rebuffed and his army was ordered to disband. Further, his relatives in Constantinople were driven into exile or imprisoned, with their property confiscated by the new regents. His mother Theodora died owing to the mistreatment she suffered while under house arrest. His army ignored the new regents' orders and proclaimed Kantakouzenos emperor at Didymoteichon in Thrace as John VI. He accepted this, while continuing to style himself as the junior ruler to John V. Civil War The ensuing civil war lasted six years; calling in foreign allies and mercenaries of every description, the two sides completely disrupted and almost ruined the empire. At first, marched to Thessalonica, which the ruling families planned to hand over to him. Apokaukos anticipated this move and sent a fleet to reinforce the city, obliging John to flee to Serbia, where Stefan Dušan sheltered him and lent him military support. This proved largely ineffectual, and only the intervention of John's old friend and ally Umur of Aydin broke the regency's siege of his headquarters at Didymoteichon. During another attempt on Thessalonica the following year, the Serbians switched sides to support the regency, leaving John stranded once more before that city. Yet again, Umur came to his rescue, and their combined forces broke out of Macedonia to return to Didymoteichon. The war dragged on another four years as neither side could dislodge the other, although time was on 's side. He struck a bargain with the Ottoman Turks, giving Orhan Bey his daughter, Theodora, for his harem and permitting him to take Greek Christians as slaves. The Greco-Turkish force prevailed and entered Constantinople in triumph on 8 February 1347. Empress Anna and John VI agreed that the latter would rule as senior emperor for ten years, after which John V would reach seniority and share power as an equal to Kantakouzenos. The formal coronation of John VI took place on 21 May. Reign During John's reign, the empire—already fragmented, impoverished, and weakened—continued to be assailed on every side. The Genoese, disregarding the terms of the treaty which permitted their colony at Galata, began fortifying and arming it. Their customs dues undercut the Byzantines and meant that as much as 87% of the revenue from control of the Bosphorus went to them instead of the empire. attempted to rebuild the shattered Byzantine navy in preparation for the war he expected to follow a reduction of Constantinople's own