The foundation of the Empire of Nicaea

he anti-Western feeling of the people of Byzantium became stronger, following the fall of Constantinople to the Latin Crusaders, as a result of the foreign occupation and especially because of the difference in the dogma between them and the conquerors. In spite of the fact that a good number of Byzantine aristocrats as well as the majority of the people remained in place and incorporated themselves into the new Western-type state, many fled to regions that were still free. Thus, a nucleus of powerful Byzantine notables followed Theodore Laskaris in Asia Minor, where he established the "Empire in exile" of Nicaea.

Theodore based his claim to the imperial throne mainly on the fact that he bore the title of despotes, a title customarily borne by the heir presumptive. Although at first he faced the hostility of the local people, who held the fugitives from Constantinople responsible for the decline - mostly an economic one - in their fortunes, he was finally accepted, and established his headquarters in the city of Nicaea, the capital of the new Byzantine Empire.

Theodore's first concern was to consolidate the borders of the new state. Although initially defeated in December 1204 at Poimanenon by Eric of Flanders, brother of the Latin Emperor, who had been allotted the region of Nicaea by the treaty of partition, he soon averted the Latin threat, when aristocrats from Thrace, fighting by the side of the Bulgarian sovereign Kalojan, attacked the Latins in Adrianople. The latter were forced to leave Asia Minor and to flee to Thrace, where they were defeated on 14 April 1205. The Latin Emperor, Baldwin, was taken captive, and the power of the Franks was substantially reduced. Theodore was thus able to confront his Greek rivals in Asia Minor as well as against the Seljuk sultan of Ikonion. He gradually managed to subdue the Greek rulers of Asia Minor and to establish his dominion over western Asia Minor. In the spring of 1206 he was proclaimed Emperor and at Easter1207 he was crowned in Nicaea by the newly elected Patriarch, Michael IV Autoreianos (1207-14).

The election of the new Patriarch and the proclamation and crowning of the new Emperor confirmed the foundation of the ed Empire in exile and established Nicaea as its political and ecclesiastical centre. It was only then that Theodore Laskaris was finally able to proceed to the organisation of the new state.