Despotate of Epirus Δεσποτᾶτον τῆς Ἠπείρου (Medieval Greek) | |||||||||||||||||
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| 1205–1337 1356–1479 | |||||||||||||||||
 Coat of arms ofCarlo I Tocco, founder of the last ruling dynasty of Epirus, as count of Cephalonia (dexter) and despot of Epirus (sinister) | |||||||||||||||||
 Epirus in 1205–1230 | |||||||||||||||||
| Status | Rump state of theByzantine Empire | ||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Arta(1205–1337/40, 1430–49) Ioannina(1356–1430) Angelokastron(1449–60) Vonitsa(1460–1479) | ||||||||||||||||
| Official languages | Medieval Greek | ||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Medieval Greek,Old Albanian,Old Aromanian,Middle Bulgarian | ||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Greek Orthodoxy[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||||||
| Despot of Epirus | |||||||||||||||||
• 1205–1214 | Michael I Komnenos Doukas | ||||||||||||||||
• 1448–1479 | Leonardo III Tocco | ||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | High Medieval | ||||||||||||||||
• Established | 1205 | ||||||||||||||||
• Byzantine conquest | 1337 | ||||||||||||||||
• Re-establishment byNikephoros II Orsini | 1356 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1479 | |||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Denier | ||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Albania Bulgaria Greece North Macedonia | ||||||||||||||||
TheDespotate of Epirus (Medieval Greek:Δεσποτᾶτον τῆς Ἠπείρου) was one of the Greekrump states of theByzantine Empire established in the aftermath of theFourth Crusade in 1204 by a branch of theAngelos dynasty. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire during the subsequentstruggle for Constantinople, along with theEmpire of Nicaea and theEmpire of Trebizond; its rulers briefly proclaiming themselves as Emperors in 1227–1242 (during which it is most often called theEmpire of Thessalonica). The term "Despotate of Epirus" is, like "Byzantine Empire" itself, a modernhistoriographic convention and not a name in use at the time.
The Despotate was centred on the region ofEpirus, encompassing alsoAlbania and the western portion ofGreek Macedonia and also includedThessaly and western Greece as far south asNafpaktos. Through a policy of aggressive expansion underTheodore Komnenos Doukas the Despotate of Epirus also briefly came to incorporate centralMacedonia, with the establishment of theEmpire of Thessalonica in 1224, andThrace as far east asDidymoteicho andAdrianople, and was on the verge of recapturing Constantinople and restoring the Byzantine Empire before theBattle of Klokotnitsa in 1230 where he was defeated by theBulgarian Empire. After that, the Epirote state contracted to its core in Epirus and Thessaly, and was forced into vassalage to other regional powers. It nevertheless managed to retain its autonomy until being conquered by the restoredPalaiologanByzantine Empire in ca. 1337. In the 1410s,Carlo I Tocco,Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, managed to reunite the core of the Epirote state, but his successors gradually lost it to the advancingOttoman Empire, with the last stronghold,Vonitsa, falling to the Ottomans in 1479.
In traditional and modernhistoriography, the Epirote state is usually termed the "Despotate of Epirus" and its rulers are summarily attributed the title of "Despot" from its inception, but this use is not strictly accurate.[2] First of all, the title of "Despot" was not borne by all Epirote rulers: the state's founder,Michael I Komnenos Doukas, never used it, and is only anachronistically referred to as "Despot of Epirus" in 14th-century Western European sources. His successorTheodore Komnenos Doukas did not use it either, and actually crowned himself emperor (basileus) atThessalonicac. 1225. The first ruler of Epirus to receive the title of Despot wasMichael II, from his uncleManuel of Thessalonica in the 1230s, and then again, as a sign of submission and vassalage, from theNicaean emperorJohn III Vatatzes.[3][4] Earlier historians assumed that Michael I was indeed named "Despot" by the deposed emperorAlexios III Angelos after ransoming him fromLatin captivity inc. 1206/7 orc. 1210; this has been disproven by more recent research.[5]
Furthermore, even after Michael II, speaking of the Epirote rulers as "Despotsof Epirus" is technically incorrect.[6] The title of Despot did not imply any specific territorial jurisdiction, nor was it hereditary; it was merely the highest rank in theByzantine court hierarchy, awarded by a reigning emperor to close relatives, usually his sons. Consequently, it was often borne by the princes sent to govern semi-autonomousappanages and only later came to be associated with these territories as the practice became regularized (aside from Epirus, theDespotate of the Morea is the most notable case). The territorial term "despotate" itself (in Greekδεσποτᾶτον,despotaton) was first used in contemporary sources for Epirus only from the 14th century on, e.g. in theChronicle of the Morea, in the history ofJohn Kantakouzenos, the hagiography of St. Niphon, or theChronicle of the Tocco, where the inhabitants of the Despotate are referred to as theDespotatoi.[7][8][9] The term "Despotate of Epirus" is thus sometimes replaced by "(Independent) State of Epirus" in more recent historiography.[10]
The Epirote realm itself did not have an official name. Contemporaries, particularly in Western Europe, used the termRomania (Greek:Ῥωμανία,romanized: Rhōmania,lit. 'land of theRomans'), which generally referred to the whole Byzantine Empire, to refer specifically to Epirus, as seen in theLatin title ofDespotus Romanie claimed byPhilip I of Taranto and his sonPhilip of Apulia,Nicholas Orsini, and laterCarlo I Tocco.[10][11] In the Byzantine world, the termDysis (Δύσις), meaning "West", which historically referred toDalmatia,Macedonia andSicily, or even the entire European part of the Empire, also came into use already in the 13th century when juxtaposing Epirus to its eastern rival, theEmpire of Nicaea, which was then calledAnatolē (Ἀνατολή), "East".[10][12] Moreover, the term "Hellenes" was widely used instead of the earlier "Romans" by the 13th-century court of the Despotate to describe its population.[13]
The Epirote state was founded in 1205 byMichael Komnenos Doukas, a cousin of theByzantine emperorsIsaac II Angelos andAlexios III Angelos. At first, Michael allied withBoniface of Montferrat, but having lost theMorea (Peloponnese) to theFranks at thebattle of the Olive Grove of Koundouros, he went toEpirus, where he considered himself the Byzantine governor of the old province ofNicopolis and revolted against Boniface. Epirus soon became the new home of many refugees fromConstantinople,Thessaly, and thePeloponnese, and Michael was described as a secondNoah, rescuing men from theLatin flood.John X Kamateros, thePatriarch of Constantinople, did not consider him a legitimate successor and instead joinedTheodore I Laskaris inNicaea; Michael instead recognized the authority ofPope Innocent III over Epirus, cutting ties to theEastern Orthodox Church.
Henry of Flanders demanded that Michael submit to theLatin Empire, which he did, at least nominally, by allowing his daughter to marry Henry's brother Eustace in 1209. Michael did not honour this alliance, assuming that mountainous Epirus would be mostly impenetrable by any Latins with whom he made and broke alliances. Meanwhile, Boniface's relatives fromMontferrat made claims toEpirus as well, and in 1210 Michael allied with theVenetians and attacked Boniface'sKingdom of Thessalonica. Pope Innocent III excommunicated him in response. Henry forced Michael into a renewed nominal alliance later that year.
Michael turned his attention to capturing other strategically important Latin-held towns, includingLarissa andDyrrhachium. He also took control of the ports on theGulf of Corinth. In 1214 he capturedCorcyra fromVenice, but he wasassassinated later that year and was succeeded by his half-brother Theodore.
Theodore Komnenos Doukas immediately set out to attackThessalonica, and he fought with theBulgarians along the way. Henry of Flanders died on the way to counterattack, and in 1217 Theodore captured his successorPeter of Courtenay, most likely executing him. The Latin Empire fell into disarray after losing theBattle of Poimanenon to the Nicaeans, and could not stop Theodore from capturing Thessalonica in 1224. Theodore now challenged Nicaea for the imperial title and crowned himself emperor, founding the short-livedEmpire of Thessalonica. In 1225, afterJohn III Doukas Vatatzes of Nicaea had takenAdrianople, Theodore arrived and took it back from him. Theodore also allied with theBulgarians and drove the Latins out ofThrace. In 1227 Theodore crowned himself Byzantine emperor, although this was not recognized by most Greeks, especially not the Patriarch in Nicaea.
In 1230 Theodore broke the truce withBulgaria, hoping to removeIvan Asen II, who had held him back from attacking Constantinople. In thebattle of Klokotnitsa (nearHaskovo in Bulgaria) the Bulgarian emperor defeated Theodore, capturing and later blinding him. His brotherManuel Komnenos Doukas took power in Thessalonica, but Epirus itself soon broke away under Michael I's illegitimate son,Michael II Komnenos Doukas. Manuel awarded Michael the title ofDespot—making Michael the first Epirote ruler to bear the title—as a sign of his nominal dependency on Thessalonica, but Michael wasde facto independent, which he demonstrated by seizing Corfu in ca. 1236. In the rump Empire of Thessalonica, after Theodore was released in 1237, he overthrew his brother Manuel, and set up his sonJohn Komnenos Doukas as ruler of Thessalonica.
Thessalonica never regained its power after the battle of Klokotnitsa. Theodore's younger sonDemetrios Angelos Doukas lost Thessalonica to Nicaea in 1246 and Michael II of Epirus allied with the Latins against the Nicaeans. In 1248John III Doukas Vatatzes of Nicaea forced Michael to recognize him as emperor, and officially recognized him in turn asdespotēs in Epirus. Vatatzes' granddaughter Maria later (in 1256) married Michael's sonNikephoros, although she died in 1258. Also in 1248 Michael's daughterAnna marriedWilliam II,Prince of Achaea, and Michael decided to honour this alliance over his obligations to Vatatzes. The allies were defeated in the ensuing conflict at theBattle of Pelagonia in 1259.
EmperorTheodore II Laskaris allied with Michael II, and their children, betrothed by John years before, finally married in 1256, with Theodore receiving Dyrrhachium in return. Michael did not accept this transfer of land, and in 1257 he revolted, defeating a Nicaean army led byGeorge Acropolites. As Michael marched on Thessalonica, he was attacked by KingManfred of Sicily, who conqueredAlbania andCorcyra. However, Michael immediately allied with him by marrying his daughter Helena to him. After Theodore II died, Michael, Manuel[who?], and William II fought the new Nicaean emperor,Michael VIII Palaiologos. The alliance was very unstable and in 1259 William was captured at the disastrousBattle of Pelagonia. Michael VIII went on to capture Michael II's capital ofArta, leaving Epirus with onlyIoannina and Vonitsa. Arta was recovered by 1260 while Michael VIII was occupied against Constantinople.
After Michael VIII restored the empire in Constantinople in 1261 he frequently harassed Epirus, and forced Michael's sonNikephoros to marry his nieceAnna Palaiologina Kantakouzene in 1265. Michael considered Epirus avassal state, although Michael II and Nikephoros continued to ally with the Princes of Achaea and theDukes of Athens. In 1267 Corcyra and much of Epirus were taken byCharles of Anjou, and in 1267/68 Michael II died. Michael VIII did not attempt to annex Epirus directly, and allowed Nikephoros I to succeed his father and deal with Charles, who captured Dyrrhachium in 1271. In 1279 Nikephoros allied with Charles against Michael VIII, agreeing to become Charles' vassal. With Charles' defeat soon after Nikephoros lost Albania to the Byzantines.
UnderAndronikos II Palaiologos, son of Michael VIII, Nikephoros renewed the alliance with Constantinople. Nikephoros, however, was persuaded to ally withCharles II of Naples in 1292, although Charles was defeated by Andronikos's fleet. Nikephoros married his daughter to Charles's sonPhilip I of Taranto and sold much of his territory to him. After Nikephoros's death in c. 1297 Byzantine influence grew under his widow Anna, Andronikos's cousin, who ruled as regent for her young sonThomas I Komnenos Doukas. In 1306 she revolted against Philip in favour of Andronikos; the Latin inhabitants were expelled but she was forced to return some territory to Philip. In 1312 Philip abandoned his claim to Epirus and claimed the defunct Latin Empire of Constantinople instead as the inheritance of his wifeCatherine II of Valois, Princess of Achaea.
Anna succeeded in marrying off Thomas to a daughter of Michael IX, but Thomas was assassinated in 1318 by his cousinNicholas Orsini, who married his widow and claimed to rule not only Epirus, but all of Greece; his rule was limited only to Akamania, or the southern part of Epirus. In 1323 he was overthrown by his brotherJohn, who attempted to balance submission to Constantinople with cooperation with the Angevins of Naples, who also claimed Greece as part of their domains. John was poisoned around 1335 by his wife Anna, who became regent for their sonNikephoros II. In 1337 the new Emperor,Andronikos III Palaiologos, arrived in northern Epirus with an army partly composed of 2,000 Turks contributed by his allyUmur 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, withTheodore Synadenos as governor.[14]
The imperials had insisted that Nikephoros would be engaged to one of the daughters of the emperor's right-hand man,John Kantakouzenos. When the time of the engagement came, Nikephoros had vanished. Andronikos learned that Nikephoros had fled to Italy, with the help of members of the Epirote aristocracy who supported an independent Epirus. He stayed inTaranto, Italy, in the court of Catherine II of Valois (Philip of Taranto's widow), thetitular empress of Constantinople.[15]
In 1339 a revolt began, supported by Catherine of Valois, who had previously moved to the Peloponnese, and by Nikephoros who had returned to Epirus, based inThomokastron. By the end of the year the imperial army returned to the area, and in the following year, 1340, Andronikos III himself arrived together with John Kantakouzenos. Nikephoros was persuaded through diplomacy to recognize the authority of the emperor. He surrendered Thomokastron, married Maria Kantakouzene, the daughter of John Kantakouzenos, and received the title ofpanhypersebastos.[15]
The Empire soon fell into acivil war betweenJohn V Palaiologos and John VI Kantakouzenos, and Epirus was conquered by theSerbian tsarStefan Dušan in 1348, who appointed his brother, despotSimeon Nemanjić-Palailogos as governor of the province.[16] 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, to which he also added Thessaly. Nikephoroswas killed in battle putting down anAlbanian revolt in 1359, and the territory of the former despotate became a component part of the personal Empire of Dušan's brotherSimeon Nemanjić-Palailogos. Simeon was also governing Thessaly at the time, and, as theChronicle of Ioannina shows, he left much of the territory under the control of Albanian clans establishing short-lived entities: the clan ofPjetër Losha heldArta, and the clan ofMuriq Shpata held Aetoloacarnania, withAngelokastron as its capital.
In 1367 a part of the Epirotan Despotate was resurrected under local Serbian noblemanThomas II Preljubović, who kept Ioannina. After Thomas' death in 1384, his widow remarried in 1385 and transferred the Despotate to homage of Italian nobility. The state tradition was carried on by the Serbian and Italian rulers ofIoannina, who solicited aid from theOttoman Turks against the Albanians. In 1399 the Albanian leader ofPrincipality of Gjirokastër,Gjon Zenebishi captured the DespotEsau de' Buondelmonti and released him after 15 months, when his relatives in Italy offered a huge amount of money as a ransom. By 1416 theTocco family ofCephalonia succeeded in reuniting Epirus, or at least in asserting their control over its towns.
But internal dissension eased the Ottoman conquest, which proceeded with the capture of Ioannina in 1430,Arta in 1449,Angelokastron in 1460, and finallyVonitsa in 1479. During the Ottoman conquest of the Despotate of Epirus, the islands of Santa Mavra, Cephalonia and Ithaka, the ducal officials were "cut to pieces", the castle of Cephalonia was burned and the peasantry was enslaved and taken to Constantinople as a gift to the sultan, who engaged in "slave breeding" by separating husbands and wives and "mating" them with Ethiopian slaves with the purpose of "producing a race of grey slaves", while other slaves from St Mavra were sold by Ahmed Pascha for ten soldi apiece toslavery in the Ottoman Empire.[17] With the exception of several coastal Venetian possessions, this was the end of Frankish rule in mainland Greece.
Constantinople (ruled by Roman Catholics) is now surrounded by a number of relatively small competing states including Bulgaria, the empire of Nicea (Greek Orthodox), the despotate of Epirus (Greek Orthodox), and the sultanate of Rum (Sunni Islam).
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