Europe and the Mediterranean in the 13th centuryWars and battles
Reconquest of Constantinople
A small force under the Nicaean general Alexios Strategopoulos slipped into Constantinople by night and drove out the Latins — the Byzantine Empire was restored.
- Date
- 25 July 1261exact dateDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Constantinopletoday: Istanbul, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Empire of Nicaea, Michael VIII Palaiologos, Alexios Strategopoulos, Latin Empire, Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Europe and the Mediterranean in the 13th century
- Also known as
- Восстановление Византийской империи
Strategopoulos had been sent to Thrace merely to make a show of force, but he learned that the Latin garrison was away on campaign and that there was a secret passage through the city wall. The Latin emperor Baldwin II fled. On 15 August 1261 Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos made a solemn entry into the city through the Golden Gate; the Palaiologos dynasty ruled Byzantium until its fall in 1453.
Connections
Related events
- Sack of Constantinople12–13 April 1204 · Balkans and AnatoliaThe end of the Latin Empire, created in 1204
- Sicilian Vespers30 March 1282 · Western and Central EuropeCharles of Anjou was preparing an expedition against Constantinople, and the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII backed his enemies; Michael later wrote that he had been God’s instrument in freeing the Sicilians
- Marriage of Ivan III and Sophia Palaiologina12 November 1472 · Eastern EuropeSophia came from the Palaiologos dynasty, whose founder Michael VIII recovered Constantinople in 1261
Same participants
- Battle of Adrianople14 April 1205 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Latin Empire
- Fall of Constantinople29 May 1453 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire
Same place
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Plague of Justinian541–549 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626 · Balkans and Anatolia
- First Arab siege of Constantinople674–678 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Second Arab siege of Constantinoplebetween 15 July and 15 August 717 – 15 August 718 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Accession of Suleiman the Magnificent30 September 1520 · Balkans and Anatolia
Adjacent events in the thread
- Seventh Crusade1248–1254 · Middle East and Egypt
- “Summa Theologica” by Thomas Aquinas1265–1274 · Western and Central Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 5 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- “Summa Theologica” by Thomas Aquinas1265–1274
Eastern Europe
- Death of Alexander Nevsky14 November 1263
- Mongol census of Rus’1257–1259
- Formation of the Principality of Moscowbetween 1263 and 1283
Middle East and Egypt
- Battle of Ain Jalut3 September 1260
- Siege of Baghdad29 January – 10 February 1258
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Eruption of Samalasbetween May and October 1257
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Reconquest of Constantinople
- Wikipedia (Russian): Взятие Константинополя (1261)
- Geanakoplos D. J. Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. — Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press, 1959.
- Wikidata: Q1400402