Timeline July 1261

Events in July 1261 3

• 1261 Michael VIII reconquers Constantinople On 25 July 1261, the commander Alexios Strategopoulos reconnoitres Constantinople's defences and discovers the garrison is away on a military expedition. He sends a small force through an unguarded gate. The city falls without a battle. Michael VIII Palaiologos enters in triumph, walking barefoot to Hagia Sophia. He has the eyes of the last Latin Patriarch gouged out. The Orthodox liturgy is restored for the first time in 57 years. Michael is crowned emperor. The restoration is greeted with enormous joy -- but the empire he inherits is a fragment of its former self, with most of the Anatolian interior in Turkish hands.
• 1261 Michael VIII reconquers Constantinople Michael VIII Palaiologos, Emperor of Nicaea, reconquers Constantinople on 25 July 1261 -- through a fortunate accident: the Latin garrison is away on a military expedition when a small Byzantine force finds the city gates unguarded and opens them. Michael enters the city in triumph, walking barefoot to Hagia Sophia. He has the Latin Patriarch's eyes gouged out. He is crowned emperor in Hagia Sophia, restoring the Orthodox liturgy for the first time in 57 years. The restoration is celebrated as a miracle -- but the empire he restores is a diminished fragment of its former self.
• 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.