Kingdom Of Thessalonica
The kingdom of Thessaloniki is one of the Crusader states emerged after the Fourth Crusade.
During the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusader army in 1204 , the favorite for the imperial election was the Marquis Boniface of Montferrat. Italian tycoon, a close relative of the imperial dynasty of Hohenstaufen , brother of Conrad of Montferrat , he was a leader of the crusade. However, the Venetians, whose role was decisive in the Frankish conquest, do not want to Boniface, probably too little malleable and prone to favor the great rival of Venice in the Mediterranean, Genoa. So Baldwin IX of Flanders who was elected Emperor.
Boniface has difficulty accepting this election. From 1204 he is carving out a principality around Thessaloniki , then the second city of the Byzantine Empire. This condition, known as the kingdom of Thessaloniki although it has not been officially called, is centered on the coasts of Thrace and Thessaly. He suffers from several companies local rulers: the Bulgarians to the north, to the west of Epirus despotate , Byzantine state, and is the Latin Empire of Constantinople, whose sovereign accepts the existence of evil This quasi-sovereign.
Boniface arrives to strengthen his kingdom by conciliating the Venetians, who receive support for the conquest of Crete, and defeating the former Byzantine Emperor Alexius III. Several other states are developing in Latin vassalage of Thessaloniki, as the principality of Achaia , the Duchy of Athens , the marquis of Bodonitza and County of Salona.
In 1207 Boniface died fighting the Bulgarians. His son, Dimitri, is still a child. The direction of the kingdom is assured by a party of nobles who engage in conflict with the emperor of Constantinople, Henry of Hainaut. The latter, after defeating the regents, took the young king of Thessaloniki under his tutelage. From 1215 , the despot of Epirus, Theodore Angelo , conquered the kingdom of Thessaloniki on power shaky franc. In 1224 he captured the city of Thessaloniki. However the domination of Angel on Thessaloniki is ephemeral because the region was conquered by the Bulgarian King Ivan Asen II from 1230.
The title of King of Thessaloniki is increased until the early fourteenth century by the heirs of Montferrat, but he finds no real content, except during the brief period of one thousand three hundred and thirteen - 1315 during which Louis de Bourgogne , titular king, regains the principality of Achaia to his wife.
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