Negroponte, Triarchy of

Greece is soon carved up into tiny kingdoms and principalities ruled by Western princes.

The Kingdom of Thessalonica occupies land along the Aegean coast of Thrace, Thessaly, and Macedonia, but the interior borders are undefined as the kingdom is from the outset constantly at war with the Bulgarians, who had wanted to capture the remnants of the Empire for themselves, and the Despotate of Epirus, one of the empire’s successor states.

The kingdom initially also faces attacks from the deposed emperor Alexios III, who had fled to Corinth, although he is quickly defeated.

After this victory, …

…Boniface captures the island of Euboea, where the vassal lordship of Negroponte, subject to the authority of both Thessalonica and Venice is established, and …

…helps some other Crusaders establish the Duchy of Athens and …

…the Principality of Achaea, which become vassal states of Thessalonica.

The principality of Achaea, founded in 1205 by William of Champlitte, a minor knight who had participated in the crusade, consists of little more than the interior of the Peloponnese (which the crusaders call Morea) and a few ports such as Monemvasia.

It is surrounded by Epirus as well as territory held by Venice in the Aegean Sea.

The Franks rule Thessaly in its eastern parts, while …

…the rulers of Epirus and Nicaea dispute the western regions of Greece.

Venice has gained control of substantial parts of Greece (some of which will not be relinquished until 1797. Architectural remains from the Venetian period are still visible in the Greek countryside and seaside ports.)

The county of Cephalonia (which, along with the islands of Ithaca and Zákinthos has in fact already been under Italian rule since 1194, in the person of Matteo Orsini) is nominally subject to Venice, although it is in fact autonomous.

Michael Komnenos Doukas, a prince from the deposed imperial ruling family, makes alliances with Albanian chiefs and drives the Venetians from lands that now make up southern Albania and northern Greece, and in 1205 he sets up an independent principality, the Despotate of Epirus, with Janina (now Ioánnina in northwest Greece) as its capital.

Michael is the illegitimate son of the sebastokrator John Doukas and is thus a first cousin of the emperors Isaac II Angelos and Alexios III Angelos.

The duchy of Athens, which controls much of central Greece from its main base at Thebes, has political interests to the north and in the Peloponnese.

Alexios III, following his unsuccessful attempt to recover the imperial throne, has wandered about Greece, eventually surrendering to Boniface of Montferrat, now master of a great part of the Balkan Peninsula, but leaves his protection to seek shelter with Michael of Epirus.

The death of Carintana dalle Carceri, triarch of Oreoi and wife to William II of Villehardouin, nominal overlord of Negroponte, in 1255 has led to the so-called "War of the Terciers of Euboea" (Guerre des terciers de l'Eubée), which involves Achaea and Venice.

Guglielmo da Verona and Narzotto dalle Carceri, Carintana's heirs, repudiate their allegiance to William on June 14, 1256, and pledge themselves to Venice.

William responds by capturing Chalkis.