The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt opens a dialogue with the revived Greek empire of Constantinople: the Greek sovereign orders the restoration of the ancient mosque and permits the Egyptian merchants and ambassadors to sail through the Hellespont and Bosporus.

The network of diplomacy laid by Michael VII Palaiologos covers the Il-Khanid Mongols of Iran and of the Golden Horde in Russia, as well as the Mamluks of Egypt.

Michael has fostered communication among the Hohenstaufen supporters in Sicily, the republic of Genoa, and finally and most important, King Peter III of Aragon, the son-in-law of the late Hohenstaufen King Manfred of Sicily, with whom the Greek emperor has formed a secret alliance against Charles d’Anjou, the expansionist monarch of Sicily and Naples.

The vast network of alliances erected by Charles to conquer the Greek East includes factions in Sicily, parts of Italy, Greek Laskarid dissidents, various Slavs of the Balkans, Philip of Courtenay of the former Latin Empire, France, and Venice, and the papacy.