Despotate of Epirus

1204 - 1269

The Despotate of Epirus was one of the Byzantine Greek rump states established after the occupation of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade (1204). Centered on the region of the same name in the southwestern Balkans, it existed until 1269, when it was annexed by the Empire of Nicaea.

Formation

The Fourth Crusade saw a Western European crusader army besiege and capture Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, and establish the Latin Empire. Though the Latin Empire would claim the entire empire, they were only able to control the area around the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. Other areas of the Roman Empire coalesced into three states; Nicaea, Epirus, and Trebizond. At its height, the Despotate of Epirus controlled a region on the Adriatic coast stretching from Dyrrachium to the Gulf of Corinth.

Fall

Due to the threat of Venice, the Empire of Nicaea forced Epirus to transfer the city of Dyrrachium in 1268. At that point, Nicaea controlled northern, western, and much of central Anatolia, along with most of Thrace in Europe. To combat Nicaean expansion, in 1269 Epirus signed an alliance with other states in the southern Balkans (Thessaly, Athens, and Achaia) and launched an attack on Nicaea. The armies met in battle near Pelagonia, but the alliance is riven by mistrust and rivalries and was defeated. In the aftermath, the whole of Epirus was overrun by Nicaean forces and the leader of Epirus, Despot Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas (a descendant of a branch of the Angelos family), was killed in battle that September. The Empire of Nicaea annexed Epirus at the end of the year.

OTL

Despot Nikephoros I was not killed in battle in 1269, instead marrying a niece of Roman Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus. While Michael VIII considered Epirus a vassal state, Nikephoros I disagreed and continued to ally with Latin states, including Naples in 1292. Epirus was conquered by Serbian Tsar Stefan Uroš IV Dušan in 1348, though the region would see war and conquest many times in the following years. Epirus was conquered by the Ottomans in 1479, but by this time the area was led by the Italian Tocco family.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Despotate_of_Epirus