In 1259, Michael VIII Palaiologos became co-emperor to the young John IV Laskaris through a coup and in 1261, following the recapture of Constantinople from the Latin Empire, John IV was deposed and blinded. Michael's successors ruled the Byzantine Empire at its weakest point in history, and much of the Palaiologan period was a time of political and economical decline, partly due to external enemies such as the Bulgarians, Serbs and Ottoman Turks, and partly due to frequent civil wars between members of the Palaiologos family. By the beginning of the 15th century, the emperors had lost any real power, with the empire effectively having become a client state to the new Ottoman Empire. Their rule of the empire continued until 1453, when Ottoman sultan Mehmed the Conqueror conquered Constantinople and the final Palaiologan emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, died in the city's defense. During their rule as emperors, the Palaiologoi were not well-liked by their subjects, mostly on account of their religious policy. The repeated attempts by the emperors to reunite the Greek Orthodox Church with the Roman Catholic Church, and thus place the Byzantine church in submission under the Papacy, was viewed as heresy and treason. Though Constantine XI died in communion with Rome (and thus as a "heretic"), his death in battle against the Ottomans, defending Constantinople, made the Greeks and the Orthodox church remember him as a hero, redeeming popular opinion of the dynasty as a whole. The role of the Palaiologoi as the final Christian dynasty to rule over Greek lands also accorded them a more positive remembrance among Greeks during the period of Ottoman rule.