[2] A man of impeccable morals and a good helper to his father, he was also known as a brave and energetic soldier, willing to make personal sacrifices to pay or encourage his troops; the Catalan military chronicler Ramon Muntaner said about him: "Emperor Michael was one of the bravest knights in the world".

[3] Despite his military prestige, he suffered several defeats, for unclear reasons: his inability as a commander, the deplorable state of the Byzantine army or just simply bad luck.

[6] Michael IX was the eldest son of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos and his first wife Anna, daughter of King Stephen V of Hungary.

In early spring of 1302, Michael IX made his first campaign against the Ottoman Empire, which he was very proud of in advance, for he had long wanted (as the historian George Pachymeres reports) to get a chance to prove himself in battle.

[13] Under his command, up to 16,000 soldiers were collected,[3] 10,000 of whom were a detachment of mercenary Alans;[14][15] the latter, however, performed their duty badly and plundered both the Turkish population and the Greek with equal zeal.

Michael IX camped at the fortress of Magnesia ad Sipylum in Asia Minor (modern day Manisa, Turkey), not far from Smyrna, where in ancient times a great battle between the Roman Republic and the Seleucid Empire had taken place.

Seeing the low morale of his people, Michael IX didn't dare to start the battle first, since the Turks managed to take all advantageous positions —the peaks of the surrounding mountains and shelters in the forests— and at the very first collision he would have easily repulsed the onslaught of Greek militia and light Alanian cavalry.

The Emperor, seeing that the Massagets (that is, the Alans) fled and unable to resist the barbarians with a small number of soldiers, locked himself in the hardest fortress, Magnesia, and limited himself to just observing how it would end.

[14]After defeat and a short stay in the fortress of Magnesia, Michael IX retreated to Pergamum[3] and then went to Adramyttium, where he met the New Year of 1303, and by the summer he was in the city of Cyzicus.

But by that time the Turks had already seized the area along the lower reaches of the Sangarios River and defeated another Greek army in the town of Bapheus, near Nicomedia (27 July 1302).

By that time, the Bulgarians had already managed to conquer the fortresses of Kopsis, Kryn, Meglij, Vereya, Diavena, Ichera, Mokren, Sliven, Sotir, Pyrgitsion, Diampol, Ktenia, Debelt, Rusokastro, Lardea, Markeli, Aytos, Mesembria, Anchialos, Pyrgos, Apolonia and Ahtopol, all along the southern Black Sea coast.

According to Nicephorus Gregoras, Roger tried to play a dishonest game: he plundered Greek settlements, made sure that he was given ownership of all of Anatolia with the islands and incomes with the right to distribute fiefs to his vassals and maintain a personal army, and demanded from the Byzantine emperors a salary for his soldiers in the amount of 100,000 gold and extorted another 300,000.

5,000 Catalans, angry with the Byzantines, united with a Turkish detachment of 500 warriors, fortified in Gallipoli, instantly cutting off all the Greek townspeople, and began to raid Thrace, plundering it day and night.

[21] Since their insolence at that time seemed completely unbearable, Michael IX, taking all the Thracian and Macedonian regiments, the Alan auxiliary cavalry and also adding to them about 1,000 Turcopoles (baptized Turks), led by their commander Melekh, approached the Apros fortress (ancient Theodosiopolis), the plain east of which was occupied by the enemy.

The Turcopoles with the Massagets (Alans) made up the left wing, on the right were selected horsemen from the Thracians and Macedonians, and in the middle the rest, a very large part of the cavalry, together with the infantry.

[23]Michael IX retreated to Didymoteicho, where he met Andronikos II, who gave his son a long and severe reprimand, since he unnecessarily exposed himself to mortal risk.

As for the victorious Catalans, for the next two years they freely plundered Thrace, then devastated Macedonia and, finally, left to seek glory in Thessaly and central Greece.

The Byzantines were confident of their success, since they far outnumbered their enemies: the Turks were only 1,300 cavalry and 800 infantry,[28] but as soon as the Turkish horsemen appeared, led by their chief named Halil, the peasants suddenly fled.

The young talented military leader Philes Palaeologus saved the situation, asking the Emperors for permission to independently recruit troops and commanders to fight the Turks.

[29] Alanian, Turkish, Catalan, Serbian mercenary detachments and at times simple peasant militias were the only warriors at the head of which Michael IX had to repulse the enemy.

But the commanders were unable to curb cowardice, greed and rebelliousness in their new soldiers, turning into open rebellion and disobedience in a number of cases, which strongly questioned the empire's ability to repel enemies and ultimately led to its destruction.

It is curious that Philes Palaeologus, the only Byzantine military leader who achieved victory under Michael IX, began by completely refusing to deal with mercenaries and peasant "warriors".

[3][21] The marriage was proposed by Andronikos II in the hope of reducing the threat of restoring the power of the Latins in the Byzantine Empire and reconciling with both the Holy See and the European monarchs, who frightened Constantinople with a new Crusade; however, after several years of fruitless negotiations and the decisive objection from the French king, the purposed union was abandoned by 1295, when Michael IX was already married.

In addition to Catherine of Courtenay, Andronikos II considered a number of other possibles brides for his eldest son: marriage proposals from Constantinople went to the Sicilian and Cypriot courts.

Since this happened often...the Emperor finally lost his patience...in conclusion, he hated her very bed...[42]After one of the quarrels with her husband, Irene, along with her sons, had to leave Constantinople and retire to Thessaloniki.

[43][44] In October 1319, Michael IX was appointed by his father to govern Thessalonica, where, according to Nicephorus Gregoras, he had to try to put an end to the enmity between the Thessalians and the Pelasgians, which had lasted for many years.

[45] He humbly accepted his father's will and, together with his wife Rita-Maria, went to live in this city, despite the well-known prophecy at that time, according to which Michael IX was destined to die in Thessalonica, and which, as they say, worried him greatly.

Michael IX died on 12 October 1320 in the city of Thessalonica;[5][46] reportedly, the cause of his death was because he couldn't stand the news of the successive deaths of his daughter Anna and son Manuel, who was mistakenly killed by soldiers of his older brother Andronikos III: When the Despot Manuel died of the wound he had received, and the rumor of this reached Emperor Michael, who was living in Thessaloniki ; then —what to say?— it struck his heart deeper than any arrow, so that, suppressed by obsessive thoughts of an unfortunate adventure, he underwent a terrible illness, which, after a little, brought him to the grave.

[48] In the chrysobull of Iviron Monastery, Michael IX defined his role in the country and society as "Patron saint of subjects in the interests of the common good".