1261

Events in 1261 4

• 1025 – 1261 Decline & The Crusades (1025–1261) The period from Basil II's death to the Nicaean reconquest of Constantinople spans the catastrophic defeat at Manzikert (1071), the loss of Anatolia to the Seljuk Turks, the complex and often damaging relationship with the Crusader states, and the catastrophe of 1204 when the Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople and establishes the Latin Empire. The Nicaean Empire -- the Byzantine government in exile -- reconquers Constantinople in 1261 under Michael VIII Palaiologos, but the empire it restores is a shadow of its former self.
• 1261 – 1453 The Final Century (1261–1453) The Palaiologan period (1261-1453) is the last chapter of Byzantine history -- a twilight of extraordinary cultural flowering (the Chora Church mosaics, the Hesychast controversy, the Council of Florence) alongside relentless territorial contraction. Civil wars, the Black Death, Serbian and Ottoman pressure reduce the empire to Constantinople and a few scattered territories. Constantine XI, the last emperor, dies fighting on the walls on 29 May 1453 as Mehmed II's army enters the city. The empire of Constantine the Great ends 1,123 years after its foundation.
• 1261 Nicaean reconquest -- Constantinople restored Michael VIII Palaiologos of the Nicaean Empire reconquers Constantinople from the Latin Empire on 25 July 1261. The restoration of the Byzantine Empire is celebrated as a triumph, but the empire Michael restores is a pale shadow of its former self -- territorially diminished, economically exhausted, and permanently weakened by the Latin occupation. The Palaiologan dynasty rules for the final 192 years of Byzantine history.
• 1261 – 1325 King Denis of Portugal Portuguese troubadour king King Denis I of Portugal was himself a gifted troubadour who wrote over 130 surviving poems. He founded the University of Lisbon and was a major patron of arts and learning.