Empire of Nicaea

successor state of the Byzantine Empire when the crusaders conquered Constantinople at Fourth Crusade of 1204

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The Empire of Nicaea was a Byzantine state that emerged after crusaders from the Fourth Crusade conquered Constantinople in 1204, serving as one of the successor territories to the original Byzantine Empire. It mattered because it became an important power center during the period when the Byzantine Empire was fragmented, eventually playing a key role in the restoration of Byzantine rule.

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inception: 1204-00-00
dissolved, abolished or demolished date: 1261-01-01
Commons category: Empire of Nicaea

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The Empire of Nicaea (Greek: Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων), also known as the Nicene Empire, was the largest of the three Greek rump states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire that fled when Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Venetian armed forces during the Fourth Crusade, a military event known as the Sack of Constantinople. Like the other Byzantine rump states that formed due to the 1204 fracturing of the empire, such as the Empire of Trebizond and the Despotate of Epirus, it was a continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire that survived well into the Middle Ages. A fourth state, known in historiography as the Latin Empire, was established by an army of Crusaders and the Republic of Venice after the capture of Constantinople and the surrounding environs.

Founded by the Laskaris family, it lasted from 1204 to 1261, when the Nicenes restored the Byzantine Empire after they recaptured Constantinople. Thus, the Nicene Empire is seen as a direct continuation of the Byzantine Empire, as it fully assumed the traditional titles and government of the Byzantines in 1205.