Circle of Willis
Well-known member
After the Fourth Crusade, one of the successor states which emerged from the Byzantines' husk was the Despotate of Epirus in what's now Albania & western Greece, founded by the Komnenodoukai - bastard cousins of Isaac II Angelos. The second Despot, Theodore, got quite far: he conquered Thessalonica from the Latins in 1224 and threatened Constantinople for a while, but eventually attempted to double-cross his Bulgarian allies, failed and was decisively defeated at the Battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230 after getting too careless, with the would-be emperor himself captured (along with his family) and later blinded by Ivan Asen of Bulgaria. Epirus never recovered from this defeat and the Komnenodoukai limped along for a few more decades in increasing weakness until their last Despot was murdered and the Despotate usurped by Italians.
But what if Theodore Komnenos Doukas succeeded in retaking Constantinople and becoming Byzantine Emperor ~30 years ahead of date? Could a Balkan-focused Byzantine Empire, shorn of its Anatolian provinces (the presence of the Frankokratia's remaining statelets in Greece will provide the Komnenodoukai with enough targets that they won't have to immediately cross the Hellespont) and closely tied to Slavic and Latin royalty, last longer than the historical Nicene-restored empire did? And conversely, without having to worry so much about their western frontier, could the Nicaeans become sufficiently focused on Anatolia (like the Trapezuntines, but operating from a position of greater strength) to constrain the rise of the Turks?
But what if Theodore Komnenos Doukas succeeded in retaking Constantinople and becoming Byzantine Emperor ~30 years ahead of date? Could a Balkan-focused Byzantine Empire, shorn of its Anatolian provinces (the presence of the Frankokratia's remaining statelets in Greece will provide the Komnenodoukai with enough targets that they won't have to immediately cross the Hellespont) and closely tied to Slavic and Latin royalty, last longer than the historical Nicene-restored empire did? And conversely, without having to worry so much about their western frontier, could the Nicaeans become sufficiently focused on Anatolia (like the Trapezuntines, but operating from a position of greater strength) to constrain the rise of the Turks?