v57_0394 - NICAEAN EMPIRE - THEODOROS I LASCARIS Aspron trachy (scyphate)

NICAEAN EMPIRE - THEODOROS I LASCARIS

(1208-1224)

After the fall of Constantinople in 1204 and the creation of an Eastern Latin Empire (1204-1261), the Byzantines who had managed to flee the city during the capture of the city and the massacres that followed, found refuge in various parts of the Empire. In Asia Minor, the resistance was organized around Théodore Lascaris and the city of Nicaea. The Sultan of Iconium and the Latin Emperor tried to drive the intruder out of Asia Minor, but they were defeated in 1208 near Nicaea and the Sultan killed. Theodore was recognized as legitimate sovereign by the Patriarch of Constantinople. The next fourteen years were spent defending his new territory by fighting against the Crusaders and their Venetian allies. In 1222, date of the death of Theodore I, his son-in-law, Jean Ducas Vatatzès succeeded him.