This article is about the specific polity Latin Empire 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.
If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics
Was an empire in Greece and Turkey, the largest polity among those that emerged after the Fourth Crusade where the Crusaders conquered Constantinople and divided the Byzantine Empire. It was eventually conquered by the Empire of Nicaea that restored the Byzantine Empire.
Establishment
April 1204: After the fall of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade, the crusaders agreed to divide up Byzantine territory. In the Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae, signed on 1 October 1204, three eighths of the empire (including Crete and other islands) went to the Republic of Venice. The Latin Empire claimed the remainder.
June 1204: During the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Venetians seized the port of Lampsacus, while French knight Peter of Bracieux captured the nearby Pegai. This territory was then taken over by the Latin Empire.
October 1204: After the Fourth Crusade the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos and Ikaria became part of the Latin Empire.
October 1204: Crete becomes part part of the Latin Empire and is allotted to Boniface of Montferrat.
November 1204: Venetian Tekirdağ (Rodosto) and Gelibolu Peninsula (Gallipoli), 1204-1235.
November 1204: Samothrace Island (Samotracia) is acquired by Venice after the Fourth Crusade.
November 1204: After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Latin Empire captured Thrace, Thessaly, and northern Greece. The territory was then given to Boniface of Montferrat, who established the Kingdom of Thessalonica.
November 1204: After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Beyoğlu (Pera) neighborhood in Constantinople was taken over by the Republic of Venice. The Venetians controlled the area until 1261 when the Byzantine Empire recaptured Constantinople.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the Medieval period. The best known of these military expeditions are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291.
1.1.Fourth Crusade
Was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem. However, the Western Crusaders sacked Constantinople in 1204 and partitioned the Byzantine Empire.
January 1205: Cession of Crete to Venice by the King of Thessalonica (1204).
January 1205: Latin forces defeated the Nicaean forces at Poimanenon and Prusa in 1204.
Were a series of conflicts between the Second Bulgarian Empire and the Latin Empire.
April 1205: Battle of Adrianople.
May 1205: Theodore Lascaris was able to capture much of northwestern Anatolia after the Bulgarian defeat of Latin Emperor Baldwin I in the Battle of Adrianople.
January 1206: Battle of Rusion.
March 1206: Battle of Rodosto (Tekirdağ).
January 1207: On January 31, 1206 the Bulgarians defeated the Latins again in Thrace, and later proceeded to capture Didymoteikhon.
June 1208: Battle of Philippopolis: The Crusaders were victorious. Peace treaty signed between Boril of Bulgaria and Henry of Flanders (Latin Empire).
Expansion during the rule of Henry in the Latin Empire.
January 1206: The initial campaigns of the crusaders in Asia Minor resulted in the capture of most of Bithynia by 1205, with the defeat of the forces of Theodore I Laskaris at Poemanenum and Prusa.
January 1207: The Latin Empire took control of Nicomedia in 1206. Its reign will last until 1240.
April 1207: The Latins invaded Asia Minor and captured Nicomedia and Cyzicus during the winter of 1206-1207.
January 1208: In 1207, the Bulgarian army, led by Tsar Kaloyan, was defeated by the Latin Empire at Philippopolis.
June 1208: Boril was the successor of Tsar Kaloyan of the Second Bulgarian Empire. The Battle of Philippopolis in 1208 was fought between the Bulgarians and the Latin Empire, resulting in Boril's defeat and loss of the territory to the Duchy of Philippopolis.
October 1211: Henry landed with his army at Pegai and marched eastward to the Rhyndacus river. Henry assaulted his positions and scattered the Nicaean troops in a day-long battle on 15 October.
October 1211: Henry of Flanders, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople captured Nymphaion and Pergamon.
January 1215: The Treaty of Nymphaeum gave the Latin Empire control of most of Mysia up to the village of Kalamos, which was to be uninhabited and mark the boundary with the Empire of Nicaea.
Were the military campaigns of the Nicaean Empire, the largest of the rump states that succeeded the Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade, aimed to reconquer the territories of the Byzantine Empire. The Nicaean Empire was succesful in the reconquest of Constantinople and refounded the Byzantine Empire, but the former territorial extent of the Empire was never achieved.
4.1.The Empire of Nicaea annects Bitinia
The Empire of Nicaea annects Bitinia.
January 1211: The Empire of Nicaea annexes Bythinia.
4.2.The Empire of Nicaea conquers Ikaria
Nicaean conquest of Ikaria.
January 1223: Nicaean conquest of Ikaria.
4.3.The Empire of Nicaea conquers Kios
Nicaean conquest of Kios.
January 1223: Nicaean conquest of Kios.
4.4.The Empire of Nicaea conquers Lesbos
Nicaean conquest of Lesbos.
January 1223: Nicaean conquest of Lesbos.
4.5.The Empire of Nicaea conquers Samos
Nicaean conquest of Samos.
January 1223: Nicaean conquest of Samos.
4.6.The Empire of Nicaea conquers the southern coasts of the Marmara Sea
Nicaean counquest of the southern coasts of the Marmara Sea.
January 1223: Nicaean conquest of the southern coasts of the Marmara Sea.
The recapture of the city of Constantinople by the forces of the Empire of Nicaea, led to the re-establishment of the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty, after an interval of 57 years where the city had been the capital of the Latin Empire installed by the Fourth Crusade in 1204.
July 1261: The Latin Empire, established after the Fourth Crusade, ended in 1261 when Michael VIII Palaeologus of the Byzantine Empire retook Constantinople from the last Latin Emperor, Baldwin II. This marked the restoration of the Byzantine Empire in the region.
January 1212: By 1211 all Asian territories of the Latin Empire, with the exception of Pegai, were conquered by the Nicaeans.
January 1226: Threatened both by Nicaea in Asia and Epirus in Europe, the Latin emperor sued for peace, which was concluded in 1225. According to its terms, the Latins abandoned all their Asian possessions except for the eastern shore of the Bosporus and the city of Nicomedia with the surrounding region.
January 1227: Epirote armies conquered Thrace in 1225-26, appearing before Constantinople itself. The Latin Empire was saved for a time by the threat posed to Theodore by the Bulgarian tsar Ivan II Asen, and a truce was concluded in 1228.
February 1227: Epirote armies conquered Thrace in 1225-26, appearing before Constantinople itself. The Latin Empire was saved for a time by the threat posed to Theodore by the Bulgarian tsar Ivan II Asen, and a truce was concluded in 1228.
January 1228: John III's possession of Adrianople was terminated by Theodore Komnenos Doukas of Epirus and Thessalonica, who drove the Nicaean garrison out of Adrianople and annexed much of Thrace in 1227.
January 1231: Theodore Komnenos invaded Bulgaria with a huge army. Surprised, Ivan Asen II gathered a small force and moved to the south to engage them. Instead of a banner, he used the peace treaty with Theodore's oath and seal stuck on his spear and won a major victory in the Battle of Klokotnitsa. Theodore Komnenos was captured along with his whole court and most of the surviving troops. Ivan Asen II released all ordinary soldiers and marched on the Epyrote-controlled territories, where all cities and towns from Adrianople to Durazzo on the Adriatic Sea surrendered and recognized his rule.
January 1241: After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Nicomedia was captured by the Latin Empire. In 1240, it was recaptured by the Empire of Nicaea under the leadership of John III Doukas Vatatzes, marking the end of Latin rule in the city.
Disestablishment
July 1261: The Latin Empire, established after the Fourth Crusade, ended in 1261 when Michael VIII Palaeologus of the Byzantine Empire retook Constantinople from the last Latin Emperor, Baldwin II. This marked the restoration of the Byzantine Empire in the region.
Latin Empire
