Lydia

   Region in western Asia Minor (q.v.). Its most important cities included Smyrna, Ephesus, Sardis, and Magnesia (qq.v.). The region was lost to the Turks (q.v.) after the battle of Mantzikert (q.v.), but reoccupied by Alexios I Komnenos after the First Crusade (qq.v.). A long period of peace ensued until early in the reign of Manuel I (q.v.) when Turks wreaked destruction through the region. In 1148 forces of the Second Crusade (q.v.) had to fight Turks while making their way through Lydia. After the battle of Myriokephalon in 1176 there were further Turkish inroads. The conquest of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade (qq.v.) shifted responsibility for Lydia's defense to the Laskarids (q.v.), whose program of fortification brought peace and prosperity to the region until 1261. Thereafter, Palaiologan emperors (qq.v.) failed to protect the region in the face of relentless Ottoman (q.v.) expansion. The important town of Tripolis, which was essential to the defense of the region, was lost ca. 1300. In 1313 Turks from the emirate of Saruhan (qq.v.) captured Lydia's last Byzantine city, Magnesia (q.v.).