Latin Empire-Byzantine Wars
The Latin Empire-Byzantine Wars refer to a series of conflicts that arose following the establishment of the Latin Empire in 1204, which was a crucial outcome of the Fourth Crusade. Initially, tensions between Greek Christians of the Byzantine Empire and Latin Christians from Western Europe had escalated during the Crusades, leading to a breakdown of relations. The Latin Empire, formed after the Crusaders captured Constantinople, struggled to maintain control over its territories, which became increasingly decentralized as Byzantine nobles established rival states such as the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus.
The early years of the Latin Empire were marked by military defeats, most notably at the hands of the Second Bulgarian Empire, which greatly weakened its authority. Byzantine leaders like Theodore Lascaris and John III Vatatzes successfully resisted Latin incursions and expanded their territories over time. By the mid-13th century, as internal conflicts among the Byzantines continued, a significant turning point occurred when Michael VIII Palaiologos rose to power and decisively defeated Latin forces at the Battle of Pelagonia. This culminated in the unexpected recapture of Constantinople in 1261, effectively ending the Latin Empire and restoring Byzantine rule. The Byzantine Empire would persist for another two centuries, but it remained weakened and fragmented compared to its former centralized strength before the Crusades.
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Latin Empire-Byzantine Wars
At issue: Byzantine recovery of capital and lands from crusaders
Date: 1204–1261
Location: Greece and Thrace around Constantinople
Combatants: Latin Empire of Constantinople and republic of Venice forces vs. empire of Nicea, despotate of Epirus, and Second Bulgarian Empire forces
Principal commanders:Nicean, Emperor John III Vatatzes (1193–1254), Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus (1234–1282); Epirote, Despot Theodore Doukas, Despot Michael II Doukas; Bulgar, Czar Kalojan (d. 1207)
Principal battles: Adrianople, Poimaneon, Pelagonia
Result: Empire of Nicea recovers Constantinople and reestablishes the Byzantine Empire; Latin Empire ends
Background
Bitterness and mistrust grew in the twelfth century between the Greek Christians of the Byzantine Empire and the Latin Christians of Western Europe as the closer contact of the Crusades showed them how much they had come to diverge culturally.
In 1202, the knights gathered at Venice to participate in the Fourth Crusade (1198–1204) found that they could not pay for the ships to take them to their planned target of Egypt. A pretender to the Byzantine throne offered to give them the money for the ships if they would make him emperor. In June, 1203, a crusading army composed half of feudal knights and half of Venetian citizen-sailors appeared by ship at Constantinople. The current emperor fled without fighting in July, and the Byzantines accepted the pretender. In January, 1204, he was killed by a court conspiracy, and the crusaders decided to seize the city for themselves. On April 13, 1204, after a few days of unsuccessful assault, they got in through an undefended postern gate, and the upper classes simply fled, leaving the common people to surrender.
The crusaders elected Baldwin of Flanders the new emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople. Meanwhile, two Byzantine nobles fled in opposite directions and established the despotate of Epirus in western Greece and the empire of Nicea in Asia Minor. The leader of Nicea, Theodore Lascaris, proclaimed himself emperor in 1206.
Action
During the rest of 1204, the crusaders captured much Byzantine territory in Greece and Thrace. They set up localized feudal rule, including a kingdom of Thessalonica in the north and a principality of Achaia in the Peloponnesus, in place of the Byzantines’ strong central government. Therefore, the Latin Empire had effective power only in Constantinople and environs, and the rest of Greece became and remained radically decentralized.
The Latin Empire was mortally wounded at the start by the resurgence of the Second Bulgarian Empire. At Adrianople (April, 1205), the Latin army was slaughtered by the Bulgars under Czar Kalojan, and the Emperor Baldwin disappeared, leaving the empire leaderless and too weak to fight the Byzantine governments in exile. When Henry of Flanders, Baldwin’s brother, invaded the empire of Nicea in 1211, Theodore Lascaris easily held his own against the Latins and their Seljuk Turkish allies and secured his frontiers in Asia Minor by 1214.
The despotate of Epirus’s best leader, Theodore Doukas, captured Thessalonica in 1224 before being captured by the Bulgars in 1230. The next Nicean Emperor, John III Vatatzes, won against the Latin Empire forces at Poimaneon in 1224 and crossed into Europe to take most of Thrace from them without a battle in 1225. He failed to take Constantinople in 1234–1236 because of the Venetian fleet, but he took Thessalonica from the Epirotes in 1246. This gave him a common border with the despotate, and the two Byzantine states fought each other through the 1250’s for the privilege of despatching the weak Latin Empire.
In January, 1259, a Nicean nobleman who had proved himself in battle against Epirus in 1257 usurped the throne as the Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus. The despot Michael II Doukas, fearing his potential strength, gathered an unnatural coalition of Greeks and Latin feudal rulers—not including the Latin emperor—to fight Nicea at the most important battle of the war, Pelagonia (September, 1259). The despot was driven off, his son defected to Nicea, and Michael VIII crushed or captured the Latin forces. He was now free to attack the Latin Empire directly.
The end of the Latin Empire was as much a fluke as its beginning. While fighting Epirus again in 1261, Michael sent a force of 800 past Constantinople on a related errand. Hearing from local civilians that the defending forces were away from the city, these men scaled the walls and got in on the spur of the moment. The Latins evacuated by ship without a fight, and Byzantine rule was reestablished.
Aftermath
The Byzantine Empire survived for another two hundred years and took the despotate of Epirus in 1339 but did not succeed in ending the feudal decentralization of Greece; therefore, it remained much weaker than it was before 1204.
Bibliography
Angold, Michael, A Byzantine Government in Exile: Government and Society Under the Laskarids of Nicaea (1204–1261). London: Oxford University Press, 1975.
Geanakoplos, Deno John. “Greco-Latin Relations on the Eve of the Byzantine Restoration: The Battle of Pelagonia, 1259.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 7 (1953): 99–141.
Nicol, Donald M. The Despotate of Epiros. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1957.
Wolff, Robert Lee. Studies in the Latin Empire of Constantinople. London: Variorum, 1976.