The second civil war - The Zealots

he second civil war (1341-54) was mainly carried on in cities such as Constantinople, Thessalonike, Adrianople and Serres. Wherever commercial activity was intense, it was the sailors, the merchants and the bankers who prevailed. A characteristic example of the most radical and violent struggles was Thessalonike, where the Zealots played a leading role.

The Zealots constituted a social group different from the rest of the population. In fact, in historical sources, they are referred to as a new and foreign element in relation to the traditional social structure of the city, and one that was closely connected to those associated with the navy. They most probably had come from the remoter areas of the Empire and the neighbouring islands and had sought refuge in Thessalonike. The people of Thessalonike forcibly took over the administration of the city in the name of the legitimate Emperor, John V Palaiologos, and thus came into conflict with John Kantakouzenos, who expressed the policy of the dynatoi, that is of the aristocracy, and who claimed the city for himself. The Zealots often resorted to extreme measures. It would seem that they even went so far as to confiscate the property of the aristocracy and of the Church, in the name of the common welfare, in order to maintain an army and a navy for the defence of Thessalonike.

Basically this was a power struggle, where the two rival groups derived their strength from different social classes. However, in Byzantium, the aristocracy was still very powerful, whereas the bourgeois element was relatively too weak to be able to assume authority. As a result, the Zealot movement was definitively suppressed in 1350 and the civil war finally ended in 1354.