Τὸ Δεσποτᾶτον τῆς Ἠπείρου - Despotatus Epiri #EDU

Τὸ Δεσποτᾶτον τῆς Ἠπείρου - Despotatus Epiri #EDU

Το Δεσποτάτο της Ηπείρου ήταν ένα από τα κράτη που προέκυψαν από τη διάλυση της Βυζαντινής Αυτοκρατορίας μετά την Δ΄ Σταυροφορία το 1204. Το Δεσποτάτο της Ηπείρου, μαζί με την Αυτοκρατορία της Νίκαιας και την Αυτοκρατορία της Τραπεζούντας, ήταν η νόμιμη ελληνική συνέχεια της Βυζαντινής Αυτοκρατορίας. Αρχικά περιείχε τα εδάφη της Ηπείρου και της Αιτωλοακαρνανίας, όμως γρήγορα επεκτάθηκε στα Επτάνησα καθώς και σε σημαντικά τμήματα της Αλβανίας, της Θεσσαλίας, της Μακεδονίας και της Θράκης.

Από τα μέσα του 13ου αιώνα άρχισε να συρρικνώνεται στα αρχικά του όρια, ενώ κατά διαστήματα υποτάχθηκε στους Σέρβους και στο κράτος της Νίκαιας. Στα μέσα του 15ου αιώνα κατακτήθηκε από τους Οθωμανούς. Με έδρα την Άρτα και αργότερα τα Ιωάννινα, διοικήθηκε διαδοχικά από Βυζαντινούς, Σέρβους και Ιταλούς ηγεμόνες.

Η φεουδαλική υπόσταση του κράτους οδήγησε συχνά τους ηγέτες του σε μία σειρά συμμαχιών, επιγαμιών και συγκρούσεων, με Φράγκους, Ιταλούς, Σέρβους, Βουλγάρους, Βυζαντινούς ηγεμόνες του κράτους της Νίκαιας, καθώς και με Αλβανούς και Βλάχους φυλάρχους.

Despotatus Epiri fuit una e civitatibus Graecis, quae in territorio antea Imperii Romani Orientalis post quartam expeditionem sacram anno 1204 ortae sunt. Civitas finibus alternis usque ad saeculum decimum quartum exeuntem exstabat. Regiones principales erant Epirus, quae regio civitati nomen dedit, et Acarnania. Civitati continuae cum potentiis regionalibus pugnae erant gerendae, primo cum Bulgaris et Imperio Byzantino, quod rursus corroboratum est, postea cum Regno Neapolitano et Imperio Serbico, quae omnia Epirum ad imperium eorum adiungere studebant. In plura dominia dilapsus Epirus inter anno 1386-1449 gradatim in Imperium Ottomanicum insertus est.

Appellatio "Despotatus Epiri" fontibus illius temporis non adhibetur, nam despota ordinem in aulae byzantinae hierarchia denotat. Epirus autem semper autonomus ab Imperium Nicaeum sive ab Imperium Romanum restitutum fuit. Plerumque principes se Archontes aut simpliciter Kyrioi nominabant. Nihilo minus quidam Epiri principes post annum 1230 ab imperator byzantino titulo despotae ornati sunt.

The Despotate of Epirus (Medieval Greek: Δεσποτᾶτον τῆς Ἠπείρου) was one of the Greek successor states of the Roman-Byzantine Empire established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 by a branch of the Angelos dynasty. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Roman-Byzantine Empire, along with the Empire of Nicaea and the Empire of Trebizond, its rulers briefly proclaiming themselves as Emperors in 1227–1242 (during which it is most often called the Empire of Thessalonica). The term "Despotate of Epirus" is, like (Roman) "Byzantine Empire" itself, a modern historiographic convention and not a name in use at the time.

The Despotate was centred on the region of Epirus, encompassing also Albania and the western portion of Greek Macedonia and also included Thessaly and western Greece as far south as Nafpaktos. Through a policy of aggressive expansion under Theodore Komnenos Doukas the Despotate of Epirus also briefly came to incorporate central Macedonia, with the establishment of the Empire of Thessalonica in 1224, and Thrace as far east as Didymoteicho and Adrianopolis, and was on the verge of recapturing Constantinople and restoring the Roman-Byzantine Empire before the Battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230 where he was defeated by the Bulgarian Empire. After that, the Epirote state contracted to its core in Epirus and Thessaly, and was forced into vassalage to other regional powers. It nevertheless managed to retain its autonomy until being conquered by the restored Palaiologan Roman-Byzantine Empire in ca. 1337. In the 1410s, the Count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos Carlo I Tocco managed to reunite the core of the Epirote state, but his successors gradually lost it to the advancing Ottoman Empire, with the last stronghold, Vonitsa, falling to the Ottomans in 1479.

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#Epirus #RomanEmpire
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