Empire of Romania | ||||||||||
Imperium Romaniae | ||||||||||
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The Latin Empire with its vassals (in yellow) and the Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire (in red) after the Treaty of Nymphaeum in 1214. The borders are very uncertain.
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Capital | Constantinople | |||||||||
Languages |
Latin, Old French (official) Greek (popular) |
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Religion |
Roman Catholic (official) Greek Orthodox (popular) |
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Government | Monarchy | |||||||||
Emperor | ||||||||||
• | 1204–1205 | Baldwin I | ||||||||
• | 1206–1216 | Henry | ||||||||
• | 1216–1217 | Peter | ||||||||
• | 1217–1219 | Yolanda (regent) | ||||||||
• | 1219–1228 | Robert I | ||||||||
• | 1228–1237 | John of Brienne (regent) | ||||||||
• | 1237–1261 | Baldwin II | ||||||||
Historical era | High Middle Ages | |||||||||
• | Established | 1204 | ||||||||
• | Joint campaign against Empire | |||||||||
• | Disestablished | 1261 | ||||||||
Area | ||||||||||
• | 1204 est. | 339,000 km² (130,889 sq mi) | ||||||||
• | 1260 est. | 22,000 km² (8,494 sq mi) | ||||||||
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Today part of |
Turkey Greece Bulgaria |
The Empire of Romania (Latin: Imperium Romaniae), more commonly known in historiography as the Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople, and known to the Byzantines as the Latin Occupation, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261. The Latin Empire was intended to supplant the Byzantine Empire as the titular Roman Empire in the east, with a Western Roman Catholic emperor enthroned in place of the Eastern Orthodox Roman emperors. Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders, was crowned the first Latin emperor as Baldwin I on 16 May 1204. The Latin Empire failed to attain political or economic dominance over the other Latin powers that had been established in former Byzantine territories in the wake of the Fourth Crusade, especially Venice, and after a short initial period of military successes it went into a steady decline. Weakened by constant warfare with the Bulgarians and the unconquered sections of the empire, it eventually fell when Byzantines recaptured Constantinople under Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261. The last Latin emperor, Baldwin II, went into exile, but the imperial title survived, with several pretenders to it, until the 14th century.