Despotate of Epirus

Despotate of Epirus Δεσποτᾶτον τῆς Ἠπείρου (Medieval Greek)
1205–1337 1356–1479
Coat of arms of Carlo I Tocco, founder of the last ruling dynasty of Epirus, as count of Cephalonia (dexter) and despot of Epirus (sinister)
Epirus in 1205–1230
Status	Rump state of the Byzantine Empire
Capital	Arta (1205–1337/40, 1430–49) Ioannina (1356–1430) Angelokastron (1449–60) Vonitsa (1460–1479)
Common languages	Greek
Religion	Greek Orthodoxy[1]
Government	Monarchy
Despot of Epirus
• 1205–1214	Michael I Komnenos Doukas
• 1448–1479	Leonardo III Tocco
Historical era	High Medieval
• Established	1205
• Byzantine conquest	1337
• Re-establishment by Nikephoros II Orsini	1356
• Ottoman conquest of Vonitsa	1479
Currency	Denier
Preceded by Succeeded by Byzantine Empire under the Angelos dynasty Empire of Thessalonica Despotate of Arta Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty Ottoman Empire
Today part of	Albania Bulgaria Greece North Macedonia

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The Despotate of Epirus (Medieval Greek: Δεσποτᾶτον τῆς Ἠπείρου) was one of the Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 by a branch of the Angelos dynasty. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire during the subsequent struggle for Constantinople, along with the Empire of Nicaea and the Empire of Trebizond; its rulers briefly proclaiming themselves as Emperors in 1227–1242 (during which it is most often called the Empire of Thessalonica). The term "Despotate of Epirus" is, like "Byzantine Empire" itself, a modern historiographic convention and not a name in use at the time.

The Despotate was centred on the region of Epirus, encompassing also Albania and the western portion of Greek Macedonia and also included Thessaly and western Greece as far south as Nafpaktos. Through a policy of aggressive expansion under Theodore Komnenos Doukas the Despotate of Epirus also briefly came to incorporate central Macedonia, with the establishment of the Empire of Thessalonica in 1224, and Thrace as far east as Didymoteicho and Adrianople, and was on the verge of recapturing Constantinople and restoring the Byzantine Empire before the Battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230 where he was defeated by the Bulgarian Empire. After that, the Epirote state contracted to its core in Epirus and Thessaly, and was forced into vassalage to other regional powers. It nevertheless managed to retain its autonomy until being conquered by the restored Palaiologan Byzantine Empire in ca. 1337. In the 1410s, the Count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos Carlo I Tocco managed to reunite the core of the Epirote state, but his successors gradually lost it to the advancing Ottoman Empire, with the last stronghold, Vonitsa, falling to the Ottomans in 1479.