What if the Empire of Epirus captured Constantinople before the Empire of Nicaea? (contains lot of history)
Thedoros Komnenos Doukas Despot of Epirus was proclaimed Emperor of the Roman Empire in Thessalonika, the second greatest city of the Byzantine Empire.
When the Byzantine Empire fell on 1204, the Crusaders divided its captured lands and created the Latin Empire of Constantinople, the Empire of Thessalonika and numerous other smaller states. Also Venice got a great amount of harbors and cities along the Aegean and the Ionian Sea coasts.
At the same time the recently proclaimed Emperor Theodore Laskaris fled to Asia Minor with his court and many people of the aristocracy. There he organized a new Empire, the Empire of Nicaea and managed to bring prosperity to his lands and defeat the marching Seljuk and Latin armies. The Emperors of Nicaea had proclaimed themselves nominal Emperors of the fallen Byzantine Empire and had the support of the Patriarch who had also found refuge in the lands of the Nicaean Empire.
The history of the Trapezuntian and the Epirote Empires is not as well known as this of Nicaea, the state which at the end managed to recapture Constantinople from the Latins. Thedoros Komnenos Doukas, Despot of Epirus, managed to strengthen his Despotate, defeating the Latins (on an occasion he even captured Peter II of Courtenay the Latin Emperor, who was coming back from Rome where he had been proclaimed Emperor by the Pope). He recaptured many lands of the Latin Empire, all of Thessalia and all of Epirus. He reconquered the island of Corfu and Durazzo from the Venetians. Later he captured almost all of Macedonia defeating the Latins and the Bulgarians (also capturing many great forts from them, like Ochrid), surrounding Thessalonika, the capital of the Empire of the Montferrat dynasty. He captured the city after 2 years of siege (1224) and later he defeated the "crusaders" who had been sent by the Pope to defend the Empire of Thessalonika. He then thought that he was too powerful and by possessing the second greatest Byzantine city after Constantinople, he also had the right to be proclaimed Emperor, like the Laskarid dynasty of the Nicaean Empire. Then he marched against the Bulgarians in an effort to prepare the surrounding of the Latin Empire of Constantinople. He seemed to be very close to recreating the Byzantine Empire, even more closer than the Nicaean Empire which was still busy in Asia Minor fighting against the Seljuks. Unfortunately he was crushed by the Bulgarianis in the Battle of Klokotnitsa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Klokotnitsa) and his lands were divided between the Bulgarians and the Latins. (1230).
Later the Empire of Nicaea managed to capture Constantinople, much easier than expected because the Latin army was busy fighting in an island of the Aegean Sea. The question is, what if Theodoros Komnenos Doukas managed to capture Constantinople before the Empire of Nicaea? This is a very interesting question because a great problem was created after the recapture of Constantinople by the Nicaean Empire. The reborn Byzantine Empire placed its effort solely towards the recapture of the Balkan lands by the Latins, leaving Asia Minor undefended, draining its resources and finally losing it to the Seljuks. The end of the Empire finally came from the East, by the Ottomans (their Empire was strangely covering the exact area that the Nicaean Empire was possessed (!) ) and not from the West. So, what if the Epirote Despotate reconquered Constantinople and managed to create a great Empire, while the Nicaean Emperors stayed in Asia Minor and continued their effort solely against the Seljuks? Perhaps they could have defeated the Sejuks and recaptured all of Asia Minor and perhaps one day the Laskarid, the Komnenian or the Palaiologean dynasty would unite the Byzantine Empire under tone banner. All this, assuming that relations between the Empire of Epirus and the Empire of Nicaea remained friendly.
There someone can notice how closely Epirus managed to come to Constantinople.
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