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European Kingdoms

Eastern Mediterranean

 

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

In AD 395, the Roman empire finally split permanently, creating formal Eastern Roman and Western Roman empires, acknowledging what had existed in practise for many years.

With the conquest of Constantinople 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 Byzantine (Eastern Roman) throne, as well as the Bulgar and Serb states which also claimed dominance over it.

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 it.

Eastern Roman Emperor Basil II in iconography

(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).)

1204 - 1205

Baldwin I of Flanders

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

Henry of Flanders

Count of Flanders.

1217

Peter de Courtenay

1217 - 1219

Yolanda of Flanders

Countess of Flanders.

1221 - 1228

Robert de Courtenay

1228 - 1237

John of Brienne

1228 - 1261

Baldwin II

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.

 
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