Founding of the Empire of Nicaea

Name: Founding of the Empire of Nicaea
Start: 1204

Type Event Region Anatolia Time 1204

After the fall of Constantinople in 1204, Laskaris leader Theodore I fled to Nicaea in Asia Minor, was acclaimed Byzantine emperor, and founded the E…

Timeline

1204Nicaea · BithyniaAfter the Fourth Crusade captured the capital, Theodore I Laskaris led the Byzantine imperial family and nobles to Asia Minor, gathering the exiled forces at Nicaea and preparing its defenses.
1204Nicaea · NicaeaTheodore I was acclaimed Byzantine emperor at Nicaea, establishing a Greek successor state with Nicaea as its capital, claiming continuity with the Roman-Byzantine legal tradition and seeking to recover Constantinople.

Sources

A Byzantine Government in Exile: Government and Society under the Laskarids of Nicaea (1204-1261) — Michael Angold (1975)
The Cambridge Medieval History, Volume IV: The Byzantine Empire — Joan M. Hussey (1966)