(), also called JOANNESDUCASVATATZES, because he was descended in the female line from the great
family of the Ducas, emperor of Nicaea (A. D. 1222-1255), was one of the most remarkable among the successors of
Constantine. He first distinguished himself in the defence of Constantinople against the
Latins in 1204, and after its loss fled with Theodore Lascaris to Nicaea. Next to this
distinguished prince, Vatatzes was the most active and successful in preventing the whole of
the Greek empire from becoming a prey to the Latins, and he was likewise one of those who
supported Theodore Lascaris after he had assumed the imperial title, and taken up his
residence at Nicaea. In reward for his eminent services in the field as well as in the
council, Theodore gave him the hand of his daughter Irene, and appointed him his future
successor, because, having no children, he thought Vatatzes more fit and worthy for the crown
than either of his four brothers, Alexis, John, Manuel, and Michael. Vatatzes thus succeeded
Theodore Lascaris on the imperial throne of Nicaea in 1222. In the same year Theodore Angelus,
despot or prince of Epeirus and Aetolia, made himself master of Thessalonica and of nearly the
whole of Macedonia, assumed the title of emperor, and was crowned by the bishop of
Achrida.
Four emperors now reigned over the remnants of the Eastern empire, Andronicus I. Gidon in
Trebizond, Theodore Angelus in Epeirus and Macedonia, Robert of Courtenay in Constantinople,
and John Vatatzes in Nicaea; and it is curious that the imperial crown devolved upon three of
them in the same year, 1222, while the fourth, Robert of Courtenay, took actual possession of
his dominions only in the previous year, 1221. Of these, the emperor in Nicaea was the
greatest.
No sooner had Vatatzes ascended the throne than Manuel and Michael Lascaris
abandoned him, went to Constantinople, and persuaded Robert to declare war against Vatatzes.
Its issue was unfavourable to the Latins. In a pitched battle at Poemanene or Poemanium, in
1224, the Latin troops were completely defeated; and such was the hatred of the Greeks against
the foreign intruders, that they neither gave nor accepted quarter : the two Lascaris were
taken prisoners, and payed their treason with the loss of their eyes. In consequence of this
victory, the greater part of the Latin possessions in Asia fell into the hands of the Greeks.
On the sea the Latins were successful; they blockaded the Greek fleet in the port of
Lampsacus, and Vatatzes preferred burning his own ships to having them burnt by his enemy.
However, Vatatzes had little to lose on the sea, and the Latin emperor was finally compelled
to sue for peace, and to leave the greater part of his Asiatic possessions in the hands of
Vatatzes. The peace was of short duration. The old John of Brienne, who after the death of
Robert, in 1228, exchanged his nominal kingdom of Jerusalem for the real though tottering
throne of Constantinople, attacked Vatatzes in 1233, in Asia, but was routed in Bithynia, and
hastened back to Thrace. Supported by the fleets of the Venetians, he could, however, renew
his inroads whenever he saw a favourable opportunity. Accordingly, Vatatzes conceived the plan
of making himself master of the sea, and had he succeeded, the national Greek empire would
have been soon restored to its limits of 1204. Samos, Lesbos, Chios, Cos, Rhodes, and many
other islands, were conquered by the Greeks, but the main force of the Venetians was in
Candia; and though Vatatzes conquered the greater part of that island, his progress was
checked by the Venetian governor Marino Sanuti, the historian, who at last forced the Greeks
to sail back to Asia. Baffled on the sea, Vatatzes renewed his continental plans, and
concluded, in 1234, an alliance with Asan, king of Bulgaria. Their united forces besieged
Constantinople in 1235, by land and sea, but the superiority of the Latin mariners over the
Greek led to a total defeat of the Greek fleet, and twenty-four Greek gallies fell into the
hands of the victors, and were paraded in triumph in the port of Constantinople. Listening to
the persuasions of Messire Anseau de Cahieu, who acted as regent in the absence of the emperor
Baldwin II., Asan showed symptoms of defection, and forsook his ally in 1237, when they were
just besieging Constantinople a second time. By land, however, Vatatzes was more successful,
and conquered the rest of the Latin possessions in Asia. The assistance which Baldwin II.
obtained in Europe is mentioned in the life of that emperor; but the formidable knights of
France and Italy tried in vain to obtain a firm footing in Asia, and Baldwin was reduced to
such weakness, that he was unable to prevent Vatatzes from sailing over to Macedonia, and
compelling the self-styled emperor, John Comnenus of Epeirus, Aetolia, and Macedonia, to cede
him Macedonia, to renounce the imperial title, and to be satisfied with that of despot of
Epeirus (1242). In 1243 Vatatzes concluded an alliance with Gaiyáth-ed-dín, the
Turkish sultan of Iconium, in order to resist the approaching Mongols; and having thus secured
his eastern frontiers, he renewed his attacks upon the Latins in Constantinople. His fame was
then so great, that the Roman emperor, Frederic II., one of his greatest admirers, gave him
his natural daughter Anne in marriage, in 1244, the first wife of Vatatzes having died in
1240. Never despairing of putting an end to the Latin domination in the East, but obliged to
give up the plan of effecting it with the Bulgarian king, Vatatzes undertook to subdue the
Bulgarian nation, and to force those warlike barbarians to serve under his banners against the
intruders at Constantinople. In 1246 he had already conquered the southwestern portion of
Bulgaria, and given its government, together with that of Thessalonica (Macedonia) to his
Magnus Domesticus Andronicus Palaeologus, when his progress was checked by a combined attack
of the Latins and Michael Comnenus, despot of Epeirus. The issue of a protracted war was
favourable to Vatatzes, who took several of the towns of the Latins in Thrace, and made peace
with Michael in 1253. The following years were peaceful, and Vatatzes employed his leisure in
promoting the happiness of his subjects. He patronised arts and sciences, constructed new
roads, distributed the taxes equally, and made himself beloved by every body through his
kindness and justice. Michael of Epeirus having threatened a new war, Vatatzes set out against
him, but was taken ill in Macedonia, returned to Asia, and died, after long sufferings, at
Nymphaeum, on the 30th of October, 1255, at the age of sixty or sixty-two. Vatatzes is justly
called one of the greatest emperors of the East; and the merit of having put an end to the
Latin empire belongs as much to him as to Michael Palaeologus, who carried out,in 1261, the
plan which had been conceived and successfully begun by Vatatzes. The successor of Vatatzes
was Theodore Lascaris II. (The sources referred to in BALDUINUS II.,
among which Acropolita is the principal.)