Theodore Ducas

He later clashed with Theodore Ducas, despot of Epirus, after the latter took Thessalonica (modern Thessaloníki, Greece) and proclaimed himself Byzantine emperor (1225). John’s forces were routed by Theodore when they attempted to take Adrianople later that year. Allied with the Bulgarian tsar John Asen II, John III defeated…

His half brother and successor, Theodore Ducas, extended his rule eastward to Thessalonica (Thessaloníki), Greece, in 1224 and claimed the title of Byzantine emperor.

His brother and successor Theodore was able to retake Thessalonica from the Latins in 1224, where he was crowned as emperor, thus challenging the emperor of Nicaea, who claimed imperial rule. However, in 1242 the Nicaean ruler John III Ducas Vatatzes compelled Theodore’s son and successor John to abandon…