born 0441; 1174
died November 1221, Nicaea, Nicaean empire
First emperor of Nicaea , the Byzantine government-in-exile during the Crusaders' occupation of Constantinople.
He distinguished himself during the sieges of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade (120304). After the Byzantine capital fell, he gathered a band of refugees, first at Brusa and then at Nicaea, and formed a new Byzantine state. He took the title of emperor in 1208 and successfully defended Nicaea against the Crusaders, the Turks, and his rival emperor David Comnenus. He signed a treaty ( 0441; 1214) with the Latin emperor of Constantinople defining Nicaea's boundaries and betrothed his daughter to the heir to the Latin imperial throne.