Battle of Poimanenon

Background and battle

Since the Treaty of Nymphaeum in 1214, the Latin Empire had controlled the northwestern littoral of Asia Minor, from Nicomedia to Adramyttium, as well as the Mysian plain. In November 1221, the energetic founder of the Nicaean Empire, Theodore I Laskaris, died, and was succeeded by his son-in-law, John III Doukas Vatatzes, who had emerged as the victor out of the civil strife that had commenced since the death of Theodore I Laskaris. The succession was disputed by Theodore's brothers, the sebastokratores Alexios Laskaris and Isaac Laskaris, who rose up in revolt and requested the aid of the Latin emperor, Robert of Courtenay. At the head of a Latin army, they marched against Vatatzes. The two armies met at Poimanenon, near a church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. In the ensuing battle, Vatatzes achieved a decisive victory; among the captives taken were the two Laskaris brothers, who were blinded. The 13th-century Byzantine historian George Akropolites says that Emperor John, "... won a victory by storm". His narration describes the Nicaean army as being almost defeated, before the Emperor, with a few men, turned the tide, "For he took hold of a spear and struck the enemy".