Byzantine Emperor in Exile: III. Ioannes Dukas Vatatzes

The central and socio-economic structure of the Byzantine Empire was disintegrated after the Latins occupied Constantinople as a result of the Fourth Crusade. Iznik State, which was founded by the Laskaris between 1204-1261, with Iznik as the center, re-established the central structure, which was disintegrated by maintaining the traditional administrative, socio-economic and cultural structure of the Byzantine Empire. One of the most influential emperors of the Iznik State, which is called the exile period of the Byzantine Empire in Byzantine sources and modern literature, III. Ioannes Dukas Vatatzes. The thesis has tried to evaluate Vatatzes' successful imperial portrait by establishing a cause-effect relationship within the socioeconomic, administrative and cultural structure. In this context, the development activities of the Vatatzes period, which were formed on the basis of the socioeconomic structure, were taken as an example to indicate the effectiveness of the Iznik State in Western Anatolia during the exile period.