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360 days. Hello,

1:12

everyone, and welcome to the history

1:15

of Byzantium. Episode 290, The

1:17

Despot, Theodore Lascaris. Back

1:25

in Episode 258, I talked about

1:27

the succession plans of the Emperor

1:30

Alexios Angelos Comninos. A.A.K.

1:33

had blinded his brother Isaac Angelos and

1:35

seized the throne in 1195. He

1:39

was backed by a large aristocratic coalition,

1:42

which gave his regime a broad base of

1:44

support. But one of the

1:46

reasons men threw in their lot with A.A.K. was

1:50

the hope that he would favor them in his

1:52

new administration. Alexios

1:54

had no son of his own, and so

1:56

the most tantalizing prospect on offer was

1:59

that he might designate him. you as

2:01

his successor. This

2:03

gave the new Vassillefs several years

2:06

grace where the ruling clan all

2:08

smiled and bowed before him hoping

2:10

that their polite acquiescence would lead

2:13

to promotion and favour. As

2:16

the months passed though tension began to

2:18

develop. At some point the

2:20

Emperor would have to make a decision about the

2:22

future. A lucky few would

2:25

be thrilled with his choice but the rest

2:27

would be angry. In

2:29

early 1199, Angelos

2:31

Comninos made his choice. He

2:34

announced that his two unattached daughters

2:37

would be marrying two prominent men of the

2:39

court, Alexios Palialochos

2:43

and Theodore Lascaris. A

2:46

double wedding followed at the Vlachioni

2:48

Palace, the two men were

2:50

eventually given the title of Despotes,

2:53

meaning Lord or Master, the

2:55

highest rank short of Emperor itself. One

3:00

of these two men would most likely rule

3:03

after the Emperor's death. As

3:07

expected, those not chosen began

3:09

to talk conspiracy. The

3:12

following summer John the Fat made

3:14

his move and despite seizing the

3:16

palace he was eventually cut down

3:18

by the Varangian guard. At

3:21

some point in the next few years

3:23

Alexios Palialochos disappears from the record. This

3:27

left Theodore Lascaris as the obvious

3:29

choice to be the next Roman

3:31

Emperor. What's that? Alexios

3:34

Angelos is sailing here with a Latin fleet?

3:38

Well that doesn't sound good. The

3:41

city has fallen! The city

3:43

has fallen! Theodore

3:46

Comninos Lascaris was

3:48

born around 1174. As

3:52

that middle name attests, the

3:54

Lascarids, like the Angaloy,

3:56

had married into the Comninoi at some

3:58

point in the year. during the last

4:01

century. The family's base

4:03

was in Western Anatolia, but

4:05

Lascaris seems to have lived in the capital for

4:07

the majority of his life. Theodore

4:10

had six brothers, several of

4:12

whom were soldiers, and Theodore

4:15

was described as a daring and fierce

4:17

warrior in his youth. We're

4:20

told that his build was relatively slight,

4:22

that he had a dark complexion, along

4:24

with a long beard which forked at

4:26

the end. He

4:28

was picked up by the Angaloy as a commander

4:31

of one of the palace guard regiments, and

4:33

it was in this capacity that he

4:35

gained the trust and favour of A.A.K.

4:39

Lascaris was about twenty-five when the

4:41

Emperor married him to his daughter,

4:44

clearly seeing in Theodore a

4:46

man he could mould and guide towards higher

4:49

office. Having

4:52

said that, the Vassilafs didn't have limitless

4:55

faith in Theodore's loyalty, because

4:58

he didn't tell him about his

5:00

escape from Constantinople during the First

5:02

Crusader siege in 1203. Lascaris

5:06

was as surprised as anyone when he woke

5:08

up to the news that his patron had

5:10

fled in the night. It

5:13

left Theodore at the mercy of

5:15

Alexios Angelos, who swiftly took control

5:17

of the city. Lascaris

5:21

was thrown into prison, but was left

5:23

alive long enough to make his escape.

5:26

Within a month or so, his friends

5:28

managed to bust him out and ship

5:30

him and his family across the water

5:32

to Anatolia. We

5:35

don't know if Theodore had a say in this

5:37

decision. If he did, then it was

5:39

a telling one. His father-in-law

5:42

had fled west into Thrace, but

5:44

instead of joining him, Theodore headed east.

5:48

Anatolia was both a land free

5:50

of Latin troops and

5:52

his ancestral home. Lascaris

5:56

took his family to Nicaea, the

5:59

largest and safest city in the region and

6:01

begged to be let in. The

6:04

leaders of Nicaea offered sanctuary to

6:07

his wife Anna and their three

6:09

young daughters, but refused to

6:11

take Theodore in. This

6:14

was a wise move, since it wasn't clear what

6:16

the outcome of the Fourth Crusade would be. If

6:19

the Latins emerged victorious, then Nicaea didn't

6:21

want to harbour a rebel. But

6:24

then again if Alexios Angelos Komninos

6:27

returned to power, then honouring his

6:29

daughter and granddaughters only made

6:31

sense. Lascaris

6:34

took the deal, kissed his

6:36

family goodbye and headed south to try

6:38

and raise support for his position. The

6:41

now 30-year-old Theodore must have been

6:43

a capable politician, because

6:45

over the next few months he

6:47

traversed the fragmented political landscape of

6:50

Western Anatolia and turned himself into

6:52

its new ruler. Some

6:55

towns were loyal to the government of Constantinople,

6:58

some to the absent AAK, others

7:01

were being ruled by local strongmen. Lascaris

7:04

had to tour around, giving public speeches

7:06

and pressing the flesh at dinner parties

7:08

to win people over. He

7:11

styled himself as both despot, the

7:13

title given to him by the Emperor, as

7:16

well as husband of the

7:18

Emperor's daughter Anna. This

7:21

was good PR, as it reconciled those

7:23

who wanted both a local leader and

7:26

to be able to honour their oaths

7:28

to the absent Emperor. Lascaris

7:34

also smartly made contact with

7:36

Iconium. The Seljuks were

7:38

going through another period of civil war, which

7:40

was just as well for the Romans. Theodore

7:44

made peace deals with those in possession

7:46

of the capital and was able to

7:48

use the tax revenue he'd gathered to

7:50

pay for step-riders to come and fight

7:52

by his side. With

7:55

increasingly bleak news coming from Constantinople,

7:58

the leaders of Nicaea eventually relented

8:00

and opened their gates to Lascaris.

8:04

Theodore the despot was now

8:06

the effective ruler of Bithynia,

8:08

the northwest corner of Anatolia.

8:10

Further south, local rulers still

8:12

resisted him, but they would have

8:14

to wait since news then came

8:17

of the sack of Constantinople. Theodore

8:21

heard all the gruesome details from

8:23

his brother Constantine, who

8:26

you may recall was the

8:28

last man chosen to be Emperor

8:30

before the synagogue. After

8:32

Motsuflos had fled, the remaining Romans

8:34

headed for the Achia Sophia to

8:36

elect a new leader. Constantine

8:39

had wisely chosen not

8:42

to accept the imperial title, but was

8:44

willing to lead the Varangians in a

8:46

final stand on the Messy. But

8:49

when the guard began to break up, Constantine

8:51

fled and joined his brother at

8:53

Nicaea. He

8:56

was not the last Byzantine to head east. Refugees

8:59

began arriving by the boatload. Though

9:02

this created its own problems, it was a

9:05

boon to Lascaris' cause. He

9:07

could present his newly minted state as

9:09

the natural home for Roman exiles. Many

9:13

prominent government ministers and generals appeared

9:15

and were able to offer their

9:17

services to Theodore. This

9:19

helped establish a proper Roman government in

9:21

short order and acted as a

9:24

magnet for talent from across the Empire, as

9:26

men in distant provinces heard the awful

9:29

news from the Vosphorus and

9:31

had to decide what to do next.

9:36

None of this would matter though if the

9:38

Latin's conquered Nicaea. In

9:40

previous episodes we focused on the Crusader

9:43

conquest of Thrace and Greece, but they

9:45

also sent troops into Anatolia in the

9:47

summer after the sack. They

9:49

had to, since the lands of Bithynia

9:52

were assigned to the new Latin Emperor

9:54

as his thief. It

9:57

was Baldwin's brother Henry who led troops

9:59

across the world. the water and onto

10:01

the shore of Anatolia that summer. Theodore

10:04

gathered up his army, made up

10:06

of the garrison troops of the

10:08

region, aristocratic refugees and Turkic mercenaries,

10:10

and prepared to face them down.

10:13

The results were not pretty. The

10:16

Latin knight Peter of Brassu defeated

10:19

the Romans near the coast in December 1204.

10:22

Then the following spring, Henry routed

10:24

an army led by Constantine Lascaris

10:27

outside the town of Atromition.

10:31

The Latins didn't have it all their own way,

10:33

and they remained short of manpower, but

10:35

these victories allowed them to hoover up

10:38

the coastal towns of Bithynia, and many

10:40

other settlements quickly came to terms with

10:42

the feared Westerners. As

10:45

with most things in life though, timing is

10:48

everything. A month after

10:50

Henry's cavalry charge had won the

10:52

day, his brother Baldwin was dragged

10:54

off into Bulgarian captivity near Adrianople.

10:57

Henry abandoned his position when the call

11:00

came, but arrived too late to save

11:02

his sibling. As

11:04

you know, the Crusader position in

11:06

Thrace collapsed, and Henry was forced

11:08

to remain in Constantinople, desperately trying

11:11

to save the Latin Empire. This

11:14

allowed Theodore Lascaris to save face

11:17

and recover much of the territory that had been

11:19

lost. It also gave

11:21

him time to get some victories under his

11:23

belt and ferment his position in the eyes

11:25

of the Romans of the East. He

11:29

had no shortage of opportunities to hone

11:31

his military skills. Soon

11:34

after the Latins departed, he was attacked

11:36

from the East by the new rulers

11:38

of Trebizond. Their

11:40

story is interesting, but we don't have time to get

11:42

into it right now. What I

11:44

can say is that they made two attempts

11:46

to force their way through Paphlagonia, the

11:49

region to the east of Bithynia, to

11:51

capture a piece of territory. But

11:54

Lascaris Outmaneuvered them and drove them off

11:56

in both 1205 and 1206. Theodore

12:01

next turn signals three local

12:03

Byzantine rulers control different parts

12:06

of the me and a

12:08

valley the fertile region, which

12:10

was most directly connected economically

12:12

to the plateau. In

12:15

turn, Last Garish defeated or co opted

12:17

each of them. The. Used

12:20

both carrot and stick, often

12:22

routing their small armies before

12:24

offering generous terms for their

12:26

surrender. This usually

12:28

included guaranteeing their families states

12:30

would remain in their possession.

12:34

This brought him control of Philadelphia,

12:36

the capital of the tricky see

12:38

on theme and with it the

12:40

network of forts which protected Roman

12:42

territory from Turkey cuttack, He

12:45

was an impressive couple of years.

12:47

For less, Gareth, he had expanded

12:49

his realm, absorbed his rivals, and

12:51

proved his military credentials. He

12:53

even established a small fleet which

12:56

began reincorporated the coastal islands which

12:58

had fallen out of the Roman

13:00

orbit. When.

13:02

The news reached him that his

13:04

father in law Alexis angular communists

13:06

had been captured by Boniface and

13:09

shipped off to Montserrat. He felt

13:11

bold enough to have him self

13:13

declared. Roman. Emperor.

13:18

The. Elites of Western Anatolia were more

13:20

than happy to have their former government

13:22

reestablished in this way. They

13:25

now had someone to mediate between

13:27

them and to defend them from

13:29

the many threats lurking in this

13:31

scary, destabilized world. Las

13:34

Caras had been able to maintain

13:36

the legal and physical structures of

13:39

the Roman state, rerouting their node

13:41

to Nice see A rather than

13:43

Constantinople. This allowed him

13:45

to create a court their modeled on that

13:47

of the Com Ninoy. Caught.

13:50

Titles reflected familial proximity to the

13:52

emperor, and though Las Caras promoted

13:54

men of talent, he also aimed

13:57

to marry them into the new

13:59

ruling coalition. Theodore

14:02

was a generous man. He was

14:04

happy to confirmed the locals in

14:06

their traditional rights and privileges, while

14:09

also finding grand states for new

14:11

arrivals to enjoy. He

14:14

was able to do this by

14:16

taking possession of all the land

14:18

that Constantinople occupation had forfeited. So

14:22

he absorbed crown lands, church

14:24

lands, and monastic estates, keeping

14:26

plenty for himself, but also

14:28

dishing them out to his

14:30

supporters. Within.

14:33

A decade Western Anatolia looked

14:35

to nice see it as

14:37

their Constantinople in Exile and

14:39

last Caris as their new

14:41

wasilla. Unlike

14:44

his rivals in the west, Theodore

14:46

didn't struggle for money, is new

14:48

realm was a prosperous place, and

14:50

by maintaining the tax system, he

14:52

was able to keep the currency

14:54

afloat and therefore pay the army.

14:57

In fact, Less Garish was able to

14:59

hire Latin mercenaries to fight for him.

15:03

Rather living up to their portrayal

15:05

as greedy sell swords in Coney

15:07

Arty's is history. Many western nights

15:09

preferred the guarantee of nice he

15:12

is Gold To the people claim

15:14

that fighting for the new Latin

15:16

Empire would save their souls. Though

15:22

Less was hailed as emperor, events would

15:24

allow him to underline that status. A

15:26

few years later, In

15:29

Twelve o' Six, the sitting patriarch John

15:31

Com A T. Ross passed away. John

15:33

had been holed up in the same

15:35

thracian town as Connie Arty's until his

15:38

death. Though. Coming out

15:40

he said now moved to nice Yeah. The

15:43

Latin said established a new Venetian

15:45

run Patriarchate at Constantinople and refused

15:47

to allow the Romans to name

15:49

a new patriarch of their own.

15:53

So. The remaining orthodox clergy of

15:55

the Empire began to deliberate over

15:57

what to do next. Day.

16:00

Great fear was that without a leader

16:02

they would be absorbed by the Latins

16:04

and they're orthodoxy would be tarnished. By.

16:07

Twelve Oh wait, senior churchman

16:10

formally petitioned Last Caris to

16:12

convene a church council. Which.

16:15

He did in holy week of that.

16:17

Here at Nice? Yeah, The.

16:20

Assembled prelate selected Michael or

16:22

Tory on us as the

16:24

new Patriarch of Romania. Of

16:27

course, some deny the lawfulness of his

16:29

assembly given the absence of so many

16:31

bishops from across the empire. But.

16:34

Many others were relieved and gratefully

16:36

offered their support. To. The

16:38

new Archbishop. The.

16:41

First act of Michael's Patriarchate

16:44

was to officially crown Theodore

16:46

Less Caris as Emperor of

16:48

the Romans. On. Easter

16:50

Sunday sixth of April he

16:52

place the imperial diadem on

16:55

Theodore Head. To

17:00

some extent, Theodore had succeeded, where

17:02

Baldwin, Boniface, and Kalyan had failed.

17:05

He was certainly a more widely supported

17:07

imperial figure than any of them. But

17:11

he was not forced as they

17:13

were to do battle over the

17:15

corpse of Constantinople. This

17:17

allowed him greater flexibility and more time

17:19

to complete his project. Of.

17:22

Course, until he did regain the

17:24

city, his legitimacy would remain in

17:26

question. Of fact,

17:29

that was made plain when a

17:31

serious contender to his throne emerged

17:33

a man we know all too

17:35

well. Alexis and

17:37

Gloss. Comedy. Nos. Ha

17:41

was sipping some wine in a month

17:44

for a palace when news came that

17:46

he was heading back to Romania. what

17:49

was going on he asked well

17:51

someone had offered boniface his family

17:53

a ransom for the former emperor

17:55

and well times are tough so

17:57

we're taking the money Who

18:00

had paid this ransom is a question we'll

18:03

answer next week. For

18:05

now though, Alexis was on a boat and

18:07

headed for Greece. Once

18:10

there, he was given freedom to choose his

18:12

next move. A.A.K.

18:14

had kept up on the news and was

18:16

determined to get back to the top. He

18:19

wanted to be Roman Emperor again and

18:21

felt that the new state created by

18:23

his son-in-law was his by right. So

18:27

he asked to be taken to Anatolia, where

18:29

he would demand that Theodore hand

18:31

Nicaea over to him. Now

18:35

of course Alexis was no fool. He

18:37

wasn't going to do what Morsufloss had

18:39

done and turn up alone and empty-handed.

18:42

Oh no, he was going

18:44

to meet his son-in-law on the

18:46

battlefield, backed by a Seljuk army.

18:50

A.A.K. knew that his son-in-law was not

18:52

going to share power with him. Why

18:55

would he? Why would he bring

18:57

back a failure who'd abandoned his capital

18:59

when he, Theodore, was now a success

19:01

in his own right? So

19:04

Alexis asked to be sailed to

19:06

Atalia, where he would request

19:08

an audience with the Sultan. Timing

19:13

is indeed everything, Alexis thought, as

19:15

he bowed before the Seljuk Sultan

19:17

of Rum, because

19:20

the man who'd emerged victorious from the

19:22

Turkic Civil Wars was a man that

19:24

he knew well, Kai

19:26

Khusrow. Kai

19:28

Khusrow, a title rather than

19:30

a name, was the youngest

19:32

son of Khilij Aslan II,

19:35

the man who'd defeated Manuil Komninos

19:38

at Myriocephalon. When

19:40

the old Sultan died, his youngest son

19:43

seized power, but predictably his brothers challenged

19:45

him and drove him out of Iconium.

19:48

Khusrow had fled to Constantinople, where he

19:50

became a guest of the Emperor, Alexios

19:53

Angelos Komninos. The

19:55

young Turk would live at the Byzantine capital

19:57

for the next seven years. The

20:00

two men knew each other well. Cusro

20:02

may even have been adopted

20:04

or baptized by the Vassilev.

20:08

When his patron fled in the face

20:10

of the Fourth Crusade, Cusro tried to

20:12

interest the Latins in helping him regain

20:14

his throne. They demured,

20:16

so he did it himself. The

20:19

Sultan was more than happy to honour his

20:21

former host and back him in an attack

20:24

on Nicaea. The

20:26

Turks had been unable to take advantage

20:28

of Byzantium's humiliation because of their own

20:30

civil wars. But now, Cusro

20:33

could put that right. Iconium

20:35

had a history of backing Byzantine

20:38

rebels, lending them troops to

20:40

raid the Meander Valley and cause

20:42

chaos. On this occasion,

20:44

the Sultan seems to have wanted more. He

20:47

was going to join AAK

20:49

personally on the battlefield, presumably

20:53

his price for helping the former

20:55

emperor was a piece of Byzantine

20:57

territory. Lascaris

21:00

knew that this was the most serious

21:03

threat he'd ever faced. The

21:05

Turkic army was said to be several thousand

21:07

strong, including steppe riders.

21:11

At most, he could

21:13

command just over 2,000 men, 800 of whom

21:15

were Latin mercenaries. But

21:20

he had no choice. He had to face

21:22

them down. If he allowed

21:24

them to storm through the Meander Valley,

21:26

then men would begin turning to his

21:29

father-in-law for relief. It

21:31

was the summer of 1211, when

21:33

the Turks began to move west into

21:35

Roman territory, terrorising the locals

21:37

as they went. They

21:40

approached the city of Antioch on

21:42

the Meander, about 80 miles east

21:44

of Ephesus, and put it under

21:46

siege. Theodore led

21:48

his forces down to meet them. With

21:51

the city about to fall, Theodore told

21:54

his men to abandon most of their

21:56

supplies and race for the battlefield. In

21:59

the engagement of the Meander Valley, which followed, the Latin

22:01

troops formed the vanguard and stood

22:03

firm in the face of a

22:05

Turkic onslaught. The Westerners

22:07

insisted on fighting hand to hand

22:09

with their lighter-armed but far more

22:11

numerous foe. The

22:14

Latins inflicted serious casualties on the

22:16

Turks but were eventually overwhelmed and

22:18

cut down almost to a man.

22:21

The Roman forces were seemingly not

22:23

offering great support. Some

22:26

even fled when it became clear that the

22:28

Turks were about to envelop their allies. At

22:32

this point we're told that Cai

22:34

Cusro located Theodore Lascaris on the

22:36

battlefield and charged at him, confident

22:40

that his cavalry was superior in every

22:42

way to their Roman counterparts. He

22:45

landed a mighty blow on the Emperor

22:47

with his mace and unhorsed him. But

22:50

Lascaris landed safely, pulled

22:53

himself together, and in the chaos

22:55

of the mille, managed to slice

22:57

one of the legs of the Sultan's

22:59

mighty steed. Cai Cusro

23:01

tumbled to the dirt, where

23:04

Nicaean soldiers fell on him and

23:06

cut off his head. This

23:09

astonishing showdown is recorded in

23:12

both Byzantine and Islamic histories,

23:15

so we know the gist of it at least is true.

23:18

The Turks abandoned the field of battle, and

23:21

Lascaris was left to ponder exactly

23:23

how he'd managed to survive. This

23:29

was a tremendous victory for

23:31

Lascaris. Few in Western

23:34

Anatolia could doubt his legitimacy now.

23:37

He made a new peace treaty with

23:39

the Turks, and in the aftermath of

23:41

the battle he captured his father-in-law. What

23:45

a reunion that must have been. Unfortunately

23:48

Alexios Angulos Comininus had to

23:51

lose his eyes as

23:53

the price of his continued existence. He

23:56

was installed in a monastery near Nicaea, and

23:59

left in peace. until his death a

24:01

year or two later. Despite

24:05

all he had gained from this victory, Lascaris

24:08

had also seen his army sliced

24:11

in half, a fact

24:13

that was not lost on the Latins of

24:15

Constantinople. Within months the

24:17

Emperor Henry had launched an invasion to take

24:19

advantage of the situation. He

24:21

easily drove the Vasilefs from the field of

24:24

battle and seized a number of fortresses

24:26

in the region of Pergamon. As

24:29

usual, the Latins didn't have the

24:31

manpower to dominate the countryside, but

24:33

they now held strong points right

24:35

across the center of Theodore's realm. In

24:41

response, Lascaris decided to turn to diplomacy.

24:44

With Henry called away to the Balkans again, the

24:47

two sides concluded a truce, and

24:50

Theodore made friendly overtures to the

24:52

Papacy and the Venetians as well,

24:55

recognizing that he needed time to build

24:57

his forces back up again. Unlike

25:01

Baldwin, Boniface, and Caloyan, Theodore

25:04

was in no hurry to fill the power

25:06

vacuum. He'd worked very

25:08

hard to establish a state which could

25:10

survive the storms rushing by. In

25:14

time he would plot a path

25:16

back to Constantinople, but for now

25:19

he rested. As

25:21

shall we. Theodore's

25:25

success story is an advert for the

25:27

positive legacy of the Comni Nui. Alexius

25:30

John and Manuil had invested in

25:32

the defenses of western Anatolia, and

25:35

they had proved sturdy enough to withstand attacks

25:37

from east and west. It

25:39

was also another example of

25:41

Roman taxpayers being crucial to

25:44

imperial stability. While

25:46

Henry went scratching around the Balkans

25:48

for revenue, Lascaris could rely on

25:50

Byzantine farmers handing over their surplus

25:53

without complaint. If

25:55

he could keep driving their enemies away, they would

25:57

continue to believe that his tax collection was a

25:59

false. had a right to be

26:01

there. One

26:04

problem which Theodore could do nothing about though was

26:07

that there was another Roman state making

26:09

the exact same claims as Nicaea, that

26:12

they were the true government in exile,

26:15

that they were keeping Orthodoxy alive in

26:17

the face of Latin pressure. Next

26:20

time we move on to

26:22

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