Nicaea
Cities of the Crusades
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Currently known as Iznik in Turkey, the city of Nicaea (Greek Nikaia) was founded in 310 BCE by the Macedonian king Antigonus but is most famous for having hosted two major Christian church councils. Strategically located between large hills and on a large lake, the city is surrounded by high walls and deep ditches. Nicaea was an important defensive outpost of Constantinople under the Byzantines and much of the defensive architecture dates to this period.
The First Council of Nicaea met in 325 to deal with the question of Arianism and it resulted in the current statement of faith that is still common to most Christian sects, the Nicene Creed. The Second Council of Nicaea met in 787 to deal with questions about iconography. The Seljuk Turks captured and made Nicaea their capital in 1078, an event that was instrumental in Byzantium requesting aid from the West - aid which would become the First Crusade.
Crusaders besieged Nicaea in 1097 and they surrendered, but Emperor Alexius I Comnenus of Constantinople made a deal with the Turks that put the city in his hands, kicking the Crusaders out. In not allowing them to pillage Nicaea, Emperor Alexius engendered a great deal of animosity towards the Byzantine Empire.
When the Fourth Crusade captured Constantinople, Theodore I Lascaris assumed the title Emperor of Nicaea. Theodore, son-in-law of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius III, set himself up in Nicaea and led a series of defensive campaigns against the Latin invaders. In 1259 Michael VIII Palaeologus would capture the throne and later capture Constantinople from the Latins in 1261.
