In 1373, while still co-emperor with his father, John V Palaiologos, Andronikos tried to usurp the throne when the Ottoman sultanMurad II forced John V to become a vassal. As a result, Keratsa (along with Andronikos and their son) were imprisoned for three years, until they were liberated by the Genoese. On 12 August 1376, Andronikos IV deposed his father and replaced him as Emperor, with Keratsa as his Empress-consort. The new imperial couple remained in control of Constantinople until 1 July 1379, when John V was restored to his throne. Andronikos IV was reappointed to co-emperor in May 1381 and was given Selymbria to govern, but hostile tensions between John V and Andronikos IV lasted until the death of the latter in 1385.
Keratsa spent the later part of her life as a nun under the name Mathissa. She died in 1390.
^Vassil Gjuzelev: Der letzte bulgarisch-byzantinische Krieg. In: Werner Seibt (Hg.): Geschichte und Kultur der Palaiologenzeit. Referate des Internationalen Symposions zu Ehren von Herbert Hunger. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 1996, S. 29–34
Italics indicates a consort to a junior co-emperor, underlining indicates a consort to an emperor variously regarded as either legitimate or a usurper, and bold incidates an empress regnant.
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