Coins of the Byzantine Successor States After 1204: Nicaea, Thessalonica and Epirus

This article is based on an explainer by Mike Markowitz published by CoinWeek on January 22, 2026. It is not a report of a new discovery; it describes the Byzantine successor states of the 13th century and the coins they issued.

The Fall of 1204 and the States in Exile

On April 12, 1204, the army of the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople. The Crusaders set up a "Latin Empire" that held the city and a small area around it until 1261.

Byzantine aristocrats fled the capital and established several short-lived states, including the Empire of Nicaea, the Despotate of Epirus and the Empire of Thessalonica. All of these states issued coins, which survive as evidence of a chaotic period. The Empire of Trebizond, on the southern coast of the Black Sea, is treated in a separate article.

Byzantine coinage of this era was complex. There were three cup-shaped denominations in a variety of alloys: a 4.3-gram gold hyperpyron of 16-21 karats; a silver aspron trachy ranging from under two grams to over 3.5 grams, often heavily alloyed with copper; and a copper or bronze trachy of variable weight, typically around two grams.

Coins of the Empire of Nicaea

Nicaea, a walled lakeside city that is today Iznik in Turkey, lies 92 km southeast of Constantinople. It became the capital of the most important successor state, the one that eventually recaptured Constantinople.

Theodore I

Theodore was born about 1175 to an obscure aristocratic family and was related to the Komnenos dynasty on his mother's side. In 1200 he married a daughter of Emperor Alexios III Angelos. After the sack of Constantinople he organized Byzantine resistance at Nicaea and took the title of Emperor in 1205.

Much of his coinage was struck at Magnesia, today Manisa in Turkey. His cup-shaped silver trachy shows Christ enthroned on the obverse and standing figures of Theodore and his patron saint of the same name on the reverse. The article's notes cite an example sold in Numismatik Naumann Auction 114 on March 6, 2022 (Lot 1110) for €800, against an estimate of €800.

John III

John III Doukas Vatatzes was born about 1192, the son of a general killed in battle against the Bulgarians. In 1216 he married a daughter of Theodore I, and he took the throne after Theodore died in December 1221, defeating rivals from the Laskaris family who were backed by the Latin Empire.

The article quotes Philip Grierson's book Byzantine Coins (1982), which says that John III very nearly recaptured Constantinople in 1236 and that his conquest of Thessalonica in 1246 firmly established Nicene power in Europe.

The article describes John's gold hyperpyron, about 16 to 18 carats fine, as relatively common. The example in the notes sold in NAC Auction 114 on May 6, 2019 (Lot 997) for CHF 325, against an estimate of CHF 200.

Theodore II

Theodore II Doukas Laskaris (1221-1258) was the only son of John III. At 14 he married a Bulgarian princess; their children included the future emperor John IV.

Theodore's gold hyperpyron is distinguished from his father's mainly by the different name, which may be wholly or partly illegible on poorly struck coins, and by prominent Greek letters used as numerals for the regnal year. The example in the notes sold in CNG Auction 70 on September 21, 2005 (Lot 1135) for $850, against an estimate of $500.

Theodore II died on August 16, 1258, at the age of 36. His dynasty was soon overthrown by his political enemy, Michael VIII Palaiologos.

John IV

John IV Doukas Laskaris was born on Christmas Day in 1250 and became emperor at seven when his father died. Michael Palaiologos seized power and was proclaimed co-emperor, and later had John blinded, making him ineligible for the throne. John was held in a monastery for the rest of his life and died in 1305.

Coins of John's brief reign are very rare. A silver trachy struck in 1260 sold for $10,000 in CNG Triton XXII on January 8, 2019 (Lot 1211), against an estimate of $2,000.

Michael VIII

Michael was born in 1224 and traced his ancestry to several imperial families. In 1253 he was accused of plotting against John III and sentenced to trial by ordeal, grasping a red-hot iron bar. He challenged a bishop standing nearby to take the iron from the altar with his own hands and give it to him, and he avoided punishment.

Michael staged a palace coup against the regent for the child emperor John IV and was crowned co-emperor on January 1, 1259. Later that year he defeated an alliance of Latins and other Byzantines at the Battle of Pelagonia in northern Greece. In 1261 one of his generals captured Constantinople for him, restoring the Byzantine Empire. The dynasty he founded ruled until Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Coins of the Empire of Thessalonica

Thessalonica was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire after Constantinople. In 1204 it was occupied by the Crusader Boniface of Montferrat. After Boniface was killed in a Bulgarian ambush in 1207, the crown passed to his infant son, Demetrius. In 1224 Theodore of Epirus captured Thessalonica and added it to his empire, keeping a separate coinage.

Theodore

At Thessalonica, Theodore issued silver trachys showing his standing figure in imperial robes beside Saint Demetrius, the city's patron. The example in the notes sold in Roma Numismatics Auction XVIII on September 29, 2019 (Lot 1317) for £4,200, against an estimate of £2,500.

In 1230 Theodore set out to capture Constantinople but turned his army against the Bulgarians, who captured him, blinded him and held him prisoner for seven years. His brother Manuel took the throne and ruled a much smaller territory as a Bulgarian vassal.

Manuel

Manuel's rare silver trachy shows the Virgin enthroned on the obverse and standing figures of the emperor and St. Demetrius on the reverse. The example in the notes sold in NAC Auction 56 on October 8, 2010 (Lot 825) for CHF 8,500, against an estimate of CHF 9,000. In 1237, when Theodore was released, he deposed Manuel and installed his son, John Komnenos Doukas, as ruler of Thessalonica.

John Komnenos Doukas

John ruled from 1237 until his death in 1244. His coins are mainly crude bronze or copper pieces showing St. Demetrius on the obverse and standing figures of the emperor and the Virgin on the reverse. The example in the notes sold in Leu Numismatik Web Auction 24 on December 3, 2022 (Lot 760) for CHF 900, against an estimate of CHF 75.

Coins of the Despotate of Epirus

Epirus is the northwestern region of Greece, extending into southern Albania. After the Latin Empire was established, it became a long-lived successor state with its capital at Arta. In medieval Greek, the title "despot" meant simply "sole ruler," without the modern sense of arbitrary dictatorship.

Michael I

Michael Komnenos Doukas was born about 1170 and was a descendant of Emperor Alexios Komnenos (ruled 1081-1118). Like several other Byzantine nobles, he briefly served as a mercenary for the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. By 1205 he had established control over Epirus. In 1214 or 1215 he was killed in his sleep by a servant whose motive is uncertain. He was succeeded by his half-brother, Theodore Komnenos Doukas. Michael's coinage is scarce.

Michael II

Michael II was an illegitimate son of Michael I. He went into exile after his father's murder, returned to take the throne in 1230 and ruled until his death around 1268. A rare silver trachy of Michael II shows Christ enthroned on the obverse and standing figures of the emperor and St. Constantine, the fourth-century Roman emperor later canonized by the Orthodox Church, on the reverse. The example in the notes sold in Nomos Auction 18 on November 17, 2019 (Lot 453) for CHF 11,000, against an estimate of CHF 2,500.

Source: CoinWeek, "Empires in Exile: Coins of the Byzantine Successor States" (January 22, 2026).