Frankokratia

Frankokratia was the period of Western European rule over parts of Greece after the Fourth Crusade, beginning in 1204. Latin Christian rulers established principalities, duchies, and lordships amid Byzantine successor states and local resistance.

Partition of the Byzantine Empire: The division of Byzantine lands among the Fourth Crusade's victors after the capture of Constantinople in 1204. Its territorial settlement provided the framework for Latin rule in Greece.
Fourth Crusade: A crusade launched in 1202 that culminated in the capture and sack of Constantinople in 1204. Its diversion to Constantinople directly created the conditions for Frankish rule in Greece.
Geoffrey I of Villehardouin: A Frankish knight who became prince of Achaea in the early thirteenth century. He consolidated the principality that became Frankokratia's strongest mainland state.
Battle of Pelagonia: A 1259 battle in which the Empire of Nicaea defeated an alliance led by the Principality of Achaea. The defeat sharply reduced Achaea's power and helped prepare the Byzantine recovery of Constantinople.
Empire of Nicaea: A Byzantine successor state in western Asia Minor that recovered Constantinople in 1261. It was the most successful Greek rival to the Latin regimes created in 1204.
Principality of Achaea: A Latin feudal state in the Peloponnese founded after the Fourth Crusade. It became one of the most durable and influential Frankish states in Greece.
Sack of Constantinople: The 1204 capture and plunder of Constantinople by crusaders and Venetian forces. The city's fall ended Byzantine control there and enabled the partition of its territories.
William II of Villehardouin: Prince of Achaea from 1246 to 1278 and a major ruler of the Latin Morea. His reign marked the principality's greatest territorial reach and its defeat at Pelagonia.
Byzantine reconquest of Constantinople: The recovery of Constantinople by the Empire of Nicaea in 1261, ending the Latin Empire. It ended Latin rule in the imperial capital, though Frankish states remained in Greece.
Despotate of Epirus: A Byzantine successor state in western Greece founded after the Fourth Crusade. Its rulers expelled the Latin Kingdom of Thessalonica and challenged Frankish expansion.

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