Episode 295 - The Forgotten Siege

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Hello everyone and welcome to the History of Byzantium, episode 295.

The Forgotten Siege

Last time, the narrative moved forward with no more flashbacks to the sack of Constantinople.

The twelve twenties saw the rise of Epirus as Theodorus Dukas led their forces east to capture Thessaloniki.

That triumph was soon deflated, though, when he was captured in battle with the Bulgarians and lost his eyes.

Though Theodorus would be released and would pass his imperial title to his son, Epirus was out of the contest for Constantinople.

The Dukas family had established a functioning Roman government for the Western Balkans, but could not go beyond that.

It was no mean achievement, but the armies of Epirus were not strong enough to defeat the Bulgarians.

The new Bulgarian Tsar, Ivan Arsen, was now able to put political pressure on the Latins.

The Westerners no longer had a functioning army.

All they could do was defend the Theodosian walls and a few other forts.

And so the Tsar tried to leverage the advantage he had over them.

Ivan made various attempts to marry his way into Constantinople.

He hoped that he could get his relatives into the capital or be named as regent or protector for the young emperor Baldwin II.

But the Latins were anxious about a Bulgarian takeover and brushed him off.

This cleared the path for an alliance between Bulgaria and Nicaea.

The two strongest powers in the region began to negotiate in the early 1230s about how they could eliminate the Latins for good.

This would allow them to divide Thrace between themselves and create a lasting peace.

They concluded that a joint siege of Constantinople would be necessary to achieve this.

Yes, a joint siege between Romans and Bulgarians.

Who'd have thought it?

Before we can start pulling the trebuchets into position, though, we need to bring Nicaea into the 1230s.

We were last in Anatolia back in episode 290, where we covered the career of Theodore Lascaris.

Lascaris had worked incredibly hard to bring unity to the region, and had won a memorable victory over the Turks to prevent them from encroaching on his turf.

But the last few years of his reign are a little murky.

While Epirus was on the rise, Nicaea seems to have been consolidating.

The new state had to put down roots and establish its place in the world.

Lascaris, like Ivan Arsen, thought marrying his way into the Latin hierarchy was the best way forward.

So he wed the Emperor Henry's niece Maria in the hopes that eventually their progeny might inherit Constantinople and put this whole sordid business behind them.

As you may recall, Latin troops had occupied parts of Western Anatolia in the aftermath of that battle with the Turks, so Lascaris was trying to find a peaceful way to resolve this conflict rather than risk losing his new kingdom entirely.

This policy was tantamount to Latin appeasement, which many in Western Anatolia were not in favour of.

The patriarchal clergy seemed to have been particularly opposed to compromise with the Westerners, understandably,

given that church union would mean submission to the will of Rome, a Rome which had sanctioned war against the Orthodox.

This tension seems to have hung over Lascaris's last few years, and civil war broke out after his death.

He seems to have died peacefully in 1221, around the same time that the Epirates were seizing fortresses on the way to Thessaloniki.

Lascaris had been hailed as emperor for about fifteen years, and should be remembered as an excellent leader and organizer who set Nicaea up for its future success.

Theodore had no surviving sons, but three daughters.

This led to a succession crisis.

The man who eventually seized the throne was John Dukas Vitats.

Vitatsis was married to one of Theodore's daughters, so would have been a prime candidate to succeed.

But Theodore's wife Maria and two of his brothers fled in anger to Constantinople, which suggests that Vitatsis may have led a coup against them.

We are not told exactly what happened.

Maria and the Lascaris brothers spent three years in Constantinople raising an army with Latin support before marching back into Anatolia.

Vitatses gathered up the forces of Nicaea and the two sides met at Poimenenon near the coast.

Vitatses won a total victory, driving the Latins from the field.

He followed this up by attacking the fortresses they held in this region and forcing them to surrender.

Vitazzi's campaign throughout the winter, an impressive demonstration of logistical management, and a very successful strategy, since the demoralized garrisons lacked the means to fight on until spring.

The Latin position in Anatolia crumbled, only Nicomedia and its supporting forts remained in their hands.

This was twelve twenty four, and as I mentioned in our last episode, this victory coincided with the rout the Latins suffered as they tried to relieve their Soloniki from the Epirate siege.

It was these twin defeats which essentially put an end to the Latin army as an effective fighting force.

The two new Roman states had shattered what little manpower the Latins had left and could now run their own affairs without fear of Western invasion.

The murkiness around the end of Lascaris' reign and the rise of Vitazes is due to our dependence on one historian for the detailed history of Nicaea, a man named George Acropolites.

Acropolites wrote a history covering the period of the Latin occupation, and we're very grateful to him for that, but the position he held at court was entirely due to the patronage of one John Dukas Vertazes, the new emperor.

So it's no surprise that the final years of Lascaris's life and the rise of Vitazis are covered by a friendly haze, so that when the smoke clears, all we can see is a newly minted, legitimate emperor at the head of a happy state.

John Dukas Vitazes was born in 1192 in Didimotichon in Thrace.

His family were from Adrianople and had married into the Komnenian clan during the reign of John II.

His father seems to have been Basil Vitazes, who served as a provincial governor during Manuel's reign.

Basil married a woman from the Angelos Dukas branch of the family, and his son could therefore style himself as John Dukas Vitats.

To avoid confusion, scholars just call him Vitats.

John was only twelve when Constantinople was sacked, and so grew up in the New Nicene Empire.

As a rising aristocrat in his twenties, he signed up to serve in the Imperial Guard Regiment, the Vesitaritai.

He rose to become head of this unit, at which point the Emperor Theodore Lascaris offered him his daughter's hand in marriage.

It was the exact same dynamic which had seen Lascaris chosen to marry the daughter of Alexius Angelos Komnenos.

John's rise to power was clearly highly contested.

Not only did Lascaris' family try to drive him out, but shortly after the Battle of Poimenenon, a conspiracy was discovered organized by one of his cousins.

Vitatsis turned away from his close relatives and forged connections with other aristocratic families, encouraging them to fill key posts in his administration while keeping them dependent on his favour.

One advantage of being a much smaller state is that government can be lean and efficient.

Vitatsis was able to rely on just one chief minister to run the government for much of his reign.

The new emperor also distanced himself from the patriarchal establishment.

They welcomed him as an antidote to Lascaris' pro-Latin policies, but Vitazes was no ideologue.

He was a pragmatist and knew he might need to be friendly to the Crusaders when it suited him.

So John decided to spend less time at Nicaea, leaving his capital to be dominated by the patriarch and other leading figures.

He established a winter court at Nymphaon in the hills near Smyrna, and kept his treasury at the nearby town of Magnesia.

Putting 250 miles between himself and the patriarch clearly helped Vitazes focus on the work at hand.

The new emperor's victory over the Latins had brought a windful of new territory to reincorporate into his empire.

And with Latin weakness now evident, a string of Aegean islands would eventually submit to the new Vasilefs.

By 1230, Lesbos, Chios, and Samos were all back in the fold, while Rhodes, though controlled by a native dynasty, was forging closer ties with Nicaea.

The 1220s were a time of consolidation.

While Epirus's star expanded and then collapsed, Nicaea would grow steadily.

Vitatses, now in his thirties, oversaw a time of economic growth and administrative competence.

Censuses were taken, royal lands reorganized, and taxation conducted efficiently.

The Komnenian coinage, the Hyperpyra, was maintained, only slightly debased from the standard it had held before the sack,

and Vitazes aimed to keep it in good circulation in his realm.

The Emperor encouraged his subjects to become self-sufficient, denying the Venetians easy access to his markets and publicizing his own frugality by using the revenues of the imperial poultry farms to pay for his Empress's crown.

Peaceful relations were maintained with the Seljuks, and licenses were granted to allow the nomads to winter their herds on Roman land.

Raiding still took place, and so the countryside was well fortified, with Vitazis taking care to rebuild walls, maintain stockpiles, and recruit soldiers.

Native garrisons reported to their local dukes to defend the provinces, but foreign troops continued to be hired for offensive operations and were given pro-Noia land if they agreed to stay.

We can see the success of Vitatsis's first decade in power in what would follow in the twelve thirties.

His armies would dominate warfare in the Balkans, and he was able to establish a large fleet, something Constantinople had been unable to do under the Angaloi.

Two naval bases were created, one at the Hellespont and the other at Smyrna.

The Nicene Empire was clearly ready to expand, and by 1230, with Epirus in free fall and Constantinople vulnerable, the time was right to act.

Vatazes did initially follow the same path as his predecessor, attempting to open up a peaceful reincorporation of Constantinople.

Remember that although the Latin Empire was in a feeble state, we should never forget how it came into being in the first place.

The spectre of another crusade descending on the Bosphorus hung over Roman politics.

So Vitatses wrote to Pope Gregory IX to discuss the possibility of church union.

After all, if this could be realized, then there would be no justification for Latin hostility towards the Byzantines.

Unfortunately, the subsequent meeting held at Nicaea descended into predictable rancor.

The Roman government was willing to be flexible, but the papal representatives were not, and if pushed, neither were the Orthodox clergy.

Each side ended proceedings calling the other heretics.

And so, Vitatsis turned to Bulgaria and proposed a joint siege of Constantinople.

This was an extraordinary offer.

The Romans would never normally invite a foreign power to come close to their capital.

The risks were too high.

But clearly Vitatsis felt he didn't have the manpower to force his way in.

He needed the Tsar's men, and was willing to give up large portions of Thrace in order to reach the Achia Sophia.

In addition to territory, the Romans were also willing to acknowledge the Bishop of Trinovo as autocephalous, independent from the Patriarch's control.

It tells you a lot about the importance of orthodoxy to the people of the Balkans that this concession was seen as valuable by the Bulgarians.

The Tsar's predecessors had spent decades negotiating with Rome, clearly seeing recognition from the pontiff as more politically valuable.

But there was always tension in these discussions because the Bulgarians had no interest in following the Latin Rite.

Despite their enmity for the Roman Empire, the Bulgarian people still had respect for the Byzantine patriarch as the natural leader of the Orthodox world.

The territory which the Bulgarians controlled also included many Romans, so this helped with inter-community relations.

Theodor Lascaris had already granted autocephalous status to the Archbishop of Serbia a decade earlier as part of his diplomatic efforts.

By granting a similar honour to Bulgaria, the Nicene were acknowledging that they were unlikely to ever reconquer those places, and that it was better to stand by their side in the face of the Latin threat than to worry about their growing independence.

In return, the Bulgarians would offer official acknowledgment of the Archbishop of Nicaea as the ecumenical patriarch, and abandon their claims on Thessaloniki and other territory.

The pact was sealed with a marriage, as had become customary for the Romans by this point.

Vitatsis took his fleet and landed at Gallipoli on the European side of the Hellespont and captured the town in 1235.

Ivan Arson led his army down to join them.

Ivan's daughter Helen then married John's son Theodore.

Both were children at this stage and were sent back to Nicaea while the two armies headed east towards Constantinople.

Arsen had the larger force since Vitazes had sent some of his troops to serve with the navy which was at this moment approaching New Rome.

The siege which followed is glossed over almost entirely by Acropolites because it failed.

The Latin sources on the other hand do describe what happened, but in fragments.

The Niceneans seem to have brought around a hundred ships to blockade the city, which again is impressive testament to their economic and logistical strength.

The Latins didn't have enough military ships to counter that level of threat and so sent out an SOS.

Vitatsi seems to have marched to the Galata side of the Golden Horn and linked up with his fleet while Ivan Arsen led his troops to the Theodosian walls to blockade them.

If that's all accurate then it does make some sense from a Nicene perspective.

The Bulgarians were unlikely to break into the city on the landward side, no one ever had, while the Niceneans could attempt to replicate the Venetian tactics from 1204 and climb the sea walls.

As you can imagine, the Crusaders were very anxious about all of this, and particularly concerned about an uprising within Constantinople by the native population.

The ruling Emperor John of Brienne ordered that Roman garrison troops should be stripped of their arms, just in case.

According to one source, the local Romans were not keen to aid Vitatsis when they heard that he had Turkic troops in his army.

Most likely he did, but it's difficult to know exactly what the locals locals thought at this point.

John of Brienne, now in his sixties, led out the few hundred cavalrymen the Latins had left and managed to disrupt the Bulgarian siege lines.

The Western cavalry charge caused several units to panic and flee, and though the Bulgarians formed up again a few miles down the road, it gave the Latins some breathing room.

Meanwhile, a squadron of Venetian ships responded to the distress call and attacked the Nicene fleet.

The superior Italian vessels did great damage, apparently sinking twenty-four Roman ships before Vitazi's men retreated to a safe distance.

As the summer wore on, though, the Venetians left to continue their business, and the Allied forces returned to their blockade.

With autumn setting in, the Allies established winter quarters and prepared to resume their attacks in spring.

Anxious messages were snuck out by the Latins, which managed to rouse their fellow settlers in Greece.

Geoffrey of Vilhardouan, the commander of the Peloponnese, managed to lead a relief force made up of troops and ships from Greece and the Aegean Islands.

In spring 1236, he managed to punch through the blockade and land in the harbours along the Golden Horn.

Though the Latins were thrilled to see them, The newcomers only brought about 900 troops, which was not enough to really tip the scales in a pitched battle.

It stiffened Latin resolve, though, and it became clear to the Allies that their blockade would need to go on for another year or more.

At this point, Ivan Arsen seems to have backed out of the deal.

It was expensive and dangerous for him to remain camped out in Thrace, so he abandoned the siege that summer and began to back away from his Nicene alliance.

The Tsar reached out to the papacy to see if he could return to their good graces.

Meanwhile, the younger emperor of Constantinople, Baldwin II, took the opportunity to head to Western Europe to beg for reinforcements.

This desperate but necessary act was followed by the death of John of Brienne in march 1237.

This opened up the possibility in Ivan's mind that the Latins might turn back to him as a protector from their enemies.

He actually arranged for his daughter to be returned to him, ending the alliance with Nicaea for good.

For the Latins it was another stay of execution.

So long as the preeminent eminent powers in the Balkans couldn't agree who should get Constantinople, their administration would limp on.

Vitatses attempted to besiege Constantinople again in twelve forty one, but without Bulgarian support the effort was doomed, and he turned his attention elsewhere.

I think it's worth just asking at this point why Vitatses tried to take Constantinople.

Stupid question, I know, but but given how hard an operation it was to pull off, as we just saw, given the danger of provoking the West into organizing another crusade, why not leave it?

Why not focus on retaking other territory and continue to try and marry your way in?

If we were in any doubt, the Vatican have preserved a letter from John to Pope Gregory.

Because you see, the forgotten siege did indeed provoke the Pope.

Gregory was angry angry to hear that the Bulgarians and Romans were moving against Constantinople, and he began to work on a new crusade to send against them.

And he wrote to Vitatsis to threaten him.

The reply of the Vasilevs is remarkable in several ways.

Sarcastic, funny, and very bold given the circumstances.

But in it, he states clearly why for him retaking Constantinople will always and forever be the goal of the Roman people.

He starts by saying he didn't really believe the letter he received could be from the Pope.

Quote,

Yet I, seeing that its contents were absurd, could not believe that it was yours, and thought that it was by someone who is extremely irrational, and whose soul is full of delusion and arrogance.

The Pope had asked for the famed wisdom of the Greeks to recognise his position, as in the pre-eminence of the throne of Saint Peter, to which Vitazes responds, quote,

But what need is there of wisdom to understand what your throne is?

If it stood upon the clouds, or was airborne somewhere, perhaps we would need meteorological wisdom to understand it.

But since it is planted firmly on earth and differs in no way from other episcopal thrones, how is knowledge of it not readily at hand for everyone?

He then points out that the wisdom of the Greeks may be ancient, but the descent of the Greeks he represents is that from Constantine the Great.

Quote:

You demand that we not neglect your throne and its authority.

Shall we, then, not counter-demand, that you observe and recognise our just rights to the authority and power of Constantinople, rights originated in the days of Constantine the Great, and passing from him him through a long series of rulers of our genus, that extended for about a millennium, has come to us.

Indeed, it came to my own progenitors, those of the genus of the Ducae and Comninoi, who held sway in Constantinople for hundreds of years, and the Church of Rome proclaimed them Emperors of the Romans.

How then does it seem right to you that we do not reign, and that you have crowned John of Brienne instead?

He continues, quote,

How is it that you approve unjust and grasping attitudes, and regard as a matter of law that thieving and murderous takeover by which the Latins installed themselves in the city of Constantine?

Even though we have been forced to change our location,

regarding our rights to that authority, we remain unmoved and unchanging by the grace of God.

For he who is emperor rules over a nation, and a people, and a multitude, not over rocks and wooden beams, which make the walls and towers.

Vitatsis pours scorn on the concept of a crusade aimed at Constantinople.

Quote: This letter also said the following: that your heralds had traversed the entire world preaching the message of the cross, and that a large number of warriors had assembled for the liberation of the Holy Holy Land.

When we heard this, our hearts were gladdened and our hopes raised, thinking, as was only reasonable, that these avengers of the Holy Lands would start their work of vengeance with our own country and impose upon those who have enslaved it the just penalty that they deserve for violating sacred churches, profaning sacred vessels, and perpetrating every kind of unholy deed against Christians.

He concludes that crusading, by this point, is merely a means for Westerners to disguise their love of power and gold, and tells the Pope that he is welcome to send an army against Nicaea, quote, we have the means to defend ourselves.

Vitatsi's boldness is as refreshing as it is surprising, but he leaves us in no doubt that the people of Nicaea saw themselves as Romans, and that Constantinople would always be their home and their home by right, and that the purpose of the Nicene state was to retake it and make it the home of the Romans once more.

But for that to actually happen, Vitatses would need a bit of luck.

Besieging Constantinople was such a huge challenge that it would take every ounce of Nicene strength, something that could hardly be contemplated with hostile Turks and Bulgarians sitting either side of you.

And it's not like some formidable enemy is going to appear out of nowhere and crush those states, leaving Nicaea to stand alone in this region, is it?

Next time on the history of Byzantium, the Mongols appear in Europe for the first time.

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