John III Vatatzes

   The most important emperor (reigned 12211254) of the Empire of Nicaea (qq.v.). He consolidated the work of his predecessor, Theodore I Laskaris (q.v.), whose daughter Irene he married. By 1225 he occupied all of the territory formerly claimed by the Latin Empire (q.v.), in addition to the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Icaria, and Rhodes (qq.v.). He marched on Thrace (q.v.), briefly occupying Adrianople (q.v.) before withdrawing in the face of Theodore Komnenos Doukas, despot of Epiros (qq.v.). However, Theodore was captured at the battle of Klokotnitsa (q.v.), and the tide slowly turned in favor of Vatatzes, especially after the death of John Asen II (q.v.) in 1241. Vatatzes captured Thessalonike (q.v.) again in 1246, and by the time of his death he had doubled the size of the Empire of Nicaea.