's actions during the Fall of Constantinople and his death fighting the Turks redeemed the popular view of the Palaiologan dynasty. The Greeks forgot or ignored that Constantine had died a "heretic", many considering him a martyr. In the eyes of the Orthodox church, Constantine's death sanctified him and he died a hero. As Ottoman rule continued, many Greeks dreamed of a day when a new emperor would once more rule a sizeable Greek domain. Some even believed that Constantine XI would return to rescue them, that he wasn't actually dead but merely asleep, awaiting a call from the heavens to return and restore Christian control over Constantinople.


title: Palaiologos

text: Beyond Constantine's martyrdom, the Palaiologos dynasty had a lasting impact on the Greeks throughout the centuries of Ottoman rule, having been the last family to govern independent Greek lands. As late as the 19th century, after the Greek War of Independence had resulted in the creation of a new independent Greek state, the provisional government of liberated Greece sent a delegation to Western Europe in search of possible descendants of those imperial Palaiologoi that had escaped into exile. The delegation visited places in Italy where Palaiologoi were known to have resided and even came to Cornwall, where Theodore Paleologus had lived in the 17th century. Local tradition on Barbados has it that the delegation also sent a letter to the authorities on Barbados, inquiring if descendants of Ferdinand Paleologus still lived on the island. The letter supposedly requested that if that was the case, the head of the family should be provided with the means of returning to Greece, with the trip paid for by the Greek government. Ultimately, the delegation's search was in vain and they found no living embodiments of their lost empire.


title: Palaiologos

text: In order to conserve space, the family tree focuses on people of male-line descent, omitting many children and descendants of female members of the dynasty. Most marriages that did not produce children are also omitted. Emperors are indicated with bold text and women are indicated with italics. Dotted lines indicate illegitimate offspring. Family trees for related families (i.e. Doukas, Komnenos, Angelos, Kantakouzenos etc.) simplified, with multiple figures omitted, see their articles for more detailed charts. The family tree only follows the imperial branch of the family.


title: Naked News

text: Naked News is a Canadian news and entertainment program owned by Naked Broadcasting Network. It features nude female news presenters reading news bulletins derived from news wires. The show's production studio is located in Toronto. There are six daily news programs a week and they are approximately 22 minutes long. The female cast members either read the news fully nude, or disrobe as they present their various segments, including entertainment, sports, movies, food, sex and relationships. "Naked News TV!" is an offshoot of the web program and is broadcast on pay TV in various countries around the world.


title: Naked News

text: The show recruits women from around the world to appear on a regular basis or as guest reporters. Their auditions, where women try out for the program, is one of the most popular segments and generates the most viewer feedback. Another popular segment is "Naked in the Streets" in which a reporter goes topless in the street and asks the public about various topics.


title: Naked News

text: "Naked News" was conceived by Fernando Pereira and Kirby Stasyna and debuted in December 1999 as a web-based news service featuring an all-female cast. It began with only one anchor, Victoria Sinclair, who worked for the program until 2015. As the show grew, the number of female anchors increased. Roxanne West joined Sinclair as a lead anchor, and other cast members included Holly Weston, April Torres, Lily Kwan, Sandrine Renard, Erin Sherwood, Athena King, Brooke Roberts, Michelle Pantoliano, Erica Stevens, Samantha Page, Christine Kerr and Valentina Taylor, plus guest anchors. The website was popularized entirely by word of mouth, and quickly became a popular web destination. During the height of its popularity, the website was receiving over 6 million unique visitors per month. In the site's early days, the entire newscast could be viewed for free online. The site was initially supported by advertising, but this changed after the collapse of Internet advertising that occurred with the dot-com crash. By 2002, only one news segment could be viewed for free, and by 2004, no free content remained on the website. Beginning in 2005, a nudity-free version of "Naked News" was available to non-subscribers. Beginning in June 2008, two news segments could be viewed for free. However, this ended in December 2009.


title: Naked News

text: Following the success of "The Naked Truth", a similar show on Russian television, "Naked News" launched "Naked News TV!", the first Internet news program to successfully transfer from website to cable television. It was initially broadcast on Viewers Choice in Canada in 2001, and was first broadcast in the United States a few months later by the iN DEMAND cable TV service on its Too Much for TV pay-per-view network that also included "Girls Gone Wild". In 2002, it was broadcast in Australia on The Comedy Channel via cable and satellite television platforms Foxtel and Austar. The British channel Sumo TV briefly showed episodes of "Naked News", while the free-to-view Playboy One broadcast the show at 9:30pm Mondays-Fridays until its closure in 2008.


title: Naked News

text: "Naked News" launched a Japanese version of the show in 2006. Japanese broadcasting regulations prohibited the presenters from being fully naked, allowing them only to strip to their underwear. In 2007, the Japanese government changed broadcasting guidelines to prevent the show receiving a subsidy for the section delivered in sign language.


title: Naked News

text: A male version of the show ran from 2001 until 2007. It was created to parallel the female version, but ceased production as it did not enjoy the female version's popularity and fame. Although it was originally targeted towards female viewers (at one point said to be 30% of the website's audience), the male show later promoted itself as news from a gay perspective.


title: Naked News

text: In 2013, the "Naked News" show was the subject of an eight-part documentary series called "Naked News Uncovered" which was broadcast on Super Channel in Canada.


title: Naked News

text: The female announcers have been featured in almost every medium including television ("CBS Sunday Morning", "The Today Show", "The View", "Sally Jessy Raphaël", and numerous appearances on "Entertainment Tonight" and "ET Insider"), newspapers and magazines ("TV Guide", "Playboy"), and as guests on multiple radio shows, including Howard Stern.


title: Naked News

text: In the late 1990s, British cable television channel L!VE TV broadcast "Tiffani's Big City Tips", in which model Tiffani Banister gave the financial news while stripping to her underwear.


title: Coppicing

text: Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level, resulting in a stool. New growth emerges, and after a number of years, the coppiced tree is harvested, and the cycle begins anew. Pollarding is a similar process carried out at a higher level on the tree in order to prevent grazing animals from eating new shoots. "Daisugi" (台杉, where "sugi" refers to Japanese cedar), is a similar Japanese technique.


title: Coppicing

text: Many silviculture practices involve cutting and regrowth; coppicing has been of significance in many parts of lowland temperate Europe. The widespread and long-term practice of coppicing as a landscape-scale industry is something that remains of special importance in southern England. Many of the English language terms referenced in this article are particularly relevant to historic and contemporary practice in that area.


title: Coppicing

text: Typically a coppiced woodland is harvested in sections or "coups" on a rotation. In this way, a crop is available each year somewhere in the woodland. Coppicing has the effect of providing a rich variety of habitats, as the woodland always has a range of different-aged coppice growing in it, which is beneficial for biodiversity. The cycle length depends upon the species cut, the local custom, and the use of the product. Birch can be coppiced for faggots on a three or four year cycle, whereas oak can be coppiced over a fifty-year cycle for poles or firewood.


title: Coppicing

text: Trees being coppiced cannot die of old age as coppicing maintains the tree at a juvenile stage, allowing them to reach immense ages. The age of a stool may be estimated from its diameter; some are so large as much as across that they are thought to have been continually coppiced for centuries.


title: Coppicing

text: Evidence suggests that coppicing has been continuously practised since pre-history. Coppiced stems are characteristically curved at the base. This curve occurs as the competing stems grow out from the stool in the early stages of the cycle, then up toward the sky as the canopy closes. The curve may allow the identification of coppice timber in archaeological sites. Timber in the Sweet Track in Somerset (built in the winter of 3807 and 3806 BCE) has been identified as coppiced "Tilia" species.


title: Coppicing

text: Originally, the silvicultural system now called coppicing was practiced solely for small wood production. In German this is called "Niederwald", which translates as low forest. Later on in Mediaeval times, farmers encouraged pigs to feed from acorns, and so some trees were allowed to grow bigger. This different silvicultural system is called in English "coppice with standards". In German this is called "Mittelwald" (middle forest). As modern forestry ("Hochwald" in German, which translates as High forest) seeks to harvest timber mechanically, and pigs are generally no longer fed from acorns, both systems have declined. However, there are cultural and wildlife benefits from these two silvicultural systems, so both can be found where timber production or some other main forestry purpose (such as a protection forest against an avalanche) is not the sole management objective of the woodland.


title: Coppicing

text: In the 16th and 17th centuries, the technology of charcoal iron production became widely established in England, continuing in some areas until the late 19th century Along with the growing need for oak bark for tanning, this required large amounts of coppice wood. With this coppice management, wood could be provided for those growing industries in principle indefinitely. This was regulated by a statute of 1544 of Henry VIII, which required woods to be enclosed after cutting (to prevent browsing by animals) and 12 standels ("standards" or mature uncut trees) to be left in each acre, to be grown into timber. Coppice with standards (scattered individual stems allowed to grow on through several coppice cycles) has been commonly used throughout most of Europe as a means of giving greater flexibility in the resulting forest product from any one area. The woodland provides the small material from the coppice as well as a range of larger timber for such uses as house building, bridge repair, cart-making and so on.


title: Coppicing

text: In the 18th century coppicing in Britain began a long decline. This was brought about by the erosion of its traditional markets. Firewood was no longer needed for domestic or industrial uses as coal and coke became easily obtained and transported, and wood as a construction material was gradually replaced by newer materials. Coppicing died out first in the north of Britain and steadily contracted toward the south-east until by the 1960s active commercial coppice was heavily concentrated in Kent and Sussex.


title: Coppicing

text: The shoots (or "suckers") may be used either in their young state for interweaving in wattle fencing (as is the practice with coppiced willows and hazel), or the new shoots may be allowed to grow into large poles, as was often the custom with trees such as oaks or ashes. This creates long, straight poles which do not have the bends and forks of naturally grown trees. Coppicing may be practised to encourage specific growth patterns, as with cinnamon trees which are grown for their bark.


title: Coppicing

text: Another, more complicated system is called "compound coppice". Here some of the standards would be left, some harvested. Some of the coppice would be allowed to grow into new standards and some regenerated coppice would be there. Thus there would be three age classes. Coppiced hardwoods were used extensively in carriage and shipbuilding, and they are still sometimes grown for making wooden buildings and furniture.


title: Coppicing

text: In France, sweet chestnut trees are coppiced for use as canes and "bâtons" for the martial art Canne de combat (also known as "Bâton français").


title: Coppicing

text: Some "Eucalyptus" species are coppiced in a number of countries, including Australia, North America, Uganda, and Sudan.<ref name='dpi.vic.gov.au/Trees&NativeVege-FarmFor-ManagCoppiceEuc'> </ref>


title: Coppicing

text: The Sal tree is coppiced in India, and the "Moringa oleifera" tree is coppiced in many countries, including India.


title: Coppicing

text: Sometimes former coppice is converted to high-forest woodland by the practice of singling. All but one of the regrowing stems are cut, leaving the remaining one to grow as if it were a maiden (uncut) tree.


title: Coppicing

text: In southern Britain, coppice was traditionally hazel, hornbeam, field maple, ash, sweet chestnut, occasionally sallow, elm, small-leafed lime and rarely oak or beech, grown among pedunculate or sessile oak, ash or beech standards. In wet areas alder and willows were used.


title: Coppicing

text: Coppices provided wood for many purposes, especially charcoal before coal was economically significant in metal smelting. A minority of these woods are still operated for coppice today, often by conservation organisations, producing material for hurdle-making, thatching spars, local charcoal-burning or other crafts. The only remaining large-scale commercial coppice crop in England is sweet chestnut which is grown in parts of Sussex and Kent. Much of this was established as plantations in the 19th century for hop-pole production (hop-poles are used to support the hop plant while growing hops) and is nowadays cut on a 12 to 18-year cycle for splitting and binding into cleft chestnut paling fence, or on a 20- to 35-year cycle for cleft post-and-rail fencing, or for sawing into small lengths to be finger-jointed for architectural use. Other material goes to make farm fencing and to be chipped for modern wood-fired heating systems.


title: Coppicing

text: In northwest England, coppice-with-standards has been the norm, the standards often of oak with relatively little simple coppice. After World War II, a great deal was planted up with conifers or became neglected. Coppice-working almost died out, though a few men continued in the woods. A small, and growing, number of people make a living wholly or partly by working coppices in the area today.


title: Coppicing

text: Coppice management favours a range of wildlife, often of species adapted to open woodland. After cutting, the increased light allows existing woodland-floor vegetation such as bluebell, anemone and primrose to grow vigorously. Often brambles grow around the stools, encouraging insects, or various small mammals that can use the brambles as protection from larger predators. Woodpiles (if left in the coppice) encourage insects such as beetles to come into an area. The open area is then colonised by many animals such as nightingale, European nightjar and fritillary butterflies. As the coup grows, the canopy closes and it becomes unsuitable for these animals againbut in an actively managed coppice there is always another recently cut coup nearby, and the populations therefore move around, following the coppice management.


title: Coppicing

text: However, most British coppices have not been managed in this way for many decades. The coppice stems have grown tall (the coppice is said to be "overstood"), forming a heavily shaded woodland of many closely spaced stems with little ground vegetation. The open-woodland animals survive in small numbers along woodland rides or not at all, and many of these once-common species have become rare. Overstood coppice is a habitat of relatively low biodiversityit does not support the open-woodland species, but neither does it support many of the characteristic species of high forest, because it lacks many high-forest features such as substantial dead-wood, clearings and stems of varied ages. Suitable conservation management of these abandoned coppices may be to restart coppice management, or in some cases it may be more appropriate to use singling and selective clearance to establish a high-forest structure.


title: Coppicing

text: Coppice and pollard growth is a response of the tree to damage, and can occur naturally. Trees may be browsed or broken by large herbivorous animals, such as cattle or elephants, felled by beavers or blown over by the wind. Some trees, such as linden, may produce a line of coppice shoots from a fallen trunk, and sometimes these develop into a line of mature trees. For some trees, such as the common beech ("Fagus sylvatica"), coppicing is more or less easy depending on the altitude: it is much more efficient for trees in the montane zone.


title: Coppicing

text: Coppicing of willow, alder and poplar for energy wood has proven commercially successful. The Willow Biomass Project in the United States is an example of this. In this case the coppicing is done in a way that an annual or more likely a tri-annual cut can happen. This seems to maximize the production volume from the stand. Such frequent growth means the soils can be easily depleted and so fertilizers are often required. The stock also becomes exhausted after some years and so will be replaced with new plants. The method of harvesting of energy wood can be mechanized by adaptation of specialized agricultural machinery.


title: Coppicing

text: Species and cultivars vary in when they should be cut, regeneration times and other factors. However, full life cycle analysis has shown that poplars have a lower effect in greenhouse gas emissions for energy production than alternatives.


title: University of San Diego

text: The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and School of Law), the two institutions merged in 1972.


title: University of San Diego

text: Since then, the university has grown to comprise nine undergraduate and graduate schools, to include the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES), the Knauss School of Business and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education.


title: University of San Diego

text: USD has 89 undergraduate and graduate programs, and enrolls approximately 9,073 undergraduate, paralegal, graduate and law students. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".


title: University of San Diego

text: Charters were granted in 1949 for the San Diego College for Women and San Diego University, which included the College for Men and School of Law. The College for Women opened its doors to its first class of students in 1952. The Most Reverend Charles F. Buddy, D.D., then bishop of the Diocese of San Diego and Reverend Mother Rosalie Hill, RSCJ, a Superior Vicaress of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, chartered the institution from resources drawn from their respective organizations on a stretch of land known as "Alcalá Park," named for San Diego de Alcalá. In 1954, the College for Men and the School of Law opened. These two schools originally occupied Bogue Hall on the same site of University High School, which would later become the home of the University of San Diego High School. Starting in 1954, Alcalá Park also served as the diocesan chancery office and housed the episcopal offices, until the diocese moved to a vacated Benedictine convent that was converted to a pastoral center. In 1957, Immaculate Heart Major Seminary and St. Francis Minor Seminary were moved into their newly completed facility, now known as Maher Hall. The Immaculata Chapel, now no longer affiliated with USD, also opened that year as part of the seminary facilities. For nearly two decades, these schools co-existed on Alcalá Park. Immaculate Heart closed at the end of 1968, when its building was renamed De Sales Hall; St. Francis remained open until 1970, when it was transferred to another location on campus, leaving all of the newly named Bishop Leo T. Maher Hall to the newly merged co-educational University of San Diego in 1972. Since then, the university has grown quickly and has been able to increase its assets and academic programs. The student body, the local community, patrons, alumni, and many organizations have been integral to the university's development.


title: University of San Diego

text: Significant periods of expansion of the university, since the 1972 merger, occurred in the mid-1980s, as well as in 1998, when Joan B. Kroc, philanthropist and wife of McDonald's financier Ray Kroc, endowed USD with a gift of $25 million for the construction of the Institute for Peace & Justice. Other significant donations to the college came in the form of multimillion-dollar gifts from weight-loss tycoon Jenny Craig, inventor Donald Shiley, investment banker and alumnus Bert Degheri, and an additional gift of $50 million Mrs. Kroc left the School of Peace Studies upon her death. These gifts helped make possible, respectively, the Jenny Craig Pavilion (an athletic arena), the Donald P. Shiley Center for Science and Technology, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Degheri Alumni Center. As a result, USD has been able to host the West Coast Conference (WCC) basketball tournament in 2002, 2003 and 2008, and hosted international functions such as the Kyoto Laureate Symposium at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice and at USD's Shiley Theatre. Shiley's gift has provided the university with some additional, and more advanced, teaching laboratories than it had previously. In 2005, the university expanded the Colachis Plaza from the Immaculata along Marian Way to the east end of Hall, which effectively closed the east end of the campus to vehicular traffic. That same year, the student body approved plans for a renovation and expansion of the Hahn University Center which began at the end of 2007. The new Student Life Pavilion (SLP) opened in 2009 and hosts the university's new student dining area(s), offices for student organizations and event spaces. The Hahn University Center is now home to administrative offices, meeting and event spaces, and a restaurant and wine bar, La Gran Terazza.


title: University of San Diego

text: In 2022, students began taking classes at the new Knauss Center for Business Education, a 120,000-square-foot complex that serves as an innovation and collaboration ecosystem for business students.


title: University of San Diego

text: In the spring of 2022, USD's total enrollment was 9,041 undergraduate, graduate, paralegal and law students from 85 countries and 50 US states.


title: University of San Diego

text: Alcalá Park sits atop the edge of a mesa overlooking Mission Bay and provides stunning panoramic views of San Diego.


title: University of San Diego

text: The philosophy of USD's founder and her fellow religious relied on the belief that studying in beautiful surroundings could improve the educational experience of students. Thus, the university's buildings are designed in a 16th-century Plateresque architecture, a style of the Spanish Renaissance, paying homage to both San Diego's Catholic heritage and the Universidad de Alcalá in Spain.


title: University of San Diego

text: The campus is located approximately two miles north of downtown San Diego, on the north crest of Mission Valley in the community of Linda Vista. From the westernmost edges of Alcalá Park the communities of Mission Hills, Old Town, Point Loma, Ocean Beach, Bay Park, Mission Beach and Pacific Beach can be seen. Also, the Pacific Ocean, San Diego Harbor, the Coronado Islands and La Jolla are visible from the campus.


title: University of San Diego

text: In February 2022, "Travel+Leisure" named USD campus as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States and Best Choice Schools ranked it the most beautiful urban campus in the United States.


title: University of San Diego

text: Though a Catholic university, the school is no longer governed directly by the Diocese of San Diego. Today, a lay board of trustees governs the university's operations. However, the Bishop of San Diego, Robert W. McElroy, retains a seat as a permanent member and retains control of the school's designation of "Catholic."


title: University of San Diego

text: USD offers more than 80 degrees at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels. Students choose from undergraduate and graduate degree programs from the seven schools and college that comprise the University of San Diego:


title: University of San Diego

text: The College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Law are the oldest academic divisions at USD; the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies is the university's newest school. USD offers an honors program at the undergraduate level, with approximately 300 students enrolled annually.


title: University of San Diego

text: USD has a Carnegie Classification of R2- Doctoral University: High Research Activity. Carnegie gives this ranking to “institutions that awarded at least 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees and had at least $5 million in total research expenditures (as reported through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Higher Education Research & Development Survey (HERD)).”


title: University of San Diego

text: USD is the youngest independent institution on the "U.S. News & World Report" list of top 100 universities in the United States. In 2021, University of San Diego was ranked tied for 88th in the "National Universities". U.S. News & World Report also ranked the University of San Diego's undergraduate Engineering program tied for 13th in the U.S. for engineering schools where doctorates are not offered and the #1 Catholic Graduate Nursing School in the nation.


title: University of San Diego

text: The Knauss School of Business was ranked the second-highest undergraduate business school in California, according to the 2022 ranking from Poets & Quants for undergraduate business schools. The School of Business has ranked No. 1 in the nation for two years in a row on "College Factual’s" ranking of Best Real Estate Colleges in the United States and No. 13 of Best Communications Schools in the United States.


title: University of San Diego

text: In February 2022, "Travel+Leisure" named USD campus as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States. In 2021, "The Princeton Review" ranked the University of San Diego 6th in Most Beautiful Campus, 8th in Best Quality of life, 14th in Most Popular Study Abroad Program, and 18th in Green Colleges.


title: University of San Diego

text: In 2014, University of San Diego was ranked the 482nd top college in the United States by Payscale and CollegeNet's Social Mobility Index college rankings. 18% of students are pell-grant eligible.


title: University of San Diego

text: The Toreros compete in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and are members of the West Coast Conference for most sports.


title: University of San Diego

text: The University of San Diego has some of the best athletic facilities on the west coast, as well as in the nation. It includes:


title: University of San Diego

text: USD has hosted NCAA Tournament events in men's and women's soccer, as well as men's and women's tennis. Additionally, between 2001-2003, the Jenny Craig Pavilion played host to the West Coast Conference Basketball Championships, as well as in 2008. Torero stadium has also played host to the 2012 Women's Soccer College Cup.