Nicaea served as the interim capital city of the Byzantine Empire between 1204 and 1261, following the Fourth Crusade in 1204, until the recapture of Constantinople by the Byzantines in 1261.

* Nicaea ( present-day İznik, another important city in Bithynia, and the interim Byzantine capital city between 1204 and 1261 ( Empire of Nicaea ) following the Fourth Crusade in 1204, until the recapture of Constantinople by the Byzantines in 1261.

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.

In 1261, the quarter was retaken by the Byzantines, but Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos ( r. 1259 – 1282 ) granted it to the Genoese in 1267 in accordance with the Treaty of Nymphaeum.

It was well fortified by the Byzantines and after their reconquest of Constantinople in 1261, it became the most important city in Thrace and Byzantine Macedonia.

From 1261 onwards, the Byzantines were largely preoccupied with regaining their control in the Balkans.

On July 25, 1261, the Byzantines under Michael VIII Palaiologos recaptured Constantinople.

Nicaea, until 1261 the capital of the Empire, was under siege by Ottoman Turks.

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

* 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.

From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire.

He was a Roman nobleman who had served under eight Popes, been made cardinal-deacon of St. Nicola in Carcere Tulliano by Pope Innocent IV ( 1243 – 54 ), protector of the Franciscans by Pope Alexander IV ( 1254 – 61 ), inquisitor-general by Pope Urban IV ( 1261 – 64 ), and succeeded Pope John XXI ( 1276 – 77 ) after a six-month vacancy in the Holy See resolved in the papal election of 1277, largely through family influence.

Proclaimed basilica in 1964, it was built by Jacques Pantaléon, elected pope in 1261, under the name of Urbain IV, on grounds where the workshop of his father was.

Emperor Ganapatideva ( 1199 – 1261 ) of Kakatiya dynasty brought all the Telugu kingdoms under his rule for the first time.

On July 25, 1261, Nicaean troops under Alexios Strategopoulos recaptured Constantinople.

It was through this gate that the forces of the Empire of Nicaea, under General Alexios Strategopoulos, entered and retook the city from the Latins on 25 July 1261.

It was first mentioned in 1261 AD under the name of " Wolvoldeswilere ".

In the following years, those supporting de Montfort, including his circle of Franciscan advisors centered on Adam Marsh, and those loyal to the king grew more and more polarised ; Henry obtained a papal bull in 1261 exempting him from his oath, and both sides began to raise armies, the Royalists under Edward Longshanks, Henry's eldest son.

Founded as a clump village, today ’ s constituent community had its first documentary mention in 1261 under the name Guginsheim.

It too, however, was subject to gradual debasement: under the Empire of Nicaea ( 1204 – 1261 ), its gold content fell gradually to 18 carats, under Michael VIII Palaiologos ( r. 1259 – 1282 ) to 15 and under his son and successor Andronikos II Palaiologos ( r. 1282 – 1328 ) to 12 carats.

In 1261 he was sent to Central Asia, where he quickly established control of much of the Chagatai Khanate, as well as other areas, particularly those that were formerly under the control of the Blue Horde.

* 1261 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is crowned Byzantine emperor in Constantinople.

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.

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.

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.