John III Doukas Vatatzes

John III. Dukas Vatatzes (Greek Ἰωάννης Γ ' Δούκας Βατάτζης, * 1193 Didymoticho; † November 3, 1254 in Nymphaeum at Smyrna ) was Byzantine emperor in exile in Nicaea from 1222.

Life

Due to its merits as a soldier, he was determined in 1222 by his father Theodore I. successor. He organized the remnants of the Byzantine Empire and made it with his skill as the strongest and richest principality in the Levant. He secured the eastern frontier through an agreement with the Seljuks and the settlement of armed peasants and broke then on to retake the European possessions of his predecessors.

While his fleet was operating in the Aegean against the Latins, he first conquered Rhodes and later Chios, Lesbos and Samos back. In the year 1225 struck his army strengthened Frankish mercenaries, the forces of the Latin Empire in the open field and urged them almost completely out of Asia Minor.

During a siege of Constantinople, which he in 1235 struggled together with the Bulgarians, was unsuccessful, he later attained in combating this that he was returned to large parts of Thrace and Macedonia, and the supremacy of the Despotate of Thessaloniki ( 1246 ) and Epirus ( 1252). The ultimately successful re-conquest of Constantinople by his later successor Michael VIII is ultimately due to his efforts.

John III. was son of the Emperor Frederick II His attempts at joining forces with the Catholic Church failed. From the Orthodox Church, however, he was canonized as Saint John the Merciful ( Feast Day: November 4 ).

Family

John was married to:

John had a son from his marriage to Irene, Theodore II