Theodore Dukas Angelus, nephew of Michael, became despot of Epirus. He began the work of expansion at the expense of the Latins and Bulgars, taking Durazzo and Corfu from the Venetians (1214).
Theodore Dukas of Epirus captured Thessalonica and extinguished the kingdom. He then had himself proclaimed Emperor of the West, and before long extended his conquests to the vicinity of Philippopolis and Adrianople.
JOHN III (Dukas Vatatzes), emperor at Nicaea. He proved himself a great ruler as well as an able general. During his reign agriculture was encouraged, trade and industry developed, and finances reformed. The Nicaean Empire enjoyed a period of real prosperity and power.
John Vatatzes defeated the Franks at Poimanenon. In succession he took the islands near the Anatolian coast (Samos, Chios, Lemnos) and subjected Rhodes. An army was even sent across the straits to capture Adrianople.
On the death of Robert of Courtenay, it was proposed that a regency be established under the Bulgarian ruler, John Asen II (1218–41), but this suggestion was frustrated by the Latin clergy.
BALDWIN II, Latin emperor. He was the eleven-year-old nephew of Robert of Courtenay. The reign was a helpless one, during which the emperor was reduced to peddling the Constantinople relics through Europe.
Theodore of Epirus was defeated and captured by the Bulgarian Tsar John Asen, eldest son of Asen I at battle of Klokotnica. He then expanded his territories from Adrianople in the east to Dyrrachion in the west, and styled himself tsar of the Bulgarians and the Greeks. Thessalonica and Thessaly passed to
