John III Vatatzes and the revival of the Empire of Nicaea
Under John III Doukas Vatatzes the Empire of Nicaea, the strongest of the Greek states formed after 1204, grew prosperous: the emperor encouraged farming and stock-raising and cut imports of foreign luxuries, while his conquests in Europe prepared the recovery of Constantinople.
- Date
- between December 1221 and December 1222 – 3 November 1254start: exact date unknown: an interval is given; end: exact date · duration: ≈ 32 years
- Place
- Nymphaiontoday: Kemalpaşa, İzmir Province, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- John III Doukas Vatatzes, Empire of Nicaea
- Threads
- Europe and the Mediterranean in the 13th century
- Also known as
- John the Merciful; Иоанн Милостивый; Никейская империя при Ватаце
A son-in-law of Theodore I Laskaris, John succeeded him in December 1221 (or, by other accounts, in 1222) and ruled for over thirty years, residing mostly at Nymphaion near Smyrna. He sought to make the state self-sufficient: he encouraged agriculture and animal husbandry, reduced the import of foreign, mostly Western, luxury goods, urging his subjects to make do with local cloth, and fought abuses in the administration. A famous story tells that with the money from selling eggs he bought his wife a crown set with pearls and precious stones and jokingly called it the “egg crown”. Historians credit his reign with a growing population, prosperous towns and a fairly stable currency; when Mongol raids weakened the Seljuk sultanate of Rum, it had to buy goods from Nicaea at high prices.
Abroad John defeated his rivals and the Latins, and in 1246 took Thessalonica and much of Thrace and Macedonia, so that by 1248 the Latin Empire was encircled; he allied himself with Emperor Frederick II and married his daughter. He collected and had manuscripts copied and was remembered for his charity. He died at Nymphaion on 3 November 1254 and came to be venerated as a saint, John the Merciful, commemorated on 4 November.
Connections
Consequences
- Reconquest of Constantinople25 July 1261 · Balkans and AnatoliaBy 1248 Vatatzes had encircled the Latin Empire; Michael VIII completed the recovery of the city in 1261
Related events
- Battle of Köse Dağbetween 26 June and 3 July 1243 · Balkans and AnatoliaWeakened by the Mongols, the Seljuk sultanate of Rum had to buy goods from Nicaea at high prices
Same participants
- Saint Sava wins autocephaly for the Serbian Church1219 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Empire of Nicaea
Adjacent events in the thread
- Treaty of Jaffa18 February 1229 · Middle East and Egypt
- Battle of al-Mansurah8–11 February 1250 · Middle East and Egypt
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Battle of Legnica9 April 1241
- Battle of Mohi11 April 1241
- Rebuilding of Chartres Cathedral and the High Gothic10 June 1194 – 24 October 1260
- Albigensian Crusade1209–1229
- Rise of the universities: Paris, Oxford and Cambridge1200 – 13 April 1231
+ 1 event
Eastern Europe
- Siege of KozelskMarch–May 1238
- Battle of the Sit Riverbetween 25 February and 4 March 1238
- Siege of Vladimir3 February – between 7 February and 8 February 1238
- Siege of Ryazan16–21 December 1237
- Mongol invasion of Europe1236–1242
+ 9 events
Middle East and Egypt
- Ibn al-Nafis describes the pulmonary circulationbetween 1239 and 1242
- Treaty of Jaffa18 February 1229
- Battle of al-Mansurah8–11 February 1250
- Mamluks seize power in Egypt2 May 1250
- Yaqut’s Dictionary of Countries1224–1228
+ 1 event
Africa
- Battle of Kirinac. 1235
- Mapungubwe Hill, capital of the kingdom of Mapungubwec. 1220 – c. 1300
- Rock-hewn churches of Lalibelac. 1181 – c. 1221
- Great Zimbabwe, the stone capital of a Shona kingdom1200–1299 – c. 1450
- K2 (Bambandyanalo) and the rise of Mapungubwec. 1000 – c. 1220
Central and Northern Asia
- Karakorum becomes the Mongol capital1235
- Mission of Giovanni da Pian del Carpine to the Mongols16 April 1245 – 1247
- Completion of the Secret History of the Mongolsbetween 1228 and 1264
- Death of Yaroslav II in Karakorum30 September 1246
- William of Rubruck’s journey to Karakorum7 May 1253 – 15 August 1255
+ 2 events
South Asia
- Reign of Razia Sultan in DelhiNovember 1236 – April 1240
- Konark Sun Templec. 1250
- Battle of the Indusbetween 24 November and 9 December 1221
- Construction of the Qutb Minarbetween 1193 and 1199 – between 1220 and 1232
East Asia
- New schools of Kamakura Buddhism: Shinran, Dōgen and Nichiren1224–1253
- Carving of the second Tripitaka Koreana1236–1251
- Death of Genghis Khanbetween 18 August and 25 August 1227
- Nichiren proclaims his teaching26 May 1253
North America
- Ancestral Puebloans build Cliff Palace at Mesa Verdec. 1190 – c. 1280
- The Thule migrate east across the Arctic to Greenlandc. 1200 – c. 1300
- Mississippian centres after Cahokia: Moundville, Etowah and the Southeastern Ceremonial Complexc. 1200 – c. 1450
Latin America
- The Mexica enter the Valley of Mexico and settle at Chapultepecbetween 1245 and 1280 – 1299
- Chimor: the Chimú kingdom and its capital Chan Chanc. 900 – c. 1470
- The Kingdom of Cusco: the Inca state before the empirec. 1200 – c. 1438
- Mayapan, capital of Postclassic Yucatán1220s – between 1441 and 1461
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): John III Doukas Vatatzes
- Wikipedia (English): Empire of Nicaea
- Wikipedia (Russian): Иоанн III Дука Ватац
- Wikipedia (Russian): Никейская империя
- Foundation of the Hellenic World. Chronos: Economics in Late Byzantine Period
- Foundation of the Hellenic World. Chronos: Politics in Late Byzantine Period
- Angold M. A Byzantine Government in Exile: Government and Society under the Laskarids of Nicaea (1204–1261). — Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.