As soon as it became the capital of the Byzantine Empire in the fourth century, Constantinople had complex ties to imperial legitimacy. When the city was recaptured from the Latin Empire in 1261 , Byzantine men of letters to think again about these ties, at the heart of which lay the question of the legitimacy of the new Palaiologos imperial dynasty. Through the imperial eulogies written between 1261 and 1328, which form the basis of our research, we discover not only a portrayal of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, but also a portrait of the emperor and a reflection on the nature of his power.