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THEODORE LASCARIS (d. 1222)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 766 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THEODORE See also:LASCARIS (d. 1222) , See also:emperor of See also:Nicaea, was See also:born of a See also:noble See also:Byzantine See also:family. He became the son-in-See also:law of the Emperor Alexius III. and distinguished himself during the sieges of See also:Constantinople by the Latins (1203-4). After the See also:capture of the See also:city he gathered a See also:band of fugitives in See also:Bithynia and established himself in the See also:town of Nicaea, which became the See also:chief rallying-point for his countrymen. Relieved of the danger of invasion by a Latin force which had defeated him in 1204 but was recalled to See also:Europe by a Bulgarian invasion, he set to See also:work to See also:form a new Byzantine See also:state in See also:Asia See also:Minor, and in 1206 assumed the See also:title of emperor. During the next years Theodore was beset by enemies on See also:divers sides. He maintained himself stubbornly in defensive See also:campaigns against the Latin emperor See also:Henry, defeated his See also:rival Alexius See also:Comnenus of See also:Trebizond, and carried out a successful See also:counter-attack upon Gayath-ed-din, the See also:sultan of Koniah, who had been instigated to See also:war by the deposed Alexius III. Theodore's crowningvictory was gained in 1210, when in a See also:battle near Pisidian See also:Antioch he captured Alexius and wrested the town itself from the See also:Turks. At the end of his reign he ruled over a territory roughly conterminous with the old See also:Roman provinces of Asia and Bithynia. Though there is no See also: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 See also:beat back the Latin invasion. See E. See also:Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman See also:Empire, vol. vi., ed.

J. B. See also:

Bury (See also:London, 1896) ; G. See also:Finlay, See also:History of See also:Greece, vol. iii. (See also:Oxford, 1877) ; and A. Meliarakes, `Ioropia so() BaotMLou ri7s Nucaras Kai. rou Deo7rorlcrou rajs '137r&Opou (See also:Athens, 1898). Theodore's See also:grandson, THEODORE II. (Lascaris), emperor from 1254 to 1258, is chiefly noticeable for two brilliant campaigns by which he recovered See also:Thrace from the Bulgarians (1255-56). His See also:ill-See also:health and See also:early See also:death prevented his making full use of his ability as a ruler. See M. J. B.

Pappadopoulos, Theodore II. Lascaris, empereur de Nicee (See also:

Paris, 1908).

End of Article: THEODORE LASCARIS (d. 1222)

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