Despotate of Epirus
This article is about the specific polity Despotate of Epirus and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.
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Was one of the Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 by a branch of the Angelos dynasty. The Despotate was centred on the region of Epirus, encompassing also Albania and the western portion of Greek Macedonia and also included parts of Thessaly.
Establishment
September 1205: The Epirote state was founded in 1205 by Michael Komnenos Doukas, a cousin of the Byzantine emperors Isaac II Angelos and Alexios III Angelos. He went to Epirus, where he considered himself the Byzantine governor of the old province of Nicopolis and revolted against Boniface.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
Expansion during the rule of Henry in the Latin Empire.
January 1213: End of the Epirote occupation of Salona.
Expansion during the rule of Michael VIII in the Byzantine Empire.
January 1266: John I Doukas, ruler of Thessaly, was forced to cede the important city of Ioannina to the Byzantine Empire as part of a peace agreement.
Expansion during the rule of Charles I Tocco in the County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos.
January 1412: When Esau, the ruler of Epirus, died in February 1411, the rulers of the country refused to recognize his young son Giorgio as heir. Both went into exile. Carlo I Tocco, Count Palatine of Kephalonia, was elected prince.
January 1206: Durrës (Durazo/Durazzo) was a Venetian colony in the periods 1205-1213 and 1392-1501.
January 1208: Venetian Kerkyra Island (Corfù) and Paxi Island (Passo), 1207-1214 and 1386-1797.
January 1211: Short-lived Epirote occupation of the Lordship of Salona.
January 1214: Durrës (Durazo/Durazzo) was a Venetian colony in the periods 1205-1213 and 1392-1501.
January 1215: Corfu island was retaken by the Despotate of Epirus.
January 1215: Venetian Kerkyra Island (Corfù) and Paxi Island (Passo), 1207-1214 and 1386-1797.
January 1216: In 1215, Michael I Komnenos Doukas, ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, captured Larissa and Dyrrhachium from the Latin Empire. He also gained control of ports on the Gulf of Corinth, expanding his territory and influence in the region.
January 1217: Arbanon lost its autonomy ca. 1216, when the ruler of Epirus, Michael I Komnenos Doukas, started an invasion northward into Albania and Macedonia, taking Kruja and ending the independence of the principality.
January 1225: Theodore challenged Nicaea for the imperial title and crowned himself emperor, founding the short-lived Empire of Thessalonica.
January 1225: Theodore of Epirus captured Thessalonica and the kingdom became part of the Despotate of Epirus.
January 1231: Epirus soon broke away from Thessalonica under Michael I's bastard son, Michael II Komnenos Doukas.
January 1231: From 1230 to 1232, the city of Ragusa was subject to the sovereignty of the Despotate of Epirus.
January 1233: During the period from 1230 to 1232, the city of Epirus was under the rule of the Despotate of Epirus, led by the ruler Theodore Komnenos Doukas. In 1232, the territory was taken over by the Republic of Venice.
January 1237: Michael of Epirus was a de facto independent ruler, which he demonstrated by seizing Corfu in ca. 1236.
January 1242: When Manuel, ruler of Thessaly, died in 1241, Michael II of Epirus was able to take over his possessions without resistance.
January 1248: When Nicaean Emperor Johannes Vatatzes began to expel the weakened Bulgarians from Romania in 1246, took large parts of Thrace from them and advanced as far as Prilep in Upper Macedonia, Michael of Epirus recaptured Central Albania and Ohrid.
January 1252: Theodore, the exile and former ruler of Thessaloniki, convinced Michael II in 1251 to invade the emperor's possessions. However, within a year the despot of Epirus was defeated by Johannes Vatatzes. In the peace treaty that followed, he had to recognize John as the rightful emperor, cede western Macedonia and possibly also areas in Albania, and hand over Theodore, the instigator of the war.
November 1257: While Michael was successfully operating in the east, Epirus was suddenly attacked from the west. At the end of 1257, Manfred of Sicily occupied the Ionian Islands in a coup,.
January 1258: Nicaean emperor Michael successfully operated in central Albania in 1257 and recaptured Durazzo.
July 1258: Sicialian forces landed on the Albanian coast and took the cities of Aulona, Durazzo and Berat.
January 1260: Michael VIII Palaiologos, the Byzantine Emperor, captured the capital of Arta from Michael II Komnenos Doukas, the ruler of Epirus.
January 1260: Manfred of Sicily launched an invasion into Albania. His forces, led by Philip Chinard, captured Durrës, Berat, Vlorë, Spinarizza and their surroundings and the southern coastline of Albania from Vlorë to Butrint.
January 1261: Arta was recovered by 1260 while Michael VIII was occupied against Constantinople.
January 1267: When Manfred of Sicily fell in the Battle of Benevento, Michael II of Epirus took the opportunity and recaptured some places in Albania. However, the most important positions, Berat, Kanina and Aulona, remained in the possession of the Neapolitans.
January 1269: After the death of Michael II Angelos, the region of Epirus was spun off to John I Dukas Komnenos, Michael's illegitimate son. In 1268, the territory became part of the Principality of Great Wallachia.
January 1272: Dyrrhachium conquered by naples-sicily.
February 1272: On 21 February 1272, a delegation of Albanian noblemen and citizens from Durrës made their way to Charles' court. Charles signed a treaty with them and was proclaimed King of Albania "by common consent of the bishops, counts, barons, soldiers and citizens".
January 1273: Central Albania was lost to Epirus.
January 1279: In 1278, Nikephoros I, the ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, successfully captured the city of Butrint in present-day Sopot.
April 1279: In March 1279 Nikephoros I declared himself a vassal of Charles of Anjou and surrendered to him the castles of Sopot and Butrint.
January 1296: The Epirotes regained possession of Ioannina.
January 1305: The ports of Butrint, Vonitsa and Naupaktos again became Epirote.
January 1316: Despot Thomas was the ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, a region in the western Balkans. The Byzantines, led by Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos, invaded Epirus in 1315 due to internal conflicts among the Epirotes. The Byzantine troops reached the capital city of Arta and looted the entire region.
February 1316: In 1316, the Byzantines invaded the Despotate of Epirus, ruled by Despot Thomas. The Epirotes had internal conflicts, leading to vulnerability. The Byzantine troops reached Arta and looted the capital and surrounding areas.
January 1320: In 1318/19 the Catalans conquered Siderokastron and the south of Thessaly as well, and created the Duchy of Neopatras, united to Athens.
July 1332: When Stephan Gabrielopulos, the Greek ruler of western Thessaly, died in 1332, John took advantage of the power vacuum and occupied large parts of his territory, including the Trikala residence.
December 1332: John II Orsini had to cede most of Thessaly to Byzantium when Emperor Andronikos III came to Thessaly in the autumn of 1332 at the head of his troops.
January 1338: In 1337 the new Byzantine Emperor, Andronikos III Palaiologos, arrived in northern Epirus with an army partly composed of 2,000 Turks contributed by his ally Umur of Aydın. Andronikos first dealt with unrest due to attacks by Albanians and then turned his interest to the Despotate. Anna tried to negotiate and obtain the Despotate for her son when he came of age, but Andronikos demanded the complete surrender of the Despotate to which she finally agreed. Thus Epirus came peacefully under imperial rule, with Theodore Synadenos as governor.
January 1356: Nikephoros II took advantage of the Byzantine civil war and the death of Dušan (1355) to escape and to reestablish himself in Epirus in 1356.
June 1356: Nikephoros Orsini landed a force on the coast of Thessaly and quickly overran it.
January 1357: In the spring of 1356 Nikephoros I of Epirus advanced into southern Epirus and expelled his brother-in-law Simeon from Arta.
January 1359: Created after the defeat of Nikephoros II Orsini in 1358.
May 1359: The Despotate of Arta was a despotate established by Albanian rulers during the 14th century, after the defeat of the local Despot of Epirus, Nikephoros II Orsini, by Albania tribesmen in the Battle of Achelous in 1359.
May 1359: Nikephoros was killed in battle putting down an Albanian revolt in 1359, and the territory of the Despotate of Epirus became a component part of the personal Empire of Dušan's brother Simeon Nemanjić-Palailogos.
January 1372: In 1371, John Uroš died and was succeeded in Thessaly by his son Ivan Uroš. In Epirus, he was succeeded by his son-in-law Tommaso Preljubović.
January 1385: In 1384, Gjon Zenebishti, a prominent Albanian nobleman, conquered the territory of Zenebishti in the north of Gjirokastra.n.
January 1386: Territorial change based on available maps.
January 1387: While in the Adriatic Venice took advantage of the dynastic conflict between Mary of Hungary and Charles III of Naples taking back Corfu.
January 1387: The Principality of Gjirokastër was created by John Zenevisi in 1386.
Disestablishment
January 1412: When Esau, the ruler of Epirus, died in February 1411, the rulers of the country refused to recognize his young son Giorgio as heir. Both went into exile. Carlo I Tocco, Count Palatine of Kephalonia, was elected prince.
