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Birth:          1173 of Nicaea, Bursa, Asia Minor
Death:          ABT Aug 1222 

Notes
expelled by the Latins, 1204
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_I_Laskaris
Theodoros I Komnenos Laskaris (Greek: Te?d???? ?' ??s?a???, Theodoros I 
Laskaris; c. 1174/5 – 1221/August 1222) was the first Emperor of Nicaea (reigned 
1204/05–1221/22).
Family[edit]

Theodore Laskaris was born in ca. 1174,[1] to the Laskaris, a noble but not 
particularly renowned Byzantine family of Constantinople. He was the son of Manuel 
Laskaris (b. c. 1140) and wife Ioanna Karatzaina (b. c. 1148).[citation needed] He had 
four older brothers: Manuel Laskaris (died after 1256), Michael Laskaris (d. 
1261/1271), Georgios Laskaris and Constantine Laskaris (died after March 19, 1205), 
Emperor of Byzantium (1204–1205); and two younger brothers: Alexios Laskaris, Latin 
military leader against the Bulgars who fought with the French against John III Doukas 
Vatatzes and was imprisoned and blinded, and Isaakios Laskaris.[2]

William Miller identified the wife of Marco I Sanudo as the sister of Theodore, based 
on his interpretation of the Italian sources.[3] However, Mihail-Dimitri Sturdza rejected 
this identification in his Dictionnaire historique et Généalogique des grandes familles 
de Grèce, d'Albanie et de Constantinople (1983), based on the silence of Byzantine 
primary sources.[4]

Reign[edit]

In 1198/9, Theodore married Anna Angelina, daughter of the Byzantine Emperor 
Alexios III Angelos and Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera; she was the widow of her 
cousin the sebastokrator Isaac Komnenos.[5] Soon after this, he was raised to the 
rank of despotes.[1]

Theodore later distinguished himself during the sieges of Constantinople by the Latins 
of the Fourth Crusade (1203–1204). He remained in Constantinople until the Latins 
actually penetrated into the city, at which point he fled across Bosphorus together 
with his wife. At about the same time his brother Constantine Laskaris was 
unsuccessfully proclaimed emperor by some of the defenders of Constantinople. In 
Bithynia Theodore established himself in Nicaea, which became the chief rallying-point 
for his countrymen.[6][7]

At first Theodore did not claim the imperial title, perhaps because his father-in-law and 
his brother were both still living, perhaps because of the imminent Latin invasion, or 
perhaps because there was no Patriarch of Constantinople to crown him Emperor.[8] 
In addition, his own control over the Anatolian domains of the Byzantine Empire was 
challenged, by David Komnenos in Paphlagonia and Manuel Maurozomes in Phrygia. It 
was only after defeating the latter two in 1205 that he was proclaimed Emperor and 
invited Patriarch John X Kamateros to Nicaea. But John died in 1206 before crowning 
Theodore. Theodore appointed Michael IV Autoreianos as the new Patriarch and was 
crowned by him in March 1208.

In the meantime, Theodore had been defeated by the Latins at Adramyttion (Edremit), 
but soon afterwards the Latins were themselves defeated by Kaloyan of Bulgaria at 
the Battle of Adrianople. This temporarily stalled the Latin advance, but it was 
renewed by Emperor Henry of Flanders in 1206. Theodore entered into an alliance 
with Kaloyan and took the offensive in 1209.

The situation was complicated by the invasion of Sultan Kaykhusraw I of Rum at the 
instigation of the deposed Alexios III in 1211; however, the Nicaeans defeated the 
Seljuk army at the Battle of Antioch on the Meander where Theodore Laskaris killed 
the sultan in single combat.[1] Although the danger from Rum and Alexios III was thus 
neutralized, Emperor Henry defeated Theodore in October of the same year, and 
established his control over the southern shores of the Sea of Marmara.[1] In spite of 
this defeat, Theodore was able to take advantage of the death of David Megas 
Komnenos, the brother of Emperor Alexios I of Trebizond in 1212 and to extend his 
own control over Paphlagonia.[1]

In 1214 Theodore concluded a peace treaty with the Latin Empire at Nymphaion, and 
in 1219 he married Marie de Courtenay, a niece of now deceased Emperor Henry and 
daughter of the current regent, Yolanda of Flanders.[9] In spite of predominantly 
peaceful relations, Theodore attacked the Latin Empire again in 1220, but peace was 
restored. Theodore died in November 1221 and was succeeded by his son-in-law John 
III Doukas Vatatzes.[10][11] He was buried in the Monastery of Hyakinthos in Nicaea.
[1]

At the end of his reign he ruled over a territory roughly coterminous with the old 
Roman provinces of Asia and Bithynia. Though there is no proof of higher qualities of 
statesmanship in him, by his courage and military skill he enabled the Byzantine nation 
not merely to survive, but ultimately to beat back the Latin invasion.[6]

Marriages and children[edit]

Theodore married three times. His first wife was Anna Komnene Angelina (b. c. 1176), 
whom he married in 1199. With Anna, Theodore had three daughters and two sons 
who died young:
Nicholas Laskaris (d. c. 1212)
John Laskaris (d. c. 1212)
Irene Laskarina, who married first the general Andronikos Palaiologos and then John 
III Doukas Vatatzes
Maria Laskarina, who married King Béla IV of Hungary
Eudokia Laskarina (renamed Sophia, born between 1210 and 1212, died between 
1247 and 1253), engaged to Robert of Courtenay, married firstly and divorced 
Frederick II, Duke of Austria, secondly (bef. 1230) Anseau de Cayeux, Governor of 
Asia Minor

After Anna Angelina died in 1212, Theodore took Philippa of Armenia (1183-aft. 1219) 
as his second wife. She was a daughter of King Ruben III of Armenia; this marriage 
was annulled a year later and they divorced in 1216. Gardiner mentions the theory that 
Ruben wanted to marry his daughter to another, and sent his niece in her place; once 
Theodore found he had been duped, he sent her and the son born to them, 
Constantine Laskaris, born in 1214, back to Cilicia.[12]

Theodore's third wife was Maria of Courtenay (1204-September, 1222), whom he 
married in 1219. She was the daughter of Emperor Peter II of Courtenay and Empress 
Yolanda of Flanders, but they had no children.

Parents
LASKARIS Manolis (ABT 1140 - )
KARATZAINA (PHOKAINA) Ioanna (ABT 1148 - )

Siblings
KOMNENOS LASCARIS Theodoros I (1173 - ABT Aug 1222)

Marriage To ANGELINA Anna Komnene (ABT 1176 - 1212)
    m. 1200 Fruhjahr

Notes

Parents
ANGELOS Alexios (Alexius) III (ABT 1153 - AFT 1211)
DOUKAINA Euphrosyne Kamatera (ABT 1155 - 1211)

Children by ANGELINA Anna Komnene ABT 1176 - 1212
LASKARINA Maria (ABT 1206 - 1270)

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