Editing John III Doukas Vatatzes (section)

==Life==

John Doukas Vatatzes, born in about 1192 in [[Didymoteicho]], was probably{{sfn|Polemis|1968|p=107}}{{sfn|Varzos|1984|pp=855–856 (note 20)}} the son of the general [[Basil Vatatzes]], who was killed in battle in 1194, and his wife, a cousin of the Emperors [[Isaac II Angelos]] and [[Alexios III Angelos]].{{sfn|Varzos|1984|pp=852–854}} John Doukas Vatatzes had two older brothers. The eldest was [[Isaac Doukas Vatatzes]] (1188-1261), while his younger brother died young. Through his marriage to Eudokia Angelina he fathered [[Theodora Doukaina Vatatzaina]], who later married [[Michael VIII Palaiologos]]. The middle brother's name is unknown, but his daughter married the ''[[protovestiarios]]'' [[Alexios Raoul]].{{sfn|Varzos|1984|pp=855–857}}{{sfn|Polemis|1968|pp=107–109}}

A successful soldier from a military family, John had risen to the position of [[Vestiaritai|protovestiarites]] when he was chosen in about 1216 by Emperor [[Theodore I Laskaris]] as the second husband for his daughter [[Irene Laskarina]], following the death of her first husband, [[Andronikos Palaiologos (son-in-law of Theodore I)|Andronikos Palaiologos]].{{sfn|Angelov|2019|p=33}} As husband of Laskaris' firstborn, who had no son of his own, John may have been the ''de facto'' heir to the throne, however the question of succession was left open; Laskaris may have hoped his own marriage to [[Maria of Courtenay]] in 1219 would produce a male heir.{{sfn|Angelov|2019|p=33}} As a result, when John III became emperor in December 1221,{{efn|

Jean Darrouzès dated the coronation of John III to {{circa}} 15 December.<ref name=jd>{{Cite journal|last=Darrouzès|first=Jean|date=1978|title=Peter Schreiner, Die byzantinischen Kleinchroniken. II|language=fr|journal=[[Revue des études byzantines]]|volume=36|pages=276–77}}</ref> However, as Dimiter Angelov points out, "the logic of his calculations is questionable".{{sfn|Angelov|2019|p=256}} [[George Akropolites]] notes that he was still "completing his thirty-third year" at the time of his death, which is corroborated by another source that gives him a reign of 32 years and 11 months.{{sfn|Angelov|2019|p=256}} Another chronicle states that he reigned 18 years and 3½ months from 1221 to 1 March 1239 (actually 1240).<ref name=jd/> This should give mid-November 1221, but Darrouzès dates it to "around 15 December".}} following Theodore I's death in November,<ref>Judith Herrin, Guillaume Saint-Guillain.
[https://books.google.com/books?id=p_mazcfdpVIC&pg=PA52 ''Identities and Allegiances in the Eastern Mediterranean After 1204'']. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2011 {{ISBN|1409410986}} p 52</ref><ref>{{cite book | first=John | last=Carr | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZOSBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA225 | title=Fighting Emperors of Byzantium | publisher=Pen and Sword | date=30 April 2015 | isbn=978-1473856400 | page=255}}</ref> he had to suppress opposition to his rule by Laskaris' brothers, [[Alexios Laskaris|Alexios]] and [[Isaac Laskaris|Isaac]]. The struggle ended with the [[Battle of Poimanenon]] in 1224, in which his opponents were defeated in spite of support from the [[Latin Empire]] of [[Constantinople]]. John III's victory led to territorial concessions by the Latin Empire in 1225, followed by John's incursion into Europe, where he seized [[Adrianople]].{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|pp=719–721}}

John III's possession of Adrianople was terminated by [[Theodore I Ducas|Theodore Komnenos Doukas]] of [[Despotate of Epirus|Epirus]] and [[Thessalonica]], who drove the Nicaean garrison out of Adrianople and annexed much of [[Thrace]] in 1227. The elimination of Theodore by [[Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria]] in 1230 put an end to the danger posed by Thessalonica, and John III made an alliance with [[Bulgaria]] against the Latin Empire.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|pp=722–724}}

[[File:JohnIIIVatatzesGoldHyperpyronMagnesia.jpg|thumb|250px|Gold [[hyperpyron]] of John III Vatatzes]]

In 1235 this alliance resulted in the restoration of the Bulgarian [[patriarchate]] and the marriage between [[Elena of Bulgaria]] and Theodore II, respectively Ivan Asen II's daughter and John III's son. In that same year, the Bulgarians and Nicaeans campaigned against the Latin Empire, and in 1236 they attempted a [[Siege of Constantinople (1235)|siege of Constantinople]].{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|pp=722–724}} Subsequently, Ivan Asen II adopted an ambivalent policy, effectively becoming neutral, and leaving John III to his own devices.

John III Vatatzes was greatly interested in the collection and copying of manuscripts, and [[William of Rubruck]] reports that he owned a copy of the missing books from [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]''.<ref>Christopher S. Wood, Forgery, Replica, Fiction: Temporalities of German Renaissance Art. University of Chicago Press, 2008</ref> Rubruck was critical of the Hellenic traditions he encountered in the [[Empire of Nicaea]], specifically the feast day for [[Felicitas of Rome|Saint Felicity]] favored by John Vatatzes, which Friedrich Risch suggests would have been the ''Felicitanalia'', practiced by Sulla to venerate [[Felicitas]] in the 1st century with an emphasis on inverting social norms, extolling truth and beauty, reciting profane and satirical verse and wearing ornamented "cenatoria", or dinner robes during the day.<ref>Geschichte der Mongolen und Reisebericht, 1245–1247. (Trans. and ed., Friedrich Risch.). Leipzig: E. Pfeiffer, 1930, p. 174, n.34</ref>

In spite of some reverses against the Latin Empire in 1240, John III was able to take advantage of Ivan Asen II's death in 1241 to impose his own suzerainty over Thessalonica (in 1242), and later to annex this city, as well as much of Bulgarian Thrace in 1246.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=728}} By 1247 he had established an effective stranglehold on Constantinople. In the last years of his reign Nicaean authority extended far to the west, where John III attempted to contain the expansion of [[Despotate of Epirus|Epirus]]. Michael's allies [[Golem of Kruja]] and [[Theodore Petraliphas]] defected to John III in 1252.<ref name="EllisKlusáková2007">{{cite book|first1=Steven G. |last1=Ellis|first2=Lud'a|last2=Klusáková|title=Imagining Frontiers, Contesting Identities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3zXFCs9EfEYC&pg=PA134|year=2007|publisher=Edizioni Plus|isbn=978-88-8492-466-7|pages=134–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=George Akropolites: The History: Introduction, translation and commentary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_0LdWboHXwC&pg=PA73|date=19 April 2007|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-921067-1|pages=73–|quote=Goulamos defected to the Emperor}}</ref>
John III died in [[Nymphaion (Ionia)|Nymphaion]] in 1254, and was buried in the monastery of Sosandra, which he had founded, in the region of Magnesia.<ref name="books.google.com">Michael Borgolte, Bernd Schneidmüller. [https://books.google.com/books?id=tDbnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA73 ''Hybride Kulturen im mittelalterlichen Europa/Hybride Cultures in Medieval Europe'']. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1 okt. 2010 {{ISBN|3050049669}} p 73</ref>