EPIRUS, DESPOTATE OF

(12041337), Byzantine principality in the Balkans that was a centre of resistance for Byzantine Greeks during the western European occupation of Constantinople (120461). The despotate was founded in what is now southern Albania and northwestern Greece by Michael Angelus Ducas, a member of the dethroned Byzantine imperial house. His half brother and successor, Theodore Ducas, extended his rule eastward to Thessalonica in 1222 and claimed the title of Byzantine emperor. Theodore's rivals, John III Vatatzes, emperor of Nicaea, and John Asen II of Bulgaria, attacked him from the east and north; John Asen II defeated and captured Theodore in 1230 at the Battle of Klokotnitsa (now in Bulgaria). Under Michael II (reigned 123671), Epirus was greatly reduced, and in 1264 Michael was forced to recognize the suzerainty of Michael VIII Palaeologus, who had expelled the Latins from Constantinople and restored the Byzantine Empire. In the 13th century Epirus promoted a revival of classical studies that contributed to the development of Renaissance Italy. The principality was reannexed to the Byzantine Empire in 1337.