page_title: Theodore I Laskaris
section_title: Coronation
hierarchical_section_title: Theodore I Laskaris / Reign / Coronation
caption_attribution_description: English: Large parts of the walls that surrounded the town are still in place, and some of its gates have been restored or were being restored (in 2018). This is one. At several points one can walk on the walls, and so have a fine view of the town.
context_page_description: Theodore I Laskaris or Lascaris was the first Emperor of Nicaea—a successor state of the Byzantine Empire—from 1205 to his death. Although he was born to an obscure Byzantine aristocratic family, his mother was related to the imperial Komnenos clan. He married a younger daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos in 1200. He received the title of despot before 1203, demonstrating his right to succeed his father-in-law on the throne.
  The Fourth Crusade forced Alexios III to flee from Constantinople in 1203. Theodore was imprisoned by the crusaders, but he escaped. After crossing the Bosporus into Asia Minor, he started to organise the local Greeks' resistance against the Latins in Bithynia in his father-in-law's name. He concluded an alliance with the Seljuq Sultan of Rum, but he could not stop the Latins' expansion. Neither could he prevent a claimant to the imperial throne, Alexios Komnenos, from establishing a Byzantine successor state, the Empire of Trebizond, in northern Asia Minor. Theodore's position consolidated only after Tzar Kaloyan of Bulgaria inflicted a crushing defeat on the Latins in the Battle of Adrianople in 1205.
context_section_description: David Komnenos dispatched an army to Bithynia, but Theodore defeated the invaders and their Latin allies at Nicomedia. Sultan Kaykhusraw I sent Seljuq troops to his father-in-law, Maurozomes, to invade the valley of the Maeander River in the spring of 1205, but they were soon defeated. Theodore made a peace with Maurozomes, allowing him to rule two fortresses, Chonae and Laodicea on the Lycus, as the Sultan's lieutenant. Theodore assumed the title of emperor early in 1205—either after his victory at Nicomedia or after his peace treaty with Maurozomes. His new title was an open challenge to the legitimacy of the Latin emperor in Constantinople; therefore, the Latins regarded him as an usurper, unlawfully ruling territories of their empire. Many Greeks also refused to recognize Theodore's claim to the emperorship because only coronation by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople could legalize an emperor. Theodore approached Patriarch John Kamateros, who lived in exile in Thrace, offering to move him to Nicaea, but the elderly prelate refused.
  Byzantine aristocrats, who had lost their Thracian, Thessalian or Peloponnesian estates, came to Nicaea and Theodore gave asylum to them. He could only finance a simplified state administration, but he invited former high-ranking Byzantine officials to Nicaea. His wife's uncle, the blind Basil Doukas Kamateros—a former logothetes tou dromou (minister of foreign affairs)—assisted him in setting up the new administrative system. He hired a Calabrian pirate, John Steiriones, to command his fleet in the Sea of Marmara. Theodore had great confidence in his brothers. He made them military commanders and rewarded them with court titles.
  Patriarch John Kamateros died in June 1206. The Orthodox clergy of Constantinople asked Pope Innocent III to authorize them to elect a new patriarch, but the Latin authorities opposed their plan. The new Latin Emperor of Constantinople, Henry of Flanders, made an alliance with David Komnenos against Theodore. Theodore decided to capture Heraclea Pontica from David, but the Latins attacked his army from the rear when he was marching towards the town, and he had to abandon the campaign to chase the Latin troops off. The Latins invaded Asia Minor and captured Nicomedia and Cyzicus during the winter of 1206–1207. Theodore in turn allied himself with Kaloyan, who launched an incursion into Thrace, forcing Emperor Henry to recall his troops from Asia Minor. After Theodore and his brothers had laid siege to Nicomedia, Henry agreed to sign a two-year truce, authorizing Theodore to destroy two fortifications at Nicomedia and Cyzicus.
  The Orthodox clerics' negotiations with the Holy See about the appointment of an Orthodox patriarch proved unsuccessful. Theodore addressed a letter to Pope Innocent III, requesting that he authorize the Orthodox clerics to elect the new patriarch. He also tried to persuade the Pope to acknowledge him as the supreme head of the Orthodox community, but the Pope ignored both requests. When the Latins broke the truce early in 1208, Theodore again approached the Pope and asked him to mediate a peace, proposing the Sea of Marmara as the permanent frontier between the Latin Empire and his realm.
  Orthodox clerics urged Theodore to hold an election to decide a new Ecumenical Patriarch. Theodore convoked a Church council in Nicaea in Holy Week 1208. The assembled prelates elected a high-ranking cleric, Michael Autoreianos, patriarch on 20 March 1208. Autoreianos was related to Theodore's chief advisor, Kamateros. As his first act, the new patriarch crowned and anointed Theodore "emperor and autocrat of the Romans" on Easter Sunday. Theodore's coronation by the new Ecumenical Patriarch sanctioned his claim to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine monarchs. His legitimacy, however, could be challenged, because only a lawful emperor could appoint a legitimate patriarch and only a legitimate patriarch could crown a lawful emperor. Theodore's opponents argued that the council electing Michael Autoreianos was just an assembly of randomly chos
caption: Ruins of the walls of Nicaea.
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