[2][5] This unprecedented favour towards low-born men, as well as their subsequent marriage, on the emperor's initiative, to women of prominent noble families, aroused the enmity of the traditional aristocracy.
[2][6] Theodore II died in August 1258 after a short illness, leaving George Mouzalon as regent for the young John IV Laskaris (r. 1258–1261).
[4] Other contemporary members of the family, of uncertain relation to the four brothers, included a governor of the capital of Nicaea, whose first name is unknown, and the mystikos and epi tou kanikleiou John Mouzalon.
After disagreeing with the emperor's unionist religious policies, he was dismissed and flogged, but returned to favour under Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328).
[2][9] Under Andronikos II, the family also regained military offices: Stephen Mouzalon was megas droungarios tou ploimou and led the negotiations with the Catalan Company, while the hetaireiarches George Mouzalon led the Byzantine forces in the Battle of Bapheus against the Ottomans in 1302.