4 Tsougarakis
as the Epirote rulers were forced into alliances with the Franks, hoping to
counter the rising power of their Nicaean rivals. It was indeed the emperors of
Nicaea who succeeded in recapturing Constantinople in 1261, thus reviving the
Byzantine Empire. A warning shot had been fired two years earlier, when the
Nicaeans had defeated the combined Epirote and Frankish forces at the battle
of Pelagonia, capturing the Prince of Achaea, William ii de Villehardouin in
the process. Though the Greek recapture of Constantinople brought an effec-
tive end to the Latin Empire, the demise of this political entity was not for-
mally acknowledged in the West and titular Latin emperors continued to lay
claim to the Constantinopolitan throne for more than a century. The revival of
the Byzantine Empire at Constantinople coincided with a resurgence of the
Greeks in the Peloponnese; having re-established bases in Maina, Monemvasia
and Mistra, from the 1260s onwards the Byzantines made significant inroads
against the Franks of the Morea.
The ability of the Latins to secure their possessions in Greece was severely
hampered by their inability to maintain peace among themselves. In 1255 a seri-
ous war broke out between the Prince of Achaea (William ii de Villehardouin)
and the Lord of Athens (Guy de la Roche), over William’s attempts to extend his
overlordship to the island of Negroponte. The prince won the war, after defeat-
ing his opponents at the battle of Karydi in 1258, but his success was short-lived,
for, as we have seen, in the next year he was captured by the Nicaeans after a
disastrous defeat at Pelagonia. The Italians of Greece were even less amenable
to peaceful co-existence: the Veneto-Genoese rivalry was transferred to, and
intensified in the Aegean, once the Genoese managed to get a foothold in the
region. Four wars were fought between the two cities, culminating in the cata-
strophic war of Chioggia (1258–70; 1294–99; 1350–51 and 1375–81).
The loss of Constantinople and the declining fortunes of the Franks in the
Morea proved that the Frankish states were incapable of surviving as inde-
pendent entities. At Viterbo in 1267 William ii signed a treaty with Charles of
Anjou (brother of the French king Louis ix and newly-crowned king of Naples
and Sicily) recognising him as his sovereign and ceding the principality to the
Angevins following his own death. For Charles, who entertained serious hopes
of seizing the throne of Constantinople, the acquisition of the Morea was a
stepping stone in his campaign against the Byzantine Emperor Michael viii
Palaiologos. Along with the Peloponnese, Charles also acquired Corfu, which
had been briefly held by Manfred of Sicily whom Charles defeated, dispos-
sessed and executed after the battle of Benevento in 1266. Corfu was formally
surrendered to Charles in 1272, starting the period of Angevin domination of
the island, which would last until 1386. The death of Prince William in 1278
ushered in a new era for Frankish Morea, during which the principality would