Author: Romanos IV
Original Thread: The Latin Empire of Constantinople

The Latin Empire of Constantinople
The Fourth Crusade started in 1202, with the target of the Crusaders being the strong Sultanate of the Mameluks. It ended in the March of 1204, with the First Sack of Constantinople .

When the Crusaders' three days sack ended, no one was interested to continue the campaign to the Holy Lands. The territories and the wealth stolen from the city was partitioned. The 3/8 of both was given to Venice, the 3/8 for the rest of the Crusaders and 1/4 for the new emperor of the Constantinople. But first, the new emperor should be elected. After the Easter, which was on April 25, the process of the election of the new Emperor started; in this election three Latin (Crusader) and three Venetian delegates would participate. The next election would be the one of the Catholic Patriarch of Constantinople. If the Emperor was Latin, the Patriarch would be Venetian and vice-versa. The candidates for the Imperial throne were the marquis Boniface of Montferrat and the Count Baldwin of Flanders. Baldwin was chosen from the Venetians and he won.

The coronation of Baldwin took place eight days later. When the ceremonies for the coronation ended, the Crusaders proceeded to the partition of the Empire. The agreements which had been done before should become more precise. The Venetians had the right to take the church of Agia Sohia and to elect a Patriarch. Tomas Morosini was finally elected.

In Constantinople, despite the agreement for the partition of the territories, Boniface of Montferrat asked to exchange Minor Asia for the Kingdom of Thessalonike. This exchange would be good for him, because he was married with Maria of Hungary, widow if Isaac Angelos, the former Byzantine Emperor, and wanted his lordship to be near his wife's land, from where he could ask for reinforcements. Thessalonike, by the way, was near to his land in Italy. Baldwin accepted the exchange. However, these lands were not conquered yet. The Emperor Alexios III was located in Mosynopolis, between Constantinople and Thessalonike, while Alexios V Murtzuphlus was in Andrianople. Baldwin conquered both Andrianople and Mosynopolis. Boniface also arrived at Mosynopolis, asking from the Emperor not to go further to the west. The lands to the west were owned by the Kingdom of Thessalonike and they should be conquered by Boniface. Baldwin, though, insisted on his will to conquer Thessalonike himself and Boniface left him on his own, angry. Finally, Baldwin took Thessalonike and gave it to Boniface. But, his land in Thrace, were in danger, because of Kaloyan, Emperor of Bulgaria. Baldwin soon saw Kaloyan's power. In 1205, the Bulgarians crushed his army in the Battle of Andrianople. The Latin Emperor himself was captured and died later in Bulgarian, as a captive.

When Henry of Hainut , brother of Baldwin, took the goverance of the Empire in 1205, he was 28 years old.The land he was controlling were three cities, Constantinople, Raedestos and Silimvria. In Minor Asia, he was controlling the town Pege, only. In the same area, although, a Byzantine state had been created, whose centre was Nicaea. Lord of Nicaea was Theodoros Lascaris, who thought of himself as the nomimal Emperor of Constantinople. The Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople had gone to Nicaea, as well. The State of Nicaea was defending its lands from the Latins of Constantinople. Raedestos was within the Venetians' portion and Henry had to cede it to them. In the January of 1206, Kaloyan returned to Thrace with many Bulgarian, Vlach and Cuman soldiers. The Latins were forced to retreat to the fortified cities, leaving the countryside to the invadors' mercy. In the county's interior lands, Andrianople and Didymoteichon were under Greek lords' control, who could not faace the Bulgarians. So, they asked help fro Henry, and in exchange, they would cede all their lands to him. Henry started his march from Silimvria, heading to The north, becaude the citizens of Didymoteichon had warned him that Kaloyan was beseiging them, and they could not defend the town for more than eight days. Henry, however, headed to Andrianople ot Didymoteichon. He had with him 400 knights, and the Bulgarians were more than 20,000. Kaloyan, when learnt about Henry's arrival in Andrianople, he left the siege of Didymoteichon and returned to Bulgaria without giving a fight. Henry and his knights had managed to take control of the whole Eastern Thrace, without giving a fight. A little later, they learnt about Baldwin's death in Bulgaria. Kaloyan soon appered once again in Thrace and Macedonia and cause great devastation. The Bulgarians reached Constantinople and besieged Andrianople. At the same time, the Emperor of Nicaea, attacked to the Latin castles in Minor Asia. Henry decided to deal with the Bulgarians and, in 1207, he entered Kaloyans' lands. In the same year, Kaloyan died while besieging Thessalonike. The new Bulgarian Emperor, Boril, continued his brother's campaigns against the Latins. His armies met the Latin army in Philippouopolis (Plovdiv) in the July of 1208. The Bulgarian soldiers were, by far, many more than the Latins. However, the soldiers of Henry followed the wright tactics and caused the Bulgarians to route Henry's success was absolute. His power was extended and was stabilized in Thrace. He was free to stabilize his position in Minor Asia. He was able to make his castles safe from the danger if the Nicaean Emperor. Soon, he had to leave Minor Asia to deal with the problems of the Kingdom of Thessalonike.

After Boniface's, king of Thessalonike, death, his ownerships in Italy were given to his older son William, while the Kingdom of Thessalonike was given to his younger son, Demetrius. But, the aristocracy of the Kingdom didn't want a young boy in the throne of their country, because it was in continuous danger. So, they decided to give the Kingdom to William. The Emperor Henry did not want that, because it would pretty easy to control a young boy. He campaigned against Thessalonike and, after long marches and difficulties, managed to bring Demetrius back to the throne.

In 1211, Henry crossed Boshorus to face the forces of Nicaea. Till then, the Emperor of Nicaea was fighting the Seljuks. But, in a decisive battle, his Latin mercenaries gifted him victory. So, it would be certain that his next target would be the Latins. The Latin Emperor faced in battle Nicaea, having only 300 knights, and nicaea had 1,700 soldiers. The Latins, despite being outnumbered, won. He gained some more lands in Minor Asia and his Empire was safe from both the Bulgarians and the Nicaeans. In the next years, Henry didn't campaign against anyone, but he tried to convince the Greeks and the Bulgarians to enter the Catholic church. He died in 1216.

Henry didn't have any children to succeed him. The only relative of Henry was his sister, Yolanda, wife of Pierre de Courtenay. The Barons of the Empire offered the throne to Pierre, who started his journey to Constantinople in 1217. However, he was trapped by the Despot of Epiros in the mountains of Albania, while using the Egnatia road to Constantinople. He died captive and he never reached his Empire. However, his wife, Yolanda, reached Constantinople by sea and took the governance of the Latin Empire. After her death, in 1219, the Barons gave the throne to Robert de Courtenay, relative of Pierre. The new Emperor, however was not smart or active, unsuitable to take the governance of such an unstable country. Robert was crowned Emperor in the March of 1221 in Agia Sophia. In 1224, he made a campaign against Nicaea. He fought Nicaea in Poimanum, where he was defeated. After his success, the Nicaean Emperor attacked the Latin castles in Minor Asia and conquered them. After that, he crossed the Hellespont, attacked the area of Kallipolis and conquered Andrianople. In the meanwhile, the fleet of Nicaea conquered Samos, Chios and Lesbos. The Latin Empire had only Nicomedia in the Asia Minor. In 1228, Robert died and the ten-years-old son of Pierre,Baldwin, came to the throne. The position of the co-Emperor was given to Jean de Brien, former King of Jerusalem. He was old, however he was very active. In 1235, the Nicaean and the Bulgarian Emperors invaded Thrace, and together marched towards Constantinople. Jean de Brien gathered 160 knights, and attacked the Nicaeans. His well-armoured knights made the Nicaeans route. It was a great victory for the old knight from France, who was approaching the age of ninety. However, this success was the last. Two years later, Jean de Brien died, leaving the state in a difficult condition. He was succeeded by Baldwin II, son of Peter of Courtenay. The Latin Empire owned only Constantinople and its suburbs. The financial difficulties of the Empire made Baldwin II to sell a part of its personal stuff in Western Europe, along with many expensive religious jewels from Constantinople. He also made many desperate moves to make money. Finally, he travelled to France to ask help for his country. However, Constantinople was protected by its powerful walls and the Venetian fleet and it would be difficult for the army of Nicaea to conquer it.

In 1254, the Nicaean Emperor John III died and was succeeded by Theodore II who died young, leaving in the throne his child son, John IV. The governance of the state was given to Mouzalon. But, the powerful nobles of the Empire of Nicaea revolted and gave the governance to Michael Paleologos. In 1259, the armies of Nicaea crashed the knights of the Latin Principality of Achaea. The Latin Emperor of Constantinople could not expect help from the Latins from the rest of Greece.

In 1261, when a Nicaean general was in Thrace heading to the North, towards Bulgaria, he learnt that the army of the Latins of Constantinople were away in campaign. The city was unprotected. So, he took the risk and moved secretly his 800 soldiers inside. The Latins of the city ran to the port to take a ship and leave. So did Baldwin, the last Latin Emperor of Constantinople.