Ioannes IV Laskaris

Reign: November 19, 1282 - 1316

Son of Theodoros II Laskaris, Ioannes IV ruled the Roman Empire from 1282 to 1316.  He continued his father’s reforms, captured Antioch and Cyprus (the last remaining crusader states), and recovered much of central Anatolia from the Turks.  He also fostered relations with the Kingdom of Georgia, marrying his son and heir to a princess from that kingdom.

**Reforms**

Like his father, Ioannes IV favored appointing men of low-birth to high office, ensuring their personal loyalty to himself.  He often clashed with the empire’s aristocracy, primarily due to his tendency to distribute newly conquered lands in small amounts in an attempt to rebuild the small landholder class.  Several uprising by nobles were put down during his reign. In 1287, Ioannes IV minted a new hyperpyron coin with 20.5 karats of gold, the highest value the coin had held for over a century, reflecting the improved economic situation of the empire.

**Expansion**

Ioannes IV expanded the Roman Empire’s borders through conquest and negotiation.  He cemented many of the gains made by his father in the War of the Sicilian Vespers in a peace treaty with Venice, annexing Crete, Kythera, Patmos, and Syra.

Following the fall of the crusader city of Acre to the Mamelukes, Cilicia looked to Constantinople for protection, sending a delegation in 1294.  The Armenians of Cilicia agreed to submit to Roman authority in exchange for protection from Mameluke Egypt and an acknowledgement of their local rights, which Ioannes IV accepted.

Raids and skirmishes along with border with the various Turkish tribes led to Ioannes IV sending his army into central Anatolia in 1295 with a mission to return the area to the empire.  They faced a disorganized multitude of Turkish states as the Seljuk sultanate had largely collapsed. Iconium/Konya falls in late 1296. Stiff resistance is only encountered when a number of tribes begin following a talented leader named Osman, leading to a bloody stalemate from 1298 to 1300, at which time Osman takes his army east to attack the weak Il-Khanate in Mesopotamia.  Theodosiopolis falls to the Romans in April of 1300 and a Turkish force is annihilated in battle at Manzikert in June. Rebellions by Turks occur in July of 1300, but are suppressed and Ioannes IV continued a process of Hellenization by bringing in Greek and Vlach settlers to live in the newly recovered territory.

In 1305, the Principality of Antioch (a crusader city-state) is besieged by a Roman army led by Manuel Laskaris, heir to the throne.  The siege ended after 12 days when Orthodox inhabitants opened the gates to Manuel’s force. The last crusader state, the Kingdom of Cyprus, is taken in 1309.  The papacy is distracted by the Templar trial and does not respond.

**Death**

Ioannes IV Laskaris dies in 1316.  He son, Manuel II Laskaris succeeds him.

**OTL**

Due to Theodoros II’s inherited epilepsy, he died in 1258.  His son, Ioannes IV Laskaris, is crowned at the age of seven and reigned as co-emperor with Michael VIII Palaeologus after the assassination of Giorgios Mouzalon.  Michael VIII recaptured Constantinople in 1261, restoring the Roman Empire, but did not win a war against the Sultanate of Rum. Ioannes IV was blinded and deposed on December 25, 1261, his eleventh birthday.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John\_IV\_Laskaris