John Drimys

John Drimys (Greek: Ἰωάννης Δριμὺς) was a Byzantine priest who led a failed conspiracy against Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos in 1305.

He came from the "west" (most likely Epirus or Thessaly) to Constantinople.[1][2] Claiming that he was a descendant of the Laskaris family, which had ruled the Empire of Nicaea until it had been usurped by the Palaiologoi, he headed a conspiracy against Andronikos II Palaiologos. The monastery of Mosele served as their headquarters.[3] The plot was discovered in the winter of 1305, and he was tried, condemned and defrocked by Patriarch Athanasius I of Constantinople.[1][4]

As Donald Nicol comments, Drimys' plot was the last pro-Laskarid restoration attempt: the fall of Byzantine Asia Minor, a stronghold of pro-Laskarid sentiment, to the advancing Turks, as well as the resolution of the Arsenite Schism, which was also tied to the Palaiologan usurpation, deprived the cause of centres of support.[4]