The Latin Empire was a Roman Catholic country established in 1204 AD after the Crusaders captured Constantinople of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Expedition. Its official name in Latin is Romania or Romania Empire. Baldwin I became the first monarch,"Emperor of Romania." The territory includes the southern Balkan Peninsula in northwest Asia Minor and adjacent islands. The regime lasted for a total of 57 years.
Brief history of the Latin Empire
In 1204, the feudal lords of Western European countries launched the Fourth Crusade at the call of the Pope. After capturing Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, they established a feudal state in the form of Western Europe on the territory of the Byzantine Empire. Its official Latin name is Romania or Empire of Romania. Baldwin I became the first monarch,"Emperor of Romania." The name is given because the Greeks called Western Europeans Latin. The capital, Constantinople. The territory includes the southern Balkan Peninsula in northwest Asia Minor and adjacent islands.
In 1195, Byzantine Emperor Isaac II (1185 - 1195, 1203 - 1204) was overthrown by his brother Alexei III (of Ankilou, 1195 - 1203). His son fled to Western Europe, demanding reinforcements to support the restoration on condition of funding the Crusaders and agreeing to the merger of the Eastern and Western churches.
The feudal lords of Western Europe had long coined for the wealth of Byzantium. In particular, in order to seize Byzantium's commercial interests, Venice instigated various measures to induce the Fourth Crusade to change its original route of attacking Egypt and attack Constantinople. A crusade composed mainly of French and Flemish feudal lords deposed Alexis III. Isaac II was restored to the throne and became emperor with his son Alexei IV (of Anguilou, reigned 1203 - 1204). Efforts to collect tribute taxes to pay for the crusaders 'money triggered a riot among the citizens of Constantinople. On February 8, 1204, the citizens killed Alexis IV. A few days later, Isaac II also died. So the Crusaders captured Constantinople.
After the Crusaders occupied most of the Byzantine Empire, according to an agreement between the Crusaders and the Venetians, the Venetians occupied three-eighths of the Byzantine land. Soon they established the Latin Empire (also known as the Roman Empire) on this conquered territory. They did not elect the Crusader Commander Boniface, but elected Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders, as emperor, known as Baldwin I.
On May 16, a new bishop sent by the Pope crowned Baldwin I as Emperor of the Latin Empire in Constantinople.
After Baldwin ascended the throne, he faced a situation where the former Byzantine territory was divided and crisis-ridden. The Latin Empire occupied small areas of Constantinople, Thrace and Macedonia, as well as small parts of Asia.
Greece was divided up by other crusaders and established crusader states such as the Kingdom of Thessaloniki, the Duchy of Athens, and the Duchy of Achaia. The exiled aristocrats of the former Byzantine Empire established the Nicea Empire in Nicea in Minor Asia, the Trabisson Empire in Trabisson in Minor Asia, and the Duchy of Epirus on the east coast of the Ionian Sea.
Although Baldwin I established suzerainty in several crusader countries, the Byzantine government-in-exile became a major threat to the Latin Empire.
In early 1205, Baldwin planned to conquer the Byzantine government-in-exile in Little Asia. However, in February, the Greeks of Thrace launched a rebellion with the help of Bulgarian Tsar John. Baldwin's Frankish knights rushed to resist. On April 14, at the Battle of Adriafort, the Crusaders were defeated. Baldwin was captured and blinded and died shortly afterwards.
At the time of the crisis, Baldwin's outstanding brother Henry inherited the throne. He successively defeated the Bulgarian tsar and Nicene emperor Theodus I's attacks on the Latin Empire, turning the empire into safety. However, in 1216 Henry was poisoned by his Greek wife. Henry died without children, and the throne passed to Henry's brother-in-law, Peter, Count of Contenne, grandson of King Louis VII of France. Subsequent emperors were quite incompetent, and the empire deteriorated.
In 1224, Epirus captured Thessalonica, and in 1225 Nicea regained Asia Minor. By the time Peter's youngest son Baldwin II ascended the throne in 1228, the Latin Empire's territory, except for Constantinople, had been eaten away by its neighbors. Due to years of war, the empire's finances were on the verge of collapse, and the wealthy Venetian immigrants in the empire had no intention of helping the royal family financially.
In 1236, Baldwin II began to visit Europe to seek economic assistance. Although he received some economic assistance from France, the Pope and Flanders, it was a drop in the bucket, and soon the empire could not make ends meet, so Baldwin went out again to beg for money, and the Latin Empire became the famous "beggar empire" in Europe at that time. In the end, Baldwin had to take his son hostage and borrow some money from local Venetian immigrants. The empire reached a dead end.
On July 25, 1261, Emperor Michael VIII of the Asian Empire, with the support of the fleet provided by the Genoese, attacked Constantinople and scattered the unfighting Venetian mercenaries of the Latin Empire. The Byzantines finally liberated Constantinople more than half a century later. Baldwin II fled back to France with a huge amount of debt owed to the Venetians. This short-lived crusader empire quickly collapsed amid internal and external troubles.