John IV Laskaris

John IV Laskaris (1250–c. 1305) became emperor of Nicaea in 1258, aged seven, on the death of his father Theodore II. The regent George Mouzalon was murdered by the nobility, and Michael Palaiologos seized the regency, crowning himself co-emperor as Michael VIII in 1259.

After recovering Constantinople in 1261, Michael left John at Nicaea and on 25 December 1261, the boy's eleventh birthday, had him blinded and imprisoned in Bithynia, where he lived as a monk. In 1290 Andronikos II visited him to seek forgiveness. He died around 1305 and was venerated as a saint.