European Kingdoms

Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire
Latin Emperors of the Fourth Crusade at Constantinople / Frankokratia (AD 1204-1261)

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From the start, the capital of the newly-created Eastern Roman empire was based at Constantinople, dedicated by Emperor Constantine 'the Great' in AD 330. In AD 395, the Roman empire finally suffered a permanent split, creating formal Eastern Roman and Western Roman empires within Europe and beyond, acknowledging what had existed in practise for many years.

With the conquest of Constantinople and the defeat of the 'Dynasty of the Angeli' by the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Latin rulers govern the city and much of the former empire, backed by Venice and France. The leader of the Fourth Crusade also sets up other minor Crusader states in Greece, but other territories were lost, including the Albanian principality of Arbanon.

The reigning Eastern Romans withdrew to Nicæa in Anatolia, but rival claimants also established holdings in Trebizond, Epirus, and Thessalonica so that, at one point, there were four claimants to the Eastern Roman throne, as well as the Bulgar and Serb states which also claimed dominance over it.

The idea of Christians crusading against other Christians was strange even by the standards of the Middle Ages, but the reasons behind this are numerous. The 'Great Schism' of 1054 during the latter days of the 'Macedonian Dynasty' and the subsequent decades of separation between the Orthodox Church and the church in Rome was a significant factor.

People from the west were massacred in Constantinople in 1182, a major reminder of the schism in practices and belief. This meant that, in 1203, a number of cash-strapped crusaders who were looking for money to finance a military expedition to Egypt were willing to hear out Alexius Angelos, a claimant to the Eastern Roman throne who encouraged the crusaders to journey to Constantinople.

For members of the Jewish Diaspora who were citizens of the fractured empire, especially the long-term resident Romaniote Jews, conditions abruptly worsened. Anti-Semitic legislation was now more easy to pass in smaller states, and the Jews seemed to bear the brunt of any ill-will from their ruling monarchs.

Principal author(s): Page created: Page last updated:

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade, Susan Wise Bauer (2010), from The Despotate of Epiros, Donald McGillivray Nicol (Blackwell & Mott, 1957), and from External Links: Encyclopædia Britannica, and Jewish Encyclopaedia, and History of the Byzantine Empire (Live Science), and The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire, Jonathan Shepard (Ed, Revised Edition, Cambridge University Press, 2008, and available via the Internet Archive).)

1204 - 1205

Count Baldwin IX of Flanders. Defeated, captured, died.

1205

With the Fourth Crusade having splintered control of the lower Balkans into many pieces, the powerful Asens of Bulgaria are able to make good progress in expanding their empire. The Battle of Adrianople on 14 April 1205 sees Baldwin being defeated by Tsar Kaloyan before being captured and taken into captivity where he dies.

1206 - 1216

Count of Flanders.

1217

1217 - 1219

Countess of Flanders.

1221 - 1228

1228 - 1237

1228 - 1261

The true Byzantine emperor regained Constantinople.

1261

Emperor Michael VIII Palæologus, in exile in Nicæa, now restores Eastern Roman command of Constantinople. The Latin emperors are ousted, although they retain their claim to the throne. In 1281 the holder of that claim is Philip de Courtenay.