# Margaret ( 28 February 1261 – 9 April 1283 ), who married King Eirik II of Norway

1185 – 1261 ), Pope from 1254 until his death

* 1251 – 1261: Otto von Mehringen

* 1261 – 1278: Heinrich I von Osthenen ( or Ostheeren )

* 3 Latin Emperors ( 1216 – 1217, 1219 – 1261 )

** Baldwin II ( 1228 – 1261 )

* 1261 – Margaret of Scotland, Queen of Norway ( d. 1283 )

* 1218 – 1261 / 1262: Conrad I / III ( brother of, also count of Zollern )

* 1261 – The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire.

* 1303 – Daniel of Moscow, Russian Saint, Grand Prince of Muscovy ( b. 1261 )

In the subsequent conquest which lasted over 50 years, the original population was nearly exterminated especially during the major Prussian rebellion of 1261 – 83.

* 1261 – King Dinis of Portugal ( d. 1325 )

1185 – 25 May 1261 ) was Pope from 1254 until his death.

Pope Urban IV ( c. 1195 – 2 October 1264 ), born Jacques Pantaléon, was Pope from 1261 to 1264.

Like Pope Innocent III ( 1198 – 1216 ), Pope Gregory IX ( 1227 – 1241 ) and Pope Alexander IV ( 1254 – 1261 ), he was a member of the family of the Conti, counts and dukes of Segni.

* 15 October – Walter de Stapledon, English bishop ( b. 1261 )

* 1259 – September – The Empire of Nicaea defeats the Principality of Achaea at the Battle of Pelagonia, ensuring the eventual reconquest of Constantinople in 1261.

* March 2 – King Wladyslaw I of Poland ( b. 1261 )

* December 30 – Bernard Gui, inquisitor ( b. 1261 or 1262 )

* 1261 – Byzantine Empire reemerges, Latin empire brought down

He was acclaimed co-emperor in 1261, after his father Michael VIII recovered Constantinople from the Latin Empire, but he was crowned only in 1272.

Although besieged on numerous occasions by various peoples, it was taken only in 1204 by the army of the Fourth Crusade, in 1261 by Michael VIII, and in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II.

In 1261, Constantinople was captured from its last Latin ruler, Baldwin II, by the forces of the Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus.

Byzantine Emperor Michael VII Palaiologos succeeded in recapturing Constantinople in 1261.

* 1261 — Byzantines under Michael VIII retake Constantinople from the Crusaders and Venice.

* 1261 – July 25 – The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Michael VIII Palaeologus, thus re-establishing the Byzantine Empire.

On 25 July 1261, Michael VIII's general Alexios Strategopoulos captured Constantinople from its last Latin Emperor, Baldwin II.

1256 ), Michael Laskaris ( d. 1261 / 1271 ), Georgios Laskaris and Constantine Laskaris ( d. aft.

The eldest was Isaakios Doukas Vatatzes ( died 1261 ), who married and had two children: Ioannes Vatatzes ( born 1215 ), who married to Eudokia Angelina and had two daughters Theodora Doukaina Vatatzaina, wife of Michael VIII Palaiologos, and Maria Vatatzaina, married to Michael Doukas Glabas Tarchaneiotes, Military Goveror of Thrace ; and a daughter, married to Konstantinos Strategopoulos.

By the late 13th century, with the Treaty of Nymphaeum of 1261, the offensive-defensive alliance between Michael VIII Palaeologus and Genoa that opened up the Black Sea to Genoese commerce, Varna had turned into a thriving commercial port city frequented by Genoese and later also by Venetian and Ragusan merchant ships.

His literary activity was considerable, his most important work being a Byzantine history in thirteen books, in continuation of that of George Acropolites from 1261 ( or rather 1255 ) to 1308, containing the history of the reigns of Michael and Andronicus II Palaeologus.

Akropolites ' historical work, the Annals, embraces the period from the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade by the Latins in 1204 to its recovery by Michael Palaiologos in 1261, thus forming a continuation of the work of Nicetas Choniates.

In 1261 Constantinople was captured by Michael VIII Palaeologus, and Baldwin ’ s rule came to an end.

Weakened by constant warfare with the Bulgarians and the unconquered sections of the empire, it eventually fell when Byzantines recaptured Constantinople under Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261.

Thus, on 25 July 1261, with most of the Latin troops away on campaign, the Nicaean general Alexios Strategopoulos found an unguarded entrance to the city, and entered it with his troops, restoring the Byzantine Empire for his master, Michael VIII Palaiologos.

When Constantinople was recaptured by Michael VIII Palaeologus in 1261, he allowed pronoiai to be inherited, which made the empire more like the feudal states in Europe.

In 1261, the Latins ceded Mystras and other forts in the southeastern Peloponnese as ransom for William II, who had been captured in Pelagonia, and Michael VIII Palaeologus made the city the seat of the new Despotate of the Morea.

* Michael VIII Palaeologus ( co-emperor 1259 – 1261 ; restored Byzantine Empire )

After Michael recaptured Constantinople in 1261, William was released in 1262 in return for Mistra and the rest of Laconia, which became a Byzantine despotate, as well as an oath of allegiance to the Emperor.

The parish church of St Michael the Archangel was dedicated in 1261, although little remains from this period.

Michael VIII restored the empire in 1261, having also regained the Kingdom of Thessalonica.

The Gate was used for triumphal entries until the Komnenian period ; thereafter, the only such occasion was the entry of Michael VIII Palaiologos into the city on 15 August 1261, after its reconquest from the Latins.

Coin of Michael VIII Palaiologos, commemorating the recapture of Constantinople in 1261.