When did the Latin Empire exist?

The Latin Empire existed 1204–1261. On this map it is drawn 1206–1278.

How large was the Latin Empire?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Latin Empire covered about 93,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Europe · High and late Middle Ages

Latin Empire

1204–1261

Contemporaries called it Imperium Romaniae or Imperium Constantinopolitanum; "Latin Empire" is a historiographical convention. Byzantines called it the "Latin Occupation."

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Existed: 1204–1261
Shown on the map: 1206–1278
Peak area: 93k km²
Region: Europe

Names

Contemporaries called it Imperium Romaniae or Imperium Constantinopolitanum; "Latin Empire" is a historiographical convention. Byzantines called it the "Latin Occupation."

Foundation and constitution

After Constantinople fell (13 April 1204), the crusaders elected Baldwin I (Baldwin IX of Flanders), crowned in Hagia Sophia on 16 May 1204. The Partitio (terrarum imperii) Romaniae (October 1204) divided Byzantine territory: notionally three-eighths to the emperor, three-eighths (with Venetian shares) elsewhere, and portions to the other crusaders. Three documents formed a "constitution" (the March 1204 treaty providing for the imperial election and division of spoils, the Partitio, and the October 1205 treaty regulating Venice's relations with the emperor), and a council of Venetian and other barons had an effective veto over the emperor — a strikingly limited monarchy.

Rulers and decline

Baldwin I was captured by the Bulgarians under Kaloyan at the Battle of Adrianople (April 1205) and died in captivity. His brother Henry of Flanders (1206–1216) was the ablest emperor. He was followed by Peter of Courtenay, Yolanda, Robert I, John of Brienne (co-emperor/regent), and Baldwin II (1228–1261). The empire shrank drastically — from an estimated c. 179,000 km² (1204) to c. 14,000 km² (1260) — squeezed by Bulgaria and the Byzantine successor states. On the night of 24–25 July 1261, forces of Michael VIII Palaiologos under Alexios Strategopoulos slipped into Constantinople while the Venetian fleet was away; the city fell without a fight, Baldwin II fled to the West (dying at Naples in 1273), and the Byzantine Empire was restored. The empty Latin imperial title lingered among Western pretenders into the 14th century.

Common questions

What was the Latin Empire?: Contemporaries called it Imperium Romaniae or Imperium Constantinopolitanum; "Latin Empire" is a historiographical convention. Byzantines called it the "Latin Occupation."
When did the Latin Empire exist?: The Latin Empire existed 1204–1261. On this map it is drawn 1206–1278.
How large was the Latin Empire?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Latin Empire covered about 93,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Who ruled the Latin Empire?: Baldwin I was captured by the Bulgarians under Kaloyan at the Battle of Adrianople (April 1205) and died in captivity. His brother Henry of Flanders (1206–1216) was the ablest emperor.

Sources

This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity as the primary basis, cross-checked against Encyclopædia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia and the scholarship of Donald Queller, Thomas Madden and Jonathan Harris on the Fourth Crusade, whose post-conspiracy reading of 1204 this document follows. The article this entry is anchored on:

Wikipedia — Latin Empire en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Empire

This entry was last updated 27 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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