Empire of Nicaea

• 1. Foundation And Flight

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  In 1204, Byzantine emperor Alexios V Doukas Mourtzouphlos fled Constantinople after crusaders invaded the city. Soon after, Theodore I Laskaris, the son-in-law of Emperor Alexios III Angelos, was proclaimed emperor. He too realized the situation in Constantinople was hopeless and fled to the city of Nicaea in Bithynia. The Latin Empire had poor control over former Byzantine territory. Greek successor states sprang up in Epirus, Trebizond, and Nicaea. Trebizond had broken away as an independent state a few weeks before the fall of Constantinople. Nicaea was the closest to the Latin Empire and was in the best position to attempt to re-establish the Byzantine Empire. Theodore Laskaris was not immediately successful. Henry of Flanders defeated him at Poimanenon and Prusa in 1204. But Theodore was able to capture much of northwestern Anatolia after the Bulgarian defeat of Latin Emperor Baldwin I in the Battle of Adrianople. Henry was recalled to Europe to defend against invasions from Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria. Theodore also defeated an army from Trebizond, leaving him in charge of the most powerful of the successor states.

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• 2. Military Expansion Wars

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  The accession of Vatatzes was initially challenged by the Laskarids. Sebastokratores Isaac and Alexios, brothers of Theodore I, sought the aid of the Latin Empire. Vatatzes prevailed over their combined forces in the Battle of Poimanenon. He secured his throne and regained almost all of the Asian territories held by the Latin Empire. In 1224, the Latin Kingdom of Thessalonica was captured by the Despot of Epirus Theodore Komnenos Doukas. He crowned himself emperor in rivalry to Vatatzes and established the Empire of Thessalonica. It proved short-lived as it came under Bulgarian control after the Battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230. With Trebizond lacking any real power, Nicaea was the only effective Byzantine state left. John III expanded his territory across the Aegean Sea. In 1235, he allied with Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria. This allowed him to extend his influence over Thessalonica and Epirus. In 1242, the Mongols invaded Seljuk territory to the east of Nicaea. They ended up eliminating the Seljuk threat to Nicaea. By 1248, John had defeated the Bulgarians and surrounded the Latin Empire. He continued to take land from the Latins until his death in 1254.

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• 3. Recapture Constantinople

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  In 1260, Michael began the assault on Constantinople itself. His predecessors had been unable to do this. He allied with Genoa. His general Alexios Strategopoulos spent months observing Constantinople to plan his attack. In July 1261, most of the Latin army was fighting elsewhere. Alexios convinced the guards to open the gates of the city. Once inside, he burned the Venetian quarter. Venice was an enemy of Genoa and had been largely responsible for the capture of the city in 1204. Michael was recognized as emperor a few weeks later. This restored the Byzantine Empire. Part of Achaea was soon recaptured. Trebizond and Epirus remained independent Byzantine Greek states. The restored empire also faced a new threat from the Ottomans when they arose to replace the Seljuks. A coin issued by Michael VIII Palaiologos celebrated the liberation of Constantinople from the Latin army.

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• 4. Ideology Hellenism Identity

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  The court of the Nicene state widely used the term Hellenes instead of the earlier Romans to describe its Greek speaking population. Contemporaries preferred the use of Hellas or the adjective Hellenikon for the Empire of Nicaea. Emperor Theodore Laskaris sometimes replaced the terms Romaioi and Graikoi by Hellenes. Emperor Theodore II described his realm as the new Hellas. Patriarch Germanos II used in official correspondence with the western world the term Graikoi to describe the local population. He called it the Empire of the Greeks. During that time there was a concerted ethnic Greek self-identification initiative. Some scholars see the Nicene empire period as an indication of rising ethnic Hellenic consciousness and Greek nationalism. However, these scholars caution that a rise in ethnic consciousness did not affect the official imperial ideology. In the official ideology, the traditional view of Byzantium as the Roman Empire was not overturned. The usage of the word Rhomaioi for subjects of the Nicene emperors demonstrates this. The emperor in this period is frequently compared to Moses or Zorobabel. A speech delivered by Theodore I Laskaris, written by Niketas Choniates, describes him as the Pillar of Fire that guides God's people to the Promised Land.

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• 5. Dynastic Succession Rulers

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  Theodore I Laskaris ruled from 1204 until 1222. John III Doukas Vatatzes succeeded him and ruled until 1254. Theodore II Laskaris followed and reigned from 1254 to 1258. John IV Laskaris succeeded his father but was still a child when he took power. He was put under the regency of the general Michael Palaiologos. Michael proclaimed himself co-emperor as Michael VIII in 1259. Soon after, he defeated a combined invasion by Manfred, the Despot of Epirus, and the Latin Prince of Achaea at the Battle of Pelagonia. Michael VIII Palaiologos restored the Byzantine Empire in 1261. The usurpation of the legitimate Laskarid ruler John IV Laskaris by Michael VIII Palaiologos alienated much of the populace against the restored Byzantine Empire at Constantinople. John IV was left behind at Nicaea. He was later blinded on Michael's orders on his eleventh birthday, the 25th of December 1261. This made him ineligible for the throne. He was exiled and imprisoned in a fortress in Bithynia.

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• 6. Aftermath Turkish Conquest

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  After 1261, Constantinople once more became the capital of the Byzantine Empire. The territories of the former Empire of Nicaea were stripped of their wealth. This wealth was used to rebuild Constantinople and fund numerous wars in Europe against the Latin states and Epirus. Soldiers were transferred from Asia Minor to Europe. This left the old frontier relatively undefended. Raids by Turkish ghazis were left unchecked. The frontier was increasingly overrun. After the death of Michael VIII in 1282, Turkish raids turned into permanent settlement. They established Turkish beyliks on former Byzantine territory. While the emperor Andronikos II attempted to improve the situation, it was unsuccessful. By c. 1300, nearly the whole of the former Empire of Nicaea had been conquered by the Turks. Only a tiny strip of territory directly opposite Constantinople clung on. The final end of Byzantine Asia Minor came with the fall of Bursa in 1326. Nicaea fell in 1331 and Nicomedia in 1337. The Nicene Empire consisted of Byzantium's most highly populated Greek region.

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