Despotate Epirus

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The world of states of Romania after the 4th crusade in 1204
Chronological overview.
April 1204 The participants of the 4th crusade conquer Constantinople.
The breakup and division of the Byzantine Empire.
Autumn 1204 Michael Komnenos Dukas takes over the rule in Arta
and thus establishes the Epirotischen state.
1212 Conquest of large parts of Thessaly in the war against the
Latin Kingdom of Thessaloniki.
1213-1214 War against the Republic of Venice. The Epirots conquer
Dyrrachion and Corfu.
1214 Expansion into Macedonia, Ohrid becomes Epirotic.
Early 1215 Michael I is assassinated, his brother
Theodor becomes his successor . He pushes his nephew Michael II into exile.
1216 Demetrios Chomatianos becomes Archbishop of Ohrid.
1217 Capture and killing of the Latin
Emperor- designate Peter de Courtenay.
1217-1224 Theodor's successful war of conquest in Macedonia.
Dec. 1224 Capture of Thessaloniki, end of Latin
rule on the north coast of the Aegean Sea.
1225 Theodor accepts the title of emperor, is
crowned by Demetrios Chomatianos, then he penetrates into Thrace and
takes Adrianople from the Nicenees. Largest expansion of the
Epirotian state, alliance with the Bulgarians.
1230 Theodore turns against Bulgaria and is defeated in the
battle of Klokotnitza. The despot is captured
and his state is divided into several individual rule:
Epirus, Thessaloniki, Thessaly and Acarnania
. Michael II takes power in Epirus itself.
1241 Michael II wins Thessaly
peacefully for his state through an inheritance .
1251 Military clashes
begin with the empire of Nicaea, which has risen to become the strongest regional power.
Fight for Upper Macedonia, Central Albania and Thessaly.
1257 Manfred of Sicily attacks Epirus. He conquered Corfu and
several important ports u. Fortresses in the north of the country.
1259 After the Battle of Pelagonia, Epirus is definitely
outstripped by its Greek rival Nicea and
sinks to a third-rate power.
July 1261 Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus of Nicaea conquers Constantinople
and restores the Byzantine Empire; Epirus remains
independent.
1268 Death of Michael II and division of the estate.
His son Nikephorus I came to power in the Epirotian heartland . Thessaly
receives its half-brother Johannes as a separate principality.
from 1268 Conflicts and changing alliances with the
Angevin kings of Naples and the Byzantine
Empire. Loss of most of the territories north of Ioannina.
1297 Nikephorus I is followed by his underage son Thomas.
since the beginning of
the 14th century 		Albanian tribes are increasingly settling in Epirus.
Many are recruited as mercenaries by the princes.
1318 Nicola Orsini, Count Palatine of Kephalonia, murders his
uncle Thomas and makes himself Prince of Epirus.
1323 Nicola is murdered by his brother Johannes, who succeeds him
in rule, but loses Kephalonia.
1335 John is followed by his underage son Nikephorus II.
1340 Emperor Andronikos III. deposed Nikephorus II and made
Epirus a
Byzantine province again after more than 100 years of independence .
1348 The Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan conquers Epirus. He gives the
land as a secondary school to his half-brother Simeon Uroš.
1355 Death of Stefan Dušan and the collapse of the Serbian Empire. In
the ensuing turmoil, Nikephorus II can
take power again .
1359 Nikephorus II fell in the fight against the Albanians who established
independent rule in Arta, Lepanto and Angelokastron
. Simeon takes over Ioannina again.
1366 Thomas Preljubović becomes governor of Ioannina and after
the death of Simeon in 1370 independent ruler there.
1385 Esau Buondelmonti becomes despot in Ioannina. As the first
Epirotian prince he recognized the sultan of the ever
advancing Ottomans as overlord.
1417-1449 Epirus is gradually integrated into the Ottoman Empire.

The Despotate of Epirus was one of the Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire , which emerged as a result of the Fourth Crusade after 1204. The state existed with changing borders until the end of the 14th century. The main areas of the principality were the eponymous regions Epirus and Akarnanien . The history of the state is characterized by constant clashes with the more important regional powers in the Balkans, the resurgent Byzantine Empire and Bulgaria, and later with Naples and Serbia , all of which tried to expand their sphere of influence to Epirus. Disintegrating into numerous individual dominions, Epirus was gradually incorporated into the Ottoman Empire between 1386 and 1449.

The term Despotat Epirus for the western Greek state is unhistorical and is not used in contemporary sources, because the title Despot indicates the classification of its bearer in the hierarchy of the Byzantine court. However, Epirus was always independent of the Nikaia Empire or the restored Byzantine Empire. Mostly the rulers called themselves Archon or simply Kyrios (Lord). Nevertheless, after 1230, individual rulers of Epirus received the title of despot from the emperor.

history

Formation and Consolidation

The founder of the Despotate Epirus was Michael Angelos Komnenos Dukas , illegitimate son of the Sebastokrator Johannes Dukas . Through his grandmother Theodora Komnena he was a descendant of Emperor Alexios I and also cousin of the ruling Emperors Isaak II and Alexios III at the time. Michael himself had made a career up to the fall of Isaac II in 1195 and was promoted to governor of an Asian Minor issue. Under Alexios III. Disgraced, was in Constantinople when the participants of the Fourth Crusade reached the imperial city in the summer of 1203.

After the fall of the city in April 1204 , the Crusaders began to divide the Byzantine Empire among themselves. The Venetians also claimed the Epirotic coast together with the Ionian Islands. Michael meanwhile joined the entourage of Boniface de Montferrat when he set out to take possession of the lands he claimed in northern Greece. In Thessaly Michael separated from Boniface and turned to Arta , which was still under the control of the Byzantine governor Senacherim. He wanted to support this in the resistance against the Latins .

When he arrived in Arta, Senacherim had already died. Michael resolutely put down a rebellion directed against the existing Byzantine administration, made himself governor and married the daughter (or widow) of his predecessor, with which he also acquired extensive goods in the region. He left the previous officials in their positions and did not touch the possessions of the nobility and the church, which is why they accepted his rule without any problems. Michael had thus become the ruler of one of the wealthiest regions in Romania, which was also not affected by the devastation of the recent wars. The consolidation of the emerging Epirotian state also contributed to the fact that many Greek refugees immigrated from the areas that were now dominated by Latin, occupied abandoned farms or became involved in handicrafts, and with their taxes they improved the despot's finances. This made it possible for Michael I to enlarge his army. The prince's prosperity also attracted artists, clerics and administrators who worked at the prince's court in Arta, which was set up according to the imperial model.

Petrela Castle in central Albania
The state of Epirus during its formation and subsequent expansion in 1205–1230

Before the Venetians tried to occupy the Epirotian territories assigned to them in the Treaty of Partition of the Crusaders, Michael controlled all Byzantine territories west of the Pindus Mountains from the fortress Petrela and the area around Dyrrachion in the north to Naupaktos on the Gulf of Corinth in the south. In the interior, some areas, including Ohrid , were lost to the Bulgarians, who also knew how to use the collapse of the Byzantine Empire.

In order to secure his rule externally, Michael I undertook daring diplomatic maneuvers. He pretended to submit to the Pope and promised a union of the Epirotian Church with Rome, because he hoped to gain papal protection from an attack by the Venetians. In 1209 Michael concluded a short-lived alliance with the Bulgarian Prince Strez, which he broke again barely two years later when he invaded Upper Macedonia. Michael was able to come to an understanding with the Mark Republic in June 1210 by recognizing its nominal sovereignty and granting its merchants trading privileges. He also left Corfu , which was already occupied by Genoese pirates , to the Venetians as a temporary base. Michael broke away from the alliance treaty concluded in 1209 with the Latin Emperor , which Epirus was supposed to secure from his land-hungry vassals in the Kingdom of Thessaloniki . In the meantime, however, the Latins were weakened by attacks by the Bulgarians and the Venetians had distanced themselves from them, so that Michael felt strong enough to be able to repel an attack from the east himself. He even took the military initiative and launched an attack on Thessaloniki in 1210, but was repulsed. The campaign brought him apart from small territorial gains on the eastern slope of the Pindus only the papal excommunication, since Innocent III. naturally disapproved of the war against the Latins. The Pope's ban, however, increased Michael's popularity among the Orthodox clergy in his country rather than harming him.

Michael I invaded Thessaly again in 1212 . This time he conquered large parts of the country including the city of Larisa and united it with his state. This cut off the Latin Kingdom of Thessaloniki from its most important vassal state, the Duchy of Athens . In 1213 Michael turned against the Republic of Venice and wrested Dyrrachion from it, and Corfu the following year. Also in 1214, the death of the Bulgarian prince Strez gave Epirus the opportunity to expand its territory into Macedonia. Ohrid, and probably Prilep too , became Epirotic. Immediately afterwards Michael let his troops march north and occupied the castle of Kruja , which had been the center of a small Albanian principality. A campaign against the Serbian Zeta that had already begun - the northern Albanian Shkodra had already been taken - ended abruptly, because at the height of his power Michael was murdered at the beginning of 1215 by one of his servants in Berat for unknown reasons . He was succeeded his half-brother Theodore I. on.

Expansion and competition with Nicaea for the imperial throne

Theodor I as basileus together with St. Demetrios the patron of Thessaloniki

Even though Michael I had already achieved a number of military successes and had continuously expanded the Epirotic area since 1210, his brother Theodor was the better and, above all, more risk-taking military leader who was to make Epirus the most powerful state in the Balkans for a short time. His real goal, however, was to regain Constantinople for the Greeks and enthrone him as emperor. In view of Theodor's military successes and the weakness of the Latin Empire after the death of Emperor Heinrich (1216), the chances of this were not bad.

Immediately after taking over the government, Theodor sent his predecessor's son into exile so that he could not dispute his rule. Because his expansive interests were directed to the east, he ended the war with Serbia and left Stefan Nemanja Shkodra. The relations between Serbia and Epirus, which have been quite good since then, were later sealed (1219) by the marriage of Theodor's daughter Anna to Stefan's son Radoslav.

Nevertheless, Theodor concluded a series of treaties with Albanian tribal leaders from the area north of Durazzo, who now became vassals of Epirus to secure his northern border. Nevertheless, it could not be prevented that the new Latin emperor Peter de Courtenay arriving from Rome attacked the Albanian port city with the help of the Venetians in 1217. However, it was a bad idea for Peters to try to reach Constantinople by land from Durazzo. In the mountains he was captured by Epirotian troops. Theodor later had the unfortunate emperor executed. After this coup, Theodor had to expect revenge from the Latins. In order to at least delay a possible attack, he, like his predecessor, offered the Pope church union. The only sham negotiations dragged on until 1219.

The Sophienkirche , cathedral of the Ohrid Archdiocese

Presumably in 1215, Theodore set out to conquer Macedonia with the remnants of the kingdom of Thessaloniki. In Ohrid he set Demetrios Chomatianos as archbishop in 1216 . One of his followers thus held the second most important ecclesiastical office in the Balkans after the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In 1217 Theodor advanced into the area east of the Vardar . The prince in opposition to the Bulgarian tsar, Alexios Slav , who resided in Melnik on the Strymon , recognized the supremacy of the Epirot despot. By 1220, Theodor conquered the entire area around Thessaloniki and the remaining positions of the Latins in Thessaly. When Serres fell into his hands in 1221 , Thessaloniki was completely cut off from the Latin Empire and the arrival of the Epiroten seemed only a matter of time.

In December 1224 Theodor I was able to take Thessaloniki after a long siege. The second largest city of the Byzantine Empire was again in the hands of the Greeks after 20 years of Latin rule. Theodor now felt strong enough to accept the title of imperial, which of course was linked to the claim to Constantinople. This led to an open conflict with Emperor Theodor Laskaris in Nicaea, who pursued the same ambitions and saw his state as the only legitimate successor to the old Byzantine Empire.

Before the coronation, Theodor secured the support of the nobility and church dignitaries in his sphere of influence. The worldly greats signaled their approval at a meeting in Arta; even among the bishops there were almost only supporters. Only Constantine Mesopotamites, the re-installed Archbishop of Thessaloniki by Theodore, refused to undertake the coronation and went into exile. In his place, Demetrios von Ohrid probably crowned Theodor I as Emperor of the Rhomeans in 1225. In the historiography, Theodor's state is also called Epirus-Thessaloniki or the Empire of Thessaloniki from this point on. Nicaea viewed the coronation as a usurpation, for there could only be one legitimate emperor, and also only one legitimate patriarch who could elevate himself to the rank of basileus.

Conflicts within the Orthodox Church

In the second decade of the 13th century a serious ecclesiastical conflict arose between the (exile) patriarchate, which had been in Nicaea since 1208 and was supported by the emperor there, on the one hand, and Epirus, with its autonomous ecclesiastical hierarchy, on the other. In essence, it was about who had the right to occupy the vacant eparchies in western Greece: the patriarch or the synods of the archbishoprics of Ohrid and Naupaktos controlled by the Epirot princes. As early as 1213, under Michael I, the vacant bishopric had to be filled by Durazzo and Larisa. A synod of Epirotic bishops had met and made their choice. Michael had then asked the Patriarch Michael Autoreianos for confirmation, but never received an answer.

Under Theodor I, the number of new eparchies to be occupied increased not least because the Epirotic sphere of influence expanded greatly and so many bishopric seats that had been taken from the Latins came back under the jurisdiction of the Greek Church. The Archbishop of Ohrid Demetrios Chomatianos, a proven expert on canon law, claimed the autonomy of his church in this matter because the legitimacy of the patriarchate in Nicaea had to be questioned. After all, the first patriarch installed there was not elected by a regular synod, but only by the bishops who happened to be available. In addition, the imperial confirmation is missing, because Theodor I. Laskaris was only crowned by him after the installation of the Patriarch Michael. The second patriarch in Nicaea Manuel (1216–1222) protested regularly against the unauthorized bishopric uprisings of the Epiroten and had his right in this regard confirmed by a synod in 1222, in which, of course, no western Greek bishops had participated. In this respect, the prerogative of the patriarch remained pure theory.

Sava , the brother of the Serbian king, cleverly exploited the church dispute between the patriarch and the archbishop of Ohrid to found an independent Serbian church . (At that time the Serbian eparchies all belonged to the district of Ohrid.) In 1219 he went to Nicaea, recognized the local patriarch Manuel, received from him the autocephaly for the Serbian church and was appointed its archbishop. Theodore I acknowledged this development without further ado so as not to burden the good relations with the Serbs. The sharp protest expressed by Archbishop Demetrios in letters to Sava and the Patriarch had no effect.

With Theodors I's elevation to emperor, the internal church dispute with Nicaea intensified. The patriarch was indignant at how a Bulgarian bishop - Demetrios Chomatianos was meant - could presume to crown a Roman emperor, and demanded all the more energetically for the bishops who, in his view, had come into office uncanonically. Demetrios, in turn, now urged a final separation of the Epirotian church from the patriarchate. The majority of western Greek bishops did not want a schism. At a synod convened after Arta in 1227, they passed a compromise proposal and convinced Theodor to agree to it. On the one hand, they insisted on having the Western Greek bishops' seats occupied by their own synod, on the other hand, they pledged not to make any dogmatic or canonical changes and to recognize the Patriarch in Nicaea as the honorary head of the entire Church. Theodore would even allow it to be mentioned in the liturgy. This proposal was rejected a year later by Patriarch Germanos II and the schism did indeed occur. It was ended in 1233 under changed political framework conditions when the western Greek bishops submitted to Germanos.

Theodor's advance into Thrace and the defeat against the Bulgarians

Byzantine house in Melnik, Bulgaria (13th century)

After the conquest of Thessaloniki, Theodor seriously thought of the conquest of Constantinople, where the Latin Empire only led a shadowy existence. It was not the Latins, but Bulgaria and Nicaea, who made this project dangerous because they themselves strove to take the imperial city. In 1225, Emperor Johannes Vatatzes came to Europe with an army and took Adrianople in Thrace . Theodore had to act quickly if he wanted to reach Constantinople before John. He marched to Thrace and before Adrianople the Epirot and the Nicaean armies faced each other for the first time. The Nicaeans withdrew without a fight in the face of the overwhelming power of Theodor and left the city to him. He now also concluded an agreement with the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan II , married his brother Manuel to a daughter of Ivan and now had his back to conquer Constantinople. He had to break off a half-hearted siege attempt at the end of 1225 because he lacked the equipment to defeat the walls.

In the following three years, Theodor did not attempt to take the capital again, despite the favorable political and military framework. The sources do not reveal why and neither do they provide any information about what prompted the Western Greek emperor to suddenly march against Bulgaria in 1230. Had he heard of Ivan's alliance negotiations with the Latins, or did he distrust him for other reasons? In any case, the attack ended in disaster. On March 9, 1230, Theodore was defeated, captured and blinded by Ivan at the Battle of Klokotnitsa . His two sons Johannes and Demetrios and his daughter Irene were also taken prisoner. In the course of the year the Tsar had captured most of the despotate of Epirus. Thrace, most of Macedonia with Ohrid, the Albanian areas with Kruja and the northern half of Epirus became Bulgarian. The rapid collapse of the Epirotian state shows that Theodore I was a successful conqueror, but that he was unable to integrate and consolidate his countries by means of a functioning administration.

Theodor's brother Manuel , who was married to a daughter of the Bulgarian tsar, took over rule in Thessaloniki . He ruled as Ivan's vassal in the remaining Macedonian areas around Thessaloniki and in Thessaly. Despite his low power, however, like his brother, he claimed the imperial title. In Arkananien ruled since 1230 Konstantin another brother Theodore, the latter had possibly used there before 1230 as governor.

The fall of Theodor I enabled his nephew Michael II to return from exile to Arta. From there he took over power in southern Epirus, whether with Ivan's approval or against his will is not certain; the people, the nobility and the church of the region recognized him immediately. For the time being, Michael II paid homage to his uncle Manuel as overlord and was given the title of despot for it. Michael had been using the title in his documents since 1236, but this was of no further practical significance. From Arta, Michael II successfully devoted himself to the reconstruction of the Epirotian principality. In terms of dominion and political orientation, he was the true heir of his father, who had established the Despotate of Epirus as a regional power based in western Greece without aiming for the imperial diadem.

Thessaloniki 1230-1246

Hagia Sofia, the cathedral church of Thessaloniki

The Bulgarian Tsar Ivan tried to take advantage of Manuel's weakness and subordinate the Church of Thessaloniki to his patriarch in Tarnowo. But that was completely unthinkable for the Greeks and so Manuel began negotiations with the Nicean Patriarch Germanos II. At the end of these negotiations, he and the Western Greek bishops accepted all of Nicaea's conditions and in 1233 submitted unconditionally to the Patriarch. The inner-Orthodox schism was over.

In 1237 the now widowed Tsar Iwan fell in love with Irene Komnena Angelina, the daughter of his prisoner Theodor, and married her. Irene convinced the husband to release her father Theodor. He returned to Thessaloniki with his sons Johannes and Demetrios, overthrew his brother Manuel and installed Johannes as ruler. As a blinded man, Theodor was not considered capable of governing according to the Byzantine view. Manuel in turn fled to the court of Nicaea, submitted to Emperor Johannes Vatatzes and sought his help in regaining Thessaloniki. Johannes, who still saw Theodor as a danger, provided Manuel with a ship in 1239 and this went to Thessaly, where he gathered an army for the march on Thessaloniki. Theodor and Johannes offered negotiations before serious fighting broke out. It was agreed to divide the rule: Manuel got Thessaly, while John kept southern Macedonia with Thessaloniki. Constantine was confirmed as ruler of Acarnania and Aetolia, areas that he had ruled since 1230. Michael II was not included in this contract, which suggests that Epirus was no longer even nominally a vassal of Thessaloniki, but was an independent state.

Although Bulgaria's power quickly declined after the death of Ivan II († 1241) as a result of throne disputes and the Mongol invasions, the lords of Thessaloniki were unable to take advantage of the situation. They found no suitable means either against the intrigues of Nicaea or against the discontent of the nobility in their country. In 1246 Johannes Vatatzes was able to take Thessaloniki without resistance, the last ruler Demetrios was interned in a castle in Asia Minor. His father Theodor fled to the court of Michael II in Arta.

Reinvigoration of the Epirotian state

Michael II. Komnenos Dukas

A trade treaty concluded with Ragusa in 1237 is the first known independent foreign policy measure by Michael II. At this point in time at the latest, the despotate of Epirus played a role again in the power political struggles of Southeast Europe. When Manuel, the ruler of Thessaly died in 1241, Michael II was able to take over his possessions without resistance. In the same year the Bulgarian pressure on the northern Epirotian border suddenly disappeared, because the Mongols had invaded Bulgaria and the death of Tsar Ivan II had plunged the unstable empire into a deep crisis. Michael could now think of regaining lost positions in Albania and Macedonia.

When Emperor Johannes Vatatzes began to drive the weakened Bulgarians out of Romania in 1246, took away large parts of Thrace and advanced to Prilep in Upper Macedonia, Michael did not wait any longer and conquered central Albania and Ohrid. Akarnania, too, had become epirotic again at the end of the 1940s after the death of Prince Constantine there. The two Greek states of Epirus and Nicaea now shared a long border that ran somewhere between Prilep and Ohrid in the north and then roughly followed the line from Kastoria to Olympus.

Theodore, the exile and former ruler of Thessaloniki convinced Michael II in 1251 to invade the emperor's possessions. But within a year the despot of Epirus was defeated by Johannes Vatatzes. In the following peace treaty he had to recognize John as the rightful emperor, cede western Macedonia and possibly also areas in Albania, and hand over Theodor, the instigator of the war. He ended his life a year later as a prisoner in a monastery.

The change of the throne in Nicaea in 1254, followed by Theodor II Laskaris after Johannes Vatatzes, triggered a new war. In 1255 the Bulgarians opened hostilities against the emperor and soon afterwards the allied states of Serbia and Epirus entered the war. Her goal was to take Nicaea's positions in the Western Balkans. Michael had also made alliances with many Albanian tribal leaders for this purpose. Their followers formed a large part of the army with which Michael successfully operated in central Albania in 1257 and recaptured Durazzo, which had been Nicaean for several years. Then he turned to the southeast and took Prilep and Kastoria. Many local magnates in this part of Macedonia sided with Epirus with their own troops, which made it easier for Michael to advance.

Butrint Basilica

While Michael was operating successfully in the east, Epirus was suddenly attacked from the west. At the end of 1257, Manfred of Sicily occupied the Ionian Islands in a flash, landed on the Albanian coast and took the cities of Aulona , Durazzo and Berat. Michael, who did not want to give up his strong position in the East, offered Manfred peace in June 1258 and left the conquests he had made so far. The contract was sealed with the marriage of Manfred and Helenas , daughter of Michael II. The areas lost to Manfred - they encompassed the entire Albanian coast from Cape Rodon to Butrint - were now officially considered as Helena's dowry.

Around the same time that Michael II was able to regulate the situation in the west, Emperor Theodor II died in Nicaea in August 1258 and battles for succession broke out, from which Michael VIII Palaiologos , the founder of the last Byzantine dynasty, emerged victorious. For the time being, however, his position was anything but consolidated, which Michael II wanted to use in his favor. He may even have thought of retaking Constantinople himself. He formed a new alliance mainly with Latins, his son-in-law Manfred, Wilhelm von Villehardouin , the Prince of Morea , Guido , the Lord of Athens, his illegitimate son Johannes , who ruled in the Thessalian Neopatra, and the combative Wallachians who settled in Thessaly had. Michael VIII had learned what alliance was forming against him. He raised an army consisting mainly of Cuman and Seljuk mercenaries and sent it to his brother Johannes Dukas Palaiologos surprisingly quickly in March 1259 to Macedonia. Johannes stayed there with varying success since 1258. With the reinforcements, however, he was now able to occupy Ohrid and advance into Albania before the Epirotians had united with their allies. In the late summer of 1259, the armies of both sides faced each other on the plain of Pelagonia . On the eve of the battle, however, disputes broke out among the leaders of the very heterogeneous Epirotic-Frankish alliance. Anticipating the victory of the Nicaeans, Michael II secretly led his Greeks and Albanians away at night, leaving the Franks alone, who then actually suffered a devastating defeat the next morning.

Epirus and its neighbors after 1250

As a result of the Battle of Pelagonia, the Epirotian-Franconian alliance had disintegrated. For a short time Johannes Palaiologos was even able to take the Epirotic capital Arta. But the power of the despot of Epirus was not finally broken, for Michael II had saved most of his troops and his Albanian and Wallachian allies were loyal to him. In his well-administered and prosperous core provinces of Epirus, Acarnania and Thessaly, he was undisputed as ruler and resistance to the paleologists soon arose . By the end of 1260 Michael II had regained his entire land, including the Thessalian possessions, and Manfred was also able to take back the Albanian cities that had been transferred to him. Michael was too weak for an offensive into the Macedonian and Thracian provinces of the emperor, so that Nicaea could now set about recapturing Constantinople from the Latins, which then happened in July 1261 .

The transfer of rule from Michael II to Nikephorus I.

The establishment of imperial power in Constantinople initially changed the situation in western Greece little. The Byzantine Empire and Epirus faced each other as competitors. Even if the Epirotic despots recognized the empire in principle, there were always hostilities in which neither side could gain a decisive advantage, as long as the Epirots could rely on the reaffirmed alliance with Manfred of Sicily. This was of course increasingly threatened by Charles of Anjou in his Italian heartland and could therefore not send any new troops to the Balkans. At the mercy of the Byzantine superiority alone, Michael II felt compelled to negotiate with the emperor. After a long delay he finally had to make a less favorable peace with the emperor in 1265. He had to cede the important city of Ioannina , swear a vassal oath to the emperor and had to send his son Johannes to Constantinople as a hostage. The contract was eventually sealed with a dynastic marriage. Michael's son Nikephorus I married Anna Palaiologina, a niece of the emperor. For this he was awarded the title of despot.

When Manfred of Sicily fell in the battle of Benevento the following year , Michael II took the opportunity and recaptured some places in Albania. The most important positions, Berat, Kanina and Aulona, ​​however, remained in the possession of the Neapolitans under the leadership of the Sicilian Admiral Filippo Chinardo, who was also in command of Corfu. At the end of 1266, however, the capable commander was probably murdered on the orders of Michael II. The despot himself died soon afterwards in 1267 or 1268. In the Epirotian heartland his son Nikephorus took over the rule, in the Thessalian possessions his illegitimate son Johannes followed him.

After the death of Michael II, the political situation for the Epirotian state deteriorated within a short time. In addition to the loss of Ioannina, the separation of Thessaly through the division of inheritance meant a further weakening. And in the north, even after Chinardo's death, the Italians maintained the cities of Vlora, Kanina and Berat. The Italian knights residing there and on Corfu took the oath of fief to Charles of Anjou, the new ruler of Naples , as the Latins in Morea had already done. Karl now turned his attention to the Epirotic coast, which, like many before him, he wanted to make his base of operations for the conquest of the Byzantine Empire. This in turn experienced a final phase of strength in the last third of the 13th century. Wedged between the Neapolitans in the north-west and south and the Byzantines in the east, Nikephorus I was more or less isolated, so that he had little more than to pursue a rocking policy between the two powers in order to maintain his state.

Epirus between Naples and Constantinople

Parigoritria Church in the Epirotian capital Arta , built around 1280

From 1268 Karl von Anjou tried to re-regulate the situation in the Epirotian possessions of Naples and to replace some of Manfred's former followers with his own men. This succeeded in Vlora, Kanina and on Corfu, but not in Berat. With the help of the Albanians, three sons of the late Admiral Chinardo held themselves there as quasi independent rulers. The most important Albanian port, Durazzo, was nominally still Epirotic, but Nikephoros no longer had access to the city, where an independent city government of the local Romans and Albanians had formed with the support of the Venetians. They had no interest in falling under the rule of the Neapolitans, and in 1270 they succeeded in repelling Charles' first attack on the city.

In 1271, however, Charles achieved diplomatic successes in Albania. His ambassadors (Knight Jean de Nanteuil , Judge Taddeo de Florentia, Aubry de Laon) asked the tribal chiefs there to pay homage to Charles as king and lord, which also happened, because the majority of Albanians had long been committed to the Roman Church, its patrons who were Angevin. In return, they received protection and loyalty from Charles and in February 1272 received the solemn confirmation of all privileges. Nikephoros had nothing to oppose this development. Central Albania was lost to Epirus and in 1273 Charles's troops were also able to conquer Berat. In the meantime Durazzo, weakened by a strong earthquake, had to surrender to the Neapolitans without a fight.

The successes of Charles of Anjou, which were worrying from the Byzantine point of view, triggered counter-actions by Emperor Michael VIII. On the diplomatic level, he tried to end the great schism between the Eastern and Western Churches in order to win the Pope against the Neapolitans on his side. The ecclesiastical union was concluded during the Council of Lyon in 1274 , but met with strong opposition from the Orthodox bishops and the Greek church people. Nikephorus of Epirus did not take part in the unification negotiations and his country became a haven for many opponents of the union. In 1274, the Byzantine troops pushed north from their Epirotian base Ioannina and captured Berat and Butrint. The actual goal of the campaign, Durazzo, could not be achieved, however, rather it came to years of guerrilla war in central Albania. Nikephorus first tried to persuade the emperor to surrender Butrint, as this important port was part of the core area of ​​the despotate. When Michael VIII refused to do so, he switched sides and paid homage to King Charles in 1276. But even this alliance did not bring Nikephoros anything. Rather, Karl compelled him to leave Himara, further north, in addition to Butrint .

Berat Castle

At that time Demetrios Michael , the younger brother of Nicephorus, played an obscure role . He went to Constantinople and probably married a daughter of the emperor in 1275, who also gave him the title of despot. Michael VIII may have wanted to use it to overthrow Nikephorus. This did not happen, however, because when Charles of Anjou launched another major attack against the Byzantine Empire in 1279, which began with the siege of Berat, Nikephoros went back to the emperor on his own initiative. His younger brother Michael took part in the defense of the Albanian city against the Neapolitans, who suffered a bitter defeat there in 1280 under the command of Hugue des Sully.

The Sicilian Vespers in 1282 weakened Charles so much that he had to refrain from further campaigns in the Balkans. The death of Michael VIII at the end of the same year seemed to loosen the grip on the despotate by the two great regional powers, also from this side. In any case, Nikephoros had the opportunity to take a diplomatic initiative. He sent his wife Anna Palaiologina to Constantinople so that she could stand up for good relations between the two Greek states with her cousin, the new emperor Andronikos II . It was agreed to operate jointly against John, the Greek prince of Thessaly. However, this agreement was not advantageous for either party, since a campaign in 1283 ended in a heavy defeat. A few years later, Anna's attempt to her daughter Thamar with the Byzantine heir to the throne Michael IX failed . to marry at the resistance of the patriarch.

After these failures, the anti-Byzantine party at the court of Arta regained ground, which saw the proximity to Constantinople sought by Anna as a threat to Epirotic independence. Nikephorus gave in to this mood when Charles II's envoy from Naples offered him an alliance in 1291. Nikephoros then married his daughter Thamar in September 1294 to Karl's son Philipp , who had received from his father Corfu and all of Naples' possessions in Albania and Epirus as a fief. Through the marriage, Philip also came into the possession of several places in Aetolia and took over the leadership of a league directed against the Byzantine emperor. Nevertheless, he could not prevent the Byzantines from advancing into Albania. These took Durazzo in 1295, with which the Byzantine Empire extended to the Adriatic for the last time in its history. At least the Epiroten had regained possession of Ioannina. The border with the Byzantine Empire ran a few kilometers north of this city for a few decades.

Vonitsa was the most important Epirotic fortress in Akarnania

The short-lived Epirotic-Angevin alliance ended in 1295 in a guerrilla war for the Aetolian cities ceded to Philip, which the Greek nobility resident in this region, dissatisfied with the new master, had started. After the death of Nikephoros I, his son Thomas became Prince in Epirus in 1297 . The prince, barely ten years old, was ruled by his mother Anna, who was now looking for a connection with Byzantium, with whose help she tried to ward off the inheritance claims of Philip of Taranto and his wife Thamar. With the help of imperial troops, a Neapolitan attack was repulsed in 1304. The ports of Butrint, Vonitsa and Naupaktos became Epirotic again. Presumably in 1307 the young Thomas married a daughter of the co-emperor Michael IX. Palaiologos and in the same year peace was made with Naples at the cost of the cession of the places recently conquered by the Epiroten to Philip. In return, he waived his further inheritance claims. It soon turned out that the danger to the continued existence of the Epirotian Angeloi dynasty was not over. As early as 1294 Nikephoros had married his other daughter Maria to Giovanni Orsini, the Count of Kephalonia . Maria brought the island of Leukas with her as a marriage property, which was then transferred to the county of Kephalonia. As soon as they had grown up, their sons developed ambitions to take power in Epirus. Philip of Taranto, on the other hand, had finally left as a competitor for the principality in 1309 because he had separated from his Epirotian wife Thamar and even had her thrown into prison, where she died soon afterwards.

In 1315, after almost two decades, the Epirotic alliance with the Byzantines broke up. The emperor had had the northern half of Epirus in his possession for some time and due to the stable conditions, the Byzantines had managed to set up an orderly administration. The western province was ruled by a military governor who had his seat in Berat. For unknown reasons, there was a dispute with the Epiroten and the Byzantines invaded the area of ​​the despot Thomas from the north. Their troops came as far as Arta and sacked the whole country including the capital. In response, Thomas had his wife Anna, a Byzantine princess, incarcerated on suspicion of colluding with Constantinople. He then tried to re-alliance with the Neapolitans and Latins in Greece, but received no effective help.

Epirus among the Orsini

The county of Kephalonia was the oldest Latin rulership in the Byzantine East. It was created in 1185 when William II of Sicily enfeoffed his admiral Margaritos of Brindisi with the Ionian islands of Kefalonia , Ithaca and Zakynthos , which he had previously wrested from the Byzantines. As early as 1194 Margaritos had to leave the islands to his son-in-law Maio Orsini . Since then, the Orsini had asserted themselves as lords of the county, successively recognizing various foreign rulers as feudal lords. From 1267 they were vassals of the kings of Naples. Count Maio II had already connected with the Angeloi from Epirus. Around 1227 he had married Anna Theodora Angelina, a daughter or niece of Michael I. Members of the Orsini family did not intervene in the internal affairs of the neighboring Greek state until two generations later, at the beginning of the 14th century, when the brothers Nicola and Giovanni II , who came from the marriage of Giovanni I to Maria Angelina, quickly took over power Epirus usurped.

Nicola, who inherited the county of Kephalonia from his father in 1317, saw his chance to take power in Epirus in 1318. His uncle Thomas was weakened by the incursion of the Byzantines, was isolated without allies and the probyzantine party of the Epirot nobility resented the capture of his own wife Anna Palaiologina. Nicola took Arta by surprise, had Thomas murdered, freed his widow from prison, married her and proclaimed himself lord of Epirus. The local nobility accepted this usurpation without resistance, not least because Nicola converted to the Orthodox Church and left the despotate's internal circumstances unchanged. However, the new prince lacked the means to secure his state against the desires of the neighbors. While the Angevines refrained from intervening for the time being, but did not support their nominal vassals either, the Byzantines took advantage of the situation and occupied Ioannina. Thus the change of dynasty and the union with the county of Kephalonia did not mean any significant strengthening of the Epirotian state. For about two generations castles, cities and territories had to be ceded to the Byzantines or the Neapolitans and Nicola was now limited to the south of Epirus and Acarnania. In 1323 Nicola was murdered by his brother Giovanni who, as John I, became the new prince of the despotate and, like his predecessor, converted to the faith of his Greek subjects.

John had to buy the recognition of his forcibly obtained rule from his Angevin liege lord at a high price. Philip of Taranto had the islands of Kephalonia, Ithaka and Zakynthos ceded to himself in 1325 and enfeoffed his younger brother Johann , who was also Prince of Achaia . To counter the pressure of the Angevinen, John allied himself with the Byzantines. He recognized the sovereignty of Emperor Andronikos III, who came to sole rule in 1328 . and married Anna, the daughter of the protovestarian Andronikos Palaiologos, who was provincial governor in northern Epirus. For this, like his uncle Thomas, he received the despot title from the emperor and Andronikos even agreed to reunite Ioannina and the surrounding area with the despotate, not least because the citizens of the city had asked for it. John's close association with the emperor almost inevitably triggered a backlash on the part of the Neapolitans, who in 1331 sent an army under the command of Walter von Brienne . He succeeded in taking Vonitsa and occupying the island of Leukas. Then he allied himself with some Albanian tribal leaders, besieged Arta and thus forced Johannes to become a vassal of the Angevines again. Then the Neapolitan troops evacuated Epirus, except for Vonitsa and Leukas, which remained in the hands of the Neapolitans. When Stephan Gabrielopulos , the Greek ruler of western Thessaly, died in 1332 , John took advantage of the power vacuum and occupied large parts of its territory, including the Trikala residence . Most of it he soon had to cede back to Byzantium when Andronikos III. came to Thessaly in the autumn of the same year at the head of his troops. The rest was lost when John died unexpectedly in 1335, leaving Epirus to his underage son Nikephorus II .

Conquest by Emperor Andronikos III.

His mother Anna Palaiologina took over the government for the underage Nikephorus II. Taking advantage of their weak reign, Emperor Andronikos III. his troops invade Ioannina again in 1336. In the following two years he successfully fought the Albanian tribes, which had now settled in Thessaly and Epirus. When he had his back free after their defeat, the emperor began to occupy the southern part of Epirus in 1338. Anna tried to save the rule for her son by offering to recognize the suzerainty of the Basileo. Andronikos did not respond to it, but installed one of his officials as governor in Arta. Anna, Nikephoros and his sisters, who were supposed to leave the country, were allocated goods near Thessaloniki as compensation. Finally, the deposed young prince was betrothed to a daughter of the imperial chancellor Johannes Kantakuzenos . It seemed that the reintegration of Epirus into the Byzantine Empire had been successfully completed.

But the anti-Byzantine faction in Arta did not surrender. Nikephorus was given the opportunity to flee the country and, accompanied by a few advisers, went to the Angevin court of Taranto . There he won the support of Catherine of Valois , the widow of Philip of Taranto. Katharina now organized military support for the followers of Nikephorus, while they took control of the capital Arta, Thomokastron (near Preveza) and some other fortified places. In the middle of the year 1339 Nikephorus returned to Epirus together with some Neapolitan mercenaries. But the strength of the anti-Pyzantine rebels and their allies was insufficient to extend their power to the whole country. They were restricted to the fortified places in the south. When Byzantine auxiliaries arrived in Epirus in 1340, Nikephorus' followers were completely on the defensive. They quickly lost Arta and in the end Nikephoros was besieged in Thomokastron, where after some time he had to surrender to the rushed emperor. As planned two years earlier, he was then sent to his estate near Thessaloniki. He now had to marry his fiancée too. Andronikos was also lenient towards the rest of the rebels, all of them kept their estates and offices in the local administration. Governor was John Angelos appointed. This belonged to a branch of the Angeloi who had gone into exile in Nicaea after 1204. From there they had returned to Constantinople with the palaeologists in 1261.

The internal Greek dispute over power in Epirus ended with a Byzantine victory and brought all the important cities and castles in the country from Berat in the north to Arta in the south to the emperor, but it also gave the Albanians space to develop again. After 1340 Albanian tribal leaders controlled the flat country with their people and the Byzantine administration had no choice but to come to terms with them, because most of the troops were embroiled in a civil war for the imperial throne in the east after the death of Andronikos (1341) . At the same time, the empire was weakened by the great plague epidemic , to which Governor Johannes Angelos also fell victim in 1347.

Conquest by the Serbs and the Restoration of Nikephorus II.

After his coronation in Skopje in 1332, the Serbian King Stefan Dušan began energetically to expand his empire south. During Andronikos III's lifetime. Stephen's first troops appeared on the northern border of Epirus. A permanent occupation of Albania, which was split up into different rulers and tribal areas, did not take place until after 1342. The Serbs met with little resistance, presumably because Stephan was content with a loose supremacy from the beginning. The Albanian tribal leaders swore an oath to the king and were integrated into the army with their followers. A few years later, when he conquered Epirus, Stephan relied to a large extent on such Albanian associations.

When the energetic emperor Andronikos died in 1341, the Serbian ruler first got involved in the ensuing Byzantine civil war. At the same time he occupied the western provinces of the Byzantine Empire. On the other hand, the weak Emperor John VI , who only came to the throne with Stephen's help . Kantakuzenos do little. Between 1342 and 1345 the Serbs took possession of the former Epirotian cities of Vlora, Kanina and Berat. In 1347/48, when the Byzantine resistance more or less collapsed because of the great plague epidemic, Stephan conquered all of Epirus, Acarnania and Aetolia, while his general Preljub occupied Thessaly. In Epirus, the Serbian tsar installed his half-brother Simeon as regent. To strengthen his position, he married Thomais, the daughter of Anna Palaiologina and sister Nikephoros II. Johannes Komnenos Asen , Stephen's brother-in-law, was assigned Vlora, Kanina and Berat. He married the aforementioned widow Anna Palaiologina. Both the northern and southern parts of the country were ruled by relatives of the Tsar who had married women from the former ruling Orsini family. In southern Epirus and Thessaly, which were depopulated by the plague, further Albanian tribal leaders and their followers settled under Serbian rule. Some of them were provided with goods in Epirus by Stephan Dušan himself, for example Peter Bua Shpata , who received Delvina and Angelokastron (since 2011 part of Agrinio ) before 1354 . Peter's father Nikola had been protovestarios at the tsar's court.

The deposed Prince Nikephorus II was in Byzantine service in the early 1350s. Relations with his Serbian relatives by marriage, who ruled Epirus instead of him, were not particularly close. And when Stefan Dušan died in 1355 and the collapse of the short-lived Serbian empire began with the death of the tsar, Nikephoros tried to take advantage of it. First he took power in Thessaly, whose Serbian governor Preljub had also died in 1355. In the spring of 1356 he advanced to Epirus and drove his brother-in-law Simeon from Arta. A little later he controlled most of the cities and castles of southern Epirus. Nikephorus then separated from his wife Maria Kantakuzene, who was very popular in the country, because he wanted to marry Theodora, a Bulgarian princess from the house of the Assenids . The Epirotic nobility forced him to call back Maria. In 1359 Nikephoros died in battle against the Albanians during the Battle of Acheloos .

Disintegration of the Epirotic state and incorporation into the Ottoman Empire

The failure of the Serbian Empire as a regulatory power in the Western Balkans and the death of Nikephoros ultimately resulted in the complete dissolution of the despotate of Epirus. Numerous petty princes and warlords of different origins, including Serbs, Albanians and Italians, held individual cities or small regions with a few castles and almost constantly waged war against each other. Even the ever faster expansion of the Muslim Turks in south-eastern Europe since the 1360s did not lead to a unification of forces in Epirus. On the contrary, some of the local rulers employed Turkish mercenaries to fight their neighbors with their help. Many Muslims had come to the country long before Epirus was gradually integrated into the Ottoman Empire between 1415 and 1449 . By the princes who dominated since the mid-14th century until the Turkish conquest of parts of the country, led some the title of despot who until the end of Palaiologoi was dynasty continues awarded by the Byzantine emperors, even if their actual impact had not reached to western Greece for a long time. Leonardo Tocco († 1495) was the last to call himself Despot of Arta .

The port of Lepanto on the Gulf of Corinth

Simeon Uroš took advantage of the power vacuum that developed in the spring of 1359 before his competitors in Serbia and Greece had learned of the death of Nikephorus. First he occupied Thessaly, where the Greek and Serbian nobles of the region proclaimed him emperor in the royal seat of Trikala. Then he turned to Epirus. Urged by the Albanians, Ioannina, Arta and a few smaller cities immediately recognized Simeon as ruler because they hoped he would provide military assistance. Simeon only left a few governors with few troops in the country. In the following years he mostly stayed in Thessaly, which he had to defend against attacks by the Catalans from Boeotia and Radoslav Hlapen from Edessa. His Epirot governors were meanwhile unable to control the land for him. More and more castles and cities, including Arta, were taken by the Albanians, the Serbs only held out in Ioannina. The most important Albanian leaders were Gjin Bua Shpata and Peter Losha , who now built their own principalities in southern Epirus, in Acarnania and Aetolia. Simeon had to be content with the fact that these two nominally recognized him as their overlord, for which the self-appointed tsar awarded them the title of despot. Peter Losha († 1374) ruled Arta, Gjin Bua Shpata ruled Angelokastron and Lepanto . After Peter's death, he was able to gain his possessions. The Albanian clans of Musachi , Malakasi and Zenebishti had settled in the northern part of the country at the same time . Gjon Zenebishti succeeded in building up a small principality that stretched from Sagiada on the Ionian coast to the Drinostal region .

In 1366, Simeon appointed Thomas Preljubović as governor of the part of the country with the capital Ioannina still under his direct control and married him to his daughter Maria. The citizens of the city had asked for a strong commander who could protect them from the attacks by the Albanians. The Greeks soon realized that they now had a tyrant within their walls. Thomas was a ruthless warlord who misappropriated church property to reward his military followers and introduced numerous new taxes to finance his court. When Simeon died in 1370, Thomas made himself an independent prince in central Epirus. In 1382, Matthias, the new Archbishop sent from Constantinople to Ioannina, gave him the title of despot in the name of the emperor. Nevertheless, Thomas later deposed the archbishop and drove him into exile. With varying degrees of success, Thomas almost constantly waged war against the neighboring Albanian tribal leaders. In 1367, 1377 and 1379 he was able to repel attacks on his capital. During a period of the armistice, he married his daughter Irene to Johannes, son of Peter Loshas. Around 1380 he took a large number of Frankish and Turkish mercenaries into service, with whose help he inflicted severe defeats on the Albanians until 1384 and took away several fortresses from them. In 1384 Gjon Zenebishti conquered Gjirokastra in the north . The city remained the center of his principality until it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1417. Hated by his cruelty among friends and enemies, Thomas fell victim to an assassination attempt carried out by his bodyguard in December 1384. His wife Maria is said to have been involved in the planning. The people of Ioannina recognized Mary as the new ruler. In the government, she was supported by her brother Jovan Uroš , who until then had lived as a monk in Meteora .

In February 1385 Maria married Esau de 'Buondelmonti , a Florentine nobleman and adventurer who had come to Epirus as a mercenary a few years before and was then captured by Thomas Preljubović. The new prince reversed many unpopular measures taken by his predecessor and also called Archbishop Matthias back from exile. In 1386 he was given the title of despot by a Byzantine embassy, ​​which legitimized his rule over the Greek subjects.

Immediately after taking power, Esau had to repel a new attack by the Albanians under Gjin Bua Shpata in 1385. In order to be able to assert himself permanently, he sought an alliance with the Ottomans, who had meanwhile conquered Macedonia and had risen to become the strongest power in the Balkans. In 1386 he went to Edirne to the Sultan's court and became a vassal of Murad I. With the help of Turkish troops, Esau was able to consolidate and expand his position vis-à-vis the Albanians until the Sultan's death in the battle of the Amselfeld in 1389. Then the Turkish allies withdrew. Esau's wife Maria died in 1394 and a new attack by the Albanians followed. The conflict was resolved diplomatically when Esau married Irene, Shpata's daughter, in 1396. In the years that followed, the prince and his new Albanian allies took a stand against the Ottomans. But this alliance lasted only a short time and would not have stood a chance against a serious military campaign by the Turks. In 1399 Esau moved against Gjon Zenebishti in the north. But he was beaten and taken prisoner before Gjirokastra. His release took place at the intercession of the Republic of Venice. During a second stay in Edirne (1399/1400) Esau was able to win the support of Bayezids I and again turn against the Albanians. Supported by Turkish auxiliary troops who, due to the inner Ottoman civil war after 1402, were entirely committed to him, Esau was able to successfully secure his area in central Epirus.

When Esau died in February 1411, the greats of the country refused to recognize his young son Giorgio from his third marriage to Eudokia Balsha as heir. Both went into exile. Carlo I Tocco , Count Palatine of Kephalonia, was elected Prince . Like his predecessors, he allied himself with the Ottomans. In 1415 he succeeded in decisively defeating the Albanians in the south and taking the old Epirotic residence of Arta. In the same year, Emperor Manuel II confirmed his despot title. A little later, the Ottomans conquered Vlora, Kanina, Berat and Gjirokastra in the north in 1417. The formerly Epirotian regions were now partly directly and partly indirectly under the rule of the Sultan. The incorporation of southern Epirus into the Ottoman Empire was only a matter of time. Ioannina became Turkish in 1430, while in Arta Carlo II ruled as vassal of the sultan until 1448 . The last Christian prince in the region, Leonardo Tocco, only had the fortresses Vonitsa, Varnazza and Angelokastron after 1449, which finally became Ottoman in 1479.

Culture

Trinity Church in Berat (today's Albania )

In the despotate of Epirus the Greek culture of Byzantium lived on unbroken after 1204. In the architecture and the visual arts an outspoken conservatism can be observed and the traditions of the 12th century were continued without major changes. The long political independence in the 13th and 14th centuries did not lead to the development of its own Epirotic style and despite the marital connections of the ruling house with Western European families, Latin influences remained very limited. In contrast to the Byzantine Morea, for example, there are no echoes of Gothic . The basis for this knowledge is, however, quite narrow, because only a few buildings and works of art have survived from the epirotic despotate. As far as architecture is concerned, these are mainly churches, for example the churches built in the 13th century, the two dedicated to St. Nicholas on the Ioannina island : Agios Nikolaos Strategopoulos (Αγίου Νικολάου των Στρατηγοπούλων) and Agios Nikolaos Philanthropenos (Αγίου, die the Paregoritria Church in Arta. The secular architecture is only represented by a few fortresses. The despots' palaces and other residential buildings have not been preserved.

Two chronicles have survived from the late period of the despotate, which describe the events shortly before the Ottoman conquest from the inner perspective of the Epirotians. These are the so-called Chronicle of Ioannina for the period from 1341 to 1400 and the Chronicle of the Toccos for 1375–1422.

List of rulers of Epirus

literature

  • John VA Fine: The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan 1994. ISBN 0-472-08260-4 .
  • Donald M. Nicol: The Despotate of Epiros (1204-1267) . Oxford 1957.
  • Donald M. Nicol: The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453 . 2nd ed., Cambridge 1993.
  • Günter Prinzing: Studies on provincial and central administration in the sphere of influence of the Epirotian rulers Michael I and Theodoros Dukas (2 parts). In: Epeirotika Chronika Volume 24 (1982), pp. 73-120 and Volume 25 (1983), pp. 37-112.
  • Brendan Osswald: The Ethnic Composition of Medieval Epirus. In: St.G. Ellis, L. Klusakova (Ed.): Imagining Frontiers - Contesting Identities. Pisa 2007, ISBN 978-88-8492-466-7 , pp. 125-154.

Web links

Commons : Despotate of Epirus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fine, The Late Medieval Balkans. P. 68 f.
  2. ↑ The exact course of the takeover by Michael Angelos cannot be reconstructed with certainty from the traditional sources.
  3. ↑ The resources of the Venetians were limited and after 1204 they were active in numerous places in Romania (Crete, Aegean, Peloponnese and last but not least Constantinople). Some historians believe that the Epirus was of minor importance to the republic. The low level of commitment in the fight for Corfu seems to confirm this. See Alain Ducellier: La façade maritime de l'Albanie au Moyen Age. Durazzo et Valona du XI. au XV. siècle. (= Documents et recherches sur l'économie des pays byzantins, islamiques et slaves et leurs relations commerciales au Moyen Age; 13) Thessaloniki 1981, pp. 109–117.
  4. ↑ Dyrrachion itself was occupied by the Venetians in June 1205. See Marino Sanudo: Le vite de i Dogi. (= Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, Vol. 22/4.) Città del Castello 1900. p. 262
  5. ↑ Strez was a brother of Tsar Boril. Fine, The Late Medieval Balkans. P. 99
  6. ↑ The exact date is uncertain. Fine, The Late Medieval Balkans. P. 120
  7. ^ Joan Mervyn Hussey: The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire. Oxford 1986. ISBN 0-19-826901-3 , pp. 206-219.
  8. ↑ at Bitola
  9. ↑ General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts . First Section AG. Hermann Brockhaus, Leipzig 1867, p. 299 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  10. ↑ The timing of the events between 1266 and 1273 is not fully clarified due to the unfavorable source situation and is discussed in research. Ducellier's chronology was largely adopted for this section. See Ducellier, La Facade, pp. 202-205.
  11. ↑ John VA Fine characterizes the balance of power in the decades after 1355 as follows: “Thus we can conclude that the Albanians became the true rulers of Epirus, but owing to their tribal divisions and mutual quarrels that made them unable to create an effective state authority there , the term anarchy would best describe Epirus in this period. " Fine, The Late Medieval Balkans. P. 350.
  12. ↑ Nevila Molla: The Despotate of Epirus: The Archeology of a Late Byzantine State. (Unprinted project outline; PDF; 137 kB)
  13. ^ Brendan Osswald: Citizenship in Medieval Ioannina. In: Steven G. Ellis, Guðmundur Hálfdanarson, Ann Katherine Isaacs (Eds.): Citizenship in Historical Perspective. Edizioni Plus, Pisa 2006, ISBN 88-8492-406-5 , pp. 97-105 ( online ).