Theodor I (Byzantium)

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Emperor Theodor I. Laskaris with sword, staff, cross crown, Loros and Sagion on an Aspron Trachy coin

Theodor (os) I. Laskaris ( Middle Greek Θεόδωρος Αʹ Λάσκαρης ; * around 1174 ; † 1222 ) was from 1205 (1205 proclaimed, crowned in 1208) to 1222 Byzantine emperor in the Empire of Nicaia . He belonged to the Laskarid family .

Life

Theodor was the son-in-law of Emperor Alexios III. and brother of Konstantin Laskaris , who was emperor of the Byzantine Empire for a few months from 1204 to 1205 .

Theodor Laskaris distinguished himself together with his brother Konstantin Laskaris in the defense of Constantinople against the Christian-Latin crusaders during the Fourth Crusade from 1203 to 1204. Since the attempt to organize resistance against the conquerors in Constantinople failed, they fled, gathered a group of refugees in Bithynia , settled in the city of Nikaia and founded the largest of the three Byzantine exile empires, the Nikaia Empire .

After his brother Konstantin Laskaris fell on March 19, 1205 in the battle against Baldwin I , the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, Theodor was proclaimed emperor in the same year.

The Latin Empire and the three Byzantine empires in exile ( Empire Nicaea , Empire Trebizond , Despotate Epirus ) after the conquest of Constantinople in 1204.

The young Byzantine exile movement, strongly oppressed by the Crusaders, was only saved by the outbreak of war between the Bulgarians and Latins and by the great Bulgarian victory at Adrianople . This temporarily removed the Latin threat to Asia Minor. When Heinrich von Flanders , the successor to Emperor Baldwin, who had been captured by the Bulgarians, returned to Asia Minor in 1206, he did so with less strength and only for a short time, because after initial successes he soon had to return to the Balkans to find himself there Oppose Bulgarians. Thus in 1207 a two-year armistice was reached, which enabled Theodor to further consolidate his power and put it on a firm formal basis. In the spring of 1208, Michael IV Autoreianos, a new orthodox patriarch, was raised in Nikaia , who challenged the Latin patriarch's claim to the continuation of the patriarchate of Constantinople, and a little later Theodore was officially and formally crowned Emperor of the Rhomeans . Nikaia had finally inherited the destroyed Byzantine Empire.

In the next few years Theodor expanded his empire at the expense of the Empire of Trebizond and carried out a successful counter-attack on Kai Chosrau I , the Sultan of Rum , who was deposed by his father-in-law, Emperor Alexios III. had been incited to war against him. Theodors crowning victory he achieved in 1211 in the battle of Antioch on the Meander in Caria , when Kai Chosrau I fell on the battlefield, he Alexios III. captured and the city itself wrested from the Turks.

Towards the end of his rule, he ruled an area roughly corresponding to the Roman provinces of Asia and Bithynia . Although there is no evidence of his political quality, his courage and military skill made it possible for the Byzantine nation to survive.

relationship

His first marriage was the divorced Anna Komnene Angeloi († 1212), a daughter of Alexios III. Angelos , Emperor of Byzantium (1195–1203) and the Euphrosyne Dukaina Kamatera (* around 1143, † around 1211), a daughter of Andronikos Dukas Kamateros († 1185, executed) and the Ne Kantakuzene, who in 1199 married Theodor I. Laskaris had married.

On November 24, 1214, her father married Philippa of Armenia (* 1183, divorced 1216, † before 1219), daughter of Ruben III. , Ruler of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from the house of the Rubenids .

He married Maria von Courtenay , the daughter of Peter von Courtenay from the house of the Capetians and Jolante von Flanders , in his third marriage . The latter had made peace with him as regent of the Latin Empire from 1217 to 1219.

progeny

From the marriage with Anna Komnene Angeloi emerged:

Engaged to Robert von Courtenay in 1222
⚭ 1.) Friedrich II. "The arguable" Duke of Austria and Styria (1230 - 1246)
⚭ 2.) v. 1230 Anseau de Cayeux , 1238 regent of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, † after 1240.)
⚭ 1.) 1212 or 1216 with Andronikos Palaiologos , Despotes, † around 1216
⚭ 2.) around 1216 with John III. Dukas Vatatzes (Batatzes) , who succeeded his father-in-law from 1222 to 1254 as Emperor of Byzantium at Nicaea.
⚭ 1216 Bela IV. "Venerabilis" , King of Hungary (1235–1270), (* November 1206, † May 3, 1270) from the House of the Arpad

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ralph-Johannes Lilie : Byzanz - The second Rome. Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-88680-693-6 , p. 471.
predecessor Office successor
Alexios V and Constantine (XI.) Laskaris Byzantine emperor
in 1205 or 1208 1222 		John III
personal data
SURNAME Theodor I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Λάσκαρις, Θεόδωρος Α '; Theodor I. Laskaris
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine emperor
DATE OF BIRTH around 1174
DATE OF DEATH 1222